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Post by hi224 on Sept 15, 2018 4:13:45 GMT
and a underrated work?.
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Post by wickedkittiesmom on Sept 15, 2018 19:14:29 GMT
I love to read "cozy" mysteries but my favorite "non-Cozy" mystery writers are the late Sue Grafton, the late Tony Hillerman, and The Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George. I don't often read reviews so I can't name an underrated work.
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Bargle
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Post by Bargle on Sept 17, 2018 12:16:47 GMT
I've read the most by John Creasey, over 100, but he's probably the most prolific mystery writer ever, having written over 500. Next would be Agatha Christie, then Dell Shannon/Linington/Egan and a pile of authors in the 15 to 25 books range. I'm a sucker for a good series.
ETA: I can't think of an under-rated book, just forgotten authors, which isn't quite the same thing.
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Post by theravenking on Sept 19, 2018 22:04:26 GMT
Currently Peter Lovesey is one of my favourite mystery writers. I especially enjoy his books featuring Superintendent Peter Diamond of Bath CID.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 20, 2018 16:57:35 GMT
John Dickson Carr.
Books written more like adventures—in the vein of Doyle, Kipling, Chesterton, Stevenson—than mysteries, with verve and color and constant excitement. Instant hook of the “impossible crime”—how on earth could this have been done? Action and atmosphere, long, complex, yet comprehensible. More thematic than Christie, Carrian themes consistent and telling. Unlike most mystery authors, re-readable. Went to historical fiction later in career, but always could change genre quickly without sacrificing theme and character.
Best Books
Mysteries:
The Corpse in the Waxworks (’32)
Hag’s Nook (’33)
The Red Widow Murders (’35)
The Unicorn Murders (’35)
The Arabian Nights Murder (’36)
The Burning Court (’37)
The Crooked Hinge (’38)
The Reader is Warned (’39)
He Who Whispers (’46) ____________________________
Historical:
The Bride of Newgate (’50)
The Devil in Velvet (’51)
Fear is the Same (’56) ______________________________
Non-Fiction:
The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey (’36)
The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (’46)
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 20, 2018 17:05:41 GMT
Also: Gladys Mitchell. GM, “The Great Gladys,” did some of the most bizarre books ever written. The plots are insane, yet understandable; the characterizations humanistic and convincing; the writing evocative without becoming purple; and, as critic Nick Fuller wrote, they’re fairy-tales for grown-ups. Mrs. Bradley, GM’s psychiatrist-sleuth, is possibly the most memorable detective character of them all—a sympathetic witch and murderess! Just nuts, yet wonderful—like The Avengers, The Saint, or The Prisoner. Best Books Death at the OperaThe Saltmarsh Murders (Christie’s The Murder at the Vicarage as seen in Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland) Come Away, Death
When Last I Died
The Rising of the Moon
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Post by hi224 on Sept 20, 2018 17:15:17 GMT
John Dickson Carr. Books written more like adventures—in the vein of Doyle, Kipling, Chesterton, Stevenson—than mysteries, with verve and color and constant excitement. Instant hook of the “impossible crime”—how on earth could this have been done? Action and atmosphere, long, complex, yet comprehensible. More thematic than Christie, Carrian themes consistent and telling. Unlike most mystery authors, re-readable. Went to historical fiction later in career, but always could change genre quickly without sacrificing theme and character. Best BooksMysteries: The Corpse in the Waxworks (’32) Hag’s Nook (’33) The Red Widow Murders (’35) The Unicorn Murders (’35) The Arabian Nights Murder (’36) The Burning Court (’37) The Crooked Hinge (’38) The Reader is Warned (’39) He Who Whispers (’46) ____________________________ Historical: The Bride of Newgate (’50) The Devil in Velvet (’51) Fear is the Same (’56) ______________________________ Non-Fiction: The Murder of Sir Edmund Godfrey (’36) The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (’46) Thx.
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Post by mikef6 on Sept 21, 2018 21:15:02 GMT
One writer I have always liked but who stood in the shadow of Sue Grafton is Linda Barnes and her female private eye Carlotta Carlyle. For one thing, Barnes was never as prolific as Grafton. There are only 12 Carlotta Carlyle novels to the twenty some of Grafton, with the last, "Lie Down With The Devil," coming way back in 2008. Still, I highly recommend her work.
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Post by Morgana on Sept 22, 2018 10:51:56 GMT
Agatha Christie P. D. James Josephine Tey Sarah Caudwell Ngaoi Marsh John Dickson Carr Sarah Caudwell is not very well known among lovers of mystery books, but she should be.
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Post by louise on Sept 26, 2018 15:47:48 GMT
Agatha Christie is myfavourite, she is way ahead of everyone else.
I like the Hildegarde Withers books by Stuart Palmer, which I don't think are very well known nowadays.The Blackboard Murders is my favourite one.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 26, 2018 16:01:32 GMT
Have you seen the ‘30s Withers film-adaptations with Edna May Oliver, louise? They’re great. I’m really fond of Murder on a Honeymoon (based on Palmer’s The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree), which has a really good Agatha Christie-type surprise murderer.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 26, 2018 16:05:07 GMT
Agatha Christie P. D. James Josephine Tey Sarah Caudwell Ngaoi Marsh John Dickson Carr Sarah Caudwell is not very well known among lovers of mystery books, but she should be. I’m a fan of all of them as well, Morgana, except for Caudwell, whose books I’ve never read. Where should one start with her? And what are your favorite works for each writer? I’d say Death on the Nile for Christie, Shroud for a Nightingale for James (though I prefer Cordelia Gray to Dalgliesh), To Love and Be Wise for Tey, Final Curtain for Marsh, and The Crooked Hinge for Carr. Of the grandes dames of crime, by the way, I’m also a fan of Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham; Allingham’s sadly little known nowadays, unfortunately. Like Gladys Mitchell, she didn’t follow a rigorous pattern but, rather, was an experimenter who tried many different techniques, styles, and sub-genres inside the format of the detective-story. (The early works are Ruritanian thrillers, Police at the Funeral, Flowers for the Judge, and The Case of the Late Pig Christie-esque detective stories, Dancers in Mourning and The Fashion in Shrouds novels of character with a smaller mystery element, and More Work for the Undertaker a Dickensian work, à la Bleak House.)
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Post by Morgana on Sept 26, 2018 17:29:06 GMT
Agatha Christie P. D. James Josephine Tey Sarah Caudwell Ngaoi Marsh John Dickson Carr Sarah Caudwell is not very well known among lovers of mystery books, but she should be. I’m a fan of all of them as well, Morgana, except for Caudwell, whose books I’ve never read. Where should one start with her? And what are your favorite works for each writer? I’d say Death on the Nile for Christie, Shroud for a Nightingale for James (though I prefer Cordelia Gray to Dalgliesh), To Love and Be Wise for Tey, Final Curtain for Marsh, and The Crooked Hinge for Carr. Of the grandes dames of crime, by the way, I’m also a fan of Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham; Allingham’s sadly little known nowadays, unfortunately. Like Gladys Mitchell, she didn’t follow a rigorous pattern but, rather, was an experimenter who tried many different techniques, styles, and sub-genres inside the format of the detective-story. (The early works are Ruritanian thrillers, Police at the Funeral, Flowers for the Judge, and The Case of the Late Pig Christie-esque detective stories, Dancers in Mourning and The Fashion in Shrouds novels of character with a smaller mystery element, and More Work for the Undertaker a Dickensian work, à la Bleak House.) Sarah Caudwell only wrote four mystery novels, so I don't think it really matters where you start, though I think I first got to love her wit in 'Thus Was Adonis Murdered'. For Tey, I think my favourite book of hers is "Miss Pym Disposes". It is a very slow paced book, but I love it even more than 'The Daughter of Time', which is my 2nd favourite book of hers. Christie's 'Sad Cypress' is one of my favourites of hers, if not the favourite. I'm a fan of Sayers too, by the way. I don't remember which of her books was a favourite, because I read them a long time ago. Same goes for Marsh and Carr. I don't remember reading any Allingham.
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Post by Nalkarj on Sept 26, 2018 17:34:45 GMT
I think you’d like Allingham, Morgana. It’s difficult to get a handle on her writing because she changed tones so often, as I mentioned, but she’s very concerned with character and is a gifted prose-stylist. I’ll take a look at Thus Was Adonis Murdered. Thanks!
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Post by jimanchower on Oct 10, 2018 7:06:00 GMT
I love Raymond Chandler. I don’t think his work is underrated though.
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 10, 2018 13:31:38 GMT
I love Raymond Chandler. I don’t think his work is underrated though. I also love Chandler. Quick personal anecdote: I was writing a story recently and thought up a Chandler-esque simile—and then I realized that it was so Chandler-esque that it wouldn’t fit in anyone else’s work but his. Putting it in there would take the reader out of my story. That’s how much Chandler dominated his style. I think an underrated Chandler is The Lady in the Lake, his take on the classical detective-story that he criticized so much in The Simple Art of Murder (it even uses an old Ellery Queen plot-point!), and I’m also a big fan of his short-stories. “Red Wind” and “The Pencil” are pretty much perfect.
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Post by Nalkarj on Oct 10, 2018 13:35:36 GMT
I mentioned Gladys Mitchell above, and I’d like to note that in reading everything written now about the first female Dr. Who (I’m not a Doctor Who fan, though I’ve long wanted to see the original show), I would have liked to have seen a Mrs. Bradley-esque “Doctor.” Nick Fuller (a Gladys Mitchell fan as well) brought up (and I’ve noticed it too from the clips I’ve seen) that, other than her being female, Jodie Whittaker is a safe, even traditional choice.
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Post by llltdesq on Oct 10, 2018 16:48:53 GMT
Anna Katharine Green and Jacques Futrelle.
Futrelle went down with the Titanic.
Green was mentioned by Agatha Christie as an influence.
May this find you happy and healthy.
Robert Reynolds Tucson AZ
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Post by hi224 on Oct 11, 2018 21:47:09 GMT
I love Raymond Chandler. I don’t think his work is underrated though. I also love Chandler. Quick personal anecdote: I was writing a story recently and thought up a Chandler-esque simile—and then I realized that it was so Chandler-esque that it wouldn’t fit in anyone else’s work but his. Putting it in there would take the reader out of my story. That’s how much Chandler dominated his style. I think an underrated Chandler is The Lady in the Lake, his take on the classical detective-story that he criticized so much in The Simple Art of Murder (it even uses an old Ellery Queen plot-point!), and I’m also a big fan of his short-stories. “Red Wind” and “The Pencil” are pretty much perfect. We need a good adaptation of Lady in the Lake I was never huge on The Montgomery version.
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Post by marianne48 on Oct 11, 2018 22:54:27 GMT
Agatha Christie--The A.B.C. Murders Josephine Tey--The Singing Sands Like them or hate them (sometimes at the same time)--the bizarre Yellowthread Street books by William Marshall
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