The Hound of the Baskervilles
– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
With Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created one of the most enduring characters in literature. The Hound Of The Baskervilles published in 1902 was the third Sherlock Holmes novel and in many ways is the most well written and ambitious of all. The central characters are Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr Watson. Set on the bleak and dangerous area of Dartmoor in Devon, which Doyle really manages to bring to life, the story centres on the investigation into the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville. The Baskerville family believe that a legendary huge demonic hound stalking the moonlit moor is responsible for the death. In the end the mystery is finally solved as a terrifying confrontation takes place on the deadly mist covered Grimpen Mire an area of the moor covered in deep pools and stretches of quick sand. The two detectives make a great crime fighting pair, and overall you could want no more from a detective mystery.
Death in a White Tie
-Ngaio Marsh
Another thriller from acclaimed New Zealander, Ngaio Marsh, Death in a White Tie is a tale of blackmail, romance, and of course murder in English high society. Written in 1938, the novel features the quintessentially English detective Roderick Alleyn, who appeals to the ladies with his good looks and natural charm. Alleyn has a convincing amount of restrained, British angst just to make him more loveable. To help with his investigation Alleyn recruits Lord “Bunchy”, a well known fatherly figure.
Bunchy is quick to identify the blackmailer, but just as the blackmail plot seems about to unravel murder steps in, and Allen must, not only uncover the blackmailer, but a killer as well. Although the seventh novel of Marsh’s much longer series; Death in a White Tie is by far the best. As usual, Marsh places her clues very fairly but subtly. The characters are so finely drawn that it makes you wish they would show up in her other novels. This is a compelling whodunit, with more than enough great writing and humour along the way to make it a great novel.
The Five Red Herrings
-Dorothy L Sayers
The plot involves a murder in a small Scottish town in which several artists live and work. One of the artists, who is not well liked by his colleagues suddenly dies, and Sayers’ detective Lord Peter Wimsey, who is coincidentally staying in the town at the time, is called into investigate. Evidence at the scene shows that one of the artists committed the crime, but as with all classic detective novels, the question is who did it? Naturally, all of the suspects have a motive as well as an alibi so it’s up to Wimsey to discover the truth. A thrilling tale, that you’ll struggle to put down, the complex plot will both baffle and absorb you. Not to be missed.
The Moonstone
-Wilkie Collins
Although maybe a little more difficult to get stuck into than some of the others, ‘The Moonstone has got to be included on any list of top mystery novels because of its role as the first English written detective novel. Collins, described as ‘the father of the modern English detective novel’ explores the theft of a treasured yellow diamond. The book is written through various narrative perspectives, which take a while to get used to but eventually provide a useful way to understand the plot. The moonstone, with its curse, is presented to Rachel Verinder on her eighteenth birthday, but by the next morning has has disappeared. This novel is sure to grip its readers right to the end.
Murder on the Orient Express
– Agatha Christie
Perhaps the most famous detective novel of them all, written by perhaps the most outstanding detective novelist ever to live, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is most definitely a classic. Featuring Christie’s infamous detective Hercule Poirot who takes the Orient Express to London, the plot features Poirot and his companions attempting to solve the murder of a fellow passenger. It is discovered that the murdered passenger was an infamous kidnapper who killed a child from a prominent American family before changing his name and taking the ransom money on the run. As with all the best detective novels, Poirot and his team find several clues, but as they dig deeper they find that things are not always as they seem. And the final chapter of the book will really stun its readers with its totally unpredictable ending.