Saturday, February 23, 2008

Crime fiction

After a debate that left senior members of the Telegraph's literary staff with pulled hair, black eyes and, in one case, an infected bite, we this week present our list of the 50 great crime writers of all time.
I've read most of the authors and most of the books on the list. The list is so good on the writers I do know that I find the thought of reading the others extremely tempting. The list:
GK Chesterton 1874-1936
The most fluent journalist of his generation, Gilbert Keith Chesterton was also a master of the detective story. Father Brown - his sceptical and worldly-wise priest - featured in dozens of exquisite entertainments. Settle into a comfy chair and enjoy.

Read: The Complete Father Brown (1986)

Arthur Conan Doyle 1859-1930
Conan Doyle's pipe-smoking detective is so well known that Sherlock has become a synonym for sleuth. He never said the catchphrase; the illustrator gave him the hat; continuity errors abound… but he's brilliant.

Read: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)

Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849
Poe was a man of formidable talents - not least of which, sadly, was drinking himself to death. Before that, though, he gave us fiction's first detective, in Auguste Dupin, and hairiest murderer, in an orangutan.

Read: The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)

Ed McBain 1926-2005
As well as writing the script for Hitchcock's The Birds, McBain (real name: Evan Hunter) more or less invented the police procedural. The detectives of Isola's 87th Precinct wise-cracked for half a century, and their spare style was the prime influence on Hill Street Blues.

Read: King's Ransom (2003)
And forty-six more.

Update: And some missing who should have been on the list.

50 crime writers to read before you die - Telegraph

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