{"id":9085,"date":"2021-06-30T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=9085"},"modified":"2021-08-05T07:53:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T11:53:13","slug":"top-crime-writers-salute-the-classics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=9085","title":{"rendered":"Top Crime Writers Salute the Classics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Around the world, crime fiction is a top choice of the reading public. And there are SO MANY of these books, to the despair of every writer pondering how to promote their own new book in such a crowded field. But, what\u2019s worth reading?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s turn to the experts. Though publishers and others produce lists of the 20, 50, 100 \u201cbest\u201d crime and suspense novels of all time, easily googlable, what do the real experts\u2014authors themselves\u2014say? The Guardian<\/em><\/a> asked 25 top mystery writers for their picks and recently reprinted their replies\u2014the article itself being a classic from 2018. (Purists will cringe at this carefree interchange of crime, mystery, and suspense, as if they are all one thing, but the categories are broad and their edges fuzzy.) Here are the first eight:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Val McDermid<\/strong>, who writes impeccable police procedurals, recommends On Beulah Height<\/em> by Reginald Hill, which she calls \u201cthe perfect crime novel,\u201d one that acknowledges the author\u2019s roots in the traditional English detective novel, but also the \u201ccomplexities of contemporary life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee Child<\/strong>, whose recommendations you will find on so many book covers, he must never say no to a request, suggests The Damned and the Destroyed<\/em> by Kenneth Orvis. \u201cThe story was patient, suspenseful, educational and utterly superb. In many ways it\u2019s the target I still aim at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ian Rankin<\/strong>\u2019s choice was Charles Dickens\u2019s Bleak House<\/em>. I\u2019ve read this one! Against the background of a family fortune being frittered away by endless legal proceedings, Rankin wrote, \u201cAs in all great crime novels, the central mystery is a driver for a broad and deep investigation of society and culture.\u201d Its strengths are a \u201cmazey mystery,\u201d shocking murder, slippery lawyer, and large cast of memorable characters. Dickens reportedly modeled Inspector Bucket on a real-life detective in Scotland Yard\u2019s newly formed Detective Branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophie Hannah<\/strong> picked The Hollow<\/em>, her \u201ccurrent favorite\u201d of the Christie canon. She said the outdoor swimming pool scene in which Poirot discovers the murder is \u201cthe most memorable discovery-of-the-body scene in all of crime fiction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SJ Watson<\/strong> suggested Rebecca<\/em> by Daphne du Maurier (1938). Another check-mark! He called it \u201ca dark, brooding psychological thriller, hauntingly beautiful, literature yes, but with a killer plot.\u201d While it superficially appears to be a romantic drama, it is \u201can exploration of power, of the men who have it and the women who don\u2019t.\u201d Timeless? I hope not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Lee Burke<\/strong> picked Dennis Lehane\u2019s Mystic River<\/em>. I can\u2019t claim to have read this one, but the movie was terrific. Burke said it\u2019s \u201cthe best crime novel written in the English language.\u201d Lehane\u2019s poetic lines, reflecting to Burke\u2019s ear an affinity for Victorian poet-priest Gerard Manley Hopkins<\/a> \u201csomehow heal the injury that his subject matter involves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sara Paretsky<\/strong>\u2019s choice was The Expendable Man<\/em> by Dorothy B. Hughes, whose novels \u201ccrackle with menace.\u201d This one plays out in a bleak New Mexico landscape. \u201cInsinuation, not graphic detail, gives her books an edge of true terror.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dreda Say Mitchell<\/strong>, in a sort of ouroboros, recommended Lee Child\u2019s debut novel, Killing Floor<\/em>. She cited its parsimonious style, a lead character both traditional and original, and a plot \u201cput together like a Swiss watch.\u201d Plus the x-factor of righteous anger that leads Jack Reacher to single-handedly \u201cdish out justice and protect the underdog.\u201d Read this one too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some interesting choices among the remaining 17\u2014including two authors who picked Martin Cruz Smith\u2019s Gorky Park<\/em>. Time to reread it, apparently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Around the world, crime fiction is a top choice of the reading public. And there are SO MANY of these books, to the despair of every writer pondering how to promote their own new book in such a crowded field. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Top Crime Writers Salute the Classics - I haven't even read some of these!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[62,1288,104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors","category-culture","category-the-morgue"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2mx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9087,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9085\/revisions\/9087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}