Copyright 2012 by Michael E. Grost

A Syllabus: Classic Mystery Fiction | The Great Puzzle Mysteries | Pulp Fiction | Pulp Fiction Anthologies | Scientific Detection | Blind Detectives | Railroad Crimes | Rogues, Crooks and Capers | Experimental Mystery | Political Mystery | Historical Mystery

A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection Home Page | Mysteries by Michael E. Grost

A Syllabus: An Introductory Course in Classic Mystery Fiction

This is a reading list, of classical detective stories. It is designed to introduce major writers, techniques and traditions.

It can be used for a high school or college course. Or for self-study. Reading classical detective stories can help your critical thinking skills and creativity. The stories are just plain fun to read, too!

It concentrates on short stories. Many of the best detective stories are in short story form. Also, students will learn more from reading a dozen good short stories, rather than a single novel. The recommended short stories are listed for each collection.

Please also see my picks of:

• 100 Good Detective Novels: at Mystery*File Blog.
• Minorities and Civil Rights in Mystery Fiction Links to articles on positively portrayed racial minority and LGBTQ characters.

Each author's name is linked to their article on my web site A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection. These articles include much longer Recommended Reading lists, and detailed critical studies.

The best print reference book on classic mystery fiction is Chris Steinbrunner and Otto Penzler, editors: The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection (1976). It is full of biographies of the writers, and profiles of the detectives they created. The websites Golden Age of Detection Wiki and The Thrilling Detective Web Site are packed with information.

This course concentrates on detective stories, defined as "mysterious situations, such as a murder, disappearance or theft, investigated and solved by detectives". This course is restricted to authors who published their first mystery fiction between 1887 (the debut of Sherlock Holmes) and 1943. Writers who debuted in 1944 or later are excluded from the course.

Please mail your comments to me, Mike Grost, at mike@mikegrost.com. (Clicking here will bring up mail.) I am eager to hear what you think.

A short list of books readers might want to start with, as a quick introduction to classic mystery fiction:

1. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
2. John Dickson Carr: The Three Coffins (also known as The Hollow Man)
3. Ellery Queen: Calendar of Crime
4. Agatha Christie: The Regatta Mystery
5. Jacques Futrelle: The Thinking Machine
6. Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood: The Bat
7. Dashiell Hammett: Nightmare Town
8. Helen Reilly: McKee of Centre Street
9. Stuart Palmer & Craig Rice: People Vs. Withers & Malone
10. Arthur B. Reeve: The Silent Bullet AND The Poisoned Pen

The Great Puzzle Mysteries

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (available on-line at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1661)

• The Red-Headed League (1891)
• A Case of Identity (1891)
• The Boscombe Valley Mystery (1891)
• The Man with the Twisted Lip (1891)
• The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (1892)
• The Adventure of the Speckled Band (1892)
• The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor (1892)
• The Adventure of the Copper Beeches (1892)

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (available on-line at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/834)

• Silver Blaze (1892)
• The Yellow Face (1893)
• The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter (1893)
• The Adventure of the Naval Treaty (1893)

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (available on-line at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/108)

• The Adventure of the Empty House (1903)
• The Adventure of the Norwood Builder (1903)
• The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist (1903)
• The Adventure of the Priory School (1904)
• The Adventure of the Three Students (1904)
• The Adventure of the Abbey Grange (1904)
• The Adventure of the Second Stain (1904)

Israel Zangwill

"Cheating the Gallows" (1893) (available on-line at http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks13/1302131h.html)

H. Greenhough Smith

Catherine Louisa Pirkis

• The Redhill Sisterhood
• Drawn Daggers

Arthur Morrison

Martin Hewitt, Investigator (1894) (available on-line at http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11252)

• The Case of the Dixon Torpedo

• The Case of Laker, Absconded
• The Case of the Lost Foreigner

• The Flitterbat Lancers
• The Case of Mr. Geldard's Elopement

M. McDonnell Bodkin

Paul Beck, the Rule of Thumb Detective (1897)

• The Vanishing Diamonds
• Murder by Proxy
• Cabinet Secrets
• The Slump in Silver

• Trifles Light as Air
• Drowned Diamonds
• The Rape of the Ruby
• 'Twixt the Devil and the Deep Sea
• The Unseen Hand

L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace

• The Mystery of the Circular Chamber
• The Mystery of the Felwyn Tunnel (1897)

Jacques Futrelle

The "Thinking Machine" Detective Stories

• The Problem of Cell 13 (1905)
• The Scarlet Thread (1905)
• The Flaming Phantom (1905)
• The Phantom Motor (1906)
• The Missing Necklace (1906)
• The Problem of the Stolen Rubens (1907)
• Kidnapped Baby Blake, Millionaire (1905)
• The Interrupted Wireless (1907)
• The Problem of the Auto Cab (1907)
• The Problem of the Cross Mark (1907)
• The Problem of the Souvenir Cards (1907)
• The Silver Box (1907)
• The Problem of the Vanishing Man (1907)
• The Man Who Was Lost (1905)
• The Mystery of a Studio (1905)
• The Mystery of the Grip of Death (1906)
• A Piece of String (1906)
• The Problem of Dressing Room A (1906)
• Five Millions by Wireless (1912)
• The Problem of Convict 97 (1907)
• The Problem of the Deserted House (1907)
• The Problem of the Opera Box (1906)
• The Problem of the Red Rose (1907)
• The House that Was (1907)

G. K. Chesterton

• The Blue Cross (1910)
• The Secret Garden (1910)
• The Invisible Man (1911)
• The Honor of Israel Gow (1911)
• The Sins of Prince Saradine (1911)
• The Eye of Apollo (1911)
• The Sign of the Broken Sword (1911)

• The Absence of Mr. Glass (1912)
• The Paradise of Thieves (1913)
• The Head of Caesar (1913)
• The Salad of Colonel Cray (1914)
• The Strange Crime of John Boulnois (1913)
• The Fairy Tale of Father Brown (1914)

Carolyn Wells

A. A. Milne

S.S. Van Dine

Agatha Christie

• A Fairy in the Flat (1924)
• A Pot of Tea (1924)
• The Affair of The Pink Pearl (1924)
• The Adventure of The Sinister Stranger (1924)
• Finessing The King (1924)
• The Case of the Missing Lady (1924)
• The Man in the Mist (1924)
• The Sunningdale Mystery (1924)
• The House of Lurking Death (1924)

• The Coming of Mr. Quin (1924)
• The Shadow on the Glass (1924)
• At the Bells and Motley (1925)
• The Sign in the Sky (1925)
• The Soul of the Croupier (1926)
• The Voice in the Dark (1926)
• The Dead Harlequin (1929)
• The World's End (1926)

• The Regatta Mystery (1936)
• How Does Your Garden Grow? (1935)
• Miss Marple Tells a Story (1934)
• The Dream (1937)
• Problem at Sea (1935)

Ellery Queen

• The Teakwood Case (1933)
• The Glass-Domed Clock (1933)
• The Two-Headed Dog (1934)
• The Seven Black Cats (1934)
• The Mad Tea-Party (1934)
• The Invisible Lover (1934)
• The African Traveler (1934)

• The Lamp of God (1935)
• The Adventure of the House of Darkness (1935)
• The Adventure of the Treasure Hunt (1935)
• The Adventure of the Hollow Dragon (1936)
• Man Bites Dog (1939)
• Long Shot (1939)
• Mind Over Matter (1939)

• The Three R's (1946; based on a 1939 radio play) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/elleryqueenseyes00queerich)
• The Dead Cat (1946; based on a 1939 radio play) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/ellery-queens-mystery-magazine-v-008-n-035-1946-10)
• The Telltale Bottle (1946; based on a 1939 radio play) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/murderbyglassvin0000unse)
• The Inner Circle (1947; based on a 1942 radio play) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/ellery-queens-mystery-magazine-v-009-n-038-1947-01)
• The President's Half Disme (1947; based on a 1942 radio play) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/elleryqueensmaze0000unse_y5o5)
• The Dauphin's Doll (1948; based on a 1943 radio play) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/twelvecrimesofch00waug)
• The Emperor's Dice (1951; based on a 1940 radio play) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/armchairdetectiv0000unse)
• The Fallen Angel (1951; based on a 1939 radio play)
• The Needle's Eye (1951; based on a 1939 radio play) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781556527975)

John Dickson Carr

The Department of Queer Complaints (most of these stories are also in collection Merrivale, March and Murder)

• The New Invisible Man (1938)
• The Crime in Nobody's Room (1938)
• Error at Daybreak (1938)
• Persons or Things Unknown (1938)
• Hot Money (1939)
• Death in the Dressing Room (1939)
• The Silver Curtain (1939)
• The Footprint in the Sky (1940)

• The Third Bullet (1937)
• Strictly Diplomatic (1939)
• The Locked Room (1940)
• The Clue of the Red Wig (1940)
• The House in Goblin Wood (1947)
• The Gentleman from Paris (1950)

• The Empty Flat (1939)
• The Incautious Burglar (1940)
• William Wilson's Racket (1941)
• All in a Maze (1955)
• Invisible Hands (1957)

Stuart Palmer

• The Riddle of the Dangling Pearl (1933)
• The Riddle of the Flea Circus (1933)
• The Riddle of the Brass Band (1934)
• The Riddle of the Forty Naughty Girls (1934)
• The Riddle of the Whirling Lights (1935)
• The Riddle of the Tired Bullet (1948)

People Vs. Withers & Malone (written with Craig Rice) (1950 - 1963)

Clayton Rawson

• Ghost of the Undead (1940)
• Death Out of Thin Air (1940)

Hake Talbot

Dorothy L. Sayers

• The Queen's Square (1932)
• The Poisoned Dow '08
• Sleuths on the Scent
• Murder in the Morning
• One Too Many
• Murder at Pentecost
• Maher-Shalal-Hashbaz

• A Shot at Goal
• Dirt Cheap (1936)
• Bitter Almonds (1939)
• False Weight
• The Professor's Manuscript (1939)
• The Inspiration of Mr. Budd (1926)
• The Leopard Lady (circa 1928)
• Scrawns
• The Cyprian Cat (by 1933)

Margery Allingham

• The Old Man in the Window (1936)
• The Definite Article (1937)
• The Question Mark (1938)
• The Name on the Wrapper (1938)
• The Hat Trick / The Magic Hat (1938)
• The Meaning of the Act (1939)
• Safe As Houses (1940)
• A Matter of Form (1940)

E.C.R. Lorac

Dorothy Cameron Disney

The Balcony (1940) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/balconydisn00disn)

Anthony Boucher

• Threnody (1936)
• Screwball Division (1942)
• Mystery for Christmas (1943)
• QL 696.C9 (1943)
• Death of a Patriarch (1943)
• Coffin Corner (1943)
• Rumor, Inc. (1945)
• The Ghost with a Gun (1945)
• Like Count Palmieri (1946)
• The Retired Hangman (1947)
• Crime Must Have a Stop (1951)
• The Girl Who Married a Monster (1954)
• The Ultimate Clue (1960)
• The Smoke-filled Locked Room (1968)

Rex Stout

• This Won't Kill You (1952)
• Invitation to Murder (1953)
• The Zero Clue (1953)

• Immune to Murder (1955)
• A Window For Death (1956)
• Too Many Detectives (1956)

Craig Rice

• The Dead Undertaker (1953)
• Shot in the Dark (1955)
• Beyond the Shadow of a Dream (1955)
• No, Not Like Yesterday (1956)
• The Frightened Millionaire (1956)
• Say It With Flowers (1957)
• One More Clue (1958)

Matt Taylor

• McGarry Goes Underground
• McGarry and the Vegetarian Thieves (1956)
• McGarry and the Holdup Mystery (1955)
• Where's the Fire, McGarry?
• McGarry Becomes a Trigger-Man (1953)
• Last-Minute McGarry
• Dan McGarry - Cop of the Year
• McGarry and the Dancing Hoodlum (1956)
• McGarry and the Mugger (1954)

• McGarry and His Mouse (1940) (available on-line at http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19400908&id=nQIaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eyMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3796,3323463)

James Yaffe

• Mom Knows Best (1952)
• Mom Makes a Bet (1953)
• Mom Makes a Wish (1955)
• Mom Sings an Aria (1966)
• Mom and the Haunted Mink (1967)
• Mom Remembers (1968)

Pulp Fiction

Today the most famous pulp fiction is tough, hard-boiled writing from the pulp magazine Black Mask. We list key examples of this with Dashiell Hammett, Paul Cain, Raymond Chandler and the remarkably informative anthology The Black Mask Boys. But many other kinds of pulp detective fiction are also included, to show the diversity of the field. The anthology Tough Guys & Dangerous Dames is recommended as a way to survey the riches of pulp fiction.

Dashiell Hammett

The Big Knockover (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/bigknockoversele00hamm)

• The Gatewood Caper / Crooked Souls (1923)
• The Scorched Face (1925)
• Corkscrew (1925)
• The Gutting of Couffignal (1925)
• The Big Knockover (1927)
• This King Business (1928)
• Fly Paper (1929)

• The Tenth Clew (1924)
• The House on Turk Street (1924)
• The Golden Horseshoe (1924)
• The Whosis Kid (1925)
• The Main Death (1927)
• The Farewell Murder (1930)

• Nightmare Town (1924)
• House Dick / Bodies Piled Up (1923)
• Ruffian's Wife (1925)
• The Man Who Killed Dan Odams (1923)
• Night Shots (1924)
• Zigzags of Treachery (1924)
• Two Sharp Knives (1934)
• Women, Politics and Murder / Death on Pine Street (1924)
• Tom, Dick, or Harry (1925)
• One Hour (1924)
• Too Many Have Lived (1932)
• They Can Only Hang You Once (1932)
• The Figure of Incongruity / A Man Named Thin (1926 ?)
• The First Thin Man (1931)

Erle Stanley Gardner

• In Round Figures (1930)
• The Bird In The Hand (1932)
• Lester Leith, Magician (1939)
• A Thousand To One (1939)

• The Case of the Irate Witness (1953)
• Something Like a Pelican (1942)

• Snowy Ducks for Cover (1931)
• A Logical Ending (1933)
• Complete Designs (1936)
• Take It or Leave It (1939)
• Flight into Disaster (1952)

Norbert Davis

The Mouse in the Mountain (1943) (available on-line at http://manybooks.net/titles/davisnother07Mouse_in_the_Mountain.html)

Sally's in the Alley (1943) (available on-line at http://manybooks.net/titles/davisnother07sallys_in_the_alley.html)

Holocaust House (1940) (available on-line at http://manybooks.net/titles/davisnother07Holocaust_House.html)

The Adventures of Max Latin

• Watch Me Kill You! (1941)
• Give the Devil His Due (1942)
• You Can Die Any Day (1942)
• Charity Begins at Homicide (1943)

Paul Cain

• Black (1932)
• Parlor Trick (1932)
• Red 71 (1932)
• Murder in Blue (1933)
• One, Two, Three (1933)
• Pigeon Blood (1933)

Raymond Chandler

• Nevada Gas (1935)
• Spanish Blood (1935)
• Guns at Cyrano's (1936)
• Goldfish (1936)
• Red Wind (1938)
• Pearls Are a Nuisance (1939)
• Trouble Is My Business (1939)
• I'll be Waiting (1939)

Cornell Woolrich

• One and a Half Murders (1936)
• Death in the Air (1936)
• Graves for the Living (1937)
• Murder at the Automat (1937)
• Mamie 'n' Me (1938)
• You'll Never See Me Again (1939)
• The Penny-a-Worder (1958)

• The Living Lie Down With the Dead (1936)
• Blind Date With Death (1937)
• Crazy House (1941)
• If the Shoe Fits (1943)
• Leg Man (1943)

Fredric Brown

• Blue Murder (1943)
• The Djinn Murder (1943)
• Mr. Smith Kicks the Bucket (1944)
• The Laughing Butcher (1948)

• A Cat Walks (1942)
• A Date to Die (1942)
• Before She Kills (1961)

• The Incredible Bomber (1942)
• Twice-Killed Corpse (1942)
• The Ghost Breakers (1944)

John Thomas McIntyre

Octavus Roy Cohen

Hugh Pentecost

Bruno Fischer

Day Keene

John K. Butler

• Death on the Hook (1937) (available on-line, at http://www.adventurehouse.com/PDF/Headquarters_Det_37.03_Death_on_the_Hook.pdf)

Robert Leslie Bellem

• Stock Shot (1944) (available on-line, at http://www.pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/list_by_author.php?page=11)
• Hair of the Dog (1947) (available on-line, at http://www.pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/list_by_author.php?page=12)

Merle Constiner

• Last Page of the Hangman's Diary (1945) (available on-line, at http://www.pulpgen.com/pulp/downloads/list_by_author.php?page=23)

Edward S. Aarons / Edward Ronns

E.C. Marshall

Glenn Low

Pulp Fiction Anthologies

• Carroll John Daly: Three Gun Terry (1923)
• Dashiell Hammett: House Dick / Bodies Piled Up (1923)
• Erle Stanley Gardner: Hell's Kettle (1930)
• Frederick Nebel: Rough Justice (1930)
• Horace McCoy: Frost Rides Alone (1930)
• Paul Cain: Gundown / Murder in Blue (1933)
• Raymond Chandler: Blackmailers Don't Shoot (1933)

• Frederick Nebel: Hell's Pay Check (1931)
• Carroll John Daly: The Crime Machine (1932)
• Max Brand: Nine Parts Devil (1934)
• William E. Barrett: A Man's Last Hours (1936)
• Norbert Davis: Something For the Sweeper (1937)
• Merle Constiner: Strangler's Kill (1940)
• Hugh B. Cave: Ding Dong Belle (1941)
• Frederick C. Davis: You Slay Me, Baby (1942)
• Bruno Fischer: I'll Slay You in My Dreams (1944)
• Cyril M. Kornbluth: A Ghoul and His Money (1946)
• Hank Searls: A Dish of Homicide (1949)

• Lester Dent: Sail (1936)
• Raoul Whitfield: The Magician Murder (1932)
• Paul Cain: Black (1932)
• Merle Constiner: The Arm of Mother Manzoli (1944)
• Norbert Davis: Murder in the Red (1940)
• Hugh B. Cave: Brand of Kane (1935)
• Carroll John Daly: Mr. Sinister (1944)
• Paul Chadwick: Tarantula Bait (1932)
• Frederick C. Davis: The Sinister Sphere (1933)
• Donald Wandrei: The Lunatic Plague (1936)
• Robert Bloch: Death Is a Vampire (1944)
• Frank Gruber: Death at the Main (1936)

• Carroll John Daly: The False Burton Combs (1922)
• Dashiell Hammett: The Gutting of Couffignal (1925)
• Raymond Chandler: Goldfish (1936)
• Lester Dent: Angelfish (1936)
• Erle Stanley Gardner: Leg Man (1938)
• George Harmon Coxe: Once Around the Clock (1941)
• Merle Constiner: The Turkey Buzzard Blues (1943)

• Theodore Tinsley: Riddle in Silk (1938)
• T. T. Flynn: The Deadly Orchid (1933)
• Frederick Nebel: Murder by Mail (1936)
• Lars Anderson: The Domino Lady Doubles Back (1936)

• Julius Long: Carnie Kill (1945)
• C. William Harrison: Wish You Were Dead (1945)

• Day Keene: Remember the Night (1949) (available on-line, at https://archive.org/details/excitingshortsto00clar)
• William Fay: A Nice, Clean Job (1949)

• Dorothy B. Hughes: The Spotted Pup (1945)

• Richard Sale: Active Duty
• Allan Vaughan Elston: The Blackout Murders
• Dale Clark: "You're Killing Me!" (1943)
• Geoffrey Homes: The Judge Finds the Body

Scientific Detection

Brander Matthews

• The Twinkling of an Eye (1895)

Robert W. Chambers

• The Purple Emperor

Samuel Hopkins Adams

• The Flying Death (1903) (available on-line at http://www.strangeark.com/cryptofiction/flying-death.html)

• The B-Flat Trombone
• Red Dot
• The Mercy Sign
• Blue Fires
• The Man Who Spoke Latin

Cleveland Moffett

Thomas W. Hanshew

• The Riddle of the 5:28
• The Divided House
• The Riddle of the Rainbow Pearl

R. Austin Freeman

The Singing Bone (collected 1912) (available on-line at http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500391h.html)

• A Wastrel's Romance

William MacHarg & Edwin Balmer

• The Man Higher Up (1909)

Arthur B. Reeve

• The Silent Bullet
• The Scientific Cracksman
• The Seismograph Adventure
• The Diamond Maker
• "Spontaneous Combustion"
• The Black Hand
• The Artificial Paradise
• The Steel Door

• The Yeggman
• The Firebug
• The Sand-Hog
• The White Slave
• The Forger
• The Campaign Grafter

• The Phantom Circuit
• The Green Curse
• The Vampire (1913)
• The Ghouls

• The Dope Fiends

• The War Terror (1914)
• The Air Pirate

• The Social Gangster
• The Tango Thief (1915)
• The Sixth Sense (1915)
• The Evil Eye

Freeman Wills Crofts

The Box Office Murders (1929) (available on-line at http://fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20170515)

Mystery in the Channel (1931) (available on-line at http://fadedpage.com/showbook.php?pid=20180905)

John Rhode

Nigel Morland / John Donavan

Helen Reilly

Theodora Du Bois

Philip Wylie

• Murder at Galleon Key (1935)
• In a Hole (1931)
• It Couldn't Be Murder (1939)
• The Paradise Canyon Mystery (1936)
• Ten Thousand Blunt Instruments (1944)

Rufus King

• The Case of the Three Baleful Brothers
• The Case of the Prodigal Bridegroom
• The Case of the Sudden Shot
• The Case of the Imperious Invalid
• The Case of the Buttoned Collar (1940)

• The Faces of Danger (1960)
• Each Drop Guaranteed (1958)
• The Caesar Complex (1963)

Leslie Ford

Lenore Glen Offord

Lawrence G. Blochman

• But the Patient Died (1947)
• Catfish Story (1948)
• The Phantom Cry-Baby (1948)
• Rum For Dinner (1948)

• Old Flame (1959)
• The Swami of Northbank (1950)
• Kiss of Kandahar (1951)
• Murder Behind Schedule (1963)
• The Square on the Hypotenuse (1955)
• A Taste For Tea / The Man Who Lost His Taste (1958)
• Stacked Deck (1959)
• The Wolf and The Wayward Wac (1963)

Helen McCloy

• Through a Glass, Darkly (1948)
• The Singing Diamonds (1949)
• Murder Stops the Music (1957)
• Murphy's Law (1979)
• That Bug That's Going Around (1979)

Blind Detectives

Clinton H. Stagg

• The Keyboard of Silence (1913)

Ernest Bramah

• The Last Exploit of Harry the Actor (1913) (especially fun)
• The Tilling Shaw Mystery (1913)
• The Comedy at Fountain Cottage (1913)
• The Game Played in the Dark (1913)

Baynard Kendrick

Make Mine Maclain (available on-line at http://archive.org/details/makeminemaclains00bayn)

• The Silent Whistle (1947)
• The Murderer Who Wanted More (1944)

Railroad Crimes

Victor L. Whitechurch

• Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture (1905)
• The Affair of the German Dispatch-Box (1905)
• How the Bishop Kept His Appointment (1906)
• The Stolen Necklace (1906)
• How the Express Was Saved (1911)
• A Case of Signaling (1911)
• Winning the Race (1911)

Francis Lynde

• The Wire Devil (1912)
• High Finance in Cromarty Gulch (1912)
• The Electrocution of Tunnel Number Three (1912)
• The Mystery of the Black Blight (1912)
• The Cloud-Bursters (1912)

Rogues, Crooks and Capers

Frank L. Packard

• The Gray Seal (Chapter 1)
• By Proxy (Chapter 2)
• The Affair of the Pushcart Man (Chapter 5)
• Devil's Work (Chapter 6)

Robert Barr

• The Siamese Twin of a Bomb-Thrower
• The Clue of the Silver Spoons (1904)
• Lord Chizelrigg's Missing Fortune
• The Ghost with the Club-Foot
• The Liberation of Wyoming Ed

Ernest Bramah

• The Last Exploit of Harry the Actor (1913)
• The Tilling Shaw Mystery
• The Comedy at Fountain Cottage
• The Game Played in the Dark (1913)

Frederick Irving Anderson

• The Night of a Thousand Thieves (1913)
• The Fifth Tube (1913)
• An All-Star Cast (1914)

J. Lane Linklater

• The Perfect Victim (1936) (available on-line, at http://www.unz.org/Pub/DetectiveFictionWeekly-1936jul04-00100)
• Mr. Dillping to Mr. Skutter (1936) (available on-line, at http://www.unz.org/Pub/DetectiveFictionWeekly-1936oct03-00062)
• A Hundred a Minute (1936) (available on-line, at http://www.unz.org/Pub/DetectiveFictionWeekly-1936dec12-00030)

Experimental Mystery

Harry Kemelman and Patricia McGerr debuted shortly after our cutoff year 1943 - but they seem relevant to include, anyway.

Headon Hill

• The Divination of The Zagury Capsules

Matthew Phipps Shiel

Emmuska, Baroness Orczy

• The Fenchurch Street Mystery (1901) (Chapters 1-3 of the book)
• The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railway (1901) (Chapters 10-11 of the book)
• The Mysterious Death in Percy Street (1901) (Chapters 14-16 of the book)

• The Tragedy in Dartmoor Terrace
• The Lisson Grove Mystery
• The Tremarn Case
• The Affair at the Novelty Theatre

• The Mystery of the Pearl Necklace

Henry Sydnor Harrison

Mary Roberts Rinehart

Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood

E. C. Bentley

George M. Cohan

Karel Capek

• The Blue Chrysanthemum
• The Experiment of Professor Rouss
• The Missing Letter
• Stolen Document 139/VII Sect. C
• The Poet
• The Fall of the House of Voticky
• The Receipt
• The Disappearance of an Actor
• The Stolen Cactus
• The Stolen Murder
• The Case Involving the Baby
• The Little Countess
• The Orchestra Conductor's Story

Jorge Luis Borges

• Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius (1940)
• The Babylon Lottery (1941)
• The Garden of Forking Paths (1941)
• Theme of the Traitor and Hero (1944)
• Death and the Compass (1942)
• The Sect of the Phoenix (1952)

MacKinlay Kantor

• A Guest at Dinner (1929)
• Yea, He Did Fly (1931)
• The Neighbors Light Their Lanterns (1931)
• The Trail of the Brown Sedan (1933)
• That Greek Dog (1941)

Lawrence Lariar

T. S. Stribling

• The Mystery of the Chief of Police (1945)
• The Mystery of the Sock and the Clock (1946)
• Count Jalacki Goes Fishing (1946)
• A Note to Count Jalacki (1946)
• The Mystery of the 8lst Kilometer Stone (1947)
• The Mystery of the Seven Suicides (1948)
• A Daylight Adventure (1950)
• The Mystery of the Personal Ad (1950)
• The Mystery of Andorus Enterprises (1951)
• The Warning on the Lawn (1953)
• The Case of the Button (1955)
• The Man in the Shade (1957)

Isaac Asimov

• The Singing Bell (1955)
• The Talking Stone (1955)
• The Dust of Death (1957)
• The Key (1966)
• The Billiard Ball (1967)

• The Obvious Factor (1973)
• Out of Sight (1973)
• Quicker Than the Eye (1974)
• The Three Numbers (1974)
• The One and Only East (1975)
• The Cross of Loraine (1976)
• Middle Name (1980)
• Can You Prove It? (1981)
• The Redhead (1984)
• He Wasn't There (1981) (written with Martin Gardner)
• Hide and Seek (1981)
• Dollars and Cents (1982)
• Getting the Combination (1982)
• The Magic Umbrella (1983)
• The Key (1966)
• The Key Word (1977)

Harry Kemelman

• The Nine Mile Walk (1947)
• The Straw Man (1950)
• The Ten O'Clock Scholar (1952)
• The Bread and Butter Case (1962)
• The Whistling Tea Kettle (1963)

Patricia McGerr

Political Mystery

Donald McGibeny

William Almon Wolff

Ngaio Marsh

Mabel Seeley

E.R. Punshon

Aaron Marc Stein / George Bagby

Historical Mystery

Melville Davisson Post

• The House of the Dead Man (1911)
• The Riddle (1912)
• The Treasure Hunter (1915)
• Naboth's Vineyard (1916)
• The Straw Man (1917?)
• The Edge of the Shadow (1918)

Georgette Heyer

Lillian de la Torre

• The Great Seal of England (1943)
• Prince Charlie's Ruby (1944)
• The Monboddo Ape Boy (1945)
• The Flying Highwayman (1946)
• The Manifestations in Mincing Lane

• The Stroke of Thirteen (1953)

Henry Winterfeld