Best whodunit you've read?

[Nikhar]

For me it would be "Curtain : Poirot's Last Case" and "Death on the Nile" both by Agatha Christie (The only authors whose whodunit's I have read are Agatha Christie and A.C.Doyle).

Which are the best whodunit's you've read?

[dfloyd]

The Muder of Roger Ackroyd and the play, Witness for the Prosecution (or Movie).

There are many classic novels: The Moonstone and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, A Study in Scarlet by Doyle. All of Poe's tales of ratiocination are good (The Purloined Letter and The Murders in the Rue Morgue). The many Sherlock Holmes short stories are excellent.

Doroth L Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey stories: Sayers made his character so strong she fell in love with him and ruined her chances of having a relationship with any other man.

On a more modern note, Dashiel Hammett and Raymond Chandler can't be beat.

Another Englishwoman I have enjoyed is P. D. James.

Contemporary detective fiction is exemplified by Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch stories.

Let's not leave out Patricia Cornwell's Kate Scarpetta novels.

[DocHeart]

I'm a huge Chandler fan, but here's one (I'm ashamed to say) I discovered only recently, and totally adored:


http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n11/n59690.jpg


Looking forward to everyone's suggestions.

Regards,
DH

[Aurora]

Ah mine are so similar - completely agree with dfloyd - Murder of Roger Ackroyd is fantastic! I have Witness for the Prosecution on dvd - also fantastic and amazing acting.

The Moonstone - really enjoyed that, very ahead of its time in some ways too I think! Poe's Dupin certainly sets the standard and IMO anticipates and essentially creates Sherlock Holmes.

Patricia Cornwell - I've only read Postmortem but this is the only book to ever actually frighten me, literally, too scared to even look out of my window at one point!

Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep - another favourite.

Oooh and how could I ever forget 'An Inspector Calls' - very fond memories of this play from GCSE =)

[Venerable Bede]

My favourite whodunits are mostly from Doyle, especially The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Moonstone is another great mystery, and is one of my favourites. I would also highly recommend The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

[Etain]

Choosing a "best" would be tough for me, but pretty much anything by Doyle or Christie. For a truly modern mystery novel, has anyone read The Sherlockian by Graham Moore? Not really a "whodunit" (since it's not really a murder mystery), but a fabulous read.

[endgame]

the little niggers by Agatha Christie

[dfloyd]

Ten Little Indians, or I should say more politically correct. The movie with Barry Fitzgerald is a classic, starring Franchot Tone along with Fitzgerald.

[Nikhar]

Well...I did not like Murder of Roger Ackroyd as much as I would have wanted to. Actually, I had heard so much bout the awesomeness of the novel, that it became almost apparent why it might have been awesome, if you know what I mean.

I actually liked Endless Night more than Ackroyd....

Every night and every morn,
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night,
Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

[Seasider]

Anything by PD James. Of all these I think I liked Shroud for a Nightingale
Cover her Face and Death in Holy Orders best

1 Cover Her Face (1962)
2. A Mind to Murder (1963)
3. Unnatural Causes (1967)
4. Shroud for a Nightingale (1971)
5. The Black Tower (1975)
6. Death of an Expert Witness (1977)
7. A Taste for Death (1986)
8. Devices and Desires (1989)
9. Original Sin (1994)
10. A Certain Justice (1997)
11. Death in Holy Orders (2001)
12. The Murder Room (2003)

[Leo Bloom]

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

[LitNetIsGreat]

Almost anything by Agatha Christie, good all round fun.

[Calidore]

My big problem with Christie is her style choice of giving the detective more information than the reader. It has a deus ex machina effect at the wrapup when he/she pulls out one clue from nowhere that would have made the killer obvious.

[Venerable Bede]

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

Ah, I see you are an Eco fan too, eh? I read it for the first time this spring, and I immediately fell in love with it.

[cyberbob]

I'm a Christie junkie. I adored her books even before I was a heavy reader.

Death on the Nile is her most polished, Hollywood-esque story, and And Then There Were None is her most taut; it reads almost like a horror story.

They can get kind of formulaic (like most mystery) but still a lot of fun.

Appointment With Death is my personal favorite.

[jlb4tlb]

The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammet

The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler

Blue Belle, Andrew Vachss

Just to name a few.

[kasie]

Ten Little Indians, or I should say more politically correct. The movie with Barry Fitzgerald is a classic, starring Franchot Tone along with Fitzgerald.

This has been re-published recently as And Then There Were None.

I like Henning Mankell's Inspector Wallander books - I started with The White Lioness which is the third in the series: it is unusual in that you see the murder being committed but you don't see who the murderer is nor can you fathom the motive. The scenario is a little dated now as it ties in with an actual event but the race against time to catch the perpertrator before he can complete his plan is as tense and nail-biting as ever.

[Seasider]

Wallander makes Saturday night worth staying in for.