The Top-100 Crime Novels of All Time

1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70 | 71-80 | 81-90 | 91-100

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 Grisham (2004) The Last Juror.

More than a courtroom drama, the Last Juror is the portrait of a small town in Mississippi and its people - including the renegade Padgitt family who is terrorizing the region. Willie Traynor, a long-haired college dropout, launches a crusade in the local newspaper to bring a murderer from the Padgitt family to justice.

John Grisham (1993) The Pelican Brief. (Reprint Ed.)

Two Supreme Court justices are assassinated. Darby Shaw, a second year law student, finds out why. In a brief she points out a possible suspect to her professor. As he gets killed with a car bomb that was obviously intended for her, Darby is on the run. Mighty men want to suppress the information with all means.

Thomas Harris (1998) The Silence of the Lambs.

Hanibal Lecter, a brilliant psychopath whose nickname is "The Cannibal" because he likes to eat parts of his victims, helps FBI trainee Clarice Starling to get into the mind of a serial killer and hunt him down. Made into a terrifying film - starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins.

Patricia Highsmith (1988) Those Who Walk Away. (First published 1967)

Gloomy wintertime Venice: Ray, an American traveling in Europe, has lost his wife to suicide. Ed, his father-in-law, blames Ray for his daughter's death and tries to kill him. But Ray survives and follows Ed to places all over Venice trying to explain his wife's suicide to the outraged father - seemingly unaware of Ed's unforgiving hate.

Tami Hoag (2006) Prior Bad Acts.

The story starts in a courtroom but quickly explodes into a fast-paced investigation for rescuing judge Carey Moore, who is attacked for her unpopular decision to throw out evidence from a case. This is a first-rate legal thriller with complex characters and erotic twists.

P. D. James (2001) The Black Tower. (First published in 1975)

James' deeply bleak novel is set in an isolated home for patients with a fatal muscular disease. The home's elderly chaplain invites Adam Dalgliesh asking for help. But when Dalgliesh arrives, the chaplain has died. As Commander Danlgliesh begins to investigate, more murder victims keep piling up.

P. D. James (2001) Innocent Blood

Essential reading from a very smart lady. A crime novel at the peak of the art. (The London Times) James was inducted into the International Crime Writing Hall of Fame in 2008.

John Le Carré (2004) Absolute Friends.

LeCarré is mad about what he sees as a fraudulent and unnecessary war in Iraq. The hero in his up-to-date novel, Ted Mundy, is an idealistic out-of-business spy from the Cold War era. He is hired by a mysterious benefactor to counter the widespread propaganda on behalf of an Iraqi war. Even if you don't like LeCarré's political slant, his writing is first class.

Henning Mankell (2003) Firewall.

The book starts with random, seemingly unrelated acts of violence in the town of Ystad, southern Sweden. But slowly Wallander detects that these small-town murders are part of a conspiracy in cyber terrorism targeted to collapse the world's financial system.

In cooperation with Amazon.com

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