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

Steve Martini (2009) Shadow of Power: A Paul Madriani Novel.

The US Constitution still has language defining African-Americans as three-fifths human. An author has used this clause as the main topic of a new provocative book, triggering racial riots. When he is bludgeoned to death, a neo-Nazi is suspected of his murder. Madriani defends the accused killer. A fabulous, detail-rich legal thriller!

Ed McBain (1981) King's Ransom. (87th Precinct Mystery)

Stupid, but ruthless thugs try to kidnap the son of a rich tycoon, but mistakenly take the son of his chauffeur. This wise-cracking police procedural from Ed McBain, the inventor of the genre (and script writer for Hitchcock's The Birds), is as fresh as if it was written yesterday.

Val McDermid (2001) A Place of Excecution.

Defines the category of village mysteries. Superb thriller with complex characters with a plot in the 1960s. A truly haunting tale from rural England.

Joseph D. Pistone (1997) Donnie Brasco.

A thrilling account of FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone working undercover in the Mafia for six years. Contrary to social fiction, such as "Goodfather", the book reveals that nothing is honorable or glamorous in the mob. Pistone's extremely dangerous undercover work resulted in over 100 convictions. Amazing that he survived his assignment!

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.

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.

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.

Paul Schrader (1990) Taxi Driver.

Vietnam veteran Travis Bickler is a lonely man - disgusted with the street-scum of pimps, drug dealers, Mafiosi, and prostitutes in New York City. As a taxi driver on night shift he is longing for true love and beauty, which he thinks he has found in Betsy. But their relationship is doomed. In a state of psychotic rage, Travis goes on a murdering rampage.

Lisa Scottoline (2005) Devil's Corner.

Scottoline's 12th novel was inspired by a real-life drug trafficking case. While Assistant U.S. Attorney Vicki Allegretti is interviewing an informant, he and her partner are shot. Vicki's gutsy investigation of the two deaths leads her to "Devil's Corner", a drug-riddled neighborhood in Philadelphia.

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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