Patricia Cornwell tops this chart with her thriller Blow Fly, with John Grisham, James Patterson and Ian Rankin figuring highly.

BBC: Dame Catherine wrote more than 100 novels

But, from gangling youth to gangling adult, he had often played fourth fiddle to the likes of Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Ian Bishop, Patrick Patterson and Curtly Ambrose.

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Thriller writers James Patterson, John Grisham, Ian Rankin and Bernard Cornwell were in the top 10, alongside children's writers Mick Inkpen, Janet and Allan Ahlberg and Roald Dahl.

BBC: Dame Catherine wrote more than 100 novels