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
13 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
73 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
96 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
102 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
120 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
146 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
160 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
165 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
172 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
188 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
193 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
231 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
254 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
255 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
262 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
271 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
276 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
292 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
359 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
363 Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens 1864 British English
379 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
388 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
397 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
444 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
453 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
458 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
486 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
498 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
584 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
673 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
683 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
691 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
704 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
705 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
717 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
729 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
761 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
823 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
825 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
855 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
905 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
913 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
921 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
936 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
972 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
980 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
992 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
1010 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
1031 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
1035 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
1053 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
1077 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1099 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
1104 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
1131 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
1181 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1205 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1207 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
1221 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
1229 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
1257 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
1278 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1319 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
1326 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
1332 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
1338 The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkeley 1929 British English
1340 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1445 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
1454 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1504 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
1506 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
1510 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
1512 The Hardy Boys Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
1527 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1546 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
1546 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
1546 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
1546 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1696 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
1697 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1698 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
1732 Odessa Stories Isaac Babel 1923 Ukrainian Russian
1796 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
1813 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
1847 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
1851 No Orchids for Miss Blandish James Hadley Chase 1939 British English
1875 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
1883 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
1954 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1956 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
1966 The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake 1938 British English
1974 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
1977 The Four Just Men Edgar Wallace 1905 British English
1983 The False Inspector Dew Peter Lovesey 1982 British English
1992 Last Seen Wearing ... Hillary Waugh 1952 American English
1996 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
2002 Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers 1930 British English
2006 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
2012 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
2017 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2021 Smallbone Deceased Michael Gilbert 1950 British English
2028 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2030 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
2036 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English
2052 Dissolution C. J. Sansom 2003 British English
2093 A Morbid Taste For Bones Ellis Peters 1977 British English
2105 Goldfinger Ian Fleming 1959 British English
2149 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders 1973 American English
2170 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
2224 The Sign of Four Arthur Conan Doyle 1890 British English
2241 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
2253 The Nero Wolfe Series Rex Stout 1934 American English
2262 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
2295 The Murder At The Vicarage Agatha Christie 1930 British English
2319 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
2326 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
2330 Six Days Of The Condor James Grady 1974 American English
2386 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
2401 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
2401 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German