The Greatest Books of All Time on Investigation

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Genres

Investigation

The "Investigation" category of books typically involves stories that revolve around solving a mystery or crime. These books often feature detectives, private investigators, or other types of sleuths who use their skills and expertise to uncover clues, interview suspects, and ultimately solve the case. The investigation genre can include a wide range of sub-genres, such as police procedurals, cozy mysteries, and psychological thrillers, but all share a common focus on the process of uncovering the truth.

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Filter books by their publication year. Enter the earliest year (Start) and latest year (End) to find books published within that period. Leave either field empty to search from the beginning of time or up to the present day.

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  1. 476. Red Side Story by Jasper Fforde

    Chromatacia was rebuilt after an unspecified catastrophe and is ordered by citizens' limited color perception. Professions, marriages, and leisure are dictated by visual ability, and the National Color enforces the rules. On the fringes of Red Sector West, Eddie Russett is pressured into an arranged marriage while facing trial for a murder he denies and risking execution by soporific color exposure. He is in an illegal relationship with his co-defendant Jane Grey, and they search for a hidden truth that might save them.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  2. 477. How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

    In 1965 a fortune-teller tells teenage Frances Adams she will be murdered. She spends a lifetime compiling dirt on everyone she meets to prevent that fate, but nearly sixty years later she is found dead at her sprawling country estate. Her great-niece Annie arrives and must sift through Frances's files and a village of possible suspects to catch the killer before she becomes the next target.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  3. 478. The Twist Of The Knife by Anthony Horowitz

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  4. 479. Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths

    When Cassie Fitzgerald attends a school reunion nearly twenty years after she and friends killed a classmate, she tries to keep the past buried. Cassie is now a married mother and a police officer who has almost erased the memory of that night. After MP Garfield Rice is found dead at the reunion, DI Harbinder Kaur leads the inquiry while Cassie suspects one of her classmates has struck again and skews the investigation until another attendee is found dead in Bleeding Heart Yard.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  5. 480. The Paradox Hotel by Rob Heart

    A sharp, world-weary security chief who keeps a luxury hotel for time travelers running into trouble must investigate a suspicious death that pulls back the curtains on corporate machinations and political intrigue spanning eras; chasing clues through shifting timelines, they confront personal grief and the moral cost of policing history while navigating a tense, noir-tinged mystery wrapped in clever speculative worldbuilding.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  6. 481. Aresenic And Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

    A warm, food-forward cozy mystery following a Filipino American woman who inherits her grandmother’s bakery and suddenly finds herself at the center of a local poisoning investigation; relying on family recipes, community ties, and her culinary skills, she works to clear her name, unearths small-town secrets, explores identity and grief, and navigates a slow-burning romance while the novel serves up humor, mouthwatering descriptions of Filipino food, and a comforting-but-twisty mystery.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  7. 482. The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

    A ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition dies and Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur initially sees nothing suspicious. Natalka found many crime novels dedicated to Peggy, each bearing a mysterious postscript: PS: for PS. A gunman breaks in to steal a book and an author is found dead soon after. As attacks spread from an Aberdeen literary festival to Edinburgh, Kaur follows leads across Europe and questions how authors devise such realistic crimes.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  8. 483. Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw

    A wry, compassionate physician who specializes in treating vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural patients in modern London is jolted into a dangerous investigation when one of her patients is violently killed; using medical skill, stubborn curiosity, and a ragged band of supernatural and human allies, she navigates occult politics, long-buried secrets, and rising prejudice to uncover the truth, balancing day-to-day care, personal loyalties, and the darker forces that threaten her community.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  9. 484. The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves

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  10. 485. The Silence Of The Lambs And Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

    A brilliant, incarcerated cannibal becomes the linchpin in two separate, harrowing FBI investigations: one in which a veteran profiler is drawn back to hunt a remorseless serial killer whose savagery and escalating obsession threatens innocent lives, and another in which a determined young trainee must outwit a twisted abductor to rescue a kidnapped woman. Both cases force agents into psychological warfare with manipulative, violent minds, exposing trauma, obsession, and the thin boundary between hunter and hunted as they race to prevent further murders.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
  11. 486. Origami Man by Matthew FitzSimmons

    Former Marine and wanted fugitive Gibson Vaughn is off the grid in the Caymans until the assassin Tinsley draws him out. Tinsley, the man who murdered Gibson's father and left him for dead, holds a heavily encrypted thumb drive that may be linked to a plot that could kill half a million people. Gibson and his team form a fraught truce with Tinsley to access the drive and abort a massacre. They race across Europe to find an elusive cyber psycho behind the malware.

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  12. 487. Cold Harbor by Matthew FitzSimmons

    After brutal isolation in a CIA black-site prison, former Marine and hacker Gibson Vaughn is freed with no idea where he was or how much time he has lost. Struggling to hold on to reality, he races to rebuild the life he left and becomes consumed by vengeance against the man responsible for his rendition. As old enemies and once-trusted allies resurface, a murderous conspiracy closes in and forces him to confront the truth about those he once trusted.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  13. 488. The Complete Adventures Of Feluda, Vol. 1 by Satyajit Ray

    A collection of engaging detective tales follows Pradosh Chandra “Feluda,” a razor-sharp private investigator, as he travels across India solving intricate mysteries with deductive flair. Narrated by his cousin Topshe, the stories pair cerebral puzzles and careful observation with vivid travelogue detail and comic relief from the eccentric writer Lalmohan (Jatayu), blending suspense, cultural color, and warm camaraderie. Each adventure features clever plotting, surprising twists, and a celebration of wit and curiosity that drives the investigations forward.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
  14. 489. Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark

    After actress Natalie Raines is found dying from a gunshot, police suspect her agent and soon to be ex-husband, Gregg Aldrich. Two years later a criminal says Aldrich tried to hire him to kill Natalie, and assistant prosecutor Emily Wallace takes the case. She gives a seemingly well meaning neighbor a key to care for her dog, unaware of his violent past. The trial draws headlines and eerie sentiments haunt Emily after the jury decides Aldrich's fate, putting her transplanted heart and life at risk.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  15. 490. Deeper Than The Dead by Tami Hoag

    When three children discover a shallow grave in 1984, a California community is shaken. The victim is a young woman with her eyes and lips sealed, the third in two years, and the FBI identifies a serial killer called the See-No-Evil killer. Agent Tony Mendez focuses on Dr. Peter Crane, a respected volunteer and father of one of the children. Tommy's teacher, Anne Navarre, is asked to probe tangled connections between two families and a revelation of evil so deep no one may survive.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  16. 491. Secrets To The Grave by Tami Hoag

    Marissa Fordham is dead. Her daughter is found at the crime scene, injured but alive. Sheriff’s detective Tony Mendez and child advocate Anne Leone begin to peel back layers of Marissa’s life, and the shocking truth they uncover puts them directly in the sights of a killer desperate to protect a stunning secret. Marissa Fordham never existed.

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  17. 492. Down The Darkest Road by Tami Hoag

    Four years after her sixteen-year-old daughter disappeared, Lauren Lawton is the only one still chasing the ghosts of their Santa Barbara life. She believes she knows who took her daughter but has no evidence. Her husband killed himself and the suspect still stalks the family. They move to Oak Knoll, but the suspect turns up there as Leah nears sixteen. Sheriff's detective Tony Mendez and his team begin to close in on an increasingly disturbing case that poses a stunning question.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  18. 493. Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson

    Three people have been killed: one pushed to her death, one who suffered a fatal overdose, and one shot in the heart. The victims are people labeled as obstacles and deserving of death. Cissy Cahill's family is unraveling as members die and she begins to feel watched. She hears footsteps, smells a woman's perfume, notices small personal items missing, and must uncover a shocking family secret rooted in the past before more blood is shed.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  19. 494. Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson

    A serial killer stalks New Orleans, leaving victims tattooed with a series of numbers. The only lead points to a crumbling asylum, Our Lady of Virtues Hospital, and to Eve Renner, who grew up exploring its secret chambers as the daughter of one of its doctors. As new bodies appear, Eve races to assemble a deadly puzzle while a killer watches and lures her back to the ruins where past betrayals may be revealed.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  20. 495. You Will Pay by Lisa Jackson

    A prank at Camp Horseshoe one summer intended to scare a fellow counselor left two girls missing and one presumed drowned. Two decades later, detective Lucas Dalton, whose father ran the camp and who worked there that summer, investigates human remains found in a cavern and has jeopardized his career by removing evidence. Five former counselors return, each with secrets, and start receiving notes bearing a personal memento and the message You will pay, then murders begin.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  21. 496. After She's Gone by Lisa Jackson

    Sisters Cassie and Allie leave Oregon to pursue acting in Los Angeles, but Allie becomes a star while Cassie remains stuck in bit parts. When Allie's body double is shot and Allie goes missing, police trace a last call to Cassie though she has no memory of placing it, and she is confined to a Portland psych ward amid public suspicion. Cassie checks out to find Allie, but macabre murders that mimic her family make her doubt everyone and herself.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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  22. 497. Weep No More, My Lady by Mary Higgins Clark

    Elizabeth Lange arrives at a spa in Pebble Beach, California, still grieving her sister Leila, who plunged to her death from her Manhattan penthouse. Dashing millionaire Ted Winters stands accused of murder, but Elizabeth doubts his guilt and sets out to uncover the truth. Along the windswept cliffs of the Monterey coast and among luxurious bungalows, uneasiness stalks her as glimpses of Leila's life and of Elizabeth herself begin to surface. An ominous threat from an unexpected source builds around her.

    The 17175th Greatest Book of All Time
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Reading Statistics

Click the button below to see how many of these books you've read!

Download

If you're interested in downloading this list as a CSV file for use in a spreadsheet application, you can easily do so by clicking the button below. Please note that to ensure a manageable file size and faster download, the CSV will include details for only the first 500 books.

Download

To download this list as a CSV file, please log in to your account. Once logged in, you'll be able to download the data for use in spreadsheet applications.

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