Michael Moran of the Times very kindly stopped by at Petrona to provide the link to his paper's list of "Top 50 Crime Writers", as a comment to my "heads up" post of last weekend - which I mention here as the earlier post contains links to previous attempts at the impossible feat.
Petrona's verdict on the Times list? I've just finished the newspaper version, and I am quite impressed. Included are the superb Andrea Camilleri, Karin Fossim and Maj Sjowell/Per Wahloo, as well as more obvious but. "best-list-wise", sometimes overlooked modern proponents such as Henning Mankell, Donna Leon, Manuel Vazquez Montalban and John Harvey. As well as the list of 50, compiled by two Times reviewers, genre expert Barry Forshaw, and authors Val McDermid and Natasha Cooper, several people reveal their own favourites: Mo Hayder, David Canter, Jim Kelley and Louse Welsh; some of the 50 are singled out as particluar favourites (Nicci French on Wilkie Collins (great inclusion!), Simon Kernick on Dennis Lehane, Natasha Cooper on Ruth Rendell, Simon Barnes on Dick Francis and Barry Forshaw on Patricia Cornwell); and there are numerous crime-fiction-related tasty sidebars on a range of topics by writers including Ian Rankin and Christopher McLehose, which is nice because several other good authors are mentioned who aren't on the main list (eg Stieg Larsson).
A good feature, overall, I'd say. Much easier to read and navigate if you can get hold of the newspaper rather than relying on the online version, incidentally. Of course, there are always going to be disagreements over the details. Good that Harlan Coben and Scott Turow are in, not so good that Michael Connelly, Peter Temple, Peter Spiegelman and Robert Crais are out; Arnaldur Indridason (the most egregious omission of all), Nicci French and Fred Vargas didn't make it either and are unfortunate omissions. Ngaio Marsh, sadly, is out, but Christie, Sayers and Allingham are in. Nor did some of the newer talented writers make it -- but they will surely feature in future such lists: Gianrico Carofiglio, Brian McGilloway, Asa Larsson, Jan Costin Wagner and Tana French spring to mind. (But there are others!) I also presume that Peter James, Lee Child and John Sandford were considered too "thriller" to gain a foothold. I was sorry that Mary Higgins Clark (America's Queen of Suspense) wasn't there either. But although I don't personally enjoy reading all the authors on the list, I think that 90 per cent of them deserve to be there, even if not always in the ranked order chosen.
Petrona's verdict on the Times list? I've just finished the newspaper version, and I am quite impressed. Included are the superb Andrea Camilleri, Karin Fossim and Maj Sjowell/Per Wahloo, as well as more obvious but. "best-list-wise", sometimes overlooked modern proponents such as Henning Mankell, Donna Leon, Manuel Vazquez Montalban and John Harvey. As well as the list of 50, compiled by two Times reviewers, genre expert Barry Forshaw, and authors Val McDermid and Natasha Cooper, several people reveal their own favourites: Mo Hayder, David Canter, Jim Kelley and Louse Welsh; some of the 50 are singled out as particluar favourites (Nicci French on Wilkie Collins (great inclusion!), Simon Kernick on Dennis Lehane, Natasha Cooper on Ruth Rendell, Simon Barnes on Dick Francis and Barry Forshaw on Patricia Cornwell); and there are numerous crime-fiction-related tasty sidebars on a range of topics by writers including Ian Rankin and Christopher McLehose, which is nice because several other good authors are mentioned who aren't on the main list (eg Stieg Larsson).
A good feature, overall, I'd say. Much easier to read and navigate if you can get hold of the newspaper rather than relying on the online version, incidentally. Of course, there are always going to be disagreements over the details. Good that Harlan Coben and Scott Turow are in, not so good that Michael Connelly, Peter Temple, Peter Spiegelman and Robert Crais are out; Arnaldur Indridason (the most egregious omission of all), Nicci French and Fred Vargas didn't make it either and are unfortunate omissions. Ngaio Marsh, sadly, is out, but Christie, Sayers and Allingham are in. Nor did some of the newer talented writers make it -- but they will surely feature in future such lists: Gianrico Carofiglio, Brian McGilloway, Asa Larsson, Jan Costin Wagner and Tana French spring to mind. (But there are others!) I also presume that Peter James, Lee Child and John Sandford were considered too "thriller" to gain a foothold. I was sorry that Mary Higgins Clark (America's Queen of Suspense) wasn't there either. But although I don't personally enjoy reading all the authors on the list, I think that 90 per cent of them deserve to be there, even if not always in the ranked order chosen.
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