One of my favorite things to do is read a good mystery novel. The genre is filled with thousands of amazing novels, making it hard to choose your next read. That is why we made a list of the 25 best mystery books of all time. Keep reading to see which books made our list!
Mystery novels have been around for hundreds of years. Something about them makes them hard to put down. Our love for the genre had led to many amazing novels as well as authors. You can see the full list below!
The 25 Best Mystery Books of All Time
- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
- Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
- The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
- The Alienist by Caleb Carr
- In the Woods by Tana French
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
- Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
- The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
- The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
- Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Classics and More
No mystery list is complete without Agatha Christie. She has helped push the genre forward and you can see her influence on many modern novels. Another author that deserves a spot on this list is Arthur Conan Doyle. Just like Christie, his impact is still being felt over a century later.
A brilliant novel on this list is The Secret History by Donna Tartt. She is known for writing one book a decade but they are always a must read. The Secret History will send you on a mystery unlike any other.
Some of the less obvious picks on this list include The Big Sleep, Death at La Venice, and The Talented Mr. Ripley. While these novels won’t be on everyone’s list, they are still a great list. Most of the time, it comes down to too many books going unread because there are just too many good books out there!
Conclusion
That is all for our list of the 25 best mystery books of all time. What books should we have included on the list? Let us know in the comments below!
What about The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers?
And Then There Were None. I love Agatha Christie and this is her best mystery hands down
What not one Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker? Truly an oversight on your part.
I recommend the series of Fletch Mysteries written by Gregory McDonald.