Mystery Authors List Their Favorite Mysteries, Part Five

Continuing with lists of favorite mysteries as presented by mystery authors. From The Armchair Detective's Book of Lists (1995):

Robert Barnard 

Barnard authored mystery novels featuring contemporary detectives and historical detectives, including Mozart. His selection of all-time favorites is presented here. This is a list of his more recent favorites, i.e., those published between 1975 and 1995.

The Rose in Darkness by Christianna Brand (1979)
Dead Romanti by Simon Brett (1985)
The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham (1987)
Deadheads by Reginald Hill (1983)
The Neapolitan Streak by Timothy Holme (1980)
Spider Web by Margaret Millar (1986)
A Talent for Destruction by Sheila Radley (1982)
A Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell (1977)
Life's Work by Jonathan Valin (1986)
The Blond Baboon by Janwillem van de Wetering (1978) 

Jacques Barzun

As part of a wide ranging career writing as an historian, on classical music, baseball and education, Barzun also wrote introductions to mystery compilations along with the reference work: A Catalogue of Crime: Being a Reader's Guide to the Literature of Mystery, Detection, and Related Genres. Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, 1971, Harper & Row.

Trent's Last Case by E.C. Bentley (1913)
Furious Old Women by Leo Bruce (1960)
Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler (1943)
The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie (1961)
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)
The Killing of Katie Steelstock by Michael Gilbert (1980)
A Funeral in Eden by Paul McGuire (1938)
Salt is Leaving by J.B. Priestley (1966)
Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers (1930)
Gambit by Rex Stout (1962)

Rex Stout 

One of the all-time great mystery writers and an irascible personality, Rex Stout authored more than 70 novels and novellas featuring the detective pair, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.This list is presented in topmystery.com and was composed in 1947.

Lament for a Maker by Michael Innes (1938)
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1930)
The Documents in the Case by Dorothy L. Sayers (1930)
The Bellamy Trial by Frances Noyes Hart (1927)
The Benson Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine (1926)
The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (1926)
Call Mr. Fortune by Reggie Fortune (1920)
The Cask by Freeman Wills Crofts by (1920)
The Innocence Of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton (1911)
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins (1868)

The Ellery Queen list.

In 1950, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine asked 11 mystery experts to choose the best mystery stories. They came up with these. Also via topmystery.com.

The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe (1844)
The Hands Of Mr Ottermole by Thomas Burke (1929)           
The Redheaded League by Arthur Conan Doyle (1891)               
The Avenging Chance by Anthony Berkeley (1925)           
The Absentminded Coterie by Robert Barr (1906)
The Problem Of Cell 13 by Jacques Futrelle (1905)       
The Invisible Man by G. K. Chesterton (1911)               
Naboth's Vineyard by Melville Davisson Post (1918)               
The Gioconda Smile by Aldous Huxley (1921)               
The Yellow Slugs by H. C. Bailey (1935)
The Genuine Tabard by E. C. Bentley (1938)               
Suspicion by Dorothy L. Sayers (1939)

Martin Hill Ortiz, also writing under the name, Martin Hill, is the author of A Predatory Mind. His mystery, Never Kill A Friend, will be available June 27th from Ransom Note Press. His epic poem, Two Mistakes, recently won second place in the Margaret Reid/Tom Howard Poetry Competition.