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
14984 The Blue Hammer Ross Macdonald 1976 American English
14984 La Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
14984 We Were Once A Family Roxanna Asgarian 2023 Unknown English
15561 Stories T. C. Boyle 1998 American English
15561 A Song For The Dark Times Ian Rankin 2020 British English
15561 The Last Trial Scott Turow 2020 American English
15561 A Private Cathedral James Lee Burke 2020 American English
15610 The New Centurions Joseph Wambaugh 1970 American English
15636 Honor Thy Father Gay Talese 1971 American English
15680 The Whitewashed Tombs Kwei Quartey 2023 Ghanaian English
15680 Blue Heaven Joe Keenan American English
15767 Crime And Punishment Dostoyevsky 1866 Russian Russian
15809 The Complete Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
15843 Hard Rain Falling Don Carpenter 1966 American English
15870 No Beast So Fierce Edward Bunker 1973 American English
15893 Beat the Devil Claud Cockburn 1951 British English
15898 Hollywood Babylon Kenneth Anger 1959 American English
15898 The Maurizius Case Jakob Wassermann 1928 German German
15898 Diamonds Are Forever Ian Fleming 1956 British English
15898 The West Pier Patrick Hamilton 1952 British English
15898 Ill Met By Moonlight W. Stanley Moss 1950 British English
15898 Classic Crimes William Roughead 1951 Scottish English
15898 The Red Right Hand Joel Townsley Rogers 1945 American English
15898 You Can’t Win Jack Black 1926 American English
15898 Phantom Lady William Irish 1942 American English
15898 Vertigo Boileau-Narcejac 1954 French French
15898 Street Of No Return David Goodis 1954 American English
15898 The Killer Colin Wilson 1970 British English
15898 120, Rue De La Gare Léo Malet 1943 French French
15898 Blood Brothers Ernst Haffner 1932 German German
15898 He Who Whispers John Dickson Carr 1946 American English
15898 The Chinese Orange Mystery Ellery Queen 1934 American English
15898 The Big Bow Mystery Israel Zangwill 1895 British English
15898 Final Curtain Ngaio Marsh 1947 New Zealander English
15898 The Tower Treasure Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
15898 Memoirs De Vidocq Francois Eugene Vidocq 1828 French French
15898 Recollections Of A Detective Police Officer William Russell Waters 1856 British English
15898 File No 13 Émile Gaboriau 1867 French French
15898 The Mystery Of Orcival Émile Gaboriau 1866 French English
15898 Martin Hewitt, Investigator Arthur Morrison 1894 British English
15898 Prince Zaleski M. P. Shiel 1895 British English
15898 The Sands Of Windee Arthur William Upfield 1931 Australian English
15898 The Wheel Spins Ethel Lina White 1936 British English
16503 The Great Train Robbery Michael Crichton 1975 American English
15898 Above The Dark Circus Hugh Walpole 1931 British English
15898 The Big Clock Kenneth Fearing 1946 American English
15898 The Case Of The Abominable Snowman Nicholas Blake 1941 British English
15898 Death In The Wrong Room Anthony Gilbert 1947 British English
15898 The Engagement Georges Simenon 1933 Belgian French
15898 The Man In The Net Patrick Quentin 1956 American English
15898 An Oxford Tragedy J. C. Masterman 1933 British English
15898 A Pin To See The Peepshow F. Tennyson Jesse 1934 British English
15898 The Red Box Rex Stout 1937 American English
15898 Suicide Excepted Cyril Hare 1939 British English
15897 The Complete Stories Edgar Allan Poe 1832 American English
16504 The Chain Of Chance Stanislaw Lem 1976 Polish Polish
16532 Tracks In The Snow Godfrey Rathbone Benson 1906 British English
16532 R. S. V. P. Murder E. B. Eberhart 1938 Unknown English
16528 The Fortunate Pilgrim Mario Puzo 1965 American English
16519 Swamp Water Vereen Bell 1941 American English
16614 City Of The Dead Herbert Lieberman 1976 American English
16740 The Singing Sands Josephine Tey 1952 British English
16726 To Love And Be Wise Josephine Tey 1950 British English
16614 The Red Thumb Mark R Austin Freeman 1907 British English
16608 Curtain Agatha Christie 1975 British English
16674 Up At The Villa W. Somerset Maugham 1941 British English
16602 The Brothers Karamazov Fedor Dostoyevsky 1880 Russian Russian
17120 Killshot Elmore Leonard 1989 American English
17120 A Civil Action Jonathan Harr 1995 American English
17120 Newjack Ted Conover 2000 American English
17120 The Continental Op Dashiell Hammett 1974 American English
17120 Fleshmarket Close Ian Rankin 2004 Scottish English
17120 Born Yesterday Gordon Burn 2008 British English
17120 The Tenderness of Wolves Stef Penney 2006 British English
17120 Savages Don Winslow 2010 American English
17120 Mona Lisa Overdrive William Gibson 1988 American English
17120 Legs William Kennedy 1975 American English
17120 Billy Phelan's Greatest Game William Kennedy 1978 American English
17120 Hogg Samuel R. Delany 1995 American English
17120 The Indian Lawyer James Welch 1990 Native American English
17120 A Feast of Snakes Harry Crews 1976 American English
17120 An American Dream Norman Mailer 1965 American English
17120 Sleeping Beauty Ross Macdonald 1973 American English
17120 Nova Swing M. John Harrison 2006 British English
17120 Black Man Richard Morgan 2007 British English
17120 The Devil All The Time Donald Ray Pollock 2011 American English
17120 The Quantum Thief Hannu Rajaniemi 2010 Finnish English
17120 Love Wins Debbie Cenziper 2016 American English
17120 In A Dark, Dark Wood Ruth Ware 2015 British English
17120 The Widow Fiona Barton 2016 British English
17120 The Woman In The Window A. J. Finn 2018 American English
17120 A Crime In The Neighborhood Suzanne Berne 1997 American English
16895 The Stainless Steel Rat Harry Harrison 1961 American English
17120 Death In Andes Mario Vargas Llosa 1993 Peruvian Spanish
17120 The Thousand Crimes Of Ming Tsu Tom Lin 2021 American English
17120 The Physiognomy Jeffrey Ford 1997 American English
17120 Thraxas Martin Scott 1999 British English
17120 Trouble The Saints Alaya Dawn Johnson 2020 American English
17120 Make Room! Make Room! Harry Harrison 1966 American English
17120 The Murderer Roy Heath 1978 Guyanese English
17120 Original Sin P. D. James 1994 British English
17120 I Am Pilgrim Terry Hayes 2013 American English
17120 Red Notice Bill Browder 2015 American English
17120 Caravaggio Andrew Graham Dixon 2010 British English
17120 That Bird Has My Wings Jarvis Jay Masters 2009 American English
17120 Super Cannes J. G. Ballard 2000 British English
17120 Frozen Bryony Lavery 1998 British English
17069 The Mousetrap Agatha Christie 1952 British English
17120 Short Eyes Miguel Pinero 1974 American English
17120 Bad Marie Marcy Dermansky 2010 American English
17120 Pacific Tom Drury 2013 American English
17120 The End Of Vandalism Tom Drury 1994 American English
17120 The Nelson De Mille Collection Nelson DeMille 2003 American English
17120 Up Country Nelson DeMille 2002 American English
17120 The Deemster Hall Caine 1887 British English
17120 The Firm Of Girdlestone Arthur Conan Doyle 1890 British English
17120 The Last Widow Karin Slaughter 2019 American English
17120 Evil And The Mask Fuminori Nakamura 2010 Japanese Japanese
17120 The Isle Of Youth Laura Van den Berg 2013 American English
17120 Jack Glass Adam Roberts 2012 British English