The best novels for learning how to write crime fiction

Thomas Perry is the bestselling author of over twenty-nine novels, including the critically acclaimed Jane Whitefield series, Forty Thieves, and The Butcher’s Boy, which won the Edgar Award. He lives in Southern California.

Perry's latest Jane Whitefield novel is The Left-Handed Twin.

[The Page 69 Test: Silence; The Page 99 Test: Nightlife; The Page 69/99 Test: Fidelity; The Page 69/99 Test: Runner; The Page 69 Test: Strip; The Page 69 Test: The Informant; The Page 69 Test: The Boyfriend; The Page 69 Test: A String of Beads; The Page 69 Test: Forty Thieves; The Page 69 Test: The Old Man; The Page 69 Test: The Bomb Maker; The Page 69 Test: The Burglar; The Page 69 Test: A Small Town; The Page 69 Test: Eddie's Boy; The Page 69 Test: The Left-Handed Twin; Q&A with Thomas Perry]

At Shepherd Perry tagged five of the best novels for learning how to write crime fiction, including:

Pure by Jo Perry

This is a risky choice because the author is my old university colleague and later television writing partner, to whom I’ve been married for 41 years. I feel comfortable about it because of the number of fine British and American writers who have recommended this and her earlier books. I picked it because it’s the first novel I’ve read that makes a credible artistic attempt to grasp the experience of the current Pandemic. It’s a murder mystery that takes place during those first few months, when what was happening in the world seemed unthinkable, going out meant breaking a lockdown, and contact with anyone might be fatal. The amateur investigator, a young woman with an aimless and undisciplined past, takes a deep expedition into death, and it galvanizes her into taking charge and being really alive.

Read about the other entries on the list.

My Book, The Movie: Pure.

The Page 69 Test: Pure.

--Marshal Zeringue