... AND FIVE CLASSIC WHODUNITS

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1902)

PRETTY much all crime fiction begins with Sherlock Holmes — the great-grandfather of all modern detectives. Doyle only wrote four novellas, but this is by far the most accomplished, a terrific mystery and a wonderfully atmospheric tale of an ancient family curse and a phantom hound who stalks the moors around Baskerville Hall.

THE MALTESE FALCON, DASHIELL HAMMETT (1930)

WHAT’S not to love in this tangled tale featuring Sam Spade, the first and the greatest of the so-called ‘hardboiled’ private detectives? The Maltese Falcon was turned into a famous film starring Humphrey Bogart, but the book is still worth revisiting. Hammett worked as a detective himself and his writing style is still unique.

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, PATRICIA HIGHSMITH (1950)

BRILLIANTLY filmed by Alfred Hitchcock, Strangers On A Train (pictured) remains one of the cleverest crime novels ever written with two complete strangers swapping murders when they happen to meet on a train. There are rumours of an impending remake in Hollywood. Count me out.

CARDS ON THE TABLE, AGATHA CHRISTIE (1936)

NOBODY does it like Agatha Christie and this is my favourite of her novels with just four suspects, each one a suspected murderer from a past case. When the host is himself murdered, Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot steps in to investigate. Speaking personally, I always preferred Poirot to Miss Marple and even with so few characters, you won’t guess the ending.

THE DEADLY PERCHERON, JOHN FRANKLIN BARDIN (1946)

YOU’VE probably never heard of the book or the author and it’s not easy to find, but — trust me — this is most hallucinogenic, extraordinary mystery you’ll ever read. The New York Times called it ‘a story of murder and mayhem and hideous torture — one which will hold your attention to the last’. A percheron, by the way, is a small horse. PROCEEDS from this article have gone to the anti-bullying charity, Kidscape.