Ten Favorite Mystery Novels

A very subjective, and a very changeable, list, but, for right now, these are the ten crime novels I'd bring with me to my lonely desert island. In chronological order.

So I'm cheating right off the bat and bringing The Complete Sherlock Holmes instead of one of the original novels or volumes. Well, if I had to choose, I would probably bring the collection originally entitled The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. But since it's so easy to get all of Doyle's Sherlock stories in one volume, then I'll bring this one.

Daphne du Maurier's gothic triumph from 1938. Even better than the excellent Hitchcock adaptation.

My favorite Christie. Her creepiest book with the possible exception of Crooked House. I'm still waiting for a film version that's faithful to the book, and not the theatrical adaptation.

Even though this book begins the famous series, it works as a suspense-filled, twisty standalone. I've been reading and re-reading this book since I was twelve.

Three sisters have three awful experiences with the same murderous playboy. Ira Levin's first novel came out in 1953, same year as Casino Royale. 1953 was a good year for debut novelists.

I'd really like to bring the first three Fletch novels with me to that desert island, but if I had to pick one, I guess I'd pick the second book, 1976's Confess, Fletch, in which a newly-wealthy Fletch gets framed for murder in Boston. I wrote an appreciation of this book for PopMatters.

This is a sentimental pick, both because it's the least thriller-y and most sentimental of all the Spenser novels, but also because it was a book I fell in love with as a young teen. In this fifth book of Parker's series, Spenser kidnaps a troubled kid from his bickering parents.

Another cheat, but Berlin Game, Mexico Set and London Match are often packaged together as the Game, Set & Match trilogy. Deighton is Le Carre but with funnier dialogue, swifter action, and less philosophizing. Utterly enjoyable spy series. I doubt it would happen but Quentin Tarantino has mentioned turning these into a film.

JDM is my favorite thriller writer of all time, and picking A Flash of Green from 1984 is a little arbitrary, but it's got absolutely everything I love about JDM's standalone novels: Florida atmosphere, corrupt villains, flawed heroes, complex heroines.

Another slightly arbitrary choice but I wanted a Dick Francis on this list, and I've always loved this novel about a wine merchant who stumbles upon a mystery. This one's light on the horse racing but Tony Beach is my favorite Francis hero (yes, I know they are all pretty much the same guy).

There you go, subject to change tomorrow. Looking over this list, I realize that the only living author on it is Len Deighton, still writing and cooking at the age of 85.

My film-going weekend

There are many reasons I love where I live, but the proximity to great movie theaters is right up there. This weekend I got to see three of my all-time favorite films in actual theaters, on the big screen.

At the Brattle, I saw Rosemary's Baby, my favorite horror film of all time. I couldn't get that la la la theme out of my head all night long. I kept waking up and saying, "This isn't a dream. This is really happening!"

It has a chalky undertaste.

Then at the Harvard Film Archive, where they are showing every Hitchcock film, I caught what is probably my favorite film of all time, certainly the one I enjoy the most. The Lady Vanishes, featuring the comic genius of Caldicott and Charters.

We were discussing cricket.

And finally, also at the HFA, I saw Rebecca, Hitchcock's best picture winner with Lawrence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. It's my favorite filmic version of the gothic tale, or as I just heard that particular genre referred to, the girl-meets-house story.

I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool.

Downton Withdrawal

There's plenty of winter left and no more Downton Abbey. Here are some viewing recommendations for surviving the coming months.

A Room With a View (1985)

For your Maggie Smith fix. She plays Charlotte Bartlett, chaperon to the young, and inappropriately-in-love Helena Bonham Carter. She begins as a purely comic creation that ends up being slightly tragic. Judi Dench is also excellent as a know-it-all novelist, and Daniel Day Lewis has an early role as a silly fop.

Rebecca (1940)

Mrs. Danvers, of course, has to be the prototype of O'Brien. This is upstairs/downstairs drama as a horror story, and one of the greatest Hitchcock films.

Monarch of the Glen (2000 - 2005)

This BBC series is not quite at the level of Downton Abbey, but it's a cute look at a modern day heir trying to keep his estate viable in Scotland. Downton creator Julian Fellowes has an acting role in this, and recently deceased Richard Briers (in picture) is worth seeing in anything.

My Man Godfrey (1936)

The Brits aren't the only ones with butlers. In this timeless screwball comedy, Carole Lombard plays an American aristocrat, and William Powell is the hobo (or is he?) that she turns into her butler.

The Rules of the Game (1939)

The original upstairs/downstairs creation. This French film, that takes place at a country-house weekend, is about everything: love, death, sex, and rabbit hunting.

Brideshead Revisited (1981)

Don't bother with the recent movie-version. This miniseries is arguably the greatest miniseries in television history. It shares many themes of Downton, as Charles Rider (Jeremy Irons) becomes embroiled with a troubled aristocratic family, and their beautiful country home.

Gosford Park (2001)

This Robert Altman film was penned by Julian Fellowes. In some ways it is remarkably like Downton (Maggie Smith as a very similar character) but in some ways it's an opposite, darker version, one that explores the more sordid side of the upstairs/downstairs relationship. This film grows on me every year--a late Altman masterpiece.

Poetry Monday

No, I don't have a book but I can dream. Designed by Charlene.

Out of pure coincidence two separate online journals published a total of five of my Hitchcock sonnets today.

Over on The Cortland Review, you can read, and hear (!), poems on Young and Innocent, Rebecca, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

And on Fringe Magazine I am honored to have two poems published, each based on a Hitch silent classic: The Farmer's Wife and The Manxman.