The Greatest Crime Books of All Time

Click to learn how this list is calculated.

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
16 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
85 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
88 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
111 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
114 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
117 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
120 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
125 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
156 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
165 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
181 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
191 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
214 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
235 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
254 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
292 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
325 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
360 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
364 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
367 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
386 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
407 Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens 1864 British English
423 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
441 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
455 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
496 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
507 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
511 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
512 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
513 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
530 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
540 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
568 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
573 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
586 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
611 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
625 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
633 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
680 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
718 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
733 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
759 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
761 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
791 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
835 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
852 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
859 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
864 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
903 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
921 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
924 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
964 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
965 The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkeley 1929 British English
968 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
977 Mc Teague Frank Norris 1899 American English
999 Odessa Stories Isaac Babel 1923 Ukrainian Russian
1025 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
1037 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1086 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
1117 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1127 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1252 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1300 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1303 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1307 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1322 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1333 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1338 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
1341 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
1402 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
1431 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
1455 Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers 1930 British English
1462 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
1474 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
1542 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
1552 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
1570 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
1573 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
1584 Home Sweet Homicide Craig Rice 1944 American English
1632 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1645 The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake 1938 British English
1662 The Four Just Men Edgar Wallace 1905 British English
1705 The Hardy Boys Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
1716 The Nero Wolfe Series Rex Stout 1934 American English
1731 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
1745 The Zebra Striped Hearse Ross Macdonald 1962 American English
1768 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
1769 Last Seen Wearing ... Hillary Waugh 1952 American English
1821 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
1821 The Murderess Alexandros Papadiamantis 1903 Greek Greek
1900 Smallbone Deceased Michael Gilbert 1950 British English
1948 Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk Nikolai Leskov 1865 Russian Russian
1957 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
1966 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
1969 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
1980 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
2071 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
2080 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
2089 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
2119 The Crime At Black Dudley Margery Allingham 1929 British English
2119 The Conjure Man Dies Rudolph Fisher 1932 American English
2119 A Man Lay Dead Ngaio Marsh 1934 New Zealander English
2119 Beat Not The Bones Charlotte Jay 1952 Australian English
2268 The Goodbye Look Ross Macdonald 1969 American English
2340 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
2366 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2372 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
2422 No Orchids for Miss Blandish James Hadley Chase 1939 British English
2423 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2453 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
2465 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
2561 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2568 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
2590 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
2609 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
2623 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
2627 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
2688 The Little Sister Raymond Chandler 1949 American English
2704 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
2762 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English