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WINKS' PERSONAL FAVORITES IN DETECTIVE FICTION
In the Appendix to his Detective Fiction, A Collection of Critical Essays, Robin W. Winks includes "A Personal List of Favorites." He writes that “the following list of titles is provided … as a point of entry; authors are limited to no more than three titles. The editor regards all of the books as good, although for a variety of reasons. Not all have contributed to the history of the field and not all are written with equal grace, but each has substantial merit, whether for plot, well-realized setting, characterization, detection, or even trickery. For the most part, books from the early classic period (pre-1930) are omitted.”
| Aldyne, Nathan | Cobalt. 1982 |
| Allbeury, Ted | A Choice of Enemies. 1973 |
| Allingham, Margery | The Crime at Black Dudley. 1929 |
| Allingham, Margery | Dancers in Mourning. 1937 |
| Allingham, Margery | The Tiger in the Smoke. 1952 |
| Alverson, Charles | Godey's Last Stand. 1975 |
| Ambler, Eric | Background to Danger. 1937 |
| Ambler, Eric | A Coffin for Demetrious. 1939 |
| Ambler, Eric | Journey into Fear. 1940 |
| Anderson, James | Affair of the Blood-Stained Egg Cosy.1975 |
| Angus, Sylvia | Death of a Hittite. 1969 |
| Asimov, Isaac | Murder at the ABA. 1976 |
| Bagley, Desmond | High Citadel. 1965 |
| Bagley, Desmond | Running Blind. 1970 |
| Bagley, Desmond | The Enemy. 1976 |
| Ball, John | In the Heat of the Night. 1965 |
| Banks, Oliver | The Rembrandt Panel. 1980 |
| Barnard, Robert | Death of an Old Goat. 1977 |
| Barnard, Robert | Death of a Literary Widow. 1979 |
| Behn, Noel | The Kremlin Letter. 1966 |
| Benson, Ben | The Running Man. 1957 |
| Bentley, E.C. | Trent's Last Case. 1912 |
| Bergman, Andrew | The Big Kiss Off of 1944. 1974 |
| Berkeley, Andrew | Trial and Error. 1937 |
| Beste, R. Vernon | Repeat the Instructions. 1967 |
| Blake, Nicholas | The Abominable Snowman. 1940 |
| Blake, Nicholas | Minute for Murder. 1947 |
| Block, Lawrence | The Sins of the Fathers. 1976 |
| Borges, Jorge Luis | Ficciones. 1962 |
| Boucher, Anthony | The Case of the Seven of Calvary. 1937 |
| Box, Edgar | Death in the Fifth Position. 1952 |
| Brand, Christianna | Green for Danger. 1945 |
| Brean, Herbert | Wilders Walk Away. 1948 |
| Brown, Frederic | The Fabulous Clipjoint. 1947 |
| Brown, Frederic | The Lenient Beast. 1956 |
| Buchan, John | The Thirty-Nine Steps. 1915 |
| Buchan, John | John Macnab. 1925 |
| Buchan, John | Mountain Meadow. 1941 |
| Buckley, William F. | Saving the Queen. 1976 |
| Buckley, John F. | Mongoose R.I.P. 1987 |
| Buell, John | The Pyx. 1959 |
| Burgess, Anthony | Tremor of Intent. 1966 |
| Burns, Rex | Angle of Attack. 1979 |
| Burns, Rex | Ground Money. 1986 |
| Byrom, James | Or Be He Dead. 1958 |
| Cain, James M. | The Postman Always Rings Twice. 1934 |
| Cain, James M. | Double Indemnity. 1936 |
| Carr, A.H.Z. | Finding Maubee. 1971 |
| Carr, John Dickson | The Three Coffins. 1935 |
| Carr, John Dickson | The Case of the Constant Suicides. 1941 |
| Caudwell, Sara | Thus Was Adonis Murdered. 1981 |
| Chandler, Raymond | The Big Sleep. 1939 |
| Chandler, Raymond | Farewell, My Lovely. 1940 |
| Chandler, Raymond | The Lady in the Lake. 1953 |
| Chesterton, G.K. | The Innocence of Father Brown. 1911 |
| Childers, Erskine | The Riddle of the Sands. 1903 |
| Christie, Agatha | The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. 1926 |
| Christie, Agatha | The Little Niggers. 1939 |
| Christie, Agatha | The Patriotic Murders. 1940 |
| Clancy, Tom | The Hunt for Red October. 1985 |
| Clifford, Francis | The Third Side of the Coin. 1965 |
| Clifford, Francis | All Men Are Lonely Now. 1967 |
| Coates, Robert M. | Wisteria Cottage, 1948 |
| Cody, Liza | Bad Company. 1982 |
| Coles, Manning | Drink to Yesterday. 1940 |
| Coles, Manning | A Toast to Tomorrow. 1941 |
| Constantine, K.C. | The Blank Page. 1974 |
| Constantine, K.C. | The Man Who Likes Slow Tomatoes. 1982 |
| Courtier, S.H. | Murder's Burning. 1967 |
| Creed, David | The Trial of Lobo Icheka. 1971 |
| Crispin, Edmund | The Moving Toy Shop. 1946 |
| Crofts, Freeman Wills | The Cheyne Mystery. 1926 |
| Crofts, Freeman Wills | Death of a Train. 1946 |
| Cross, Amanda | Poetic Justice. 1970 |
| Cross, Amanda | Death in a Tenured Position. 1981 |
| Crumley, James | The Last Good Kiss. 1978 |
| Cunningham, E.V. | Sylvia. 1960 |
| Curtiss, Ursula | Out of the Dark. 1964 |
| Davidson, Lionel | Night of Wenceslas. 1960 |
| Davidson, Lionel | The Rose of Tibet. 1962 |
| DeAndrea, William L. | Killed in the Ratings. 1978 |
| Deighton, Len | The Ipcress File. 1962 |
| Deighton, Len | SS-GB. 1978 |
| Derby, Mark | The Sunlit Ambush. 1955 |
| Dexter, Colin | The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn. 1977 |
| Dickinson, Peter | The Glass-Sided Ant's Nest. 1968 |
| Dickinson, Pater | One Foot in the Grave. 1980 |
| Dickinson, Peter | Hindsight. 1983 |
| Dodge, David | The Long Escape. 1950 |
| Douglass, Donald McNutt | Rebecca's Pride. 1957 |
| Duncan, Robert | The Q Document. 1964 |
| Eco, Umberto | The Name of the Rose. 1983 |
| Ellin, Stanley | The Eighth Circle. 1958 |
| Ellin, Stanley | Very Old Money. 1985 |
| Estleman, Loren D. | The Glass Highway. 1983 |
| Eustis, Helen | The Horizontal. 1946 |
| Fearing, Kenneth | The Big Clock. 1946 |
| Fish, Robert L. | Pursuit. 1979 |
| Fisher, Steve | I Wake Up Screaming. 1941 |
| Fleming, Ian | From Russia with Love. 1957 |
| Follett, Ken | Eye of the Needle. 1978 |
| Forester, C.S. | Payment Deferred. 1926 |
| Forsyth, Frederick | The Day of the Jackal. 1971 |
| Francis, Dick | Dead Cert. 1962 |
| Francis, Dick | Blood Sport. 1967 |
| Francis, Dick | Forfeit. 1969 |
| Freeling, Nicholas | Love in Amsterdam. 1962 |
| Freeling, Nicholas | Apres de ma Blonde. 1972 |
| Gardner, Erle Stanley | The Case of the Caretaker's Cat |
| Gardner, Erle Stanley | The D.A. Draws a Circle. 1939 |
| Gardner, Erle Stanley | The Case of the Crooked Candle. 1944 |
| Gardner, John | The Liquidator. 1964 |
| Garve, Andrew | The Cuckoo-Line Affair. 1953 |
| Garve, Andrew | The Galloway Case. 1958 |
| Garve, Andrew | The Ascent of D-13. 1968 |
| Gash, Jonathan | The Judas Pair. 1977 |
| Gault, William Campbell | The Day of the Ram. 1956 |
| Gifford, Thomas | The Wind Chill Factor. 1975 |
| Gilbert, Michael | Death Has Deep Roots. 1951 |
| Gilbert, Michael | Death in Captivity. 1952 |
| Gill, B.M. | Death Drop. 1979 |
| Goldman, William | Marathon Man. 1974 |
| Gordon, R.L. | The River Gets Wider. 1974 |
| Greene, Graham | Stamboul Train. 1932 |
| Greene, Graham | Brighton Rock. 1938 |
| Greene, Graham | The Ministry of Fear. 1943 |
| Greenleaf, Stephen | Fatal Obsession. 1983 |
| Grimes, Martha | The Dirty Duck. 1984 |
| Grubb, Davis | The Night of the Hunter. 1953 |
| Guthrie, A.B. | Wild Pitch. 1973 |
| Haggard, William | The Telemann Touch. 1958 |
| Haggard, William | Venetian Blind. 1959 |
| Haggard, William | The Scorpion's Tail. 1975 |
| Hall, Adam | The Quiller Memorandum. 1965 |
| Hall, Adam | The Tango Briefing. 1973 |
| Hall, Adam | The Mandarin Cypher. 1975 |
| Hall, Robert Lee | Exit Sherlock Holmes. 1977 |
| Hallahan, William | The Search for Joseph Tully. 1975 |
| Hamilton, Donald | Death of a Citizen. 1960 |
| Hamilton, Donald | The Ravengers. 1964 |
| Hammett, Dashiell | Red Harvest. 1929 |
| Hammett, Dashiell | The Maltese Falcon. 1930 |
| Hansen, Joseph | Early Graves. 1987 |
| Hare, Cyril | An English Murder. 1951 |
| Hart, Frances Noyes | The Bellamy Trial. 1927 |
| Haymon, S.T. | Ritual Murder. 1982 |
| Healy, Jeremiah | The Staked Goat. 1986 |
| Heard, H.F.A. | A Taste for Honey. 1941 |
| Herron, Shaun | Through the Dark and Hairy Wood. 1973 |
| Heyer, Georgette | A Blunt Instrument. 1938 |
| Higgins, George V. | The Friends of Eddie Coyle. 1972 |
| Hill, Reginald | Ruling Passion. 1973 |
| Hill, Reginald | Deadheads. 1984 |
| Hillerman, Tony | The Blessing Way. 1970 |
| Hillerman, Tony | The Ghostway. 1984 |
| Himes, Chester | Cotton Goes to Harlem. 1964 |
| Hirschberg, Cornelius | Florentine Finish. 1963 |
| Household, Geoffrey | Rogue Male. 1939 |
| Household, Geoffrey | A Rough Shoot. 1951 |
| Household, Geoffrey | Dance of the Dwarfs. 1968 |
| Hoyle, Fred | Ossian's Ride. 1959 |
| Hoyt, Richard | Trotsky's Run. 1982 |
| Hughes, Dorothy B. | Ride the Pink Horse. 1946 |
| Hunt, E. Howard | From Cuba, With Love. 1964 |
| Huxley, Elspeth | Murder on Safari. 1938 |
| Iles, Francis | Before the Fact. 1932 |
| Innes, Hammond | The Wreck of the Mary Deare. 1956 |
| Innes, Michael | Hamlet Revenge! 1937 |
| James, P.D. | Cover Her Face. 1962 |
| James, P.D. | Shroud for a Nightingale. 1971 |
| James, P.D. | An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. 1972 |
| Jay, Charlotte | Beat Not the Bones. 1954 |
| Jay, Charlotte | The Yellow Turban. 1955 |
| Keating, H.R.F. | A Rush on the Ultimate. 1961 |
| Keating, H.R.F. | The Perfect Murder. 1964 |
| Kelly, Mary | The Spoilt Kill. 1961 |
| Kemmelman, Harry | Friday the Rabbi Slept Late. 1964 |
| Knowlton, Robert A. | Court of Crows. 1961 |
| Koenig, Joseph | Floater. 1986 |
| Langton, Jane | Emily Dickinson is Dead. 1984 |
| Lathen, Emma | Death Shall Overcome. 1966 |
| Lathen, Emma | Murder Against the Grain. 1967 |
| Leasor, James | Passport to Oblivion. 1965 |
| LeCarre, John | The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. 1963 |
| LeCarre, John | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. 1974 |
| Leonard, Elmore | Swag. 1976 |
| Leonard, Elmore | La Brava. 1983 |
| Lewin, Michael | Night Cover. 1976 |
| Lewis, Norman | The Man in the Middle. 1984 |
| Littell, Robert | The Defection of A.J. Lewinter. 1973 |
| Littell, Robert | The Debriefing. 1979 |
| Littell, Robert | The Amateur. 1981 |
| Lovesey, Peter | Wobble to Death. 1970 |
| Lovesey, Peter | The False Inspector Dew. 1982 |
| Lustgarten, Edgar | One More Unfortunate. 1947 |
| Lyall, Gavin | The Most Dangerous Game. 1964 |
| Lyall, Gavin | Midnight Plus One. 1965 |
| Lyons, Arthur | Castles Burning. 1980 |
| McBain, Ed | Hail to the Chief. 1973 |
| McBain, Ed | Ice. 1983 |
| McCarry, Charles | The Miernik Dossier. 1973 |
| McClure, James | The Steam Pig. 1971 |
| McClure, James | The Artful Egg. 1985 |
| McDonald, Gregory | Fletch's Fortune. 1978 |
| MacDonald, John D. | Dead Low Tide. 1953 |
| MacDonald, John D. | The Drowner. 1963 |
| MacDonald, John D. | The Quick Red Fox. 1964 |
| Macdonald, Philip | The List of Adrian Messenger. 1959 |
| Macdonald, Ross | The Galton Case. 1959 |
| Macdonald, Ross | The Far Side of the Dollar. 1964 |
| Macdonald, Ross | The Goodbye Look. 1969 |
| McGinley, Patrick | Bogmail. 1981 |
| McIlvanney, William | Laidlaw. 1977 |
| MacInnes, Helen | Above Suspicion. 1941 |
| MacInnes, Helen | The Venetian Affair. 1963 |
| MacLean, Alistair | South by Java Head. 1958 |
| MacLean, Alistair | The Satan Bug (As Ian Stuart), 1962 |
| Marric, J.J. | Gideon's Week. 1956 |
| Marric, J.J. | Gideon's River. 1968 |
| Marsh, Ngaio | Enter a Murderer. 1935 |
| Marshall, William | Thin Air. 1977 |
| Masterman, J.C. | An Oxford Tragedy. 1933 |
| Mather, Berkely | The Pass Beyond Kashmir. 1960 |
| Maugham, W. Somerset | Ashenden, the British Agent. 1927 |
| Meyer, Nicholas | The Seven Percent Solution. 1974 |
| Millar, Margaret | Beast in View. 1955 |
| Millar, Margaret | The Soft Talkers. 1957 |
| Milne, A.A. | The Red House Mystery. 1922 |
| O'Brien, Flann | The Third Policeman. 1967 |
| Oppenheim, E. Phillips | The Great Impersonation. 1920 |
| Paretsky, Sara | Indemnity Only. 1982 |
| Parker, Robert B. | God Save the Child. 1974 |
| Parker, Robert B. | Mortal Stakes. 1975 |
| Parker, Robert B. | Looking for Rachel Wallace. 1980 |
| Patterson, Richard North | The Outside Man. 1981 |
| Peck, Richard | Dreamland Lake. 1973 |
| Perry, Thomas | The Butcher's Boy. 1982 |
| Peters, Ellis | One Corpse Too Many. 1980 |
| Postgate, Raymond | Verdict of Twelve. 1940 |
| Price, Enthony | Other Paths to Glory. 1975 |
| Proctor, Maurice | The Pub Crawler. 1956 |
| Pronzini, Bill | The Stalker. 1971 |
| Queen, Ellery | The Roman Hat Mystery. 1929 |
| Queen, Ellery | The Tragedy of X. 1932 |
| Queen, Ellery | Calamity Town. 1942 |
| Radley, Sheila | Death in the Morning. 1978 |
| Rathbone, Julian | The Euro-Killers. 1980 |
| Rendell, Ruth | A Demon in my View. 1976 |
| Rinehart, Mary Robert | The Bat. 1926 |
| Rogers, Joel Townsley | The Red Right Hand. 1945 |
| Ryck, Francis | Sacrificial Pawn. 1973 |
| Sanders, Lawrence | The First Deadly Sin. 1973 |
| Sayers, Dorothy | Strong Poison. 1930 |
| Sayers, Dorothy | The Nine Tailors. 1934 |
| Sayers, Dorothy | Gaudy Night. 1935 |
| Seely, Mabel | The Listening House. 1938 |
| Simenon, Georges | The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By. 1946 |
| Simon, Roger L. | The Big Fix. 1973 |
| Sjowall, Wahloo | Roseanna. 1967 |
| Sjowall, Wahloo | The Fire Engine that Disappeared. 1970 |
| Smith, Shelley | The Ballad of the Running Man. 1961 |
| Spicer, Bart | The Day of the Dead. 1955 |
| Stout, Rex | Too Many Cooks. 1938 |
| Stout, Rex | And Be a Villain. 1948 |
| Stout, Rex | Plot it Yourself. 1959 |
| Symons, Julian | The 31st of November. 1950 |
| Symons, Julian | The Man Who Killed Himself. 1967 |
| Symons, Julian | A Criminal Comedy. 1986 |
| Tapply, William G. | The Dutch Blue Error. 1985 |
| Tapply, William G. | The Marine Corpse. 1986 |
| Tey, Josephine | A Shilling for Candles. 1936 |
| Tey, Josephine | The Daughter of Time. 1951 |
| Theroux, Paul | The Family Arsenal. 1976 |
| Thomas, Ross | The Cold War Swap. 1966 |
| Thomas, Ross | The Seersucker Whipsaw. 1967 |
| Thomas, Ross | Brass Go-Between. (As Oliver Bleek). 1969 |
| Thompson, Jim | The Killer Insude Me. 1952 |
| Thomson, June | Death Cap. 1977 |
| Trevanian | The Eiger Sanction. 1972 |
| Turnbull, Peter | Deep and Crisp and Even. 1981 |
| Upfield, Arthur | The New Shoe. 1951 |
| Upfield, Arthur | The Bachelors of Broken Hill. 1958 |
| Valin, Jonathan | Life's Work. 1986 |
| Valin, Jonathan | Fire Lake. 1987 |
| Van de Wetering, Janwillem | The Mind Murders. 1981 |
| Van der Zee, John | Stateline. 1976 |
| Van Dine, S.S. | The Benson Murder Case. 1926 |
| Van Gulik, Robert | The Chinese Bell Murders. 1961 |
| Van Gulik, Robert | The Chinese Nail Murders. 1961 |
| Vickers, Roy | The Department of Dead Ends. 1949 |
| Wallace, Edgar | The Four Just Men. 1911 |
| Waugh, Hillary | Last Seen Wearing. 1952 |
| Waugh, Hillary | Death and Circumstance. 1963 |
| Westlake, Donald E. | The Hot Rock. 1970 |
| Wilcox, Colin | Victims. 1984 |
| Willeford, Charles | New Hope for the Dead. 1985 |
| Williams, Charles | The Catfish Tangle. 1963 |
| Woolrich, Cornell | The Bride Wore Black. 1940 |
| Woodhouse, Martin | Tree Frog. 1966 |
| Wright, Eric | Smoke Detector. 1984 |
| Wright, Eric | Death in the Old Country. 1985 |
| Wright, L.R. | The Suspect. 1985 |
| Young, Edward | The Fifth Passenger. 1963 |
| Yuill, P.B. | Hazell Plays Solomon. 1974 |
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