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
2795 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2909 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
2921 Maigret And The Headless Corpse Georges Simenon 1955 Belgian French
2954 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
2984 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
3013 Point Blank Richard Stark 1962 American English
3015 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3022 The Murder At The Vicarage Agatha Christie 1930 British English
3021 The Ministry Of Fear Graham Greene 1943 British English
3022 The Madman Of Bergerac Georges Simenon 1932 Belgian French
3042 Whose Body? Dorothy L. Sayers 1923 British English
3058 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
3061 Ratking Michael Dibdin 1988 British English
3124 Cover Her Face P. D. James 1962 British English
3138 The False Inspector Dew Peter Lovesey 1982 British English
3143 The Cask Freeman Wills Crofts 1920 British English
3146 A Simple Plan Scott Smith 1993 American English
3148 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
3218 Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt 1994 American English
3227 Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
3250 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English
3267 Tales Of Mystery And Imagination Edgar Allan Poe 1908 American English
3271 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
3318 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
3319 Metzger's Dog Thomas Perry 1983 American English
3321 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
3324 Cause for Alarm Eric Ambler 1938 British English
3389 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
3462 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders 1973 American English
3471 Little Caesar W. R. Burnett 1929 American English
3494 Laura Vera Caspary 1943 American English
3504 The Big Blowdown George P. Pelecanos 1996 American English
3508 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3520 Sidetracked Henning Mankell 1995 Swedish Swedish
3545 I, The Jury Mickey Spillane 1947 American English
3556 Tragedy At Law Cyril Hare 1942 British English
3610 Winter's Bone Daniel Woodrell 2006 American English
3629 Green For Danger Christianna Brand 1944 British English
3638 Maigret And The Old Lady Georges Simenon 1950 Belgian French
3638 Who Once Eats Out Of The Tin Bowl Hans Fallada 1934 German German
3638 The River Pirates Of The Mississippi Friedrich Gerstäcker 1848 German German
3638 The Criminal Of Lost Honor Friedrich Schiller 1786 German German
3638 Rinaldo Rinaldini, The Robber Captain Christian August Vulpius 1799 German German
3638 The Ringer Edgar Wallace 1925 British English
3873 The Alienist Caleb Carr 1994 American English
3912 The Tiger In The Smoke Margery Allingham 1952 British English
3926 In The Woods Tana French 2007 Irish English
3939 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
4119 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
4151 The Devotion Of Suspect X Keigo Higashino 2005 Japanese Japanese
4173 The Bone Collector Jeffery Deaver 1997 American English
4228 The Light Of Day Eric Ambler 1962 British English
4262 A Morbid Taste For Bones Ellis Peters 1977 British English
4271 Eight Million Ways To Die Lawrence Block 1982 American English
4292 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
4301 The Fairy Gunmother Daniel Pennac 1987 French French
4310 The Case Of The Gilded Fly Edmund Crispin 1944 British English
4310 The Secret Adversary Agatha Christie 1922 British English
4310 A Gun For Sale Graham Greene 1936 British English
4310 Death At The President's Lodging Michael Innes 1936 British English
4310 The Strange Borders Of Palace Crescent E. Phillips Oppenheim 1934 British English
4310 The Getaway Jim Thompson 1958 American English
4483 The Night Of The Hunter Davis Grubb 1953 American English
4540 Affliction Russell Banks 1989 American English
4609 One Lonely Night Mickey Spillane 1951 American English
4616 The Fifth Woman Henning Mankell 1996 Swedish Swedish
4645 Midnight Plus One Gavin Lyall 1965 British English
4646 The Blue Room Georges Simenon 1964 French French
4675 The Witness For The Prosecution Agatha Christie 1925 British English
4706 The Red Redmaynes Eden Phillpotts 1922 British English
4724 The Bone is Pointed Arthur William Upfield 1938 Australian English
4735 Woman Of Straw Catherine Arley 1956 French French
4755 Angels And Demons Dan Brown 2000 American English
4757 The Second Shot Anthony Berkeley 1930 British English
4762 For Kicks Dick Francis 1965 British English
4766 The Abc Murders Agatha Christie 1936 British English
4768 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
4815 Dreamland Sam Quinones 2015 American English
4819 Cat Of Many Tails Ellery Queen 1949 American English
4826 The Hollow Needle Maurice Leblanc 1909 French French
4943 Ghettoside Jill Leovy 2015 American English
4957 Creeps By Night Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
5010 Dance Hall Of The Dead Tony Hillerman 1973 American English
5092 Poetic Justice Amanda Cross 1970 American English
5146 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
5150 Clouds Of Witness Dorothy L. Sayers 1926 British English
5173 The Third Omnibus Of Crime Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
5173 The Second Omnibus Of Crime Dorothy L. Sayers 1932 British English
5173 The Omnibus Of Crime Dorothy L. Sayers 1929 British English
5227 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
5293 The Terrorists Maj Sjöwall 1975 Swedish Swedish
5303 A Thief Of Time Tony Hillerman 1988 American English
5319 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
5319 The Goodbye Look Ross Macdonald 1969 American English
5323 The Remorseful Day Colin Dexter 1999 British English
5336 Vendetta Michael Dibdin 1990 British English
5336 Bones And Silence Reginald Hill 1990 British English
5348 The Last Coyote Michael Connelly 1995 American English
5354 Motherless Brooklyn Jonathan Lethem 1999 American English
5357 52 Pick Up Elmore Leonard 1974 American English
5369 White Jazz James Ellroy 1992 American English
5383 All She Was Worth Miyuki Miyabe 1992 Japanese Japanese
5414 Nineteen Seventy Four David Peace 1999 British English
5429 Black Sunday Thomas Harris 1975 American English
5439 The Black Echo Michael Connelly 1992 American English
5466 Child 44 Tom Rob Smith 2008 Russian English
5468 Six Days Of The Condor James Grady 1974 American English
5492 Along Came A Spider James Patterson 1993 American English
5499 The Underground Man Ross Macdonald 1971 American English
5580 The Journeying Boy Michael Innes 1949 British English
5586 One For The Money Janet Evanovich 1994 American English
5592 L'argent Émile Zola 1891 French French
5603 Jar City Arnaldur Indriðason 2000 Icelandic Icelandic
5645 Naked In Death J.D. Robb 1995 American English
5646 Pop. 1280 Jim Thompson 1964 American English
5660 March Violets Philip Kerr 1989 British English
5662 Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke 2017 American English
5687 The Constant Gardener John le Carré 2001 British English
5694 Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 2019 Irish English
5697 Not A Penny More,Not A Penny Less Jeffrey Archer 1976 British English