The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

Ironically, my top mystery of all time is unique in not being a murder mystery at all. A country lawyer finds himself defending two women accused of kidnapping and beating a young girl, in a case that turns into a frenzied media sensation. Like all the best of Tey’s work, it stands as a fine novel as well as a mystery, with shrewd character development and startlingly relevant insight into human nature.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

A hospital-bound Scotland Yard inspector trying to while away boredom becomes absorbed in trying to solve a centuries-old “cold case”—was Richard III really responsible for the deaths of the Princes in the Tower?—through studying historical records. The way that Tey gradually unfolds a gripping narrative entirely through her protagonist reading books and having conversations in one room is incredible (I stayed up practically all night to finish it the first time I read it).

Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers

Lord Peter Wimsey goes undercover as an advertising copywriter to investigate the death of his predecessor, who took a suspicious fall down the office staircase. There’s more going on in the office than meets the eye—the plot is deliciously intricate and its pointed commentary on the advertising business still rings true today.

One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters

When former soldier turned monk Brother Cadfael discovers that there is, literally, one corpse too many among the bodies of prisoners executed after the siege of Shrewsbury, he realizes that someone is attempting to hide a murder among the casualties of war. I was blown away by how masterfully Peters blends the classic elements of the murder-mystery plot with an eleventh-century setting, by the vividly drawn characters and page-turning suspense.

Arrow Pointing Nowhere by Elizabeth Daly

The seventh book in Daly’s highly underrated Henry Gamadge series, and one of the most unique plots from an author especially gifted at coming up with original concepts. A cryptic message dropped from a window presents Gamadge with the challenges of finding out who in the house sent it, making contact with them, and figuring out what crime they want him to investigate.

The Book of the Dead by Elizabeth Daly

Like most of the Gamadge novels, the plot of this one hinges on literature: some odd notes found scribbled in the margins of a volume of Shakespeare, linked to a death that doesn’t seem to have been murder—but something suspicious is still going on. I don’t know whether this one or Arrow Pointing Nowhere takes the prize for sheer originality.

Green For Danger by Christianna Brand

This might be the mystery that integrates its setting in a very specific time and place most deeply into the plot. The place, an English manor house converted into a hospital during the Blitz; the murder victim, a bombing casualty who dies on the operating table; the suspects, the attendant doctors and nurses, whose motives for murder are closely bound up with their wartime experiences.

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

The Miss Marple that makes the best use of the English-village setting, with a cast of entertaining characters, a pleasingly layered and twisting plot, and of course that memorable beginning: a puzzling ad in the local paper announcing that a murder is to take place!

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

I’ve had different favorites among the Hercule Poirot novels over the years, but I think this one is objectively the cleverest. Poirot takes on the case of a serial murderer who seems to be choosing his victims at random, by the letters of the alphabet—and sending taunting letters to the detective challenging him to figure it out.

Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters

I count several of the Felse Investigations series among my favorite mysteries, but this was the first I read and probably the best on its own merits. A police inspector’s teenage son, painfully smitten with a young woman accused of murder, is determined to find the evidence to clear her on his own.

What are your top mystery novels? Do you spot any favorites here?

Recently, I was invited to contribute a book recommendation list to book discovery site Shepherd.com. The site is based around a format where authors create lists of five titles that are either “if you like these, you’ll like my book,” or five titles on a subject that connects to their book (they can be fiction or nonfiction or a mix of both!). After giving it some thought, I decided to write up a list of five vintage mystery-suspense novels—one of my very favorite genres to read, and major inspiration for my own books. If you like the books on this list I bet you’ll enjoy my novel Land of Hills and Valleys, which is basically the same genre/niche but with the added twist of being set in the American West instead of Europe or the big city. Click here to read my list!

There are a ton of interesting lists by other authors to browse as well. A few of my favorites are lists on women in the wild west by Rachel Kovaciny, Montana during WWI by Kirby Larson, and books that capture the beauty of the American West by Emily Hayse (I’m extremely honored to have one of my own books featured here!).

// photo by myself