Mystery Novel Rankings

The 100 definitive mystery, detective, and crime procedural novels of all time, ranked by plot ingenuity, historical impact, and literary acclaim.

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All Items (100)

And Then There Were None — Agatha Christie (1939)—

The Hound of the Baskervilles — Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)—

The Big Sleep — Raymond Chandler (1939)—

The Maltese Falcon — Dashiell Hammett (1930)—

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd — Agatha Christie (1926)—

Murder on the Orient Express — Agatha Christie (1934)—

The Long Goodbye — Raymond Chandler (1953)—

The Moonstone — Wilkie Collins (1868)—

In Cold Blood — Truman Capote (1966)—

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — Stieg Larsson (2005)—

Rebecca — Daphne du Maurier (1938)—

Presumed Innocent — Scott Turow (1987)—

The Silence of the Lambs — Thomas Harris (1988)—

Gone Girl — Gillian Flynn (2012)—

A Study in Scarlet — Arthur Conan Doyle (1887)—

The Sign of the Four — Arthur Conan Doyle (1890)—

Farewell, My Lovely — Raymond Chandler (1940)—

Red Harvest — Dashiell Hammett (1929)—

The Thin Man — Dashiell Hammett (1934)—

The Daughter of Time — Josephine Tey (1951)—

Strong Poison — Dorothy L. Sayers (1930)—

Gaudy Night — Dorothy L. Sayers (1935)—

The Nine Tailors — Dorothy L. Sayers (1934)—

The ABC Murders — Agatha Christie (1936)—

Death on the Nile — Agatha Christie (1937)—

The Postman Always Rings Twice — James M. Cain (1934)—

Double Indemnity — James M. Cain (1943)—

The Woman in White — Wilkie Collins (1859)—

The Name of the Rose — Umberto Eco (1980)—

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy — John le Carré (1974)—

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold — John le Carré (1963)—

L.A. Confidential — James Ellroy (1997)—

The Black Dahlia — James Ellroy (1987)—

The Talented Mr. Ripley — Patricia Highsmith (1955)—

Strangers on a Train — Patricia Highsmith (1950)—

The Killer Inside Me — Jim Thompson (1952)—

Pop. 1280 — Jim Thompson (1964)—

The Alienist — Caleb Carr (1994)—

Mystic River — Dennis Lehane (2001)—

Shutter Island — Dennis Lehane (2003)—

Red Dragon — Thomas Harris (1981)—

The Da Vinci Code — Dan Brown (1903)—

Angels & Demons — Dan Brown (2000)—

In the Woods — Tana French (2007)—

The Likeness — Tana French (2008)—

Faithful Place — Tana French (2010)—

Sharp Objects — Gillian Flynn (2006)—

Dark Places — Gillian Flynn (2009)—

The Girl Who Played with Fire — Stieg Larsson (2006)—

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest — Stieg Larsson (2007)—

The Dry — Jane Harper (2016)—

Force of Nature — Jane Harper (2017)—

The Devotion of Suspect X — Keigo Higashino (2005)—

Salvation of a Saint — Keigo Higashino (2008)—

Malice — Keigo Higashino (2014)—

The Decagon House Murders — Yukito Ayatsuji (1987)—

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders — Soji Shimada (1981)—

The Honjin Murders — Seishi Yokomizo (1946)—

The Inugami Curse — Seishi Yokomizo (1951)—

The Snowman — Jo Nesbø (2007)—

The Redbreast — Jo Nesbø (2000)—

Faceless Killers — Henning Mankell (1991)—

One Lonely Night — Mickey Spillane (1951)—

I, the Jury — Mickey Spillane (1947)—

The Moving Toyshop — Edmund Crispin (1946)—

The Hollow Man / The Three Coffins — John Dickson Carr (1935)—

The Burning Court — John Dickson Carr (1937)—

Fer-de-Lance — Rex Stout (1934)—

The League of Frightened Men — Rex Stout (1935)—

A Coffin for Dimitrios — Eric Ambler (1939)—

Cover Her Face — P.D. James (1962)—

A Taste for Death — P.D. James (1986)—

An Unsuitable Job for a Woman — P.D. James (1972)—

A Great Deliverance — Elizabeth George (1988)—

The Franchise Affair — Josephine Tey (1948)—

Brat Farrar — Josephine Tey (1949)—

Postmortem — Patricia Cornwell (1990)—

Body of Evidence — Patricia Cornwell (1991)—

Déjà Dead — Kathy Reichs (1997)—

Along Came a Spider — James Patterson (1993)—

Kiss the Girls — James Patterson (1995)—

The Cuckoo's Calling — Robert Galbraith (2013)—

The Silkworm — Robert Galbraith (2014)—

Career of Evil — Robert Galbraith (2015)—

Troubled Blood — Robert Galbraith (2020)—

The Bat — Jo Nesbø (1997)—

Defending Jacob — William Landay (2012)—

Before I Go to Sleep — S.J. Watson (2011)—

The Silent Patient — Alex Michaelides (2019)—

The Maid — Nita Prose (2022)—

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone — Benjamin Stevenson (2022)—

Magpie Murders — Anthony Horowitz (2016)—

Moonflower Murders — Anthony Horowitz (2020)—

A Morbid Taste for Bones — Ellis Peters (1977)—

One Corpse Too Many — Ellis Peters (1979)—

Knots and Crosses — Ian Rankin (1987)—

Black and Blue — Ian Rankin (1997)—

The Deep Blue Good-by — John D. MacDonald (1964)—

A Purple Place for Dying — John D. MacDonald (1964)—

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo — Taylor Jenkins Reid (2017)—