Discover the 100 Greatest Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time

Mystery and thriller novels are easily two of the most entertaining genres in fiction. Both are filled with suspense, twists, and unforgettable characters that keep readers turning pages late into the night. Because these genres overlap so often, it’s no surprise that TIME decided to combine them when creating their list of the 100 best mystery and thriller books of all time. Keep reading to see which books made their list!

Unlike many rankings that try to place books in a strict order, TIME took a different approach. Instead of ranking the novels from best to worst, they listed them chronologically by publication date. In my opinion, that’s actually the best way to do it. Too many lists tend to favor older classics and overlook newer books that deserve recognition. By organizing the list this way, TIME can highlight influential classics while still including modern thrillers that have made a big impact.

Another reason this list works so well is that it combines both mystery and thriller novels. While they are technically separate genres, they share many of the same elements—suspenseful plots, shocking twists, and stories built around solving a mystery or surviving dangerous situations.

Let’s be honest, most readers can probably name ten amazing mystery or thriller novels without much trouble. But if someone asked you to name the 87th best mystery novel of all time, that would be a lot harder. That’s where a list like this becomes useful.

By combining the two genres and selecting 100 influential books, TIME created a list where even the titles near the end are recognizable, popular, or highly respected by readers. In many cases, these are books that readers have either heard about, added to their reading list, or already enjoyed.

Whether you’re a longtime fan of mystery and thriller novels or just looking for your next suspenseful read, this list is a great place to start. Check out the full list of TIME’s best mystery and thriller books of all time below

Discover the 100 Greatest Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time

• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green
• The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
• The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham
• The Patient in Room 18 by Mignon G. Eberhart
• The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
• The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher
• A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh
• Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
• The Three Coffins by John Dickson Carr
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• A Coffin for Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
• Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
• If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester B. Himes
• In a Lonely Place by Dorothy B. Hughes
• The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey   
• Beat Not the Bones by Charlotte Jay
• Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
• A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin
• The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
• Beast in View by Margaret Millar
• The Quiet American by Graham Greene
• The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré
• The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo
• Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark
• The Shining by Stephen King
• The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
• The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy
• A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine
• The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji
• The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris   
• Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
• Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan
• Postmortem by Patricia Daniels Cornwell
• Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
• Dead Time by Eleanor Taylor Bland
• The Secret History by Donna Tartt  
• Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg
• When Death Comes Stealing by Valerie Wilson Wesley
• Fade Away by Harlan Coben
• Killing Floor by Lee Child 
• Lady Joker by Kaoru Takamura
• Morituri by Yasmina Khadra
• Out by Natsuo Kirino
• Inner City Blues by Paula L. Woods
• A Place of Execution by Val McDermid
• Those Bones Are Not My Child by Toni Cade Bambara
• Blanche Passes Go by Barbara Neely
• Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong
• The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø
• Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
• The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
• The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter
• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
• The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg
• 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
• Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
• The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson 
• The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
• Snakeskin Shamisen by Naomi Hirahara
• Queenpin by Megan Abbott
• What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
• Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey
• Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
• Faithful Place by Tana French
• The Plotters by Un-su Kim
• The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• The Round House by Louise Erdrich
• Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama
• Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
• Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• Land of Shadows by Rachel Howzell Hall
• The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
• The Deep Blue Good-by by John D. MacDonald
• Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
• The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey
• Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
• The Need by Helen Phillips
• The Other Americans by Laila Lalami
• The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware
• Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha
• Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
• Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
• Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
• Survivor’s Guilt by by Robyn Gigl

The Hound of the Baskervilles

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 Baskervilles. Even if Doyle loathed writing Sherlock Holmes novels, their impact on the crime genre cannot be ignored.

The Maltese Falcon

It has been almost a century since hardboiled fiction novels have had their heyday. But the classics that these era produced are still worth reading such as The Maltese Falcon is a detective novel filled with lots of murder and blood. One of my favorite elements of a hardboiled fiction novel is the constant plot twists as if you are in a maze. There is never a dull moment and Dashiell Hammett’s novel delivers on all fronts.

The Long Goodbye

Many people would consider The Big Sleep as Raymond Chandler’s best novel but according to Chandler himself, The Long Goodbye is his best novel. That is partly due to the autobiographical aspect of the novel and two characters that are based on Chandler himself.

Also, the novel was written during a difficult time in his life and his struggle with writing as he got older. The novel is well written and the plot is clever and different than any of Chandler’s novels.

The Secret History

One of my favorite novels 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. Not many authors can get away with only releasing one book a decade but Tartt has proc=ven that the end product is worth it.

Mexican Gothic

This is a novel that I have seen on many BookTok lists and finally got around to reading and I loved every second of it. Mexican Gothic is a horror novel about a haunted house with a fun new spin on the genre. Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an amazing author and her writing style is unique and her attention to detail make her novels feel like a trip to another time period.

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