Top 10 Tuesday — Unbelievable Books

30 Jan

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday theme is books I can’t believe I read. I don’t think that any book I’ve read I regretted or was astonished I finished. Some I loved more than others; some are a bit forgettable (see last week’s post). So I tweaked this week’s theme a bit and came up with books that were part of a self-imposed reading challenge of classic mysteries. I title this Classic Mystery/Crime/Detective Novels That I Can’t Believe I Did Not Know About Before I Read Them. Die-hard fans may yawn at this list, but I loved discovering books from the early days of mystery fiction when authors were trying out all the devices, plot twists, and tropes that are standard today. Next week I promise not to monkey around with the theme. 😉

To find out what books other bloggers cannot believe they read, click HERE.

 

Top 12 Classic Mystery Fiction I Can’t Believe I Didn’t Know About

Bat Wing by Sax Rohmer

The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill

The “Canary” Murder Case by S. S. van Dine

The Deserted House by E. T. A. Hoffman

The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley

The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes

The Man Who Knew Too Much by G. K. Chesterton

Midnight in Beauchamp Row by Anna Katherine Green

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

The Red House Mystery by A. A. Milne

The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

The Window at The White Cat by Mary Roberts Rheinhart

 

What book can’t you believe you read?

 

4 Responses to “Top 10 Tuesday — Unbelievable Books”

  1. Paula Shreckhise January 30, 2018 at 11:11 am #

    These would fit right in to a mystery challenge that I have this year! I do have some of them. I’ve seen several as adaptations : The Moostone, I’ve seen a couple but they were different! I know now it’s because the book is so long! Then there are The Man Who Knew Too Much and The 39 Steps. Both have a Hitchcock version and a newer version. I believe there is an old movie version of The Lodger also. I’ll have to check out some of the others as well. Thanks for the great list!

    • rbclibrary January 30, 2018 at 4:47 pm #

      Happy mysterious reading, Paula. I used an online list to get suggestions when I did that challenge. It is Bourgeau’s Classic Mystery List. It’s arranged by year of publication and then alphabetically. I got many of them for free from ManyBooks, because a lot of them are out of print and beyond copyright. Another list you may be interested in is the Booksellers’ 100 Favorite Mysteries of The Twentieth Century.

  2. kamran2576 January 31, 2018 at 9:38 am #

    Wow. The list is looking interesting. Please tell me that are these books available in the public domain. I am also interested in the list that you have mentioned above (Booksellers’ 100 Favorite Mysteries of The Twentieth Century) Thank you.

    • rbclibrary January 31, 2018 at 9:44 am #

      Yes, a lot of them are. Check out Many Books or Feedbooks to find them.

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