100 "Must Have" Books Revisited

Back in 2012, I set up the following post. I thought it would be fun to revisit the list and see how many "Must Have" books had come into my possession (I will mark them off below). It looks like I've been luck enough to come across 39 of my most-wanted mysteries. Not bad for a five-year search. I just might have to do a more current list....

Update March 2019: Have found two more of the "Must Haves"--getting close to owning half the list.

Update March 2021: Am now in need of 50--half-way there.

Update March 2023: 39 left to find.

Top 100 "Must Have" Mysteries

Yvette has unleashed my list-making monster.  I just posted my Top 100 Favorite Mysteries--that would be the ones I've already read.  That got me to thinking.  I have a To Be Found list that's miles long.  When my mother-in-law was heading to Florida for Christmas where her sister promised there was "one of the largest bookstores ever," mom-in-law offered to go on a hunt for me if I wanted to send her my list.  I laughed and asked if she knew what she was asking (current list = 14 pages of Excel spreadsheets in tiny font--and that's just mysteries).  She asked me to pare it down.  Now I'm wondering--what if I could only have 100 more mysteries come into my possession.  Which books must I absolutely have?  You'll find that a large number of these have a common theme--academic mystery.  And, naturally, if I can only have 100 more, then I want them all to be either first editions with dust jackets or special editions where marked. If I'm going to dream, I'm going to dream big.

1. Death in a High Latitude by James Anderson

2. The Summer School Mystery by Josephine Bell

3. Death Takes a Sabbatical by Robert Bernard

4. Panic Party (aka Mr. Pidgeon's Island) by Anthony Berkeley

5. The Corpse in the Snowman (aka The Case of the Abominable Snowman) by Nicholas Blake

6. Nine Times Nine by Anthony Boucher

7. The Cambridge Murders OR The Oxford Murders by Adam Broome

8. Crack of Doom (aka Such Is Death) by Leo Bruce

9. A Taste of Power by W. J. Burley

10. A Coffin in Oxford by Gwendoline Butler

11. Nine--And Death Makes Ten (aka Murder in the Atlantic OR Murder in the Submarine Zone) by John Dickson Carr

12. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (#5 WWII Pocket Book edition)

13. The Case with Nine Solutions by J. J. Connington

14. The Curse of the Fleers by Basil Copper

15. Death & Letters by Elizabeth Daly

16. The Sherlock Holmes Pocket Book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (#95 WWII Pocket Book edition)

17. Old Mrs. Ommaney Is Dead (aka Fatal Relations OR The Dead Don't Speak) by Margaret Erskine

18. The Crime & the Crystal by E. X. (Elizabeth) Ferrars

19. By the Watchman's Clock by Leslie Ford (#33 WWII Pocket Book Edition)

20. The Man from Scotland Yard by David Frome (Leslie Ford--#153 Pocket Book edition)

21. The Estrucan Net (aka The Family Tomb) by Michael Gilbert

22. Seven Clues in Search of a Crime by Bruce Graeme

23. Death Is No Sportsman by Cyril Hare

24. Old Hall, New Hall (aka A Question of Queens) by Michael Innes

25. A Rush on the Ultimate by H. R. F. Keating

26. Light Through Glass by Elizabeth LeMarchand

27. A Cracking of Spines by Roy Harley Lewis

28. The Untidy Murder by Frances & Richard Lockridge (Mr. & Mr.s North)

29. Spin Your Web, Lady! by Lockridge (Heimrich) found 2018

30. Murder & Blueberry Pie by Lockridge (Lt. Shaprio)

31. Quest of the Bogeyman by Lockridge (Paul Lane)

32. The Innocent House by Lockridge (other)

33. The Murder on the Burrows by E. C. R. Lorac (Inspector MacDonald)

34. Death of an Author by Lorac (other)

35. The Crime Conductor by Philip MacDonald

36. Death in a White Tie by Ngaio Marsh (#137 Pocket Book edition)

37. One that Got Away by Helen McCloy

38. Tom Brown's Body by Gladys Mitchell

39. Dead Woman's Ditch by Simon Nash

40. The Old Man in the Corner by Baroness Orczy

41. Miss Withers Regrets by Stuart Palmer

42. Mortal Term by John Penn

43. The Experiences of Loveday Brooks, Lady Detective by C. L. Pirkis

44. The Boudoir Murder by Milton Propper

45. Death Goes to School by Q. Patrick (aka Jonathan Stagge)

46. Murder at Cambridge by Patrick Quentin (aka Jonathan Stagge)

47. The French Powder Mystery by Ellery Queen (#71 Pocket Book Edition)

48. Murder Isn't Cricket by Edwin Radford

49. The Cambridge Murders by Dilwyn Rees

50. The Diamond Feather by Helen Reilly

52. The Paddington Mystery by John Rhode

53. Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers (#130 Pocket Book edition)

54. The Gun in Daniel Webster's Bust by Margaret Scherf

55. Murder Goes to College by Kurt Stell

56. Fer-de-Lance by Rex Stout (#112 Pocket Book Edition)

57. Footprints by Kay Cleave Strahan

58. Murder at Vassar by Elizabeth Atwood Taylor

59. Death Lights a Candle by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (#204 Pocket Book Edition)

60. Accessory After the Fact by Lee Thayer

61. A Question of Identity by June Thomson

62. My Name Is Martha Brown by Nicola Thorne

63. The Garden Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine

64. The Professor Knits a Shroud by Wirt Van Arsdale

65, Murder Will Out by Roy Vickers

66. The Duke of York's Steps by Henry Wade 

67. The Eighth Mrs. Bluebeard by Hillary Waugh

68. Who Is the Next? by Henry Kitchell Webster

69. Knight Must Fall by Theodora Wender

70. Treasure by Degrees by David Williams

71. Dead in the Morning by Margaret Yorke

72. Spence & the Holiday Murders by Michael Allen

73. The Body on Page One by Delano Ames

74. Murder Intended by Francis Beeding

75. The House Without a Key by Earl Derr Biggers (#50 Pocket Book edition)

76. Fog of Doubt by Christianna Brand

77. Rest Without Peace by Elizabeth Byrd

78. The Reader Is Warned by John Dickson Carr

79. Our Second Murder  by Torey Chanslor

80. Plot-Counterplot by Anna Clarke (found 2018)

81. Welcome Death by Glyn Carr

82. Devil at Your Elbow by D. M. Devine

83. Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter

84. While the Patient Slept by Mignon G. Eberhart (#64 Pocket Book Edition)

85. Too Many Magicians by Randall Garrett

86. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (#196 Pocket Book Edition)

87. Death Set to Music by Mark Hebden (aka John Harris)

88. Mystery of a Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume

89. Postscript to Poison by Dorothy Bowers

90. The Far Traveller by Manning Coles

91. Murder Is a Serious Business by Elizabeth Dean

92. The Penguin Pool Murder by Stuart Palmer

93. Sally's in the Alley by Norbert Davis

94. Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert

95. Dragon's Cave by Clyde B. Clawson

96. Made up to Kill (aka Made up for Murder) by Kelley Roos

97. Gownsman's Gallows by Katherine Farrer

98.  The Pink Umbrella by Frances Crane

99. Clues of the Caribbees by T. S. Stribling

100. Death by Request by Romilly & Katherine John