# Authors whose first book was their best book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 9, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830 "2009-03-09T13:37:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/1 "2009-03-09T13:37:44Z")
First of all, authors who only have one book are disqualified. So long, Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee. Authors that definitely do qualify include: Ken Kesey–One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Betty Smith–A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I’d also include Ira Levin’s “A Kiss Before Dying.” Without Satan’s baby, Hitler clones or robot wives, Levin’s first book is a mystery masterpiece. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/2 "2009-03-09T13:45:30Z")
Joseph Heller – **Catch-22** ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/3 "2009-03-09T13:51:36Z")
From what I hear, Mary Shelley definitely qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/4 "2009-03-09T14:05:03Z")
Thomas Pynchon-Gravitys Rainbow ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/5 "2009-03-09T14:07:37Z")
I’d probably say Tom Clancy counts - Hunt for Red October (and Red Storm Rising) is far better off for having seen an editor. ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/6 "2009-03-09T14:08:34Z")
I was going to say Salman Rushdie with _Midnight’s Children_, but it turns out he had one called _Grimus_ that came out six years earlier. So I’ll just second Joseph Heller. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/7 "2009-03-09T14:09:36Z")
\*\*Harper Lee \*\*- To Kill a Mockingbird; first and only \*\*Margaret Mitchell \*\*- Gone with the Wind Wasn’t Peyton Place \*\*Grace Metalious’ \*\*first and only book? ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/8 "2009-03-09T14:11:16Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Thomas Pynchon-Gravitys Rainbow Both _V_ (1963) and _The Crying of Lot 49_ (1966) came out before _Gravity’s Rainbow_. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/9 "2009-03-09T14:13:51Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > \*\*Harper Lee \*\*- To Kill a Mockingbird; first and only > > \*\*Margaret Mitchell \*\*- Gone with the Wind > > Wasn’t Peyton Place \*\*Grace Metalious’ \*\*first and only book? From the OP: > [@](#): > > First of all, authors who only have one book are disqualified. So long, Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/10 "2009-03-09T14:13:54Z")
Please read the OP. I want authors who: Published **more than one** book. **First** book was their **best** book. ETA: Thanks, **Munch** for clarifying my obviously very obscurely written and extremely hard to understand and interpret OP. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/11 "2009-03-09T14:20:34Z")
Donna Tartt, _The Secret History_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/12 "2009-03-09T14:23:21Z")
Norman Maclean \*\*A River Runs Through It \*\* published when he was 74. **Young Men and Fire** published after his death is about 1% inferior. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/13 "2009-03-09T14:57:45Z")
Stephen R Boyett. Yes, he only wrote two, but he still qualifies… Also John Steakley. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/14 "2009-03-09T15:00:43Z")
many would say that _Catcher in the Rye_ is J.D. Salinger’s best, although I think it pales in comparison to his [other books](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._D._Salinger#Books)… ---
**Author:** ![Night\_so\_be\_it](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b2d939/32.png) [@Night\_so\_be\_it](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Night_so_be_it)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/15 "2009-03-09T15:07:08Z")
Walt Whitman - Leaves of Grass Flann O’Brien - At Swim-Two-Birds Charles Dickens - The Pickwick Papers ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/16 "2009-03-09T15:13:31Z")
I think John Grisham’s best book is _A Time To Kill_. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/17 "2009-03-09T15:25:02Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Please read the OP. I want authors who: > > Published **more than one** book. > **First** book was their **best** book. > > ETA: Thanks, **Munch** for clarifying my obviously very obscurely written and extremely hard to understand and interpret OP. They were published after her death, but there are a couple of Margaret Mitchell books besides GWTW. Lost Layson (sp?) is the only one I can remember offhand. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/18 "2009-03-09T15:28:28Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > From the OP: Darn it :smack: obviously I am guilty of drive-by posting. Sorry 'bout that. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/19 "2009-03-09T15:57:10Z")
Night, I disagree. O’Brien’s The Poor Mouth is a comic masterpiece and a powerful glimpse of racial discrimination to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830/20 "2009-03-09T15:59:33Z")
I always thought Jacqueline Susann’s “Every Night Josephine” was her best book. Of course, her others made lots more money. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/authors-whose-first-book-was-their-best-book/488830.md?page=2)