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
79 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
83 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
118 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
122 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
140 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
164 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
179 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
187 An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser 1925 American English
209 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
231 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
244 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
249 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
305 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
309 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
319 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
324 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
334 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
372 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
383 Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens 1864 British English
470 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
496 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
506 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
512 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
514 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
517 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
570 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
595 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
620 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
623 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
624 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
633 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
668 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
688 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
692 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
767 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
781 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
900 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
939 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
962 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
988 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
1022 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
1050 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
1064 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
1073 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1085 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
1121 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
1122 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
1148 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1175 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1181 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
1228 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
1284 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1303 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
1314 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
1356 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1366 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
1376 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
1382 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1404 Dissolution C. J. Sansom 2003 British English
1431 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
1434 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1484 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
1514 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
1516 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
1530 The Hardy Boys Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
1592 Child 44 Tom Rob Smith 2008 Russian English
1621 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
1621 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
1657 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
1771 Odessa Stories Isaac Babel 1923 Ukrainian Russian
1820 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
1864 The Girl On The Train Paula Hawkins 2015 British English
1913 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
1924 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
1966 The Lost Symbol Dan Brown 2009 American English
2006 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
2051 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
2053 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
2056 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2059 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
2061 Last Seen Wearing ... Hillary Waugh 1952 American English
2063 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
2066 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
2067 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
2068 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
2073 Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers 1930 British English
2079 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
2095 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
2096 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
2097 A Thief Of Time Tony Hillerman 1988 American English
2098 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2100 A Morbid Taste For Bones Ellis Peters 1977 British English
2101 Smallbone Deceased Michael Gilbert 1950 British English
2110 My Sister, The Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite 2018 Nigerian English
2120 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English
2152 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
2173 The Alienist Caleb Carr 1994 American English
2182 The Bone Collector Jeffery Deaver 1997 American English
2213 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
2244 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders 1973 American English
2249 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
2252 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
2254 A Simple Plan Scott Smith 1993 American English
2257 Angels And Demons Dan Brown 2000 American English
2287 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
2356 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
2387 The Nero Wolfe Series Rex Stout 1934 American English
2442 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
2445 Billy Bathgate E. L. Doctorow 1989 American English
2450 The Crime of Father Amaro Eça de Queirós 1875 Portuguese Portuguese
2450 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
2450 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
2450 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
2450 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
2450 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
2450 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
2450 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
2450 The Late-night News Petros Markaris 1995 Greek Greek
2783 Going Native Stephen Wright 1994 American English