The Greatest Books of All Time on Detective

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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
120 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
161 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
164 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
205 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
251 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
393 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
423 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
457 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
497 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
536 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
581 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
595 Farewell, My Lovely Raymond Chandler 1940 American English
625 The Nine Tailors Dorothy L. Sayers 1934 British English
660 The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett 1934 American English
801 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
805 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
948 The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkeley 1929 British English
983 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
997 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
1105 The Chill Ross Macdonald 1964 American English
1322 Devil in a Blue Dress Walter Mosley 1990 American English
1445 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1511 The Strange Case of Peter the Lett Georges Simenon 1931 Belgian French
1695 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1785 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
2090 Strong Poison Dorothy L. Sayers 1930 British English
2123 The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1892 British English
2142 Home Sweet Homicide Craig Rice 1944 American English
2255 Busman’s Honeymoon Dorothy L. Sayers 1937 British English
2400 Last Seen Wearing Colin Dexter 1976 British English
2453 The Sign of Four Arthur Conan Doyle 1890 British English
2529 The Mystery Of The Yellow Room Gaston Leroux 1907 French French
2644 The Hardy Boys Franklin W. Dixon 1927 American English
2645 The Nero Wolfe Series Rex Stout 1934 American English
2662 Early Autumn Robert B. Parker 1980 American English
2683 Calamity Town Ellery Queen 1942 American English
2884 The Tragedy Of Y Ellery Queen 1932 American English
2982 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
3002 The Tragedy Of X Ellery Queen 1932 American English
3032 The Crab With The Golden Claws Hergé 1941 Belgian French
3039 Whose Body? Dorothy L. Sayers 1923 British English
3142 The Cask Freeman Wills Crofts 1920 British English
3188 The Judas Window Carter Dickson 1938 British English
3389 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
3403 Wobble To Death Peter Lovesey 1970 British English
3448 Falling Angel William Hjortsberg 1978 American English
3462 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders 1973 American English
3545 I, The Jury Mickey Spillane 1947 American English
3638 The Ringer Edgar Wallace 1925 British English
3938 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
4118 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
4172 The Bone Collector Jeffery Deaver 1997 American English
4390 The Bishop Murder Case S. S. Van Dine 1929 American English
4457 Death Of Jezebel Christianna Brand 1948 British English
4616 The Emperor's Snuff Box John Dickson Carr 1942 American English
4615 The Fifth Woman Henning Mankell 1996 Swedish Swedish
4656 The Egyptian Cross Mystery Ellery Queen 1932 American English
4723 Death of a Lake Arthur William Upfield 1954 Australian English
4723 The Bone is Pointed Arthur William Upfield 1938 Australian English
4765 The Abc Murders Agatha Christie 1936 British English
4767 The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007 American English
4818 Cat Of Many Tails Ellery Queen 1949 American English
4821 The Poet And The Lunatics G. K. Chesterton 1929 British English
4825 The Hollow Needle Maurice Leblanc 1909 French French
4855 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith 1998 Scottish English
5038 Storm Front Jim Butcher 2000 American English
5144 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
5292 The Terrorists Maj Sjöwall 1975 Swedish Swedish
5318 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
5322 The Remorseful Day Colin Dexter 1999 British English
5353 Motherless Brooklyn Jonathan Lethem 1999 American English
5446 The bells of Bicêtre Georges Simenon 1963 Belgian French
5526 Tales Of The Black Widowers Isaac Asimov 1974 American English
5661 Invisible Green John Sladek 1977 American English
5915 The Valley Of Fear Arthur Conan Doyle 1915 British English
5936 The Old Fox Deceiv'd Martha Grimes 1982 American English
5947 Inherent Vice Thomas Pynchon 2009 American English
5959 The Hog Murders William L. Deandrea 1979 American English
6301 Dreaming Of Babylon Richard Brautigan 1977 American English
6404 The Seven Per Cent Solution Nicholas Meyer 1974 American English
6437 The Snowman Jo Nesbø 2007 Norwegian Norwegian
6475 Case Histories Kate Atkinson 2004 British English
6581 Hardball Sara Paretsky 2009 American English
6590 A Touch Of Frost R. D. Wingfield 1987 British English
6716 A Man Lay Dead Ngaio Marsh 1934 New Zealander English
6833 The Doorbell Rang Rex Stout 1965 American English
6873 The Late-night News Petros Markaris 1995 Greek Greek
6878 Galantine De Volaille Pour Dames Frivoles San-Antonio 1987 French French
6945 A Cool Breeze On The Underground Don Winslow 1991 American English
6974 The Ice House Minette Walters 1992 British English
7107 Kiss The Girls James Patterson 1995 American English
7168 The Man In Lower Ten Mary Roberts Rinehart 1909 American English
7205 The Shape Of Water Andrea Camilleri 1994 Italian Italian
7215 Death In Silver Lester Dent 1934 American English
7630 A Is For Alibi Sue Grafton 1982 American English
7684 A Master of Djinn P. Djèlí Clark 2021 American English
7860 The Barbarous Coast Ross Macdonald 1956 American English
7944 The Hanging Garden Ian Rankin 1998 British English
7997 Magpie Murders Anthony Horowitz 2016 British English
8075 The Seven Churches Miloš Urban 1999 Czech Czech
8155 Crocodile On The Sandbank Elizabeth Peters 1975 American English
8184 One Step Behind Henning Mankell 1997 Swedish Swedish
8409 Lost In A Good Book Jasper Fforde 2002 British English
8508 The Broken Shore Peter Temple 2005 Australian English
8696 Inner City Blues Paula L. Woods 1999 American English
9677 Gone Baby Gone Dennis Lehane 1998 American English
9694 When Red Is Black Qiu Xiaolong 2004 Chinese English
9855 Wife Of The Gods Kwei Quartey 2009 Ghanaian English
10109 Tokyo Year Zero David Peace 2007 British English
10119 The Cuckoo’s Calling J. K. Rowling 2013 British English
10188 City of Glass Paul Auster 1985 American English
10402 Drama City George P. Pelecanos 2005 American English
10553 The Suspicions of Mr Whicher Kate Summerscale 2008 British English
10568 Land Of Shadows Rachel Howzell Hall 2014 American English
10722 Rampart Street David Fulmer 2006 American English
11286 Heartsick Chelsea Cain 2007 American English
11660 Only To Sleep Lawrence Osborne 2018 British English
11920 Skeleton Man Tony Hillerman 2004 American English
12458 Marble Hall Murders Anthony Horowitz 2025 British English