Help Us Find and Improve Next Week's Connection Profiles: Thriller Novelists

Question

This coming week, the example profile is Canadian Governor General John Buchan. John wasn't only a politician, but also a talented author of both fiction and non-fiction, penning his first book at age 19. One of his most famous books is "The 39 Steps", a thriller. We're searching for more thriller writers to feature alongside John. Who comes to mind (they need to be deceased)? 

A few to get started:

• Agatha Christie (in pretty good shape)
• Mary Higgins Clark (needs a picture, biography, and connection)
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (in pretty good shape. Inline citations?)
• Edgar Allan Poe (in pretty good shape; maybe some inline citations?)

Who else comes to mind? Let us know below!

What can you do to help us get their profile ready? They need to be connected if they aren't already. They'll need a profile image and a biography. Is there a related project that can help? Ask them!

We can't feature everyone who fits this category, but we can save those profiles we don't feature this coming week for use at a later date, and all improvements to profiles help WikiTree, no matter what the reason. We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Comments

Would Dorothy L Sayers qualify as a "thriller" writer?  ('Cause I don't, personally, regard Christie as a writer of thrillers, and they appear to be authors of the same genre.)

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edited to add - there are a couple of Creative Commons images of Mary Higgins Clark on Wikimedia Commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_Higgins_Clark_(10634).jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2000_Distinguished_Author_Award_(4055916242).jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MaryetCarol.jpg

(edited to add another link)

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I have yet to read Dorothy yet, but most likely? Some of Agatha's are more thriller-esque and some more comedic. She's on Wikipedia's list, at least.

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Melanie, I wouldn't consider Agatha Christie a "thriller" author. I think among mystery aficionados her mystery style is termed "cozy." 

I can think of many mystery writers, Not so many write thrillers because I don't read that sub-genre so much and so many are still living. Some who are deceased I found on WikiTree:

Colin Dexter

Sue Grafton

Tony Hillerman

Daphne du Maurier

Ngaio Marsh

Dashiell Hammett

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Thanks!

Note-the original suggestions was made up using Wikipedia's list. If we have enough "better" ones, we can save some of these that are more mystery oriented and less thriller for another week.

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Desmond Bagley (English)

Eric Ambler (English)

Alexandre Dumas père  (French)

Joan Lindsay (Australian) - has no bio - only a link to Wikipedia.

H Rider Haggard (English)

Rudyard Kipling (Indian-born English)

Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish) - minimal bio

Jules Verne (French)

Saul Bellow (Canadian) - has no bio - only a link to Wikipedia.

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edited to add profile links

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Good list, Melanie! I was thinking as I was looking that it would be great to find authors from countries other than the United States or Great Britain. Ngaio Marsh was a New Zealander, but my others were either American or British.

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I have no idea if any of them have profiles already.

Another couple of authors I read as a child --

Hammond Innes (I believe is English) and

Alastair MacLean (Scottish)

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deleted

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I got Tony Hillerman connected and asked for the profiles of his siblings and wife to be listed - they are all deceased.

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Added some info to Joan Lindsay and Saul Bellow

Answer 1

I've found several, but they all need work.

Comments

Don't worry about whether they're ready or not. Just listing them gives people a chance to help out, as they're all in one place.

Answer 2

Raymond Chandler: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Chandler-3449
Profile image, biography, deceased, connected

PD James and Ruth Rendell both need a fair bit of work.

Comments

List them all, Ros. They can all be useful at some point!

Answer 3

I should think that Edgar Rice Burroughs would qualify as a thriller writer. And, as it happens, his profile is connected to the main tree, and he has five great-grandparents listed. (I'm a big fan of his Mars stories.)

Comments

Hmmm... his Wikipedia entry has unusually extensive references to his genealogy.

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Thanks, Greg!

Answer 4

Michael Crichton: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crichton-570

Patricia Highsmith (birth name: Mary Patricia Plangman) who does not have a Wikitree profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Highsmith

Comments

Thanks, C.!

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Parents and grandparents are linked to her profile on Findagrave

Answer 5

Thriller? Mystery? Crime? Adventure? Detective? One to look out for is Wilkie Collins [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Collins-9137]

Answer 6

I'd like to see Matthew Gregory Lewis, author of "The Monk", included! That is one of my all-time favorite books, and one that has to be read to be believed. It's got it all: ghost brides, sexy priests, dead babies, incest, all taking place in crumbling Spanish castles as pictured in the fevered imagination of an 18th century British teenager.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lewis-30549

Answer 7

Mary Higgins Clarke has a pic now

Comments

If anyone is interested in trying to connect her, a few family members of her husband Warren Clark have been added and there's plenty more to add.

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I have been working on her line, but it seems most of her family either never married nor had children, with one exception. This led to a Bless family (germanic - Bleß). That family seems to open up to additional families, so I'm working in that area to find a link. No end in sight at the moment, but as with most connections, one could easily sneak up and bite me before I know it.

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Well - she now has more family attached to her cluster, but no connection. I'll poke around at it in my copious spare time...

Answer 8

Although, non-fiction Truman Capote.  He needs a better biography.

Answer 9

Would hate to see John D. MacDonald overlooked!   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._MacDonald

Edit:   OK maybe he's more of a Mystery/Detective Writer... you be the judge. 

If it has to be a  "Thriller"  perhaps include Mary Shelley  (Frankenstein).    Not prolific but certainly historic.   Her biography is already well done.  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Godwin-912

Answer 10

Author of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Swedish author https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stieg_Larsson (Karl Stig-Erland Larsson) but I couldn't find a profile.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Simenon-1 (Belgian)

Answer 11

Maj Sjöwall could fit the bill, though I'm not sure her books would be classified as thrillers. It would be nice to have a Swedish author in the roster.

Answer 12

Edgar Allen Poe or Sir Arthur Connan Doyle

Comments

I started to run through Edgar Allen Poe's profile to add inline citations, but the profile needs a total re-write. It is almost word-for-word from Wikipedia. Also, the style is difficult to read.