1
In Cold Blood
1994 (First published: 1966)
A masterpiece from the author of "Breakfast at Tiffanies". With this thriller Capote invented a new genre. It reconstructs the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas. Capote describes the investigations, capture, trial and execution of the killers in harrowing, yet empathic prose.
343 Pages
5/5
245
2
The Maltese Falcon
1989 (First published: 1930)
Archetypal tough guy, detective Sam Spade, risks his reputation by trying to help a beautiful young lady. As his partner gets killed Spade is suspected for murder. The story is a complex web of betrayal and deception, in which everyone tries to get the gold statuette of a falcon. Sam's masculine strength is refreshing in today's world of male insecurity. Also an excellent movie with Humphrey Bogart - but the book is better.
217 Pages
5/5
269
3
Strangers on a Train
2021 (First published: 1950)
In her first novel, Patricia Highsmith introduced the character of a subtle, murderous, sociopath who lives unsuspected for years. Highsmith's psycho-thriller was the source of a famous Alfred Hitchcock film in 1953. The book is one of the great classics of psychological crime fiction.
288 Pages
5/5
223
4
The Daughter of Time
1995 (First published: 1951)
Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, recuperating from a broken leg, becomes fascinated with a contemporary portrait of Richard III that bears no resemblance to the Wicked Uncle of history. Could such a sensitive, noble face actually belong to one of the world’s most heinous villains—a venomous hunchback who may have killed his brother’s children to make his crown secure?
206 Pages
5/5
291
5
The Talented Mr. Ripley
2008 (First published: 1955)
Patricia Highsmith wrote stories in which you almost physically feel the coming of a catastrophe. It is so unnerving that you might just want to throw away the book, because you can no longer stand the tension. But then you read on through the night. Don't get confused by the silly title or lousy cover. This is one of the best psycho-thrillers - ever!
288 Pages
Top
943
6
The Postman Always Rings Twice
1989 (First published: 1934)
Cain started a new genre: American noir fiction. It may be full of despair, sweltering greed, dark violence and raw sex, but the no-nonsense description of humanity heading towards destruction is impossible to resist. In his laconic style Cain tells the story of Frank, a tramp, who his attracted to Cora, the young wife of brutally violent Nick. When Frank and Cora start an affair behind her older man's back, the story is heading for disaster.
116 Pages
5/5
239
7
Presumed Innocent
2017 (First published: 1987)
Turow's first courtroom thriller is one of the best legal fiction ever. As a former U.S. prosecutor, Turow had intimate knowledge of legal procedures and could drag the reader into the gritty drama of a murder trial. A dark twist of events transforms prosecutor Susty Sabich from the accuser to the accused. Made into a spectacular Harrison Ford movie.
496 Pages
5/5
261
8
Rebecca
2006 (First published: 1938)
A shy young woman meets wealthy widow, Maxim de Winter, and falls in love with him. On his grand English estate, Manderley, she is immediately haunted by the powerful presence of the former mistress of Manderley, Maxim's flamboyant late wife Rebecca. This story of emotional horror and evil is a classic masterpiece, made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock.
416 Pages
5/5
296
9
The Big Sleep
Philip Marlowe - Book 1
1988 (First published: 1939)
A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in. Marlowe - a no-nonsense private investigator.
231 Pages
5/5
283
10
Farewell, My Lovely
Philip Marlowe - Book 2
1992 (First published: 1940)
Philip Marlowe's about to give up on a completely routine case when he finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in a murder that leads to a ring of jewel thieves, another murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, and more corruption than your average graveyard.
292 Pages
3/5
233
11
Our Man in Havana
2007 (First published: 1958)
Mr. Wormold, salesman of vacuum cleaners in a city of power brokers becomes a spy for the British MI6 to earn some extra income. This crisply written spy novel will drag you down with almost unbearable tension, while at the same time make you giggle with its parodies and absurd plot. A true masterpiece!
256 Pages
4/5
235
12
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Part 1 of the Millennium Trilogy.
2011 (First published: 2005)
The story is based on an actual crime which author and journalist Stieg Larson experienced at age 16: The gang rape of a girl named Lisbeth. His sensational thriller features a Lisbeth Salander, an agry punk heroine, who helps Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist, to uncover the dark secrets of one of Sweden's wealthiest families.
672 Pages
5/5
229
13
The Moonstone
2018
Lady Verinder’s uncle gives her the Moonstone – a magnificent diamond as large as an egg – for her eighteenth birthday, but it is not quite the generous gift it first seems. For he obtained it through bloody and nefarious means in India, and legend says the diamond’s guardians will stop at nothing to get it back. When the Moonstone is stolen, an innocent man is accused of the crime.
528 Pages
5/5
261
14
The Girl Who Played with Fire
Part 2 of the Millennium Trilogy.
2011 (First published: 2005)
Blomkvist has decided to run a story that will expose an extensive sex trafficking operation. On the eve of its publication, the two reporters responsible for the article are murdered, and the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to the troubled genius hacker Lisbeth Salander. The second part of Stieg Larsons Millennium Trillogy is a blistering espionage thriller, a riveting police procedural and a piercing exposé on social injustice.
752 Pages
5/5
314
15
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Part 3 of the Millennium Trilogy.
2012 (First published: 2005)
In Larson's third part of his Millennium Trillogy Lisbeth Salander lies in critical condition in a Swedish hospital, a bullet in her head. But she's fighting for her life and when she recovers, she'll stand trial for three murders.
832 Pages
5/5
250
16
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
Georg Smiley Novels - Book 3
2013 (First published: 1963)
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. "The finest spy story ever written" (Graham Green).
240 Pages
Top
237
17
Gaudy Night
Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries
2012 (First published: 1935)
Gaudy Night takes Harriet and her paramour, Lord Peter, to Oxford University, Harriet’s alma mater, for a reunion, only to find themselves the targets of a nightmare of harassment and mysterious, murderous threats. A nightmare of romance and terror.
544 Pages
5/5
225
18
Buried Secrets
Book 2 of Nick Heller Novels
2011 (First published: 2011)
Hedge fund titan Marshall Marcus desperately needs Nick’s help. His teenaged daughter, Alexa, has just been kidnapped. Nick Heller, a private spy who finds out things powerful people want to keep hidden. Clearly one of the best action thrillers of the year.
400 Pages
4/5
308
19
To Kill a Mockingbird
2015 (First published: 1960)
One of the most cherished stories of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird served as the basis for an enormously popular motion picture, and was voted one of the best novels of the twentieth century by librarians across the country. A gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl.
336 Pages
5/5
209
20
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Hercule Poirot
2022 (First published: 1926)
The villagers of King’s Abbot are shocked when a wealthy local widow commits suicide and the very next day her fiancé, Roger Ackroyd, is stabbed to death. Dr. James Sheppard, the local physician, discovers the body of his friend and narrates the ensuing hunt for the killer. - One of the most fiendish mysteries with the most dramatic twists in Christie’s extensive oeuvre.
288 Pages
5/5
356
21
No Country for Old Men
2006 (First published: 2005)
Mixture of action thriller, Western and psychological drama. Starting with an antelope hunt near the Rio Grande the story proceeds into a man-on-the-run thriller, populated by a psychopatic killer and an elderly Sheriff, who is smarter than most, because he knows his limitations. Made into movie by the Coen brothers!
309 Pages
5/5
342
22
The Day of the Jackal
2007 (First published: 1971)
The Jackal: A tall, blond Englishman with opaque, gray eyes. A killer at the top of his profession. A man unknown to any secret service in the world. An assassin with a contract to kill one of the world's most heavily guarded man. And as the minutes count down to the final act of execution, it seems that there is no power on earth that can stop the Jackal.
380 Pages
5/5
243
23
Marathon Man: A Novel
2001 (First published: 1974)
An epic, fast-paced thriller with just enough humor to prevent you from getting overwhelmed by the violence, evil and sadism. Made into a movie with Dustin Hoffman with the most harrowing visit to the dentist in cinematic history.
336 Pages
4/5
399
24
Too Late to Say Goodbye
A True Story of Murder and Betrayal
2007 (First published: 2007)
Idyllic life in Atlanta's wealthy suburbs turned into jealous rage, as the murders of two beautiful, successful women were made to look like suicides. Perhaps Ann Rule's best book so far with detailed descriptions of cutting-edge forensic techniques.
480 Pages
4/5
209
25
Postmortem
Kay Scarpetta Series 1
2021 (First published: 1991)
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.
448 Pages
5/5
214
26
Body of Evidence
Kay Scarpetta Series 2
2011 (First published: 1991)
Kay Scarpetta gets involved in the case of a brutal stabbing death: romance writer Beryl Madison. Madison's greedy lawyer accuses Scarpetta of losing his client's latest manuscript, an autobiographical expose of Beryl's early life as protégé of a legendary novelist. As more deaths occur, Kay finds herself also having to deal with the unexpected reappearance of long-lost lover Mark James.
448 Pages
4/5
260
27
All That Remains
Kay Scarpetta Series 3
2009 (First published: 1992)
In Richmond, Virginia, young lovers are dying. So far, four couples in the area have disappeared, only to be found months later as mutilated corpses. When the daughter of the president's newest drug czar vanishes along with her boyfriend, Dr. Kay Scarpetta knows time is short.
480 Pages
4/5
238
28
Cruel And Unusual
Kay Scarpetta Series 4
2010 (First published: 1993)
Convicted murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell is pronounced dead in the electric chair and Scarpetta prepares for his post mortem. But then the grotesquely wounded body of a young boy is found propped against a rubbish skip. The two cases seem unrelated, until Scarpetta recalls that the body of Waddell's victim had been arranged in a strikingly similar position.
416 Pages
4/5
308
29
The Godfather
2002 (First published: 1969)
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. Made into a famous movie with Marlon Brando, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
448 Pages
5/5
236
30
The Firm
2009 (First published: 1991)
About a law firm controlled by the Mafia. Fast-paced, smart, with believable characters. One of the best legal thrillers on the market. Made into a movie directed by Sydney Pollack - starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman.
544 Pages
5/5
271
31
And Then There Were None
2001 (First published: 1939)
Agatha Christie's version of the nursery rhyme is often considered the best mystery novel ever written. 10 strangers are trapped in an Indian island, where the sinister Mr. Owen is accusing them of murder. One by one is found dead, until ... (the resolution of the novel is very different from that of the movie versions).
300 Pages
5/5
288
32
Mystic River
2021 (First published: 2001)
When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened. Twenty-five years later, Sean is a homicide detective. Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave is trying to hold his marriage together. When Jimmy’s daughter is found murdered, Sean is assigned to the case.
496 Pages
5/5
219
33
Helter Skelter
1995 (First published: 1974)
Helter Skelter is the true Story of The Manson Murders. Bugliosi had served as the prosecutor in the 1970 trial of Charles Manson. The book presents his firsthand account of the notorious 1969 murder of Sharon Tate, Rosemary La Bianca and other by Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and other members of the Manson Family. It is the best-selling true crime book in history.
736 Pages
5/5
189
34
Shutter Island
2009 (First published: 2003)
Shutter Island is an army facility turned hospital for the criminally insane. When a patient escapes, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, are called in to investigate. This is one of the best psychological thrillers of all time. One mind-bending plot twist after another! Also a blockbuster movie, directed by Martin Scorsese.
400 Pages
4/5
243
35
The Killer Inside Me
2014 (First published: 1952)
Everyone in the small town of Central City, Texas loves Lou Ford, the deputy sheriff. He may not be the brightest or the most interesting man in town, but nevertheless, he's the kind of officer you're happy to have keeping your streets safe. But behind the platitudes and glad-handing lurks a monster.Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick praised the novel, stating that it was "probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered."
256 Pages
5/5
200
36
Still Life
Inspector Gamache novel - Book 1
2008 (First published: 2005)
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. One of the beloved residents, Miss Jane Neal, art enthusiast and retired school teacher, was shot in the heart with an arrow.
312 Pages
5/5
240
37
Anatomy of a Murder
1983 (First published: 1958)
Anatomy of a Murder immediately became a number-one bestseller in America, and was subsequently turned into the now classic Otto Preminger film of the same name, starring Jimmy Stewart and Duke Ellington. A gripping tale of deceit, murder, and a sensational trial, unmatched in the authenticity of its settings, events, and characters.
448 Pages
5/5
796
38
Along Came a Spider
Alex Cross Thriller - Book 1
2017 (First published: 1993)
Alex Cross, a homicide detective with a Ph.D. in psychology, works in the ghettos of D.C. and looks like Muhammad Ali in his prime. But he also has two adorable kids of his own. Mysterious Jezzie Flanagan is the first woman ever to hold the sensitive job as supervisor of the Secret Service in Washington. Alex Cross and Jezzie Flanagan are about to have a forbidden love affair-at the worst possible time, because Gary Soneji wants to commit the "crime of the century".
480 Pages
5/5
182
39
The Stranger Beside Me
2022 (First published: 1980)
In 1971, while working the late-shift at a Seattle crisis clinic, true-crime writer Ann Rule struck up a friendship with a sensitive, charismatic young coworker: Ted Bundy. Three years later, eight young women disappeared in seven months. But she had no idea that the “Ted” the police were seeking was the same Ted who had become her close friend. Bundy eventually confessed to killing at least thirty-six women.
640 Pages
5/5
202
40
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spie
George Smiley Novel - Book 5
2000 (First published: 1974)
George Smiley, former senior official in Britain's Secret Intelligence Service is living unhappily in forced retirement - following the failure of an operation codenamed Testify in Czechoslovakia which ended in the capture and torture of agent Jim Prideaux. "Control", chief of the Service, had suspected that one of the five senior intelligence officers at the SIS was a Soviet mole, and had assigned them code names - derived from the English children's rhyme "Tinker, Tailor".
416 Pages
5/5
255
41
The Silence of the Lambs
Hanibal Lecter - Book 2
Read third
Read third
1991 (First published: 1988)
As part of the search for a serial murderer nicknames "Buffalo Bill," FBI trainee Clarice Starling is given an assignment. She must visit a man confined to a high-security facility for the criminally insane and interview him. That man, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, is a former psychiatrist with unusual tastes and an intense curiosity about the darker corners of the mind. Better than the successful movie!
384 Pages
5/5
235
42
The IPCRESS File
Harry Palmer Novels - Book 1
2021 (First published: 1962)
A high-ranking scientist has been kidnapped. A secret British intelligence agency must find out why. What seemed a straightforward mission turns into something far more sinister. With its sardonic, cool, working-class hero, Len Deighton's sensational debut The IPCRESS File rewrote the spy thriller and became the defining novel of 1960's London.
279 Pages
5/5
424
43
Smiley's People
George Smiley Novel - Book 7
2020 (First published: 1979)
A Soviet defector has been assassinated on English soil, and George Smiley is called back to the 'Circus' to cover up the mess. But what he discovers sends him delving into the past, on a trail through Hamburg and Paris to Cold War Berlin - and a final showdown with his elusive nemesis, Karla. The last confrontation between the indefatigable spymaster and his great enemy, as their rivalry comes to a shattering end.
464 Pages
5/5
197
44
Call for the Dead
George Smiley Novel - Book 1
2020 (First published: 1961)
After a routine security check by George Smiley, civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently kills himself. When Smiley finds 'Circus' head Maston is trying to blame him for the man's death, he begins his own investigation, meeting with Fennan's widow to find out what could have led him to such desperation. But on the very day that Smiley is ordered off the enquiry he receives an urgent letter from the dead man.
160 Pages
5/5
278
45
The Boys from Biloxi
2022 (First published: 2022)
Keith Rudy and Hugh Malco grew up in Biloxi and were childhood friends. But as teenagers, their lives took them in different directions. Keith’s father became a legendary prosecutor, determined to “clean up the Coast.” Hugh’s father became the “Boss” of Biloxi’s criminal underground. Keith went to law school and followed in his father’s footsteps. Hugh worked in his father’s clubs. Two families heading for a showdown in a courtroom.
464 Pages
5/5
745
46
The Long Good-bye
Philip Marlowe - Book 6
1988 (First published: 1953)
Marlowe befriends a down on his luck war veteran with the scars to prove it. Then he finds out that Terry Lennox has a very wealthy nymphomaniac wife, whom he divorced and remarried and who ends up dead. And now Lennox is on the lam and the cops and a crazy gangster are after Marlowe.
379 Pages
3/5
221
47
The Deceiver
1992 (First published: 1991)
Sam McCready serves Britain as Chief of Deception & Disinformationfor the British Secret Intelligence Service. He's competent, dedicated, in his prime. Why then this push to get him out? The options are painful -- early retirement or an administrative backwater. Who wants him out, and why? And what happens if he refuses to go quietly? It's a wild card, confrontational, risky.
496 Pages
4/5
276
48
The Torment of Others
Dr. Tony Hill & Carol Jordan - Book 4
2010 (First published: 2004)
In a small grim room, the body of a woman is discovered, panic and pain etched in her face. The scene matches in every detail a series of murders two years ago-murders that ended when irrefutable forensic evidence secured the conviction of a deeply disturbed young man named Derek Tyler. But there's no way Tyler could have killed the latest victim. He's been locked up in a mental institution. So is there a copycat?
400 Pages
5/5
196
49
The Executioner's Song
2012 (First published: 1979)
The Executioner's Song is a Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime novel that depicts the events related to the execution of Gary Gilmore for murder by the state of Utah. He robbed two men in 1976 and killed them in cold blood. After being tried and convicted, he immediately insisted on being executed for his crime. And that fight for the right to die is what made him famous.
1126 Pages
5/5
208
50
The Manchurian Candidate
2013 (First published: 1959)
Sgt Raymond Shaw is a hero of the first order. He's an ex-prisoner of war, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, stepson of an influential senator...and the perfect assassin. Brainwashed during his time as a POW he is a 'sleeper', a living weapon to be triggered by a secret signal. Was made into an excellent movie - starring Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep.
368 Pages
4/5
277
51
The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight
1997 (First published: 1969)
Kid Sally Palumbo, a master in the art of murder and a moron at just about everything else wants to be a boos in the Brooklyn Mafia. To prove himself worthy he tries to organize a six-day bicycle race and keep the profits, but he bungles it ridiculously - kicking off a messy mob war instead. - Was made into a major motion picture starring Robert DeNiro.
249 Pages
5/5
230
52
The Last Temptation
Dr. Tony Hill & Carol Jordan - Book 3
2010 (First published: 2002)
Mapping the minds of murderers is what Dr. Tony Hill does better than anyone. So when a twisted killer starts targeting psychologists across Northern Europe, Hill is the obvious choice to track the executioner's mental and physical journey. Except that Tony, still bearing the scars of past cases, doesn't want to do this anymore. But the killer is about to strike uncomfortably close to home.
431 Pages
3/5
250
53
Before I Go To Sleep
2012 (First published: 2011)
Every morning, she awakens beside a stranger in an unfamiliar bed. She sees a middle-aged face in the bathroom mirror that she does not recognize. And every morning, the man patiently explains that he is Ben, her husband, that she is forty-seven-years-old, and that an accident long ago damaged her ability to remember. But Christine has been keeping a journal and she’s starting to ask questions.
368 Pages
5/5
210
54
The Drowning Pool
Lew Archer Series - Book 2
1996 (First published: 1950)
The Drowning Pool opens in classic hard-boiled fashion, with a well-dressed woman hesitantly engaging Archer's services at his L.A. office. Soon he's digging up secrets in her oil-rich hometown: tormented families, buried secrets that fester through multiple generations, environmental destruction, concealed paternity, and the brutal contrast between rich and poor.
256 Pages
5/5
190
55
Tell No One
2021 (First published: 2001)
Dr. David Beck's world shattered when his wife vanished years ago. Haunted by her loss, a mysterious message suggests she might still be alive. With danger lurking, Beck embarks on a perilous quest to uncover the truth. The past resurfaces as he races to unveil a deadly secret while being pursued by unseen forces determined to halt his search.
400 Pages
5/5
127
56
All the Devils Are Here
Inspector Gamache novel - Book 16
2021 (First published: 2020)
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is in Paris. On their first night the Gamaches have dinner with the billionaire Stephen Horowitz. Walking home together after the meal, they watch in horror as Stephen is knocked down and critically injured. It was no accident, but a deliberate attempt on the elderly man's life.
464 Pages
4/5
236
57
The Pillars of the Earth
Book 1 of Kingsbridge
2007 (First published: 1989)
This story of intrigue, power, revenge and betrayal chronicles the ups and downs in the life of a prior, his master builder as they struggle to build a Gothic cathedral in 12th century England. Follett weaves human brutality, steamy sex scenes, deep religious faith, agony and glorious success into his epic historical novel.
973 Pages
5/5
300
58
Garden of Beasts: A Novel of Berlin 1936
2004 (First published: 2004)
Deaver thrills with a captivating narrative set in 1936 Nazi Berlin. Amidst a backdrop of espionage and danger, mob hitman Paul Schumann's undercover mission to assassinate a top Nazi architect is fraught with twists and turns. Deaver's masterful plot shifts and vivid historical setting create an enthralling experience. With espionage, intrigue, and morally complex characters, this is Deaver at his best, delivering unparalleled entertainment.
416 Pages
5/5
270
59
The Perfect Marriage
2020
Sarah Morgan is a successful defense attorney and her life is going exactly how she planned. The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. Out in the secluded woods, at Adam and Sarah’s second home, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers. But then, one morning Adam is arrested for Kelly’s murder.
342 Pages
5/5
236
60
Gone, Baby, Gone
Patrick Kenzie & Angela Gennaro Series - Book 4
2010 (First published: 1998)
The tough neighborhood of Dorchester is no place for the innocent or the weak. Its territory is defined by hard heads and even harder luck; its streets are littered with the detritus of broken families, hearts, dreams. Now, one of its youngest is missing. Private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro don't want the case. But after pleas from the child's aunt, they open an investigation.
560 Pages
5/5
186
61
The Girl with the Crystal Eyes
2010 (First published: 2008)
A seductive serial killer is stalking the streets of Bologna. A cop determined to unravel an enigmatic trail of bloody butchery. A young medium fleeing her past, troubled dreams of murder. A perverse game of life and death unfolds between the hunter and the hunted, where the female of the species proves as daringly evil as Hannibal Lecter, giving 'Femme Fatale' a whole new meaning.
268 Pages
5/5
176
62
Faceless Killers
Kurt Wallander Series - Book 1
2003 (First published: 1991)
An old man has been bludgeoned to death, and his tortured wife lies dying before the farmer’s eyes. The only clue is the single word she utters before she dies: “foreign.” Inspector Kurt Wallander, a local detective whose personal life is in a shambles, is in charge of the investigation. His family is falling apart, he’s gaining weight, and he drinks too much. He also must deal with a wave of xenophobia as he searches for the killers.
279 Pages
4/5
242
63
The Wire In The Blood
Dr. Tony Hill & Carol Jordan - Book 2
2021 (First published: 1997)
Young girls are disappearing around the country, and there is nothing to connect them to one another, let alone the killer whose charming manner hides a warped and sick mind. Dr Tony Hill sets his team an exercise: they are given the details of missing teenagers and asked to discover any possible links between the cases. Tony Hill must embark on a game where hunter and hunted can all too easily be reversed.
372 Pages
3/5
302
64
The Dogs of Riga
Kurt Wallander Series - Book 2
2004 (First published: 1992)
On the Swedish coastline, two bodies, victims of grisly torture and cold execution, are discovered in a life raft. With no witnesses, no motives, and no crime scene, Detective Kurt Wallander is frustrated and uncertain he has the ability to solve a case as mysterious as it is heinous. - Best nordic noir!
336 Pages
4/5
200
65
The White Lioness
Kurt Wallander Series - Book 3
2003 (First published: 1993)
The execution-style murder of a Swedish housewife looks like a simple case even though there is no obvious suspect. But then Wallander finds a determined stalker, and soon enough, the cops catch up with him. But when his alibi turns out to be airtight, they realize that what seemed a simple crime of passion is actually far more complex—and dangerous.
448 Pages
4/5
244
66
One Step Too Far
Frankie Elkin Novel - Book 2
2022 (First published: 2022)
Timothy O’Day knew the woods. Yet when he disappeared on the first night of a bachelor party camping trip with his best friends, he didn’t leave a trace. What he did leave behind were two heartbroken parents, a crew of guilt-ridden groomsmen, and a pile of clues that don’t add up. Frankie Elkin doesn’t know the woods, but she knows how to find people. So she heads to Wyoming.
416 Pages
5/5
321
67
What Happened to the Bennetts
2022 (First published: 2022)
Jason Bennett is a suburban dad who owns a court-reporting business, but one night, his life takes a horrific turn. He is driving his family home after his daughter’s field hockey game when a pickup truck begins tailgating them, on a dark stretch of road. Suddenly two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. A horrific flash of violence changes his life forever.
400 Pages
5/5
333
68
Plum Island
John Corey - Book 1
1998 (First published: 1997)
NYPD homicide detective John Corey has moved into Long Island, restlessly recuperating from wounds received in the line of duty when he's hired to consult on the double murder of Tom and Judy Gordon, biologists who worked on Plum Island. This is the site of animal disease reseach for the Department of Agriculture. Were the Gordaons murdered because they'd stolen some valuable new vaccine, or even a dreaded virus?
574 Pages
4/5
195
69
The Mermaids Singing
Dr. Tony Hill & Carol Jordan - Book 1
2002 (First published: 1995)
Up till now, the only serial killers Tony Hill had encountered were safely behind bars. This one’s different – this one’s on the loose. Four men have been found mutilated and tortured. As fear grips the city, the police turn to clinical psychologist Tony Hill for a profile of the killer. But soon Tony becomes the unsuspecting target in a battle of wits. McDermid explores the tormented mind of a serial killer unlike any the world of fiction has ever seen.
400 Pages
4/5
171
70
The Plum in the Golden Vase
Jin Ping Mei: Vol. 1, The Gathering
1997
Jin Ping Mei — translated into English as The Plum in the Golden Vase — is a Chinese novel of manners composed in vernacular Chinese during the latter half of the sixteenth century during the late Ming dynasty. The explicit depiction of sexuality garnered the novel a notoriety akin to Fanny Hill and Lolita in English literature. A great legacy of Chinese literature.
520 Pages
5/5
241
71
Dirty Snow
2003 (First published: 1950)
Set in occupied France during WWII, Simenon's bleak masterpiece is a dispassionate description of human cruelty. No other writer has achieved the psychological intensity of Simenon. “What many regard as the finest of all noir novels…"--Tim Rutten, The Los Angeles Times
272 Pages
3/5
283
72
The Hunt for Red October
A Jack Ryan Novel Book 1
2018 (First published: 1984)
Somewhere under the freezing Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision. The Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. Made into a spectacular film directed by John McTiernan and starring Sean Connery.
656 Pages
5/5
248
73
The Hollow Man
2013 (First published: 1935)
The murderer of Dr Grimauld walked through a locked door, shot his victim and vanished. He killed his second victim in the middle of an empty street, with watchers at each end, yet nobody saw him, and he left no footprints in the snow. And Dr Gideon Fell must solve the case in this most famous of all locked-room mysteries.
303 Pages
4/5
111
74
The Woman in White
2003
Walter Hartright, engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, is drawn into the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his "charming" friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons and poison. This upper-class Victorian love story is certainly one of the greatest romantic thrillers.
720 Pages
5/5
244
75
Gone Girl
2014 (First published: 2012)
Nick Dunne comes home one day to find his beautiful wife Amy missing and all signs point to something sinister had happened while he was away. Passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. And Nick is oddly evasive and definitely bitter - but is he really a killer?
560 Pages
5/5
267
76
Smilla's Sense of Snow
1994
One snowy day in Copenhagen, six-year-old Isaiah falls to his death from a city rooftop. The police pronounce it an accident. But Isaiah's neighbour, Smilla, a half-Inuit, suspects murder. She embarks on a dangerous quest to find the truth, wandering on the ice floes of Greenland in pursuit of the killers.
512 Pages
3/5
231
77
The Housemaid
Book 1
2022
“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…
336 Pages
3/5
587
78
The Legacy
Children's House - Book 1
2019 (First published: 2014)
A baby goes missing on a cold day in Reykjavik. Years later, detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja are on the same team working on a case involving a dismembered body found in a deserted car. Their past relationship and secrets from the past threaten to surface as they try to solve the case. Freyja is also accused of a serious breach of police protocol and Huldar must decide if he can help her.
480 Pages
3/5
250
79
Pop Goes the Weasel
Alex Cross Thriller - Book 5
2021 (First published: 1999)
Alex Cross happiness is threatened by a series of chilling murders with a pattern so twisted, it leaves investigators reeling. Cross's ingenious pursuit of the killer produces a suspect: a British diplomat named Geoffrey Shafer. But proving that Shafer is the murderer becomes a potentially deadly task. As the diplomat engages in a brilliant series of surprising countermoves.
464 Pages
5/5
213
80
Death on Gokumon Island
Detective Kindaichi Series - Book 2
2020 (First published: 1948)
Detective Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news—his friend and fellow soldier, the son of one of the island's most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. With his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters' lives would now be in danger.
320 Pages
5/5
230
81
Twice Shy
2004 (First published: 1981)
A computerized horse-betting system falls into the hands of the young physicist Jonathan Derry. But unless he returns this nearly perfect handicapping system to the rightful owners, the odds of Jonathan's survival are slim to none, as a cunning scheme of revenge unfolds.
304 Pages
5/5
136
82
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Hercule Poirot Novel
2022 (First published: 1921)
Poirot is settling in England near Styles Court, the country estate of his wealthy benefactress, the elderly Emily Inglethorp. When Emily is poisoned, Poirot puts his sleuthing skills to work. Suspects are plentiful, including the victim’s husband, her stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London specialist on poisons who just happens to be visiting the nearby village.
115 Pages
5/5
241
83
Murder on the Orient Express
Hercule Poirot Novel
2017 (First published: 1934)
Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer. Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer before the murderer decides to strike again.
288 Pages
5/5
220
84
Killing Floor
Jack Reacher - Book 1
2012 (First published: 1997)
Ex-military policeman Jack Reacher is a drifter. He’s just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he’s arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Reacher knows is that he didn’t kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn’t stand a chance of convincing anyone. Not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.
576 Pages
5/5
221
85
The Terminal List
Book 1 of Terminal List
2022 (First published: 2018)
On his last combat deployment, Lieutenant Commander James Reece’s entire team was killed in a catastrophic ambush. But when those dearest to him are murdered on the day of his homecoming, Reece discovers that this was not an act of war by a foreign enemy but a conspiracy that runs to the highest levels of government.
496 Pages
5/5
206
86
Black and Blue
Inspector Rebus Novels - Book 8
2016 (First published: 1997)
Detective Inspector John Rebus is working on four cases at once trying to catch a killer he suspects of being the infamous Bible John. He has to do it while under an internal inquiry led by a man he has accused of taking bribes from Glasgow's "Mr Big". TV journalists are meanwhile investigating Rebus over a miscarriage of justice. Rebus travels between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen and then on to Shetland and the North Sea.
352 Pages
5/5
235
87
The Green Mile
The Complete Serial Novel
2017 (First published: 2000)
Welcome to Cold Mountain Penitentiary, home to the Depression-worn men of E Block. Convicted killers all, each awaits his turn to walk “the Green Mile,” the lime-colored linoleum corridor leading to a final meeting with Old Sparky, Cold Mountain’s electric chair. Prison guard Paul Edgecombe has seen his share of oddities over the years working the Mile, but he’s never seen anything like John Coffey—a man with the body of a giant and the mind of a child.
512 Pages
5/5
186
88
Green for Danger
Inspector Cockrill Mysteries - Book 2
2023 (First published: 1944)
When postman Higgins returns to Heron's Park hospital with injuries from a bombing raid in 1943, his inexplicable death by asphyxiation in the operating theatre casts four nurses and three doctors under suspicion. A second death in quick succession invites investigation by Inspector Cockrill. As an air raid detains the inspector for the night, the stage is set for a tense and claustrophobic investigation with a close-knit cast of suspects.
284 Pages
5/5
139
89
Cop Hater
87th Precinct Mysteries - Book 1
2012 (First published: 1956)
The murder of three detectives in quick succession in the 87th Precinct leads Detective Steve Carella on a grim search that takes him into the city's underworld - from a notorious brothel to the lair of a beautiful, dangerous widow and ultimately to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head.
224 Pages
4/5
120