Favorite crime novel ever!

Mine would have to be The Talented Mister Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Ripley is creepy, strangely disconnected, yet full of longing. The making of a murderer.

That's a tough choice but one book that comes to mind right now is Messiah by Boris Starling. I read it a couple of years ago and still haven't found one that exceeds it.

Trite perhaps (my vote, not the book), but I say The Silence of the Lambs

Of those I've tagged crime or thriller my 5* ratings go to K is for Killer and Jasper Fforde's thursday next series and some of Le Carre's more recent works. If I had to pick one it would probably be Night manager as none of the others are really crime books.

Retribution by Jilliane Hoffman; amazing first book.

Very, very difficult question.... :s
Maybe I'll have to say the same as Virgulina, and vote for Messiah by Boris Starling.
Mary Higgins Clark used to give me the creeps!

i agree that The Silence of the Lambs was an incredibly creepy book.

Thanks for all the other wonderful recommendations -- can't wait!

anything Agatha Christie IMHO

I agree with you, pollysmith, Agatha Christie is definitely my favourite.

P.J. Tracy - I want to Play - I found I couldn't get to the end quick enough and then wished I hadn't when I got there as now it was all over

#10 There are a couple more of theirs about - live bait, dead run nad the latest snow blind

Live bait was maybe as good as Want to play? but I wasn't so taken with Dead Run. I'm not sure where the authors are going with the character relationships, but I'll stick with it for a couple more books.

Two come to mind Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith and A Dark Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell's pen name).

The first because it so perfectly puts us in the USSR at that particular time and place. Arkady Renko is one of the best-drawn characters I've ever come across and his perspective and interior life are fascinating. The mystery itself unfolds perfectly - great tension, clues and mayhem. I never tire of reading it even though I know how it ends; I love to watch Arkady work.

The second because even when the book ends, there is an enduring mystery. Like any difficult situation, it puts the reader right into the thick of things and creates confusion for the reader because you don't yet know what she's talking about. Then slowly you begin to understand and information blocks fall into place. The way Vine creates characters is astounding; they are completely human, warts and all. In the end you don't know everything, but are satisfied. At least I was.

#11 I agree with you dead run wasn't as good - but sometimes you can never beat the first book by an author - like you I will still give them a go

I've been reading the short stories from Alfred Hitchcock's collection, and was floored by a short story from Lawrence Block...Soon as I get paid I'm buying a few of his novels!

Impossible to name "the" favorite, but "a" favorite is The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker. Much more scary for me than Thomas Harris's books.

A favorite about a true crime is Thomas Thompson's classic Blood and Money.

A favorite true crime novel of mine is Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. As far as fiction goes, I too enjoyed Silence of the Lambs. I see many books on this post I have not read - I now have more to add to the TBR pile! Thanks.

Since I've just been listing some of his books, I want to add Stolen Away: A Novel of the Lindbergh Kidnapping by Max Allan Collins. Couldn't put it down.

A special favorite is The Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

One of my favourite mysteries is The murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

Ten little Indians aka And then there were none by Agatha Christie

#20> readafew, how right you are! It is quite difficult to choose among Agatha Christie's books, don't you agree?

21 >I do enjoy a good Christie book but I've never forgotten 'And then there were none'

After Agatha I think my next favorite mystery author would be Peter Tremayne and maybe Rex Stout but they have a set of characters to follow so individual mysteries have less of an impact.

Mine is Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, I know it's old hat but I just love it, and the film with Peter Ustinov. My friends and I are saving up to do a Nile cruise!!!

Mine is Fer De Lance by Rex Stout It is a solid well written book and starts off the Nero Wolfe series of books brilliantly.

i would have a tough time deciding between The Big Sleep or The Black Dahlia.

I really, really enjoyed Henning Mankell's Sidetracked. The ending is heartbreaking.

And can we consider J.G. Ballard's Super-Cannes a mystery? It's not exactly a crime/mystery/thriller novel in the strictest sense, but there's murder in it and the hero is on a quest to find what happened to his house's late owner. That novel is one of my favorite books ever!

What, no one has cited Raymond Chandler yet? He is by far my favorite, maybe because his are the first really good (by my standards anyway) crime novels I ever read. I couldn't say which one I liked best though, it's been so long... maybe I should read them again, but life is short and there are so many books.

#27: What, no one has cited Raymond Chandler yet?

Someone did, two posts above yours. :)

Oops :-)

I did forget Chandler. Shame on me. The Little Sister is brilliant and my favorite of his.

My favourite is The name of the Rose

Another favorite of mine is Smila's Sense of Snow -- her interior is complex and it's such a pleasure to watch her work.

I just discovered Raymond Chandler and really enjoyed The Big Sleep. Maybe that was because in my head Humphrey Bogart was narrating it! Anyway, my all-time favorite is Stone Angel by Carol O'Connell with Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story by John Berendt a close second.

Tough question. Right now I'd say Tropic of Night by Michael Gruber.

Yeah, Native Roses, smilla's sense of snow is amazing. that book is the first scandinavian detective fiction i've read. jaw dropping, I must say.

Almost any P.D. James or Elizabeth George...many by Ruth Rendell

Totally agree on The Name of the Rose: the descriptions make you feel as if you're there and those creepy monks win the prize!

And what about "the erection set" by Mickey Spillane? Absolutely Marvellous!!

If you liked Raymond Chandler, try Dashiell Hammet.

The Thin Man
The Maltese Falcon

#39> neummy, I totally agree with your suggestion, to which I would also add The Dain Curse, another great Hammett's book.

Messiah totally freaked me out, good pick!

#33 ~ The Man Who Cast Two Shadows is (so far) my favorite Carol O'Connell and also one of my all-time favorite mysteries. (I also enjoyed Stone Angel, as well as the other two I've read of hers so far.) I just discovered her about 3 weeks ago and already have 4 more of her Mallory novels waiting in my TBR pile. They won't be waiting long. :)

It would be almost impossible for me to choose just one favorite ~ I've read so very many excellent mysteries by so many wonderful writers over the years. The Moving Toyshop for one, and Death On the Nile for another. The Hound of the Baskervilles and False Scent. Then there's The Silver Pigs and Crocodile on the Sandbank, The Concrete Blonde and Sunset Express. And, oh, can't forget Fer de Lance, Brat Farrar, and Silence of the Lambs. And An Unsuitable Job for a Woman.

I know I've gone overboard ~ the question asked for just one ~ but like potato chips it's hard to stop with just one, and, as it is, I'm leaving a lot of great mysteries out.

L.A. Confidential and The Postman Always Rings Twice are two of my favorites.

I love Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Starling, and many others, but I think my all time favorite is The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Horace McCoy.

I don't want to be too premature, but I'm reading The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson right now and it has me captivated! It's true crime--I don't read too much in that specific genre, but I find this one fascinating. Not your typical detective crime novel at all, but historical non-fiction with a macabre serial-killer working near the World's Fair in Chicago 1893 and using it to lure his victims.

Any of Richard Stark's Parker novels. Nobody Runs Forever comes to mind first. Stark being Donald Westlake in disguise.

First, as to method, I think you'd have to come up with a short list -- maybe the outstanding titles in each important sub-genre, such as:
Pure Puzzle -- The Crooked Hinge John Dickson Carr
Great Detective -- Plot It Yourself Rex Stout
Mean Streets -- Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett
Superhuman Psycho -- Red Dragon Thomas Harris
Old Dark House -- And Then There Were None Agatha Christie

The winner -- one book that seems to fit (admittedly with some effort) in all the above categories:
The Sign of Four Arthur Conan Doyle

#47 ~ I started reading Devil in the White City yesterday and am right there with you: so captivated that I've been unable to stop, not even to sleep (stayed up until 5 a.m. and got up again at 9 a.m. and went right back to the book My laundry isn't getting done, nor is my grocery shopping, dirty dishes, or vacuuming. And I just can't seem to bring myself to care, either, it's that good. (Devilish good! heh)

i have SO many added to my TBR list!

Yeah, it's been like that for me too, ever since I found LT. Wonderful ~ but kind of sad, too, knowing I'll probably never get around to reading everything I want to read, even if I live to be 105! :)

A couple of people above have praised Messiah by Boris Starling. Save your money, folks. It was horrible, horrible, horrible. I can't believe anyone would put it forth as a favorite. As usual, the touchstones are wrong.

kathi - What made it so horrible? (i had put it on my TBR list.)

This type of choice is always changing but The Maltese Falcon is one I have reread so much that between the movie and the book I can quote some dialogue. Sam Spade's speech when he tells Brigid O'Shaughnessy he is turning her in is a classic.

NativeRoses - I'll try to explain why I hated Messiah so much:

I couldn't suspend disbelief.
I felt as if the author wanted to manipulate my emotions.
It was one grotesque, yucky murder after another.
Author seemed to be saying, "Look at me, look at me! See how gross and disgusting I can be. Now watch me be even more gross and disgusting."
I didn't like the characters. They were cardboard.
I figured out who done it before the protagonist did.
The religious/scriptural references were a stretch.
The ending was over the top and not in a good way.

I can't think of any more insulting things to say about this piece of trash.

oh, i think you did pretty well. :-)

Yikes.... how could anyone choose? A couple of months ago I read Gillian Flynn’s first novel “Sharp Objects” and I’m still thinking about it. So, for the moment I would say it’s my favorite. But all time favorite???? Whoa. That’s a tough one. Absolutely all of Nelson DeMille’s books would fall in that category. How can you pick just one?

Anything by Raymond Chandler or Ross Macdonald his closest acolyte.
Incidentally, I agree with VictoriaPL >33 VictoriaPL:, you can hear Bogart delivering the lines, in that inimitable drawl, although I read somewhere that Mitchum was the movie-icon Chandler himself had in mind, and 'physically-emotionally' bruiser Bob does seem to have the edge on a nattier Humph.

Walter Mosley and his PI, Easy Rawlings, merit a mention, especially Devil in a Blue Dress.
William Hjortsberg gives the stilted style a scary twist with "Falling Angel", and Richard Brautigan a humorous one in "Dreaming of Babylon."

Anybody here read Durrenmatt? His policeman is a sort of Maigret with soul, and well worth a read. The Judge and the Hangman for example.

Amongst many 'classics' my favorites would be Crime and Punishment by dear old Dostoievski, and The Trial by cuddly little Kafka.

After deep and demanding reflection, however, my all-time favorite crime novel would have to be The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien. I guarantee you will either hate it - as I do Silence of the Lambs and Messiah - or you will worship it forever, and organize pilgrimages in its honor. I kid you not.

Farewell, for now, my lovelies; I'm in need of a big sleep.

Durrenmatt and The Judge and His Hangman. Yes! Reminds me of Borges and Death and the Compass, except that "The Judge" is nearly 9 times the length! (10 pages vs. 89 pages). It seems to me that a very odd film was made of "The Judge" years ago with Maximillian Schell and Jacqueline Bisset? Can that be right?

I actually have a copy of one of those "three-fer's" from the Detective Book Club with "The Judge" sandwiched between Murder Comes to Eden by Leslie Ford and A Question of Murder by Anthony Gilbert. Kind of like spicy liverwurst between two slices of stale whitebread.

I like the comparisons, with the inestimable Borges, and with spicy liverwurst.

Don't know anything about the film, but Max and Jacqui were always worth watching so I'll try to find a copy.
Thanks for the info.
Glad that you've found your way to LT by the way.
mazel tov
R.

Little Sister,

From The High Window I'm surprised you noticed me: Just Another Sucker in The Drowning Pool.

How like an Angel

R. (as in Ripley Under Water)

I have numerous favourites, but one I`ve always loved from when I first read it around 20 years ago is The long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. I was inspired to read it by the Robert Altman film, as I recall.

#61. Uh, oh. My memory played me false. (It likes to do that.) I checked up on imdb.com and the movie version of the "The Judge" was called "End of the Game" and starred Jon Voight, Bisset, Robert Shaw and Martin Ritt (the director of "Hud") as Barlach. Schell was the director. When I first saw it, some 30 years ago, I thought "What the ...?". Years later, I read the book and everything fell into place.

There are a lot of favorite murders on my shelves, but I wanna mention especially the Heredia series by Ramon Diaz Eterovic. It's a real shame there are only two parts available in german, and I've no idea if anything of this series is translated into english, but if you ever find them, I can only recommend to read them.

My favorite would be The Lions Game by Nelson DeMille. All of his books that I have read are really very good but The Lions Game has really stuck with me.

I'm one of those who find it impossible to choose just one. But there are 2 of Ruth Rendell's best that I find absolutely haunting, A Judgment in Stone and The Lake of Darkness -- I've re-read them numerous times.

I have been thinking about this for days.

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie, it's perfectly executed (hee) and the only one of her books that deeply chilled me. A masterpiece of suspense.

Killing Critics - Carol O'Connell. Gruesome, twisted, memorable characterizations, Mallory, humor dark and ironic.

Smila's Sense of Snow - Peter Hoeg. Thoroughly unique, mesmerizing, thought-provoking, the writing and symbolism are exquisite. Unforgettable title character.

For the Sake of Elena - I had to pick just one of Elizabeth George's and there's something simultaneously haunting and visceral about the deceased character Elena. Also, the setting is created perfectly. I could feel myself as a deaf university student jogging alone on a cold, wet English morning.

one i forgot to mention is Jim Thompson with Savage Night and The Grifters and several others. I love how in most of his books the hero (if they can be called that) finds themselves in a self made purgatory of some kind, especially in savage Night and The Getaway.

Hi everyone, I'm new to this group. My all time favorite mystery is Barbara Vine's book A Dark-Adapted Eye.

*70 - Welcome bcquinnsmom. I just 5 minutes ago put in a mooch request for A Dark Adapted Eye. How cool is that?

#69 -- Are your reocmmendations better than The Killer Inside Me? That's one of my all-time favorites. Haven't read the other two, although I've seen both movie versions of the Getaway. (Steve McQueen vs. Alec Baldwin? Please!!!)

I think my absolute favorite is Crooked House by Agatha Christie. I've read a lot of crime novels since I first read that one, and the details of that book stay crystal clear for me.

“Busman’s Honeymoon”, subtitled ‘A love Story with Detective Interludes,” by Dorothy Sayers would be my favorite. The subtitle says it all. It’s best read with Sayer’s “Gaudy Night”, which precedes it.

Hello, I'm new to this group. I agree that Sayer's "Gaudy Night" is brilliant, and stands up as a straightforward novel as well as a mystery story. I've read it many times.

I'm afraid that Busman's Honeymoon was my least favorite Sayers novel. I think I wanted less love and more detection.

I'd have to agree with everyone who said "The Big Sleep." I've always thought it was great. I was blown away also by "The Black Dahlia" when I read it. I thought at the time it put a new spin on everything.

Wow, this thread has given me far too many books to add to my wish list!

I'd have to agree with a lot of you who cast your vote for Agatha Christie. Not many have done it better. I just picked up a first edition of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, so I'll definitely be re-reading that soon. Dorothy L. Sayers is another of my favourites.

However, I think my all time favourite must be The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. To me, it's just about the perfect mystery.

#78> miss_read, could you please explain to me why The daughter of time is, in your opinion, the perfect mystery? I would be very interested to hear about it.

I confess that I did not find it very intriguing and/or particularly interesting, perhaps because there really is nothing to discover, in terms of the "classical" mystery a la Agatha Christie. The controversy as to whether or not Richard III did have his nephews murdered has been going on forever, and I think it will never be solved (much as I want to believe he did not do it).

Also, congratulations on having managed to get a first edition of The murder of Roger Ackroyd, one of my favourite mysteries.

I think maybe that's why I liked it, aluvalibri. Not necessarily because there was nothing to discover, but because it was real and had a basis in truth. Maybe I shouldn't have used the phrase "perfect mystery" because, as you say, there really wasn't a mystery. But I couldn't put it down and immediately ran off to read Richard III as soon as I was finished. They make a great pairing!

I will have to check it out. After all, Richard III and I share the same birthday!
(Perhaps that is the reason why I don't want to believe he was guilty of such a hideous crime)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd gets my props. It might not be the very best, but it's the most innovative that I can think of. And the very first one I thought of.

Ever is a long time, but Ross Macdonald's The Chill is the one that impressed me the most so far.

I have to second kathi's judgment of Boris Starling's Messiah. I found this book very disappointing. From the moment the hit and run was narrated, I knew more or less how this book was going to end. The killings were horrific, but they lacked the sordidness and banality that seem to characterize every true crime serial killing I have read about. They were way too artificial. The hint in Tess Gerritsen's Body Double about nomadic killings and dumping ground was more chilling than anything in this book. The human relationships in the book are not compelling. This is my first and may be my last Boris Starling.

L. A. Confidential by James Ellroy

Dirty Work by Stuart Woods and Projection by Keith Ablow are probably the highest ranked as far as fiction goes.
True crime goes to Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra.

*I forgot to mention Mystic River in there too. One of my top reads for 2007!

I would have to say it is a toss up between "Silence of the Lambs" and the newer "Dexter Darkly dreaming" (they made a tv show about it, according to the serial killers point of view...the good part is that Dexter only tortures and kills child molesters and rapist killers himself..People who have tortured and hurt others...)

My favourite mystery is possibly Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey - I love the school setting, the characters, the endless witty observations and the deeper concept of how one goes about "dispensing justice" in a flawed world.

I find it hard to go past John Burdett's The Last Six Million Seconds - his three books set in Bangkok are close but not quite as good. In the historical mystery category there is the wonderful The Mosaic of Shadows by Tom Harper and the Falco series by Lindsey Davis of which my own favourite is The Iron Hand of Mars

Cheers

How can you limit a lifetime of reading mysteries to one book? Here's my favorites (most of them have been named already).

Barbara Vine's A Dark Adapted Eye & Asta's Book
Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time
Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me
Agatha Christie's Crooked House
Dorothy L Sayers' Gaudy Night
Christianna Brand's Green for Danger
Ngaio Marsh's Tied Up In Tinsel
PD James' Devices and Desires
Elizabeth Peters' Naked Once More & The Last Camel Died at Noon

That's an impossible request! But I can give you a few that come to mind that made an impression.

"Whispers in the Dark" by Jonathan Aycliffe. (mystery with a gothic twist)

"Secret Smile" by Nicci French

"The list of 7" by Steve Frost

"Perfume" by Patrick Süsskind

Most of Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. (no crime/mystery list is really complete without them I think)

But really, I could go on and on......................well, you get the idea..

I listened to smilla's sense of snow after having read part of the book. The listening experience was great because I had no idea how the danish and icelandic words were pronounced. I'm looking forward to reading Hoeg's new book, the quiet girl.

smilla's sense of snow is one of the best crime novels I have read.

follow up from madlibn: I'm new to this.

I would recommend Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series. They have meaning and depth in addition to wickedly twisted plots. I never know what to expect! I am unnerved by the tragedy of Easy's life.

Hi, madlibn ~ I second your recommendation of the Easy Rawlins series. Mosley is one of the best writers around, imho. I just finished his latest ~ Blonde Faith ~ and it was wonderful, except the ending which was painful. I have also been deeply moved by all that Easy has been through and how he has dealt with it all.

BTW, I've heard that the Fearless Jones series is even better than the Easy Rawlins series. I'm going to delve into that one in 2008.

66 Kaysee - totally agree about The Lion's Game. Did you hear DeMille is writing a sequel next year?

I'll cop out and name three.

Lion's Game by Nelson DeMille
More a thriller than a straight up crime mystery, one of my all time favs
Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly
I think CSI Las Vegas spent half of the last season using the theme of this book. Just a gripping tale.
Brimstone by Preston & Child
Just enough of a hint of the supernatural to keep things interesting & creepy, but a murder mystery at it's core.

I love anything by Reginald Hill - but not sure I could choose between them!

A
xxx

#96 jimcclain.... Nelson DeMille is writing a sequel to The Gold Coast that is due out this year (`08). Have you heard of another?

#98 - jxnole - Yep - DeMille sent out his monthly newsletter a month or so ago and said this, which is really cool & exciting news

Thousands of readers over the years have asked me if I'm going to write a sequel to THE LION'S GAME, which was published in 2000, and now I can say that my next book, after the sequel to THE GOLD COAST, will be the sequel to THE LION'S GAME. I'm really looking forward to the final confrontation between John Corey and Asad Khalil, and I know that they, too, are looking forward to trying to kill each other. The survivor goes on to star in the next book.

Thanks jmcclain19, I got that newsletter also. I'll read anything the man writes.

Almost anythig that won the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery by an American Author. In the Heat of the Night, Chiefs, Finding Maubee, Gorky Park When the Bough Breaks and many others that I can't think of right now. Most of the short listed books are also very good.

For pure fun any Rex Stout book.

Raymond Chandler, especially The Big Sleep, for the #1 slot.

Also Barbara Vine, Minette Walters, Barbara Michaels (okay, maybe not so deep, but perfect for a lazy afternoon when you don't want to stretch your brain much!), Silence of the Lambs, Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indridason (also the other books by him that I've been able to find in translation), and The Silence in the Garden by William Trevor, which isn't a mystery in the typical cloak and dagger sense but is excellent anyway, especially if you like delving into the past. And would Rebecca count? Oh, and Rex Stout. Definitely Rex Stout.

Someone mentioned Sharp Objects above-- I thought that was a recent standout, too. I also liked Isolation Ward (2006) by Joshua Spanogle-- his narrator reminded me of the noir narrators.

Two of my favorites are "A Place of Execution" and "Killing the Shadows" both by Val McDermid

The Maltese Falcon, Hammett, The Conjure-Man Dies: A Tale of Dark Harlem, by Rudolph Fisher, The Clocks, by Christie, and Maigret's Revolver, by Georges Simeonon. I love Rex Stout's and Henning Mankell's books, too, among others.

Picking Donna Tartt's The Secret History might be pushing it a bit, I suppose, so I'll cast my vote for L.A. Confidential. No one does it better than James Ellroy.

I'd also doff my cap to The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Name of the Rose.

I'm like quite a few people above and would have a hard time limiting myself to one author or book. So my given authors with one favorite book are:

Agatha Christie Curtain
Rex Stout The Doorbell Rang
Dorothy Sayers Murder Must Advertise or Gaudy Night
Michael Connelly The Concrete Blonde or The Lincoln Lawyer
Ruth Rendell A Judgment in Stone
...there are more

However, one book that has stuck with me for years and years that I haven't read in years and years is We The Accused by Ernest Raymond. It is about an ordinary crime and an ordinary solution, but the depth and psychological profiling of the murderer are superb.

Burning Angel by James Lee Burke. I love that book so much.

I have so MANY favorites! :c) But a few come to mind first:

The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

Death of a Dissident by Stuart Kaminsky

Proof by Dick Francis

And Then There were None and Halloween Party by Agatha Christie

This Gun For Hire by Graham Greene

The Wood Beyond by Reginald Hill

In the Heat of the Night by John Ball

Not necessarily the best, but two that impressed me enough to re-read years later were The Iron Gates by Margaret Millar and And On the Eighth Day by Ellery Queen.

The Poet by Michael Connelly
and
The Bookman's Wake by John Dunning

I apparently have a Poe fixation.

Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler is high on my list.

Chiefs by Stuart Woods is one of the best mysteries I have read.

#113 cal8769.... I agree. I loved that book. But what's with the rest of his stuff. I keep getting his books thinking there will be another Chiefs, only to be disappointed.

And the more he writes the more shallow they get. I keep reading him though so I guess the joke is on me.

Yep.... me too!

Laguna Heat by T. Jefferson Parker and Rising Sun by Michael Crichton are both excellent.

I've never read an Agatha Christie book and she is so highly loved i will have to read one now! I don't have 1 favorite i guess, i really like Faye Kellerman The Ritual Bath was one favorite.

I could never pick just one! I have to say that for Agatha Christie it would be a toss up between The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Murder on the Orient Express and Why Didn't They Ask Evans?. Also love Dorothy Sayers and Ngaio Marsh.

Hard to pick just one because every time I have decided on one another name comes to mind. Also what was a favourite at one point in time gets replace when I discover a new to me author.

So at this pint on time I would have to pick the following

Desert Cut by Betty Web
Murderers' Club by C.J. Cardin
Voices by Arnaldur Indridason
Demolition Angel by Robert Crais
Baby Shark Novels by Robert Fate

Forced to pick one, it would be The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. Pure genius that one. Maltese Falcon by Hammett and Fast One by Paul Cain would follow close behind.

Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers
Artists in Crime by Ngaio Marsh
Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King

wpriest -- I haven't read the others on your list but I totally have to agree with you on Demolition Angel by Robert Crais--a phenomenal book.

I'd definitely add Crais' Hostage to the list. Also James Patterson's See How They Run and When the Wind Blows as well.

Can't name just one mystery, and it's hard to select between several I like, but among the top are:

Skull Mantra by Elliot Pattison, a beautifully written book that takes place in Tibet
The Continental Op, actually a collection of short stories by Dashiell Hammett
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Doyle
The Black Goatee by Constance & Gwenyth Little, an absolutely delightful book

Whoops, forgot Jitterbug by Loren D. Estleman.

Interesting, all of you, and interesting that there's not one Harlan Coben - not a particular fan myself but he's supposed to be highly rated.

I agree with most of what has been suggested, but would add Compulsion by Meyer Levin.