# Mystery Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 11, 2000, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605 "2000-10-11T23:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jcgmoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@jcgmoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcgmoi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2000, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/61 "2000-10-15T16:55:39Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* \*\* > [@](#): > > Mr. Crumley writes the books he wants to write, and it’s not up to an editor to make him do THE LAST GOOD KISS all over again. YOU, of course, are perfectly free to read his 1978 work all over again. \*\* I seem to recall you’re an editor so I’m probably getting in pretty deep here but I have to ask what is an editor’s role if not to aid the author in creating the book he _wants_ to write from the book he _can_ write? IMO, Crumley’s _Bordersnakes_ and _The Mexican Tree Duck_ are inferior to his earlier works in ways that an actively participating editor could have remedied. YOU, of course, are perfectly free to hold your own opinion. As it happens I periodically reread _The Last Good Kiss_ as I do other all-time greats. ---
**Author:** ![jcgmoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@jcgmoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcgmoi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2000, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/62 "2000-10-15T17:06:30Z")
Aw shit Ike, you don’t happen to work for HarperCollins or The Mysterious Press do you? And if you do, please say you don’t work with academics from Montana writing hard-boiled fiction. Please? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2000, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/63 "2000-10-15T18:31:12Z")
I ain’t sayin’ nuthin’. But y’know what? I don’t think THE THIN MAN is as good a book as THE MALTESE FALCON. What was that lazy bastard in the Knopf editorial offices thinking? The original, uncut manuscript of Thomas Wolfe’s LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL was just published with editorial notes by the American literature scholar Max Bruccoli. Bruccoli excoriates Scribner editor Max Perkins for making Wolfe do rewrites and cuts, and for changing over some of the original pages into stuff he thought was better, over the author’s protest. We’re kinda damned if we do and damned if we don’t. Crumley already _wrote_ DANCING BEAR and LAST GOOD KISS and THE WRONG BOX; now it’s over fifteen years later, and he’s doing something different. But I’ll ask him to tighten up his dialogue on the new novel, just for you. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@The\_Raven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2000, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/64 "2000-10-15T20:40:21Z")
I just started reading mysteries, after I gave my collection of science fiction to my younger brothers for Christmas. I’ve read the Sherlock Holmes stories of course, and right now I’m reading the Nero Wolfe series (started when I read a story in an anthology I got at the flea market). Got me an A for a book report in one of my classes. ---
**Author:** ![jcgmoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@jcgmoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jcgmoi)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2000, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/65 "2000-10-15T21:19:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* > **The original, uncut manuscript of Thomas Wolfe’s LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL was just published with editorial notes by the American literature scholar Max Bruccoli. Bruccoli excoriates Scribner editor Max Perkins for making Wolfe do rewrites and cuts, and for changing over some of the original pages into stuff he thought was better, over the author’s protest.** If you’re suggesting LHA would have been better without Perkins I’m leaving the room. [/QUOTE] But I’ll ask [Crumley] to tighten up his dialogue on the new novel, just for you. [/QUOTE] Thank you very much and please give Mr. Crumley my regards. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/66 "2000-10-16T01:42:37Z")
I think I owe **Brynda** an apology. I got Elizabeth George confused with some other author whose name, obviously, I can’t remember. I had read a couple of not-Elizabeth-George books and didn’t like them. Examining the stack of books I brought back from the library last visit I found an Elizabeth George mystery. It must have looked good enough at the time for me to pick it up in spite of my prejudice. I’ve started reading it and, belatedly, I realize that I’ve read her work before and enjoyed it, as I’m enjoying this one. I wonder who it is that I don’t like? ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2000, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/67 "2000-10-16T05:11:28Z")
Apology accepted (always nice to get one), but I don’t think you actually criticized old EG aloud–at least I can’t find it in this thread. I am glad to see someone finally second her, so if that is what you are referring to, thanks!! I think I have Wring intrigued, too. Has anyone read Val McDermid (maybe spelled wrong)? They did a short piece about her on CBS Sunday Morning this AM that appealed to me. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2000, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/68 "2000-10-17T01:28:47Z")
> [@](#): > > RealityChuck: how cool! Which character? Not the victim, I hope. And what did you mean by “a YA”? Is this early novel under her name or another nom de plume (Is she the one who wrote as Jack Early at one time?) YA = Young Adult novel. “Trying Hard to Hear You” is not a mystery, but the story of coming of age and the main character’s reaction to finding out a couple of friends were gay. It was her first novel, and the real counterparts of the characters are obvious to those of us who were involved. It’s set in my home town, in the summer of 1973, when we put together a performance of “Anything Goes.” Sandra Scoppettone directed the show; a look at the program gives anyone in the know a quick guide to who was who. A couple of guys who were involved were gay, but the reaction in real life (no one really cared) was nothing like that in the book (everyone was horrified). In fact, a lot of peopl were upset that Sandra outed the guys involved. It was written under her name, before the Jack Early books. My character was Walt Feinberg, whose grandfather ran Feinberg’s Department Store and was a friend of Albert Einstein. My grandfather did run a department store and was a friend of Einstein. Sandra wrote another YA book about alcoholism, then started with mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2000, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/69 "2000-10-17T03:14:12Z")
I just finished reading my first Dana Stabenow, recommended to me by someone at the PNWDopefest. Excellent mystery, quick read. I will be looking for more by this author. More authors I love: Carol Higgins Clark Harold Adams Max Allen Collins Barbara D’Amato Aaron J. Elkins Earlene Fowler E.X. Ferrers Robert Goldsborough Susan Dunlap Scotti ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2000, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/70 "2000-10-17T12:32:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scotticher \* > \*\*I have a friend that absolutely LOVES Dean Koontz, so I kept trying. I just couldn’t believe that she could like him so much if he was as awful as I thought he was. IMHO, she is wrong. He stinks. > \*\* You have to pick and choose the Dean Koontz’s carefully. Some are really good; some are totally off-the-wall bizarre. I would suggest “Lightening”, “Watchers” and “Strangers”. “Lightening” is one of my favorite books. I’ve read it about 4 or 5 times. It’s quite different from most of his other stuff. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2000, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/71 "2000-10-17T13:34:18Z")
Scottischer: You like Robert Goldsborough, too! I thought I was the only one. Goldsborough wrote new “Nero Wolfe” stories after Rex Stout’s death. I rather like them, but I gather that I’m in the minority. Has he written anything else? His Nero Wolfe books are pretty hard to find, but I’ve got a few of them. They’re out of print. (Maybe the fact that he has virtually the same name as Bad Singer/Songwriter Bobby Goldsborough has something to do with it.) ---
**Author:** ![tshirts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@tshirts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tshirts)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/72 "2000-10-18T01:30:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pluto \* > \*\*I like the old-fashioned British mysteries (_ala_ Agatha Christie) especially when people keep getting murdered until the detective finally figures it out. … > I’ve had less luck finding current (i.e., living) authors I like as well. …However, **Scotti** suggested Laurie R. King at the Dopefest and I’ve just started one of hers. She has series that ressurect Sherlock Holmes as second banana to a young English woman detective. I’m enjoying it, which is odd because I’ve never really enjoyed Conan Doyle’s original stories. > > So anyway – what’s yours? \*\* You are right on so many counts. It’s HARD to find a modern author with any kind of “puzzle”. They just have the detectives get lucky hunches, or be hunted down by the killer, so there’s no deductions for the reader to try to anticipate and work out himself. One recent author I loved, because he did put in deductions. I sent him some fan mail and we have been discussing writing by email for some time now (I’m working on a mystery myself, and would dearly love to find an agent). Anyway, I highly recommend\*\* [ul] [li]Sherlock Holmes And The Red Demon / by John H. Watson ; Edited And With An Introduction By Larry Millett : 1996[/li][li]Sherlock Holmes And The Ice Palace Murders / from The American Chronicles Of John H. Watson, M.D. ; By Larry Millett : 1998[/li][li]Sherlock Holmes And The Rune Stone Mystery : From The American Chronicles Of John H. Watson, M.D. / by Larry Millett : 1999[/ul]\*\*[/li] **Larry Millett** ’s first email outlined his plans: “I’m happy to hear you’ve enjoyed my three Sherlockian adventures. I doubt there will be any more (though anything is possible), since I’m now turning my attention to Shadwell Rafferty [_his local detective in the above mysteries_] in the hopes I can find an audience for him as a detective-hero. There’s also the fact that I’ve run out of ways to entice poor Sherlock and Dr. Watson to Minnesota. And, of course, I don’t want to spend the rest of my career writing pastiches. My first Rafferty book, as yet untitled, will be out in 2001. It’s set in Minneapolis in 1899 and may be the most intricately plotted book I’ve attempted.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/73 "2000-10-18T03:52:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny Angel \* > \*\* > I like Fletch. He’s a kick in the pants, and the swell thing about Gregory MacDonald is that he’s as good at plots as Erle Stanley Gardner, and a hell of a lot better a writer. Pow, pow. Kicks my ass every time. > \*\* The first three Fletches are great, especially _Confess Fletch_, and the Flynn books which spun from _Confess_ are good too, After _Fletch and the Widow Bradley_ I couldn’t get into them anymore, save for _Fletch and the Man Who_, which I obviously enjoyed. > [@](#): > > \*\* > And of course, the Continental Op. Doesn’t give squat/jack about anything but nailing motherfuckers for the sheer sport of it. That is, until the Dain case. Then along comes Sam Spade, just to show you Hammett ain’t got too soft. Spade is the stuff they cut diamonds with. \*\* I’ve got to get a hold of some Continental Op. I’ve heard nothing but good things. Cordially, Myron M. Meyer The Man Who ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/74 "2000-10-18T04:02:54Z")
Gay detectives/mysteries have been written by R.D. Zimmerman and Michael Nava. It should be easy enough to find others through [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com). No one has mentioned Robert Crais, who created Elvis Cole and Joe Pike! Not great literature, but so much fun to read! Very L.A. centered, like Jonathan Kellerman, but different in tone. I personally like the English - Reginald Hill (wrote the books behind the Dalziel/Pascoe series on PBS, the books have hilarious passages in them), Elizabeth George (I know, she’s not English), Ruth Rendell (aka Barbara Vine), Peter Robinson, Ian Rankin, many many more. Agatha Christie, etc. bores me far beyond tears. Give me a nice gruesome English police procedural any day. I swear, I know the beleagured British coppers and the English countryside like old friends. Or give me anything by the grand master, Ed McBain. Talk about old friends! Speaking of Ed McBain, does anyone besides me wonder about the Deaf Man? He got out of a real “bind” several books ago and I’m kind of annoyed he hasn’t resurfaced. I asked Ed McBain in a live chat when the Deaf Man is coming back, and he just laughed and said don’t count him out, but that was a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2000, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/75 "2000-10-18T13:16:44Z")
I loooooooove the Deaf Man. He appeared in THE HECKLER (1960) FUZZ (1968) LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE DEAF MAN (1973) EIGHT BLACK HORSES (1985) MISCHIEF (1993) (Did I miss any?) So he might possibly be the only Master Criminal in mystery fiction to span five decades, if you count 1960 as being part of the Fifties. Looks like we’ll have to wait till we’re well into the 'OOs to get the next one. \*“I’m afraid you’ll have to speak up. I’m a little hard of hearing.” \* Always lovely to hit those words, spoken over the phone to Steve Carella, at the end of Chapter One. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/76 "2000-10-20T16:02:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Man Who \* > **The first three Fletches are great, especially _Confess Fletch_, and the Flynn books which spun from _Confess_ are good too \** I think Flynn beats Fletch everytime. I _love_ Flynn. What’s not to love, with the musical, Irish, undercover family. Even Fletch loves them. I wish MacDonald would write another one already. I’ve worn my copies out. ---
**Author:** ![G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c67d28/32.png) [@G.B.H.Hornswoggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.B.H.Hornswoggler)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/77 "2000-10-20T17:41:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cmkeller \* > According to responses in the forum on [http://www.suegrafton.com](http://www.suegrafton.com), “P” Is For Peril will be out on April 9, 2001. > \*\* Last I heard, it’s now June 4th. But it’s already moved twice that I know of (it started off in May, then switched to that April date), so it may well have moved back when I wasn’t looking. Oh, and I don’t think **Dennis Lehane** has been mentioned yet. He’s a younger Boston writer, in the hardboiled vein. What he does is sorta “Robert Parker done serious” (and I say that as someone who greatly enjoys the Spencer novels). Lots of gloom in Lehane, but he’s a great writer. And, just to be nice, let me put some props in for a few of Uke’s authors (he said, gazing into his due-for-service crystal ball): **Marcia Muller** is the original female P.I. writer (I personally prefer her earlier books, but that’s just taste. It’s a big long series, start with _Edwin of the Iron Shoes_ and you’ll be content for weeks.) **Joe Gores** has forgotten more about real P.I. work than most writers ever knew. His “Dan Kearny Associates” books show more-or-less real-life private eye work. Oh, and his _32 Cadillacs_ crosses over with Westlake’s _Drowned Hopes_. Great books from both guys.) Then there’s this really hardboiled writer called **Richard Stark** – the Mel Gibson movie _Payback_ was made fom one of his books – who’s been rumored to have written some stuff under another name… ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/78 "2000-10-21T03:10:28Z")
Author Leslie Glass writes a series (more of a police procedural) about April Woo, a Chinese American NYPD detective. The writing, the plots are fabulous, and April Woo is not only a kick ass detective but provides a glimpse into the mysterious lives of people of Chinese extraction. Endlessly fascinating is the tug of war between her dragon of a mother (with whom she still lives) and her Puerto Rican boyfriend. ---
**Author:** ![honkytonkwillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@honkytonkwillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/honkytonkwillie)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2000, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/79 "2000-10-21T08:22:29Z")
I’m quite surprised that none of the PNW contingent has mentioned Earl W. Emerson. I hooked up with his first book sometime around 1986 quite by accident - it had a cool cover. He has two different series, with about 14 books total. They all take place in and around Seattle. I also enjoyed J.A. Jance before her stories began to take place in Arizona. ---
**Author:** ![beerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85e7bf/32.png) [@beerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beerman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605/80 "2000-10-22T20:02:00Z")
ok here goes elmore leonard-not really mystery but robert daly-ex nypd cop joseph wambaugh-ex la cop thomas harris-hannibal [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-fiction/36605.md?page=5)