So the other day, I realised that I hadn’t done a poll for a while. In the past, I’ve helped you decide what is officially the best books by John Dickson Carr and Agatha Christie, but after that, you run out of authors that people have a) read enough of and b) that I care about enough to do a poll. Some recent posts on a Facebook group, however, reminded me just how much fun it is to do a World Cup-style competition, so, after a little discussion with Kate from Cross Examining Crime, I decided to do the big one – the Best Golden Age Mystery Writer Of ALL TIME!!!
But how to decide who to include – Kate and I managed to come up with 65 names without thinking too hard but I’ve trimmed those down to 28. I’ve included the big names and those who have had significant reprints, but I’m sure you’ve already realised that 28 is a rubbish number for such a competition. You need 32. That’s where you come in, dear reader.
Take a look at the names below and see who you think I’ve missed out. And then put their names in the comments. Feel free to repeat other peoples’ suggestions, as that’ll make those people more likely to be included.
I’ll give it until Monday 8pm local time before we kick off with the group stages. And yes, there will be seeding. And no, I’ve got no idea how to do the seeding yet…
Anyway, here are the names. Note that Conan Doyle is not Golden Age, and I’ve omitted Chesterton as most of the stuff he wrote also pre-dates the rough 1920-1945 window. Also, I’m not really counting hard-boiled writers. But anyone who published a mystery novel in that timeframe can count…
- Margery Allingham
- George Bellairs
- Anthony Berkeley/Francis Iles
- Nicholas Blake
- Christianna Brand
- John Bude
- Christopher Bush
- John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson
- Agatha Christie
- Edmund Crispin
- Freeman Wills Crofts
- Brian Flynn
- Erle Stanley Gardner
- Cyril Hare
- Richard Hull
- Michael Innes
- E C R Lorac/Carol Carnac
- Helen McCloy
- Ngaio Marsh
- Gladys Mitchell
- Josephine Tey
- Ellery Queen
- Patrick Quentin/Q Patrick/Jonathan Stagge
- John Rhode/Miles Burton
- Craig Rice
- Dorothy L Sayers
- Christopher St John Sprigg
- S S Van Dine
So, who I have missed out?
R. Austin Freeman! Surely? (Please!)
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Well, I can easily predict who will come in the top 2 !
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May I nominate Ronald Knox? He’s unlikely to be anyone’s favourite GAD writer but The Three Taps is a classic and his short locked-room story “Solved by Inspection” has a properly dark solution. (Just don’t mention the Decalogue).
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Clayton Rawson?
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J Jefferson Farjeon, Richard Hull, R.A.J. Walling, E.R. Punshon and E. Charles Vivien are all my reading list
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No Patricia Wentworth?
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I think excluding hardboiled authors is a bit of a crime … but you have to have Rex Stout. And Simenon too.
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Thanks mate 😁 Plus Philip Macdonald and Leo Bruce please!
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They almost made the first cut. Noted.
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👍
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From Mike The Moustache on Twitter – E R Punshon, E Charles Vivian and Charles Kingston
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Henry Wade, J.J. Connington, Anthony Boucher, Herbert Brean
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All noted apart from Brean – like Delano Ames, too late (just).
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I agree with Sergio. You need to include Rex Stout, even if Kate can’t say the name without breaking into a cold sweat. Stout was a giant in the classic mystery field. I would also add Dashiell Hammett, who wrote his five novels during the heart of the Golden Age and managed to stay famous, unlike a LOT of people on this list, including Byron Floyne.
This is a very difficult project because, as you said, you “easily” came up with 65 names and then eliminated nearly two thirds of them. I can only think that you applied personal taste to that? How can you not? E.R. Punshon wrote dozens of books, but he’s not on the list. Same goes for Helen Reilly, Mary Roberts Rinehart, and Mignon G. Eberhart. And what about Earl Derr Biggers, who contributed one of the most famous detectives of all time?
I’ll bet you could start your poll with forty names. Easily!
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“I’ll bet you could start your poll with forty names”
Or 64 names !
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Who is Byron Floyne ? Never heard of him !
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Stout, Hammett (ugh!) Reilly, Rinehart, Eberhart all noted.
And yes, there had to be an element of what “I” consider GA when paring it down. Partly it was important works, partly quantity of output, partly UK-based writers for the most part. The number of names coming in – which, incidentally, don’t include many I omitted – might mean we start with a bigger pool…
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I would say though, Brad, I only considered one of the names as a bit of a free pass. Can you guess who it was (rhetorical question, obviously)
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Hey, if Brad gets Hammett, then I gotta get Chandler (this is how this works, right? 😆)
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Punshon, Rawson both are ones who could easily fit and help round it up to 32. What about Delano Ames or is all that too late? And I know most people think they’re too twee (and they are), I would add the Lockridge’s. The North books are fun and do include massive cocktail drinking.
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Noted for Punshon, Rawson and Lockridge. Ames is just too late…
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Clifford Witting
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Noted.
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Anthony Abbot, H.C. Bailey, Anthony Boucher, Stuart Palmer, Kelley Roos and (why not) John Russell Fearn.
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Earl Derr Biggers, H. C. Bailey, Melville Davisson Post, E. C. Bentley, and Philip MacDonald all belong on the list. The creators of Charlie Chan, Reggie Fortune and Joshua Clunk, Uncle Abner and Randolph Mason, Trent, and Gethryn should not be eliminated before any voting.
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Biggers definitely belongs on the list. Historically really significant. But does anyone actually read him anymore?
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I do.
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I have them all but it’s been a while since I cracked them open.
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They should do. I read all his Charlie Chan stories recently and they are excellent. Biggers for the poll, Rex Stout and Erle Stanley Gardner for me
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Oh God, I just realised – Edgar Wallace has to be on the list, surely?
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Noted
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Stout, Boucher, Bruce, and Knox.
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Noted, noted, noted and noted
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Although not my cup of tea, Milward Kennedy, who was also a noted critic.
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Noted
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G D H and M Coles, Dolores Hitchens, Glynn Carr, Vernon Loder, Francis Crane, Phoebe Atwood Taylor, Arthur W Upfield, Clyde B Clason
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Belgian author Georges Simenon wrote his Inspector Maigret series in France during that time period and continued through the 1950s and beyond in America.
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Some more possibilities:
A. Fielding
Robin Forsythe
David Frome
Anthony Gilbert
Bruce Graeme
Leonard Gribble
Annie Haynes
Georgette Heyer
Ianthe Jerrold
Rufus King
Roger Scarlett
Vincent Starrett
Lee Thayer
Francis Vivian
Ethel Lina White
Anthony Wynne
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How many of those would you personally include?
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Good question. It’s been quite a while since I read most of these. I remember liking Forsythe, Graeme, Haynes, Heyer, King and Wynne.
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Anthony Gilbert and David Frome from Ed’s list certainly should get consideration in my opinion.
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I would not forget H. C. Bailey; Herbert Adams; and Anthony Berkeley.
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Is there no minimum number of books an author must have written to be considered? Both Clayton Rawson and Hake Talbot deserve to be included but they didn’t write many books.
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I did think about using a minimum quota, but then should that be minimum in the Golden Age? Seemed to complicated to enforce…
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But if there is no minimum criteria, those who wrote only one or two books like Derek Smith, W Sheppard Pleasants, Hake Talbot, Theodore Roscoe etc. will also qualify?
It seems unfair to compare these authors to someone like Erle Stanley Gardner. I think atleast 5 full length mysteries published during the golden age should be a qualification criteria.
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But they’ll presumably be voted out early… I hope
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G. K. Chesterton, A.E.W. Mason, Phillip MacDonald, Georgette Heyer, Patricia Wentworth, Henry Wade.
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So noted
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Oh, boy, cannot believe I oerlooked lack of Chesterton and Mason. I concur with that suggestion.
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Rawson. Bruce. Freeman. Stout.
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All noted
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I’m starting to read Dorothy Bowers’ and she knows how to write.
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Roy Vickers (most of his crime was written well before the inverted stories which made him famous, C P Snow, A A Milne, Horace McCoy, James Cain, E C Bentley would be my suggestions for additions.
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Henry Wade is a must include for his contributions to the development of the procedural alone, IMHO obviously…
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Noted. He did survive my first cut
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Everyone knows which 2 authors will come in the top two. I am interested in knowing which authors get the positions 3 to 8.
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Michael Gilbert. I believe his debut is just early enough for him to qualify.
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1947… sorry
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Rex Stout
Stuart Palmer
Anthony Boucher
Dashiell Hammett
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The only one I might not consider is Hammett, as I don’t want to include hard boiled. Including Hammett and/or Chandler surely opens the door to a slew of others…
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In that case, swap Hammett for Clayton Rawson.
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Done
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Henry Wade, Stuart Palmer, Arthur W. Upfield, Francis Beeding, Victor Gunn
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Personally – while I know she’s not everyone’s cup of tea – I adore Patricia Wentworth and the fact is that her Miss Silver series has remained in print almost constantly so I can’t be entirely alone. I love the Silver books for the reasons others don’t: somehow they’re all the same and yet each has its own atmosphere. Often thought of as a Miss Marple copy but actually the first one was 1928. The best ones are immediately post-war. She won’t win, because she seems to be an acquired taste but should be included. Also another vote for Francis Vivian who, along with Brian Flynn, is my favourite DSP reissue.
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Seems blasphemous to leave out Anthony Gilbert.
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Ethel Lina White, Marie Belloc Lowndes, and Marjorie Bowen are strong contenders too.
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Marjorie Bowen? Was some of her work mystery fiction?
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I believe she wrote mystery novels under the pseudonym of Joseph Shearing.
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She had a lot of pseudonyms, most of which don’t seem to be mystery novels. I’ll look up Shearing…
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There is a short story by her in EQMM August 1951.
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Surely Freeman Wills Crofts andGerald Verner and maybe Clark Mason deserve a shot ? Arthur Upfield wrote some very good stories starting well within the period
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Going to need a pointer on Clark Mason. Never heard of him and can’t find a reference on the internet
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Is he referring to A.E.W Mason?.
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Where is Rex Stout ?? and why leave out the Hard Boiled school ?!! huh?? Both Hammett and Chandler are considerably better writers than many on your list. And where oh where is Ronald Knox ? not a volume producer but a class act !
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But they don’t write the same style of mysteries as the rest of the list. It would be like comparing apples with cricket balls. Roughly the same shape but after that…
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j jefferson farjeon, richard hull, dorothy bowers,
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I’m glad to see how many people are nominating H. C. Bailey. He may be somewhat out of vogue now, but he was hugely influential and is, to my mind, vastly underrated. I’ll also second Knox, Boucher, and Stout.
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I would like to second H C Bailey
who wrote most entertainingly !
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I’ll second the Bruce Graeme nomination. My current reading has brought another book of his to my attention, which sounds very interesting. i hope the Moonstone press reprint some of his non-series books.
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Elizabeth Ferrars
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A definite vote for Philip Macdonald from me. He was one of the most innovative writers of the Golden Age and can’t possibly be left out. I’d really like to see Chandler go head to head with Christie but, if you’re ruling out hard boiled, could I at least put in a word for another American: S S Van Dine?
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Sorry – I’ve just noticed Van Dine is already there!
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Safe to say, MacDonald will be there
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I have ummed and ah’d about Chandler and Hammett (and friends) and while I do agree that including them would make it interesting, there would be a lot of votes for the genre rather than the writer themselves. Plus, I don’t like them very much and it’s my poll😯
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Well If you won’t include Hammett &Chandler you certainly shouldn’t include Macdonald (a pure thriller writer.
But Macdonald Hastings wrote a lot of fun stuff !
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Mystery At Friar’s Pardon is a country house mystery
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Apologies to all ! I don’t know what I was thinking of. I remember Anthony Gethryn, Macdonald’s returned secret service sleuth very well.
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