This is an educational site containing reading lists and essays on great mysteries, mainly of the pre-1990 era. It concentrates on detective stories, defined as "mysterious situations, such as a murder, disappearance or theft, investigated and solved by detectives". It only occasionally discusses kinds of crime fiction without mystery. Estimated size: 3,500 pages / 1,400,000 words.
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. Detective short stories by me are available (for free) on my mystery fiction page. These include twenty impossible crime tales! Please click to get a free E-book in EPUB or Kindle format with several short stories. (If the download link does not work, please e-mail me at mike@mikegrost.com and I will send you the stories.)
BREAKING NEWS: I have an article in the current issue #45 of the mystery journal OLD-TIME DETECTION, edited by Arthur Vidro. And the previous issue #44 has an impossible crime story by me. You can subscribe by e-mailing vidro@myfairpoint.net.
BREAKING NEWS: Death of the Reader is an Australian talk radio show about classic mystery fiction. I took part in the episode about The Kennel Murder Case. You can hear the archived podcast, plus an extended version of my comments.
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.
See also my:
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.
Melville and the American Renaissance
Wilkie Collins and Sensation Fiction
Anna Katherine Green and Her School
Followers of Rinehart: Dorothy Cameron Disney, Leslie Ford, Mignon G. Eberhart and Others
Israel Zangwill, Jacques Futrelle, G.K. Chesterton and Impossible Crimes
Frederick Irving Anderson and Vincent Starrett
Mainly British Golden Age Writers: Ngaio Marsh, Georgette Heyer, A.A. Milne and Others
Unaligned American Golden Age Writers
Anthony Abbot, Rex Stout and Other Van Dine School Writers
Aaron Marc Stein / George Bagby / Hampton Stone
The Lockridges and Kelley Roos
Writers from other sections influenced by Van Dine School:
E.C. Bentley, R.A.J. Walling and Others
Lawrence Blochman and Other American Realists
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 Police Procedurals
Contemporary Private Eyes and Thrillers
How to Read the Lists AND Glossary Also contains links to selected topics in the Guide.
Index: Alphabetic List of Mystery Authors, With Links
Mystery Scene Magazine News magazine covering the mystery field, with many book reviews on-line.
Mystery*File The Crime Fiction Research Journal, now available on-line.
Barry Ergang His award-winning short stories (also here). His Bibliography with links including his mystery book reviews.
The Thrilling Detective Web Site Huge site on Private Eyes.
A Locked Room Library by John Pugmire
Woman Detectives by Bob Schneider
Golden Age of Detection Wiki Collection of articles on Golden Age mystery (including some works reprinted from this site).
Wyatt James Also known as Grobius Shortling.
Science Fiction Detective Novels at CultureLab.
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 June 26, 2024. The Guide is being continuously expanded.
(C)Copyright 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 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.