So, given there was an immediate outcry of “What about –?” based on the long-long-long list I mentioned in the previous entry, I thought it would be fun* to ask people who migrate here to name what I’m going to call Quintessential Crime Novels. Not best-ever because I don’t have the reading bona fides to rate books that authoritatively. But I think it is possible to argue that certain books shaped/influenced/changed the genre to a degree that they have certain bragging rights. Or should have!
One example: RED DRAGON. There is a whole slew of novels, including THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, that are derivative of RED DRAGON. I think the same could be said of Patricia Cornwell’s first novel, although I can’t remember the name.
I think I’d make a case for one of Lee Child’s Jack Reachers, but I’m not sure which one just yet. He didn’t invent the lone wolf, but he brought the archetype back at a time when most had retired it and imbued it with an extremely subtle political subtext — so subtle that everyone thinks Reacher is on his side.
Obviously, a James Lee Burke novel deserves a spot — but which one? With Elmore Leonard, I have no hesitation nominating STICK, which strikes me as one of the most perfect books ever written.
In short, imagine you are assembling a reading list for someone very green in crime fiction, but earnestly interested in the whole field. What would you nominate? Why?
“Eight Million Ways to Die” by Lawrence Block is probably the best modern PI novel and truly explores the idea that a crime novel should be about how a case works a detective, not the other way around. It’s one of the only books where the alcoholic PI seems like an actual alcoholic.
“And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie sets the template for almost every modern era mystery regardless of subgenre and set the stage for authors like Julie Spenser Fleming and Louise Penny who show that a traditional mystery doesn’t have to be all knitting and baking.
Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey
When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, Lawrence Block
Roseanna, Maj Sjowal and Per Wahloo
The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
All essential books IMHO.
I’m not a big fan of Patricia Cornwall anymore. I think she has become way too crazy in her writing style. As for books like “Silence of the Lambs” – ugh! Just not my style. I prefer crime novels with a more elegant writing style where the crime is told, but not exploited. I’ve stopped reading a couple of authors because of that bloody style. That’s why I often prefer British authors. Less gore, more style! I like the suggestion of older writers like Dorothy Sayers. I would recommend people like Peter Robinson and Stuart Macbride.
Presumed Innocent. Turow didn’t invent the courtroom thriller (at least not if you count TV and movies) but he did something really different with it. I’m not sure how influential the book actually was, only because the really amazing aspects of it are hard to duplicate. I just caught part of the movie the other day and wow, even in that form it’s held.
39 Steps was written by John Buchan, not Agatha Christie. The book and movie bear only resemblances to each other. He was the first to use the buzzing by the airplane, so well remembered by all from Hitchcock’s movie North by Northwest. His constant twists and turns and escapes were used long before 24 hit the TV screen.
Kate Atkinson’s “Case Histories” deserves a mention.
Can we count literary sleuthing and include A.S. Byatt’s “Possession”?
Henning Mankell must have a “best.”
“What the Dead Know” belongs with the best of the best.
Of course I meant to say “The LONG Goodbye” . . .
Ruth Rendell…anything she writes is good, although my personal favorite is “A Judgement in Stone.” The Inspector Wexford books are also interesting and very well written.
P. D. James…her early writing.
Dorothy Sayers absolutely deserves a place; I think she was sidestepped in the NPR poll because she doesn’t write “thrillers.”
Crumley’s THE LAST GOOD KISS is another given for me. He influenced a generation. I think Connelly deserves a spot, too, but can’t decide if it should be for THE POET or a Bosch.
And, yes, absolutely: PRESUMED INNOCENT is a book that matters.
I’d also think that Joan Hess and Margaret Maron deserve spots, and think THE BOOTLEGGER’S DAUGHTER is the Maron book I would nominate. I also think that Lauren Milne Henderson and Sparkle Hayter were at the forefront of a certain kind of amateur sleuth novel that married the old to the new in a memorable way.
I am thinking less contemporarily: Don’t you think Dorothy L. Sayers deserves a spot on this list? I would name Gaudy Night as a landmark novel for a certain kind of psychological insidiousness that we associate with Hitchcock films of the same period, like 39 Steps, which of course comes from Agatha Christie, who also deserves a place on this list, maybe for And Then There Were None.
Some that come to mind:
“A Study in Scarlet” – Arthur Conan Doyle
“The Case of the Velvet Claws” – Erle Stanley Gardner
“The Secret of the Old Clock” (1st Nancy Drew) – Carolyn Keene
“A Great Deliverance” (1st Ispector Lynley) – Elizabeth George
The James Lee Burke novel I’d pick is <i>In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead</i>; it’s not typical of the Robicheaux series, but I think it addresses all the themes that interest Burke as a writer. Among Lee Child’s books I’d choose <i>Persuader</i>, if only for that awesome opening scene.
Other quintessential crime novels:
Daphne DuMaurier, <i>Rebecca</i>
Agatha Christie, <i>And Then There Were None</i>
James Crumley, <i>The Last Good Kiss</i>
Raymond Chandler, <i>The Last Goodbye</i>
and another vote for <i>Gaudy Night</i>, one of my favorites.
CASE HISTORIES and WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS (which I may like even more) by Kate Atkinson.
Don Winslow has developed a writing style unlike anyone else’s–thriller as haiku? I think CALIFORNIA FIRE AND LIFE is the best expression of that style, though DAWN PATROL is pretty great. I’m midway through SAVAGES right now; this one may top the list.
Did anyone ever do more with the “underestimated hero” than Dick Francis? His first Sid Halley book, ODDS AGAINST, deserves remembering.
My vote for Lawrence Block is A TICKET TO THE BONEYARD, an amazing thriller, an unsurpassed portrait of NYC at the time, and a superb study in morality. For Block to write BONEYARD (a thriller) and GINMILL (a mystery, and another masterpiece) back to back was a remarkable achievement.
Love remembering all these favorites!
Also, S.J. Rozan deserves to be on the list. I love the Bill and Lydia books, but I might vote instead for ABSENT FRIENDS, still the best post-9/11 book I’ve read.
I wrote a big ole comment and it disappeared. Why does the internet hate me so?
So I’ll just throw in my one quick pick: Ross Thomas’ CHINAMANS’ CHANCE, a book I’ll trumpet ad nauseam.
I’ve read a jillion mysteries in the past few years, but I couldn’t say what books are quintessential. Here are some I would recommend to a friend starting on the genre:
The Sirens Sang of Murder – Sarah Caudwell (or any of her 4 books)
A Red Death or Gone Fishin’ – Walter Mosley
Garnet Hill or The Dead Hour – Denise Mina
The Likeness – Tana French
The Girl of His Dreams or Acqua Alta – Donna Leon
Brighton Rock – Graham Greene
The Long Goodbye – Raymond Chandler
Bangkok 8 – John Burdett
Minette Walters adds psychological twists and turns to her mysteries and seems undeservedly unknown on this side of the pond.
Harry Bosch was the first mythical character I developed a crush on and I vote “The Concrete Blond” as one of the best titles ever.
I love Thomas Perry’s Jane Whitefield novels. His detail is amazing in all of his books. “Pursuit” had me on the edge of my seat. Jane holds a special place, though.
The early Cornwells were really good, especially the first one. I stopped reading because they gave me nightmares. In some ways, they are more horror stories than crime ones. (A monster is running amok and must be stopped.)
I was asked to review one of her books later in the series, around #6 or #7. I felt she was switching gears, trying to make Scarpetta a larger-than-life superwoman. That’s not the kind of book I like to read, in general.
@Larraine: The first few books by Patricia Cornwell were wonderful. After that, her personal life got weird and it was reflected in her books. I have stopped reading her, but check out maybe the first three or four books she wrote.
Hammett’s RED HARVEST is one of those texts from which many things sprang, including Ross Thomas’s THE FOOLS IN TOWN ARE ON OUR SIDE and Ellroy’s L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, both of which should be on the list. Westlake’s KAHAWA is one of my favorites, but my favorite Richard Stark is THE SCORE (or KILLTOWN, if you prefer). The great Icelandic author Arnuldur Indridasson’s SILENCE OF THE GRAVE or forthcoming HYPOTHERMIA should be included, and a hearty second for A JUDGMENT IN STONE, one of the greatest books published in my lifetime.