Seeking the book of deduction

The following is my original comment on the official China Agatha forum, "Beginner's Guide: Grading and Recommended Reading Order of Various Genres of Inference Novels", written specifically for newcomers to inference and recommended as a reference. This article took me a lot of thought, if you want to excerpt quotes, please specify the author Nalan submarine and the source of China AC Forum.

The owner is ready to be a hardcore deduction fan, recommended to read my classification criteria in the classic level, first-class, quasi-first-class level of works. If you are ready to be a reasoning fan, you can watch the classic level and pick up the first-class ones. If you don't have a lot of time, you should only buy the classics. This rating standard reference AC forum many experts, writers' opinions, basically similar to the majority of senior reasoning fans taste, the individual existence of large controversial works have been noted, I hope this article can make you really love reasoning novels. I hope this article can make you really fall in love with speculative fiction. This is also my purpose to pass this article with you.

"Beginner's Guide: Classification and Recommended Reading Order of Speculative Fiction by Genre"

This post is specifically for newcomers or readers who are new to a particular speculative fiction or genre, and all the speculative fiction I've read that I can remember is classified according to the following criteria. (Yokogou's works are evaluated by zhaoyuan.) Before I published this article, I consulted the opinions of some friends on the forum, and adjusted the ratings of certain works to be closer to the ratings recognized by the majority of people. With the exception of a few works labeled as controversial, I think most of the ratings are still close to the majority view.

In addition, the order in which many speculative fiction novels should be read is very specific, (e.g., Dumb Witness leaks the bottom of other works, e.g., Raine's Last Case should be read back-to-back with other tragedy series), and a lot of my friends read the books in the wrong order, resulting in the unexpected nature of the classic's shenanigans being weakened by the influence of second-rate works or aesthetic fatigue resulting from it, which is unfortunate, so I'll list them, as well. what I consider to be a more appropriate order of reading the books.

I categorize all speculative fiction into classic level, first-rate, sub-first-rate, second-rate, third-rate, and not-so-first-rate. Famous works are generally not unimpressive since they are published. Also the issue of translation I don't think can be attributed above the novel itself.

I'll use Agatha's and Shimada's works as reference standards:

Classic work: In addition to fulfilling the conditions of a first-rate work, it must also have one or more of the following conditions: the creation of a new mode or genre, or the emergence of a genius-level trickery that is unique in the history of the world, or the exceptional excellence of all aspects of the plot, logic, characterization, and reversal of the situation. Reference works: Agatha, "No Life" (first model of an isolated island), "Roger's Doubt" (first narrative shenanigans), Shimada's "Astrology" (unique shenanigans), "The Tilted House" (first model of a morbid building), and "The Knights of the Otherworld" (same reason as the astrological).

First-rate works: not having those unique to the classics, but basically indistinguishable from the classics in terms of overall strength or for that matter, in one way or another. Reference works: Agatha's "Tragedy on the Nile", "Sin in the Sun", "Murder on the Orient Express" (East Express has a "unique trick" in line with the classics and the first murderer set up mode, but therefore inevitably brings the character image is not full, psychological description and scene rendering almost no such "congenital defects"), ABC, Murder Kaiji, and Death Rendezvous; Shimada has Yuzuru in the North (the trickery and mystery are no less magnificent than in Ascendant, Tilt House, and Alien State, but they don't have the same special significance as the above three, and the Kishiki series favors the socialist school, where the murderer is not in suspense, but does not have the essence of the socialist school. essence. (In fact, I'm kinda tempted to categorize this book at the classic level).

The level of the sub-class works is almost the same as that of the first-class, but there is a certain aspect (e.g. feasibility, reasoning errors, plot narration problems, etc.) where there is hard work, but if you put aside the hard work, you can compete with the first-class works, and the trickery and the solution are more unexpected, or the mystery, the ingenuity of the modus operandi, and the originality of the first. Department of reference: Agatha is too much, to name two: The Magic Hand, The Poirot Christmas Mysteries (the latter has too many very obvious hints weakening the novel's plot inverse); Shimada has yet to see a work of this caliber (newer Dark Slope and Vertigo are yet to come).

Second-rate works are not introduced, and are either seriously hard-hitting overall, or the coincidences are so implausible that they lose some of their verisimilitude, or the book as a whole is mediocre and unimpressive, or the murderer and modus operandi are glimpsed in the center plate due to some work's own problems. Or it should be a third-rate work, but because of some highlights, it is ranked as second-rate (such as Arikawa's "Island of Crows"), which belongs to those that can be watched but not read. Reference: Agatha's Cliffhanger, It's Not Hard to Kill, Death of a Cleaning Lady, Shimada's The Probability of Death 2/2

Third-rate works are the kind that make you nod off or want to slam the book down, and feel like it's a waste of time. Generally these works are unimpressive, the reasoning is lacking or extremely mediocre or obviously broken, the plot is scattered, most of the characters are uncharacteristic and unmemorable, and the subterfuge is clichéd or unintelligible. Reference system: Agatha, "Murder through the Looking Glass", "Shadow of an Old Sin", "Mystery in the Apartment" (ranked on this book because the plot is completely scattered, after reading the book I can't remember a single name except for Marple, which made me doze off); Shimada has "The Labyrinth of Gray".

Okay, next, according to this criterion on the masterpieces of each master and each genre to be graded (masters can be on other works can be in accordance with the above criteria to be added to the famous or controversial books as close as possible to the majority of people's evaluation)

Carl's:

Three Coffins: classic level (either of the double secret room shenanigans is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, the secret room lectures) (the status of the double secret room trick, the unlikely culprit, the dying words, the atmosphere is exceptionally good, the reasoning is too hard)

The Crooked Pivot: classic level (controversial works, I advocate in the classic level, the reason: the final trick I think belongs to the level of unique genius, the atmosphere, auxiliary mystery, the reversal of the double answer is also great, and there is one more thing, the spirit of the book of a certain character who does not succumb to the fate of the portrayal is very deep, it is a very deep, and it is a very good book. (There is also a great depth to the portrayal of a character's defiance of fate that is not found in any of Carr's other works.)

The Window of Judas: Classic, because "Window of Judas" has become an idiomatic allusion, and this common, simple but difficult to think of trick is also unique, so it is ranked in the classic level, but I still think that The Window of Judas may be a little bit insufficient, because of the reversal and the murderer is not strong, far less than the last two books, and the motive is also not as strong as the last two books. It's nowhere near as good as the last two, and the motivations feel cobbled together.

The Lady She Died (quasi-first-rate - scored at this level with reference to several friends)

The Plague Manor Murders (first-rate, and controversial)

The White Abbey Murders (quasi-first-rate, but weak in that it has a too-drawn-out, too-slow opening and lacks Carl's standardized gothic atmosphere, and in fact, it's a bit of a classic. its triple answers and reasoning are a match for Plague Manor)

Arabian Nights Mystery (first-rate, not only does this book have farcical reasoning, perspective shifts, and an endless stream of weirdness, but the reasoning is uncharacteristically strong, and rivals Quinn)

The Whispering Man (first-rate, the second mystery is so good that it washes out the mediocrity of the first chamber)

Continuing Suicide (quasi-first-rate, very funny and humorous, and the first two shenanigans are wonderful; readers who doubt the feasibility of this should check out the analysis of this point in Shunen Shoji's Scissor Man, which proves to be feasible but is diluted by the third shenanigans, and the ending is no bigger surprise)

Reversal of a Deadly Situation (quasi-first-rate, with fairness debates because of the specialized knowledge involved, especially when it comes to the small probability of a 1-in-1,000 (expertise involved, especially expertise involving a small chance of one in a thousand events occurring)

Green Capsule Mystery (first-rate)

Witch's Corner (second-rate, as it had me nodding off for a while)

Sleeping Sphinx (quasi-first-rate or second-rate, I'd have ranked it second-rate if not for that great chamber and atmosphere setup, and the distinct characterization in the later part of the game, the main ruse was mediocre, and the ending lacked a big surprise)

Precious Sword VIII (Third-rate, typical of third-rate works, highly recommended not to watch. Pure waste of time.)

Agatha's:

The Case of the Lonely Island (old translation + new translation, the new translation is called No One Left Alive) (classic)

Murder No One Knows About (that's the old translation of Sleeping Murder) (first-rate, note: the old translation is much better than the new one)

Murder on the Orient Express (first-rate)

Murder on the Nile (classic) )

Sin in the Sun (first-rate)

Roger's Doubt (classic)

Record of Human Nature (first-rate, the reason: this book was written in 1929, when this kind of trickery is very innovative and very good, of course, if written now can only be regarded as a second-rate, like Sherlock Holmes series)

Death Rendezvous (first-rate, the character portrayal of the wonderful, the story twists and turns, strong reasoning. Constant, strong reasoning. However, the rating of this book has my subjective factors)

Cloud murder (quasi-first-rate, - maybe I have personal feelings, this is the fifth long detective novel I read, her ideas I am not familiar with, at that time to see this book is very shocking, but needless to deny, the murderer was exposed at the end of the idiotic, that the students who think that the cliché may be scored to second-rate)

Death appointment (first-rate, wonderful characterization, story twists and turns, strong reasoning.

The ABC Murders (classic, once categorized as first-rate, some friends advocate its "first open-scene serial killer model" to put it in the classic, I have felt the same as a flawed groundbreaking work, ABC's overall strength, reasoning and other highlights are not as good as the "three coffins," "Crooked Hub," etc.)

The ABC Murders (classic, once categorized as first-rate, some friends advocate its "first open-scene serial killer model" to put it in the classic. (The Crooked Pivot" and so on to get more, but see in future generations how many excellent works by its inspiration and style, narrative influence or to the classic it)

The ghost of the empty valley (second-rate, not ranked to the third-rate because I suspect that there is a problem with the level of translation here, in addition to after all, this is a stream of consciousness detective novels, stream of consciousness of this thing a lot of Chinese people are not accustomed to)

The strange case of the Styles Manor ( First-class: because of the opening of the golden age to be upgraded)

Cliff Hills (second-class: reason: a classmate of mine read the cover of the book after the simplicity, read the table of contents, asked me a "from one to ten" the meaning of the name of the chapter, even the book did not turn over ten pages on the murderer accurately and unerringly guessed)

Cat in the pigeon flock ( Third-rate, the reason, the novel falls apart, another classmate of mine read the first book of Agatha unfortunately chose this book, let her almost completely lose interest in Agatha)

Murder Revealed (first-rate)

Magic Hand (quasi-first-rate)

Broken Mirror Murder (second-rate, at the opinion of the moderators, to be downgraded)

Murdered in a Beer (the book is in the bookstore, especially fast, and the details have been basically no impression, for the sake of the moderator, to be demoted). The details of the impression has been largely gone, for the sake of fairness will not be evaluated)

The female corpse in the library (quasi-first-rate)

Endless Night (should be categorized as a romance novel or a crime novel, because the crime does not appear until only one-sixth of the novel is left, and there is no reasoning. So not classified, but reasoning novel framework aside, I thought this book was good)

The Undercard (quasi-first-rate)

The Apartment Mystery (third-rate)

The Nemesis (second-rate, early piracy, may be inaccurate)

The Four Devils (quasi-first-rate, as far as short stories linked together to form a full-length novel goes, the individual cases are still good)

p>The Curtain (first-rate, I don't think it ranks as a classic, and I also don't think it compares favorably to Sin in the Sun)

The Poirot Christmas Mysteries (quasi-first-rate)

Hercory's Bounty (a collection of short stories, first-rate)

Dumb Witness (first-rate, I think this book is the best of Granny's poisonings except for "Death Date" but Strongly recommend newbies don't read this book first, because in the middle of this book all of a sudden leak the murderer of four novels such as Roger's Suspicion, The Nile Tragedy, and Murder in the Clouds)

"Murder is Not Hard" (second-rate, on the grounds that the discs in the story are all known, and a single ruse can be read at a glance)

"Death's End" (second-rate, prehistoric murders don't show prehistoric setting and atmosphere at all)

"Deadly Reminiscences" (third rate, I was not impressed, only bad impressions of the "positive characters" the book tries to portray versus those who play the role of detectives, which may be wrong)

"Shadows of an Old Sin" (third rate, needless to say, a typical bad trick, a serious foul-up)

"House of the Freakshow" ( Second-rate, definitely not as good as Quinn's book, which has a similar setup for the trick and the murderer, and this book is not as good as Quinn's book in terms of trickery, reasoning, and even characterization, which is AC's strong point, and Quinn's book was published 16 years earlier than Freakshow)

Murder Through the Looking Glass: third-rate, "trickery" on the level of the ancient Chinese crime novels. "

Cleaning lady's murder: second-rate, it feels like a setup Agatha used many times in her early years, and actually used it in her later years, and ultimately the accusation is not substantiated at all, and Poirot pretty much just intimidates the suspect in disguise to force him to confess, which can't be convincing.

White Horse Hotel: impressions are gone, no comment

After the Funeral: good book, can be a match for Sin in the Sun, first class

Quinn's:

Greek Coffin: classic level

Siamese Siamese: first class

China Orange: quasi-first class, complicated mechanical secret room, requires imagination. Controversial work.

"Dutch Shoes": first rate, thought the story was slightly bland, but the reasoning was good.

"Spanish Shawl": first-rate, has subjective preferences in it. (The National Name series has a heavy emphasis on reasoning, so I've given it a higher rating if there aren't any major hard-hitting issues)

The King is Dead (first-rate)

The Tragedy of X: a classic

The Tragedy of Y: a classic

The Tragedy of Z: quasi-first-rate (with only the reasoning holding up the spectacle)

Last of the Rains: quasi-first-rate, and controversial. first-rate, and controversial work.

The Player on the Other Side: first-rate, note that that psychological concept of motivation was just being introduced at the time, and this book could be considered a work of creative utility

City of Disaster: quasi-first-rate, the front is really great, but it's a shame the ending gives it away

Four of Hearts: third-rate

The Monster Cat with Nine Tails: second-rate

Shimada's:

The Astrologer: classic

The Tilted House: classic, although it's weaker than Shimada's other classic books, it started the "morbid architectural model" that influenced a great deal of future generations of Neo-Benjamins

The Alien State: classic

Northern Yuyuzuru: first-rate, on the same level as Tilted House, but not as good as Tilted House at the level, but not as useful as Shashuya in the history of deduction

Probability of Death 2/2: second-rate

Labyrinth of Grey: third-rate

Greetings from Mikado: second-rate (and individually third-rate)

Tohno's:

The Dedication of Suspect X: classic class

Predestined: quasi-first-rate, I thought that the story The combined strengths of the structure, characters, plot, reasoning, and final mystery more than make up for the lack of subterfuge, and it can be classified as first-rate if you like the story, but it's still in the ballpark of books like Malice

Premonition Dreams: quasi-first-rate, second-rate for the individual cases

Detective Galileo: second-rate, quasi-first-rate for the individual - The work is not only a masterpiece of deduction, but also a masterpiece of literature. The TV series is also classic level.

Yokogou's:

Honjin Killing Incident: first-rate, if you count the book's merit in opening the post-war Japanese genre of shifter novels, the first Japanese style of secret rooms into the classics

The Eight Grave Villages: quasi-first-rate, borrowed from a certain novel of the AC quite successful

The Labyrinth Gate: second-rate, in accordance with the zhaoyuan's opinion (Yokogou is better than I am)

The Maze Gate: second-rate, in accordance with zhaoyuan's opinion (he is better than I am)

The Maze Gate: second-rate.

"The Devil Blows His Flute": quasi-first-rate, atmosphere and motivation are strong points, the mechanical chamber is average, the murderer is not hidden

"Night Moves": first-rate, in addition to the success of borrowing from a certain novel of AC's trick, I think the greater merit in the use of the astrological before the use of a variety of decapitation of the trick of the purpose of the use of a whole (the purpose of four decapitation of the case is different)

"The Devil's Gate": second-rate, according to zhaoyuan's opinion (horizontal grooves, he is more than I am in the business)

The Devil's Racket Ball Song: first rate, with reference to zhaoyuan's rating. I had rated it low because Ichikawa's movie is two notches better than the original. It's the only detective work I've seen where the movie and TV show surpassed the original

The Inuyasha Family: I've only seen the movie, not the original, so if the movie is comparable to the original, it's classified as quasi-first-rate

Following Yokigou according to zhoyuan's grading

Jailhouse Isle: a monumental masterpiece that combines teaser killings, nursery rhyme killings, and alibi proofs in one, classic grade.

Black Cat Hotel Murder: great faceless corpse shenanigans, first class work.

The White and the Black: good job of misdirection, hard to guess the killer, quasi-first rate.

Queen Bee: interesting story, secret room shenanigans are in the eye of the beholder, quasi first rate I guess.

The Woman Behind the Door: the case is a bit simpler, the story isn't very interesting, the reasoning is average, and the misdirection is average, second-rate work.

Hospital Slope Bloodshed: the later Yokogawa, despite having tried hard, the story feels rather boring, and can't be compared to the early-mid stage, it's all very average, second-rate.

Masquerade: decent story, less reasoning, quasi-first-rate to second-rate.

Ghost Man: too few suspects, murderer not disguised well enough, second rate.

Beauty Hundred Pure Spectrum: not much to say, third rate.

Devil's Favorite: misdirection is good, quasi-first rate.

Evil's Island: the story drags slightly in the early part of the story, the story becomes good in the middle and early part of the story, and there is very little reasoning at the end. Quasi-first rate if you like the story, otherwise second rate.

Black Panther in the Darkness: the hunting flavor is heavy, the trickery is too simple, and the reasoning is average, second- to third-rate.

Other writers did not specifically go to buy, basically pick representative works to see (because there is no time and not enough money)

Pedestrian:

The Knock Knock Suspension Bridge: quasi-first-rate (made adjustments), the first case is very controversial, the middle two cases in accordance with the example of a very unlike the two cases can be ranked into the first-class or classic

The Kirigoe Residence Murder Incident: First-rate, not ranked as a classic because the ending goes so far as to acknowledge the existence of superpowers and attributes the book's biggest gimmick to them

Lawson's:

Death Flies Out of the Bowler Hat: Second-rate, ranked in the Top 10 Escape Rooms is a waste of time

The Great Marigny: First-rate, Lawson's shorter works are much better than the longer ones

Morimura's:

"Human Witness": classic level, ignore if you don't like sociopaths

"Wild Witness": classic level, ignore if you don't like sociopaths with dark themes. The detectives and cops are so morally corrupt that they are not even as noble as a certain "murderer", and the good guys basically end up in misery.

New Witnesses: second-rate, but I'm impressed that Morimura was able to use the floor plan of Unit 731's Harbin HQ as a crime scene map

Tabok's:

The Edge of Hell: classic, with a strong highlights and number of unlikely crimes, which I think more than makes up for a slightly weaker answer section; but the controversy of "inadequate explanations" exists. Inadequate Explanation" controversy.

The Case of the Yellow House: classic, even in its prime it has the ability to hit the classic level, not to mention that it was written in 1902

The Great Mystery of the Bow District: reason: the first full-length mystery (1892) and opens up a large class of mystery room genre, like Sherlock Holmes it should definitely be classified as a classic

The Curse of the Nine Nine Nine: first class, I think it is better than the previous ones.

"The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes": the hallmark of detective fiction of course, into the classic level

"The Complete Works of Father Brown": I read the first part, and I think that a few of the shorter pieces are fine, because the last four have not yet read, temporarily classified as classic level

"The Complete Works of Father Brown": I read the first part, and I think that several short stories are fine, because the last four have not read, temporarily classified as classic level

"The Complete Works of Father Brown": I think that the first part of the first part, and I think that several short stories are fine, and because of the latter four have not read, temporarily classified as classic level

"The Executioner's Handyman": quasi-first-class, this book has opened up the scope of impossible crimes

"The Murder of the House of the Black Death": do not evaluate, because I did not understand

"The Collected Short Stories of Bugtaro Oguri": I have not finished reading it, I ranked quasi-first-class in terms of the first two cases

"Coffin Dancers": first-class

"The Poet": classic class, because of my review

"The Poet": I think it is a good idea for me to read this book, but it is a very important book. See my review

"Poison": second-rate, too hard to read

"The Red Right Hand": first-rate

"The Noh Mask Murder Case": first-rate, borrowed from AC a certain trick that seems to be quite difficult to imitate, I think not only borrowed well but also have a breakthrough (the use of a double trick). I think it's not only good but also breakthrough (use of double trickery), what with the secret room, the Japanese horror atmosphere, the characteristic serial killings, the dying words, the no-wound trickery, and the sociopathic features, it's really ambitious, but it's also a binding factor to some extent, and the above puzzles are not as good as the core double trickery instead

The Dot and the Line: Classics level, those who don't like the sociopathic and the timetable trickery are ignored, and comrades who like the "unlikely culprit" setup are ignored. "setup" ignored by comrades

Diagnostic of Impossible Crimes (first series): first-rate, individual works can be categorized as classic level

Island of Gone Crows: second- to third-rate

My suggestions for the order in which I'd like to read these novels:

For the writers in the Impossible Crimes department: point to Carr + the Top Ten Escape Room finalists: first read the The Case of the Yellow House", then "Chinese Oranges" and "The Bow Zone Mystery" (of course, you can skip the Bow Zone Mystery because it's too old, and the ruse has been imitated countless times by later generations), followed by "The Three Coffins" (because the three coffins' escape room handouts are examples of the types of ruses that have been leaked in the last three works, Carl must read the three coffins first, and don't ever think that you're going to read the good ones later). " idea, because some of Carl's later works to go a similar pattern will produce aesthetic fatigue - many friends have suffered losses), after the second wave of books: "Crooked Hub", "Arabian Nights", "Green Capsule Mystery", "The Whispering Man", "The Edge of Hell", "Ninety-nine Curses of the Gods". The third batch: "The Window of Judas" and other Merivale series, "Reversal of Death", and other attributed to the first-class or quasi-first-class Carr novels

Agatha, Quinn, Yokogawa books in the suggested order: these three writers are the representatives of the classical school (regardless of the Benguet variant), and the style of the three writers are very different, and it is recommended that the three writers interspersed with the reading will be more interesting (complementary advantages, for example, Agatha's secret room is weak. Quinn's infectious weakness), the first wave of the book to be able to do so that readers like the style of the above writers or try to avoid their weaknesses, so the first wave of Agatha suggests that the "ABC Murder", "Tragedy on the Nile": these two books are compact, no Agatha most of the works often have a long-winded, lukewarm water drawbacks, but also the classic or have the first meaning of the book, which can make readers in a single shot; In addition An early look at ABC prevents transcendent works by other authors in a similar mold from detracting from the enjoyment of this book. Quinn, on the other hand, reads Greek Coffin not only because it's a classic, but also because the order reflects Quinn's upbringing; Yokogawa suggests reading either Benjen or Prison Island, two books that are both classics and focus on highlighting Yokogawa's style.

The second wave of the book: "Murder Kaiji" and then "Sin in the Sun" and then "Murder in the Clouds" and then "The Undercard" - this is my order, I personally feel that my order of the first five books is very scientific, and AC's works of classic or first-class works interspersed with the quasi-first-class works to see can be avoided in the late classics to see all of the later feel that AC quasi-first-class works! All the same, there is no outstanding problem, early to see off some of the quasi-first-class can still enjoy the shock of their end; and so see more familiar with the AC formula, some quasi-first-class like the cloud in the case of the murder of the people did not look as shocking as the initial look. Quinn, on the other hand, finishes the rest of the National Title series. Yokou watch "the devil plays the flute to come", "eight tomb village"

Third wave: Agatha "Roger's Doubt", "the strange case of the lonely island" (highly recommended to read the old version), "death date", "human nature record": Roger this time to see the most appropriate, the first first wave of the first few books have been raised in the mindset of the stereotypes, and the second, the first wave of the first several books in the only ABC is the Poirot and Blackie partnering, so switching to the Poirot and Dr. Shepherd partnering to solve the case does not cause readers to be uncomfortable (this point will affect the effectiveness of the reading), the isolated island case is also recommended to be placed at this time to read, because the isolated island mode is very little, as a long time to see the big villa murder + alibi conditioning.

The fourth wave: Agatha "Styles", "pitch life" (in addition to the mute witnesses and curtains other than the Poirot series can be), "library woman", "Sleeping Murder" (Marple series can be) this time can be a large number of exposure to the Marple series and Poirot + Hastings series. Quinn: read the Tragedy series in strict order, for reasons you'll see after reading the books. Yokozuna: arbitrarily, since the novels with possible side effects from The Devil's Volleyball Song and Night Moves have already been read a long time ago.

Wave 5: Agatha "Dumb Witness" (because this book leaks in the middle of the Nile, Roger's Doubt, Cloudy with a Chance of Murder, Styles, the murderer of four pretty good or quasi-good books), wait until the AC works have read a minimum of 20 books, the Poirot series has read at least 12 books can be read after the Curtains, which has a very special depth of evidence and centers, and need to read a lot of the Poirot series to savor it. Quinn: later Quinn works can start to touch, first of all the Wrightstown series and the other side of the player.

Personal grading overview of some of the novels I've read recently:

Burning Court: the ending is slightly controversial, and I'll address both interpretations in detail in another post; personally, I found the ending to be non-problematic, but still a highlight. Although the answer to the trick is not as subtle as the "three masterpieces of Karl" so amazing, but the atmosphere, the pace of the mastery of Karl's works, impossible mystery is also very attractive, misdirection, twists and turns is also quite strong. Especially recommended for comrades who like skewed pivots. Overall I'd put it in the classic category.

The Egyptian Cross: a masterpiece combining four characteristic serial beheadings plus an alibi and a certain "death in the dark" ruse, with the suspense, tension, and gore rarely found in traditional Quinn works, and a gorgeous mystery with a beautiful solution. It's classified as a classic. I knew it was a traditional faceless corpse and guessed the killer, but I was surprised by the ending (I still fell for Quinn). --So far, inside my grading scale, Carl, AC, and Quinn each have 4 books categorized in the classic level.

The Garden of Beasts: first-rate as a spy novel, not so much as a mystery. Nazi Germany scene read quite strong, as a spy novel that conspiracy used quite well, reasoning belongs to the authentic police procedural reasoning. The downside is that the ending panders too much to mainstream American thinking resulting in a tangential and implausible plot (the resurrection of the XX man is a bit like the coincidence of the protagonist falling off a cliff and always getting hung up on a tree branch in a wuxia novel), which dilutes the excitement of the penultimate chapter.

Roman Hat Mystery: I haven't finished it yet, and I've read eight books in the Name of the Nation series, and this one is the only one that makes me want to doze off. Second rate for now.

Prison Island: as zhaoyuan brother said, the classic level, and for the 8 books I have read inside the Yokogawa the most wonderful one.

Disintegration of the causes: absolutely good book, I have read the short story collection inside the most wonderful one, faceless corpse, decapitation case, mutilation case of these old subject matter resources would have been almost developed, but the author gave us a bunch of new ideas and wonderful case, 9 cases inside the basic not the same trick, and most of them are before I have never heard of a new trick, praise a, into the classic level!

The Code of the Famous Detectives: Higashino's short story has a characteristic of good and bad, good cases are quite creative, poor cases are purely for the sake of making up the numbers, however, the purpose of this book is to satirize the shortcomings of the deduction novels in various cases, different purposes, different measurements. Personally, I think that apart from the few cases that were deliberately written for satire, some of the shenanigans are still quite interesting. I recommend the beheading case, the narrative shenanigans, and the falling building case. Overall it should be top notch.

"After the Hotel Closes": the best novel (it's a novel, not just a whodunit) I've read this year, very realistic.

The Poisoned Chocolate Murders:

Famous indeed, with the Sevenfold Answer, however, personally, I feel that it is hard to live up to its reputation, and can only be categorized as second-rate. However, considering Sevenfold Answer's place in the history of deduction, and the fact that the novel is really quite fun to read, I ended up giving it a quasi-first rate.

The Killer is a Fox: I finished it the day before yesterday. Quinn's work really varies from period to period. The Wrightstown series really doesn't look like it's from the same author as the National Title series. Wrightstown is heavy on melodrama and light on reasoning, and this book is especially so, with reasoning so light as to be almost non-existent. Second rate.