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A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection
Welcome to the Classic Mystery homepage.
This is an educational site containing reading lists and essays on great mysteries, mainly of the pre-1965 era.
It is designed and written by Michael E. Grost, a mystery fan who lives near Detroit, Michigan, USA.
I hope you enjoy it.
I write mysteries myself. Some detective short stories by me are available (for free) on my mystery fiction page. These include twenty impossible crime tales!
Please mail your comments to me at MG4273@aol.com. (Clicking here will bring up mail.) I am eager to hear what you think. You can also visit my web sites Classic Film and Television, Classic Comic Books and A History of American Art, and my personal home page.
You can get an alphabetic list of mystery writers discussed in this web site, or you can browse the complete list of articles directly below.
You might want to begin by reading the Introduction. The other articles are listed in chronological order of the mystery authors they discuss; each can be read independently. All of the articles are written by me.
Most of the articles above start out with a list of recommended reading. This is followed by essays on the mystery writers in the category. The novels and stories on the lists were ones that I personally enjoyed. They are not a complete list of the author's works. The essays, too, concentrate on authors and works I admire. Very few of them are slams.
Short stories are listed in bullet form under the collections in which they appear; or they can be listed by themselves in quotes. Novels and books have no quotes around their titles. See How to Read the Lists for more information.
A good source for rare mystery and critical books are University libraries.
You will find such topics as:
Introduction: A Brief History of Classic Mystery Fiction.
Long Term Trends in Mystery Fiction: A Cladistic Analysis
19th Century Mystery Fiction
Melville and the American Renaissance
Wilkie Collins and Sensation Fiction
Anna Katherine Green and Her School
Turn of the Century Mystery Fiction
Followers of Mary Roberts Rinehart
Scientific Detection: Meade and Eustace, Arthur B. Reeve and Others
Israel Zangwill, Jacques Futrelle, G.K. Chesterton and Impossible Crimes
The Golden Age
Intuitionist School
Mainly British Golden Age Writers: Ngaio Marsh, Georgette Heyer, A.A. Milne and Others
Unaligned American Golden Age Writers
Frederick Irving Anderson and Vincent Starrett
Van Dine School
Anthony Abbot, Rex Stout and Other Van Dine School Writers
The Lockridges and Kelley Roos
Realist School
Lawrence Blochman, Helen McCloy and Other American Realists
The Bailey School
The Bailey School: H.C. Bailey, Margery Allingham, Phillip MacDonald and Others
Pulp Fiction
Richard Harding Davis, Harvey J. O'Higgens, Christopher Morley
Hardboiled Fiction: Carroll John Daly and Others
Raymond Chandler and His Followers
Nebel, Constiner, Davis and Other Pulp Mystery Adventure
Cornell Woolrich and His Followers
MacKinlay Kantor and Police Fiction
Contemporary Mystery Fiction
The Best Detective Short Stories of the Year A guide to recent years.
Contemporary Police Procedurals
Contemporary Private Eyes and Thrillers
General Discussion
Observations on Mystery Writers
Impossible Crimes in Comic Books: A List
A List of Genuine Mystery Movies
How to Read the Lists AND Glossary Also contains links to selected topics in the Guide.
Index: Alphabetic List of Mystery Authors, With Links
External Links
Curious Book Shop The wonderful used book store in East Lansing, Michigan.
Ray Walsh's Mystery Reviews Reviews of current mystery fiction.
THE MYSTERIOUS HOME PAGE A site with links to nearly all mystery web sites.
Mystery Scene Magazine News magazine covering the mystery field, with many book reviews on-line.
MYSTERY*FILE Blog Steve Lewis' blog, filled with reviews and research.
MYSTERY*FILE The Crime Fiction Research Journal, now available on-line.
At the Villa Rose Xavier Lechard's fascinating mystery blog.
Golden Age of Detection Wiki Collection of articles on Golden Age mystery (including some works reprinted from this site).
A good site about historical mysteries: Criminal History
I wish to record my intellectual debt to the writings of Andrew Sarris. His The American Cinema is both a model and an inspiration to the current Guide.
Sections of this work in progress were first put on the World Wide Web on February 15, 1996. It was most recently updated December 21, 2007. The Guide is being continuously expanded.
(C)Copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 by Michael E. Grost. Reproduction and distribution are permissible for non-profit purposes only, but no changes are to be made to this document without the author's written consent.
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