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Best Modern Detective Novel?

2K views 45 replies 20 participants last post by  Mike Dennis 
#1 ·
So, I'm working on a character background (ironically for some Kindle Worlds Fan Fic for Hugh Howey's WOOL Saga; the thought that THE MAN HIMSELF could reply to this thread makes me kinda wobbly-kneed...  :eek: ) but I need to know what you guys and gals think is THE BEST modern Detective Novel...what tells the story of the QUINTESSENTIAL Modern Detective?

Looking forward to your answers...

Oh, and Mr. Howey, if you want to know the reason, PM me.  8)
 
#27 ·
Eric C said:
Agreed, though I'd pick Hammett by a hair, given how much Chandler owed to him. And The Maltese Falcon is THE detective novel IMO.

Contemporary-wise, I'd personally go with T. Jefferson Parker as best detective novelist currently working, although he's a bit uneven (maybe because he mostly does stand-alone novels). But Silent Joe and Laguna Heat are as good as any detective novel I've read in the last twenty years.

All-time, it's gotta be Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, who seems never to have gone away. Love the new BBC series, for example.
It is extremely hard to choose between Hammett and Chandler and I will give you that Chandler and every other writer of detective fiction in the world owes Hammett a huge debt. But honestly The Lady in the Lake and Farewell, My Lovely are soooo good, that I can't admit that even Hammett was better. All-time, yes Doyle's Holmes was the quintessential detective. :)

ETA: My own favorite Hammett novel is Red Harvest. I really do consider it Hammett's best work. It is one of the greatest novels ever written about the abuse of power and the casual viciousness of the language is classic Hammett.
 
#30 ·
JRTomlin said:
There SERIOUSLY are only two possibilities for the best 20th century fictional detective: Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon) and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe (The Big Sleep). Anyone else is an also ran.
If you want a touchstone reference that everyone will get, then definitely one of these two.
 
#31 ·
JRTomlin said:
There SERIOUSLY are only two possibilities for the best 20th century fictional detective: Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon) and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe (The Big Sleep). Anyone else is an also ran.

If I had to choose between them it would be tough but Chandler might edge out Hammett by a hair.

ETA: Truthfully, I don't think anyone more recent comes close to those two but if you wanted someone more current, I'd go with Robert Crais's Elvis Cole (The Monkey's Raincoat). Crais is very good, but Hammett and Chandler were two of the best writers in any genre (or non-genre), utter geniuses.
Thanks so much, JRTomlin! :D
 
#32 ·
Scott William Carter said:
John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee books. Nobody else even comes close for me.

Robert B. Parker's Spenser books would be my second choice. Kind of amazed nobody's mentioned either yet. MacDonald, in particular, is one a lot of modern mystery writers credit for getting them into the genre in the first place.
Thanks, Scott (Can I call you Scott?) - looks like Spenser is pulling a little ahead in the race! :D
 
#34 ·
Eric C said:
Agreed, though I'd pick Hammett by a hair, given how much Chandler owed to him. And The Maltese Falcon is THE detective novel IMO.

Contemporary-wise, I'd personally go with T. Jefferson Parker as best detective novelist currently working, although he's a bit uneven (maybe because he mostly does stand-alone novels). But Silent Joe and Laguna Heat are as good as any detective novel I've read in the last twenty years.

All-time, it's gotta be Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, who seems never to have gone away. Love the new BBC series, for example.
Yea, I knew Sherlock would win if I went all time, which is why I limited it to modern. I love the new BBC series, too! Thanks, Eric!
 
#45 ·
Even though I'm a big fan of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels and they're the inspiration of my stuff, I have to vote for Red Harvest. Not only for the reasons JR Tomlin lists but because Hammett creates a plot in this novel that is so awesome it begat a classic Japanese Samurai movie and a classic Clint Eastwood spaghetti western.
 
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