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

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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.

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  1. 1.
    The Daughter of Time
    by Josephine Tey

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  2. 2.
    The Big Sleep
    by Raymond Chandler

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  3. 3.
    The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
    by John le Carre

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  4. 4.
    Gaudy Night (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
    by Dorothy L. Sayers

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  5. 5.
    Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
    by Agatha Christie

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  6. 6.
    Rebecca
    by Daphne du Maurier

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  7. 7.
    Farewell, My Lovely
    by Raymond Chandler

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  8. 8.
    The Moonstone (Modern Library Classics)
    by Wilkie Collins

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  9. 9.
    The Ipcress File
    by Len Deighton

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  10. 10.
    The Maltese Falcon
    by Dashiell Hammett

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  11. 11.
    The FRANCHISE AFFAIR
    by Josephine Tey

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  12. 12.
    ?
    Last Seen Wearing...
    by Hillary Waugh

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  13. 13.
    The Name of the Rose (Everyman's Library (Cloth))
    by Umberto Eco

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  14. 14.
    Rogue Male (Crime Masterworks)
    by Geoffrey Household

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  15. 15.
    The Long Goodbye
    by Raymond Chandler

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  16. 16.
    Malice Aforethought
    by Francis Iles

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  17. 17.
    The Day of the Jackal
    by Frederick Forsyth

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  18. 18.
    The Nine Tailors
    by Dorothy L. Sayers

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  19. 19.
    And Then There Were None
    by Agatha Christie

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  20. 20.
    The Thirty-Nine Steps (Penguin Classics)
    by John Buchan

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  21. 21.
    ?
    The Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories
    by Arthur Conan Doyle

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  22. 22.
    Murder Must Advertise (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
    by Dorothy L. Sayers

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  23. 23.
    Tales of Mystery & Imagination (Paperback Classics)
    by Edgar Allan Poe

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  24. 24.
    ?
    The Mask of Dimitrios
    by Eric Ambler

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  25. 25.
    ?
    The Moving Toyshop: A Detective Story
    by Edmund Crispin

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  26. 26.
    The Tiger in the Smoke
    by Margery Allingham

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  27. 27.
    The False Inspector Dew
    by Peter Lovesey

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  28. 28.
    The Woman in White (Penguin Classics)
    by Wilkie Collins

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  29. 29.
    A Dark-Adapted Eye (Plume)
    by Ruth Rendell

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  30. 30.
    The Postman Always Rings Twice
    by James Mallahan Cain

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  31. 31.
    The Glass Key
    by Dashiell Hammett

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  32. 32.
    The Hound of the Baskervilles (Modern Library Classics)
    by Arthur Conan Doyle

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  33. 33.
    Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
    by John le Carre

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  34. 34.
    ?
    Trent's Last Case
    by E. Clerihew Bentley

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  35. 35.
    From Russia with Love (James Bond Novels)
    by Ian Fleming

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  36. 36.
    Cop Hater (87th Precinct Mysteries (Paperback))
    by Ed McBain

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  37. 37.
    Dead of Jericho (Inspector Morse Mysteries (Paperback))
    by Colin Dexter

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  38. 38.
    Strangers on a Train
    by Patricia Highsmith

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  39. 39.
    A Judgement in Stone
    by Ruth Rendell

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  40. 40.
    Hollow Man
    by John Dickson Carr

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  41. 41.
    The Poisoned Chocolates Case (A Roger Sheringham Case)
    by Anthony Berkeley

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  42. 43.
    The Leper of St. Giles (Cadfael Chronicles)
    by Peters

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  43. 44.
    A Kiss Before Dying
    by Ira, Levin

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  44. 45.
    The Talented Mr.Ripley
    by Patricia Highsmith

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  45. 47.
    The Lady in the Lake
    by Raymond Chandler

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  46. 48.
    Presumed Innocent
    by Scott Turow

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  47. 49.
    A Demon in My View
    by Ruth Rendell

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  48. 50.
    The Devil in Velvet
    by John Dickson Carr

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Created by RobT2 on Nov 25, 2006.
 

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