12 June 2007

Overlooked mysteries

ZUI this post from The Rap Sheet:
I e-mailed invitations to more than 100 crime novelists, book critics, and bloggers from all over the English-speaking world, asking them to choose the one crime/mystery/thriller novel they thought had been “most unjustly overlooked, criminally forgotten, or underappreciated over the years.”

The result was a list of 115 books, viz:
About the Author (2001), by John Colapinto
Anatomy of a Murder (1958), by Robert Traver
Any Cold Jordan (1987), by David Bottoms
Before I Die (1954), by Lionel White
Big City, Bad Blood (2007), by Sean Chercover
Blackburn (1993), by Bradley Denton
The Black Mass of Brother Springer (1958), by Charles Willeford
Blood Marks (1991), by Bill Crider
Bodies Are Dust (1931), by P.J. Wolfson
Bodies Electric (1993), by Colin Harrison
The Bridge of Sighs (2003), by Olen Steinhauer
The Burnt Orange Heresy (1971), by Charles Willeford
California Fire and Life (1999), by Don Winslow
Castles Burning (1979), by Arthur Lyons
The Caves of Steel (1954), by Isaac Asimov
The Chill (1964), by Ross Macdonald
Citizen Vince (2005), by Jess Walter
A Clod of Wayward Marl (2001), by Rick DeMarinis
Coffin’s Got the Dead Guy on the Inside (1998), by Keith Snyder
Cotton Comes to Harlem (1965), by Chester Himes
Crow In Stolen Colors (2000), by Marcia Simpson
Daddy Cool (1974), by Donald Goines
A Darker Place (1999), by Laurie R. King
The Dark Fields (2002), by Alan Glynn
The Dark Ride (1996), by Kent Harrington
The Deadly Percheron (1946), by John Franklin Bardin
The Depths of the Forest (2002), by Eugenio Fuentes
The Distance (2002), by Eddie Muller
Don’t Cry for Me (1952), by William Campbell Gault
The Doorbell Rang (1965), by Rex Stout [my favourite book from the Nero Wolfe series]
Dover Beach (1987), by Richard Bowker
Drama City (2005), by George Pelecanos
Early Autumn (1981), by Robert B. Parker
Eight Million Ways to Die (1982), by Lawrence Block [a good book, but my favourite Matt Scudder tale is When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes]
An Embarrassment of Corpses (1997), by Alan Beechey
Every Dead Thing (1999), by John Connolly
Fast One (1933), by Paul Cain
The Fiend in Human (2002), by John MacLachlan Gray
Finding Maubee (1972), by A.H.Z. Carr
The Franchise Affair (1948), by Josephine Tey
Fugitive Moon (1995), by Ron Faust
Funeral in Berlin (1964), by Len Deighton
Get Carter (1970, originally Jack’s Return Home), by Ted Lewis
Gramercy Park (2002), by Paula Cohen
The Guards (2001), by Ken Bruen
Gun Before Butter (1982), by Nicholas Freeling
Gun with Occasional Music (1994), by Jonathan Lethem
Hard Rain Falling (1966), by Don Carpenter
The Havana Room (2004), by Colin Harrison
High Tide (1970), by P.M. Hubbard
The Holm Oaks (1965), by P.M. Hubbard
Home Sweet Homicide (1944), by Craig Rice
How Like an Angel (1962), by Margaret Millar
The Human Stain (2000), by Philip Roth
Intent to Kill (1957), by Brian Moore
Interface (1974), by Joe Gores
Israel Rank (1907), by Roy Horniman
The Janissary Tree (2006), by Jason Goodwin
The Jugger (1965), by Richard Stark
A Killing Smile (2004), by Christopher G. Moore
Killing the Second Dog (1990), by Marek Hłasko
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1948), by Horace McCoy
Land of the Blind (2003), by Jess Walter
The Last Witness (2004), by K.J. Erickson
The Late Man (1993), by James Preston Girard
Legion (1983), by William Peter Blatty
The Lime Pit (1980), by Jonathan Valin
Lovely Mover (1998), by Bill James
The Lowlife (2001), by Alexander Baron
Madeline’s Ghost (1996), by Robert Girardi
The Manchurian Candidate (1959), by Richard Condon
Miami Blues (1984), by Charles Willeford
Miami Purity (1995), by Vicki Hendricks
The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal (1934), by Leslie Charteris
Money to Burn (1999), by Katy Munger
Murder Draws a Line (1940), by Willetta Ann Barber and R. F. Schabelitz
Never Come Back (1941), by John Mair
Night Dogs (1996), by Kent Anderson
Night of the Jabberwock (1951), by Fredric Brown
Night’s Black Agents (1933), by David Armstrong
No Highway (1948), by Nevil Shute
Obsession (1973), by Miles Tripp
The Old Dick (1981), by L.A. Morse
One for Hell (1952), by Jada M. Davis
The Pew Group (1980), by Anthony Oliver
The Red Right Hand (1978), by Joel Townsley Rogers
The Revenge of Kali-Ra (1999), by K.K. Beck
River of Darkness (1999), by Rennie Airth
Roseanna (1965), by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
The Rose of Tibet (1962), by Lionel Davidson
Run (2001), by Douglas E. Winter
Senseless (2001), by Stona Fitch
Seven Keys to Baldpate (1913), by Earl Derr Biggers
The Singapore Wink (1969), by Ross Thomas
Sleeping Dogs (1993), by Thomas Perry
The Small Back Room (1943), by Nigel Balchin
Sob Story (2007), by Carol Anne Davis
Solomon’s Vineyard (1941), by Jonathan Latimer
Spiral (1999), by Jeremiah Healy
Stamboul Train (1932), by Graham Greene
Still River (2005), by Harry Hunsicker
Stone City (1990), by Mitchell Smith
The Strangler (2007), by William Landay
Suspects (1985), by David Thomson
Swan Boats at Four (1995), by George V. Higgins
Texas by the Tail (1965), by Jim Thompson
The Thin Man (1934), by Dashiell Hammett
To Catch a Forger (1988), by Robert Wallace
Tomato Red (1998), by Daniel Woodrell
A Town of Masks (1952), by Dorothy Salisbury Davis
The Tropic of Night (2003), by Michael Gruber
True Grit (1968), by Charles Portis [yes, this is the book the John Wayne movie was based on; after seeing the movie, I just had to read the book]
The Underground Man (1971), by Ross Macdonald
Wild Horses (1999), by Brian Hodge
The Woman Who Married a Bear (1992), by John Straley

I've highlighted the titles of the five I've read. If I've read other books by the author, but not the one listed, I've highlighted the author's name.

No, I really haven't read anything by Ross MacDonald or Dashiell Hammett - at least, not that I remember. My own addition to this list would be one of the Asey Mayo books, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor, though I'm not sure which one. Or maybe Metzger's Dog, by Thomas Perry.

I'd say H/T to whoever it was that pointed me to The Rap Sheet, but unfortunately I've forgotten who it was. Sorry about that....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cómo atrair a Boa Sorte, A.H.Z.Carr, traduccao de Leónidas Gontijo de Carvalho, Brasil, 1967