Friday, February 5, 2010

Classic Crime Fiction, the first results

I've been through the first results of the Classic Crime Fiction Curriculum Challenge. I received 15 lists, and thanks to all those who took part. The full list included 114 books, all but 24 of which received only one vote. Only 9 books received 3 or more votes (see below) and the clear winner on 6 was The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley
James Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice
Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely
Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Dorothy Sayers, Nine Tailors
Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance
Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me

I'll post up the 15 books that all scored 2 votes each tomorrow and hopefully you'll be able to tell me which one most deserves the last berth on the curriculum list. There were a number of authors who had several different books nominated resulting in their votes being split across different titles. I'll also do a most popular author list in the next few days.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update, Rob. I look forward to seeing tomorrow's results.

Mack said...

I forgot to participate but couldn't have done better than this list. An excellent selection and I'm pleased to see a Jim Thompson make the list.

pattinase (abbott) said...

A good list. Christie has faded for me but this one did something new at the time. The rest are definitive.

Jose Ignacio Escribano said...

Rob thanks for your post. I'm glad my list was pretty close.

Dorte H said...

A great list. I am glad to see two of my absolute favourites on it.

seana graham said...

It's a great list, and I've read far fewer of these than I care to admit.

I am certainly very curious about the long (long) list, though.

kathy d. said...

I think I only read the Conan Doyle and Rex Stout, but years ago when I was in high school and maybe I read the Dorothy Sayers. I did read some of hers then.

Time to re-read Fer-de-Lance and check out a few others.

Can't wait for the other recommendations though.