A list of must-read mysteries

Best-sellers John Connolly and Declan Hughes offered their version of the 10 Mysteries You Gotta Read at Bouchercon in San Francisco. Katy King and I are buying tickets to September’s Bouchercon, so this came to mind.

1. THE GLASS KEY (1931) – Dashiell Hammett. I’ve read it. It was good.

2. THE LONG GOODBYE (1953) – Raymond Chandler. Yup. Though, I actually liked the film even more, which is rare.

3. THE CHILL (1964) – Ross Macdonald. Oh, hell yes! Great read.

4. DEEP WATER – Patricia Highsmith (1957) Haven’t read it yet.

5. THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE (1972) – George V. Higgins. Every rule I know about writing, Higgins breaks. Yet this novel just chugs forward. It’s amazing.

6. DIXIE CITY JAM (1994) – James Lee Burke. Haven’t read it yet. Alafair: Try not to beat the crap out of me.

7. RED DRAGON (1981) – Thomas Harris. Yes! Scared the bloody @#$%* out of me.

8. A STRANGER IN MY GRAVE (1960) – Margaret Millar. Haven’t read it but you gotta admit, that’s a great title!

9. LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE DEAF MAN: A NOVEL OF THE 87th PRECINCT (1972) – Ed McBain. One of my favorite villains. McBain created a mastermind inside a procedural. Trust me when I say: that’s genius!

10). THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD (1926) – Agatha Christie. Yeah, I read it when I was, like, 20. It was great. But I continue to believe that Philip MacDonald was the best tea-cozy mystery writer of that era.