The Greatest Books of All Time on Murder

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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
2517 L.A. Confidential James Ellroy 1990 American English
2533 Day Of The Owl Leonardo Sciascia 1961 Italian Italian
2567 The Caves Of Steel Isaac Asimov 1954 American English
2581 Trial And Error Anthony Berkeley 1937 British English
2639 Fatherland Robert Harris 1992 British English
2676 Deep Water Patricia Highsmith 1957 American English
2684 Calamity Town Ellery Queen 1942 American English
2731 The Executioner's Song Norman Mailer 1979 American English
2735 The Circular Staircase Mary Roberts Rinehart 1908 American English
2854 A Bullet In The Ballet Caryl Brahms &S. J. Simon 1937 British English
2886 The Tragedy Of Y Ellery Queen 1932 American English
2909 A Taste For Death P. D. James 1986 British English
2921 Maigret And The Headless Corpse Georges Simenon 1955 Belgian French
2931 Tourist Season Carl Hiaasen 1986 American English
2965 The Erasers Alain Robbe-Grillet 1953 French French
2984 Blind Man with a Pistol Chester Himes 1969 American English
3004 The Tragedy Of X Ellery Queen 1932 American English
3022 The Murder At The Vicarage Agatha Christie 1930 British English
3022 The Madman Of Bergerac Georges Simenon 1932 Belgian French
3042 East Lynne Ellen Wood 1861 British English
3042 Whose Body? Dorothy L. Sayers 1923 British English
3124 Cover Her Face P. D. James 1962 British English
3138 The False Inspector Dew Peter Lovesey 1982 British English
3143 The Cask Freeman Wills Crofts 1920 British English
3147 Carrion Comfort Dan Simmons 1989 American English
3167 Paris Trout Pete Dexter 1988 American English
3189 The Judas Window Carter Dickson 1938 British English
3218 Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil John Berendt 1994 American English
3258 Killers Of The Flower Moon David Grann 2017 American English
3271 Postmortem Patricia Daniels Cornwell 1990 American English
3272 The Luminaries Eleanor Catton 2013 New Zealand English
3321 Where Are The Children? Mary Higgins Clark 1975 American English
3324 Thomas of Reading, Or, The Sixe Worthie Yeomen of the West Thomas Deloney 1599 British English
3389 Death Of A Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 2000 Chinese English
3403 Wobble To Death Peter Lovesey 1970 British English
3407 In A Lonely Place Karl Edward Wagner 1977 American English
3448 Falling Angel William Hjortsberg 1978 American English
3457 Hamlet, Revenge! Michael Innes 1937 British English
3461 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders 1973 American English
3493 Laura Vera Caspary 1943 American English
3507 The Journalist and the Murderer Janet Malcolm 1990 American English
3519 Sidetracked Henning Mankell 1995 Swedish Swedish
3536 The Death of Woman Wang MMP Jonathan Spence 1978 American English
3544 I, The Jury Mickey Spillane 1947 American English
3548 The Wolfen Whitley Strieber 1978 American English
3555 Tragedy At Law Cyril Hare 1942 British English
3628 Green For Danger Christianna Brand 1944 British English
3634 The Totem David Morrell 1979 American English
3637 Maigret And The Old Lady Georges Simenon 1950 Belgian French
3852 The Girl Next Door Jack Ketchum 1989 American English
3882 The Cellar Richard Laymon 1980 American English
3911 The Tiger In The Smoke Margery Allingham 1952 British English
3925 In The Woods Tana French 2007 Irish English
3938 Collected Stories Raymond Chandler 1964 American English
4070 Phantom Lady Cornell Woolrich 1942 American English
4092 The Debt To Pleasure John Lanchester 1996 British English
4118 The Honjin Murders Seishi Yokomizo 1946 Japanese Japanese
4150 The Devotion Of Suspect X Keigo Higashino 2005 Japanese Japanese
4160 The Burning Court John Dickson Carr 1937 American English
4172 The Bone Collector Jeffery Deaver 1997 American English
4217 Hecuba Euripides -424 Greek Ancient greek
4224 Orestes Euripides -408 Greek Ancient greek
4256 Scenes From The Past Alexander Sukhovo-Kobylin 1869 Russian Russian
4261 A Morbid Taste For Bones Ellis Peters 1977 British English
4270 Eight Million Ways To Die Lawrence Block 1982 American English
4285 Boy's Life Robert R. McCammon 1991 American English
4291 Mystic River Dennis Lehane 2001 American English
4309 The Case Of The Gilded Fly Edmund Crispin 1944 British English
4309 Death At The President's Lodging Michael Innes 1936 British English
4390 The Bishop Murder Case S. S. Van Dine 1929 American English
4420 Trifles Susan Glaspell 1916 American English
4442 Oblivion Héctor Abad Faciolince 2006 Colombian Spanish
4447 The Greek Coffin Mystery Ellery Queen 1932 American English
4457 Death Of Jezebel Christianna Brand 1948 British English
4459 The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008 British English
4473 Alias Grace Margaret Atwood 1996 Canadian English
4537 Special Topics In Calamity Physics Marisha Pessl 2006 American English
4616 The Emperor's Snuff Box John Dickson Carr 1942 American English
4615 The Fifth Woman Henning Mankell 1996 Swedish Swedish
4645 Friday The Rabbi Slept Late Harry Kemelman 1964 American English
4645 The Blue Room Georges Simenon 1964 French French
4656 The Egyptian Cross Mystery Ellery Queen 1932 American English
4674 The Witness For The Prosecution Agatha Christie 1925 British English
4705 The Red Redmaynes Eden Phillpotts 1922 British English
4715 Jumping Jenny Anthony Berkeley 1933 British English
4723 Death of a Lake Arthur William Upfield 1954 Australian English
4723 The Bone is Pointed Arthur William Upfield 1938 Australian English
4734 Woman Of Straw Catherine Arley 1956 French French
4756 The Second Shot Anthony Berkeley 1930 British 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
4829 Cutter and Bone Newton Thornburg 1976 American English
4948 Fata Morgana William Kotzwinkle 1977 American English
5009 Dance Hall Of The Dead Tony Hillerman 1973 American English
5030 The City & the City China Miéville 2009 British English
5032 The Sluts Dennis Cooper 2004 American English
5040 Storm Front Jim Butcher 2000 American English
5091 Past Caring Robert Goddard 1986 British English
5092 Poetic Justice Amanda Cross 1970 American English
5114 Let The Right One In John Ajvide Lindqvist 2004 Swedish Swedish
5125 Thus Was Adonis Murdered Sarah Caudwell 1981 British English
5146 Southern Seas Manuel Vázquez Montalbán 1979 Spanish Spanish
5150 Clouds Of Witness Dorothy L. Sayers 1926 British English
5153 Midnight In Peking Paul French 2012 British English
5156 Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens 2018 American English
5227 A Place Of Execution Val McDermid 1999 British English
5235 Intensity Dean R. Koontz 1995 American English
5303 A Thief Of Time Tony Hillerman 1988 American English
5319 The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green 1878 American English
5319 The Goodbye Look Ross Macdonald 1969 American English
5323 The Remorseful Day Colin Dexter 1999 British English
5326 The Patient In Room 18 Mignon G. Eberhart 1929 American 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
5371 Death Comes As The End Agatha Christie 1944 British English