Classic Crime Booklist

Death On The Nile by Agatha Christie

The tranquillity of a cruise along the Nile is shattered by the discovery that Linnet Ridgeway has been shot through the head. She was young, stylish and beautiful, a girl who had everything - until she lost her life. Hercule Poirot recalls an earlier outburst by a fellow passenger: 'I'd like to put my dear little pistol against her head and just press the trigger'. Yet in this exotic setting, nothing is ever quite what it seems...

Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin

Public signs of an uncontrollable youthful passion disrupt rehearsals for the play at Castrevenford School. But it is an uprising of a different sort - murder - that causes the real worry, and it is left to Oxford don Gervase Fen to investigate.

Originally published: London: Victor Gollancz, 1948

Bodies From The Library compiled and edited by Tony Medawar

Not looking for full novel and want short stories instead? This anthology of crime and suspense brings together 13 rare tales by masters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a newly discovered Agatha Christie crime story that has not been seen since 1922. These orphaned works come mainly from magazines and newspapers that are now almost impossible to find.

Fear Comes To Chalfont by Freeman Wills Crofts

Julia Elton, mistress of Chalfont, is the dutiful wife of a man she does not love. Frank Cox is the man she falls in love with. Julia's husband, Richard, suspects her of an affair and has also dismissed an employee for theft. When a murderer strikes at Richard Elton, it starts a chain of events which affects the lives of many. And one of these is Inspector French...

The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe

In the three stories collected here, Edgar Allan Poe laid down the ground rules of detective fiction. This is a compendium of Poe's tales of mystery and intrigue featuring his ground-breaking detective Auguste Dupin.

The Moonstone: A Romance by Wilkie Collins

When Rachel Verinder is given the Moonstone - a large Indian diamond - on her 18th birthday, she is delighted to show it off at her celebrations. But that very night, the jewel is stolen from her bedroom. As suspicion falls on each member of the party, the curse of the diamond strikes and ill-luck threatens to destroy them all.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

Arguably the most famous Sherlock Holmes story, this is a great place to start for anyone wanting to get to know the famous pipe-wielding detective. It was Sir Charles's mysterious death in the grounds of Baskerville Hall that brought Sherlock Holmes to the scene of one of his most famous and intriguing cases.

The New Investigations of Inspector Maigret

A gripping new translation of the iconic short story collection featuring Simenon's celebrated literary detective, Inspector Maigret.

Death Goes On Skis by Nancy Spain

The writer, journalist and broadcaster, Nancy Spain, published several comic detective stories between 1945 and 1952. This novel begins with amateur detectives, Natasha Nevkorina, a Russian ex-ballet dancer, and Miriam Birdseye, a revue artist, embarking on a railway journey to a fictional Central European country famous for its winter sports.

Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr

Crime author Dick Markham is in love again; his beau is the mysterious newcomer to the village Lesley Grant. When Grant accidentally shoots the fortune teller through the side of his tent at the local fair - following a very strange reaction to his predictions - Markham is soon forced to consider whether his mysterious partner may be harbouring a dark and dangerous past. When the fortune teller is found dead in the night in an impossible locked-room setup, it seems it is not just Grant that may be hiding something from the rest of the village. Lured by the scent of the impossible case, Dr Gideon Fell arrives from London to match wits with a meticulous killer at large.

Murder in the Basement by Anthony Berkeley

When two newlyweds move into their new home, only to discover that a corpse has been buried in their basement a few months prior, a gruelling case is begun to trace the identity of the victim. With all avenues of investigation approaching exhaustion, a tenuous lead offers a chance for Chief Inspector Moresby, and leads him to the amateur criminologist Roger Sheringham, who has recently been providing cover work in a school south of London. Desperate for evidence of any kind on the basement case, Moresby begins to sift through the manuscript of a satirical novel Sheringham had been writing about his colleagues at the school, convinced that amongst the colourful cast of teachers hides the victim - and perhaps their murderer.

Post After Post Mortem by E.C.R Lorac

Mr and Mrs Surray and their five children form a prolific writing machine, with scores of novels, scientific treatises, reviews and crime thrillers published under their family name. Following a rare convergence of the whole household at their Oxfordshire home, Ruth - middle sister who writes 'books which are just books' - decides to spend some weeks with her parents recovering from the pressures of the writing life while the rest of the brood scatter to the winds again. Their next return is heralded by the tragic news that Ruth has apparently taken her life after an evening at the Surrays' hosting a selection of publishers and writers, one of whom has been named as Ruth's literary executor in the will she left behind.

Malice Afterthought by Francis Iles

Dr Edmund Bickleigh married above his station. Although popular and well respected in his little Devonshire community, he seethes with resentment at the superior social status of his domineering wife, Julia. Bickleigh soothes his inferiority complex by seducing as many of the local women as he possibly can - but with the collapse of his latest fling and a fresh dose of sneering contempt from Julia, the doctor resolves to silence his wife forever and begins plotting the perfect murder. Originally published: London: Victor Gollancz, 1931

Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world's most heinous villains - a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother's children to make his crown secure? Or could Richard have been the victim, turned into a monster by the the Tudors? Grant determines to find out once and for all, with the help of the British Museum and an American scholar, what kind of man Richard III really was and who killed the Princes in the Tower. Originally published: London: William Heinemann, 1951

The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham

Jail-breaker and knife artist Jack Havoc is once again loose on the streets of London. Word goes around the furtive alleys and darkened pubs that the Tiger is back in town, more vicious and cunning than ever. It falls to Albert Campion to pit his wits against the killer and hunt him down before he kills again.

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

From the moment that Bruno decides that he should kill Guy's wife and that Guy kills Bruno's father, Guy Haines is trapped in a nightmare of shared guilt and an insidious merging of personalities. Originally published: London: Cresset, 1950

Vintage Crime: From the Crime Writers Association edited by Martin Edwards

'Vintage Crime' is a CWA anthology with a difference, celebrating members' work over the years. The book will gather stories from the mid-1950s until the twenty-first century by great names of the past, great names of the present together with a few hidden treasures by less familiar writers.

The Further Adventures of Father Brown by G.K Chesterston

Hiding behind his genial appearance, this priest-come-detective has a razor-sharp mind. Through his experience as a confessor, Father Brown has gained has an intrinsic knowledge of humanity's capacity for evil which makes him an expert at solving crimes. This gifted sleuth uses intuition over scientific method, putting himself in the shoes and minds of the criminals he seeks.