The Greatest Crime Books Since 1952

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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
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
1322 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
1929 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
2068 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
2099 From Russia with Love Ian Fleming 1957 British English
2105 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
2135 Cop Hater Ed McBain 1956 American English
2157 The Hot Rock Donald E. Westlake 1970 American English
2188 No Country for Old Men Cormac McCarthy 2005 American English
2189 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
2291 The Big Nowhere James Ellroy 1988 American English
2297 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
2400 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2440 A Rage In Harlem Chester Himes 1957 American English
2483 The Firm John Grisham 1991 American English
2515 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
2531 Day Of The Owl Leonardo Sciascia 1961 Italian Italian
2662 Early Autumn Robert B. Parker 1980 American English
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
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
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
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
3389 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
3462 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders 1973 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
3610 Winter's Bone Daniel Woodrell 2006 American 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
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 Getaway Jim Thompson 1958 American English
4482 The Night Of The Hunter Davis Grubb 1953 American English
4539 Affliction Russell Banks 1989 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
4734 Woman Of Straw Catherine Arley 1956 French French
4754 Angels And Demons Dan Brown 2000 American English
4761 For Kicks Dick Francis 1965 British English
4767 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
4814 Dreamland Sam Quinones 2015 American English
4941 Ghettoside Jill Leovy 2015 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
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 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
5584 One For The Money Janet Evanovich 1994 American English
5600 Jar City Arnaldur Indriðason 2000 Icelandic Icelandic