Challenge! Recommend a good cozy or Golden-Ager for a college class?

[herbertian]

I'm teaching a college-level course in detective fiction in the fall. The field is so vast that, even though I've read a great deal, I am having a hard time selecting and sometimes even identifying good books or stories to assign.

My present quandary (I might come back soon with others!) is about one of the two slots in my syllabus for Golden-Age or cozy detective fiction. I have already chosen Christie's "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd," and I want another good sample of this kind of novel.

I really wanted to use Ellery Queen, but all of his books are out of print. I could see about getting the rights to photocopy a used edition, though, if I could find one that was both short enough to assign and a good enough sample of the form. I ordered a copy of "The Greek Coffin Mystery," thinking that it would be a perfect choice, but it's just far too long. Another possibility would be a selection of short stories, but I don't know Queen's short stories well enough to be able to pick really good, representative examples.

So fire away folks--can you think of a really great novel or set of short stories that would fit the bill??

 

[Maine Colonial]

Michael Gilbert's SMALLBONE DECEASED would be a good Golden Age mystery that would contrast well with current styles of detective fiction.

Dorothy L. Sayers' THE NINE TAILORS or MURDER MUST ADVERTISE would be good choices.

Instead of an Ellery Queen, how about a Nero Wolfe (author Robert Goldsborough)?

 

[abecedarian]

How about Mary Roberts Rhinehart's The Bat? It has been in print recently, I believe and fits the bill for style and era. My mother loved this book and I was glad I listened to her and read it myself.

 

[Lincoln Rhyme]

The Lincoln Rhyme series has a lot of criminology involved,and is very educational and entertaining. Although the majority of the series sucks, the second book is awesome,The Coffin Dancer. Quadriplegic detective,Lincoln Rhyme has to track down a bounty hunter known as The Coffin Dancer.

 

[chiangmaifalcon]

Maybe one of many novels of Anne Perry or Ruth Rendell aka Barbara Vine would be suitable.

 

[readsalot]

Does the main character have to be an official detective? The Nevada Barr mysteries about the park Ranger Anna Pigeon are usually decent who dunnits.