The Top-50 Crime Novels of All Time

1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50

Henning Mankell (2004) The Fifth Woman.

In one of the best thrillers of the Kurt Wallander series the Swedish detective is trying to cope with the death of his father, while he struggles to make sense of a series of seemingly unrelated, brutal killings in southern Sweden. He uncovers the ties that bind these murders to killings in Algeria, many years ago.

Edgar Alan Poe (2002) Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales and Poems.

This Collection of 73 short stories and 48 poems includes such masterpieces as The Fall of the House of Usher, The Purloined Letter, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, and Murders in the Rue Morgue. A MUST for classical mystery fans.

Ruth Rendell (2001) The Lake of Darkness. (First published in 1976)

Martin Urban, a quiet bachelor, wins a large fortune at the football pools. Financially comfortable, he decides to share his newfound wealth with those in need. And the disaster begins to unfold. The seemingly normal benefactors of Martin's altruistic impulses are vicious nut cases. His good intentions become fatally distorted. One of Rendell's best novels.

Raymond Chandler (1988) The Long Goodbye.

This is probably the best of Chandler's novels. His hero, P.I. Philip Marlowe, tries to help war veteran Terry Lennox, whose sex-obsessed wealthy wife has been murdered. This quickly gets Marlowe into trouble with cops and crazy gangsters. When Terry is also murdered, Marlowe becomes entangled in his friend's dirty family secrets. In his cynical and crisp prose Chandler delivered a gripping tale of moral corruption.

Patricia Cornwell (2003) Postmortem.

Patricia Cronwell's first book in the Kay Scarpetta series is about a brilliant serial killer who is strangling young women. Kay is applying latest forensic techniques to identify the killer, but someone is sabotaging the investigation.

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1984) Crime and Punishment.

Dostoevsky's rendering of the student Raskolnikov in 18th-century Russia is a true classic. In a process of moral decline, the impoverished intellectual robs and kills his pawnbroker. As he is hunted down for his crime Dostoevsky tells a surprisingly fast-paced story, full of moral dilemmas and psychological thrill. A masterpiece.

D. H. Dublin (2007) Blood Poison. A C.S.U. Investigation.

In a Philadelphia Police Department, the Crime Scene Unit takes blood, sweat, tears-and other DNA samples.

Patricia Highsmith (1993) Ripley's Game. (First published 1974)

Dashing murderer Tom Ripley is playing a nasty game of manipulation on an inconspicuous man, leading to murder and revenge. The resulting chain of events drags the reader into a most unsettling mental state - frozen in fascination, but also terrified by the looming disaster. A dark tale.

Mario Puzo (1969) The Godfather.

Puzo's epic novel redefined the public image of the Italian mafia. With Don Vito Corleone's violent struggle to control the underworld of New York we glimpse into an ancient world of honor and vendetta, Italian family tradition, friendship and loyalty were betrayal is punished with merciless vengeance. While this novel has romanticized organized crime, it added a human dimension to those evil and violent thugs. In Puzo's prose Don Vito appears as a genial family man, almost kind and reasonable.

Ann Rule (2001) The Stranger Beside Me.

Ted Bundy, a most violent sociopath, murderer, and mutilator of women, is the subject of this true-crime book. Ann Rule's chilling account, from the time she unsuspectingly met and worked with the savage slayer to the moment of his death by electrocution in Florida, is one of the greatest books in the true crime genre.

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