We all like lists, partly because we like a good
argument. Any attempt to pick the “hundred
best” books, whether in the crime genre or anywhere else, is bound to
prompt controversy. But this hasn’t deterred critics over the years - Julian
Symons and Harry Keating, both doyens of crime reviewing in the second half of
the last century, both had a go. With my new genre study for the British
Library, The Story of Classic Crime in
100 Books, however, I wasn’t trying to list “the best” books; I set out to
do something rather different.
Actually, this book isn’t focused on a list – it’s about
telling a story, of how crime fiction developed between the end of the
Victorian era and 1950. I’ve picked titles that help to illustrate a variety of
themes as that story unfolds. Of course, there are plenty of predictable
choices, ranging from The Hound of the
Baskervilles to Strangers on a Train.
But I like to think that there are plenty of choices that will come as a
surprise, perhaps in the same way that a pleasing plot twist in a mystery may
catch even an alert reader unawares. I’ve included plenty of personal
favourites, such as Roy Horniman’s Israel
Rank, but again, this isn’t an attempt simply to list my own top hundred most-loved
crime novels. I wanted to focus more on a diverse and appealing range of
entries.
In the book’s introduction, I say that some of my choices
are unashamedly idiosyncratic, and having the chance to come up with some
unlikely titles was an important part of the appeal for me of writing the book.
It serves, as the title suggests, as a companion to the British Library’s
popular Crime Classics series, but again I’ve tried to defy expectations by
selecting only a limited number of the books that have appeared so far in the
series. I didn’t want simply to repeat what I’d said about books and authors in
my introductions to books in the series. Nor did I want to rehash all that I
said in my last book about the genre, The
Golden Age of Murder. I wanted to offer readers value by trying to give
them something fresh.
But, as with The
Golden Age of Murder, if to a lesser extent, I used the techniques of a
novelist in telling the story of classic crime, and that meant that – as
writers do when they tell a story long enough to fill a book – I kept revising
my ideas as I worked on the manuscript. One hundred books written over a time
span of half a century isn’t really as large a number as it may seem! Some of
the choices that featured in my original synopsis had to give way to other
books that seemed, as time went on, better to reflect different aspects of the
story. As a rough estimate, I’d say I changed about a quarter of the selections
over the time (rather more than twelve months) that I was writing the book.
So some of the titles you’d expect to see in a “best of” list are probably conspicuous
by their absence. Some, I hope and expect, you may never have heard of, even if
you’re a real aficionado. For me, that’s a good thing, because I believe that
part of the pleasure of reading a book like this lies in making fresh
discoveries. (Just as I did long ago, after reading Symons’ wonderful history
of the genre,) Of course, one hundred titles isn’t nearly enough – so in all, I
finished up by mentioning another six hundred in addition to those discussed in
depth. If this book tempts you to search out some obscure but fascinating books
(and given the number of titles to choose from, there are lots of
possibilities!), I’ll be delighted. Happy hunting!
The
Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books is published in the UK on 7 July by
the British Library, and in the US on 1 August by Poisoned Pen Press.
More information about the author can be found on his website. You can also follow him on Twitter @medwardbooks
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