The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time, by Category

(from The Crown Crime Companion)

From the back of the book: “For The Crown Crime Companion, the Mystery Writers of America have compiled a list of the best 100 mystery novels of all time, as well as a list of favorites in ten categories.”

These are the top books (in descending order) from each category:
Classics (1-10), Suspense (11-20), Hard boiled/Private Eye (21-30), Police Procedural (31-41 – there was a tie between #40 and #41), Espionage/Thriller (42-51), Criminal (52-61), Cozy/Traditional (62-71), Historical (72-81), Humorous (82-91), Legal/Courtroom (92-101).

To part 1 (1-25)

To part 2 (26-50)

To part 4 (76-101)

51	The Third Man (1949). Filmed same year. Takes place in the powerful setting of post-World War II Vienna. Murder, racketeering, mystery, and subterfuge combine for a compelling tale that is simple, economical, concise, and very satisfying.Although iIntended as a play, the book is among Greene's best!	Graham Greene
52.	The Godfather.(1969) (Filmed in 1972 starring Marlon Brando, follow ups 1974 and 1990)) Puzo is the father of the "real" Maifia novels. Tells the story of a fictitious Sicilian Mafia family settled in USA and headed by Don Vito Corleone, who became synonymous with the Italian Mafia. The novel covers the years 1945 to 1955, and also provides the backstory of Vito Corleone from early childhood to adulthood. Great book, well written.	Mario Puzo
53.	The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934)(Crime Masterworks). (Filmed in 1946, starring Lala Turner.) The novel was quite successful and notorious upon publication, and is regarded as one of the more important crime novels of the 20th century. Fast-moving and brief (only about 100 pages long, depending on the edition), the novel's mix of sexuality and violence was startling in its time, and the book was actually banned in Boston.	James M. Cain
54.	Double Indemnity (1935). Filmed in 1944 and 1973. The story is told by insurance agent Walter Huff. He's been in the business for a while, and he's gotten to understand people and motives pretty well -- but when he comes across Phyllis Nordlinger he's immediately dangerously close to being in over his head.. Written in a cynical tone. Great book!	James M. Cain
55.	Little Caesar (1929). Filmed in 1931. A gangster novel, full of era slang, crime action and mugs tougher than anyone.It tells the story of Caesar Enrico Bandello, alias Rico, alias Little Caesar, a small-time rural hood who desires to "be somebody" like the urban gangsters he reads about in the newspapers.	W. R. Burnett
56.	In Cold Blood (1965). The book details the 1959 slaying of Herbert Clutter, a wealthy farmer from Holcomb, Kansas, his wife, and two children. When Capote learned of the quadruple murders before the killers were captured, he decided to travel to Kansas and write about the crime.	Truman Capote
57.	The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1972. (John MacRae Books). Filmed in 1973. Eddie Coyle works for Jimmy Scalisi, supplying him with guns for a couple of bank jobs. But a cop named Foley is on to Eddie and he's leaning on him to finger Scalisi, a gang leader with a lot to hide. "Chilling...the most penetrating glimpse yet into what seems the real world of crime...positively reeking with authenticity." (The New York Times Book Review)	George V. Higgins
58.	The Killer Inside Me (1952). Stanley Kubrick: “The Killer Inside Me” is "probably the most chilling and believable first-person story of a criminally warped mind I have ever encountered." Also, at the time the sexand the joy in violence must have made readers blink in surprise. About Lou Ford, the deputy sheriff of a small town in Texas. A rough ride of a book -- fantastic!	Jim Thompson
59.	Stick (Leonard, Elmore, Elmore Leonard Library.) (1983, filmed 1985) Ernest 'Stick' Stickley is back on the outside and trying to stay legit. But it's tough staying straight in a crooked town - and Miami is a pirate's paradise, where investment fat cats and lowlife drug dealers hold hands and dance. And when a crazed player chooses Stick at random to die for another man's sins, the struggling ex-con is left with no choice but to dive right back into the game.	Elmore Leonard
60.	The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955). (Filmed.) Tom Priley one of the more memorable sociopath serial killers of fictional history. Tom Ripley was not the kind of man who was willing to work hard for the finer things that he felt that life owed him. Rather, he found it enjoyable to manipulate those around him i, if that didn't work, he was more than willing to take those things however he could get them.	Patricia Highsmith
61.	Prizzis Honor(1982)(filmed 1985). Charley Partanna is a faithful lieutenant for the Prizzis, New York's most powerful Mafia family. The object of his affections is Irene Walker, a Los Angeles-based tax consultant. But it's her freelancing that pays--she's a hit woman for the Mob. She has also cheated the Prizzis out of an unforgivably large sum of money.	Richard Condon
62.	And Then There Were None (1939). (Filmed 1945). Ten strangers gather for a mysterious gathering on a secluded island. It turns out to be a farewell party, for they have all been sentenced to die for crimes in their past by a self-appointed judge, jury and executioner who could be one of them. One by one, the guests are systematically dispatched as described in the lyrics of the children's rhyme "Ten Little Indians". Agatha Christie's marsterpiece!	Agatha Christie
63.	Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (1926). The story begins with the death of Mrs. Ferrars, a wealthy widow. Her death is initially believed to be suicide until Roger Ackroyd, a widower who had been expected to marry Mrs. Ferrars, dies. Poirot, having exonerated all of the original suspects, lays out a completely-reasoned case that the murderer is in fact Dr. Sheppard, who has not only been Poirot's assistant but the story's narrator.	Agatha Christie
64.	Gaudy Night (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery, 1935). (Filmed in 1987.) When Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the "Gaudy," the academic setting is haunted by bizarre pranks: obsentities, burnt effigies and poison-pen letters -- including one that says, "Ask your boyfriend with the title if he likes arsenic in his soup." And Harriet finds herself ensnared in a nightmare, with only the tiniest shreds of clues to challenge her powers of detection, and those of her paramour, Lord Peter Wimsey.	Dorothy L. Sayers
65.	The Nine Tailors (1934). For this novel, Sayers had to learn about change ringing. Lord Peter not only rings one of eight church bells in a record-setting series of sound patterns called "changes", but also uses his knowledge of bell-ringing to solve a 20-year-old mystery, located in the Fens, involving a stolen emerald necklace.	Dorothy L. Sayers
66.	Murder Must Advertise (Lord Peter Wimsey Mystery)(adapted for TV 1973). When copywriter Victor Dean falls to his death on the stairs of Pym's Advertising Agency, no one seems to mind. That is, until Lord Peter joins the firm incognito as Dean's replacement and starts asking questions which lead him into a network of blackmailers, drug pushers and one of the most deadly plots of crime fiction.	Dorothy L. Sayers
67.	Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot Mysteries)(1934, filmed 1974). En route to Paris, Hercule Poirot has booked passage on the fabled Orient Express. A wealthy American is found dead of multiple stab wounds in the night compartment of the Calais coach. Thirteen travelers, each bearing a secret, find themselves suspect in the most ingenious crime Poirot has ever solved.	Agatha Christie
68.	Strong Poison (1931). Ms. Vane, a mystery novelist herself, is accused of poisoning her lover. Lord Peter Wimsey steps in to help exonerate her and find the true murderer, motivated not so much for his usual love of sleuthing but more that he has fallen in love with Ms. Vane.	Dorothy L. Sayers
69.	Clouds of Witness (1926) In a shocking scandal the Duke of Denver stands accused of the murder of his sister's fiance, shot through the heart at Riddlesdale Hall in Yorkshire. The Duke's brother, Lord Peter Wimsey, attempts to prove Denver's innocence, but why is the Duke refusing to co-operate? And what does his sister, Lady Mary, know about the affair?	Dorothy L. Sayers
70.	The Three Coffins(1935). "A sheer joyful celebration of the detective novel, bearing within its hallowed pages the most famous digression upon the greatest pursuit known to literary characters: the Locked-Room Lecture. The plot is extravagant and improbable, aye, but the solution is sheer ingenuity, surpassing all other attempts at writing a detective novel. The characterisations are masterful.."	John Dickson Carr
71.	The Body in the Library: A Miss Marple Mystery (1942). A young, blond woman is found dead on the floor of Colonel and Mrs. Bantry’s library. Nobody seems to know who the woman is, or how she wound up murdered in the Bantry’s home. Jane Marple is called in and the chase is on.	Agatha Christie
72.	The Daughter of Time (1951). Inspector Grant has a reputation for being able to pick them at sight. Now he is in hospital for an extended stay. Yet his professional curiosity is soon aroused. In a portrait of Richard III, the hunchbacked monster of nursery stories and history books, he finds a face that refuses to fit its reputation. But how, after four hundred years, can a bedridden policeman uncover the truth about the murder of the Princes in the Tower?	Josephine Tey
73.	The Name of the Rose (1980)(filmed 1986). It is a compelling murder mystery, as young narrator Adso of Elk accompanies the wise William of Baskerville as he uses logic and semiotics to not only solve a murder mystery, but to decipher labrynths and hidden secrets of the vast monastery library. A really great book!	Umberto Eco
74.	The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. (1974, Norton Paperback). This book is presented as a lost manuscript written by Dr. Watson, which tell the truth about what really happened in the Sherlock Holmes stories "The Adventure of the Final Problem" and "The Adeventure of the Empty House". A nice angle, followed up by Meyer in two subsequent books. Very good book!	Nicholas Meyer
75.	Wobble to Death (A&B Crime) (1970). Detectives Cribb and Thackery are on the trail of a killer at a long distance, six days, walk race in Victorian England. This is a great good mystery, and the hero is wonderful. Very entertaining read, with a wealth of details.	Peter Lovesey