TOP 100 MYSTERY NOVELS OF ALL TIMESelected by Active MWA Members

1. The Complete Sherlock Holmes,Arthur Conan Doyle. Including these individual high vote-getters: • The Hound of the Baskervilles • A Study in Scarlet • The Adventures of Sherlock

Holmes • The Sign of Four

2. The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett

3. Tales of Mystery and Imagination,Edgar Allan Poe. Including these individual high vote-getters: • The Gold Bug • The Murders in the Rue

Morgue 4. The Daughter of Time, Josephine

Tey 5. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow 6. The Spy Who Came in from the

Cold, John le Carré 7. The Moonstone, Wilkie Collins 8. The Big Sleep, Raymond

Chandler 9. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier 10. An Then There Were None,

Agatha Christie 11. Anatomy of a Murder, Robert

Traver 12. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,

Agatha Christie 13. The Long Goodbye, Raymond

Chandler 14. The Postman Always Rings

Twice, James M. Cain 15. The Godfather, Mario Puzo 16. The Silence of the Lambs,

Thomas Harris 17. A Coffin for Dimitrios, Eric Ambler 18. Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers 19. Witness for the Prosecution,

Agatha Christie

20. The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth

21. Farewell, My Lovely, Raymond Chandler

22. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan

23. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco

24. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevski

25. Eye of the Needle, Ken Follett 26. Rumpole of the Bailey, John

Mortimer 27. Red Dragon, Thomas Harris 28. The Nine Tailors, Dorothy L.

Sayers 29. Fletch, Gregory Mcdonald 30. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John

le Carré 31. The Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett 32. The Woman in White, Wilkie

Collins 33. Trent’s Last Case, E.C. Bentley 34. Double Indemnity, James M. Cain 35. Gorky Park, Martin Cruz Smith 36. Strong Poison, Dorothy L. Sayers 37. Dance Hall of the Dead, Tony

Hillerman 38. The Hot Rock, Donald E.

Westlake 39. Red Harvest, Dashiell Hammett 40. The Circular Staircase, Mary

Roberts Rinehart 41. Murder on the Orient Express,

Agatha Christie 42. The Firm, John Grisham 43. The Ipcress File, Len Deighton 44. Laura, Vera Caspary 45. I, The Jury, Mickey Spillane 46. The Laughing Policeman, Maj

Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö 47. Bank Shot, Donald E. Westlake

48. The Third Man, Graham Greene 49. The Killer Inside Me, Jim

Thompson 50. Where Are The Children?, Mary

Higgins Clark 51. “A” is for Alibi, Sue Grafton 52. The First Deadly Sin, Lawrence

Sanders 53. A Thief of Time, Tony Hillerman 54. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote 55. Rogue Male, Geoffrey Household 56. Murder Must Advertise, Dorothy L.

Sayers 57. The Innocence of Father Brown,

G.K. Chesterton 58. Smiley’s People, John le Carré 59. The Lady in the Lake, Raymond

Chandler 60. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 61. Our Man in Havana, Graham

Greene 62. The Mystery of Edwin Drood,

Charles Dickens 63. Wobble to Death, Peter Lovesey 64. Ashenden, W. Somerset

Maugham 65. The Seven Per-Cent Solution,

Nicholas Meyer 66. The Doorbell Rang, Rex Stout 67. Stick, Elmore Leonard 68. The Little Drummer Girl, John le

Carré 69. Brighton Rock, Graham Greene 70. Dracula, Bram Stoker 71. The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia

Highsmith 72. The Moving Toyshop, Edmund

Crispin 73. A Time to Kill, John Grisham 74. Last Seen Wearing, Hillary Waugh 75. Little Caesar, W.R. Burnett 76. The Friends of Eddie Coyle,

George V. Higgins 77. Clouds of Witness, Dorothy L.

Sayers

78. From Russia, With Love, Ian Fleming

79. Beast in View, Margaret Millar 80. Smallbone Deceased, Michael

Gilbert 81. The Franchise Affair, Josephine

Tey 82. Crocodile on the Sandbank,

Elizabeth Peters 83. Shroud for a Nightingale, P.D.

James 84. The Hunt for Red October, Tom

Clancy 85. Chinaman’s Chance, Ross

Thomas 86. The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad 87. The Dreadful Lemon Sky, John D.

MacDonald 88. The Glass Key, Dashiell Hammett 89. Judgment in Stone, Ruth Rendell 90. Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey 91. The Chill, Ross Macdonald 92. Devil in a Blue Dress, Walter

Mosley 93. The Choirboys, Joseph

Wambaugh 94. God Save the Mark, Donald E.

Westlake 95. Home Sweet Homicide, Craig

Rice 96. The Three Coffins 97. Prizzi’s Honor, Richard Condon 98. The Steam Pig, James McClure 99. Time and Again, Jack Finney 100. A Morbid Taste for Bones, Ellis

Peters, and Rosemary’s Baby, Ira Levin (tie)

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