100 Best Crime Books Ever

[Eric C]

A thoughtful list can be found here. Lots of great reading options (and some choices and omissions to debate perhaps) ...

http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/1406804

[Meemo]

Omission - Robert B. Parker.  Overall though a pretty good list.  Never thought of "To Kill a Mockingbird" as part of that genre...

[Eric C]

TKAMBird is one of my all-time faves, the first adult book I ever lost sleep over. But it is a crime book if you consider it carefully.

Omission: T. Jefferson Parker's Silent Joe. (Personally, I'd substitute it for Jan Burke's Bones.)

[SimonWood]

That's a pretty good list.  There's some books I'd switch out, but they pretty much nailed the best writers in the genre...

I'd second Silent Joe and I'd add Scott Smith's  A SIMPLE PLAN.

[hsuthard]

I bookmarked that page for future reference. Although I was disappointed my current favorite crime writer wasn't mentioned, Michael Connelly. There are quite a few there I haven't read, though. I suspect it's a man's list, if that matters (and I think it does). I'd include Alexander McCall Smith and Louise Penny as well, maybe Sarah Paretsky and even Carl Hiaasen.

[Eric C]

I bookmarked that page for future reference. Although I was disappointed my current favorite crime writer wasn't mentioned, Michael Connelly. There are quite a few there I haven't read, though. I suspect it's a man's list, if that matters (and I think it does). I'd include Alexander McCall Smith and Louise Penny as well, maybe Sarah Paretsky and even Carl Hiaasen.

I enjoy Connelly. I've read about half a dozen of his, though none of the Bosch for some reason. Of those I've read I think his best work yet was Lincoln Lawyer. A very strong book. Definitely makes my list of the top 10 over the last decade and it's worthy of consideration for the all-time list too IMO.

I think the male heavy list is at least partly because, with a few exceptions, men dominated the field for decades, up until the Paretsky/Grafton era kicked off in the eighties.

[SimonWood]

Bloodwork is my favorite of all Mike Connelly books.

[Elmore Hammes]

I've read a dozen or so of those (there are a couple I'm not sure of, from many years ago). Several were from a handful of books I got from one of my Aunts, a classic mystery / detective series. Of those, I really enjoyed "A Coffin for Dimitrios" by Eric Ambler.

My favorite on this list - and one of my favorites of all times - would be "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. That's a book that could be released today with very little "modernization" and still be a best seller.

Elmore

[CNDudley]

In True Crime I also liked Sebastian Junger's


and

[fancynancy]

I was also disappointed to see nothing by Michael Connolly in the police and detective section.  However, I've only read a few of his at this point, so I can't say there is one in particular I think should be on the list. 

It's been about 40 years since I read "And Then There Were None" and I still get a chill just thinking about it!

[Eric C]

There's a Wikipedia article claiming that And Then There were None is the best selling mystery of all time and 7th most popular book of all time.

[Ann in Arlington]

There's a Wikipedia article claiming that And Then There were None is the best selling mystery of all time and 7th most popular book of all time.

It's possible. . .especially if you also count it's British incarnation as "Ten Little Indians". . . .add to that the 4 million year run in the West End and a lot of folks have probably been exposed to it. . . . . .

[Stormy]

Omission - Robert B. Parker.  Overall though a pretty good list.  Never thought of "To Kill a Mockingbird" as part of that genre...

I would have never thought of to kill a mockingbird either and as for true crime i think stranger besides me by ann rule was better then most those one the list the ones i've read anyway. If I've read it I liked it on this list but the was very few. I am also disappointed in no Micheal Connley

[vickir]

I just read Faithful Place by Tana French and highly recommend it.

[williammeikle]

Wot... no L.A. Confidential? No 39 Steps? No Psycho? No Strangers on a Train?

Those are the main omissions I can see but I'm sure I'll think of more :-)

[L.J. Sellers, novelist]

This is an interesting list. I agree with many of the inclusions. Terrific books that I had lost track of: Postmortem, A Time to Kill, The First Deadly Sin, Presumed Innocent, The Executioners, LA Times, Compelling Evidence. All great reads!
L.J.

[daveconifer]

Hmm.  It seems to me that whatever logic is used to include Mockingbird could net a bunch of other "crime" books.  Or am I missing something? 

Awesome book but I never thought of it as a "crime" book...

[daveconifer]

I shouldn't admit this but Joe McGiniss's true crime books are frequent reads for me.  I especially find the arrogance of Jeffrey MacDonald (Fatal Vision) to be downright fascinating.  I read that, Blind Faith and the one about the kid in North Carolina about once a year (ducks for cover)  

[PhillipA82]

Omission - Robert B. Parker.  Overall though a pretty good list.  Never thought of "To Kill a Mockingbird" as part of that genre...

Yeah, that was I was thinking...

[Brian Drake]

It's nice to see a list not dominated by the usual suspects of Hammett, Chandler, et al, followed by a lot of words about how great they were. Not that they aren't, but most lists of this type highlight them almost to the point of annoyance. There are some choices on this new list that I haven't heard of before, so it will be nice to check them out.

[Chloista]

I shouldn't admit this but Joe McGiniss's true crime books are frequent reads for me.  I especially find the arrogance of Jeffrey MacDonald (Fatal Vision) to be downright fascinating.  I read that, Blind Faith and the one about the kid in North Carolina about once a year (ducks for cover)  

I agree that FATAL VISION was a fascinating book.