Considering the number of times my books have been packed, moved, culled, and been lost or destroyed by movers since 1987, I have no idea how this little checklist of mystery writers has survived for the last thirty-five years or so. The main thing it has going for it in that department, I suppose, is that it is so slim and lightweight that I can always find a place to tuck it away - and forget about it for another few years.
Anyway, this morning I decided to thumb through it again, and got to wondering about some of the mysterious authors on the checklist that I've never read. Keep in mind that even in 1987 many of these authors were already considered pioneers in the mystery genre, and most had extensive back catalogues to explore.
QUESTION: Are you very familiar with any of these names, and which would you recommend as a place to begin exploring the list?
- Catherine Aird (1930- )
- Margaret Allingham (1904-1966)
- Charlotte Armstrong (1905-1969)
- Josephine Bell (1897-1987)
- Anthony Berkeley (1893-1970)
- Earl Derr Biggers (1884-1933)
- Nicholas Blake (1904-1972)
- Christianna Brand (1907-1988)
- John Buchan (1875-1940)
- W.R. Burnett (1889-1982)
- Gwendoline Butler (1926-2013)
- Leslie Charteris (1907-1993)
- Elizabeth Daly (1878-1967)
- Dorothy Salisbury Davis (1916-2014)
- Mignon G. Eberhart (1899-1996)
- Nicolas Freeling (1927-2003)
- R. Austin Freeman (1862-1943)
- Andrew Garve (1908-2001)
- Jonathan Gash (1933- )
- Cyril Hare (1900-1958)
- H.R.F. Keating (1926-2011)
- Richard and Frances Lockridge (1898-1982) (1896-1963)
- Philip MacDonald (1899-1961)
- John Rhode (1884-1965)
- Arthur V. Upfield (1888-1964)
- Henry Wade (1887-1969)
- Sara Woods (1922-1985)
I've read one of Anthony Berkeley's mysteries and thought it was fun. And I think Hitchcock made a movie of one of John Buchan's novels. The only other two that I've heard of is Margaret Allingham and Josephine Bell, though I haven't read either one of them. Fun little checklist of mystery authors you've got there. :D
ReplyDeleteBuchan wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps, and that was an early Hitchcock move that I don't remember ever seeing. It must have been a success for both of them, though, because I see the book and the movie mentioned still every so often. The Josephine Bell name reminds me of some major author who used "Bell" as a pen name but I can't remember who that was.
DeleteHi Sam, thank you for this list because I have not read anyone on it I am embarrassed to say. I keep telling myself I want to read Margery Allingham and Catherine Aird who I have heard good things about. This list opens up new possibilities.
ReplyDeleteThose two surnames sound more familiar to me than any of the others on the list, probably for good reason. I almost left them off for that reason but decided to go ahead and put them on because I know absolutely zero about them. It's kind of scary that so many successful writers are almost totally forgotten within just two or three generations of their peak popularity. Makes me wonder which ones so popular today will be little more than footnotes in some weird version of a wikipedia-like knowledge base 75 years from now.
DeleteI have read great things about Margaret Allingham and want to read her novels, she might be a good one to start with.
ReplyDeleteThird mention of Allingham in a row...now I know where to start. Project Gutenberg has surprisingly little of the work of the group as a whole, I've found, and I didn't see any of hers. So I"ll have to look a little harder.
DeleteI went through a Mignon G. Eberhart phase when I was in college (early '90s). I found a bunch of them at a used book store - I remember enjoying the Sarah Keate series.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that information, Amy. I'll see what I can find from the Sarah Keate series.
DeleteOooh, now let's see. John Buchan wrote 39 Steps and other Richard Hannay books that have been made into films or TV series. He was Governor General of Canada at one stage but also found time to write a 'lot' of books, adventure yarns etc., set in Scotland. I've read a few of the others too - R. Austin Freeman (good stories), Margery Allingham, Anthony Berkeley (others like him, I'm not keen), Cyril Hare (read one excellent book), Nicholas Blake is a pseudonym for Cecil Day Lewis (Daniel's father) I haven't read any but people think he's good. Christiana Brand has a good reputation but I've yet to try her. Leslie Charteris wrote The Saint of course, I grew up on that TV series. I would say that's a pretty good list of authors, Sam!
ReplyDeleteCath, I kind of figured that you would turn out to be a wealth of information since so many on the list are British, but this is almost overwhelming. Wow, thanks. I'll be referring to your comments for the rest of the year, I suspect. Hope you're feeling better today...
DeleteDoing ok, thanks, Sam. Two drs. told me to have a quiet few days so I'm following instructions (Hubby is shocked) and enjoying a sci-fi book, The Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's 600 pages but at 50 pages a day it speeds along quite nicely.
DeleteThat's the way to do it . You might even enjoy the "down time" a bit. Hang in there.
DeleteSorry to have missed this earlier.
ReplyDeleteI am a big fan of Catherine Aird, Charlotte Armstrong, Earl Derr Biggers, and Nicholas Blake. Aird writes the Inspector Sloan series; I have read seven of them, six since I started blogging. I haven't read that much by Charlotte Armstrong; I think her standalone novels are the best. She also wrote some very good short stories. I read The Unsuspected which was made into a film with Claude Rains. Both are good. I have read four of Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan novels. My husband is also a fan of Biggers. I read a good number of Nicholas Blake's books when I was younger, and have reread some of those more recently. The best known is The Beast Must Die, which has a unique structure.
I read a lot of books by Elizabeth Daly and Cyril Hare when I was younger. Some readers like them a lot, others not so much. Elizabeth Daly's main character was a bookseller and amateur sleuth. Some of Cyril Hare's books I loved, others were so so. I read and liked all of the Francis Pettigrew series; a good standalone is An English Murder aka The Christmas Murder
I cannot believe that I missed Margery Allingham on that list. She is absolutely one of my favorites on the list. Although I love some of Christie's books, I put Allingham above her. I have reread at least nine of her Albert Campion books since I started blogging. The Tiger in the Smoke is one of the best known, but not my favorite.
I am overwhelmed. How in the world have you managed to read so many of what to me are completely obscure mystery writers. It's almost as if you had the list in front of you a long time ago and you've been checking them off ever since. I really appreciate your comments on the various authors, and I'll be paying attention to them as I begin to explore the list in a couple of weeks. Thanks so much.
DeleteFor most of my reading life, I only read mysteries, and when I was younger, I read what I could find on the shelves at the library. Even then I focused on older mysteries, I don't know why.
DeleteA good number of those authors I read when I was in my 20s and 30s (I guess). There are some on the list that I only read since blogging and I would like to read more of: Gwendolyn Butler, Andrew Garve, Christianna Brand. The first two authors are harder to find. Christianna Brand wrote one novel that is widely praised and was made into a movie: Green for Danger (the Inspector Cockrill series). Others get mixed reviews.
I think it all really worked out well for you, Tracy. You have to have read as much from that era as almost anyone out there anymore...and I mean that in a nice way. lol
DeleteCatherine Aird is my favorite from your list - she is not a Golden Age of Mystery writer, however, so if that is what you are in the mood for, I suppose I would choose Allingham. I found some of these classic authors a bit dull - Berkeley and Lockridge. My parents once read a lot of Andrew Garve - I reviewed one a few years ago and it was good but not exceptional. I spent a summer many years ago reading all of Mignon Eberhart's books so I must have liked them but they didn't stick with me. Sara Woods is probably another good bet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input. It's not so much a Golden Age Mystery Writer that I'm looking for as the fact that I feel like I have so many holes in my reading when it comes to the mystery genre. That's pretty much the case for me in every genre, I'm sure, but I have to start somewhere. lol
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