The mystery story, as a genre, was started by Mr. Edgar Allen Poe. So, simply for giving us this wonderful genre we owe Mr. Poe a nod here. The fact is, however, Mr. Poe never wrote a novel. So his work is disqualified from this question isn't it?

So lets look at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sir Arthur may not have invented the genre or wrote the first Mystery Novel but he did perfect it in his time and he also gave us a sub-genre, the Serial Mystery and a lot of his devices are still used today, for instance:

1. The brilliant but flawed hero who is moved to right wrongs, save damsels and see justice done.

2. The sometimes bumbling but always loyal side kick. In later mysteries this position is often filled by a police detective.

3. The brilliant but evil bad guy who cannot be captured by normal police procedures.

As I said you see combinations of these and other "Doyle devices" in almost all mystery fiction from Miss Marple through Mike Hammer, to Jack Reacher.

But that does not answer the question does it? As a person always taken with the "Hard Boiled Detective School" I always lean towards that sub genre, as entertaining as they can be the Holmes, the Marple or the Poirot type detective does not trip my trigger. I lean towards the Mike Hammer type or the Phillip Marlowe type if you will and that gives you a guess as to my answer to the question.

I believe the best, tightest and most intriguing Mystery novel ever written was The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. Which would mean that I believe Phillip Marlowe would be the best detective character wouldn't it.

The book was published in 1939 and caused a Sea Change in the genre. Phillip Marlowe was no high brow intellectual playing parlor detective. Phillip Marlowe was a cynic, a tough guy barely more than a hood himself, about half a drunk and willing to do the wrong thing to make things come out right. Phil also played a mean game of chess and that time drinking the honey brown whiskey were mostly spent mulling over his faults and failures.

More than that, Phil took pride in the fact that once you bought his services he was damned well bought. Once Phil started a case no one could buy him off, scare him off or call him off, not even the client.

Read Robert B. Parker, Lee Child, James Hall, or any of the modern male mystery writers, then re-read (if you love mysteries you must have already read it at least once) The Big Sleep. You will see the influence of Mr. Chandler's work in any of theirs and the smart ones are more than happy to tell you so.

In fact, one of the best, Mr. Robert B. Parker proudly finished an unfinished Chandler novel (Poodle Springs) for the Chandler estate and Mr. Parker dares you to figure out where Chandler quit writing and he started. He also wrote an authorized sequel to The Big Sleep (Perchance to Dream) in conjunction with the Chandler estate.

So yes I think The Big Sleep was the best mystery novel ever written. And I think Raymond Chandler was the most influential mystery writers of the 20th century. It would appear that no less than Robert B. Parker agrees.

Learn more about this author, Edward Hall.
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