Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

There is an episode of Phineas and Ferb (Disney Channel) where the family and a few friends take a trip to England. While the brothers are causing their usual trouble with the inventions, the sister and her friend get so engrossed with the Sherlock Holmes novels that they stay up all night long, reading every single one - then they use what they learned to try to "bust" the brothers the very next day. This is exactly how I feel when I pick up literature by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His stories are truely timeless - there are still movies being made, books being printed, new special editions coming out.

What stands out in his writing is the amazing and believable characterization, the engrossing story, and the very intelligent villains. I also love the glimpse into historical England.

Erle Stanley Gardner

There is a reason this man could write an amazing detective story - he was a lawyer himself! I will admit, though, that while Perry Mason was his most famous character, he is not my favorite. I absolutely love the books he wrote under the pen name of A. A. Fair. All of the books I have by this author are (quite literally) falling apart, as they are the ones that my grandparents bought when they were young, and I have been reading ever since I was young every time I visit.

He actually has eight different names he published with! Talk about a man with a million stories floating around in his head - wow!

Like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Erle Stanley Gardner has some awesome characterization, the story just rocks, and the villians are intelligent and hard to catch.