It’s a mystery May 22, 2007
Liz gave us a link this morning to the IMBA’s 100 favorite mysteries of the 20th century. It’s fun reading through the list. There are a lot of old favorites there, some I didn’t remember reading 
until I saw them on the list. I printed it out. The list’ll be a great thing to take with me in my wanderings around the house looking for my first book to read for the summer mystery challenge.
A bit of a review (don’t worry, I’m not going to list them all)… Just this year I read Margery Allingham for the first time, and actually read her book The Tiger in the Smoke, which heads the list—because she’s first alphabetically. John Ball wrote, In the Heat of the Night. I don’t know anything about the book, but I find it interesting that it shares its name with a TV show… I wonder if the show was based on the book. It looks like it might be.
Lawrence Block is one of my favorite authors, but the book they listed, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, is one I haven’t heard of before. Hm. It won’t work for the challenge, since I’ve read him before, but I’ll have to keep an eye out for the book.
John Buchan’s The 39 Steps and James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice are classics that have both been made into movies. I don’t remember if I ever read them, but I’ve seen the movies.
Though I haven’t quite read all of Agatha Christie’s stories yet, I know I read the one here, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep was one I had to read for that detective fiction class I took in college.
Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca and John Dunning’s Booked to Die are both favorites of mine. Rebecca is creepy. Fun. Much creepier than the old movie, since you really get the reasons behind things. Janet Evanovich’s series about her bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, is also a favorite of mine. If you haven’t discovered Evanovich’s books yet, give this first one a whirl. It’s great fun: a good mystery combined with delightful characters, and laugh-out-loud comedy—at least Dave and I both laugh outright while reading these stories. The first book in that series is on the list, One for the Money, along with another favorite writer’s book, Whip Hand, by Dick Francis. Dave got me into Dick Francis’ books not long after we got together. I’ve long since lost track of which ones I’ve read and which I haven’t, but they’re all fun, and all center around steeple chasing, since Francis is a retired jockey.
Elizabeth George’s A Great Deliverance is on the list. I was taking care of my upstairs’ neighbor’s kitties while she was out of town, and she left me a stack of George’s books to read while she was away. I devoured them. The first four or five of her stories are the best, but I do have to admit to being way behind. Maybe they’re getting better again. I hope so.
If you like mysteries and haven’t read Sue Grafton’s alphabet series featuring Kinsey Millhone yet, you owe it to yourself. Start with “A” is for Alibi. These are great reads. Fast paced, fun.
Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon was another book I read for that detective fiction class. Before reading it, I always thought that Humphrey Bogart’s speech patterns in so many movies were “his,” but it turns out they were straight from the book. A lot of that movie is word-for-word from the book, which makes it even more fun. There’s a little alley in San Francisco named for the author. I always wanted to get off the bus and go explore it, but never did. I had to go to work instead. Funny how I never thought about it on the weekend.
I never think of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird as a mystery for some reason, though it is chilling. Excellent book, though. I always loved Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch in the movie.
I’ve read a lot more of the books on this list, but frankly, I’m getting hungry and need to go have some breakfast, so I’ll stop boring you. If you like mysteries, check out that list. Marvelous stuff on it. Most of the books I have not read. Hopefully some of those are around here, or at least other books by the same authors. It’ll be fun to try to build my reading list from it.
Kim May 22
I’ll have to check out the mystery link and see if there’s one for 100 favorite fantasy stories. I love To Kill a Mockingbird; I can definitely see why it could be classified as a mystery with all the twists and turns the plot has.
It looks like you have plenty to keep you busy reading this summer–still leaving time to reread your Harry Potter, right?
KarenJoSeattle May 22
The Concrete Blonde (Michael Conelly) is a great book, but you really need to know the characters from the earlier books for the proper impact.
I didn’t think the Martha Grimes was OOP. Amazon does show it as available. I like her non-Jury books better, but all of her work is good.
If you haven’t read anything by Minette Walters, I’d recommend you start there. The Ice House is the kind of mystery you can reread and find new bits and clues.
Liz Clifford May 23
Okay, where in San Francisco did you live? We were a few blocks from Dashiell Hammet Place on Nob Hill. Did you take the streetcar home from work as I did? We lived at the corner of Bush and Jones and I walked downhill from California on the sidewalk so steep that if you dropped anything it would roll all the way to Market Street. Bye, bye oranges! I loved reading about the neighborhood in his books when we lived there so many years later.
Not all of Dick Francis’ books are about horses. He had a horse transport business and some are about planes. And one particularly good one is about gold trading. That was where I learned about ANFO.
It sounds as if you and I have read a lot of the same books. I am really enjoying setting up the challenge so I can learn about new and different authors.
Liz
reviewedbyliz.com
tanabata May 23
I know I haven’t read much in the way of mysteries but I’ve only read a couple from that list. yikes! I think I’m going to end up with a huge wishlist from this challenge.