Twenty-Five Best Private Eye Novels of All Time (1993)

As chosen by Jon L. Breen in The Fine Art of Murder

I’m not sure if The Fine Art of Murder (1993) really is “The Mystery Reader’s Indispensable Companion” as its subtitle reads, but it sure is fun. This motley crew of new and reprinted essays and lists from such notables as Robert Bloch, Stephen King, John D. MacDonald, Lawrence Block, and Bill Pronzini, collected from various sources (including Mystery Scene) and edited by Ed Gorman, Martin H. Greenberg, Larry Segriff and Jon L. Breen, is a hoot, and won the Anthony Award for Best Critical Work at 1994’s Bouchercon.

Of course, the list is now dated, and some books are sadly forgotten, but trust me — they’re all worth hunting down. I know — I’ve read them all — thanks to this list.

And so, alphabetically, by author…

• The Big Kiss Off of 1944 (1974) by Andrew Bergman (Jack Levine)
• When the Sacred Ginmill Closes (1986) by Lawrence Block (Matt Scudder)
• The Taste of Ashes (1957) by Howard Browne (Paul Pine)
• In La La Land We Trust (1986) by Robert Campbell (Whistler)
• Farewell, My Lovely (1940) by Raymond Chandler (Phillip Marlowe)
• Stolen Away (1991) by Max Allan Collins (Nate Heller)
• Minnesota Strip (1987) by Michael Collins (Dan Fortune)
• The Mean Streets (1954) by Thomas B. Dewey (Mac)
• The Glass Highway (1983) by Loren D. Estleman (Amos Walker)
• The Bigger They Come (1939) by A.A. Fair (Bertha Cool & Donald Lam)
• The Convertible Hearse (1957) by William Campbell Gault (Brock Callahan)
• Interface (1974) by Joe Gores (Neal Fargo)
• “I” Is For Innocent (1992) by Sue Grafton (Kinsey Millhone)
• The Maltese Falcon (1930) by Dashiell Hammett (Sam Spade)
• Death Claims (1973) by Joseph Hansen (Dave Brandstetter)
• The Angels’ Share (1989) by Robert Irvine (Moroni Traveler, Jr.)
• Room To Swing (1957) by Ed Lacy (Toussaint Moore)
• The Lady in the Morgue (1935) by Jonathan Latimer (Bill Crane)
• Black Money (1966) by Ross Macdonald (Lew Archer)
• The Old Dick (1981) by L.A. Morse (Jake Spanner)
• White Butterfly (1992) by Walter Mosley (Easy Rawlins)
• There’s Something in a Sunday (1989) by Marcia Muller (Sharon McCone)
• God Save the Child (1974) by Robert B. Parker (Spenser)
• Shackles (1988) by Bill Pronzini (Nameless)
• An Easy Thing (1990) by Paco Ignacio Taibo II (Hector Belascoarán Shayne)

Respectfully compiled by Kevin Burton Smith.