The Greatest Crime Books of All Time
Click to learn how this list is calculated.
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.
| Rank | Book | Authors | Year | Country | Language | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10109 | Tokyo Year Zero | David Peace | 2007 | British | English | |
| 10119 | Dogstar Rising | Parker Bilal | 2013 | Egyptian | English | |
| 10119 | The Cuckoo’s Calling | J. K. Rowling | 2013 | British | English | |
| 10119 | Ghostman | Roger Hobbs | 2013 | American | English | |
| 10136 | Running Dog | Don DeLillo | 1978 | American | English | |
| 10158 | The Confession; Liberation Movements | Olen Steinhauer | 2004 | American | English | |
| 10176 | The Kill Artist | Daniel Silva | 2000 | American | English | |
| 10200 | From Hell | Alan Moore | 1991 | British | English | |
| 10215 | Underworld | Reginald Hill | 1988 | British | English | |
| 10222 | I Have Some Questions For You | Rebecca Makkai | 2023 | American | English | |
| 10224 | The Trees | Percival Everett | 2021 | American | English | |
| 10234 | Burning Down The House | Russell Wangersky | 2008 | Canadian | English | |
| 10272 | The Wicked Boy | Kate Summerscale | 2016 | British | English | |
| 10295 | Murderland | Caroline Fraser | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 10300 | Death Notice | Zhou Haohui | 2014 | Chinese | Chinese | |
| 10359 | El Rastro | Jorge Gómez Jiménez | 2005 | Venezuelan | Unknown | |
| 10402 | Drama City | George P. Pelecanos | 2005 | American | English | |
| 10408 | The Harder They Come | Michael Thelwell | 1980 | American | English | |
| 10434 | Gomorrah | Roberto Saviano | 2006 | Italian | Italian | |
| 10514 | The Cabinet Of Curiosities | Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child | 2002 | American | English | |
| 10548 | The Darkness | Ragnar Jonasson | 2015 | Icelandic | Icelandic | |
| 10548 | A Book Of Scars | William Shaw | 2015 | British | English | |
| 10553 | The Suspicions of Mr Whicher | Kate Summerscale | 2008 | British | English | |
| 10568 | Land Of Shadows | Rachel Howzell Hall | 2014 | American | English | |
| 10580 | Some People Need Killing | Patricia Evangelista | 2023 | Unknown | English | |
| 10597 | Firekeeper's Daughter | Angeline Boulley | 2021 | American | English | |
| 10626 | Fair Play | Louise Hegarty | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 10680 | Unscripted | James B. Stewart, Rachel Abrams | 2023 | Unknown | English | |
| 10691 | The Tragedy Of True Crime | John J. Lennon | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 10722 | Rampart Street | David Fulmer | 2006 | American | English | |
| 10747 | Ballad Of Dogs' Beach | José Cardoso Pires | 1982 | Portuguese | Portuguese | |
| 10811 | Dodgers | Bill Beverly | 2016 | American | English | |
| 10817 | An Untamed State | Roxane Gay | 2014 | American | English | |
| 10818 | Skeleton Key | Anthony Horowitz | 2002 | British | English | |
| 10836 | Bleeding Edge | Thomas Pynchon | 2013 | American | English | |
| 10838 | I, Alex Cross | James Patterson | 2009 | American | English | |
| 10851 | The Albany Cycle | William Kennedy | 1983 | American | English | |
| 10851 | Berlin Noir | Philip Kerr | 1989 | British | English | |
| 10891 | Lola In The Mirror | Trent Dalton | 2023 | Australian | English | |
| 10912 | La Casa Del Padre | Justo Navarro | 2015 | Spanish | Spanish | |
| 10930 | Consent To Kill | Vince Flynn | 2005 | American | English | |
| 10932 | Blowback | Brad Thor | 2005 | American | English | |
| 10984 | The Eighth Day | Thornton Wilder | 1967 | American | English | |
| 11013 | Camino de Perdición | Luis Mateo Díez | 2007 | Spanish | Spanish | |
| 11072 | The Lost Man | Jane Harper | 2018 | Australian | English | |
| 11072 | London Rules | Mick Herron | 2018 | British | English | |
| 11072 | Smoke And Ashes | Abir Mukherjee | 2018 | British | English | |
| 11088 | Die Mördergrube | Werner Steinberg | 1960 | German | German | |
| 11130 | The Widows Of Malabar Hill | Sujata Massey | 2018 | American | English | |
| 11161 | The Destroyers | Christopher Bollen | 2017 | American | English | |
| 11212 | A Sight for Sore Eyes | Ruth Rendell | 1999 | British | English | |
| 11227 | The Real Lolita | Sarah Weinman | 2018 | Unknown | English | |
| 11244 | The Peepshow | Kate Summerscale | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 11286 | Heartsick | Chelsea Cain | 2007 | American | English | |
| 11273 | Shella | Andrew Vachss | 1993 | American | English | |
| 11294 | No Way Out | Cara Hunter | 2019 | British | English | |
| 11294 | The Border | Don Winslow | 2019 | American | English | |
| 11315 | The Little Friend | Donna Tartt | 2002 | American | English | |
| 11318 | The Neighborhood | Mario Vargas Llosa | 2016 | Peruvian | English | |
| 11353 | The Girl In The Green Dress | Jeni Haynes | 2019 | Unknown | English | |
| 11415 | Winter Counts | David Heska Wanbli Weiden | 2020 | American | English | |
| 11418 | The Onion Field | Joseph Wambaugh | 1973 | American | English | |
| 11522 | 206 Bones | Kathy Reichs | 2009 | American | English | |
| 11521 | Dial A For Aunties | Jesse Q. Sutanto | 2021 | Indonesian | English | |
| 11568 | Ghostwritten | David Mitchell | 1999 | British | English | |
| 11576 | Dirty Snow | Georges Simenon | 1948 | Belgian | French | |
| 11660 | The North Water | Ian McGuire | 2016 | British | English | |
| 11794 | The Bride Collector | Ted Dekker | 2010 | American | English | |
| 11660 | Macbeth | Jo Nesbø | 2018 | Norwegian | English | |
| 11660 | Cherry | Nico Walker | 2018 | American | English | |
| 11660 | Only To Sleep | Lawrence Osborne | 2018 | British | English | |
| 11660 | The Witch Elm | Tana French | 2018 | Irish | English | |
| 11802 | Point Blanc | Anthony Horowitz | 2001 | British | English | |
| 11831 | 61 Hours | Lee Child | 2010 | British | English | |
| 11920 | Skeleton Man | Tony Hillerman | 2004 | American | English | |
| 11939 | Lindbergh | A. Scott Berg | 1998 | American | English | |
| 11939 | G Man | Beverly Gage | 2022 | American | English | |
| 12048 | Survivor’s Guilt | Robyn Gigl | 2023 | American | English | |
| 12048 | Red April | Santiago Roncagliolo | 2002 | Peruvian | Spanish | |
| 12083 | The Potter's Field | Ellis Peters | 1989 | British | English | |
| 12124 | The Zorg | Siddharth Kara | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12145 | The Book Of Evidence | John Banville | 1989 | Irish | English | |
| 12164 | Little Bosses Everywhere | Bridget Read | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12187 | Allegedly | Tiffany D. Jackson | 2017 | American | English | |
| 12209 | Girls Play Dead | Jen Percy | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12233 | The Killing Fields Of East New York | Stacy Horn | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12258 | Because It Is Bitter, And Because It Is My Heart | Joyce Carol Oates | 1990 | American | English | |
| 12258 | G Is For Gumshoe | Sue Grafton | 1990 | American | English | |
| 12288 | The Librarians | Sherry Thomas | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12295 | The Payback | Kashana Cauley | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12427 | The Good Liar | Denise Mina | 2025 | Scottish | English | |
| 12429 | Born In Flames | Bench Ansfield | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12458 | Marble Hall Murders | Anthony Horowitz | 2025 | British | English | |
| 12459 | This Book Will Bury Me | Ashley Winstead | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12461 | The Inheritance | Trisha Sakhlecha | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12462 | El Dorado Drive | Megan Abbott | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12467 | The Note | Alafair Burke | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12497 | No More Tears | Gardiner Harris | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12501 | The Savage, Noble Death Of Babs Dionne | Ron Currie Jr. | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12547 | Picks And Shovels | Cory Doctorow | 2025 | Canadian | English | |
| 12559 | The Stalker | Paula Bomer | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12599 | The Winter Warriors | Olivier Norek | 2024 | French | French | |
| 12629 | The Impossible Fortune | Richard Osman | 2025 | British | English | |
| 12639 | Murder Ballads | Katy Horan | Unknown | English | ||
| 12655 | The Barbary Coast | Herbert Asbury | 2009 | American | English | |
| 12678 | The Secret History Of The Rape Kit | Pagan Kennedy | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12713 | The Feather Detective | Chris Sweeney | British | English | ||
| 12749 | The Naming Of The Birds | Paraic O'Donnell | 2025 | Irish | English | |
| 12786 | The Jailhouse Lawyer | Calvin Duncan, Sophie Cull | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12790 | The True Happiness Company | Veena Dinavahi | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12801 | Captain's Dinner | Adam Cohen | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12816 | The Fort Bragg Cartel | Seth Harp | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12832 | Killing Color | Charlotte W. Sherman | 1992 | American | English | |
| 12860 | The Doorman | Chris Pavone | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12865 | Hollow Spaces | Victor Suthammanont | 2025 | Unknown | English | |
| 12861 | The Bleeding Season | Greg F. Gifune | 2003 | American | English | |
| 12904 | Sister, Sinner | Claire Hoffman | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12912 | Bone Valley | Gilbert King | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12923 | They Poisoned The World | Mariah Blake | 2025 | American | English | |
| 12948 | The Gossip Columnist's Daughter | Peter Orner | 2025 | American | English |