Reading the Detectives discussion

I didn't want to hijack Christine's post here but she completely inspired me to get a hold of The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards and read my way through all the books he chose to illustrate the literary history of crime fiction of the first half of the 20th century, focusing mainly on the British tradition.

I love crossing off lists and I love reading GA detectives, no surprise there, but I have a huge bias towards Christie. Using this anthology as a guide I am sure to come across different authors and expand my horizons. For that reason I also enjoyed the Detective Club challenge this year but I found it difficult to get my hands on many of the selections for the challenge. This book by Martin Edwards serves as a companion to the Classic Crime series of the British Library, so it should be possible to access most of the titles.

There is a goodreads list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
It seems I have read 12 so far.

I also made a challenge on Storygraph (because I love to cross off lists...) https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading... feel free to join in! :-)

According to this list, I have read 24 and 18 are on my TBR shelf

Exciting idea, Jessica. I also have this book, have read it and really enjoy looking back at the articles when I read one of the featured books. I think I've read 31, though I don't remember much about some of them!

Unfortunately I believe a number of the books featured by Martin Edwards are very obscure and a few are impossible to get hold of, so it would be difficult to read all 100 - but maybe they will come back into print as a result of being featured.

Glad you have enjoyed the Detective Club Challenge, but sorry to hear you couldn't get hold of some of the books. We took care to choose books which are on Kindle and available in the UK and the US, but it is very difficult to find books which are available everywhere except for Christie!

PS I hadn't seen Storygraph before - looks like an interesting site.

Jessica wrote: "There is a goodreads list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
It seems I have read 12 so far."

Gosh - I think I've read 26 of these over the years, which is far more than I expected. Some interesting suggestions for others, too - plus some that I probably wouldn't be interested in, of course. That's just how it goes with lists like this.

Judy wrote: "PS I hadn't seen Storygraph before - looks like an interesting site."

Yes Storygraph is an interesting compliment to GR. They want to be a replacement but the social aspect with the many reading groups is very much in GR's favour. What I love about Storygraph is the way you can join and create reading challenges and track your progress very easily. They also are more accurate than GoodReads in their recommendations.

Sid wrote: "Jessica wrote: "There is a goodreads list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
It seems I have read 12 so far."

Gosh - I think I've read 26 of these over the years, which is far more than I e..."

Wow 26 that's a good score! I'm sure there are less interesting books included, but maybe I'll discover a new favourite too!

Judy wrote: "PS I hadn't seen Storygraph before - looks like an interesting site."

same here, I have always wanted an amazon-free alternative to goodreads but at the same time I really don't want yet another place I have to create an account and sign into.

also, I went there and looked up one of my favorite books and the description was full of spoilers.

but I love the idea of it and might decide to try it.

all right Im starting off on my journey! But not in the order the books are presented in in this collection, that would be so boring haha

so my number 1 is: Calamity Town by Ellery Queen

Why it is included in this selection? Apparently this was the first of a series of books set in Wrightsville and it has a quicker pace compared to the books earlier in the series. The puzzle is no longer the sole focus but there is more storytelling.... let's see!

Update after reading: * decent plot insufferable character behaviour

I've read 14 and am somewhere reading 12.