The beautiful cigar girl vs The Simple Art of Murder: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: American Detective and mystery stories, History and criticism, Mystery
The beautiful cigar girl
“IN JUNE OF 1842, Edgar Allan Poe took up his pen to broach a delicate subject with an old friend.”
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On July 28, 1841, the body of Mary Rogers, a twenty-year-old cigar girl, was found floating in the Hudson-and New York's unregulated police force proved incapable of solving the crime. One year later, a struggling…
The Simple Art of Murder
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The renowned novel from crime fiction master Raymond Chandler, with the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times), Philip Marlowe • Featuring the iconic character that inspired the forthcoming film…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate The Simple Art of Murder highest: The Simple Art of Murder 4.1 · The beautiful cigar girl 3.5.
- The beautiful cigar girl is the quickest read — about 6 hours vs 9 for The Simple Art of Murder.
- The Simple Art of Murder has the widest readership — 6355 ratings behind its score.
- The beautiful cigar girl runs the darker storyline; The Simple Art of Murder stays the lighter read.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| The beautiful cigar girl | The Simple Art of Murder | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.5 (2161) | 4.1 (6355) |
| Hardcover | 4.0 (2) | 3.3 (13) |
| Google Books | — | 5.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (5) | 4.5 (14) |
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Reception
| The beautiful cigar girl | The Simple Art of Murder | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 2161 | 6355 |
| Editions | 7 | 24 |
| Citations | — | 146 |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | 3998 | 6037 |
| Reading it now | 109 | 576 |
| Written reviews | 303 | 292 |
| Wikipedia attention | — | 1090 |
| Pages | 327 | 533 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: The beautiful cigar girl or The Simple Art of Murder?
The Simple Art of Murder has the higher combined reader rating across sources (The Simple Art of Murder 4.1/5, The beautiful cigar girl 3.5/5).
Which is shorter to read: The beautiful cigar girl or The Simple Art of Murder?
The beautiful cigar girl is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The beautiful cigar girl (327 pages, ≈ 6 h 03 m); The Simple Art of Murder (533 pages, ≈ 9 h 52 m).
Which is harder to read: The beautiful cigar girl or The Simple Art of Murder?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — The beautiful cigar girl: Challenging; The Simple Art of Murder: Challenging.