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They Died in Vain

They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated and Forgotten Mystery Books
Edited by Jim Huang
Carmel, Indiana: Crum Creek Press, 2002

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They Died in Vain grows out of editor Jim Huang’s work in assembling a list of the 100 favorite mystery novels of the twentieth century for the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association’s list of 100 favorite mysteries of the twentieth century. Huang asked contributors to suggest some titles “should have” been on this list, and he received a number of recommendations that were relatively unknown even among die-hard mystery fans. Inspired by these suggestion, Huang asked mystery booksellers, reviewers, and others to write about one or two favorites mysteries that they felt were overlooked, underappreciated or forgotten. The results are collected in They Died in Vain


According to the Evidence, Henry Cecil
The Apostrophe Thief, Barbara Paul
Asia Rip, George Foy
A Back Room in Somers Town, John Malcolm
Bearing Witness, Michael A. Kahn
Before the Fact, Francis Iles
Beyond Reasonable Doubt, C.W. Grafton
Beyond the Grave, Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini
The Big Blowdown, George S. Pelecanos
Bird Dog, Philip Reed
Blanche Cleans Up, Barbara Neely
Borderlines, Archer Mayor
Boy’s Life, Robert R. McCammon
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
Bucket Nut, Liza Cody
Burn Season, John Lantigua
The Butcher’s Boy, Thomas Perry
Chicken Little Was Right, Jean Ruryk
The Christening Day Murders, Lee Harris
A Comedy of Murders, George Herman
Common or Garden Crime, Sheila Pim
Complicity, Iain Banks
The Concrete River, John Shannon
A Cool Breeze on the Underground, Don Winslow
Dead Letters, Sean McGrady
Death and Other Lovers, Jo Bannister
Death at La Fenice, Donna Leon
Death from the Woods, Brigitte Aubert
Death of the Duchess, Elizabeth Eyre
Death’s Favorite Child, Frankie Y. Bailey
The Debt to Pleasure, John Lanchester
Dog in the Dark, Gerald Hammond
The Dogs of Winter, Kem Nunn
Done Wrong, Eleanor Taylor Bland
Dover and the Unkindest Cut of All, Joyce Porter
Down in the Valley, David M. Pierce
The Edge of the Crazies, Jamie Harrison
Envious Casca, Georgette Heyer
Falling Angel, William Hjortsberg
A Famine of Horses, P.F. Chisholm
Fast Company, Marco Page
Fugitive Colors, Margaret Maron
Good Cop, Bad Cop, Barbara D’Amato
Hardly a Man Is Now Alive, Herbert Brean
The Hotel Detective, Alan Russell
I Was Dora Suarez, Derek Raymond
Irene’s Last Waltz, Carole Nelson Douglas
Iron Lake, William Kent Krueger
Jitterbug, Loren D. Estleman
Just What the Doctor Ordered, Colin Watson
Kahawa, Donald E. Westlake
Kill Me Again, Terence Flaherty
Killing Suki Flood, Robert Leininger
The Last Known Address, Joseph Harrington
The Latimer Mercy, Robert Richardson
Laura, Vera Caspary
The Leavenworth Case, Anna Katharine Green
The Left Leg, Alice Tilton
The Line-Up, Helen Reilly
Lonely Hearts, John Harvey
The Loud Adios, Ken Kuhlken
The Man in the Green Chevy, Susan Rogers Cooper
The Man in Lower Ten, Mary Roberts Rinehart
Matricide at St. Martha’s, Ruth Dudley Edwards
Mecca for Murder, Stephen Marlowe
Midnight Baby, Wendy Hornsby
Murder in the OPM, Leslie Ford
Murders in Volume 2, Elizabeth Daly
The Murders of Mrs. Austin and Mrs. Beale, Jill McGown
The Mystery of the Yellow Room, Gaston Leroux
Never Quite Dead, Seymour Shubin
Night Dogs, Kent Anderson
The Nightrunners, Joe R. Lansdale
Nine Coaches Waiting, Mary Stewart
Not a Creature Was Stirring, Jane Haddam
The Paladin, Brian Garfield
Panicking Ralph, Bill James
Park Lane South, Queens, Mary Anne Kelly
Pest Control, Bill Fitzhugh
The Pew Group, Anthony Oliver
The Portland Laugher, Earl Emerson
A Question of Guilt, Frances Fyfeld
The Red, White, and Blues, Rob Kantner
Rought Cut, Stan Cutler
Running Blind, Lee Child
The Seventh Sinner, Elizabeth Peters
Shackles, Bill Pronzini
Shadow of a Broken Man, George C. Chesbro
A Show of Hands, David A. Crossman
Sleep Long, My Love, Hillary Waugh
The Stately Home Murder, Catherine Aird
The Tightrope Walker, Dorothy Gilman
A Trouble of Fools, Linda Barnes
Unpunished, Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Victim in Victoria Station, Jeanne M. Dams
The Wailing Frail, Richard S. Prather
Warrant for X, Philip MacDonald
The Whispering Wall, Patricia Carlon
Wilde West, Walter Satterthwait
With a Bare Bodkin, Cyril Hare
Without Lawful Authority, Manning Coles
Working Murder, Eleanor Boylan
The Zero Trap, Paula Gosling

1 thought on “They Died in Vain”

  1. I really dislike the auto-link to Amazon. The link makes it way to easy to ignore other sources for neglected books. I avoid the auto-link at all times.
    With that one exception, I regard Neglected Books as an excellent source for reviews and reminders of books I have once loved but have forgotten.
    Thank you for your good work.

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