Been Quote by Robert Crais

“I read Parker's Spenser series in college. When it comes to detective novels, 90 percent of us admit he's an influence, and the rest…

— Harlan Coben

I never read detective novels. I started out in graduate school writing a more serious book. Right around that time I read 'The Day…

— James Patterson

The truth is that the writers who most influenced me weren't people categorized as crime writers. I'd say I learned more from John O'Hara,…

— Elmore Leonard

I definitely have an affection for detective fiction, and when I first read Dashiell Hammett's 'The Maltese Falcon,' that book and its author made…

— Avi

Writing detective stories is about writing light literature, for entertainment. It isn't primarily a question of writing propaganda or classical literature.

— Anonymous

I would like it to be said that I was a good writer of detective and thriller stories.

— Agatha Christie

In crime fiction, I cut my teeth on early Robert Parker, Elmore Leonard, John D. MacDonald, and Alan Furst. I always loved the writing…

— Nick Petrie

While I was writing poems, I would often divert myself by reading detective novels, I liked them. And there was a period when I…

— Paul Auster

I've never been a great fan of crime fiction. I read Agatha Christie in my youth, but that's all.

— Olga Tokarczuk

Literary critics make natural detectives.

— Anonymous

I particular enjoy the crime writer, Walter Ellis Mosley. He does a series of Chandler-esque detective stories.

— Lennie James

My father taught me to love detective fiction writers such as Raymond Chandler. When I decided to have a hard-boiled detective series I did…

— Sue Grafton