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
61 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
88 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
100 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
109 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
111 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
118 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
122 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
156 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
189 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
193 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
205 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
241 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
265 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
275 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
304 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
322 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
336 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
361 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
368 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
369 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
397 Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens 1864 British English
422 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
423 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
431 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
449 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
483 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
494 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
496 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
510 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
533 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
541 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
554 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
568 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
618 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
625 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
641 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
646 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
657 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
705 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
714 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
834 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
851 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
862 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
895 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
970 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
971 Odessa Stories Isaac Babel 1923 Ukrainian Russian
975 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
983 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
991 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
994 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
998 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1003 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
1005 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1028 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1032 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
1044 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1050 The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkeley 1929 British English
1089 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1121 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
1132 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
1137 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1160 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
1205 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
1271 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
1308 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1362 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1373 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
1396 Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers 1930 British English
1407 The Zebra Striped Hearse Ross Macdonald 1962 American English
1411 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1424 The Hardy Boys Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
1428 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1468 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
1469 Home Sweet Homicide Craig Rice 1944 American English
1487 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
1547 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
1564 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1570 The Nero Wolfe Series Rex Stout 1934 American English
1604 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
1707 Smallbone Deceased Michael Gilbert 1950 British English
1712 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
1786 Last Seen Wearing ... Hillary Waugh 1952 American English
1812 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
1820 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
1854 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
1857 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
1922 The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake 1938 British English
1923 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
1924 The Four Just Men Edgar Wallace 1905 British English
1997 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
2010 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
2019 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
2019 The Crime At Black Dudley Margery Allingham 1929 British English
2019 The Conjure Man Dies Rudolph Fisher 1932 American English
2019 A Man Lay Dead Ngaio Marsh 1934 New Zealander English
2019 Beat Not The Bones Charlotte Jay 1952 Australian English
2097 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
2099 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
2151 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
2188 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2293 The Goodbye Look Ross Macdonald 1969 American English
2234 The Murderess Alexandros Papadiamantis 1903 Greek Greek
2299 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
2307 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
2321 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
2348 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
2365 Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk Nikolai Leskov 1865 Russian Russian
2418 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
2431 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
2440 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
2453 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
2509 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2583 Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt 1994 American English
2616 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
2676 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2685 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English
2715 The Decagon House Murders Yukito Ayatsuji 1987 Japanese Japanese
2761 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
2828 Dreamland Sam Quinones 2015 American English