10 Forgotten Mystery Books That Have Aged Like Fine Wine

Good mystery novels have an unusually long shelf life. They can remain just as satisfying decades later, even as new technology renders entire methods of investigation obsolete. If anything, the absence of smartphones, internet access, DNA testing, and surveillance cameras means these books have considerably more room to construct elaborate puzzles. For this reason, it can be great fun to dive into the classic mysteries of earlier eras, particularly the genre's Golden Age (predominantly the 1920s and '30s). The mystery titles below include some fantastic whodunits and detective stories that many readers might not have checked out yet. Although largely forgotten, they represent the best that the genre can offer. 'The Moving Toyshop' (1946) Image via Collins Crime Club “Let's go and look at the scene of the crime.” The Moving Toyshop begins when poet Richard Cadogan impulsively travels to Oxford, wanders into a toyshop after dark, and discovers the body of an elderly woman. When he returns with the police, however, there's one fairly significant problem: the toyshop itself has disappeared. Naturally, the cops think he's losing his mind. From that wonderfully strange setup, author Edmund Crispin constructs a charmingly farcical mystery. To crack the case, Cadogan recruits eccentric Oxford professor and amateur detective Gervase Fen, who approaches the impossible crime with considerable enthusiasm. The reason the book feels relatively fresh today is its tone. It's pretty funny (though some jokes are obviously a little dated). This is the plotting of Agatha Christie meets the light comedy of P.G. Wodehouse. Not for nothing, The Moving Toyshop has been praised by later crime writers like P.D. James and Val McDermid. 'The Case of the Famished Parson' (1949) Image via The MacMillan Company "Men in love are completely changed, for good or evil." The Case of the Famished Parson follows Scotland Yard's Inspector Thomas Littlejohn as he investigates the baffling death of the enigmatic Dr. James Macintosh, the Bishop of Greyle. He is discovered at the bottom of a cliff near the coastal resort of Cape Marvin, his body severely injured and shockingly emaciated. Although the fall appears to have killed him, the bishop was already so dangerously malnourished that he might have succumbed to starvation within days. This peculiar detail raises a host of troubling questions. Unraveling this tangled mystery requires all of Littlejohn's considerable investigative talents. He's a terrific protagonist: intelligent, observant, and unfailingly polite, combining sharp instincts with an understated wit. The third act may run out of steam a little, but, overall, The Case of the Famished Parson boasts enough suspense and colorful characterization to please most detective fiction fans. 'The Beast Must Die' (1938) Image via Ipso Books “I am going to kill a man.” The Beast Must Die opens with crime novelist Frank Cairnes declaring in his diary that he intends to murder the man who killed his young son in a hit-and-run. It's a powerful first paragraph, immediately grabbing the reader and reeling them. From there, Cairnes tracks down the motorist he believes responsible and methodically works his way into the man's life, searching for an opportunity to kill him without being caught. But then, just when Frank is ready to strike, the plot pivots. His target is suddenly murdered, but not by Frank’s hand. Or at least, not in the way he intended. The narrative abruptly shifts to a third-person perspective as sleuth Nigel Strangeways enters the frame. It's up to him to figure out what really happened and save Frank from the gallows. That unusual structure considerably ups the intensity. 'The Sullen Sky Mystery' (1935) Image via Doubleday, Doran & Company “The truth has a habit of appearing when it is least wanted.” H.C. Bailey was once a prominent name in detective fiction, but today most of his books have fallen into obscurity. One of the strongest is The Sullen Sky Mystery, which centers on Joshua Clunk, a sanctimonious, odious, and completely unctuous "snide" London lawyer. He's representing Isaac Terr, a man accused of several mysterious murders. Instead of cooperating with the police or following established investigative procedures, Clunk pursues his own baffling strategy, apparently indifferent to everyone's objections. Along the way, he must untangle a web of municipal intrigue, real-estate fraud, and systemic police corruption revolving around a sketchy housing development. Indeed, the plotting is pretty complex and convoluted, built on bluffs and double bluffs, though this is exactly what some readers will enjoy about the book. 'The Devil Drives' (1932) Image via Alfred A. Knopf “There are some things one never forgets.” The main character is George Peters, the remarkably young warden of Franklin Penitentiary in New Jersey, whose life takes a dangerous turn following an unusual request from a condemned prisoner. Shortly before his execution, notorious criminal Frank Holburn asks Peters to perform one final favor, sending the warden on a perilous investigation that carries him well beyond the familiar confines of the prison and deep into the criminal underworld. Soon, he's wading through cryptic letters and hints of a hidden fortune, while dealing with sinister blackmailers, flamboyant gangsters, and an eccentric, gun-wielding Countess. For most of the book, the plot plays like a fast-paced criminal adventure thriller, but it shifts gears in the last act, becoming a juicy locked-room mystery. The eventual revelation is the cherry on top, offering an extraordinarily strange answer to an already bewildering puzzle. 'The Mystery of the Peacock's Eye' (1928) Image via Dean Street Press “Anonymity is such a terribly strong position in which to entrench oneself." This intricate story features three interconnected puzzles. The first begins at a glamorous Hunt Ball in Westhampton, where a gentleman known only as Mr. X shows up and then just as quickly disappears. Several months afterward, private detective Anthony Bathurst receives an unusual assignment from the Crown Prince of Clorania, who has become the victim of a particularly unpleasant blackmail scheme. Finally, a dentist learns that one of his patients has died after receiving a dose of cyanide. Three storylines soon weave together, forcing Bathurst to team up with Chief Detective-Inspector Bannister to try and untangle the knots. The result is an old-school fair-play mystery, scattering clues in plain sight. Yet author Brian Flynn still succeeds in manipulating the reader's attention away from the real killer and toward the wrong suspects, making the reveal rather surprising. 'The Westing Game' (1978) Image via E. P. Dutton “It's not what you have, it's what you don't have that counts.” This is actually a YA mystery, but it has tremendous crossover appeal. The Westing Game kicks off with the death of millionaire Samuel W. Westing, whose bizarre will brings together 16 apparent heirs and divides them into pairs. Each team receives a different collection of clues, and whoever solves the mystery surrounding Westing's death stands to inherit his fortune. What follows is an elaborate game, with characters forming alliances, withholding information, misinterpreting clues, and trying to determine what everyone else knows. The tactics get dirty, too, eventually escalating to theft, corporate espionage, and actual bombings. On top of being suspenseful, this whole thing is intended as an allegory about capitalism, serving up dark comedy aplenty and a barbed critique of the American Dream. 'An Instance of the Fingerpost' (1997) Image via Riverhead Books “Nothing is so easy as to deceive oneself.” This historical novel focuses on four different accounts of events surrounding a murder in 1660s Oxford: academic Robert Grove is found dead, poisoned with arsenic, and a young woman is convicted of the crime. Our narrators include a foppish Venetian physician, a paranoid student trying to clear his father's name, a brilliant mathematician/spy, and a meticulous scholar. Each of them points the finger at a completely different killer. In other words, An Instance of the Fingerpost is a masterclass in unreliable narration. It doesn't reduce this structure to a mere gimmick, either. Instead, the dueling accounts serve to bring out genuinely compelling themes around biases, self-deception, and the unreliability of memory. The book also has a lot to say about the clash between religion and superstition and the Enlightenment, painting a vivid portrait of England during a turbulent time. 'The Daughter of Time' (1951) Image via Scribner “Truth is the daughter of time.” This one may not be all that forgotten, since it still has plenty of admirers, but many mystery fans may still not have heard of it. The Daughter of Time strands Scotland Yard inspector Alan Grant in a hospital bed and gives him a case that's already several centuries old. Bored during his recovery, Grant becomes fascinated by a portrait of Richard III and begins questioning whether the king really murdered the Princes in the Tower. What follows is essentially historical detective work. Instead of chasing suspects through dark alleys, our dogged protagonist investigates using textbooks, historical chronicles, and contemporary state documents provided by a young American researcher named Brent Carradine. He applies modern police logic to 15th-century politics, producing interesting tension throughout. The whole book feels like a fast-paced true-crime podcast, in the best way. 'The Red House Mystery' (1922) Image via Vintage Classics “If you were going to be murdered, where would you like it to happen?” This country-house murder mystery was written by none other than A.A. Milne, the writer most famous for penning Winnie-the-Pooh. The Red House Mystery appeared several years before Pooh and Piglet made their literary debuts, and it finds Milne enthusiastically playing with a genre that was entering one of its greatest periods. The tale begins at the country home of Mark Ablett, where his estranged brother Robert is expected to arrive from Australia. A gunshot is heard, a body is discovered, and Mark disappears. Fortunately, amateur sleuth Antony Gillingham happens to arrive at an extremely convenient moment and begins investigating alongside his friend Bill Beverley. However, because of Milne's comedic background, the book strips away the gothic dread of writers like Arthur Conan Doyle and replaces it with light, theatrical banter, making for a very cozy crime story.