The Story of Classic Crime in 100 (plus 2) Books
The challenge is to read and review all 102 of the books Martin Edwards includes on the main list in his excellent book on the development of the crime novel – The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books. Yes, 102. Don’t ask me why a book called “…100 Books” actually lists 102, but the spreadsheet never lies, so 102 it is!
I’ve decided not to list all 102 Books up front. The book has only just been published and somehow it seems unfair – almost like a major spoiler. So instead I’ll put links to all the books as I review them, so gradually – very gradually – it will grow to become a complete list. I’ll be reading them in totally random order as and when I acquire them, but on this master page I’ll organise them in the order and under the subject headings in the book. I reckon it will take me a minimum of four or five years to read them all, so if you can’t wait to know all 102 of the titles, then you’ll have to buy the book!
Chapter 1: A New Era Dawns
1. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
2. The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace 😀 😀 😀 😀
3. The Case of Miss Elliott by Baroness Orczy 😀 😀 😀 🙂
4. Tracks in the Snow by Godfrey R Benson 😐 😐
5. Israel Rank by Roy Horniman 😐 😐
6. The Blotting Book by EF Benson 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
7. The Innocence of Father Brown by GK Chesterton 😦
8. At the Villa Rose by AEW Mason 😀 😀 😀 😀
9. The Eye of Osiris by R Austin Freeman 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
10. The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
11. Max Carrados by Ernest Bramah 🙂 🙂 🙂
Chapter 2: The Birth of the Golden Age
12. Trent’s Last Case by EC Bentley 😀 😀 😀 😀
13.
14. The Middle Temple Murder by JS Fletcher 😀 😀 😀 😀 🙂
15. The Mystery of the Skeleton Key by Bernard Capes 😦
16. The Cask by Freeman Wills Crofts 😦
17. The Red House Mystery by AA Milne 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Chapter 3: The Great Detectives
18. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie 😀 😀 😀 😀 🙂
19. Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L Sayers 😐 😐
20. The Rasp by Philip MacDonald 😀 😀 😀 😀
21.
22. The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
23.
24. The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
25. The Case of the Late Pig by Margery Allingham 😀 😀 😀 😀
26.
Chapter 4: ‘Play Up! Play Up! and Play the Game!’
27. The Floating Admiral by The Detection Club 😦
28.
29.
Chapter 5: Miraculous Murders
30. The Medbury Fort Murder by George Limnelius 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
31. Murder of a Lady by Anthony Wynne 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
32. The Hollow Man by John Dickson Carr 🙂 🙂 😐
Chapter 6: Serpents in Eden
33. The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
34.
35. The Sussex Downs Murder by John Bude 😀 😀 😀 🙂
36.
Chapter 7: Murder at the Manor
37. Crime at Diana’s Pool by Victor L Whitechurch 🙂 🙂 🙂
38. Some Must Watch by Ethel Lina White 🙂 🙂 😐
39.
40.
Chapter 8: Capital Crimes
41.
42. Bats in the Belfry by ECR Lorac 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
43.
Chapter 9: Resorting to Murder
44. The Red Redmaynes by Eden Phillpotts 😀 😀 😀 😀
45.
46.
Chapter 10: Making Fun of Murder
47. Quick Curtain by Alan Melville 😐 😐
48. Case for Three Detectives by Leo Bruce (Abandoned – no review)
49. The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Chapter 11: Education, Education, Education
50.
51.
52. Death at the President’s Lodging by Michael Innes 😦
Chapter 12: Playing Politics
53.
54.
55. The Nursing Home Murder by Ngaio Marsh 😀 😀 😀 😀
Chapter 13: Scientific Enquiries
56.
57.
58. Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg 😀 😀 😀 😀
59.
Chapter 14: The Long Arm of the Law
60. The Grell Mystery by Frank Froest 🙂 🙂 🙂
61.
62.
63. Green for Danger by Christianna Brand 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Chapter 15: The Justice Game
64.
65. Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
66. Tragedy at Law by Cyril Hare 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
67. Smallbone Deceased by Michael Gilbert 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Chapter 16: Multiplying Murders
68.
69.
70.
71. The Z Murders by J. Jefferson Farjeon 😀 😀 😀 😀
72. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Chapter 17: The Psychology of Crime
73. The House by the River by AP Herbert 🙂 🙂 😐
74. Payment Deferred by CS Forester 🙂 🙂 🙂
75.
76.
Chapter 18: Inverted Mysteries
77.
78. Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
79.
Chapter 19: The Ironists
80. Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles 🙂 🙂 🙂
81. Family Matters by Anthony Rolls 😀 😀 😀 😀 🙂
82.
83.
Chapter 20: Fiction from Fact
84.
85.
86.
87. The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Chapter 21: Singletons
88. Darkness at Pemberley by TH White 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
89. The Division Bell Mystery by Ellen Wilkinson 😀 😀 😀 😀 🙂
90. Death on the Down Beat by Sebastian Farr 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Chapter 22: Across the Atlantic
91. The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett 😀 😀 😀 😀
92. The Curious Mr Tarrant by C. Daly King 😐 😐
93. Calamity Town by Ellery Queen 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
94.
95. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith 😀 😀 😀 😀
Chapter 23: Cosmopolitan Crimes
96.
97. Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon 🙂 🙂 🙂
98. Six Problems for Don Isidro Parodi by Jorge Luis Borges 😦
Chapter 24: The Way Ahead
99.
100. Background for Murder by Shelley Smith 😐 😐
101. The Killer and the Slain by Hugh Walpole 😦
102.
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Murder, mystery and mayhem!
Life would be so much duller without them!
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