When talking about whodunit novels, there are a handful of books that come to mind. Some authors have carved their name into the history book by writing whodunit novels. That is why we will be listing the five best whodunit novels of all time. Keep reading to find out which books made the list!
It is easy to see why readers love a good mystery novel. Whodunit novels let readers become detectives and try to solve the mystery before the author tells us who the killer is.
Two authors that have come to define the genre are Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. They rose to superstardom with their detective mystery in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. You can see the full list below!
The Five Best Whodunit Novels of All Time
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christi
- Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
And Then There Were None
Agatha’s Christie’s And Then There Were None is her most popular work and for good reason. The simple plot of having 10 people on an island that die one after the other and the murderer is one of them. They have to figure out who is the murderer before everyone else is killed.
This is the best selling crime book of all time and has influenced dozens of works. This novel has had a big impact on murder mystery novels and many authors have recreated the plot of this novel many times. But nothing is ever going to replace the original and it is a novel readers should read often.
Murder on the Orient Express
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. And Murder on the Orient Express is one of her best novels. The mystery at hand is clever and while it may not be as popular as And Then There Were None, it is just as good if not better!
Sherlock Holmes
When talking about crime novels and the best detective novels, Sherlock Holmes can’t be forgotten. And with m a bunch of books to his name, a few could have made this list. But the best book in the Sherlock Holmes series has to be The Hounds of the Baskerville. Even if Doyle loathed writing Sherlock Holmes novels, their impact on the crime genre cannot be ignored.
The Girl on the Train
A novel that is up there in popularity with Christie and Doyle’s novels is The Girl on the Train. It has become a classic and a must read if you are a fan of mystery novels. I enjoyed the series and while it is can be graphic at times, it is still an amazing series and something different than your typical whodunit novels.
The Silent Patient
The Silent Patient might have one of the best plot twists of a thriller novel that I recently read. It is about a woman who doesn’t talk after murdering her husband. Psychotherapist Theo Faber transfers to the Grove to help Alicia Berenson talk again and find out what actually happened on the day of the murder. This novel is in many best thriller of all time lists and only after reading it will you understand why!
Conclusion
These are the five best whodunit novels of all time that you should read. How many of these books have you read or plan to read? What other novels should have made the list? Let us know in the comments below!
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook
Discover more from Books of Brilliance
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
You have got to be joking, Agatha Christie is sooo predictable. Start reading some really good who dunnits!!!
Make that ‘The Five Best Whodunit Novels I Happen To Have Read”. And then you only wrote about four of them. Was this a sloppy cut-and-paste from ChatGPT?
Five best whodunits and one of them is The Girl on the Train? No Raymond Chandler? No Dashiell Hammett?
That choice wasn’t even the best book of the year.
Clickbait, written by someone or something who likely has not read any of these books. 3 books from a classic cozy author from last century, and one from the century before that. And then one, amazingly, from 2019.
Ya think this might be a paid piece from the publisher of the latter novel?
I agree with 80% is the books on this list.
Silent patient shouldn’t even be on this list. Paid for and brought to you buy a less than impressive novel.
Josephine Try, The Daughter of Time. Just saying.
To leave Dorothy Sayers off any list of best mysteries is to have an incomplete list.