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Crier's Top Five Crime Books

By TChris, Section Off Topic
Posted on Sat Nov 26, 2005 at 03:20:50 PM EST
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by TChris

Catherine Crier discusses her top five books about crime (a list that suffers from the omission of Crime and Punishment). What's on your list?

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    Crier's Top Five Crime Books | 15 comments (15 topical)
    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    Definitely the "Executioner's Song." For a book of shorts I like "Troublemakers" by John McNalley.

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    I don't read many crime books, but allow me to recommend two: Anatomy of a Murder, by Robert Traver [I recommend this one to my law students as a book that explains, from the lawyer's point of view, why he asks or does not ask certain questions.) Murder in Coweta County, by Margaret Anne Barnes (A true story about a murder in rural Georgia.)

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    In Cold Blood Helter Skelter Snowblind

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    In no particular order: The Maltese Falcon bt Dashiell Hammett The Hound of the Baskervilles by A.C. Doyle The Hunter by Richard Stark The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    I liked Bonfire of the Vanities.

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#7)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    Mine would be any featuring Parker (by Richard Stark ) Any featuring Quarry (by Collins) Any featuring Keller (by Block) I guess I have a different POV of 'crime' fiction;-) Of course The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes Black Echo by Connelly

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#8)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:27 PM EST
    les miserables was overwrought melodrama right from the start. two differences between the broadway version and the book: 1. the show was a musical, the book wasn't. 2. my nephew was in the show, he wasn't in the book. also, are you sure she actually read the book? it doesn't take place during the french revolution, but rather, the revolution of 1848, coinciding, more or less, with the revolution in germany. actually, in the states that would, subsequent to the franco-prussian war of 1870, become germany. personally, i like the trial, by franz kafka. in fact, i think it's more relevant today than ever.

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:28 PM EST
    Some of mine: 1. The Stranger Beside Me - Ann Rule 2. My Dark Places - James Ellroy 3. Whoever Fights Monsters - Robert Ressler 4. When She Was Bad - Patricia Pearson 5. The Onion Field - Joseph Wambaugh John A

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:28 PM EST
    til death do us part by Vincent Bugliosi and Bull by Jim Schutze.

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:28 PM EST
    Bully by Jim Schutze

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#12)
    by rilkefan on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:28 PM EST
    I'd put several Chandler novels ahead of The Big Sleep. Homicide by David Simon.

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:28 PM EST
    Under the Banner of Heaven

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:28 PM EST
    I would add The Friends of Eddie Coyle, by George V. Higgins. Actually, several of his are worth noting.

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:29 PM EST
    Hammett and Chandler have been cited. Add W. R. Burnett to the short list of classic crime writers, and add High Sierra to any list of crime classics. Of more recent vintage try K. C. Constantine's Always a Body to Trade.

    Re: Crier's Top Five Crime Books (none / 0) (#16)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:29 PM EST
    Plan of Attack/Bob Woodward

    Crier's Top Five Crime Books | 15 comments (15 topical)