The 100 Best Crime Novels and Thrillers since 1945

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

The Times, 100 Books

The Times team pick their favourite crime and spy novels, from Agatha Christie and Georges Simenon to today’s edgy Scandi and Japanese masters.

Contributors: Francesca Angelini, John Carey, Max Freeman-Mills, Josh Glancy, Andrew Holgate, Alan Hunter, Peter Kemp, Claire Lowdon, David Mills, John Dugdale, Patricia Nicol, Nick Rennison, Karen Robinson, Mika Ross-Southall, Joan Smith, Johanna Thomas-Corr

This list was originally published in 2019 and was added to this site over 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
9151 Mercy Jussi Adler-Olsen 2007 Danish Danish
587 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
7937 Absolute Power David Baldacci 1996 American English
5763 The Deadly Percheron John Franklin Bardin 1946 American English
8185 Blacklands Belinda Bauer 2010 British English
10815 Dodgers Bill Beverly 2016 American English
10122 Dogstar Rising Parker Bilal 2013 Egyptian English
1640 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
9007 August Heat Andrea Camilleri 2006 Italian Italian
5125 Thus Was Adonis Murdered Sarah Caudwell 1981 British English
9672 Frozen Moment Camilla Ceder 2010 Swedish Swedish
161 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
1930 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
5763 Sparkling Cyanide Agatha Christie 1945 British English
1048 The Hunt for Red October Tom Clancy 1984 American English
9672 Blue Lightning Ann Cleeves 2010 British English
8402 About The Author John Colapinto 2001 American English
961 The Manchurian Candidate Richard Condon 1959 American English
5348 The Last Coyote Michael Connelly 1995 American English
1352 The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton 1969 American English
1214 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
6206 Kolymsky Heights Lionel Davidson 1994 British English
966 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
3061 Ratking Michael Dibdin 1988 British English
1646 The Pledge Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1958 Swiss German
114 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco 1980 Italian Italian
2517 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
9533 City Of Veils Zoë Ferraris 2009 Saudi Arabian English
495 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
791 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
415 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
10122 The Cuckoo’s Calling J. K. Rowling 2013 British English
9303 The Bellini Card Jason Goodwin 2008 British English
586 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
1801 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
9007 Little Face Sophie Hannah 2006 British English
10303 Death Notice Zhou Haohui 2014 Chinese Chinese
5763 With A Bare Bodkin Cyril Hare 1946 British English
11076 The Lost Man Jane Harper 2018 Australian English
2639 Fatherland Robert Harris 1992 British English
578 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
7022 The Girl On The Train Paula Hawkins 2015 British English
11076 London Rules Mick Herron 2018 British English
2931 Tourist Season Carl Hiaasen 1986 American English
143 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
5763 Cotton Comes To Harlem Chester Himes 1965 American English
10122 Ghostman Roger Hobbs 2013 American English
862 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
7998 Magpie Murders Anthony Horowitz 2016 British English
1183 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
11298 No Way Out Cara Hunter 2019 British English
9672 Strange Shores Arnaldur Indriðason 2010 Icelandic Icelandic
5763 Unnatural Causes P. D. James 1967 British English
5763 The Lady In The Car With Glasses And A Gun Sebastien Japrisot 1966 French French
10551 The Darkness Ragnar Jonasson 2015 Icelandic Icelandic
5660 March Violets Philip Kerr 1989 British English
2298 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
8315 The Bottoms Joe R. Lansdale 2000 American English
2190 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
233 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John le Carré 1963 British English
9823 Alex Pierre Lemaitre 2011 French French
7937 Acqua Alta Donna Leon 1996 Italian English
1111 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
5861 Jack’s Return Home Ted Lewis 1970 British English
6892 The Company Robert Littell 2002 American English
9533 Black Water Rising Attica Locke 2009 American English
1500 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
1899 The Zebra Striped Hearse Ross Macdonald 1962 American English
1445 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
10303 The Weight Of Blood Laura McHugh 2014 American English
7881 13 Hours Deon Meyer 2008 South African Afrikaans
1153 Beast In View Margaret Millar 1955 Canadian English
8529 Sanctum Denise Mina 2002 Scottish English
9823 The Frozen Dead Bernard Minier 2011 French French
1322 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
11076 Smoke And Ashes Abir Mukherjee 2018 British English
6440 The Snowman Jo Nesbø 2007 Norwegian Norwegian
6583 Hardball Sara Paretsky 2009 American English
3319 Metzger's Dog Thomas Perry 1983 American English
242 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
7198 Hide And Seek Ian Rankin 1991 British English
10122 The Invisible Guardian Dolores Redondo 2013 Spanish Spanish
7937 The Keys To The Street Ruth Rendell 1996 British English
9672 Heartstone C. J. Sansom 2010 British English
8315 Last Seen In Massilia Steven Saylor 2000 American English
6240 Harry’s Game Gerald Seymour 1975 British English
10551 A Book Of Scars William Shaw 2015 British English
9970 The Silence Of The Sea Yrsa Sigurdardottir 2012 Icelandic Icelandic
2921 Maigret And The Headless Corpse Georges Simenon 1955 Belgian French
3013 Point Blank Richard Stark 1962 American English
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
9303 Bleeding Heart Square Andrew Taylor 2008 British English
1264 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1679 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1491 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
8305 The Ghost Riders Of Ordebec Fred Vargas 2011 French French
1739 A Fatal Inversion Barbara Vine 1987 British English
9823 The Collini Case Ferdinand Von Schirach 2011 German German
11298 The Border Don Winslow 2019 American English
6255 Six Four Hideo Yokoyama 2012 Japanese Japanese