Ed Lynskeys Favorite Private Detective Novels

Discover Ed Lynskey's favorite private detective novels! Explore a curated list of top detective books and must-read mysteries recommended by the acclaimed author.

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Darkness, Take My Hand Cover
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Darkness, Take My Hand

by Dennis Lehane

Boston private detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro try to protect the son of a prominent psychiatrist in the midst of an ever-growing body count and a list of clues that point impossibly to a serial killer who has been in prison for twenty years.
Sleeping Beauty Cover
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Sleeping Beauty

by Ross Macdonald

In Sleeping Beauty, Lew Archer finds himself the confidant of a wealthy, violent family with a load of trouble on their hands--including an oil spill, a missing girl, a lethal dose of Nembutal, a six-figure ransom, and a stranger afloat, face down, off a private beach. Here is Ross Macdonald's masterful tale of buried memories, the consequences of arrogance, and the anguished relations between parents and their children. Riveting, gritty, tautly written, Sleeping Beauty is crime fiction at its best. If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it is Ross Macdonald. Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his pre-decessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.
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A Rage in Harlem Cover
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A Rage in Harlem

by Chester Himes

For the love of fine and wily Imabelle, hapless Jackson loses his life savings to a con man who knows the secret of turning ten-dollar bills into hundreds and steals from his boss, only to lose the stolen money at a crap table. Luckily for him, Jackson has a savvy twin brother, Goldy, who, disguised as a Sister of Mercy, earns a living by selling tickets to Heaven in Harlem. Now for the big payback...
The Sins of the Fathers Cover
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The Sins of the Fathers

by Lawrence Block

The pretty young prostitute is dead. Her alleged murderer—a minister's son—hanged himself in his jail cell. The case is closed. But the dead girl's fatherhas come to Matthew Scudder for answers, sending the unlicensed private investigator in search of terrible truths about a life that was lived and lost in a sordid world of perversion and pleasures.
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The Night Gardener Cover
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The Night Gardener

by George P. Pelecanos

The haunting story of three cops--one good, one bad, one broken--and the murder that reunites them in a showdown decades in the making.
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Songs of Innocence (Hard Case) Cover
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Songs of Innocence (Hard Case)

 

No summary available.
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Hardcase Cover
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Hardcase

by Dan Simmons

Ex-con Joe Kurtz is hired by a Buffalo mob boss to find a missing accountant.
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The Lady in the Lake Cover
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The Lady in the Lake

by Raymond Chandler

Crime fiction master Raymond Chandler's fourth novel featuring Philip Marlowe, the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times). In The Lady in the Lake, hardboiled crime fiction master Raymond Chandler brings us the story of a couple of missing wives—one a rich man's and one a poor man's—who have become the objects of Philip Marlowe's investigation. One of them may have gotten a Mexican divorce and married a gigolo and the other may be dead. Marlowe's not sure he cares about either one, but he's not paid to care.
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The Beekeeper's Apprentice Cover
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The Beekeeper's Apprentice

by Laurie R. King

Fifteen-year-old Mary Russell, becomes the apprentice of Sherlock Holmes and together investigate the disappearance of an American senator's daughter.
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Blonde Faith Cover
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Blonde Faith

by Walter Mosley

Fearing his friend, Christmas Black, has met his demise when the ex-Marine's daughter is left on his doorstep, reluctant L.A. detective Easy Rawlins finds the challenges of caring for a child further complicated by his ladylove's imminent marriage and another friend's murder accusation. 125,000 first printing.
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The Maltese Falcon Cover
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The Maltese Falcon

by Dashiell Hammett

A murder involves Sam Spade in a dangerous search for a valuable statue.
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The Big Sleep Cover
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The Big Sleep

by Raymond Chandler

The renowned novel from the crime fiction master, with the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times), Philip Marlowe. • Featuring the iconic character that inspired the film Marlowe, starring Liam Neeson. One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in. “Chandler seems to have created the culminating American hero: wised up, hopeful, thoughtful, adventurous, sentimental, cynical and rebellious.” —The New York Times Book Review
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