100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time

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Here’s a list of some of the best mystery and thriller books that have captivated readers over the years. This selection spans classic works, contemporary favorites, and genre-defining titles:

Classic Mysteries

  1. “The Hound of the Baskervilles” by Arthur Conan Doyle
  2. “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie
  3. “The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett
  4. “The Big Sleep” by Raymond Chandler
  5. “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier
  6. “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd” by Agatha Christie
  7. “The Secret Adversary” by Agatha Christie
  8. “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
  9. “The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins
  10. “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn

Contemporary Thrillers

  1. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson
  2. “Big Little Lies” by Liane Moriarty
  3. “The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides
  4. “The Couple Next Door” by Shari Lapena
  5. “Before I Go to Sleep” by S.J. Watson
  6. “Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn
  7. “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins
  8. “Behind Closed Doors” by B.A. Paris
  9. “The Reversal” by Michael Connelly
  10. “The Chain” by Adrian McKinty

Psychological Thrillers

  1. “The Other Woman” by Sandie Jones
  2. “You” by Caroline Kepnes
  3. “Fates and Furies” by Lauren Groff
  4. “The Wife Between Us” by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
  5. “Final Girls” by Riley Sager
  6. “An Anonymous Girl” by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
  7. “The Girl in the Window” by A.J. Finn
  8. “The Family Upstairs” by Lisa Jewell
  9. “Verity” by Colleen Hoover
  10. “The Last Mrs. Parrish” by Liv Constantine

Classic Detective Novels

  1. “The Thin Man” by Dashiell Hammett
  2. “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith
  3. “In the Woods” by Tana French
  4. “The Black Echo” by Michael Connelly
  5. “A Scandal in Bohemia” by Arthur Conan Doyle
  6. “The Snowman” by Jo Nesbø
  7. “The Postman Always Rings Twice” by James M. Cain
  8. “The Red House Mystery” by A.A. Milne
  9. “The ABC Murders” by Agatha Christie
  10. “The Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco

Legal and Political Thrillers

  1. “A Time to Kill” by John Grisham
  2. “The Firm” by John Grisham
  3. “The Pelican Brief” by John Grisham
  4. “The Silent Corner” by Dean Koontz
  5. “I Am Watching You” by Teresa Driscoll
  6. “The Expats” by Chris Pavone
  7. “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” by Stieg Larsson
  8. “The Likeness” by Tana French
  9. “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” by John le Carré
  10. “The 39 Clues” by various authors

Cozy Mysteries

  1. “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Alexander McCall Smith
  2. “Still Life” by Louise Penny
  3. “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
  4. “Murder at the Vicarage” by Agatha Christie
  5. “A Fatal Grace” by Louise Penny
  6. “The Tea Shop Mysteries” by Laura Childs
  7. “The Cat Who Could Read Backwards” by Lilian Jackson Braun
  8. “The Bakery Sisters” by J. L. Long
  9. “The Witch’s Tree” by M.C. Beaton
  10. “The Devil’s in the Details” by K. J. Charles

Notable International Thrillers

  1. “The Girl with All the Gifts” by M.R. Carey
  2. “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
  3. “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami
  4. “Out” by Natsuo Kirino
  5. “The Secret in Their Eyes” by Eduardo Sacheri
  6. “Snow Falling on Cedars” by David Guterson
  7. “The Lizard Cage” by Karen Connelly
  8. “The Whispering Muse” by José Carlos Somoza
  9. “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” by Muriel Barbery
  10. “The Girl Who Played with Fire” by Stieg Larsson

Science Fiction Thrillers

  1. “Neuromancer” by William Gibson
  2. “The Girl with the Wind” by Naomi Novik
  3. “Altered Carbon” by Richard K. Morgan
  4. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams
  5. “The Martian” by Andy Weir
  6. “Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch
  7. “The Time Traveler’s Wife” by Audrey Niffenegger
  8. “The Power” by Naomi Alderman
  9. “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel
  10. “11/22/63” by Stephen King

Modern Classics

  1. “Gone Baby Gone” by Dennis Lehane
  2. “In the Woods” by Tana French
  3. “The Killing” by David Hewson
  4. “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold
  5. “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini
  6. “Before the Fall” by Noah Hawley
  7. “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins
  8. “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  9. “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt
  10. “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy

Diverse Perspectives

  1. “The Good Daughter” by Karin Slaughter
  2. “The Immortalists” by Chloe Benjamin
  3. “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrik Backman
  4. “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak
  5. “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine” by Gail Honeyman
  6. “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern
  7. “Anatomy of a Murder” by Robert Traver
  8. “The Last House on Needless Street” by Catriona Ward
  9. “Things We Never Got Over” by Lucy Score
  10. “My Lovely Wife” by Samantha Downing

This list includes a mix of classic and contemporary titles, each contributing to the richness of the mystery and thriller genres. Whether you prefer psychological depth, legal intrigue, or classic whodunits, there’s something here for every mystery lover!