The Greatest Mystery Books of All Time

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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
53 Dracula Bram Stoker 1897 British English
59 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1938 British English
87 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
98 The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe 1902 American English
114 The Name of the Rose Umberto Eco 1980 Italian Italian
115 Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 British English
119 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
120 The Big Sleep Raymond Chandler 1939 American English
121 Bleak House Charles Dickens 1852 British English
139 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins 1860 British English
142 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett 1930 American English
143 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith 1955 American English
161 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler 1953 American English
164 The Hound of the Baskervilles Arthur Conan Doyle 1902 British English
189 The Turn of the Screw Henry James 1898 American English
191 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie 1939 British English
205 The Complete Sherlock Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle 1927 British English
215 The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson 1959 American English
218 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 British English
251 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie 1926 British English
258 The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner James Hogg 1824 Scottish English
279 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
344 The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan 1915 British English
393 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins 1868 British English
400 The Shining Stephen King 1977 American English
415 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
419 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey 1951 British English
423 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie 1934 British English
441 The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon 1966 American English
442 The Magus John Fowles 1965 British English
444 The Man Who Was Thursday G. K. Chesterton 1908 British English
457 The Hollow Man John Dickson Carr 1935 British English
469 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain 1934 American English
497 Murder Must Advertise Dorothy L. Sayers 1933 British English
536 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett 1929 American English
542 Uncle Silas Sheridan Le Fanu 1864 Irish English
578 The Silence of the Lambs Thomas Harris 1988 American English
581 The Innocence of Father Brown G. K. Chesterton 1911 British English
586 The Third Man Graham Greene 1949 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
698 The Glass Key Dashiell Hammett 1931 American English
718 Possession A. S. Byatt 1990 British English
731 The Mysteries of Udolpho Ann Radcliffe 1794 British English
757 The Adventures of Caleb Williams William Godwin 1794 British English
790 The Mask of Dimitrios Eric Ambler 1939 British English
791 Gone Girl Gillian Flynn 2012 American English
801 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie 1920 British English
805 Gaudy Night Dorothy L. Sayers 1935 British English
811 The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux 1909 French French
831 Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers 1903 British English
862 Smilla's Sense of Snow Peter Høeg 1992 Danish Danish
910 The New York Trilogy Paul Auster 1985 American English
916 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles 1931 British English
948 The Poisoned Chocolates Case Anthony Berkeley 1929 British English
953 Trent's Last Case E. C. Bentley 1913 British English
961 The Manchurian Candidate Richard Condon 1959 American English
966 The Ipcress File Len Deighton 1962 British English
976 Rogue Male Geoffrey Household 1939 British English
983 A Study In Scarlet Arthur Conan Doyle 1887 British English
987 Harriet the Spy Louise Fitzhugh 1964 American English
997 The Judge and His Hangman Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1950 Swiss German
1001 Red Dragon Thomas Harris 1981 American English
1010 Fingersmith Sarah Waters 2002 British English
1017 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
1061 Fantômas Marcel Allain, Pierre Souvestre 1911 French French
1073 The Lottery and Other Stories Shirley Jackson 1948 American English
1074 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown 2003 American English
1086 Misery Stephen King 1987 American 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
1135 The Tunnel Ernesto Sábato 1948 Argentinian Spanish
1153 Beast In View Margaret Millar 1955 Canadian English
1193 Double Indemnity James M. Cain 1943 American English
1194 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
1203 Nine Coaches Waiting Mary Stewart 1958 British English
1214 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin 1946 British English
1217 Foucault's Pendulum Umberto Eco 1988 Italian Italian
1240 Strangers On A Train Patricia Highsmith 1950 American English
1261 The Blind Assassin Margaret Atwood 2000 Canadian English
1264 The Franchise Affair Josephine Tey 1948 British English
1268 A Kiss Before Dying Ira Levin 1953 American English
1275 The Laughing Policeman Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö 1968 Swedish Swedish
1279 Psycho Robert Bloch 1959 American English
1299 My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk 1998 Turkish Turkish
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
1352 The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton 1969 American English
1425 And The Darkness Falls Boris Karloff 1943 British English
1445 Faceless Killers Henning Mankell 1991 Swedish Swedish
1491 Presumed Innocent Scott Turow 1987 American English
1494 Eye Of The Needle Ken Follett 1978 British English
1496 The Sleeping And The Dead August Derleth 1947 American English
1498 A King Alone Jean Giono 1947 French French
1500 The Bourne Identity Robert Ludlum 1980 American English
1503 The Friends Of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins 1970 American English
1511 The Strange Case of Peter the Lett Georges Simenon 1931 Belgian French
1512 The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake 1938 British English
1551 Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd 1985 British English
1640 The Asphalt Jungle W. R. Burnett 1949 American English
1645 The Pledge Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1958 Swiss German
1690 Goldfinger Ian Fleming 1959 British English
1695 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley 1978 American English
1699 That Awful Mess On Via Merulana Carlo Emilio Gadda 1957 Italian Italian
1709 The Club Dumas Arturo Pérez-Reverte 1993 Spanish Spanish
1720 The Lady In The Lake Raymond Chandler 1943 American English
1739 A Fatal Inversion Barbara Vine 1987 British English
1755 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling 2005 British English
1785 The Murders in the Rue Morgue Edgar Allan Poe 1841 American English
1789 The Mystery Of Edwin Drood Charles Dickens 1870 British English
1809 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon 2001 Spanish Spanish
1812 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 2003 British English
1826 The Other Thomas Tryon 1971 American English
1840 Mysteries Knut Hamsun 1892 Norwegian Norwegian
1847 The Little Sister Raymond Chandler 1949 American English
1850 The Jew's Beech Annette von Droste-Hülshoff 1842 German German
1875 Last Seen Wearing ... Hillary Waugh 1952 American English