As crime king Michael Connelly publishes his new Harry Bosch book, my take on ten of the greatest crime novels ever written. This was the hardest, and possibly most controversial, list to write – there’s no Raymond Chandler, Robert B Parker, Dorothy L Sayers, John Grisham, Mick Herron or M W Craven among others… read it and weep.
No.10 The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
The third of four Sherlock Holmes novels by Arthur Conan Doyle (most of the legendary sleuth’s exploits took short story form), 1902’s Hound of the Baskervilles must be the legendary detective’s greatest case. As gripping as the mud of Grimpen Mire where much of the action takes place, noted one critic. Even after all this time, Conan Doyle’s giant hound remains, frankly, terrifying and the Holmes books continue to inspire and delight.
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No.9 On Beulah Height by Reginald Hill
The late Raymond Hill’s Dalziel and Pascoe novels remain classics of the crime genre and On Beulah Height, his 1998 book about a small Yorkshire community struggling with the aftermath of a child murder, is among the finest. The interplay between his mismatched detectives, played on screen by Warren Clarke and Colin Buchanan, brings a lightness sometimes missing in the genre and the books, and their adaptations, remain intelligent, thrilling page-turners to this day.
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No.8 The Lovers by John Connolly
John Connolly’s Charlie Parker books brilliantly mix investigative procedural with dark, supernatural overtones, a mix that has seen booksellers struggle to decide if they should be placed in crime or horror sections. Ireland’s Stephen King penned his first Maine-set book, Every Dead Thing, in 1999 after working as a freelance reporter for The Irish Times newspaper. The Lovers, book nine in the series, is where his private investigator begins to understand his complicated past, the death of his father, who took his own life after apparently shooting dead two unarmed teenagers, and the demonic (or angelic) creatures that haunt his dreams and cases. A cracker among crackers. All Connolly’s books are the enemy of sleep, and The Lovers is no exception.
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No.7 The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
The Neon Rain introduced New Orleans detective Dave Robicheaux, a former US infantry Lieutenant who served in Vietnam and still bears the scars, and his dysfunctional partner Clete Purcell. Both have a troubled relationship with alcohol although Dave is trying, and mostly succeeding, to stay dry. The body of a murdered young woman dumped in the Louisiana bayou launches Robicheaux into an investigation encapsulating mafia, drug runners and a former US Army general involved in shady arms deals with Central America. Burke is a genius and the series, begun in 1987, is still going strong. Despite two movies starring Tommy Lee Jones, it richly deserves a TV streaming adaptation.
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