The Greatest Crime Books of All Time

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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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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
14 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
89 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
93 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
114 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
119 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
138 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
156 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
168 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
178 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
180 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
204 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
235 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
243 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
281 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
283 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
285 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
293 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
303 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
329 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
390 Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens 1864 British English
402 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
430 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
431 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
480 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
482 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
484 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
485 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
494 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
514 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
528 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
610 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
624 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
635 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
685 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
695 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
696 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
758 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
787 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
834 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
855 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
856 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
870 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
883 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
885 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
928 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
986 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
991 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
1003 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
1004 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
1046 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
1053 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
1081 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
1084 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
1097 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
1105 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
1109 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1146 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1181 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
1184 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
1187 Dissolution C. J. Sansom 2003 British English
1199 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
1213 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
1274 The Girl On The Train Paula Hawkins 2015 British English
1298 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
1313 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
1330 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
1352 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1467 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
1479 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1516 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1526 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
1553 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
1565 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
1586 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
1626 The Lost Symbol Dan Brown 2009 American English
1656 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
1662 The Hardy Boys Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
1668 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
1668 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
1668 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
1668 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1707 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1711 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
1714 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
1774 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
1784 Child 44 Tom Rob Smith 2008 Russian English
1786 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
1790 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
1790 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
1805 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
1811 Angels And Demons Dan Brown 2000 American English
1855 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
1898 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1918 The False Inspector Dew Peter Lovesey 1982 British English
1932 Odessa Stories Isaac Babel 1923 Ukrainian Russian
2029 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
2050 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
2055 No Orchids for Miss Blandish James Hadley Chase 1939 British English
2078 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
2090 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
2160 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
2176 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
2179 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
2186 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2187 The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake 1938 British English
2188 The Big Blowdown George P. Pelecanos 1996 American English
2198 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
2203 The Four Just Men Edgar Wallace 1905 British English
2215 Sidetracked Henning Mankell 1995 Swedish Swedish
2218 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2221 Last Seen Wearing ... Hillary Waugh 1952 American English
2223 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
2225 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
2233 Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers 1930 British English
2244 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
2260 A Thief Of Time Tony Hillerman 1988 American English
2261 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2264 A Morbid Taste For Bones Ellis Peters 1977 British English
2267 Smallbone Deceased Michael Gilbert 1950 British English
2283 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English