His 1952 book, "Last Seen Wearing," is regarded as a classic in the police procedural genre. It is considered to be one of the 100 best mystery novels ever written by many, including the London Sunday Times (1957), the Mystery Writers of America (1995), and the Crime Writers' Association (1990), who ranked it 12th, midway between Dashiell Hammett's "The Long Goodbye" (#10) and Raymond Chandler's "The Maltese Falcon" (#15).