|
|
|
Date |
Author |
|
Title |
Comments by Haycraft
and/or Queen |
|
1748 |
Voltaire |
* |
Zadig |
(The Great-Grandfather of the Detective Story)
|
|
1828-29 |
Francois Eugene Vidocq |
* |
Memoirs de Vidocq |
(The Grandfather of the Detective Story) |
|
1845 |
Edgar Allan Poe |
|
Tales |
(The Father of the Detective Story) |
|
1852-3 |
Charles Dickens |
|
Bleak House |
|
| |
|
|
The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 1870 |
|
|
1856 |
"Waters" (William Russell) |
* |
Recollections of a Detective Police Officer |
(The first English detective yellow-back) |
|
1860 |
Wilkie Collins |
* |
The Woman in White |
|
|
1862 |
Victor Hugo |
* |
Les Miserables |
(First edition in English, also 1862) |
|
1866 |
Feodor Dostoevsky |
* |
Crime and Punishment |
(First edition in English, 1886) |
|
1866 |
Emile Gaboriau |
|
L'Affaire Lerouge (The Widow Lerouge) |
(The Father of the Detective Novel) |
| |
|
* |
Le Dossier No 113, 1867 (File No. 113) |
|
| |
|
* |
Le Crime d'Orcival, 1868 (The Crime of Orcival) |
|
| |
|
|
Monsieur Lecoq, 1869 (Monsieur Lecoq) |
|
|
1868 |
Wilkie Collins |
|
The Moonstone |
(The Father of the English Detective Novel) |
|
1872 |
(Harlan Page Halsey) |
* |
Old Sleuth, the Detective |
(The first Dime Novel detective story) |
|
1874 |
Allan Pinkerton |
* |
The Expressman and the Detective |
|
|
1878 |
Anna Katharine Green |
* |
The Leavenworth Case |
(The Mother of the American Detective Novel) |
|
1882 |
Robert Louis Stevenson |
* |
The New Arabian Nights |
|
| |
|
* |
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 1886 |
(Was it Maurice Richardson who said of this book that it is the only detective-crime story he knows in which the solution is more terrifying than the problem?) |
|
1887 |
Fergus W. Hume |
* |
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab |
(An historically important book) |
|
1887 |
A. Conan Doyle |
|
A Study in Scarlet |
(The listing of all the Sherlock Holmes books -- the complete works -- is sheer idolatry. Surely the first Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, is an undeniable cornerstone; also The Adventures and The Memoirs; and the best of the novels should also be present in any definitive detective library. Most critics would probably select
The Hound as the best novel; John Dickson Carr's choice is The Valley of Fear.)
|
| |
|
|
The Sign of the Four, 1890 |
| |
|
|
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892 |
| |
|
|
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, 1894 |
| |
|
|
The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902 |
| |
|
|
The Return of Sherlock Holmes, 1905 |
| |
|
|
The Valley of Fear, 1915 |
| |
|
|
His Last Bow, 1917 |
| |
|
|
The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, 1927 |
|
1892 |
Israel Zangwill |
|
The Big Bow Mystery |
|
|
1894 |
Mark Twain |
* |
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson |
|
|
1894 |
Arthur Morrison |
|
Martin Hewitt: Investigator |
|
|
1895 |
M.P. Shiel |
* |
Prince Zaleski |
|
|
1897 |
Bram Stoker |
* |
Dracula |
(A mystery classic -- interpreting "mystery" in its broadest sense.) |
|
1899 |
E.W. Hornung |
* |
The Amateur Cracksman |
(The first Raffles book -- "detection in reverse") |
|
1903 |
(Erskine Childers) |
* |
The Riddle of the Sands |
(Recommended by Christopher Morley as the classic secret service novel) |
|
1906 |
Godfrey R. Benson |
|
Tracks in the Snow |
|
|
1906 |
Robert Barr |
|
The Triumphs of Eugene Valmont |
|
|
1907 |
Jacques Futrelle |
|
The Thinking Machine |
|
|
1907 |
Maurice Leblanc |
* |
Arsene Lupin: Gentleman-Cambrioleur |
|
| |
|
* |
"813," 1910 |
(The Leblanc-Lupin masterpiece) |
| |
|
|
Les Huit Coups de L'Horloge, 1922 |
|
|
1907 |
Gaston Leroux |
|
Le Mystere de la Chambre Jaune
(English translation:
The Mystery of the Yellow Room) |
|
| |
|
* |
Le Parfum de la Dame en Noir, 1908-9 (English translation:
The Perfume of the Lady in Black |
|
|
1907 |
R. Austin Freeman |
|
The Red Thumb Mark |
(The First Dr. Thorndyke book) |
| |
|
* |
John Thorndyke's Cases, 1909 |
|
| |
|
* |
The Eye of Osiris, 1911 |
|
| |
|
|
The Singing Bone, 1912 |
(The first "inverted" detective stories) |
|
1908 |
Mary Roberts Rinehart |
|
The Circular Staircase |
(The founding of the Had-I-But-Known school) |
|
1908 |
O. Henry |
* |
The Gentle Grafter |
|
|
1908 |
G.K. Chesterton |
* |
The Man Who Was Thursday |
|
| |
|
|
The Innocence of Father Brown, 1911 |
|
|
1909 |
Cleveland Moffett |
* |
Through the Wall |
(A neglected highspot) |
|
1909 |
Baroness Orczy |
|
The Old Man in the Corner |
|
|
1909 |
Carolyn Wells |
|
The Clue |
(The first Fleming Stone book) |
|
1910 |
A.E.W. Mason |
|
At the Villa Rose |
(The first Hanaud book) |
| |
|
|
The House of the Arrow, 1924 |
|
|
1910 |
William MacHarg and Edwin Balmer |
* |
The Achievements of Luther Trant |
(The first book of short stories to make scientific use of psychology as a method of crime detection) |
|
1912 |
Arthur B. Reeve |
|
The Silent Bullet |
(The first Craig Kennedy book) |
|
1913 |
Ms. Belloc Lowndes |
|
The Lodger |
(One of the earliest "suspense" stories) |
|
1913 |
Sax Rohmer |
* |
The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu |
|
|
1913 |
E.C. Bentley |
|
Trent's Last Case |
(First U.S. title: The Woman in Black)
(The birth of naturalism in characterization) |
|
1914 |
Ernest Bramah |
|
Max Carrados |
(The first blind detective) |
|
1914 |
Louis Joseph Vance |
* |
The Lone Wolf |
|
|
1915 |
John Buchan |
* |
The Thirty-Nine Steps |
|
|
1916 |
Thomas Burke |
* |
Limehouse Nights |
|
|
1918 |
Melville Davisson Post |
|
Uncle Abner |
|
|
1918 |
J.S. Fletcher |
|
The Middle Temple Murder |
|
|
1920 |
Agatha Christie |
* |
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
(The first Hercule Poirot book) |
| |
|
|
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, 1926 |
|
|
1920 |
Freeman Wills Crofts |
|
The Cask |
Inspector French's Greatest Case, 1924 |
|
1920 |
H.C. Bailey |
|
Call Mr. Fortune |
|
| |
|
|
The Red Castle, 1932 |
|
|
1920 |
"Sapper" (Cyril McNeile) |
* |
Bull-Dog Drummond |
|
|
1920 |
Arthur Train |
* |
Tutt and Mr. Tutt |
|
|
1921 |
Eden Phillpotts |
|
The Grey Room |
|
|
1922 |
A.A. Milne |
|
The Red House Mystery |
|
|
1923 |
G.D.H. Cole |
|
The Brooklyn Murders |
|
|
1923 |
Dorothy L. Sayers |
* |
Whose Body? |
(The first Lord Peter Wimsey book) |
| |
|
|
The Nine Tailors
(1934) |
|
| |
--and Robert Eustace |
|
The Documents in the Case, 1930 |
|
|
1924 |
Philip MacDonald |
|
The Rasp |
(The first Colonel Anthony Gethryn book) |
| |
|
* |
Warrant for X, 1938 |
(English title: The Nursemaid Who Disappeared, 1938) |
|
1925 |
Edgar Wallace |
|
The Mind of Mr. J. G. Reeder |
|
|
1925 |
John Rhode |
|
The Paddington Mystery |
(The first Dr. Priestley book) |
| |
|
|
The Murders in Praed Street, 1928 |
|
|
1925 |
Earl Derr Biggers |
|
The House Without a Key |
(The first Charlie Chan book) |
|
1925 |
Theodore Dreiser |
* |
An American Tragedy |
|
|
1925 |
Liam O'Flaherty |
* |
The Informer |
|
|
1925 |
Ronald A. Knox |
|
The Viaduct Murder |
|
|
1926 |
S.S. Van Dine |
|
The Benson Murder Case, or |
(The first Philo Vance book) |
| |
|
|
The "Canary" Murder Case, 1927 |
|
|
1926 |
C.S. Forester |
* |
Payment Deferred |
|
|
1927 |
Frances Noyes Hart |
|
The Bellamy Trial |
|
|
1928 |
W. Somerset Maugham |
* |
Ashenden |
|
|
1929 |
Anthony Berkeley |
|
The Poisoned Chocolates Case |
|
| |
|
* |
Trial and Error |
|
| |
[Frances Iles] |
|
Before the Fact, 1932 |
|
|
1929 |
Ellery Queen |
|
The Roman Hat Mystery |
(The first Ellery Queen book) |
| |
|
* |
Calamity Town, 1942 |
|
| |
[Barnaby Ross] |
|
The Tragedy of X, 1932 |
(The first Drury Lane book) |
| |
|
* |
The Tragedy of Y, 1932 |
|
|
1929 |
Rufus King |
* |
Murder by the Clock |
(The first Lieutenant Valcour book) |
|
1929 |
W.R. Burnett |
|
Little Caeser |
|
|
1929 |
T.S. Stribling |
* |
Clues of the Caribbees |
(The only Professor Poggioli book) |
|
1929 |
Harvey J. O'Higgins |
* |
Detective Duff Unravels It |
(The first psychoanalyst detective) |
|
1929 |
Mignon G. Eberhart |
|
The Patient in Room 18 |
|
|
1930 |
Frederick Irving Anderson |
|
The Book of Murder |
|
|
1930 |
Dashiell Hammett |
|
The Maltese Falcon |
(The first Sam Spade book) |
| |
|
* |
The Glass Key, 1931 |
|
| |
|
* |
The Adventures of Sam Spade, 1944 |
|
|
1930 |
David Frome |
|
The Hammersmith Murders |
(The first Mr. Pinkerton book) |
|
1931 |
Stuart Palmer |
* |
The Penguin Pool Murder |
(The first Hildegarde Withers book) |
|
1931 |
Francis Beeding |
* |
Death Walks in Eastrepps |
(Vincent Starrett considers this book "one of the ten greatest detective novels") |
|
1931 |
Glen Trevor [James Hilton] |
* |
Murder at School
(U.S. title: Was it Murder?, 1933) |
|
|
1931 |
Damon Runyon |
* |
Guys and Dolls |
|
|
1931 |
Phoebe Atwood Taylor |
|
The Cape Cod Mystery |
(The first Asey Mayo book) |
|
1932 |
R.A.J. Walling |
|
The Fatal Five Minutes |
|
|
1932 |
Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson |
|
Re-enter Sir John |
|
|
1933 |
Erle Stanley Gardner |
* |
The Case of the Velvet Claws |
(The first Perry Mason book) |
| |
|
|
The Case of the Sulky Girl, 1933 |
|
|
1934 |
Margery Allingham |
|
Death of a Ghost |
|
|
1934 |
James M. Cain |
* |
The Postman Always Rings Twice |
|
|
1934 |
Rex Stout |
|
Fer-de-Lance |
(The first Nero Wolfe book) |
| |
|
* |
The League of Frightened Men, 1935 |
|
|
1935 |
Richard Hull |
|
The Murder of My Aunt |
|
|
1935 |
John P. Marquand |
* |
No Hero |
(The first Mr. Moto book) |
|
1938 |
John Dickson Carr [Carter Dickson] |
|
The Crooked Hinge |
(In his original list, Mr. Haycraft chose
The Arabian Nights Murder by Carr and
The Plague Court Murders by Dickson; but on page 43 of his The Art of the Mystery Story Mr. Haycraft wrote: "After careful, and possibly maturer, re-reading I beg to change my vote" to The Crooked Hinge and The Judas Window) |
| |
|
|
The Judas Window, 1938 |
| |
|
* |
The Curse of the Bronze Lamp, 1945
(English title: Lord of the Sorcerers, 1946) |
|
1938 |
Nicholas Blake |
|
The Beast Must Die |
|
|
1938 |
Michael Innes |
|
Lament for a Maker |
|
|
1938 |
Clayton Rawson |
* |
Death from a Top Hat |
(The first Great Merlini book) |
|
1938 |
Graham Greene |
* |
Brighton Rock |
|
|
1938 |
Daphne du Maurier |
* |
Rebecca |
|
|
1938 |
Mabel Seeley |
|
The Listening House |
|
|
1939 |
Ngaio Marsh |
|
Overture to Death |
|
|
1939 |
Eric Ambler |
|
A Coffin for Dimitrios
(English title: The Mask of Dmitrios) |
|
|
1939 |
Raymond Chandler |
|
The Big Sleep or |
(The first Philip Marlowe book) |
| |
|
|
Farewell, My Lovely, 1940 |
|
|
1939 |
Georges Simenon |
|
The Patience of Maigret |
|
|
1940 |
Raymond Postgate |
|
Verdict of Twelve |
|
|
1940 |
Frances and Richard Lockridge |
|
The Norths Meet Murder |
|
|
1940 |
Dorothy B. Hughes |
|
The So Blue Marble or |
|
| |
|
|
In a Lonely Place, 1947 |
|
|
1940 |
Cornell Woolrich [William Irish] |
* |
The Bride Wore Black |
|
| |
|
|
Phantom Lady, 1942 |
|
|
1940 |
Manning Coles |
|
Drink to Yesterday |
(The first two Tommy Hambledon books) |
| |
|
|
A Toast to Tomorrow, 1941
(English title: Pray Silence, 1940) |
|
1941 |
H.F. Heard |
* |
A Taste for Honey |
|
|
1941 |
Craig Rice |
|
Trial by Fury or |
|
| |
|
|
Home Sweet Homicide, 1944 |
|
|
1942 |
H.H. Holmes
(Anthony Boucher) |
* |
Rocket to the Morgue |
|
|
1942 |
James Gould Cozzens |
* |
The Just and the Unjust |
|
|
1944 |
Hilda Lawrence |
|
Blood Upon the Snow |
|
|
1946 |
Helen Eustis |
|
The Horizontal Man |
|
|
1946 |
Charlotte Armstrong |
* |
The Unsuspected |
|
|
1946 |
Lillian de la Torre |
* |
Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector |
|
|
1946 |
Edmund Crispin |
|
The Moving Toyshop or |
|
| |
|
|
Love Lies Bleeding, 1948 |
|
|
1947 |
Edgar Lustgarten |
|
One More Unfortunate
(English title: A Case to Answer) |
|
|
1947 |
Roy Vickers |
* |
The Department of Dead Ends |
|
|
1948 |
Josephine Tey |
|
The Franchise Affair |
|
|
1948 |
William Faulkner |
* |
Intruder in the Dust |
|
