If you’re looking for some gripping reads to take with you on holiday, we’ve got you covered! We picked four vintage classic murder mystery authors who will keep you hooked. A lot of their books are available at Bill& Rosa’s Book Room, starting at 3€! Read on and pick your favorite flavor of mystery.
Agatha Christie (born in England in 1890, died in 1976). Homeschooled from an early age and the youngest of three (much older) siblings, she was used to making up stories to entertain herself and started writing around the age of 18. After marrying Archie Christie in 1914, she served for a while as a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment, where it is said that she learned about poisons and medicinal plants. She would later use this knowledge in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1919), in which her exceptional description of the murderer’s use of poison garnered her a review in the Pharmaceutical Journal. Her most famous character, Hercule Poirot, is believed to have been inspired by the Belgian refugees who had fled to England during the war. Praised for her intriguing plots, this master of suspense is outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. You can find dozens of her books, in beautiful vintage editions, at the Book Room where she is a best-seller.
Ian Fleming (born in 1908 in England, died in 1964). Born into a wealthy and privileged family, Ian Fleming worked as a banker and stockbroker, a high-ranking officer in British naval intelligence during World War II, then the foreign manager of the London Sunday Times before becoming a full-time writer. He is best known for his series featuring James Bond, the British secret service agent 007. The luxury setting of the novels, the fast cars and exotic locations provided much-needed escape in the post-war world and the books became immensely successful. Fleming’s 12 Bond novels were turned into movies, further cementing James Bond as a pop culture icon. You can find several of Fleming’s James Bond novels at the Book Room.
Ngaio Marsh (born in New Zealand in 1895, died in 1982). After studying painting at school, Ngaio Marsh became an actress and theatrical producer in New Zealand before moving to England at the age of 33. Her first novel, A Man Lay Dead, which also first featured famous detective Roderick Alleyn, was published in 1934. After five years in England, she returned to New Zealand, where she continued writing novels in the Alleyn series (a total of 32). Ngaio Marsh also produced and directed Shakespearean repertory theatre and founded a theatre guild that is still an important cultural institution in New Zealand today. Inspired by her theatrical background, she set many of her novels in theatres. She is considered to have elevated the detective story genre with her elegant style and shrewd observations on the human character and society. We have several of her books in stock at the Book Room.
Erle Stanley Gardner (born in California in 1877, died in 1970). Throughout his childhood, Gardner travelled a lot with his family and constantly got into brawls. After participating in and organizing illegal boxing matches, he decided that some legal knowledge could help and found a job as a typist in a law firm. After three years, he was admitted to the California bar in 1911 without having ever attended law school and began defending poor Chinese and Mexicans clients. Around 1926, he started writing for pulp magazines. His stories were greatly appreciated, and he became one of America’s most successful writers before he even published his first novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws in 1933. This first book to feature detective Perry Mason was a hit: 81 other books would follow and the series was adapted for the radio and television. Perry Mason is the definition of Classic Murder Mystery in the USA. During this time, he continued practicing as a lawyer and founded The Court of Last Resort in the 1940s, an organization dedicated to helping unjustly imprisoned men.
The books shown above are available at the Book Room and it nothing else would make a great conversation piece for your wall.
For more recent and classic murder mystery reading, check our encyclopedia of thriller writers!