The Greatest Crime Books Since 1980

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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
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
310 Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe 1987 American English
570 American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis 1991 American English
578 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American 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
1111 Get Shorty Elmore Leonard 1990 American English
1322 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American 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
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
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
2484 The Firm John Grisham 1991 American English
2516 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
2663 Early Autumn Robert B. Parker 1980 American English
2909 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
3015 Friday Night Lights H. G. Bissinger 1990 American English
3058 LaBrava Elmore Leonard 1983 American English
3061 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
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
3389 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese 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
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
5225 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
5302 A Thief Of Time Tony Hillerman 1988 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
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
5438 The Black Echo Michael Connelly 1992 American English
5465 Child 44 Tom Rob Smith 2008 Russian English
5491 Along Came A Spider James Patterson 1993 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
5738 Only Forward Michael Marshall Smith 1994 British English
5938 The Old Fox Deceiv'd Martha Grimes 1982 American English
5949 Inherent Vice Thomas Pynchon 2009 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
6153 CivilWarLand in Bad Decline George Saunders 1996 American English
6239 The Decagon House Murders Yukito Ayatsuji 1987 Japanese Japanese
6273 Frost At Christmas R. D. Wingfield 1984 British English
6275 American Tabloid James Ellroy 1995 American English
6307 The Lost Symbol Dan Brown 2009 American English
6411 A Rich Full Death Michael Dibdin 1986 British English
6411 Live Flesh Ruth Rendell 1986 British English
6439 The Snowman Jo Nesbø 2007 Norwegian Norwegian
6472 The Neon Rain James Lee Burke 1987 American English
6548 A Great Deliverance Elizabeth George 1988 American English
6569 Toxic Shock Sara Paretsky 1988 American English
6583 Hardball Sara Paretsky 2009 American English
6592 A Touch Of Frost R. D. Wingfield 1987 British English
6662 You Caroline Kepnes 2014 American English
6681 Blacktop Wasteland S. A. Cosby 2020 American English
6737 The Wimbledon Poisoner Nigel Williams 1990 British English
6748 De Advocaat Van De Hanen A. F. Th. van der Heijden 1990 Dutch Dutch
6846 King Solomon's Carpet Barbara Vine 1991 British English
6873 The Late-night News Petros Markaris 1995 Greek Greek
6878 Galantine De Volaille Pour Dames Frivoles San-Antonio 1987 French French
6898 A City Possessed Lynley Hood 2001 New Zealand English
6938 Clear And Present Danger Tom Clancy 1989 American English
6945 A Cool Breeze On The Underground Don Winslow 1991 American English
6974 Death At La Fenice Donna Leon 1992 American English
6974 The Ice House Minette Walters 1992 British English
7000 The Gray Man Mark Greaney 2009 American English
7018 Charm School Nelson DeMille 1988 American English
7022 The Girl On The Train Paula Hawkins 2015 British English
7056 Write To Kill Daniel Pennac 1990 French Unknown
7075 The Glorious Heresies Lisa McInerney 2015 Irish English
7086 La Verità Sul Caso D. Carlo Fruttero, Franco Lucentini 1993 Italian Italian
7086 The Crocodile Bird Ruth Rendell 1993 British English
7107 Kiss The Girls James Patterson 1995 American English
7127 Blanche Passes Go Barbara Neely 2000 American English
7127 The Redbreast Jo Nesbø 2000 Norwegian Norwegian
7137 Bury Your Dead Louise Penny 2010 Canadian English
7137 The Plotters Un-su Kim 2010 Korean Korean
7146 Dead Lagoon Michael Dibdin 1994 British English
7158 The Wager David Grann 2023 American English