The Greatest Crime and Thrillers 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 467 '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
14 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
69 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
71 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1938 British English
102 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
115 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
116 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
123 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
135 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins 1860 British English
152 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
158 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco 1980 Italian Italian
180 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
188 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John le Carré 1963 British English
224 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
240 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
257 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
318 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
386 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
405 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
518 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
536 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
540 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
546 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
632 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
633 The Adventures of Caleb Williams William Godwin 1794 British English
638 Beast In View Margaret Millar 1955 Canadian English
692 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
706 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
736 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
741 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
747 A Kiss Before Dying Ira Levin 1953 American English
798 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
805 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
842 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
854 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
865 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
880 Double Indemnity James M. Cain 1943 American English
885 Misery Stephen King 1987 American English
901 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
997 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1013 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
1036 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1121 Rogue Male Geoffrey Household 1939 British English
1132 A Perfect Spy John le Carré 1986 British English
1161 Smiley's People John le Carré 1979 British English
1240 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown 2003 American English
1286 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
1294 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
1314 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1343 Psycho Robert Bloch 1959 American English
1383 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1401 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1430 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1454 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1460 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
1482 The Manchurian Candidate Richard Condon 1959 American English
1535 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1575 A Dark Adapted Eye Barbara Vine 1986 British English
1581 The Club Dumas Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1993 Spanish Spanish
1614 The Zebra Striped Hearse Ross Macdonald 1962 American English
1650 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
1676 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
1678 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
1686 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
1772 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
1797 The Collector John Fowles 1963 British English
1821 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
1903 Night Has A Thousand Eyes George Hopley 1945 American English
1958 If He Hollers Let Him Go Chester Himes 1945 American English
1982 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
1982 The Crime At Black Dudley Margery Allingham 1929 British English
1982 The Patient In Room 18 Mignon G. Eberhart 1929 American English
1982 The Conjure Man Dies Rudolph Fisher 1932 American English
1982 A Man Lay Dead Ngaio Marsh 1934 New Zealander English
2138 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2208 The Goodbye Look Ross Macdonald 1969 American English
2231 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
2387 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
2421 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2436 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
2433 Three To Kill Jean-Patrick Manchette 1976 French French
2455 The Four Just Men Edgar Wallace 1905 British English
2505 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
2539 The Little Sister Raymond Chandler 1949 American English
2555 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
2603 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
2619 The Pledge Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1958 Swiss German
2659 Strangers On A Train Patricia Highsmith 1950 American English
2672 Cutter and Bone Newton Thornburg 1976 American English
2746 Phantom Lady Cornell Woolrich 1942 American English
2845 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
2848 The Greek Coffin Mystery Ellery Queen 1932 American English
2862 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
2863 Case Histories Kate Atkinson 2004 British English
2882 Dead Time Eleanor Taylor Bland 1992 American English
2920 The Bone is Pointed Arthur William Upfield 1938 Australian English
2941 The Circular Staircase Mary Roberts Rinehart 1908 American English
2945 The Egyptian Cross Mystery Ellery Queen 1932 American English
2973 Along Came A Spider James Patterson 1993 American English
2975 Woman Of Straw Catherine Arley 1956 French French
2981 Midnight Plus One Gavin Lyall 1965 British English
2984 The Second Shot Anthony Berkeley 1930 British English
2994 The Guns Of Navarone Alistair MacLean 1957 British English
3012 When Death Comes Stealing Valerie Wilson Wesley 1994 American English
3029 Calamity Town Ellery Queen 1942 American English
3032 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
3050 For Kicks Dick Francis 1965 British English
3063 We Need To Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver 2003 American English
3056 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
3070 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
3072 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
3074 Laura Vera Caspary 1943 American English
3108 Blanche Passes Go Barbara Neely 2000 American English
3111 The Redbreast Jo Nesbø 2000 Norwegian Norwegian
3129 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
3123 Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
3140 Fade Away Harlan Coben 1996 American English
3227 Lady Joker Kaoru Takamura 1997 Japanese Japanese
3227 Morituri Yasmina Khadra 1997 Algerian French
3260 I, The Jury Mickey Spillane 1947 American English
3267 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English