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
90 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
91 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
107 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
121 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
136 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
148 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
150 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
155 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
178 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
215 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
242 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
247 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
248 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
260 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
282 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
314 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
344 Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens 1864 British English
356 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
362 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
377 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
405 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
413 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
420 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
449 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
474 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
494 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
531 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
607 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
610 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
636 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
648 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
652 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
661 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
686 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
687 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
695 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
758 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
761 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
790 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
826 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
827 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
850 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
911 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
960 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
975 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
1021 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
1066 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
1074 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
1080 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1088 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1102 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
1122 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
1163 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
1172 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1193 The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkeley 1929 British English
1194 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
1235 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
1236 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
1290 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1331 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1374 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
1374 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
1388 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1411 The Hardy Boys Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
1412 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1419 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
1440 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
1443 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1512 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1527 Odessa Stories Isaac Babel 1923 Ukrainian Russian
1529 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1608 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
1617 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1639 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1648 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
1708 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
1712 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
1757 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
1763 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1781 The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake 1938 British English
1786 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
1785 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
1787 The Four Just Men Edgar Wallace 1905 British English
1808 Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers 1930 British English
1817 No Orchids for Miss Blandish James Hadley Chase 1939 British English
1820 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
1867 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
1889 Home Sweet Homicide Craig Rice 1944 American English
1891 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
1894 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
1946 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English
1958 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
1962 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
1967 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
1985 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
2000 The Zebra Striped Hearse Ross Macdonald 1962 American English
2042 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2053 The Nero Wolfe Series Rex Stout 1934 American English
2090 Goldfinger Ian Fleming 1959 British English
2092 The Sign of Four Arthur Conan Doyle 1890 British English
2092 The Murder At The Vicarage Agatha Christie 1930 British English
2106 Smallbone Deceased Michael Gilbert 1950 British English
2124 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
2135 Last Seen Wearing ... Hillary Waugh 1952 American English
2176 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
2185 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
2196 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
2196 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
2358 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2372 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
2466 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
2498 Dissolution C. J. Sansom 2003 British English
2521 A Rage In Harlem Chester Himes 1957 American English
2521 Pudd'nhead Wilson Mark Twain 1894 American English
2543 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
2561 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
2573 The Bone is Pointed Arthur William Upfield 1938 Australian English
2573 L'argent Émile Zola 1891 French French
2644 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English