The Greatest Crime Books Since 1952

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.

View: List Grid Table
Filter by: Genres Dates Countries

Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
109 In Cold Blood Truman Capote 1966 American English
143 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
161 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
242 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
310 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
415 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
495 Casino Royale Ian Fleming 1953 British English
570 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
578 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
633 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John le Carré 1974 British English
920 The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum Heinrich Böll 1974 German German
966 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
1001 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
1094 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1105 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
1111 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1275 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1317 To Each His Own Leonardo Sciascia 1966 Italian Italian
1320 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1324 A Judgement In Stone Ruth Rendell 1977 British English
1390 A Brief History of Seven Killings Marlon James 2014 Jamaican English
1445 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1491 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1500 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
1503 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
1679 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson 1952 American English
1690 Goldfinger Ian Fleming 1959 British English
1695 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1801 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
1875 Last Seen Wearing ... Hillary Waugh 1952 American English
1899 The Zebra Striped Hearse Ross Macdonald 1962 American English
1930 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
2069 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
2100 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
2106 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
2136 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
2158 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2189 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
2190 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
2292 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
2298 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
2402 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2442 A Rage In Harlem Chester Himes 1957 American English
2485 The Firm John Grisham 1991 American English
2517 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
2533 Day Of The Owl Leonardo Sciascia 1961 Italian Italian
2663 Early Autumn Robert B. Parker 1980 American English
2794 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2908 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
2920 Maigret And The Headless Corpse Georges Simenon 1955 Belgian French
2953 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
2983 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
3012 Point Blank Richard Stark 1962 American English
3014 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3057 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
3060 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
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
3270 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
3317 Shantaram Gregory David Roberts 2003 Australian English
3318 Metzger's Dog Thomas Perry 1983 American English
3320 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
3388 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
3461 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders 1973 American English
3503 The Big Blowdown George P. Pelecanos 1996 American English
3507 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3519 Sidetracked Henning Mankell 1995 Swedish Swedish
3609 Winter's Bone Daniel Woodrell 2006 American 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
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 Getaway Jim Thompson 1958 American English
4483 The Night Of The Hunter Davis Grubb 1953 American English
4540 Affliction Russell Banks 1989 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
4735 Woman Of Straw Catherine Arley 1956 French French
4755 Angels And Demons Dan Brown 2000 American English
4762 For Kicks Dick Francis 1965 British English
4768 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
4815 Dreamland Sam Quinones 2015 American English
4943 Ghettoside Jill Leovy 2015 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
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 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
5586 One For The Money Janet Evanovich 1994 American English