The Big Four: Round Three

If you haven’t yet entered The Rap Sheet’s “Big Four” contest, please keep in mind that time is running out. Damn fast! The prizes being given away are four free copies of the new Mike Hammer detective novel, The Big Bang, written by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins, plus four free copies of the latest original Hammer radio novel on CD, “The Little Death.” The deadline for entering is midnight tonight, Friday, May 21.

To be in the running for these prizes, you need to do only two things: (1) Make a list of your four favorite private eye novels and (2) send that list, along with your mailing address, to jpwrites@wordcuts.org. Please write “Mike Hammer Contest” in the subject line. The names of eight contest participants will be drawn at random, and those winners’ names announced tomorrow. Each winner will receive either a copy of The Big Bang (signed by co-author Collins) or a copy of “The Little Death.”

So, if you haven’t already entered this contest, do it now!

Over the last couple of days (see here and here), we’ve been posting many of the submissions to this contest. Below, we offer a third batch of those lists.

Guy Mills of San Jose, California:

• When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, by Lawrence Block
• Fire Lake, by Jonathan Valin
• Toll Call, by Stephen Greenleaf
• The Gentlemen’s Hour, by Don Winslow

Naomi Johnson of Columbus, Ohio:

• The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
• The Dramatist, by Ken Bruen
• The Forgotten Man, by Robert Crais
• Yellow Dog Party, by Earl Emerson

Bill Slankard of Arlington Heights, Illinois:

• The Galton Case, by Ross MacDonald
• Shackles, by Bill Pronzini
• Some Buried Caesar, by Rex Stout
• True Detective, by Max Allan Collins

Paul McMurray of Milton, Wisconsin:

• The Lonely Silver Rain, by John D. MacDonald
• Too Many Cooks, by Rex Stout
• A Catskill Eagle, by Robert B. Parker
• Looking for Rachel Wallace, by Robert B. Parker

Bill Crider of Alvin, Texas:

• The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
• The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
• The Chill, by Ross Macdonald
• One Lonely Night, by Mickey Spillane

Steve Parvin of Yucaipa, California:

• I Was Dora Suarez, by Derek Raymond
• The Neon Rain, by James Lee Burke
• An Easy Thing, by Paco Ignacio Taibo II
• Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett

David Blount of Jackson, Mississippi:

• When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, by Lawrence Block
• Bleeders, by Bill Pronzini
• Miami Blues, by Charles Willeford
• Book Case, by Stephen Greenleaf
• Retribution, by Stuart M. Kaminsky
• A Smile on the Face of the Tiger, by Loren D. Estleman

David W. Madara of Mays Landing, New Jersey:

• Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett
• The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Million-Dollar Wound, by Max Allan Collins
• Stolen Away, by Max Allan Collins

Ward Howarth of Richmond, Virginia:

• The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
• The Dawn Patrol, by Don Winslow
• The Last Good Kiss, by James Crumley
• Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett

Brian O’Malley of Chicago, Illinois:

• I, the Jury, by Mickey Spillane
• Kiss Me, Deadly, by Mickey Spillane
• Carnal Hours, by Max Allan Collins
• Flying Blind, by Max Allan Collins

Karl-Erik Lindkvist of Västerås, Sweden:

• The Goodbye Look, by Ross Macdonald
• “F” is for Fugitive, by Sue Grafton
• 120, rue de la Gare, by Jacques Tardi and Léo Malet (“The best graphic novel interpretation of a hard-boiled detective novel ever! Keep your fingers crossed that Fantagraphics will publish a translated edition.”)
• The Murderer Is a Fox, by Ellery Queen (“In Wrightsville, away from his home turf and the NYPD, Mr. Queen has to act as a real private eye to get to the bottom of a 12-year-old murder. Impossible to put down!”)

Gerald So of Old Westbury, New York:

• The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
• Blunt Darts, by Jeremiah Healy
• Promised Land, by Robert B. Parker
• No Colder Place, by S.J. Rozan

Randy Johnson of Eden, North Carolina:

• Texas Wind, by James Reasoner (“My favorite of his.”)
• Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley (“My first Mosley.”)
• I, the Jury, by Mickey Spillane (“My first private eye novel.”)
• The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler (“My first Chandler.”)

Rafaela Castro of El Cerrito, California:

• Albuquerque, by Rudolfo Anaya
• Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley
• The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
• The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler

Iasa Duffy of Hurst, Texas:

• The Last Good Kiss, by James Crumley
• The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
• Silentium! by Wolf Haas
• Fer-de-Lance, by Rex Stout

Andrew Eichner of Chicago, Illinois:

• Redbird, by Jo Nesbø
• The Eighth Circle, by Stanley Ellin
• A Long Walk Up the Water Slide, by Don Winslow
• The Last Good Kiss, by James Crumley

John F. Frost of Brooklyn, New York:

• The Goodbye Look, by Ross Macdonald
• The Lime Pit, by Jonathan Valin
• Beyond Blame, by Stephan Greenleaf
• Prayers for Rain, by Dennis Lehane

“If I had to name a fifth, it would be the first mystery I ever read, which got me hooked: Puzzle for Fools, by Patrick Quentin.”

John Lau of Playa del Rey, California:

• The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
• The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler
• The Last Good Kiss, by James Crumley
• Lost Light, by Michael Connelly

Dwight Brown of Austin, Texas:

• The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett
• Pale Gray for Guilt, by ohn D. MacDonald
• When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, by Lawrence Block
• California Fire and Life, by Don Winslow

Keith Hart of Citrus Heights, California:

• The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
• The Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett
• Shackles, by Bill Pronzini
• The Doorbell Rang, by Rex Stout

Paul Tenpenny of Milwaukee, Wisconsin:

• Don’t Catch Me, by Richard Powell
• Kiss Me, Deadly, by Mickey Spillane
• Flying Blind, by Max Allan Collins
• The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde, by Erle Stanley Gardner

Michael Alatorre of Los Angeles, California:

• L.A. Requiem, by Robert Crais
• The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler
• Trigger City, by Sean Chercover
• Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosley

Winifred Waite of Washington, England, United Kingdom:

• The Remorseful Day, by Colin Dexter
• A Sudden, Fearful Death, by Anne Perry
• The Virgin in the Ice, by Ellis Peters
• The Information Officer, by Mark Mills

Jon Butters of Chapel Hill, North Carolina:

• The Dawn Patrol, by Don Winslow
• The Last Good Kiss, by James Crumley
• Booked to Die, by John Dunning
• This Wicked World, by Richard Lange