One could legitimately ask, upon encountering BOOKS TO DIE FOR, if yet another extended checklist with commentary of iconic mystery novels is really needed. My response is “YES,” particularly when it is as well-conceived and crafted as this one. Editors John Connolly and Declan Burke’s introduction is worth the price of admission all by itself. It is a summation of the heart of the mystery genre itself, as well as an answer to the question of why people who do not read mysteries should, and why those who do read mysteries do. What follows is a list of iconic mystery novels with each entry accompanied by an essay written by a contemporary master of the genre.
BOOKS TO DIE FOR begins with THE DUPIN TALES by Edgar Allan Poe from 1841, with an essay by J. Wallis Martin, and concludes with an entry by Anne Perry for 2008’s THE PERK by Mark Gimenez. Between those two markers, surprises of the greatest sort abound.
"One could legitimately ask, upon encountering BOOKS TO DIE FOR, if yet another extended checklist with commentary of iconic mystery novels is really needed. My response is 'YES,' particularly when it is as well-conceived and crafted as this one."
I can think of very few people who conceivably could have read every book mentioned here. While there are bestsellers listed, there are also books so obscure that it would be difficult if not impossible to find a physical copy of them. The essays that accompany the books represent a labor of love, which is to say that such flaws as might exist in any of the 90-plus n