Crime Detective Mystery Thriller Group discussion

I'm very into the classics of crime literature (and other genres) at the moment. Just read Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty and am revisiting Graham Greene. What great classic novels (not necessarily the GSCE kind of classics) do you like and have read or would like to re-read?

I'm on my 3rd Philip Marlowe book of 2020. Already did The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. I'm now working on Farewell, My Lovely. I fully plan on reading the full set of Philip Marlowe books in time. The language and plots are both brilliant and like nothing else I've read.

Kurt wrote: "I'm on my 3rd Philip Marlowe book of 2020. Already did The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. I'm now working on Farewell, My Lovely. I fully plan on reading the full set of Philip Marlowe books in ti..."

I love Chandler's style, but I have to admit I found a little goes a long way! Must give him another go. Which would you recommend most?

On the British side of the pond, I love John Dickson Carr and especially his books under the pseudonym Carter Dickson. Great stories (Carr was a master of the locked room mystery so his plots are intricate and intriguing) and there is a great sense of atmosphere in the writing, too.

Josephine Tey is another favourite. The Franchise Affair, her first novel (it won a competition, I think) is again a really atmospheric and exciting book.

I don't mind blood and guts in the least, but the classics show that it isn't wholly necessary.

Some forgotten classic writers -
Richard Marsh - His supernatural thriller "The Beetle" came out the same time as Dracula and outsold it. He also wrote a series of stories about an amateur detective named Judith Lee, who's skill was lip reading.
Elizabeth Sanxay Holding - She wrote romance and detective novels and was a favorite writer of Raymond Chandler.
Nicholas Blake - He wrote a series of novels featuring the detective Nigel Strangeways. Blake was a pseudonym - his real surname was Day-Lewis, he was the father of the actor Daniel Day Lewis.
Michael Innes - He wrote a ton of novels, short stories and non fiction books and his detective Sir John Appleby is said to be the longest running series detective in literature.

Rob wrote: "On the British side of the pond, I love John Dickson Carr and especially his books under the pseudonym Carter Dickson. Great stories (Carr was a master of the locked room mystery so his plots are i..."

Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar is my absolute favorite British mystery - and that is saying something because I've enjoyed so many others including those by Dorothy Sayers and Ngaio Marsh.