Conan Doyle got my vote, hands down, although Robert Parker and Elmore Leonard always make me smile with pleasure when I read them, as well.
Foregone conclusion, I think. Or is all this Agatha voting a red herring, meant to distract us from the fact that it is actually the butler?
(Oh, and I missed the nominations thread and think that, even if he wouldn’t have won, Andrea Camilleri deserved to be on the list.)
Heh heh. I know Bill Fitzhugh and his family, but i voted for Sandford.
Dennis Lehane, maybe? I can’t think of a better (although so far too short) series than the Kenzie series. That’s not to mention Lehane’s non-series books. How is he not even nominated?
I will, however give a vote to Harlan Coben. That man’s a comic genius, and a great writer despite of it.
Michael Connelly also deserves a vote. . . but really. . .
, , , his name is Dennis Lehane.
Oh, crap, I forgot Paul Halter in the nominations. 
Oh, well, it’s not like he would’ve won (or even gotten past this stage) anyway; too little known.
Sir Arthur got my vote, if for nothing more than how many times I’ve re-read his stories (about twice a year).
2nd place would be Robert Parker.
Chandler seems obvious, hence the vote.
Le Carre and Greene don’t really seem to quailfy as a “Mystery Writer”.They’ve done their time in the genre, but the description doesn’t really fit. For that matter, where’s Highsmith?
If I had been paying attention to the nominating thread, I would have tossed Donald J. Sobal’s name into the hat. It’s not just that he introduced a great many readers to the genre, but he also always wrote in the style where all the clues are apparent to the reader, if they only put the pieces together. All too often, even with the greats like Arthur Conan Doyle, the case hinges on something that only the detective sees.
I mentioned Sobol, but it was really intended as joke.
Well, the results are looking fairly clear for this poll - I wanted to give it a bump and say that I will start the next poll - The Final Five - this evening, so if you’ve been holding back on voting, now’s the time to chime in!
Well there is Poe, who supposedly inivented the detective genre. There is Doyle who created the most memorable detective of all time. There is Christie who is the master of the closed door mystery. And then there is Hammett who possibly both invented and perfected the hard boiled detective genre. I voted for Hammett (although Chandler is my favorite), but I could see any one of these four being the choice.
The Final Five poll can be found at this link.
I’m curious to see if the standings will remain similar now that there are only five authors to choose from.
Closed at the OP’s request.