Mysteries

[shakatany]

Gakked this from riani1: The Mystery Writers of America compiled a list of the top 100 Crime Novels of all time, organized into the top ten books in each of ten categories. The ones I've read are bold, the ones I've seen as a movie or TV production are italics, and the ones I've done both are bold with an asterisk. 

I appear to have read/seen a fair number of them.

Classics:

1 The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
2 Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allen Poe
3 The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
4 The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
5 Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
6 Trent's Last Case by E. Clerihew Bentley
7 The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart
8 The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
9 The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton
10 Dracula* by Bram Stoker

Suspense:

11 Rebecca* by Daphne du Maurier
12 Silence of the Lambs* by Thomas Harris
13 Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (I saw "Manhunter")
14 Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark
15 Laura* by Vera Caspary
16 Beast in View by Margaret Millar
17 A Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell
18 Rosemary's Baby* by Ira Levin
19 The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing
20 Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Hardboiled/Private Eye:

21 The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
22 The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
23 The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
24 Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
25 The Thin Man* by Dashiell Hammett
26 Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
27 I, the Jury by Mickey Spillane
28 A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
29 The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler
30 The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout

Police Procedural:

31 Dance Hall of the Dead by Tony Hillerman
32 The Laughing Policeman by Maj Sjowall
33 Gorky Park* by Martin Cruz Smith
34 A Thief of Time* by Tony Hillerman
35 The First Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders
36 Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh
37 The Steam Pig by James McCLure
38 The Choirboys by Joseph Wambaugh
39 Shroud for a Nightingale* by P.D. James
40 Ice by Ed McBain
41 In the Heat of the Night by John Ball

Espionage/Thriller:

42 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John Le Carre
43 A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
44 Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
45 The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
46 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre
47 The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
48 The Ipcress File by Len Deighton
49 Smiley's People by John le Carre
50 Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household
51 The Third Man by Graham Greene

Criminal:

52 The Godfather* by Mario Puzo
53 The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
54 Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
55 Little Caesar by W. R. Burnett
56 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
57 The Friends of Eddie Coyle by George V. Higgins
58 The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
59 Stick by Elmore Leonard
60 The Talented Mr.Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
61 Prizzis Honor by Richard Condon

Cozy/Traditional:

62 And Then There Were None*by Agatha Christie
63 Murder of Roger Ackroyd* by Agatha Christie
64 Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
65 The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers
66 Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers
67 Murder on the Orient Express* by Agatha Christie
68 Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
69 Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
70 The Three Coffins by John Dickson Carr
71 The Body in the Library* by Agatha Christie

Historical

72 The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
73 The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
74 The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer
75 Wobble to Death by Peter Lovesey
76 A Morbid Taste for Bones* by Ellis Peters
77 Time and Again by Jack Finney
78 Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
79 Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
80 The Devil in Velvet by John Dickson Carr
81 The Chinese Nail Murders by Robert Van Gulik

Humorous:

82 Fletch by Gregory Mcdonald
83 The Hot Rock by Donald E. Westlake
84 Bank Shot by Donald E. Westlake
85 God Save the Mark by Donald E. Westlake
86 Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen
87 Rest You Merry by Charlotte MacLeod
88 Dancing Aztecs by Donald E. Westlake
89 Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn Mccrumb
90 Home Sweet Homicide by Craig Rice
91 The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin

Legal/Courtroom:

92 Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow
93 Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver
94 Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie
95 Rumpole of the Bailey by John Clifford Mortimer
96 The Firm by John Grisham
97 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
98 A Time to Kill by John Grisham
99 The Case of the Velvet Claws* by Erle Stanley Gardner
100 The Burden of Proof by Scott Turow
101 The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk

Comments

Wow, I'm terrible.

[hillbillie.livejournal.com]

I've only read three of them: To Kill a Mockingbird,
Dracula,
and Rosemary's Baby.

And seen each in movie form, "Dracula" about as many times as there are versions.

Guess I'm not a very worthy mystery fan, huh.

Re: Wow, I'm terrible.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

Mystery novels are an acquired taste which I acquired at an early age reading "Nancy Drew" and "The Happy Hollisters". They had to chose 101 out of thousands of possibilities so there are plenty of other books written by authors listed and books by other mystery writers that I prefer to those chosen. The same may go for you.

Shakatany

[stretfordditto.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if 'God Save The Mark' by Donald E Westlake (my fave writer ever) goes by another name over there, 'cos I've not read that one and I need to read it if that's the case. Sometimes they change then name though when the books come out over here. 'Dancing Aztecs' goes by another name I think. That's one of my favourite books, I've read it countless times. I have most of his books.

Keep meaning to read 'The Name Of The Rose' but it's still sitting there in the bookcase...it's so thick!! I luf the film though.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

According to this (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/donald-e-westlake/) with both "God Save the Mark" and "Dancing Aztecs" he used the name Donald E. Westlake.

I too have a pile of books I mean to get around to reading someday.

Shakatany

[stretfordditto.livejournal.com]

Lol, I so do not explain myself very well ::sighs:: Pokerkitten says she never knows what I'm on about! :D I didn't mean his name, I meant the title of the book might be different lol. I know he sometimes writes under RS, I have two of those books, but they're not funny though they are good. I prefer the funny. :D I see he has some books I haven't read, thanks bunches for the link. I shall have to get my sister to get them for me (she has a credit card) ;)

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

On rereading your comment I think you did explain it only I didn't read ot correctly *sigh*. When I was young I bought the same Arthur C. Clarke book 3 times because first they changed the cover (I didn't know they did that) and then they changed the title for us Yanks

You're welcome for the link. Hope you and your sister are still on the road to recovery.

Shakatany

[stretfordditto.livejournal.com]

They change the covers of books all the time! My sister goes crazy about it. She buys romance type books by the yard and they're always changing the covers and she buys them by mistake. Grrr.

We're on the mend hopefully. Neck hurts a bit...