Book Bonanza

Sadly one of my colleague's sister died just before christmas. She left a collection of over 2500 novels, the vast majority of which are crime fiction. I've been a given a donation of four boxes containing 139 novels and a few collections (right). In light of my classic crime fiction curriculum challenge, I was delighted to find a number of the novels recommended so far in the boxes (starred below). Beyond the classics, I'd be interested to hear which authors you think I should tackle first? The novels include those by:

Loren Estleman (14), Bill Pronzini (10), Donald Westlake* (8), Raymond Chandler* (5), James Cain* (5), Sapper (5), Cornell Woodrich* (4), Patricia Highsmith* (4), Lawrence Block (4), Parnell Hall (4), Howard Browne (3), Max Byrd (3), Joe Gores (3), Ngaio Marsh* (3), Richard Stark (3), G.M. Ford (3), Arthur Lyons (3), Ian Sansom (3), Mickey Spillane* (3), K.C. Constantine (3), Edna Buchanan (3), Dashiell Hammett* (2), Bill Ballinger (2), Peter Robinson (2), Jim Butcher (2), Roy Hart (2), Dominick Dunne (2), John Le Carre (2), Tucker Coe (2), Kinky Friedman (2), Sarah Shankman (2), James Swain (2), Christopher Newman (2), Ed Gorman, Helen Chappell, Martin Short, Dorothy Hughes*, Paula Gosling, T. Jefferson Parker, Anthony Bruno, Sparkle Hayter, John Lutz, Dorothy Sayers*, Wilkie Collins*, Kenneth Fearing, Ellery Queen*, Josephine Tey*, Alfred Hitchcock.

Well that lot, plus the 30 plus books I already have in TBR pile, should keep me going for a while!