They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated and Forgotten Mystery Novels [Paperback]

Jim Huang (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2002

If characters die in a mystery novel, and no one reads their story, have they died in vain? Mystery experts -- booksellers, reviewers, genre devotees -- introduce you to personal favorites: obscure classics, up-and-coming new writers, great books that unaccountably disappeared and lesser-known titles by bestselling authors. A companion volume to our Agatha and Anthony Award-winning 100 FAVORITE MYSTERIES OF THE CENTURY, this book takes you before the bestsellers, beyond the familiar, with essays recommending over 100 mystery novels -- buried treasures that will become new favorites.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Can't find a good mystery that's not an overhyped bestseller? Then this is the guide for you: They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated and Forgotten Mystery Novels, edited by Jim Huang, editor and publisher of The Drood Review. Mystery insiders from Barbara Peters to Dean James offer their picks in more than 100 essay reviews, covering neglected titles from 1878 (Anna Katharine Green's The Leavenworth Case: A Lawyer's Story) to 2000 (Lee Child's Running Blind).

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Crum Creek Press (April 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962580473
• ISBN-13: 978-0962580475
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,002,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, June 28, 2006

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated and Forgotten Mystery Novels (Paperback)

I ordered this book after reading Marilyn Stasio's encomium in a recent issue of the NYTBR and I have to say, she described a totally different book.

I thought the book would be along the lines of the best and most underlooked books in the past 100 years of the mystery. I don't know, but for some reason the people whom editor Jim Huang polled don't read books apparently that are more than 10 years old. I would say that eighty per cent of the novels they talk about were written in the 1990s. Why? Don't these booksellers and crime aficionados know any history? Occasionally here and there, a reader will recommend an Elizabeth Daly or a Helen Reilly, a Marco Page and a Herbert Bream, but most of the time, I feel that these book people are still trying to sell off the books they have large piles of on the remainder section of their little stores. Books published in 1994. Forgettable books, undistinguished authors.

And half of these essayists are into "cozies" in a big way! And if you don't write a series character, forget it, no one is going to recommend you. And also, or so it seems, the booksellers are receommending people who came to their stores to do signings and who charmed the pants off of them.

That said, many of the individual essays are nicely written and I did make a little list of some books that sound good--the Paula Gosling and the Patricia Carlon for example. It's not a terrible collection, but the publicity (and Huang's foreword) are absurdly misleading when they say that the books under discussion "span the history of the genre from 1878 through 2000." Better luck next time.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, June 7, 2006

By 

JAMES AGNEW "UBU ROI" (Ann Arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: They Died in Vain: Overlooked, Underappreciated and Forgotten Mystery Novels (Paperback)

As the noted mystery critic Marilyn Stasio pointed out in the New York Times Book review this book is a great way to find new and obscure books and authors. What's really wonderful about it is that each and every one of the essay writers feels a deep passion for the book they write about and often stray from the beaten path to turn the reader on to the obscure and wonderful. In a world of homogenized book/music/greeting card superstores and a handful of highly corporate publishers "They Died in Vain" is a blessing from people who really love mystery novels.