As for Mitchell, those on your list will give you a good idea if her writing is for you. I enjoy her books but I couldn't recommend some of her writing - it seems to follow the same pattern: excellent start, dragging middle, weird ending.
Re Highsmith: I would drop A Game for the Living and add Deep Water and This Sweet Sickness. Have some wine at hand for reading Strangers on a Train. ;D
Thank you -- also for the recs on Mitchell and Highsmith; exactly what I was looking for!
The one mystery by Mitchell I've read would definitely fit the pattern you describe; in fact, that's how I instantly thought of it as well. OK, no further additions to the list, then, until I've seen how I am doing with the ones I already have.
As for Highsmith, yeah, I know -- "Strangers on a Train" is implausible beyond belief, and the movie really only works (of a sort) because of Hitch's magic. I'm still going to read it (at some point), though ... just not going in with the highest expectations. Willl add the two novels you mentiond, though!
Yeah, LoL, Deep Water was ... as gloriously messed up as only Highsmith could make them. So, was This Sweet Sickness, but it had a very different slant to it.
Thank you! Its not a list I'm even remotely planning to complete within a year ... definitely a long-term project and a post designed to create some sense of focus. The underlying Excel sheet (yes, there *is* an Excel sheet of course, color coded and all) includes all the books only mentioned as little as once and in passing in the two Martin Edwards books ... I took those as my starting point and then started to build from there. Now if only all of these mysteries -- particularly Edwards's "100 books" -- were all easily obtainable ... (I started collecting them back when we embarked on our Detection Club journey in 2017, but I'm gradually approaching the limit of what is doable -- so get your act together already, will you, British Library and Collins Crime Club!)
I can't even ... you used the index of the books at least? I'm in awe, once again, of your organisational abilities. I know, they're a necessity for your profession, but still - awe.
Hahaha, thank you, and yes, I did use the index of "Golden Age of Murder", but with "The Story of Classic Crime" I actually scanned / skimmed / speed-read the intro sections of the individual chapters, because the name-dropping is so thick on the ground there that it actually ended up being faster going about it that way, instead of cross-referencing author and book title indices all the time. I did this when I first put together the BookLikes reading lists of all the authors and mysteries mentioned in that book, way back when, btw. From there to the Excel sheet wasn't a particularly long way -- the real fun came in with the nerdy color coding for stuff like "own / wishlist", "TBR / read", "male / female author", "mentioned in Story of Classic Crime vs. mentioned in Golden Age of Murder" etc. ...
I love the footprint breaks. :) And I'm with everyone else: awesome list and awesome organizational skills.
I've been eyeing the audio productions for some of the British Library Classic Crime books, and added E.C.R. Lorac's "Bats In the Belfry" (love the title) and "Fire In the Thatch" to my wish list. Have you listened to any of the audiobook offering? I don't remember.
Yes, to several and I really like most of them. The narrators' vocals match the tone and setting of the books pretty much perfectly in most cases, and I've found several new go-to narrators. I hope they're going to record many more of the British Library and Collins Crime Club books.
I really liked Lorac's "Bats in the Belfry", too (there's a reason for the title, obviously) -- "Fire in the Thatch" is the next one on my TBR, but only because it was the next book to be re-released in the British Library series. I've taken to pretty much going by what is available, not necessarily by publication order ... but for most Golden Age series that approach seems to be working pretty well.
You should really drop "A Game for the Living" from your Highsmith list. That one was so bad. I think you should add "The Blunderer", though. I remember really enjoying that one. And I do have a soft spot for "The Two Faces of January". The Greek setting of this one is marvelous, even though the story isn´t one of Highsmiths best.
Noted about all three books! I added your suggestions -- won't be dropping anything from the list at this point, though. I'm duly warned and I can always DNF, but I don't want to limit myself from the get-go ... that would in a way run counter to the intention of this list.
Do let us know, tho, when you're starting A Game for the Living. I bet it would be fun to watch from the sidelines and take bets about when you'll start to reach for the liquor. ;P
As for Mitchell, those on your list will give you a good idea if her writing is for you. I enjoy her books but I couldn't recommend some of her writing - it seems to follow the same pattern: excellent start, dragging middle, weird ending.
Re Highsmith: I would drop A Game for the Living and add Deep Water and This Sweet Sickness. Have some wine at hand for reading Strangers on a Train. ;D
The one mystery by Mitchell I've read would definitely fit the pattern you describe; in fact, that's how I instantly thought of it as well. OK, no further additions to the list, then, until I've seen how I am doing with the ones I already have.
As for Highsmith, yeah, I know -- "Strangers on a Train" is implausible beyond belief, and the movie really only works (of a sort) because of Hitch's magic. I'm still going to read it (at some point), though ... just not going in with the highest expectations. Willl add the two novels you mentiond, though!
I've been eyeing the audio productions for some of the British Library Classic Crime books, and added E.C.R. Lorac's "Bats In the Belfry" (love the title) and "Fire In the Thatch" to my wish list. Have you listened to any of the audiobook offering? I don't remember.
I really liked Lorac's "Bats in the Belfry", too (there's a reason for the title, obviously) -- "Fire in the Thatch" is the next one on my TBR, but only because it was the next book to be re-released in the British Library series. I've taken to pretty much going by what is available, not necessarily by publication order ... but for most Golden Age series that approach seems to be working pretty well.