The 20 Best Mystery Books of All Time 

Nothing beats reading a great mystery novel. But finding one is not that easy. That is why we decided to make a list of the 20 best mystery books of all time. Keep reading to see which books made our list! 

It is always difficult to choose a limited amount and that was also true for this list. Mystery books are hard to judge because the genre is vast and has a bunch of subgenres. Depending on what you like, your list will look a lot different from another person who is also a big mystery fan.

I chose these 20 books based on my taste as well as various other lists. There will be a little bit of bias there but I do think it represents the most popular novels for the most part. You can see the full list below! 

The 20 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   

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie   

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. Murder on the Orient Express is one of her best novels and it is easy to see why it is a fan favorite. I enjoyed this murder mystery a lot and the ingenuity of this specific novel

The most popular Christie novel is And Then There Were None and it is a special novel. It is the book that made me become a Christie fan. The plot of ten people on an island and one of them being the murderer is scary and thrilling and impossible not the read.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle  

When talking about crime novels and the best detective novels, Sherlock Holmes can’t be forgotten. He has a bunch of classic belts under his name but my favorite is The Hounds of the Baskervilles. We get to see Sherlock in his best as well as seeing Doyle’s writing shine here.

Even if Doyle loathed writing Sherlock Holmes novels, the public loved them. They are some of the first detective novels and even over a century later, fascinate readers worldwide. He has come to be known as the best detective ever and is still influencing the genre to this day.

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris   

Is there a better thriller novel than Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris? When you are reading the novel, it doesn’t feel like there is. What makes this novel interesting is that it isn’t even the first novel in the Hannibal series.

It is the novel that includes the popular serial killer Hannibal Lector. Just like Sherlock Holmes, the public became fascinated with him and he became bigger than the books. More people know Hannibal Lector than they do of the book itself.

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon   

If you haven’t read a novel by Donna Leon, then you are missing out on an amazing author. She writes the Commissario Guido Brunetti series which has over 30 books. It takes place in Venice, Italy and follows detective Guido Brunetti solving crime.

A fun fact that I love is that Leon didn’t want her books to be translated to Italian even though her books take place there. That is because she lived in Italy and didn’t want to be recognized.

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler   

The hardboiled fiction genre thrived from the 1930s to the 1950s and Raymond Chandler was one of its most influential writers. The Big Sleep captures the magic that swept the nation and made hardboiled fiction the go-to for many readers.

Now, the genre is mostly forgotten but its impact can still be felt in many detective novels and movies even today. The Big Sleep is a standout novel and one that captures the magic of the detective novel that were adapted into even better movies. If you don’t mind violence and bloodshed, then you will love this novel.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett 

Another iconic hardboiled fiction novel to make the list is The Maltese Falcon. Hammett is credited as one of the pioneers of the genre. But this novel is the one that came to define this golden age of mystery.

Everything about this novel is perfect and it feels like you are watching a movie as you read it. It is no wonder the movie adaptation was also a classic and one of the best movies ever directed.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt   

One of my favorite novels that I read has to be The Secret History by Donna Tartt. It is a murder mystery that takes place on a college campus and recalls the events that led to the murder of one of the members of the club.

This novel gave birth to the dark academia subgenre and established Tartt as a one of a kind author. She takes about a decade to write a novel but they are always incredible books so it is hard to complain. This is her best novel in my opinion and a classic if I say so myself.

Conclusion 

That is all for our list of the 20 best mystery books of all time. Books from the 1800s as well as the 2000s made the list. The genre has so many incredible novels that no list is going to get it right. But we had to try anyway.

How many of these novels have you read? What books should we have included on the list? Let us know in the comments below. Until next time, happy reading!

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