Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time (from The Hatchards Crime Companion)

Add to my lists | Print this list

In 1990 the members of the Crime Writers Association (of Great Britain) voted for their five favorite crime novels in each of ten categories ("The Founding Fathers", "The Golden Age (1914-1939)", "Police Procedural", "Psychological Suspense", "The Whodunnit", "History Mystery", "Romantic Suspense", "Thrillers", "Espionage" and "Hard-Boiled". The following 100 books (including some story collections as well as novels) are the top vote-getters from all categories, listed below in descending order.

Pages: 1

  1. 1.
    The Daughter of Time
    by Josephine Tey
  2. 2.
    The Big Sleep
    by Raymond Chandler
  3. 3.
    The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
    by John le Carre
  4. 4.
    Gaudy Night (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)
    by Dorothy L. Sayers
  6. 6.
    Rebecca
    by Daphne Du Maurier
  7. 7.
    Farewell, My Lovely
    by Raymond Chandler
  8. 8.
    The Moonstone (Modern Library Classics)
    by Wilkie Collins
  9. 9.
    The Ipcress File
    by Len Deighton
  10. 10.
    The Maltese Falcon
    by Dashiell Hammett
  11. 11.
    The Franchise Affair
    by Josephine Tey
  12. 12.
    ?
    Last Seen Wearing...
    by Hillary Waugh
  14. 14.
    Rogue Male (Crime Masterworks)
    by Geoffrey Household
  15. 15.
    The Long Goodbye
    by Raymond Chandler
  16. 16.
    Malice Aforethought
    by Francis Iles
  17. 17.
    The Day of the Jackal
    by Frederick Forsyth
  18. 18.
    The Nine Tailors
    by Dorothy L. Sayers
  19. 19.
    And Then There Were None
    by Agatha Christie
  20. 20.
    The Thirty-Nine Steps (Penguin Classics)
    by John Buchan
  21. 21.
    ?
    The Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
    by Arthur Conan Doyle
  22. 22.
    Murder Must Advertise (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries)
    by Dorothy L. Sayers
  23. 23.
    Tales of Mystery & Imagination (Paperback Classics)
    by Edgar Allan Poe
  24. 24.
    ?
    The Mask of Dimitrios (Coronet Books)
    by Eric Ambler
  25. 25.
    ?
    The Moving Toyshop: A Detective Story
    by Edmund Crispin
  26. 26.
    The Tiger in the Smoke
    by Margery Allingham
  27. 27.
    The False Inspector Dew
    by Peter Lovesey
  28. 28.
    The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)
    by Wilkie Collins
  29. 29.
    A Dark-Adapted Eye (Plume)
    by Ruth Rendell
  30. 30.
    The Postman Always Rings Twice
    by James Mallahan Cain
  31. 31.
    The Glass Key
    by Dashiell Hammett
  32. 32.
    The Hound of the Baskervilles (Modern Library Classics)
    by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  33. 33.
    Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
    by John le Carre
  34. 34.
    ?
    Trent's Last Case
    by E. Clerihew Bentley
  35. 35.
    From Russia with Love (James Bond Novels)
    by Ian Fleming
  36. 36.
    Cop Hater (87th Precinct Mysteries (Paperback))
    by Ed McBain
  37. 37.
    Dead of Jericho (Inspector Morse Mysteries)
    by Colin Dexter
  38. 38.
    Strangers on a Train
    by Patricia Highsmith
  39. 39.
    A Judgement in Stone
    by Ruth Rendell
  40. 40.
    Hollow Man
    by John Dickson Carr
  41. 41.
    The Poisoned Chocolates Case (A Roger Sheringham Case)
    by Anthony Berkeley
  44. 44.
    A Kiss Before Dying
    by Ira Levin
  45. 45.
    The Talented Mr.Ripley
    by Patricia Highsmith
  46. 46.
    Brighton Rock (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
    by Graham Greene
  47. 47.
    The Lady in the Lake
    by Raymond Chandler
  48. 48.
    Presumed Innocent
    by Scott Turow
  49. 49.
    A Demon in My View
    by Ruth Rendell
  50. 50.
    Devil in Velvet (1994 Ed)
    by John Dickson Carr

Pages: 1

This is a community list. You can contribute, edit, or help maintain it by adding it to your lists.
Created by RobT2 on Nov 25, 2006.
 

Comments



or
Login with Facebook