Famous Mystery Fiction Writers of All Time

Everybody likes a great mystery book, even the female of the species, if they are not reaching for

the hottest romantic novels that is. Now and again the expectation and exhilaration of a detective

story or mystery story can be exactly what's needed.

British mystery fiction authors which women are particularly drawn to are Reginald Hill, who is one

of the top fifty crime fiction authors and has published over twenty books and we mustn't speak

about mystery fiction without mentioning possibly the most famous mystery author of all time,

Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie was born in 1890 and is well known for writing detective novels featuring the

canny novice detectives, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Counting the classic murder mysteries,

“Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile”, our monarch of mystery wrote over 80

novels and short story collections.

Progressive American crime fiction novelist, Patricia Cornwall, is generally well-known for her

series of books based on the character, Dr Kay Scarpetta. As a chief medical examiner, Dr

Scarpetta, together with the assistance of her friendly detective, investigate and solve crimes and

murders involving the use of forensic science. It's believed that popular TV series such as CSI

were inspired by these bestselling books.

The Black Dahlia case, as it was called by journalists in 1947, centred upon the brutal murder of

Elizabeth Short. Her body was found on an empty plot; cut in two, mutilated and drained of blood.

This is a true story which received a great deal of newspaper coverage at that time, however the

case remains a mystery to this day. The Black Dahlia and other mystery fiction stories that are all

about real events intrigue and fascinate readers more.

Val McDermid is possibly better known for the “Wire in the Blood” books that are about the lead

character, Dr Tony Hill, a psychological profiler. These mystery fiction books are truly frightening

because of the author’s capacity of seeing inside the mind of a twisted or deranged killer

consequently allowing Dr Hill, a man who is also driven and disturbed, to do what he does best.

The success of the TV series of the same name has thrust these books back into the limelight.

The author tells the story to include every character's viewpoint, including the killer’s, whose

identity remains a mystery until the end and with chapters which consistently finish with a cliff

hanger moment it is almost impossible to put them down. This is a specialist crime fiction writer

who is skilled at keeping readers on the hook.

PD James is often believed to be a male writer, but Phyllis Dorothy James is an English mystery

writer most popular for her series of detective books that brought to our attention the character of

commander Adam Dalgliesh.

James's debut novel, Cover Her Face, was published in 1962 and her most recent Dalgliesh

novel, The Private Patient, was published in 2009. PD James is now in the Crime Writing Hall of

Fame and is unmistakably the country's preferred murder mystery novelist.

Not surprisingly all the above novels have transferred successfully onto film, sometimes more than

once because of the nation’s enthusiasm and hunger for even more of these books on film and TV

.