Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Five top 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: SilenceThe Page 99 Test: NightlifeThe Page 69/99 Test: FidelityThe Page 69/99 Test: RunnerThe Page 69 Test: StripThe Page 69 Test: The InformantThe Page 69 Test: The BoyfriendThe Page 69 Test: A String of BeadsThe Page 69 Test: Forty ThievesThe Page 69 Test: The Old ManThe Page 69 Test: The Bomb MakerThe Page 69 Test: The BurglarThe Page 69 Test: A Small TownThe Page 69 Test: Eddie's BoyThe Page 69 Test: The Left-Handed TwinQ&A with Thomas Perry]

At Shepherd Perry tagged five of the best novels for learning how to write crime fiction, including:
Thirteen Hours: A Benny Griessel Novel by Deon Meyer, K. L. Seegers

I picked Thirteen Hours partly because it’s a good sample of the work of a major writer born, raised, and living in a part of the world different from ours. This book is probably the most suspenseful novel I’ve read in recent years, and it’s the novel I recommend to people who ask me how to write suspenseful books. Meyer is South African and writes in Afrikaans. It features Meyer’s great character Benny Griessel. The action is an American tourist running for her life from the people who killed her friend, and it’s one desperate chase that takes thirteen hours.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue