MaoXian.com -- Archive > December 3, 2002

My new goal is to read all the winners of the Best First Mystery Novel given at the Edgar Awards. I plan to check them off on this page as I read them. I like the idea of the Best First Mystery Novel because I've noticed that a writer's first book is often his best.

For example, Robert B. Parker's early Spenser books were good, but his later ones were mostly terrible. The same is true of Patricia Cornwell... the books that followed Postmortem went from lame to awful to unreadable. The first book is a labor of love; once an author has to crank stuff out under contract, the quality inevitably suffers.

(Scroll over the check box to read my comment on each book.)

2003 ... THE BLUE EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, by Jonathon King so-so... Max Freeman, Florida Everglades, child abductions/murders

2002 ... LINE OF VISION, by David Ellis murder, crimes of passion... clever

2001 ... A CONSPIRACY OF PAPER, by David Liss quit after 5 pages, not a fan of 18th C. English

2000 ... THE SKULL MANTRA, by Eliot Pattison quit after 125 pages. Didn't hold me, got bored.

1999 ... A COLD DAY IN PARADISE, by Steve Hamilton murder... amusing

1998 ... LOS ALAMOS, by Joseph Kanon murder, spies, Cold War intrigue... interesting, deeper stuff

1997 ... SIMPLE JUSTICE, by John Morgan Wilson murder... lots of graphic homosexual sex in this one

1996 ... PENANCE, by David Housewright quit after 50 pages, boring

1995 ... THE CAVEMAN'S VALENTINE, George Dawes Green murder, pedophilia... good, different, i liked it

1994 ... A GRAVE TALENT, by Laurie King

1993 ... THE BLACK ECHO, by Michael Connelly so long and so unrewarding

1992 ... SLOW MOTION RIOT, by Peter Blauner quit after 50 pages, slow motion indeed

1991 ... POSTMORTEM, by Patricia Daniels Cornwell read this long ago and remember that it was excellent.
unfortunately the Scarpetta books that followed got successively weaker until they became unreadably bad.

1990 ... THE LAST BILLABLE HOUR, by Susan Wolfe quit after 10 pages, dull

1989 ... CAROLINA SKELETONS, by David Stout

1988 ... DEATH AMONG STRANGERS, by Deidre S. Laiken quit after 30 pages, dull dull dull

1987 ... NO ONE RIDES FOR FREE, by Larry Beinhart not bad, some awful poetry within though. felt more late 70s early 80s to me, than mid 80s... all those cocaine and percodan references

1986 ... WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS, by Jonathan Kellerman murder, pedophilia... kind of dumb, a little preachy, and way too long

1985 ... STRIKE THREE, YOU'RE DEAD, by R. D. Rosen murder... solid stuff, esp. for baseball lovers

1984 ... THE BAY PSALM BOOK MURDER, by Will Harriss murder, rare books... fun, literate

1983 ... THE BUTCHER'S BOY, by Thomas Perry hit-man on the run, mob wars... weak and unsatisfying

1982 ... CHIEFS, by Stuart Woods serial killing... well done

1981 ... THE WATCHER, by Kay Nolte Smith

1980 ... THE LASKO TANGENT, by Richard North Patterson financial intrigue... very late 1970s

1979 ... KILLED IN THE RATINGS, by William L. DeAndrea murder, rigging TV ratings... not bad

1978 ... A FRENCH FINISH, by Robert Ross fake antiques... cute. art world lovers will especially like it

1977 ... THE THOMAS BERRYMAN NUMBER, by James Patterson hit man... so-so. probably resonated a lot more in 1976

1976 ... THE ALVAREZ JOURNAL, by Rex Burns police procedural, heroin trade... boring, deadly boring. I had to force myself to finish it.

1975 ... FLETCH, by Gregory Mcdonald heroin trade, murder/suicide... fun, i'm a bit disturbed this book was followed by an endless series of other 'Fletch' books

1974 ... THE BILLION DOLLAR SURE THING, by Paul E. Erdman financial intrigue... gets points for being written while author was in prison... financial chaos of early 1970s provides the backdrop for this mystery

1973 ... SQUAW POINT, by R.H. Shimer

1972 ... FINDING MAUBEE, by A.H.Z. Carr

1971 ... THE ANDERSON TAPES, by Lawrence Sanders

1970 ... A TIME OF PREDATORS, by Joe Gores rape/murder... excellent, i love revenge stories

1969 ... (tie): SILVER STREET, by E. Richard Johnson murder, prostitution, Vietnam Veterans. get points for having been written in prison. workmanlike, not great... only 150 p. long
... ... ... ... ... THE BAIT, by Dorothy Uhnak

1968 ... ACT OF FEAR, by Michael Collins very good, Michael Collins is Dennis Lynds' pen name

1967 ... THE COLD WAR SWAP, by Ross Thomas captures that mid-60s Dr. No feeling

1966 ... IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, by John Ball murder, Civil Rights era politics... a classic

1965 ... FRIDAY THE RABBI SLEPT LATE, by Harry Kemelman

1964 ... FLORENTINE FINISH, by Cornelius Hirschberg

1963 ... THE FUGITIVE, by Robert L. Fish

1962 ... THE GREEN STONE, by Suzanne Blanc

1961 ... THE MAN IN THE CAGE, by John Holbrooke Vance

1960 ... THE GREY FLANNEL SHROUD, by Henry Slesar

1959 ... THE BRIGHT ROAD TO FEAR, by Richard Martin Stern

1958 ... KNOCK AND WAIT A WHILE, by William Rawle Weeks

1957 ... REBECCA'S PRIDE, by Donald McNutt Douglass

1956 ... THE PERFECTIONIST, by Lane Kauffman

1955 ... GO, LOVELY ROSE, by Jean Potts

1954 ... A KISS BEFORE DYING, by Ira Levin

1953 ... DON'T CRY FOR ME, by William Campbell Gault

1952 ... STRANGLE HOLD, by Mary McMullen

1951 ... NIGHTMARE IN MANHATTAN, by Thomas Walsh

1950 ... WHAT A BODY, by Alan Green

1949 ... THE ROOM UPSTAIRS, by Mildred Davis

1948 ... THE FABULOUS CLIPJOINT, by Fredric Brown

1947 ... THE HORIZONTAL MAN, by Helen Eustis

1946 ... WATCHFUL AT NIGHT, by Julius Fast

Previous Entry >>> S.E.C. Purposely Starved For Funds?