The 25 Best Mystery Books of All Time

If you are like me, then you are always looking for a good mystery book to read. But finding a great mystery novel is not easy. That is why we decided to make our list of the 25 best mystery books of all time. Keep reading to see which books made our list! 

There are a lot of mystery novels that are regarded as classics by critics and book lovers alike. By making this list of the 25 best mystery books of all-time, we are able to include many of our favorites. Some great novels will be left off or just didn’t make the cut but that’s just how it goes.

This list consists of new and old mystery novels that you should have heard of. Even if you haven’t read it, you have it in your to-read list. And if you haven’t, now is the best time to correct the mistake.

Some popular names that everyone should know are the Sherlock Holmes books as well as books by Agatha Christie. But there are others that are just as good if not better that are must reads. You can see the full list below!

25 Must Read Mystery Novels for Every Book Lover

• 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  
• Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty  
• The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides  
• One for the Money by Janet Evanovich  
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie  
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón  
• A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle  
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt  
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon  
• The Firm by John Grisham  

New and Old Classic

Every best mystery list has to include Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. The Sherlock Holmes books are timeless and still hold up over a century later. And there is not much to say about Agatha Christie, the bestselling author ever.

But they are some of the many amazing mystery books worth checking out. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris is a terror-filled novel about one of the most brilliant fictional series killers ever written. Hannibal has found his name immortalized which is impressive because that is a lot more difficult for an antagonist.

And then there’s novels from the golden age of mystery such as The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. If you like your novels to be filled with violence and murder, then look no further. They are well written and will pique your interest till the last page.

There are also the gems that I found by chance such as Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon, The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Each book is unique and the mystery at hand will stay in your head weeks after you have finished the novel.

I can’t end this article without talking about one of the best mystery novels ever written in my opinion. The Secret History by Donna Tartt is a novel unlike any other, creating a genre of its own as a result.

The novel is about a murder at a college and Donna Tartt makes you feel like you are there with her detailed writing. You know the murder is going to happen but you don’t know the why and you aren’t even sure if you want to know.

Conclusion 

That is all for this list of the 25 best mystery books of all time. The mystery genre has too many amazing books but these are the 25 that stood out the most. This is just our opinion and we know that many amazing books unfortunately had to be left out.

What books from this list have you read or plan to read? Which mystery books should we have included on this list? Let us know in the comments below. Until next time, happy reading!

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