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
2793 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2907 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
2919 Maigret And The Headless Corpse Georges Simenon 1955 Belgian French
2952 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
2982 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
3010 Point Blank Richard Stark 1962 American English
3012 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3019 The Murder At The Vicarage Agatha Christie 1930 British English
3018 The Ministry Of Fear Graham Greene 1943 British English
3019 The Madman Of Bergerac Georges Simenon 1932 Belgian French
3039 Whose Body? Dorothy L. Sayers 1923 British English
3056 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
3059 Ratking Michael Dibdin 1988 British English
3123 Cover Her Face P. D. James 1962 British English
3137 The False Inspector Dew Peter Lovesey 1982 British English
3142 The Cask Freeman Wills Crofts 1920 British English
3145 A Simple Plan Scott Smith 1993 American English
3147 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
3217 Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt 1994 American English
3226 Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
3249 Death On The Nile Agatha Christie 1937 British English
3266 Tales Of Mystery And Imagination Edgar Allan Poe 1908 American English
3270 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
3874 The Alienist Caleb Carr 1994 American English
3913 The Tiger In The Smoke Margery Allingham 1952 British English
3927 In The Woods Tana French 2007 Irish English
3938 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
4118 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
4150 The Devotion Of Suspect X Keigo Higashino 2005 Japanese Japanese
4172 The Bone Collector Jeffery Deaver 1997 American English
4227 The Light Of Day Eric Ambler 1962 British English
4261 A Morbid Taste For Bones Ellis Peters 1977 British English
4270 Eight Million Ways To Die Lawrence Block 1982 American English
4291 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
4300 The Fairy Gunmother Daniel Pennac 1987 French French
4309 The Case Of The Gilded Fly Edmund Crispin 1944 British English
4309 The Secret Adversary Agatha Christie 1922 British English
4309 A Gun For Sale Graham Greene 1936 British English
4309 Death At The President's Lodging Michael Innes 1936 British English
4309 The Strange Borders Of Palace Crescent E. Phillips Oppenheim 1934 British English
4309 The Getaway Jim Thompson 1958 American English
4482 The Night Of The Hunter Davis Grubb 1953 American English
4539 Affliction Russell Banks 1989 American English
4608 One Lonely Night Mickey Spillane 1951 American English
4615 The Fifth Woman Henning Mankell 1996 Swedish Swedish
4644 Midnight Plus One Gavin Lyall 1965 British English
4645 The Blue Room Georges Simenon 1964 French French
4674 The Witness For The Prosecution Agatha Christie 1925 British English
4705 The Red Redmaynes Eden Phillpotts 1922 British English
4723 The Bone is Pointed Arthur William Upfield 1938 Australian English
4734 Woman Of Straw Catherine Arley 1956 French French
4754 Angels And Demons Dan Brown 2000 American English
4756 The Second Shot Anthony Berkeley 1930 British English
4761 For Kicks Dick Francis 1965 British English
4765 The Abc Murders Agatha Christie 1936 British English
4767 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
4814 Dreamland Sam Quinones 2015 American English
4818 Cat Of Many Tails Ellery Queen 1949 American English
4825 The Hollow Needle Maurice Leblanc 1909 French French
4941 Ghettoside Jill Leovy 2015 American English
4955 Creeps By Night Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
5007 Dance Hall Of The Dead Tony Hillerman 1973 American English
5090 Poetic Justice Amanda Cross 1970 American English
5144 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
5148 Clouds Of Witness Dorothy L. Sayers 1926 British English
5171 The Third Omnibus Of Crime Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
5171 The Second Omnibus Of Crime Dorothy L. Sayers 1932 British English
5171 The Omnibus Of Crime Dorothy L. Sayers 1929 British English
5225 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
5292 The Terrorists Maj Sjöwall 1975 Swedish Swedish
5302 A Thief Of Time Tony Hillerman 1988 American English
5318 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
5318 The Goodbye Look Ross Macdonald 1969 American English
5322 The Remorseful Day Colin Dexter 1999 British English
5335 Vendetta Michael Dibdin 1990 British English
5335 Bones And Silence Reginald Hill 1990 British English
5347 The Last Coyote Michael Connelly 1995 American English
5353 Motherless Brooklyn Jonathan Lethem 1999 American English
5356 52 Pick Up Elmore Leonard 1974 American English
5368 White Jazz James Ellroy 1992 American English
5412 Nineteen Seventy Four David Peace 1999 British English
5427 Black Sunday Thomas Harris 1975 American English
5437 The Black Echo Michael Connelly 1992 American English
5464 Child 44 Tom Rob Smith 2008 Russian English
5466 Six Days Of The Condor James Grady 1974 American English
5490 Along Came A Spider James Patterson 1993 American English
5497 The Underground Man Ross Macdonald 1971 American English
5578 The Journeying Boy Michael Innes 1949 British English
5584 One For The Money Janet Evanovich 1994 American English
5589 L'argent Émile Zola 1891 French French
5600 Jar City Arnaldur Indriðason 2000 Icelandic Icelandic
5642 Naked In Death J.D. Robb 1995 American English
5643 Pop. 1280 Jim Thompson 1964 American English
5657 March Violets Philip Kerr 1989 British English
5659 Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke 2017 American English
5684 The Constant Gardener John le Carré 2001 British English
5691 Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 2019 Irish English
5694 Not A Penny More,Not A Penny Less Jeffrey Archer 1976 British English
5716 Anatomy Of A Murder Robert Traver 1958 American English