# What is the quintessential Detective Novel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635 "2009-08-07T14:39:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/1 "2009-08-07T14:39:15Z")
If I wanted to read the greatest example of the private detective novel, what would it be? What I mean by that is the old school tough guy Humphery Bogart, “Dixon Hill” 40s style detective with a real falvor of the era. What is the best novel to read that represents that archetype? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/2 "2009-08-07T14:48:02Z")
The Maltese Falcon? I mean it’s pretty much got everything – the hard boiled detective with the dead partner, the duplicitous dame, the object of infinite desire, the bad guy and his toadying lackey. I can’t remember if the detective gets beat up and/or drugged and beat up, but that probably happens. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/3 "2009-08-07T15:29:46Z")
Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep”. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/4 "2009-08-07T15:39:09Z")
The quintessential detective novel (as described in the OP) is probably _The Maltese Falcon_, but my favorite is and will always be _The Long Goodbye_ ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/5 "2009-08-07T15:47:55Z")
I’d go with _The Big Sleep_ also. You’ve got to give props to a mystery novel where not even the author knows who dunnit: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > One of the murders is left unexplained. Owen Taylor is found murdered in a car that has been pushed into the bay. Chandler was shocked to find later that he didn’t know who the killer was. [Cite](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Sleep#Trivia) ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/6 "2009-08-07T15:50:10Z")
I’ll second _The Long Goodbye_, but I have a soft place in my heart for _Red Harvest_ by Dashiell Hammett. It’s more of a shoot 'em up than a mystery, but the narrator is as sharp and as tough as they come. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/7 "2009-08-07T16:57:26Z")
He’s not the best writer, but if your taste for detectiove stories includes more sex and violence than Hammett or Chandler, I’d go for [Mickey Spillane](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Spillane). Start with _I, the Jury._ ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/8 "2009-08-07T17:19:52Z")
I think most definitely it would have to be one of Dashiell Hammett’s works, he practically invented the genre, or at least produced its early masterpieces. _The Maltese Falcon_ has already been mentioned and I think that’s the Hammett I’d nominate too. It really is _the_ private eye novel. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/9 "2009-08-07T17:57:57Z")
_The Red House_, by A.A. Milne. He set himself to write a detective mystery, and he succeeded so perfectly that he never needed to do another one. The culprit, IIRC, was the butler. With the HUNNY pot. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/10 "2009-08-07T18:07:40Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I think most definitely it would have to be one of Dashiell Hammett’s works, he practically invented the genre, or at least produced its early masterpieces. [Harrumph](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_in_the_Rue_Morgue#Literary_significance_and_reception). Poe, Christie, and Doyle beg to differ. I suspect you meant that Hammett was an early master of [hard-boiled detective fiction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardboiled). On this point, I think there is no dispute. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/11 "2009-08-07T18:17:44Z")
If you take the broad genre of the detective novel in general, the quintessential novel is probably _The Hound of the Baskervilles_. That or one of Agatha Christie’s, but I’m not sure which one—some of her most famous ones subvert the conventions of the genre. If you mean the subgenre described in the OP, I think the question has already been well answered. Now that we’re at it, what are the “quintessential” examples of other subgenres? For example, I think John Dickson Carr’s _The Three Coffins_ has a claim to be the quintessential “locked room mystery” novel. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/12 "2009-08-07T19:58:26Z")
I would also say _The Maltese Falcon_. In fact, I think it is not only the quintessential hard-boiled detective novel, I think it is one of the best American novels. For the more cerebral, Golden Age detective, I would suggest Agatha Christie’s \*Death on the Nile \*or Ellery Queen’s _The Greek Coffin Mystery_. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/13 "2009-08-08T19:07:58Z")
While perhaps not the quintessential myster writer, let’s not forget Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe. I would recommend _Fer-de-Lance_. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/14 "2009-08-08T20:50:57Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > [Harrumph](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murders_in_the_Rue_Morgue#Literary_significance_and_reception). Poe, Christie, and Doyle beg to differ. > > I suspect you meant that Hammett was an early master of [hard-boiled detective fiction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardboiled). On this point, I think there is no dispute. You might note that the OP said novel, while The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a short story. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/15 "2009-08-08T20:58:26Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions I guess “The Maltese Falcon” has top billing. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/16 "2009-08-08T21:07:24Z")
Read one Hammett and one Chandler. I’d go with The Maltese Falcon and Farewell, My Lovely. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-quintessential-detective-novel/505635/17 "2009-08-09T14:19:38Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > You might note that the OP said novel, while The Murders in the Rue Morgue is a short story. Nit fairly picked. Larger point still valid.