The Top-50 Crime Novels of All Time

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

Frederick Forsyth (1999) The Day of the Jackal. (Reprint Ed.)

First published in 1971, the Jackal created a new genre: realistic spy fiction. Forsyth didn't bother with fantasy espionage (a la James Bond), but depicted a brutal and nasty world of evildoers. The plot is about an attempt to murder General DeGaulle of France. Most reviewers consider the novel as the gold standard of spy fiction.

John Grisham (1992) The Firm.

About a law firm controlled by the Mafia. Fast-paced, smart, with believable characters. One of the best legal thrillers on the market.

John Le Carré (2005) The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

In Le Carré's first masterpiece Alec Leamas, a British agent in early Cold War Berlin, is responsible for keeping the double agents under his care undercover and alive. When the East Germans start killing them, Leamas is sent deep into Communist territory to find out why. But nothing is quite what it seems. "The finest spy story ever written" (Graham Green).

Henning Mankell (2006) Before the Frost.

Atmospheric thriller about a religious fanatic on a murder spree. In his latest Kurt Wallander crime novel, Henning Mankell describes a secret world of religious extremists in peaceful southern Sweden, who are bent on punishing the world's sinners.

Henning Mankell (2004) The Dogs of Riga.

Kurt Wallander, the stoic Swedish detective is investigating the murders of two unidentified men washed up on the Swedish coast in an inflatable dinghy. It leads him into the dangerous underworld of government corruption characteristic of Soviet-style totalitarian regimes. Scandinavian police work at the aftermath of the Soviet Union collapse.

Robin Moore (2003) The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy.

Detectives Edward Egan and Salvatore Grosso almost stumble into a case of heroin smuggling that ultimately leads to the seizure of the largest cache of heroin ever picked up in New York. Crime syndicate heads in Canada and France are involved. First published in 1969. Also a top movie with 5 Academy Awards.

Richard North Patterson (2007) Exile.

Rare combination of a thrilling story with an intelligent political analysis of the ongoing tragedy between Israelis and Palestinians. A courtroom drama, a love story, and a political thriller on a most complex and controversial subject. There is not one page that is boring!

Ruth Rendell (2000) A Judgement in Stone. (First published 1977)

Dorothy L. Sayers (1995) Gaudy Nights. (First published in 1935)

This Lord Peter Wimsey mystery unfolds at the all-female Shrewsbury College at Oxford. Harriet Vane, mystery writer and alumna of the College, comes back for the annual Gaudy night, where she receives a note full of hatred. Some time later she is called back by the Dean because the unpleasant events have intensified. Academic life, mixed with vitriolic hate.

Georges Simenon (2005) Tropic Moon.

In the former French colony of Gabon, Joseph Timar has taken on a job with a timber company. He stays at a small hotel in Libreville, where he gets obsessed with the hotelier's wife, Adèle. In the sweltering heat of the tropical sun, Joseph is dragged into the moral decay of crude lust, drinking and brutality of the French expatriates.

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