# Old mystery novel recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082 "2014-05-09T20:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/21 "2014-05-10T02:35:24Z")
Throwing out new names at random as they come into mind: 30s John Dickson Carr Anthony Berkeley Stuart Palmer Erle Stanley Gardner 40s Craig Rice Phoebe Atwood Taylor/Alice Tilton Edmund Crispin Jonathan Latimer Clayton Rawson Cornell Woolrich 50s Mickey Spillane (if you’re never read him you have to read one to see what the fuss was about) ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/22 "2014-05-10T02:41:16Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Throwing out new names at random as they come into mind: > > 30s > John Dickson Carr Oh yeah. Awesome locked room mysteries with Dr. Gideon Fell! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/23 "2014-05-10T02:55:16Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Oh yeah. Awesome locked room mysteries with Dr. Gideon Fell! And even more awesome locked room/impossible crime mysteries with Sir Henry Merrivale. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/24 "2014-05-10T04:18:06Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > And even more awesome locked room/impossible crime mysteries with Sir Henry Merrivale. And the best (IMHO) Sherlock Holmes pastiches ever, both with and without Adrian Conan Doyle. ---
**Author:** ![nachtmusick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/25 "2014-05-10T05:02:00Z")
You should at least try the Merrily Watkins series. It’s contemporary, but reads old. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/26 "2014-05-10T05:10:10Z")
Rex Stout - his Nero Wolfe series is really good. Too Many Cooks, League of Frightened Men, Some Buried Caesar are three of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/27 "2014-05-10T08:11:23Z")
Phoebe Atwood Taylor Charlotte MacLeod Quirky, regional characters. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/28 "2014-05-10T19:31:28Z")
I’ll suggest E.C. Bentley’s _Trent’s Last Case_ I’ll also third Ellery Queen. I especially recommend _The Greek Coffin Mystery, The Egyptian Cross Mystery,_ and \*Four of Hearts \*from the 1930’s; _Calamity Town, The Murderer is a Fox, Ten Days’ Wonder,_ and \*Cat of Many Tails \*from the 1940’s; and _The Origin of Evil, The Scarlet Letters_ and \*The King is Dead \*from the 1950’s. I also recommend James M. Cain. Kate Wilhelm is a contemporary, but I think her Barbara Holloway novels are hard to beat. Marcia Muller writes a pretty good series about San Francisco private eye Sharyn McCone (the earliest are in the 1970s), but I think her best books may be those set in a fictional rural northern California county. Two of these are _Point Deception_ and _Cyanide Wells_. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/29 "2014-05-10T20:27:04Z")
John Dickson Carr has been mentioned and I heartily concur. He also wrote under the name Carter Dickson. Whatever you do don’t miss his The Hollow Man, 1935. It was selected in 1981 as the best locked-room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers. (Wikipedia) Again, Fredric Brown, also previously mentioned and a master of both SF and mystery. (He’s also adept at the ‘short short’, I always loved the Ellery Queen novels,authored by Dannay and Lee under the pen-name of Ellery Queen. Very well-constructed whodunnits, from The Roman Hat Mystery, 1929, through A Fine and Private Place, 1971, the year Lee died and Dannay stopped writing. Later novels are ghost-written, most of them not to a high standard. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/30 "2014-05-10T22:10:58Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Later novels are ghost-written, most of them not to a high standard. Nitpick from an Ellery Queen fanatic. Three\* titles are ghostwritten: [ul] The Player on The Other Side—1963 (ghost-written with Theodore Sturgeon)[/ul] [ul] …and on the Eighth Day…—1964 (ghost-written with Avram Davidson) (Grand Prix de Littérature Policière winner)[/ul] [ul] The Fourth Side of The Triangle—1965 (ghost-written with Avram Davidson)[/ul] All are very good to excellent and better than any of the later books, after Manny Lee got over his writer’s block. - A Study in Terror is a special case, a movie novelization by hack Paul Fairman, with a framing story by the Queens. There’s some discussion about whether anyone and if so who ghostwrote House of Brass, which is poor enough to be late Lee. A series of ghostwritten hack mysteries under the Ellery Queen name but not featuring the Ellery Queen characters appeared in the early 60s since Lee needed money but couldn’t write. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/31 "2014-05-10T23:39:25Z")
Since Mickey Spillane was mentioned … I took an interest in mysteries after watching the “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” TV show in the 1980s (starring Stacy Keach as Mike Hammer). So I hit up my local public library and discovered some good stuff: Lawrence Block has already been mentioned. Anybody who has read his “Burglar” books knows of Bernie Rhodenbarr’s hobby of learning about patron saints, and that his best friend was a lesbian. My favorite exchange between the two characters (paraphrased from memory - I read this almost 30 years ago): Carolyn Kaiser: So, is there a patron saint of lesbians? Bernie: The little Dutch boy. Carolyn: The little Dutch boy? Bernie: You know, the one who stuck his finger in the hole in the … Carolyn: Nobody likes a smartass, Bernie. [H.R.F. Keating](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._R._F._Keating) really hooked me with his Inspector Ghote series, about a detective with the Bombay (India) police force. I just looked at his Wikipedia page, and was surprised to discover that he just died three years ago. I’d thought he was already dead when I was reading his books in the '80s (hey, we didn’t have the Internet then!) While I was reading his books, I had the good fortune to meet a Christian missionary to India who was able to tell me how to properly pronounce the name “Ghote”. [Georges Simenon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Simenon): I ate up his “Maigret” novels. And there are a crap-ton of them. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/32 "2014-05-11T00:20:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Knock 3-1-2** a murder told from multiple points of view, including the murderer’s I’m told this one has been filmed, too. **Knock 3-1-2** was made into a French film called “The Red Ibis”. It was also made into an episode of the US TV series “Thriller”. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/33 "2014-05-11T00:26:39Z")
Harry Kemelman wrote the Rabbi series. This thread reminded me that I never finished reading the later books. I read maybe the first 5 or 6 books. Can’t recall. I need to find copies and correct that mistake. 😉 > **[Harry Kemelman, 88, Mystery Novelist, Dies (Published 1996)](https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/18/books/harry-kemelman-88-mystery-novelist-dies.html)** > > Harry Kemelman, author of mystery series featuring small-town rabbi as sleuth, dies at age 88; photo (S) > [@](#): > > Harry Kemelman, the author of a popular series of 11 mystery novels that feature a small-town rabbi as their offbeat sleuth, died on Sunday at his home in Marblehead, Mass. He was 88. > > In most of the books in the droll series, which began with ‘‘Friday the Rabbi Slept Late’’ in 1964, Rabbi David Small is the spiritual leader of a synagogue in Barnard’s Crossing, on the Massachusetts coast. As it happens, the fictional town bears a curious resemblance to Marblehead, and Mr. Kemelman’s gently satirical portraits of some of its residents have won readers’ praise. > > The last book in the series, ‘‘That Day the Rabbi Left Town,’’ was published in February by Fawcett. ---
**Author:** ![MsJinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/278dde/32.png) [@MsJinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsJinx)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/34 "2014-05-12T02:14:48Z")
I recommend Reginald Hill, the Dalziel & Pasco series, which began in 1970. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2014, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/35 "2014-05-12T13:14:42Z")
Two I’d recommend are Kinky Friedman (very funny) and Andrew Vachss (very dark). ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/36 "2014-05-12T14:31:26Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Sounds like I should try Sayers. Peter Wimsey has been mentioned (positively) in a book by one of my favorite science fiction writers, now that I think of it. Was it Connie Willis? It was Connie Willis, wasn’t it? Speaking of, if you like science fiction with a light tone, time travel, and a kind of cosmic whodunnit, you can’t go wrong with _To Say Nothing of the Dog_. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/37 "2014-05-12T15:19:13Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > John Dickson Carr has been mentioned and I heartily concur. He also wrote under the name Carter Dickson. Whatever you do don’t miss his The Hollow Man, 1935. It was selected in 1981 as the best locked-room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers. (Wikipedia) **The Judas Window** , by the same author, is another terrific locked room mystery. It features the window in every room that only a murderer can see. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/38 "2014-05-12T15:37:21Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > John Dickson Carr has been mentioned and I heartily concur. He also wrote under the name Carter Dickson. Whatever you do don’t miss his The Hollow Man, 1935. It was selected in 1981 as the best locked-room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers. (Wikipedia) > [@Biotop](#): > > **The Judas Window** , by the same author, is another terrific locked room mystery. It features the window in every room that only a murderer can see. Carr gets tricky bibliographically, so a quick note. _The Hollow Man_ is titled _The Three Coffins_ in the U.S. It has Dr. Gideon Fell as the detective, so it came out under the Carr name. _The Judas Window_ came out in U.S. paperback at least once as _The Crossbow Murder_. That’s one of the Sir Henry Merrivale books, so it was originally published as by Dickson but in recent years they’ve put Carr’s name on it. This is not the same book as _The Bowstring Murders_, which originally was by Carr Dickson before he changed that to the less obvious Carter Dickson. Both titles have some editions with crossbows on the cover. Old mysteries which have appeared in literally dozens of editions over the decades can drive you bonkers. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/39 "2014-05-12T15:43:33Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > I’d also like to throw in a recommendation for Lindsey Davis’ Marcus Didius Falco mysteries. They take place in Ancient Rome, but fit in with the ones you like. A big +1 on these. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082/40 "2014-05-12T16:01:59Z")
I’d recommend the Harry Stoner series written by Jonathan Valin. There are others better, but it’s a great A-/B+ series. may be hard to find, but a large library might have them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mystery-novel-recommendations/688082.md?page=3)