The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time

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This list was originally published by the Crime Writers’ Association (UK) and the Mystery Writers’ Association (US).

Pages: 1 3 4

  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: A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery with Harriet Vane
    by Dorothy L. Sayers
  6. 6.
    Rebecca
    by Daphne Du Maurier
  7. 7.
    Farewell, My Lovely
    by Raymond Chandler
  8. 8.
    The Moonstone
    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 (Pan Classic Crime)
    by Hillary Waugh
  13. 13.
    The Name of the Rose

  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 : A Novel
    by Agatha Christie
  20. 20.
    The Thirty-Nine Steps (Penguin Classics)
    by John Buchan
  21. 21.
  22. 22.
    Murder Must Advertise (A Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)
    by Dorothy L Sayers
  23. 23.
    Tales of Mystery & Imagination (Everyman Paperback Classics)
    by Edgar Allan Poe
  24. 24.
    ?
    The Mask of Dimitrios (Coronet Books)
    by Eric Ambler
  25. 25.
    The Moving Toyshop (Classic Crime)
    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
    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
    by Arthur Conan, Sir 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 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
    by Patricia Highsmith
  39. 39.
    A Judgement in Stone
    by Ruth Rendell
  40. 40.
    The Hollow Man (Black Dagger Crime Series)
    by John Dickson Carr
  41. 41.
    The Poisoned Chocolates Case (Golden Age Classics)
    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 3 4

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Created by mushhead on May 30, 2006.
 

Comments

Jonathan Baker

Fixed the list! (Sorta) — 1 day ago

Okay – so, I realize that the list now has 158 books on it. After I went through the list and matched it with the CWA list, I realized that someone had put a bunch of books from the Mystery Writers of America list in with the books from the CWA list. So I left those, and added the ones from THAT list that were missing. So now, 1-100 is the verbatim CWA list, and then 101-158 are the MWA books that did not appear on the CWA list – in the order that they appeared on the MWA list. Got that? I think it’s good now. I didn’t really take anything off, just reordered everything so it makes more sense and added a couple so we have BOTHLISTS IN ONE! The end.

May 27, 12:02AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

PoolShark71

too many books — 1 year ago

Why is there a 138 books on this list.

Jun 02, 08:36PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

bah

Fixes... — 5 years ago

I’m not sure what’s going on with this list, but a couple of books seem to have switched to the wrong ones. I changed A Demon in My View back to the Ruth Rendell book and The Postman Always Rings Twice to the book itself (and not a collection of Cain’s work, which isn’t what’s on the source list.)

Jan 10, 11:11AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

bah

Mask of Dimitrios/Coffin for Dimitrios — 5 years ago

Just noticed these are the same book, so took off the US version (Coffin for Dimitrios).

Dec 08, 01:02PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

RobT2

"The Hollow Man" and "The Three Coffins" are the same book! — 5 years ago

Just published in the U.K. and the U.S.A. under different titles. I moved “Three Coffins” to the proper place in the British section and deleted Dan Simmons’s “Hollow Man” novel. (A fine book, but it shouldn’t have been on this list.)

I’m currently posting the British and American lists separately, working from copies of the books in question (“The Hatchards Crime Companion” for Britain, “The Crown Crime Companion” for the U.S.).

Nov 25, 10:46PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

bah

Done and Done! — 5 years ago

Finished adding on the US choices (not that I particularly agree with a lot of them)…but now the title of the list doesn’t really work.

Oct 20, 09:35AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

bah

Done! — 5 years ago

I’ve finished off the British version of the list.

Oct 20, 07:31AM | 4 comments | Reply to this

mushhead

Feel free to help! — 6 years ago

I’ve just added the first half of the books, and will finish the rest as soon as I can.

Feel free to help add the rest – I am taking information directly from the Wiki.

Also, I am hoping to finish off the Brit list first and then add the titles from the US that are not mentioned in the UK version after the main 100.

May 30, 05:08AM | 0 comments | Reply to this



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