The Top 100 Crime Novels Of All Time Vol 1 Illustrated

Josephine Tey. The Daughter of Time Raymond Chandler. The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler. Farewell, My Lovely Dorothy L. Sayers. Gaudy Night Dashiell Hammett. The Maltese Falcon John Buchan. The Thirty-nine Steps Edmund Clerihew Bentley. Trent's Last Case Cyril Hare. Tragedy At Law Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone Erskine Childers. The Riddle of the Sands

The Crown Crime Companion The Top 100 Mystery Novels Of All Time Selected by the Mystery Writers Of America Annotated by 0tto Penzler and Compiled by Mickey Friedman For The Crown Crime Companion, the Mystery Writers of America have compiled a list of the best 100 mystery novels of all time, as well as a list of favorites in ten categories. Fully annotated and reviewed by Otto Penzler, this list of the top 100 mysteries will be a valuable resource to fans, introducing them to new novels and reminding them about books by favorite writers they may have missed. Each of the ten category lists is introduced by a master of that category: Classics: Suspense: Hardboiled/Private Eye: Police Procedural: Espionage/Thriller: Criminal: Cozy/Traditional: Historical: Humorous: Legal/Courtroom: H.R.F. Keating Mary Higgins Clark Sue Grafton Joseph Wambaugh John Gardner Richard Condon Margaret Maron Peter Lovesey Gregory Mcdonald Scott Turow

Contains a selection of crime novels. With 100 of the best titles reviewed and a further 500 recommended, this book also allows you to browse by theme, and includes 'a reader's guide to the world of crime fiction'. It lists the top 10 crime characters and their creators, award winners and book club recommendations.

This book is an appreciation of selected authors who make extensive use of humor in English detective/crime fiction. Works using humor as an amelioration of the serious have their heyday in the Golden Age of crime writing but they belong also to a long tradition. There is an identifiable lineage of humorous writing in crime fiction that ranges from mild wit to outright farce, burlesque, even slapstick. A mix of entertainment with instruction is a tradition in English letters. English crime fiction writers of the era circa 1913 to 1940 were raised in the mainstream literary tradition but turned their skills to detective fiction. And they are the humorists of the genre. This book is not an exhaustive study but an introduction into the best produced by the most capable and enjoyable authors. What the humorists seek is to surprise the reader by overturning their expectations using a repertoire of stylistic conceits and motifs (recurring incidents, devices, references). Humor has a liberating effect but is concerned too with "comic contrast" through ugliness and caricature. In crime fiction one effect is intellectual pleasure at solving (or attempting to solve) a puzzle. Another is entertainment but with serious undertones.

'A detective story with a very considerable difference. Ingenious, stimulating and very enjoyable' SUNDAY TIMES 'As interesting and enjoyable a book as they will meet in a month of Sundays' OBSERVER Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant, recovering from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III, believed to have brutally killed his brother's children - the Princes in the Tower - to make his crown secure. But is the hunchback with such a sensitive, noble face really one of the world's most heinous villains? Or was he the victim of one of the most insidious plots in history? 'One of the best mysteries of all time' NEW YORK TIMES 'Suspense is achieved by unexpected twists and extremely competent storytelling . . . credible and convincing' SPECTATOR