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 394 '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
16 The Stranger Albert Camus 1942 French French
22 The Brothers Karamazov Fyodor Dostoevsky 1880 Russian Russian
31 Great Expectations Charles Dickens 1860 British English
39 Les Misérables Victor Hugo 1862 French French
63 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
58 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1938 British English
94 Native Son Richard Wright 1940 American English
93 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
103 The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1902 American English
110 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
112 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
114 A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess 1962 British English
120 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
123 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
143 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco 1980 Italian Italian
158 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins 1860 British English
159 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
197 A Good Man Is Hard to Find Flannery O'Connor 1953 American English
207 Brighton Rock Graham Greene 1938 British English
210 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John le Carré 1963 British English
213 East of Eden John Steinbeck 1952 American English
247 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
259 Cry, the Beloved Country Alan Paton 1948 South African English
254 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
277 Berlin Alexanderplatz Alfred Döblin 1929 German German
280 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
305 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
325 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
341 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
365 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
373 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
374 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
397 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain 1876 American English
333 Our Mutual Friend Charles Dickens 1864 British English
401 The Prophet Kahlil Gibran 1923 Lebanese English
412 Moll Flanders Daniel Defoe 1722 British English
425 The Secret Agent Joseph Conrad 1907 British English
434 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
440 The Human Comedy Honoré de Balzac 1830 French French
453 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
492 The Swindler Francisco de Quevedo 1626 Spanish Spanish
493 The Adventures of Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 1837 British English
504 Sanctuary William Faulkner 1931 American English
505 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
519 The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan 1915 British English
521 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
538 Neuromancer William Gibson 1984 American, Canadian English
544 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
545 Uncle Silas Sheridan Le Fanu 1864 Irish English
546 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
550 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
551 We Have Always Lived in the Castle Shirley Jackson 1962 American English
562 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
577 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
627 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
633 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
486 Thérèse Raquin Émile Zola 1867 French French
651 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
662 Decline and Fall Evelyn Waugh 1928 British English
663 The Case of Comrade Tulayev Victor Serge 1949 French French
664 The Adventures of Caleb Williams William Godwin 1794 British English
670 Beast In View Margaret Millar 1955 Canadian English
692 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
701 Los Siete Locos Roberto Arlt 1929 Argentinian Spanish
709 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
718 In A Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes 1947 American English
799 A Kiss Before Dying Ira Levin 1953 American English
828 Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers 1903 British English
835 Misery Stephen King 1987 American English
840 The Man with the Golden Arm Nelson Algren 1949 American English
844 Double Indemnity James M. Cain 1943 American English
852 The Goldfinch Donna Tartt 2013 American English
858 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 British English
868 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
880 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
882 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
900 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
922 True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey 2000 Australian English
942 Manon Lescaut Abbe Prevost 1731 French French
972 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
973 Odessa Stories Isaac Babel 1923 Ukrainian Russian
977 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
983 Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo 2012 American English
993 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
997 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1001 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1006 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
1008 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1030 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1034 La Bête humaine Émile Zola 1890 French French
1046 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1049 Rogue Male Geoffrey Household 1939 British English
1051 The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkeley 1929 British English
1085 Jesus' Son Denis Johnson 1992 American English
1093 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1111 The Ragazzi Pier Paolo Pasolini 1955 Italian Italian
1119 Nine Coaches Waiting Mary Stewart 1958 British English
1124 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
1130 Smiley's People John le Carré 1979 British English
1133 Winter's Tale Mark Helprin 1983 American English
1137 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
1142 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1204 Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd 1985 British English
1208 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
1218 The Devil In The White City Erik Larson 2003 American English
1222 A Perfect Spy John le Carré 1986 British English
1227 Far From the Tree Andrew Solomon 2012 American English
1240 Psycho Robert Bloch 1959 American English
1270 The Grass Is Singing Doris May Lessing 1950 British English
1276 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
1306 Carmen Prosper Mérimée 1845 French French
1310 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1313 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1314 Discipline and Punish Michel Foucault 1975 French French
1323 Studs Lonigan James T. Farrell 1932 American English
1329 The Manchurian Candidate Richard Condon 1959 American English
1335 Junky William S. Burroughs 1953 American English