Top 10 golden age detective novels

A decade or so ago I put together my own Best Mysteries but I haven’t revisited it in the new century. I did it a little differently. If I thought that any particular author deserved more than one title on the listing, I named them under the writer’s entry.

The only one I share with the The Guardian’s choices is “And Then There Were None,” however I do approve of the inclusion of “Magpie Murders” by Anthony Horowitz, also his “The Word Is Murder.” J.K. Rowling (writing as as Robert Galbraith) has a superior private eye series featuring Cormoran Strike, a weight challenged man, the illegitimate son of a famous rock star.

Here is my Top 10 list along with a HM section.

1. The Hound Of The Baskervilles / Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)

2. The Poisoned Chocolates Case / Anthony Berkeley (1929)

3. The Three Coffins / John Dickson Carr (1935)

4. And Then There Were None / Agatha Christie (1939)
The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd / Agatha Christie (1926)
The ABC Murders / Agatha Christie (1936)

5. I, The Jury / Mickey Spillane (1947)
My Gun Is Quick / Mickey Spillane (1950)

6. The Little Sister / Raymond Chandler (1949)
The Long Goodbye / Raymond Chandler (1954)

7. The Daughter of Time / Josephine Tey (1952)

8. The Finishing Stroke / Ellery Queen (1958)
The Lamp Of God: A Short Novel / Ellery Queen (1940)

9. The Zebra Striped Hearse / Ross MacDonald (1962)
The Goodbye Look / Ross MacDonald (1969)
Sleeping Beauty / Ross MacDonald (1973)

10. Epitaphs / Bill Pronzini (1993)
Quicksilver / Bill Pronzini (1984)
Blowback / Bill Pronzini (1977)
Sentinels / Bill Pronzini (1997)

Others that, on any particular day, might well drift up into the numbered list.

Warrant For X by Phillip McDonald (1938)

The Sleeping Car Murders / Sébastian Japrisot (1962)
The Lady In The Car With Glasses And A Gun / Sébastian Japrisot (1966)
A Very Long Engagement / Sébastian Japrisot (1991)

Points And Lines / Seichō Matsumoto (1970)

The Laughing Policeman / Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (1970)

The January Corpse / Neil Albert (1991)

Simisola / Ruth Rendell (1995)

The Man Who Cancelled Himself / David Handler (1995)

Firestorm / Nevada Barr (1996)
Blind Descent / Nevada Barr (1995)

Oof, my top 10, offhand, only allowing myself to choose one work per author (and limiting myself to novels, or else The Collected Father Brown would definitely be on here):

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Valley of Fear (less spookiness than Hound, but better writing/atmospherics; only one of the Holmes novels to be a real, puzzle-plot mystery with tons of clues and a SURPRISE murderer. Great flashback to a town besieged by a criminal gang, had to inspire Hammett [Red Harvest], so this one book influenced both the puzzle-plot school and the hardboiled school. Holmes at his best—brilliant pure brainwork)

Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile (I usually prefer AC’s non-series books—Towards Zero, Endless Night, The Pale Horse—but this is her best as a mystery. Stylistically so-so, but characterization of victim and main suspect very good, and one of the greatest deceptions in the genre)

Gladys Mitchell, Come Away, Death (Mrs. Bradley, a witch and murderess who’s also our detective character, has to stop a lunatic from sacrificing his children to the Greek gods, and stop several other murders along the way. Hilarious, unusual, wonderfully written)

John Dickson Carr, He Who Whispers (hard to choose a favorite Carr, but this is up there: the hero falls in love with an apparent murderess who may also be a vampire. Terrifying, with uncharacteristically deep characterization and that whispering at the window scene, with the brilliant method)

Christianna Brand, Tour de Force (also hard to choose a favorite Brand, as she was probably the best classic-style murder-mystery writer of them all, but the audaciousness of this one’s structure is jaw-dropping)

Ellery Queen, The Four of Hearts (I’m not a huge Queen fan, certainly not as much as I once was, though the short stories are usually excellent. This one, though—funny, tons of clues, genuinely surprising final twist)

Michael Innes, Hamlet, Revenge! (huge book, massive cast of characters, though the detective’s a non-entity—but Dickensian scope. As one critic wrote, probably the best escape plan in all of fiction [at least tied with The Count of Monte Cristo]. Highly intelligent; excellent technique that should be studied by all mystery writers)

Helen McCloy, The Slayer and the Slain (if it’s really a mystery, rather than psychological suspense or horror… [If not, Through a Glass, Darkly]. Scary and suspenseful, especially as final revelation dawns on reader)

Ross Macdonald, The Chill (because of criteria, I left off most excellent but non-plot-focused hardboiled writers, e.g. Hammett and Chandler, but Macdonald was as much a puzzle-plotter as hardboiled. Characterization and style first-rate, as usual, with great humanity. Chilling in its final revelation, as befits title)

John Sladek, Black Aura (not really Golden Age even by a stretch, but so good I couldn’t leave it off. Best Carr book Carr never wrote, with smooth prose and excellent clues. Hilarious, particularly in the exposé of spiritualism [which Sladek hated]. Best detective character in the genre other than Mrs. Bradley)

One author I’d greatly appreciate recommendations for is Ruth Rendell.

I used to despise her stuff in my the-only-good-mystery-is-a-clue-packed-Carr/Christie/Queen-style-puzzle-plot phase, but I discovered her short stories a few years ago and loved them (and, though I still love those kinds of mysteries, I’ve gotten over that phase). “The Vinegar Mother,” “The Wrong Category,” and especially “The Fallen Curtain” are dark, sinister, and shocking, with what blogger-critic Nick Fuller called Christie’s gift for the misleading statement, coupled with Roald-Dahlian irony and inevitability. (I didn’t put the Christie comment in quotes because for the life of me I can’t find Nick’s actual quotation anywhere on the ’net…though I know I read it at some point, and I’m almost positive it was he who wrote it.)

I’d love to read some more short stories in that vein, but I’m reading a Rendell short-story collection, The Copper Peacock, right now and not liking it as much. While her writing is as strong as ever, the twists just aren’t that good: they’re either obvious or anticlimactic or both. Anyone have recommendations for Rendell stories? It’s entirely possible Peacock is just a bad batch.

I’m going to have to start on the novels at some point, but Insp. Wexford bores me.

If I'm not mistaken, the actual Golden Age was from 1921 to 1941 or basically the time between the two World Wars. This list has barely any books from that age on it.