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
12 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
86 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
88 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
112 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
123 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
153 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
164 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
169 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
191 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
209 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
230 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
253 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
259 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
291 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
308 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
315 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
337 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
338 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
340 Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens 1864 British English
350 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
471 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
483 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
491 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
502 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
523 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
545 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
558 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
574 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
591 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
603 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
614 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
645 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
663 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
669 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
681 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
695 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
716 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
841 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
924 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
945 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
952 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
956 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
1013 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1016 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
1029 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
1083 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1090 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
1118 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
1154 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
1164 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
1188 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
1249 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1258 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
1279 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
1295 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1345 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1358 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
1362 The Hardy Boys Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
1378 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
1381 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1446 Dissolution C. J. Sansom 2003 British English
1463 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
1463 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
1479 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
1485 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
1487 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1596 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
1655 Odessa Stories Isaac Babel 1923 Ukrainian Russian
1719 Child 44 Tom Rob Smith 2008 Russian English
1726 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
1826 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
1834 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
1844 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
1869 The Lost Symbol Dan Brown 2009 American English
1910 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
1953 The Nero Wolfe Series Rex Stout 1934 American English
1974 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
1975 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
1981 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
1983 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1985 Last Seen Wearing ... Hillary Waugh 1952 American English
1987 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1993 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
1994 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
2012 Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers 1930 British English
2014 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
2015 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
2016 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
2017 A Thief Of Time Tony Hillerman 1988 American English
2018 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2019 A Morbid Taste For Bones Ellis Peters 1977 British English
2022 Smallbone Deceased Michael Gilbert 1950 British English
2032 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
2038 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English
2039 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
2039 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
2039 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
2039 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
2039 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
2039 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
2039 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
2039 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
2039 The Late-night News Petros Markaris 1995 Greek Greek
2352 My Sister, The Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite 2018 Nigerian English
2371 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
2404 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
2410 The Alienist Caleb Carr 1994 American English
2443 The Bone Collector Jeffery Deaver 1997 American English
2495 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
2513 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders 1973 American English
2523 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
2539 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
2547 A Simple Plan Scott Smith 1993 American English
2615 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
2616 Angels And Demons Dan Brown 2000 American English
2732 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
2799 The Bone is Pointed Arthur William Upfield 1938 Australian English
2799 Jar City Arnaldur Indriðason 2000 Icelandic Icelandic
2799 The Fifth Woman Henning Mankell 1996 Swedish Swedish
2926 The Girl On The Train Paula Hawkins 2015 British English