The 50 Best Mysteries of All Time

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Selecting the 50 best mysteries of all time is an impossible task. There, I said it. Mysteries are narratives in which the who, why, or how of an event, usually a murder or some other type of crime, remains unknown until the end and drives the story forward. To write a successful mystery, authors must perform literary magic tricks—which is to say literary sleight of hand. They have to create a mystery, populate their story with believable characters, and then sustain the suspense while simultaneously giving readers clues and distracting them with the ever-so-tricky red herrings. In other words, mystery fiction is the art of juggling the unknown and all of its answers in front of readers, all while making sure they become obsessed with the latter and only see the former when the time is right.

While there seem to be somewhat clear-cut instructions to writing a good mystery novel, the process is more complicated than performing literary sleight of hand. For starters, anything can surround the unknown at the core of a mystery narrative. This means a mystery can look like a horror novel, a thriller, an adventure narrative, or a science fiction story. It also means a mystery can take place anywhere. Once you have the right crime and the right question to answer, a mystery can morph into a rhizomatic entity that spreads outward from that question, reaching any genre the author wishes to play with. That’s why mysteries are called by so many names—crime, thrillers, whodunits, horror novels, PI novels, detective stories, cozy mysteries, police procedurals, etc. Complicated, isn’t it? I told you this was impossible.

A mystery can be almost anything if you have a crime, a question, and someone trying to find answers. It can be called by many names because the lines between crime fiction sub-genres are so tenuous, and because mysteries mix well with everything else. That’s why this is so hard. Add to that a long history (Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” considered the first modern detective story, was published in 1841), and you can see why a list like this is a conundrum.

Ah, but nothing is impossible in life and fiction, or however the saying goes, so we shall tackle this and get it done. How? Well, with a combination of elements. In order to create this list, which originally included almost 200 titles, I looked at things like the lingering impact of the novel on the genre, the way it influenced new writers, and whether it introduced a character that readers have loved for decades. Mysteries are wildly entertaining and play with our need to know that which we ignore. That’s what makes them so popular; we always want to crack the case, to find the answers, to get justice, to know the truth. Because of that, there are many books to celebrate, but we could only choose 50. So here, in an incomplete list that merely scratches the surface of what the genre has to offer, are the best 50 mysteries ever written, in ranked order.

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

Dracula is mostly known as a horror novel… and a thriller… and an epistolary novel. It’s also a quintessential piece of Gothic fiction, the novel that defined the vampire the way we all know it today, and one of the most influential narratives of all time. Oh, and it’s a mystery, too. Yes, that’s right: Dracula is a detective story in which Professor Abraham Van Helsing tracks down Count Dracula. With everything it’s been called, it’s no surprise that Dracula also kicks off this list, which contains more novels that have traditionally been considered horror.

My Annihilation, by Fuminori Nakamura

Literary noir maestro Fuminori Nakamura has always been interested in understanding the psychology of crime, and in My Annihilation, a labyrinthine story that contains a mystery inside another mystery, he allows that obsession to shape the entire narrative. The result is a dark novel that’s the literary equivalent of a puzzle box; an experimental, cerebral story in which questions reign supreme, secret agendas slither under everything, every narrator is unreliable, memory is shaky at best, and reality is a shifting thing that refuses to be pinned down.

The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides

This one hooked me on the premise alone. Alicia Berenson had what seemed like a great life. She had a great career as a painter and was married to Gabriel, a fashion photographer who was popular in his field. They lived in a big house in a good area of London and got along well. Then one night, Gabriel came home late from work, and Alicia shot him in the face five times. After that, she refused to speak again. Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist, has been eager to work with Alicia, but once he gets the chance, cracking the case becomes an obsession that threatens everything else.

The Little Death, by Michael Nava

A ground-breaking novel about a gay Latino defense lawyer who becomes a sleuth when his new lover is murdered under strange circumstances, The Little Death did for the Latino community, and especially for LGBTQ+ Latinx folks, what the work of authors like Chester Himes and Eleanor Taylor Bland did for the Black community.

Tourist Season, by Carl Hiaasen

There’s a lot of darkness on this list, but Hiassen makes up for that with his humor. A zany send-up of Florida, this novel follows reporter-turned-private investigator Skip Wiley as he gets to the bottom of a case the locals want to keep hushed in order to keep the tourist money flowing. Few mysteries contain scenes and dialogue capable of making readers laugh out loud, but Hiaasen has made that his calling card. Tourist Season delivers an entertaining mystery while also perfectly capturing the zeitgeist of the place.

Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier

A mainstay on most lists of best mysteries, Rebecca is also a creepy ghost story and a romantic suspense novel. When a young woman marries a recent widower and moves in with him, she soon realizes that his late wife's shadow is a constant presence threatening to destroy what they’re trying to build. In Rebecca, which is incredibly atmospheric, not knowing is at the center of the story, but there’s much more; the mystery itself is a presence and a threat. Published in 1938, this novel also feels incredibly prescient in terms of mixing genres, as it brought together mystery, romance, and horror.

The Dry, by Jane Harper

Federal agent Aaron Falk is forced to return to his Australia hometown for the first time in years to attend his best friend’s funeral. The friend’s death stirs up Falk’s past, and he suspects that a secret they concealed way back when might have something to do with his friend’s death. Atmospheric and superbly paced, The Dry has won many awards and been turned into a film, but the most impressive thing about it is that it was Harper’s debut.

The Decagon House Murders, by Yukito Ayatsuji

This celebration of traditional whodunits plays with the mystery genre in a wonderfully self-referential way. Originally published in Japan in 1987, The Decagon House Murders follows a group of mystery enthusiasts who are picked off one by one while visiting an island where a murder happened a long time ago. With each new murder, the remaining members of the group must use their knowledge of the genre to find the killer and try to stay alive.

The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

A worldwide sensation, The Shadow of the Wind is a great example of a mystery that involves books. It follows Daniel, the son of an antiquarian book dealer, who discovers a mysterious book by Julian Carax. Obsessed with the author and the book, Daniel tries to track down all his other books, but instead discovers a secret that sends him on a wild journey through the streets of post-war Barcelona. At once a murder story, an adventure narrative, and a love story, The Shadow of the Wind remains a superb read from a great talent lost too soon.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

Christopher John Francis Boone has a very logical mind, and he has no trouble solving puzzles and finding patterns everywhere he looks. Unfortunately, understanding people and their emotions is an entirely different thing. When Christopher’s neighbor’s dog is killed, he takes it upon himself to find the killer using Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes—also on this list—as his guide. Unexpectedly funny and tender, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time takes a classic crime and gives it a new, memorable, wildly entertaining spin.

Havana Red, by Leonardo Padura

The first in the Havana quartet, a great series featuring Cuban Inspector Mario Conde, Havana Red follows Conde as he investigates the death of a cross-dresser whose body was found in a park in Havana. Full of social and political commentary, this Hammett Prize-winning novel is a dark slice of international mystery with a distinct Cuban flavor.

The Deep Blue Good-by, by John D. MacDonald

The Deep Blue Good-by is the first novel in MacDonald’s Travis McGee series, which spans 21 books. McGee is a righteous man tasked with finding a serial sex predator and killer who’s bankrolling his crimes with money from the buried treasure he discovered in Florida. There are many broken, hard-drinking, depressed investigators in the genre, but McGee is a good guy worried about doing the right thing.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

This Swedish mystery/crime novel, translated into English in 2008, became an international bestselling phenomenon. The trilogy was translated in more than 50 countries and turned into a series of popular films. In this, the first book of the Millennium trilogy, which Larsson planned to stretch for ten books before his untimely death in 2004, journalist Mikael Blomkvist teams up with hacker Lisbeth Salander to solve a mystery, leading them to uncover a deep web of corruption. It had been done before and would be done after, but this novel brought mysteries into the future, adding not only a subculture element, but also giving computers and the internet a central role in the narrative.

Maximum Bob, by Elmore Leonard

No crime fiction list is complete without an Elmore Leonard, regardless of the sub-genre being discussed. More than plots, which were all wildly entertaining, Leonard excelled at creating unique characters and writing some of the best dialogue in fiction. In Maximum Bob, someone is trying to kill Judge Bob Gibbs, known as Maximum Bob, but when one has as many enemies as he does, finding the one aiming for his life proves to be extremely difficult.

Postmortem, by Patricia Cornwell

Originally titled Postmortem: A Mystery Introducing Dr. Kay Scarpetta, this novel kicked off a great series that now contains 27 books and is still going strong. In Richmond, Virginia, someone is strangling women and leaving no clues behind. Scarpetta, a medical examiner, engages the latest technology in forensic research to find the killer. It’s a relatively simple premise, done very well. Cornwell also tackled a real mystery in Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert, where she used the same technology Scarpetta uses in her novels to offer an answer to the mystery of Jack the Ripper’s identity.

Whose Body?, by Dorothy L. Sayers

Sayers was one of the original queens of the mystery genre. In this, her debut novel, she introduces readers to Lord Peter Wimsey, a man who collects old books and solves mysteries for fun in his free time. Originally published in 1923, Whose Body? has stood the test of time and shows that Sayers understood what the genre was all about.

The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins

Collins walked a fine line between mystery and the supernatural, and this novel is a perfect example of that. It follows a star-crossed couple. The woman, Laura Fairlie, married someone else, but not before being warned not to do so. Meanwhile, there are rumors of a strange woman dressed in white roaming the city’s dark streets, who might have something to do with the warning. Atmospheric and dark, this is a mystery that’s also a Gothic horror novel. It shows just how blurry the line between the two can be.

The Snowman, by Jo Nesbo

There are a few first novels in a detective series on this list, but this one isn’t one of them. The Snowman is the seventh book in Nesbo’s Harry Hole series, but it’s widely regarded as his best. In this one, Inspector Harry Hole suspects a link between a woman who went missing from his home in the middle of the night and a strange letter he received. As he investigates the disappearance, he realizes that over the past decade, eleven women have vanished after the first snow of the year. An entertaining take on the serial killer trope, this one shows Nesbo as a master of complex, surprising storytelling.

The Last Good Kiss, by James Crumley

Mysteries and noir make for great dancing partners, and that’s exactly what Crumley delivers in this influential novel. C.W. Sughrue is a private investigator who also works at a topless bar to make ends meet. He gets hired to find a broken-down author, and in the process, he ends up on the trail of a girl who’s been missing in Haight-Ashbury for a decade. Dark, sleazy, full of broken characters, and beautifully written, The Last Good Kiss is a perfect example of the grittier side of the mystery genre.

Killing Floor, by Lee Child

The first novel in Child’s Jack Reacher series introduces readers to Reacher, an ex-military policeman who’s arrested for murder while passing through Margrave, Georgia. Reacher is a drifter with a shady past, which doesn’t make him the most unique character in crime fiction, but the way Child filled the novel with tension and twists made this an incredibly popular and undoubtedly influential book, leading it to become a best-selling series and eventually a successful television show.

Mr. Mercedes, by Stephen King

King is known as the king of horror, but he’s also a great mystery writer. Mr. Mercedes, which won the Edgar Award for Best Novel, is a dark mystery thriller that follows retired cop Bill Hodges after he receives a taunting letter from a killer who drove a stolen Mercedes through a job fair. Killing eight people and injuring fifteen, he was never caught. Mr. Mercedes is tense, offers a truly dark and creepy look at the mind of the killer, and is full of smaller mysteries—letters, a website, the extra key used to steal the car. This novel started the Bill Hodges Trilogy and birthed not only Hodges, a great sleuth, but also Holly Gibney, one of King’s most enduring female characters. King may be the undisputed king of horror, but this novel shows that he’s also a great mystery writer who understands what makes the genre tick.

The Black Echo, by Michael Connelly

The first Harry Bosch novel launched a series that now spans 27 books, as well as movies, shows, and countless awards. In The Black Echo, LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch finds a body in a drainpipe at Mulholland. The dead man is a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who fought right beside Bosch, so he takes the murder personally. What follows is a story of crooked cops and dangerous heists that leads to a surprising culprit.

Rosemary's Baby, by Ira Levin

Suspicion. Fear. A dark secret at the core of the narrative. Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby possesses all the elements of a great mystery. When Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband move into an old New York City apartment building with a creepy reputation and only elderly residents, they can’t imagine what their new life will be like. Despite hearing weird noises and thinking they’re too strange for her taste, Rosemary welcomes neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet when they come to visit. Rosemary has heard strange stories about the Castavets; when she becomes pregnant and her husband lands a big acting role, the neighbors take a special interest in her wellbeing. As Rosemary becomes increasingly sick and lonely, she begins to think that her neighbors aren’t what they seem to be. First published in 1967, the countless editions and adaptations of Rosemary’s Baby show the enduring power of a great, creepy mystery.

In a Lonely Place, by Dorothy B. Hughes

In a Lonely Place is one of a few examples on this list of how oftentimes a novel we call a noir is also a mystery, even if in a roundabout way. It’s the late 1940s and former fighter pilot Dix Steele is looking for the good life he was promised in the streets of Los Angeles. There’s a strangler on the loose, and Dix’s friend Brub, who fought with him in the Air Corps, is on his trail. Recognized as one of the earliest examples of narratives that criticize toxic masculinity, In a Lonely Place is a noir novel with a feminist twist that’s at once very much of its time and a timeless narrative that’s still worth reading.

Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane

Almost everyone remembers the film version of this novel, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. However, Shutter Island is an outstanding dark mystery that packs more questions than answers and delivers a few surprises. It follows U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels as he visits an isolated hospital for the criminally insane while investigating the disappearance of a patient who’s murdered multiple people. When a storm hits, Daniels is forced to deal not only with his investigation, but also with his own secrets.

Out, by Natsuo Kirino

Out, which won the 51st Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel, tells the story of a brutal murder in the Tokyo suburbs. The novel starts with a frustrated young mother who works night shifts strangling her abusive husband, then hiding the body with the help of her coworkers. Out quickly turns into something darker as the narrative delves deep into the violent underbelly of Japanese society. This novel, first published in English in 2004, is a brilliant exploration of the societal pressures that sometimes push women to lash out.

Bluebird, Bluebird, by Attica Locke

Black Texas Ranger Darren Matthews returns home to the town of Lark while separated from his wife and on suspension. While in Lark, Darren looks into the recent murders of a Black man and a white woman. Darren knows that race played a role in the murders, because things are different in West Texas, but the local authorities claim otherwise. A sharp, timely novel, Bluebird, Bluebird is an outstanding mystery thriller that earns Locke a spot on any list.

A is For Alibi, by Sue Grafton

The fact that this book launched a 25 novel series that ran from 1983 to 2017 and made Grafton an international star should be enough to get it on this list. Kinsey Millhone, a private detective in Santa Teresa, gets a visit from Nikki Fife, a woman who has been just released from jail for the murder of her husband. Fife claims she’s innocent and asks Millhone to find the killer. In typical mystery fashion, the premise is somewhat simple, but once Millhone follows the clues to Las Vegas, she finds herself tangled in an expanding web of secrets.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John Le Carré

The are many novels that could’ve earned Le Carré a spot on this list—The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, The Night Manager, The Tailor of Panama, The Constant Gardener—but Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which follows spymaster George Smiley as he returns from retirement to weed out a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service during the Cold War, is a superb novel full of questions, lies, and secret agendas that encompasses everything that made Le Carré an international star. Thanks to radio, film, and television adaptations, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy seems as popular now as it was back in 1974.

The Name of The Rose, by Umberto Eco

The first time I read The Name of the Rose… I didn’t understand much of it. I was too young and didn’t have the brainpower to fully enjoy Eco’s work. The second time I read it, I quickly understood why this historical mystery, originally published in 1980, is still being read and discussed. It follows medieval monk Brother William of Baskerville, who is called to investigate heresy allegations and instead finds himself in the middle of a serial murder case. A brilliant man, Brother William must use his intelligence to catch the killer or face the consequences.

The Black Dahlia, by James Ellroy

Is this really a mystery? Well, it is a crime novel about a mystery, so it counts. Ellroy is one of the most unique and well-known voices in crime fiction, and this narrative, which follows two cops as they try to solve one of the most infamous unsolved cases in the history of Los Angeles, is proof that mysteries don’t always deliver a satisfying answer in the end.

The Day of the Jackal, by Frederick Forsyth

The Jackal is tall, blond, and very good at killing. He’s an Englishman who kills for money, and he’s so good at what he does that even those who hire him don’t know his name. When the Jackal is hired to kill one of the world’s most well-guarded men, there’s no stopping him. Forsyth is one of many authors on this list whose oeuvre is full of books that could earn him a spot here—The Odessa File, The Dogs of War, Icon, The Fourth Protocol—but the mysterious Jackal is a classic character, and this novel is a master class in suspense, intrigue, and secrets.

Dead Time, by Eleanor Taylor Bland

Eleanor Taylor Bland was a crime fiction pioneer. Dead Time, her first crime novel, features Marti MacAlister, an African American female police detective and widowed mother of two who investigates the death of an elderly woman whose loud music usually bothered her neighbors at the Cramer Hotel. Tackling issues of racism as well as sexism, Dead Time began an important series that made Bland a household name and a genre forerunner who now has an award named after her: the Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award.

The Neon Rain, by James Lee Burke

On this list, there are a few novels that introduce a great detective protagonist and kick off a series, and this is one of them. Dave Robicheaux, a police lieutenant and recovering alcoholic, finds the body of a young sex worker floating in the water while he’s out fishing in the New Orleans bayou. Robicheaux tries to hunt down the killer, and in the process encounters a lot of crooked cops and local mobsters. Known for their atmosphere and great sense of place, the 23 books in the Robicheaux series are a treat for fans of mysteries.

In the Woods, by Tana French

In the summer of 1984, three children went out to play in the woods near Dublin and never came back. Two of them vanished. The third was found with blood in his shoes and no recollection of what he went through. Years later, the third child is a detective with the Dublin murder squad; to solve a murder, he now has to return to the same woods where he once went missing. A mystery that juggles a creepy atmosphere with childhood trauma, In the Woods is a gripping novel that makes the “go back home” trope feel new and exciting.

The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson

Controversial, I know. The Haunting of Hill House is one of the best horror novels ever, but a mystery is a narrative with a question and someone looking for an answer at its core, and that’s exactly what this is. The novel follows four people brought together at an estate called Hill House by Dr. Montague, who is studying the house because it might be haunted. There are so many unanswered questions—and things that inexplicably go bump in the night—that everyone eventually questions even their own sanity. A great novel that shows how the question(s) at the center of a mystery can be more powerful than any answer.

Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

Nick and Amy Dunne seem like a normal, happy couple. Then Amy disappears. The authorities immediately start looking at Nick as a suspect (because in most cases, the partner did it), especially after the discovery of Amy’s diary, which shows that they weren’t as perfect as they seemed. The circumstances lead Nick to learn a lot he didn’t know about his wife. A superb example of the mystery/suburban noir hybrid that Flynn does so well, Gone Girl, published in 2012, is a novel about secrets, mysteries, and lies that still gets attention regularly, and for good reason.

An Easy Thing, by Paco Ignacio Taibo II

Criminally ignored in the United States, Paco Ignacio Taibo II is a star all across Latin America and Europe. His Hector Belascoarán Shayne series is one of the funniest, most idiosyncratic detective series out there. An Easy Thing, the first novel in the series, takes place in Mexico City and introduces readers to Hector Belascoarán Shayne, an independent detective with a passion for history, politics, cigarettes, and soda. In this novel, Belascoarán tackles three cases simultaneously as he investigates a murder in a factory, looks into the threats made against a former adult actress’s daughter, and looks for Emiliano Zapata, who is rumored to be alive and hiding in a cave right outside Mexico City.

The Chill, by Ross Macdonald

In The Chill, a distressed young man hires private investigator Lew Archer to find his runaway bride, but as soon as Archer finds the woman, he becomes entangled in two murders, one so recent that the blood of the victim isn’t even dry yet and one that happened two decades ago. In the 2022 special edition of this classic novel, which was originally published in 1964, the publisher, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, accurately called it “one of the most intricate plots ever spun by an American crime writer.”

Miami Blues, by Charles Willeford

Mysteries don’t have to be serious, and fun is precisely what Charles Willeford did. Unjustly absent from many best-of lists, the Detective Hoke Moseley series is as wildly entertaining as mysteries get. In this one, the first in the series, Moseley is enjoying a drink in his hotel room after spending the day investigating a quadruple homicide when he hears a knock at the door. He answers the door and then wakes up in the hospital, which sends him on a trip down memory lane as he remembers his cases in an attempt to figure out who put him in the hospital and why. Witty, gritty, irreverent, and unfiltered fun, while still full of mystery, Miami Blues shows how great Willeford was at his particular brand of mystery fiction.

A Rage in Harlem, by Chester Himes

Himes was a superb writer who is too often left out of lists where his name should definitely appear. In A Rage in Harlem, Jackson’s partner claims to have found a way to turn ten-dollar bills into hundred-dollar bills. After losing all his money to a con man and then gambling away what he stole from his boss, Jackson turns to his brother, who makes a living dressing up as a Sister of Mercy in Harlem and selling tickets to heaven, with the goal of getting his money back and getting some payback in the process. With this witty novel full of great dialogue and descriptions, Himes did for Harlem what novelists like Walter Mosley, Raymond Chandler, and James Ellroy did for Los Angeles.

The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris

Yes, The Silence of the Lambs is also horror. So much so that it won the Bram Stoker Award for Novel in 1988. However, the core of this novel is also all mystery: to stay alive and find a deadly madman before he finds her, new FBI agent Clarice Starling must rely on Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychopathic serial killer with a taste for human flesh locked away in a hospital for the criminally insane. As full of questions as it is full of surprises, The Silence of the Lambs is a dark novel that gets to the heart of why we’re so drawn to mysteries: “Problem-solving is hunting; it is savage pleasure and we are born to it.”

Devil in a Blue Dress, by Walter Mosely

Few novels have been as frequently listed or celebrated as widely as Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress, the first and perhaps the most well-known novel in Mosley’s bestselling Easy Rawlins mystery series. Set in Los Angeles in the late 1940s, Devil in a Blue Dress introduces readers to Easy Rawlins, a recently unemployed Black war veteran who’s offered good money to locate Miss Daphne Monet, a beautiful blonde known to frequent Black jazz clubs. Besides being a great mystery, Devil in a Blue Dress, which was adapted into a movie starring Denzel Washington as Rawlins, is a perennially timely novel tackling issues of class and race that are as present now as they were in the 1940s.

Motherless Brooklyn, by Jonathan Lethem

Lionel Essrog is an orphan with Tourette’s syndrome who works in Brooklyn as a driver and detective for a local mobster. When his boss is killed, Lionel uses his detective skills to investigate the murder. Motherless Brooklyn, a novel that won the National Book Award, is one of those mystery novels in which the main character is even more memorable than the big question at the heart of the story. A truly unique mystery with an unforgettable voice in the lead, Motherless Brooklyn is perhaps Lethem’s best.

The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett

Originally serialized in the magazine Black Mask starting with the September 1929 issue, The Maltese Falcon is a novel you can expect to find on almost any best-of mystery/crime/thriller list. Sam Spade, one of the most quintessential private detectives in fiction, takes a case tracking down a man who’s quickly found dead. What follows is a unique narrative devoid of descriptions of thoughts or feelings that cemented Hammett as one of the best crime writers ever. Thanks to the many editions and adaptations that followed, this has become one of the most cited private detective stories ever.

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

How can the true account of a crime that’s already been solved be full of mystery? The answer to that question is well known by those who’ve read Capote’s masterpiece, which also invented the nonfiction crime novel in the process. Capote had been following the investigation of a quadruple murder in Kansas and had conducted a few interviews when the killers were caught. The resulting narrative captures the brutality, mystery, and sense of urgency that followed the murders. This book proves that giving a mystery the right treatment can make a narrative gripping, even if readers already know the outcome.

The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

The world of mysteries is just like the real world in that there are many different opinions, so asking readers where they rank Philip Marlowe on the list of best private investigators will get you different answers. That said, one thing is certain: no one will say Marlowe is not on their list. In The Big Sleep, a dying rich man hires Marlowe to take care of a blackmailer who’s messing with one of his two problematic daughters. The case seems simple, but Marlowe soon finds himself involved in kidnapping, seduction, and murder as he tries to get the job done.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Much like Agatha Christie or Edgar Allan Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a must on any list of great mystery novels. Sherlock Holmes is one of the most enduring, imitated, and instantly recognizable detectives not only in fiction, but also in pop culture, thanks to his endless radio, television, and film incarnations. The Hound of the Baskervilles follows Holmes and his sidekick Dr. John Watson as they investigate reports of the apparition of a monstrous dog that’s supposedly responsible for the murder of Sir Charles Baskerville. This narrative was the detective’s first appearance since his apparent death in “The Final Problem,” a short story published first by itself and then as part of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Intricately plotted, with a hint of the supernatural, and packed with the witty dialogue and sharp thinking that made Holmes a reader favorite, The Hound of the Baskervilles is a fan favorite that’s widely regarded as one of the most famous stories ever written, as well as the favorite of the Sherlock Holmes novels among his fans.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue & Other Tales, by Edgar Allan Poe

Poe invented the detective story, and while some might consider it cheating, no list of great mysteries is complete without the master’s stories. C. Auguste Dupin is an eccentric Frenchman who applies logical reasons to solve crimes. He’s also the blueprint for every other detective on this list. Between 1841 and 1844, Poe published three Dupin stories—“The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt,” and “The Purloined Letter”—and changed literature forever. These stories have stood the test of time, and they’re still necessary reading for anyone interested in mysteries.

Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie

The reasons to rank Agatha Christie as our number one pick are myriad. Christie is a giant of the genre, influential around the world, and the best-selling novelist of all time. Christie, whose novels are only outsold by Shakespeare and the Bible, still sells an estimated four million copies every year, outselling… well, everyone. She’s been the introduction to mystery for countless generations of readers not only in the United States, but also across the world, where her novels have been translated into more than 100 languages. On top of that, she wrote many books that could’ve made this list: Death on the Nile, And Then There Were None, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Crooked House, The ABC Murders, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Body in the Library, and many, many more.

So, why Murder on the Orient Express? Because this tale, in which Detective Hercule Poirot tries to solve a perfect “locked room” murder mystery in a train, was my introduction to mystery many, many years ago, and for that I am forever thankful. Also, countless international television, radio, film, stage, and even game adaptations have kept this novel out there at all times since its publication in 1934. It’s a murder mystery, an immortal work of detective fiction, a locked room mystery, a tale of international intrigue, a master class in deductive reasoning, and a great reminder of why Christie was, is, and forever will be the Queen of Crime. Being number one on this list is just another jewel on her crown.

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