For the next month or so, my posting will probably be somewhat erratic while I focus on finishing Bad Boy. There will be a post for every day; I'm just not sure when each one will be posted.
As an example, I am posting my Tuesday morning post here on Monday afternoon at 1:10 PM.
The London Times took on the thankless task of naming The Fifty Greatest Crime Writers. While I don't necessarily agree with the order, they did include most of the names I would have listed.
Here's their list:
1. Patricia Highsmith
2. Georges Simenon
3. Agatha Christie
4. Raymond Chandler
5. Elmore Leonard
6. Arthur Conan Doyle
7. Ed McBain
8. James M. Cain
9. Ian Rankin
10. James Lee Burke
11. Dennis Lehane
12. P.D. James
13. Dashiell Hammett
14. Jim Thompson
15. Sjowall and Wahloo
16. John Dickson Carr
17. Cornell Woolrich
18. Ruth Rendell
19. Ross Macdonald
20. James Ellroy
21. Charles Willeford
22. Dorothy Sayers
23. John Harvey
24. Wilkie Collins
25. Francis Iles
26. Manuel Vasquez Montalban
27. Karin Fossum
28. Val McDermid
29. Edgar Allan Poe
30. Derek Raymond
31. George Pelecanos
32. Margery Allingham
33. Minette Walters
34. Carl Hiaasen
35. Walter Mosley
36. Reginald Hill
37. Michael Dibdin
38. Patricia Cornwell
39. Scott Turow
40. Dick Francis
41. Edmund Crispin
42. Alexander McCall Smith
43. Andrea Camilleri
44. Harlan Coben
45. Donna Leon
46. Josephine Tey
47. Colin Dexter
48. Nicholas Blake
49. Henning Mankell
50. Sara Paretsky
The list is heavily weighted toward Western writers. While I was glad to see Scandinavian and Italian entries, I've got to believe there are Eastern and Far Eastern writers of crime fiction out there, too.
Two Americans I would like to have seen on the list are Lawrence Block and Michael Connelly. While I'm a huge fan of Harlan Coben and would expect to see him on a future list, I'm not sure I would have put him on this one now. Same for Alexander McCall Smith.
The Times has links to each of the names on the list on their Times Online website here, explaining their rationale in making their choices. The thumbnail sketches are wonderful. Read at least one or two, and I promise you'll read more.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
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1 comment:
Maya, I heartily agree that Lawrence Block should be on the list. I have also found his writing books to be very helpful.
Jay Hudson
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