# The best crime novels of all time

The crime novels that appear on every list, starting with the Crime Writers' Association's top 100.

- 14 votes · 18 items
- Jun 21, 2023 · Damien Gautier
- https://even.best/en/l/3369/the-best-crime-novels-of-all-time

## Top 18

1. **Farewell, My Lovely** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Raymond Chandler, 1940. Marlowe again.
2. **The Silence of the Lambs** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Thomas Harris, 1988. Clarice and Hannibal.
3. **The Daughter of Time** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Josephine Tey, 1951. A bedridden inspector investigates Richard III; number one for the CWA.
4. **The Big Sleep** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Raymond Chandler, 1939. Philip Marlowe's first case.
5. **The Spy Who Came in from the Cold** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — John le Carré, 1963. Espionage without glamour.
6. **The Murder of Roger Ackroyd** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Agatha Christie, 1926. The most famous twist in the genre.
7. **Murder on the Orient Express** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Agatha Christie, 1934. Hercule Poirot on a snowbound train.
8. **The Maltese Falcon** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Dashiell Hammett, 1930. Sam Spade and the statuette.
9. **The Mystery of the Yellow Room** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Gaston Leroux, 1907. The locked-room crime and Rouletabille.
10. **Pietr the Latvian** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Georges Simenon, 1931. Maigret's first case.
11. **Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Maurice Leblanc, 1907. The most elegant thief.
12. **The Moonstone** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Wilkie Collins, 1868. One of the first detective novels.
13. **The Hound of the Baskervilles** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Arthur Conan Doyle, 1902. Sherlock Holmes on the moor.
14. **In Cold Blood** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Truman Capote, 1966. The novel of a real crime in Kansas.
15. **The Talented Mr Ripley** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Patricia Highsmith, 1955. The likeable impostor.
16. **The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Stieg Larsson, 2005. Lisbeth Salander.
17. **The Name of the Rose** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — Umberto Eco, 1980. An investigation in a medieval abbey.
18. **And Then There Were None** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — Agatha Christie, 1939. Ten strangers on an island: the best-selling crime novel.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.