The Greatest Crime Books Since 1967

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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
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
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
1001 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
1094 Gorky Park Martin Cruz Smith 1981 American English
1111 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1275 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
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
1695 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1801 A Time To Kill John Grisham 1989 American English
1929 Killing Floor Lee Child 1997 British English
2068 The Black Dahlia James Ellroy 1987 American English
2105 Chronicle of a Death Foretold Gabriel García Márquez 1981 Colombian Spanish
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
2483 The Firm John Grisham 1991 American English
2515 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
2662 Early Autumn Robert B. Parker 1980 American English
2793 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins 1975 British English
2908 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
2953 Dog Soldiers Robert Stone 1974 American English
2983 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 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
3138 The False Inspector Dew Peter Lovesey 1982 British English
3146 A Simple Plan Scott Smith 1993 American English
3148 All the President's Men Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein 1974 American English
3218 Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt 1994 American English
3227 Millennium Trilogy Stieg Larsson 2005 Swedish Swedish
3271 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
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
3926 In The Woods Tana French 2007 Irish English
4149 The Devotion Of Suspect X Keigo Higashino 2005 Japanese Japanese
4171 The Bone Collector Jeffery Deaver 1997 American English
4260 A Morbid Taste For Bones Ellis Peters 1977 British English
4269 Eight Million Ways To Die Lawrence Block 1982 American English
4290 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
4299 The Fairy Gunmother Daniel Pennac 1987 French French
4538 Affliction Russell Banks 1989 American English
4614 The Fifth Woman Henning Mankell 1996 Swedish Swedish
4753 Angels And Demons Dan Brown 2000 American English
4766 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
4813 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
5382 All She Was Worth Miyuki Miyabe 1992 Japanese Japanese
5413 Nineteen Seventy Four David Peace 1999 British English
5428 Black Sunday Thomas Harris 1975 American English
5438 The Black Echo Michael Connelly 1992 American English
5465 Child 44 Tom Rob Smith 2008 Russian English
5467 Six Days Of The Condor James Grady 1974 American English
5491 Along Came A Spider James Patterson 1993 American English
5498 The Underground Man Ross Macdonald 1971 American English
5585 One For The Money Janet Evanovich 1994 American English
5602 Jar City Arnaldur Indriðason 2000 Icelandic Icelandic
5644 Naked In Death J.D. Robb 1995 American English
5659 March Violets Philip Kerr 1989 British English
5661 Bluebird, Bluebird Attica Locke 2017 American English
5686 The Constant Gardener John le Carré 2001 British English
5693 Night Boat To Tangier Kevin Barry 2019 Irish English
5696 Not A Penny More,Not A Penny Less Jeffrey Archer 1976 British English
5738 Only Forward Michael Marshall Smith 1994 British English
5762 Unnatural Causes P. D. James 1967 British English
5770 Whip Hand Dick Francis 1979 British English
5860 Jack’s Return Home Ted Lewis 1970 British English
5929 Marathon Man William Goldman 1974 American English
5938 The Old Fox Deceiv'd Martha Grimes 1982 American English
5949 Inherent Vice Thomas Pynchon 2009 American English
5961 The Hog Murders William L. Deandrea 1979 American English
5980 Chiefs Stuart Woods 1981 American English
6080 The Power Of The Dog Don Winslow 2005 American English
6083 Dissolution C. J. Sansom 2003 British English
6084 My Sister, The Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite 2018 Nigerian English
6137 The Queen Of The South Arturo Pérez-Reverte 2002 Spanish Spanish
6150 The Steam Pig James McClure 1971 South African English
6153 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline George Saunders 1996 American English
6193 Fletch Gregory Mcdonald 1974 American English
6233 Sadie When She Died Ed McBain 1972 American English
6238 Harry’s Game Gerald Seymour 1975 British English
6239 The Decagon House Murders Yukito Ayatsuji 1987 Japanese Japanese
6273 Frost At Christmas R. D. Wingfield 1984 British English