HALLIE EPHRON: Earlier this summer, The New York Times published Sadie Stein's list of her "10 best escapist" mystery novels from the Golden Age (generally the period between the two world wars), capable of getting a reader hooked on the mystery genre.
I was pleased by how many I'd read, but surprised by how many I HADN'T read. Even authors I'd never heard of.
I was expecting the list to include "greats" like Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, John Dickson Carr, Earl Stanley Gardner... . But I was surprised by some of the authors whose work I've never read.
So, my dears, what do you think of this list? Have you read the books on the list, and what would you add, maybe one that got you started reading crime novels?
Here's Ms. Stein's list…
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
by Agatha Christie (1926)
A mystery featuring her delicious creation, Hercule Poirot, six years after she introduced him to the world in “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” in 1920. Ms. Stein calls it "a master class in red herrings, misdirection and unreliable narration, and it ends with perhaps the greatest twist of all time."
Fer-de-Lance
by Rex Stout (1934)
This is the first novel featuring the massively massive Nero Wolfe with his sidekick (Archie) who channels a Fred Astaire vibe. Wolfe never leaves his office, never mind his chair. Loves orchids and veal cordon bleu, and "gets" women not at all.
The Franchise Affair
by Josephine Tey (1948)
Stein calls this one an "unsettling and acid-tinged nail-biter." In it, an elderly woman and her daughter are accused of kidnapping a teenage orphan, but their defense counsel (Robert Blair) is convinced they are innocent. Based on a real 18th-century case, the novel was and remains as controversial.
The Case of the Lame Canary
by Erle Stanley Gardner (1937)
The 11th novel featuring defense attorney Perry Mason (and published long before the TV show featuring him and the lovely Della Street began), the intrigue begins when a gorgeous broad brings the eponymous injured bird to his office.
The Duke of York’s Steps
by Henry Wade (1929)
In Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Poole's second outing, a banker is found murdered near London’s Duke of York monument. It's known for its great final twist.
Fear Stalks the Village
by Ethel Lina White (1932)
Into an idyllic village comes a series of poison-pen letters. Joan Brook, companion to Lady d’Arcy, receives one. So many suspects, from the vicar to a lady novelist. Paranoia abounds.
The Blank Wall
by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding (1947)
At home in Connecticut while her husband fights in the Pacific, Lucia Holley tries to keep her teenage daughter safe from a creepy older man. Murder and blackmail on the home front, with Mom trying to keep everyone safe.
A Man Lay Dead
by Ngaio Marsh (1934)
A frivolous weekend party at an English country house with games that turn all too real. Enter handsome Roderick “Rory” Alleyn, intent on identifying the killer who planted an antique dagger in a guest’s back.
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
by Dorothy L. Sayers (1928)
Wealthy amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey solves another (his fourth) murder. An elderly general is found dead in his armchair at his "club" and his sister is found dead at home. Who inherits? Subtle insights into the fallout from the Great War, even for those most cosseted by British society.
The Tiger in the Smoke
by Margery Allingham (1952)
In gentleman detective Albert Campion's 14th case set in postwar London, his supposedly widowed cousin needs him to investigate whether her husband really died on D-Day.
The Hollow Man
by John Dickson Carr (1935) A great locked-room mystery featuring Dr. Gideon Fell (supposedly modeled on G.K. Chesterton.) A body, three Transylvanian brothers, faked deaths, live burials, and a magician keep the reader juggling clues.
RHYS BOWEN: I am also surprised to see names I never knew about! I have read every Christie, Sayers, Marsh and most Allingham but this is a Josephine Tey I’d never heard of before.
I’m trying to remember which was my first Christie. I think it was The Body in the Library.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I just read The Hollow Man for an article on locked room mysteries I wrote, and whoa, it is….dated. But seminal, so there’s that.
Wade, White, and Holding? NO idea! That’s so perplexing. I thought I was tuned in. I think I’ve read the rest, wait, no, not that particular Allingham, which I have to say is SUCH a good idea. And some of the others sound terrific.
My first Christie was Orient Express, still completely fabulous, and definitely got me hooked on the whole genre, but Ackroyd is the best. Got to agree. And oh, I was in LOVE with Roderick Alleyn. And Peter Wimsey.
LUCY BURDETTE: I believe I’ve only read the first two and wouldn’t want to take a quiz on their contents! My gateway drugs were Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins and the Hardy boys and Cherry Ames.
JENN McKINLAY: I’ve read five – Christie, Tey, Gardner, March and Sayers–but that was decades ago when I worked as a page at my local library in high school and my grandmother was addicted to mysteries so we read everything we could get our hands on by those authors.
I’ve never heard of Wade, White, or Holding, but I am absolutely tracking down a copy of White’s Fear Stalks the Village. It sounds fabulous!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I've read the Christie, the Marsh, the Sayers, the Allingham, and the Tey. I remember that while I loved some of Tey's other books (Brat Farrar!!) I didn't particularly like The Franchise Affair but I could not tell you the plot. Three of the authors, Wade, White, and Holding, I'd never even heard of! I I might have to look up Wade's The Duke of York's Steps!
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: As you may recall, I became a mystery writer after trying my hand at my then-reading favorite, science fiction, so I'm late catching up to the founding fathers and mothers. I'm still much more conversant with SF's Golden Age!
I've dipped in and out of several of these authors, but I clearly have a lot more to go. I'm surprised nothing by Mary Roberts Rinehart is included; she was a major American crime writer from the 'teens through the early forties, and she's credited with the (now old) term, "the butler did it!"
Hallie: So, Readers... what about you? Were there any "Golden Age" mystery writers whose work introduced (and hooked you) on the genre? Whose book would you add to this list??
I am surprised by the list; most of these names are unfamiliar to me and I have not read their books. [Agatha Christie, Earl Stanley Gardner, and Rex Stout are the only authors whose books I've read.] Like Lucy, it was Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey twins [or course!], and the Hardy boys that initially drew me into mysteries.
ReplyDeleteI believe Murder on the Orient Express was the first Agatha Christie book I read . . . .
I think TV (Masterpiece Mystery, Perry Mason TV show...) has shaped which of these classics we're all familiar with, though perhaps not actually "read".
DeleteOh, this is a fun list. At some point in my younger days, I read all of Marsh, Sayers and Allingham, and (I think) all of Tey, but I don't remember The Franchise Affair well. My favorite Tey is Brat Farrar, so I'm delighted to see you mention it. I've read something from all the others except for Holding and White, omissions I must rectify. I did read The Duke of York's Steps in the 1980s, at the recommendation of one of my favorite bosses, who actually gave me his copy. I agree that it is surprising to see Mary Roberts Rinehart left off the list (she was my mother's favorite), and I would like to add Elizabeth Daly, who was supposedly Agatha Christie's favorite murder mystery writer. Read her to spend enjoyable time (with murders) in 1940s Manhattan with delightful rare book dealer and handwriting expert Henry Gamadge in his two (yes, two!) townhouses. If you want more, Daly's niece, Eleanor Boylan, wrote a few sequels featuring Gamadge's widow. One more mention: Edmund Crispin's Gervase Fen books are also worth reading. Try The Moving Toyshop for starters.
ReplyDeleteMy comment above was not meant to be anonymous -- sorry about that!
DeleteThanks, Catherine! Taking note: Elizabeth Daly. And so nice to see another fan of Brat Farrar.
DeleteI agree with Edmund Crispin, The Moving Toyshop is my favorite, but The Gilded Fly, although it isn’t as good, is the first if you want to read them in order.
DeleteI also like Elizabeth Daly.
I think the only authors I’ve read from that era are Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, and Dorothy L. Sayers. Sherlock Holmes and The Bobbsey Twins are much older.
ReplyDeleteI read Encylopedia Brown, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, Trixie Belden, and Donna Parker.
Dick Francis and Martha Grimes don’t go back to the 40’s, but I’ve read a lot of their books too.
Dick Francis. Absolutely. I do think the list attests to the power of series mysteries (and a great sleuth) for building a following. Of course I'd add Sherlock Holmes/Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (for me, The Speckled Band) but they're from an earlier time... published individually in serial form in Strand Magazine before/after the turn of the century.
DeleteBack when I had an amazing used bookstore nearby (RIP Acres of Books) I spent years trying to acquire the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century picked by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Ass'n. This introduced me to a lot of the Golden Age writers that I was unfamiliar with. It also includes Dreaming of the Bones by Debs, which I already knew.
ReplyDeleteWhat a quest!
DeleteMy mother had half of those on the living room shelves, plus Poe, Conan Doyle, and all of Dick Francis, but I have no idea what my first Christie was. I didn't discover Sayers until a friend turned me on to her in graduate school, and we both read all of her books.
ReplyDeleteBeyond Poe and Conan Doyle, my gateway was Nancy Drew and Cherry Ames. I must say, I'm not sure I've ever read The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and am off to reserve it at the library right now!
I've always felt Sayers is a step up from Christie - for heavens sake, the books are twice as long and meaty with themes.
DeleteHa! Cherry Ames! One of my big favorites, and taught me that I could not ever be a nurse...
DeleteLong ago I read all of Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Rex Stout, and Conan Doyle. (I vividly remember being heavily drugged after the calamitous birth of my son in 1987 and being perplexed that I was reading a sentence in an Agatha Christie over and over without making progress. Hmm.. there's a mystery!) Though I've heard of all the other authors, I've never read any of their works. I'll have to try one. I realize that when I like an author, I gallop through everything they've written that I can easily get my hands on. These days with eye troubles I use Audible or Libby for audiobooks but when I was small we used to stop at the news store after church and I'd use my $1.50 allowance to buy the latest Hardy Boy... in hardcover! I had read all of Nancy Drew and earlier, the Bobbsey Twins. (Selden)
ReplyDeleteThe medium I can't get used to is Kindle. I do like my words on paper.
DeleteYes, I'm a paper girl myself also, and even though my eyes ache I will never give up all those 1960s - 1980s thin paperbacks with small crowded pages unless I start to lose my vision entirely. My husband gave me a Kindle and though I'm very good on a laptop (with most scrolling resolutely disabled) I've never mastered an iPad or a Kindle. I just don't have the patience. My husband reads on "my" Kindle all day long. (Selden)
DeleteThe bookcase in my grandparents' Cape Cod cottage was well-stocked with Christie, Stout, Tey, Gardner, Marsh, Allingham, and Carr. I read through all of them as a teenager--Grandpa's legacy to me. Not forgetting Grandma's Readers Digest condensed books! I discovered Sayers after college and devoured all of them. My fav will always be GAUDY NIGHT.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of Gaudy Night, too - I think it was the first Sayers I read, then like Margaret I galloped through the rest.
DeleteYes, Gaudy Night came during the first few months of my mystery immersion. I suppose it was my first real introduction to Oxford, but I love it for all sorts of reasons. And yes, my favorite of all of the Sayers. Now that I have been doing archival research for more than 30 years I can have more a little sympathy for the historian who destroyed or hid (I don't remember) some inconvenient document. I've been in the situation where I find something and say, "Oh, drat. There goes my theory." I recently published an article where I had to reveal that a famous 17th-century author lied in his biography, and did not get a university degree. I'm still frustrated and upset that he did that. These things become personal! One thing that strikes me in Gaudy Night, really, a minor point, is how editing and revising proofs has become so much easier in modern times. I liked how Sayers made it clear how inconvenient these things could be at that time.
DeleteAs I said one other time, I began reading mysteries seriously in order to decompress after writing my dissertation. For some reason I had decided to read only those by female "British" authors. I started with Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Allingham, P.D. James, etc. I have all of the Tey books on audio, but haven't gotten through all of them. I am more "liberal" now in what I read, but still tend to focus on British mysteries. My dissertation involved reading what felt like hundreds of seventeenth-century Italian opera librettos, so British mysteries were a breath of fresh air. When I was in junior high and high school I read all of the Nancy Drew books, so I suppose that prepared me for my later obsession.
ReplyDeleteItalian opera librettos!! I do think they're full of murder and mystery...
DeleteThat's true, Hallie. And women disguised as men and, less often, men disguised as women. I suppose the castrato thing makes that easier. I'm just learning about more women who played male roles in the Baroque period. Of course disguise plays a role in modern or almost modern mysteries. I'm thinking of Sherlock Holmes, of course.
DeleteWhile I read a few Nancy Drew mysteries at a younger age, I was probably in high school when I had access to the public library regularly. John Dickson Carr was on the shelves, some Agatha Christie, but the bookclub purchases my mom made--3 books by Dick Francis!--enlarged my mystery reading. Like others above, Wade, Holding, and White are new names to me.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about Francis: the opening lines. Book after book, he nails it. And they're FUNNY!! I'm so sad that in my quest for downsizing I gave away all my Dick Francis's. From Bone Crack:
Delete"They both wore thin rubber masks.
Identical.
Who can resist continuing to read?
Hallie, I remember you used a Francis opening paragraph in the Grub Street suspense workshop I took from you many years ago. A perfect illustration of what you went on to teach us, lessons that have stuck with me. Thank you!
DeleteI love Dick Francis's books and have analyzed them a lot. "Dick Francis" was really the team of Richard (as his wife Mary called him) and Mary Francis. Mary was an English major and a huge factor in writing the books. She did not want her name mentioned and he did not until very late in their success. Their son's novels are leaden by comparison.
DeleteMy Auntie Mo in England had a bunch of Agatha Christies, so I read some when I was living there at age 15. Mom and dad had Allingham, Marsh, Sayers, and Josephine Tey. I remember the spot in the bookcase upstairs where the Penguin mysteries lived. I started borrowing some of them over the years. I also remember mom's great enthusiasm for Harriet Vane and for The Daughter of Time by Tey, enthusiasm I came to share. Maybe it's time to look for the books on the list.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, time to reread!
DeleteNames I don’t know, authors to reread! I don’t remember my first Ngaio March but I think I’ve read most of them. “Daughter of Time” was my first Josephine Tey. Still reread every other year or so. I did find “The Franchise Affair” unsettling. My Mom was a big mystery and sci-fi reader. I often read her books she’d taken out of the library so that’s probably what got me hooked. We were thrilled to see Dame Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap when we were in a London many decades ago. I would also add Patricia Moyes, although she’s a bit later.
ReplyDeletePatricia Moyes: looking her up
DeleteI learned about mystery books from lying beside my mother in bed and reading over her shoulder. Her library of books was from the library which was very small (a closet really) , but included her favourite Agatha Christie, Earl Stanley Gardiner and John MacDonald. Of her books, at 12, I only enjoyed Agatha Christie. I did not at this point ever read the entire book – just snippets. I think I really began to read mysteries in university, where I started going through the entire Agatha Christie series – and would discuss them with my great Aunt Louise, who loved them as well. Her favourite was Roger Ackroyd, which I did not like at all, and must reread just in case it has redeeming features. Later (after first kids), I discovered Marsh, Sayers, PD James, and Stout – liked the people and the orchids, but not so much his style of writing. Of the rest – only tried Tey once, and she was a DNF.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, since then I have discovered many more (and better) writers in this genre, and really, the style of each author is so different, so that anyone just starting to read mysteries has so much to choose from. For instance, we just went to PEI for three days (home-made ice-cream!!!!), and travelled with Louise Penny and the end of Grey Wolf which we had begun on a previous trip, and came home with Peter May’s fourth book in the Lewis series (ran out of time to finish – another 1.5 hrs to go). Both authors are so different from one another, but we enjoyed each. Actually, when asked should we begin The Black Wolf, it was decided that we had not enjoyed the Outer Hebrides for a while, so let’s go there, so Peter May it was. By the way for anyone who has not read this series, be aware that the writing is dense- you have to really pay attention, and be sure to read them in order, as otherwise, we think you would not understand what is going on. Peter Forbes reads the series – in full Scottish accent, and is as much a part of the book as the words.
I think I will put in the laundry and head off to the virtual library to see if I can find any of these old masters. Libby the reading app is giving a lot of problems, so let’s hope she gets fixed – soon. Maybe rereading or beginning a new series, however dated it may be will be fun.
This is so sweet! Love the picture of you and your mother reading the same book. My mother kept a mystery (usually Christie ) and a cookbook (GOURMET or THE JOY OF COOKING) and an OZ book on her bedside table.
DeleteSince your mother was a screenwriter, how interesting that the 3 books of some importance were the ones you mentioned.
DeleteG. K. Chesterton, "Anthony Berkeley"/"Francis Iles", Edmund Crispin, Gladys Mitchell, Michel Innes, Georgette Heyer, "Nicholas Blake", R. Austin Freeman, Freeman Wills Crofts, Patricia Wentworth, Josephine Bell, Earl Derr Biggers, Phoebe Atwood Taylor, Judson Phillips/"Hugh Pentecost", Georges Simenon, J. P. Marquand, Edgar Wallace, H. C. Bailey, John Rhode/"Miles Burton", Arthur Upfield, Stuart Palmer, Leslie Charteris, Anthony Boucher, C. S. Forrester, J. J. Connington, Ronald Knox, and so many more. There is also the hard-boiled/P.I. contingent and the thriller contingent of E. Phillips Oppenheim, Edgar Wallace, and Sax Rohmer, et al. I deliberately left out S. S. van Dine because Philo Vance deserves a kick in the pance.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU, Jerry! Great additions.
DeleteGeorges Simenon! There's a special favorite of mine.
DeleteAgree with your view of S S Van Dyne he had some rather racist descriptions in his Philo Vance books, but so did Mark Twain. His books were very popular in their time and there were also movies made.
DeleteI have to include Doyle and Poe to the list and especially Daphne Du Maurier (Rebecca)
ReplyDeleteSuch a good topic! Now I need to find Wade, White and Holding. I started with Encyclopedia Brown, but quickly found Christie's And Then There Were None and started in on most of the Golden Age authors above, though I love Tey and her Allyen most of all. Not sure The Franchise Affair is the best though. I too would add Wentworth and Mitchell. A few weeks ago I found 5 Elizabeth Daly paperbacks I hadn't read in a thrift store and was positively giddy for days.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I have read a single title on this list, though I have read a lot of Christie, Stout, and Gardner and some of Marsh and Sayers.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was a huge fan of golden age (and other) mysteries and I'm sure my love for them started at her side. She borrowed a stack of mysteries from the library each week, and I think for a while she was able to subscribe to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Plus our television viewing skewed toward mystery adaptations, too. I seem to recall doubling down on my enjoyment of mysteries in young adulthood, when it felt like a lot of contemporary, acclaimed novels seemed to start nowhere and end nowhere, wandering through ambience and ennui for a while in between. At least with mysteries there is a recognizable structure!
Trying to recall which Agatha Christie novel was my first Christie novel. It was the mystery that Jennifer Hart was reading when she and Jonathan Hart were on vacation in Europe. Hart to Hart was a tv series. As I recall, the ? Author ? Andrew Tobias? Played a villain?
ReplyDeleteSurprised that very few on Sadie Stein’s list was published between the end of the First World War 1920 and 1938? 1939? Beginning of the Second World War. I’m currently writing a mystery novel set in 1920s England and Scotland so I’m always looking for British mysteries set in the 1920s.
And who is Sadie Stein? I feel like I should know who she is.
Diana
Oh, that's adorable that Hart to Hart introduced you to Agatha Christie. Perfect!
DeleteSo many juicy mysteries! For many years I subscribed to Mystery Books of the Month, and devoured at least one a day. I read them so fast I have no recollection of what I did or did not read, alas. Following in my grandmother's footsteps, who read until the wee hours every night, mysteries or books about nurses. The library would let her take home more than the six-book limit, she read so quickly.
ReplyDeleteOur book club members rarely choose mysteries; the first one I remember is The Daughter of Time, about 15 years ago. For me this was pre-audiobook, and I could not find a copy to read in time, so I didn't until a couple of years ago. Before that I read Brat Farrar, and was hooked on her writing.
I just read The Mysterious Affair at Styles, maybe for the first time? I have no memory of reading it, so if I did it would have been in my teens. Next up is Roger Ackroyd, which I also have no memory of reading. Clearly, that must be rectified!
I thought I had read all the Dorothy Sayers Wimsey books, but The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club does not sound familiar. Of course, Gaudy Night is my favorite of the ones I know I've read. I love that it focuses more on Harriet Vane. Lord Peter is great, but I felt this book fleshed Harriet out much more fully.
Oh, I am so envious that you have never read ROger Ackroyd. Eager to hear what you think. And yes, Daughter of Time, what a tour de force!
DeleteIt's so instructive to re-read these now---one common thread is that they take so much longer to get into the story! It takes forever for all those passengers even to BOARD the Orient Express!
ReplyDeleteLike many others above, I began my mystery reading with Encyclopedia Brown. I also read Cherry Ames, RN (but were they mysteries?) and the Bobbsey Twins because my older sister had them in her room. I never read Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys (gasp!) for some reason. For even more of a gasp moment, I have still never read Christie or any other of the authors on this list. I’ve seen film or television adaptations, sure, but never read them. I started with suspense novels, thanks to my dad’s interest (Seven Days in May, e.g.) and moved to contemporary (aka romantic) fiction in high school and college. It was after college when my mom introduced me to Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton that I took off as a mystery lover. — Pat S
ReplyDelete