Really, you
should read this as all the Sherlock Holmes stories, but choices have to
be made. This one is a classic among classics because it manages to be both a
great story and a particularly interesting take on Holmes and Watson’s dynamic,
wherein the former disappears and the latter deduces. Holmes is better at
deducing. Library catalog link.
Again, read everything
Sayers has ever written. Ahem, please excuse those hysterical italics. Her
Lord Peter Wimsey novels, of which Gaudy Night is one, are particularly
wonderful, not least for Harriet Vane, everyone’s favorite ass-kicking mystery
novelist, nor for its double duty as a philosophical novel. “How fleeting are
all human passions compared to the massive continuity of ducks.” Library catalog link.
A classic
mystery with a postmodern twist: a protagonist who is also a mystery novelist,
the result being that this 1939 novel is as much a comment on the genre (and
even the genre to come) as it is a particularly delightful example of it. Plus:
James Bond has been spotted reading it. Can’t get a better endorsement for a
spy novel than that. Library catalog link.
This
novel, which was shortlisted for the Booker in 2005, is a delightful retelling
of a real-life mystery (the “Great Wyrley Outrages”) that Sherlock Holmes creator
Arthur Conan Doyle actually solved at the turn of the 20th century! And a
luminous book
(what else would you expect from Barnes?) to boot. Library catalog link.
Setting aside
its women problems (rampant amongst the hardboiled detective novel), there’s no
denying that this is a thrilling, complex classic worthy of inclusion on any
list. Plus, it’s where we meet Philip Marlowe for the very first time. Library catalog link.
This might just
be the greatest hardboiled detective novel ever published in this country. Yes,
still. Immensely influential, immensely entertaining, and excellently written,
it is both a rollicking example of the genre and transcendent of the same. Library catalog link.
A thrilling
classic from the grand dame of mystery. It was tempting to choose And Then
There Were None, which still stands as the best-selling mystery novel of
all time, but Orient is not only better but also features the detective
Hercule Poirot, Christie’s most famous creation and the only fictional
character to have gotten an obituary in The New York Times. Library catalog link.
That’s right,
you sleuth: this is not a novel, but you’re going to have to allow me this one
cheat on Poe’s account. After all, Poe basically invented the genre, and “The
Murders in the Rue Morgue,” in which Dupin first appears, is widely considered
the first-ever detective story, and influenced all that came after. And
besides, Arthur Conan Doyle basically took Dupin and his unnamed confidante,
slapped pretty names on them, dropped them off in London, and created the
largest detective franchise of all time. Plus: these stories are amazing. Library catalog link.
In this
mystery-cum-Gothic romance, a young woman marries an older man only to be
plunged into the swirling secrets surrounding his first wife’s demise. Another
classic of every genre. Library catalog link.
This
speculative mystery features all the classics of noir: an arranged accident, a
scapegoat, elevator inspectors. Er, maybe that last bit is more unusual.
Whitehead’s excellent detective novel, set during an alternative version of the
Harlem Renaissance, investigates race and society as well as being a terribly
good story. Library catalog link.
Here’s another
compelling mystery set in an alternative version of the universe we know, this
one featuring one of the best homicide detectives you’ll meet in any medium and
not a little investigation of Judaism. Library catalog link.
Ishiguro
uses the trappings of the detective novel to get at the thing that always
fascinates him: the swirling inner workings of a mind ill at ease. Uneven but
mesmerizing and sometimes brilliant, this deconstructionist’s detective story
investigates the investigator. Library catalog link.
The first in
Himes’ legendary series of crime noir introduces us to Coffin Ed Johnson and
Grave Digger Jones and the dirty, rampaging, blood-soaked streets of their
Harlem. A giant of the genre. Library catalog link.
Sometimes cited
as the first true mystery novelist, Collins is a must, and this book is as
gripping as they come. A nod should go to his later work The Moonstone,
too, which T.S. Eliot called the “first and greatest of English detective
novels,” but falls just below The Woman in White on this reader’s
personal radar. Library catalog link.
Sherlock Holmes
will continue to skulk around this list, and good luck to anyone trying to stop
him. Faye’s Dust and Shadow is a prime example of what a Holmes pastiche
can do when it’s really, really good — solve the Jack the Ripper murders, for
instance. Library catalog link.
One of
contemporary fiction’s established greats, Auster uses the convention of the
detective to get at something else entirely, creating his own, meta-detective
genre and twisting the reader inside and out in the process. Library catalog link.
In this novel,
one of the best of Mosley’s many great books and the first of his Easy Rawlins
mysteries, an unemployed World War II vet gets a strange job offer: to find a
missing woman. So begins a truly great series of mysteries. Library catalog link.
A spy novel
that reinvented spies in literature — and questioned the morality of just about
everyone. Possibly the best spy novel ever written. Library catalog link.
In 1970, Hansen
gave us Dave Brandstetter, the first openly gay private eye in the mystery
genre. “When I sat down to write ‘Fadeout’ in 1967, I wanted to write a good,
compelling whodunit, but I also wanted to right some wrongs,” Hansen said.
“Almost all the folksay about homosexuals is false. So I had some fun turning
clichés and stereotypes on their heads in that book. It was easy.” In this wry
and rollicking novel, he accomplished that and more. Library catalog link.
Everyone’s
favorite historical murder mystery set in a monastery, this big, postmodern
novel is smart as hell and twice as entertaining. Library catalog link.
Rinehart is
known as the “American Agatha Christie,” though her first novel predates
Christie’s by about 14 years. The Circular Staircase is widely
considered the first in the “Had-I-But-Known” school of murder mystery writing,
and is also widely considered to be amazing. Plus, she’s the person who
originated the phrase “the butler did it.” Can’t argue with that. Library catalog link.
This novel (by
Joan Didion’s husband!) is a lyrical, literary mystery about a mysterious
murder based on the “Black Dahlia” case in LA. So good it transcends any label
you’d care to throw at it, other than “amazing.” Library catalog link.
Millar’s novel,
often overlooked nowadays, is a Gothic thriller featuring a wealthy heiress
being stalked by an alluring stranger. And then, twist ending! In 1956, the
book won the Edgar Award for best novel. Library catalog link.
This
1951 detective novel by one of the queens of the genre follows a modern
Scotland Yard detective as he investigates the crimes of Richard III. Not only
an engaging mystery but an important book that questions the way we make and
understand history. Library catalog link.
Because
everyone loves a really good liar — not to mention an ashtray as murder weapon.
Fun fact: Highsmith’s most famous work won the Grand Prix de Littérature
Policière for best international crime novel in 1957. Library catalog link.
A perennially
popular thriller about an assassin sent to kill Charles de Gaulle that has
influenced more than one actual would-be assassin. Not that that should put you
off — it’s just that good. Library catalog link.
Lehane has
already established himself as one of the best contemporary mystery and crime
writers around. His 2001 novel is arguably his best, a twisty mystery of three
best friends, abuse, and murder. Not to be missed. Library catalog link.
The funniest
book about a used car salesman plotting to kill his wife that you ever shall
read. Library catalog link.
This gripping
and much-lauded literary mystery took the world by storm in 2007, and for good
reason. It’s not only a deft police procedural-cum-psychological thriller, but
a captivating investigation into modern Ireland and personal memory. Library catalog link.
You know this
novel as the book that spawned the classic Otto Preminger film. Like so many,
it’s more than worth reading, too — the most suspense you’ll ever feel in a
courtroom, even if you’ve been arrested (probably). Library catalog link.
This is one of
the earliest novels featuring that now tried-and-true “man on the run” plotline
(read: every action movie ever). Plus, a spy-riddled mystery that can’t be
beat. Library catalog link.
Follett’s spy
thriller set during World War II explores the mystery of war and (but of
course!) of the human heart. The book won him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best
Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. Library catalog link.
Spillane’s 1947
novel debuted Mike Hammer, the not-so-subtly named PI who would be around for
18-odd future books plus a ‘50s radio series. One of the classics, see? Library catalog link.
The first
installment of Neely’s stellar series starring Blanche, an African-American
“domestic” for a dysfunctional family in the post-emancipation era. She is on
the run and, of course, also something of a detective herself. The novel won
the Agatha Award and the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, and the Macavity
Award for Best First Mystery upon its publication in 1992. Library catalog link.
No potboiler
here, but an icy, beautiful book about a girl who connects with the snow and
nothing else. Of course, there’s a murder mystery, but there’s also Smilla and
her Danish/Inuit heritage, icebreaker ships, and old Copenhagen conspiracies.
Truly lovely, and a haunting story to boot. Library catalog link.
Greene didn’t
care much for this book; he considered the movie version the final product, and
this novella just the draft before the draft. But there’s no denying Greene’s
skill with a pen, and this great little spy book, set in World War II Vienna,
proves him wrong. Library catalog link.
This neo-noir
novel, based on the notoriously unsolved LA homicide, investigates murder,
insanity, corruption, all that good stuff. Widely remembered as the book that
elevated Ellroy from the genre ghetto and burned him into the minds of all the
literary snobs. Library catalog link.
Nesbø
is a modern master of the Nordic crime novel, and this chilling (that’s
right) mystery is one of his best. Library catalog link.
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For all its
gender politics, hacker style, and bleak brutality, Larsson’s book is still a
well-crafted locked-room (er, if the locked-room is an island) mystery with a
twist. Agatha Christie would be proud, even if she couldn’t stomach it. Library catalog link.
In this 1942
novel told from multiple perspectives, Caspary deftly manipulates the
constraints of the genre to investigate not only the death of Laura Hunt but
class and sexual politics at large. Not to mention the way a man can fall in
love with a memory. Library catalog link.
Another Edgar
Award winner for best novel. In this, a man meets the woman of his childhood
dreams, a famous femme fatale, but it turns out she’s in trouble. Could be the
perfect opportunity — for what, though, is the question. Library catalog link.
There has never
been a more delightful detective than Mma Precious Ramotswe, the first female private investigator in Botswana. Luckily, there are a lot of books after this
one. Library catalog link.
