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
14985 The Blue Hammer Ross Macdonald 1976 American English
14985 La Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
14985 We Were Once A Family Roxanna Asgarian 2023 Unknown English
15567 Stories T. C. Boyle 1998 American English
15567 A Song For The Dark Times Ian Rankin 2020 British English
15567 The Last Trial Scott Turow 2020 American English
15567 A Private Cathedral James Lee Burke 2020 American English
15616 The New Centurions Joseph Wambaugh 1970 American English
15642 Honor Thy Father Gay Talese 1971 American English
15686 The Whitewashed Tombs Kwei Quartey 2023 Ghanaian English
15686 Blue Heaven Joe Keenan American English
15784 Crime And Punishment Dostoyevsky 1866 Russian Russian
15823 The Complete Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
15854 Hard Rain Falling Don Carpenter 1966 American English
15880 No Beast So Fierce Edward Bunker 1973 American English
15910 Beat the Devil Claud Cockburn 1951 British English
15916 Hollywood Babylon Kenneth Anger 1959 American English
15916 The Maurizius Case Jakob Wassermann 1928 German German
15916 Diamonds Are Forever Ian Fleming 1956 British English
15916 The West Pier Patrick Hamilton 1952 British English
15916 Ill Met By Moonlight W. Stanley Moss 1950 British English
15916 Classic Crimes William Roughead 1951 Scottish English
15916 The Red Right Hand Joel Townsley Rogers 1945 American English
15916 You Can’t Win Jack Black 1926 American English
15916 Phantom Lady William Irish 1942 American English
15916 Vertigo Boileau-Narcejac 1954 French French
15916 Street Of No Return David Goodis 1954 American English
15916 The Killer Colin Wilson 1970 British English
15916 120, Rue De La Gare Léo Malet 1943 French French
15916 Blood Brothers Ernst Haffner 1932 German German
15916 He Who Whispers John Dickson Carr 1946 American English
15916 The Chinese Orange Mystery Ellery Queen 1934 American English
15916 The Big Bow Mystery Israel Zangwill 1895 British English
15916 Final Curtain Ngaio Marsh 1947 New Zealander English
15916 The Tower Treasure Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
15916 Memoirs De Vidocq Francois Eugene Vidocq 1828 French French
15916 Recollections Of A Detective Police Officer William Russell Waters 1856 British English
15916 File No 13 Émile Gaboriau 1867 French French
15916 The Mystery Of Orcival Émile Gaboriau 1866 French English
15916 Martin Hewitt, Investigator Arthur Morrison 1894 British English
15916 Prince Zaleski M. P. Shiel 1895 British English
15916 The Sands Of Windee Arthur William Upfield 1931 Australian English
15916 The Wheel Spins Ethel Lina White 1936 British English
16518 The Great Train Robbery Michael Crichton 1975 American English
15916 Above The Dark Circus Hugh Walpole 1931 British English
15916 The Big Clock Kenneth Fearing 1946 American English
15916 The Case Of The Abominable Snowman Nicholas Blake 1941 British English
15916 Death In The Wrong Room Anthony Gilbert 1947 British English
15916 The Engagement Georges Simenon 1933 Belgian French
15916 The Man In The Net Patrick Quentin 1956 American English
15916 An Oxford Tragedy J. C. Masterman 1933 British English
15916 A Pin To See The Peepshow F. Tennyson Jesse 1934 British English
15916 The Red Box Rex Stout 1937 American English
15916 Suicide Excepted Cyril Hare 1939 British English
15912 The Complete Stories Edgar Allan Poe 1832 American English
15889 The Chain Of Chance Stanislaw Lem 1976 Polish Polish
15886 Swamp Water Vereen Bell 1941 American English
16552 Tracks In The Snow Godfrey Rathbone Benson 1906 British English
16552 R. S. V. P. Murder E. B. Eberhart 1938 Unknown English
16529 Up At The Villa W. Somerset Maugham 1941 British English
16546 The Fortunate Pilgrim Mario Puzo 1965 American English
16808 Hercule Poirot Agatha Christie 1920 British English
16646 City Of The Dead Herbert Lieberman 1976 American English
16777 The Singing Sands Josephine Tey 1952 British English
16771 To Love And Be Wise Josephine Tey 1950 British English
16797 The Man In The Queue Josephine Tey 1929 British English
16646 The Red Thumb Mark R Austin Freeman 1907 British English
16639 Curtain Agatha Christie 1975 British English
16780 The Talented Mr. Ripley / Ripley Under Ground / Ripley's Game Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
16638 The Brothers Karamazov Fedor Dostoyevsky 1880 Russian Russian
17164 Killshot Elmore Leonard 1989 American English
17164 A Civil Action Jonathan Harr 1995 American English
17164 Newjack Ted Conover 2000 American English
17164 The Continental Op Dashiell Hammett 1974 American English
17164 Fleshmarket Close Ian Rankin 2004 Scottish English
17164 Born Yesterday Gordon Burn 2008 British English
17164 The Tenderness of Wolves Stef Penney 2006 British English
17164 Savages Don Winslow 2010 American English
17164 Mona Lisa Overdrive William Gibson 1988 American English
17164 Legs William Kennedy 1975 American English
17164 Billy Phelan's Greatest Game William Kennedy 1978 American English
17164 Hogg Samuel R. Delany 1995 American English
17164 The Indian Lawyer James Welch 1990 Native American English
17164 A Feast of Snakes Harry Crews 1976 American English
17164 An American Dream Norman Mailer 1965 American English
17164 Sleeping Beauty Ross Macdonald 1973 American English
17164 Nova Swing M. John Harrison 2006 British English
17164 Black Man Richard Morgan 2007 British English
17164 The Devil All The Time Donald Ray Pollock 2011 American English
17164 The Quantum Thief Hannu Rajaniemi 2010 Finnish English
17164 Love Wins Debbie Cenziper 2016 American English
17164 In A Dark, Dark Wood Ruth Ware 2015 British English
17164 The Widow Fiona Barton 2016 British English
17164 The Woman In The Window A. J. Finn 2018 American English
17164 A Crime In The Neighborhood Suzanne Berne 1997 American English
16935 The Stainless Steel Rat Harry Harrison 1961 American English
17164 Death In Andes Mario Vargas Llosa 1993 Peruvian Spanish
17164 The Thousand Crimes Of Ming Tsu Tom Lin 2021 American English
17164 The Physiognomy Jeffrey Ford 1997 American English
17164 Thraxas Martin Scott 1999 British English
17164 Trouble The Saints Alaya Dawn Johnson 2020 American English
17164 Make Room! Make Room! Harry Harrison 1966 American English
17164 The Murderer Roy Heath 1978 Guyanese English
17164 Original Sin P. D. James 1994 British English
17164 I Am Pilgrim Terry Hayes 2013 American English
17164 Red Notice Bill Browder 2015 American English
17164 Caravaggio Andrew Graham Dixon 2010 British English
17164 That Bird Has My Wings Jarvis Jay Masters 2009 American English
17164 Super Cannes J. G. Ballard 2000 British English
17164 Frozen Bryony Lavery 1998 British English
17112 The Mousetrap Agatha Christie 1952 British English
17164 Short Eyes Miguel Pinero 1974 American English
17164 Bad Marie Marcy Dermansky 2010 American English
17164 Pacific Tom Drury 2013 American English
17164 The End Of Vandalism Tom Drury 1994 American English
17164 The Nelson De Mille Collection Nelson DeMille 2003 American English
17164 Up Country Nelson DeMille 2002 American English
17164 The Deemster Hall Caine 1887 British English
17164 The Firm Of Girdlestone Arthur Conan Doyle 1890 British English
17164 The Last Widow Karin Slaughter 2019 American English