From the author of Small Crimes and The Caretaker of Lorne Field, my five favorite detective novels
1
The Continental Op cleans up "Poisonville" in this crime novel picked by Time Magazine as one of the best 100 English-language novels.
2
The nameless detective in this one uses the pseudonym "Karl Craven" and warns the reader right off the bat: Listen. This is a wild one. Maybe the wildest yet. It’s got everything but an abortion and a tornado. I ain’t saying it’s true. Neither of us, brother, is asking you to believe it. You can lug it across to the rental library right now and tell the dame you want your goddamn nickel back. We don’t care. All HE done was write it down like I told it, and I don’t guarantee nothing.
3
I could've picked any number of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books for this list, but Over My Dead Body is probably my favorite as it's the first to explore Wolfe's Montenegrin background. With his Nero Wolfe books, Rex Stout came up with a brilliant mixing up the traditional mystery with the American hardboiled PI, and what makes the books so enjoyable is his clever wiring, humor, and the Wolfe-Goodwin relationship.
4
What makes Macdonald's Lew Archer PI series so fascinating is how Archer digs through the myth of the American Dream, exposing our darkest sins and depravity, and none of the books in this series are as chilling as The Chill.
5
This is a collection of three short novels that provides a fascinating postmodern interpretation of detective and mystery fiction.
1
The Continental Op cleans up "Poisonville" in this crime novel picked by Time Magazine as one of the best 100 English-language novels.
2
The nameless detective in this one uses the pseudonym "Karl Craven" and warns the reader right off the bat: Listen. This is a wild one. Maybe the wildest yet. It’s got everything but an abortion and a tornado. I ain’t saying it’s true. Neither of us, brother, is asking you to believe it. You can lug it across to the rental library right now and tell the dame you want your goddamn nickel back. We don’t care. All HE done was write it down like I told it, and I don’t guarantee nothing.
3
I could've picked any number of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books for this list, but Over My Dead Body is probably my favorite as it's the first to explore Wolfe's Montenegrin background. With his Nero Wolfe books, Rex Stout came up with a brilliant mixing up the traditional mystery with the American hardboiled PI, and what makes the books so enjoyable is his clever wiring, humor, and the Wolfe-Goodwin relationship.
4
What makes Macdonald's Lew Archer PI series so fascinating is how Archer digs through the myth of the American Dream, exposing our darkest sins and depravity, and none of the books in this series are as chilling as The Chill.
5
This is a collection of three short novels that provides a fascinating postmodern interpretation of detective and mystery fiction.
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