Mystery Writers of America's Top 100
In 1995, 5 years after the Crime Writer's Associati published a list of the top 100 crime novels. Inspired by them in 1995 the Mystery Writers of America published their top 100 in book form. https://www.librarything.com/award/157/The-Top-100-Mystery-Novels-of-All-Time-Mystery-Writers-of-America https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Top_100_Crime_Novels_of_All_Time#cite_note-1
- 1
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle · 1900 · 10 lists
- 2
The Maltese Falcon
Dashiell Hammett · 1929 · 15 lists
- 3
The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe · 1849 · 12 lists
- 4
The Daughter of Time
Josephine Tey · 1951 · 4 lists
- 5
Presumed Innocent
Scott Turow · 1987 · 4 lists
- 6
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
John Le Carré · 1963 · 13 lists
- 7
The Moonstone
Wilkie Collins · 1868 · 7 lists
- 8
The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler · 1939 · 13 lists
- 9
Rebecca
Daphne Du Maurier · 1938 · 15 lists
- 10
And Then There Were None
Agatha Christie · 1939 · 10 lists
- 11
Anatomy Of A Murder
Robert Traver · 1958 · 1 list
- 12
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Agatha Christie · 1926 · 7 lists
- 13
The Long Goodbye
Raymond Chandler · 1953 · 8 lists
- 14
The Postman Always Rings Twice
James M. Cain · 1934 · 6 lists
- 15
The Godfather
Mario Puzo · 1969 · 7 lists
- 16
The Silence of the Lambs
Thomas Harris · 1988 · 7 lists
- 17
The Mask of Dimitrios
Eric Ambler · 1939 · 4 lists
- 18
Gaudy Night
Dorothy L. Sayers · 1935 · 4 lists
- 19
The Witness For The Prosecution
Agatha Christie · 1948 · 1 list
- 20
The Day of the Jackal
Frederick Forsyth · 1971 · 6 lists
- 21
Farewell, My Lovely
Raymond Chandler · 1940 · 4 lists
- 22
The Thirty-Nine Steps
John Buchan · 1915 · 8 lists
- 23
The Name of the Rose
Umberto Eco · 1985 · 11 lists
- 24
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1866 · 22 lists
- 25
Eye of the Needle
Ken Follett · 1907 · 4 lists
- 26
Rumpole of the Bailey
John Mortimer · 1978 · 1 list
- 27
Red Dragon
Thomas Harris · 1981 · 4 lists
- 28
The Nine Tailors
Dorothy L. Sayers · 1934 · 4 lists
- 29
Fletch
Gregory Mcdonald · 1974 · 1 list
- 30
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
John Le Carré · 1974 · 8 lists
- 31
The Thin Man
Dashiell Hammett · 1934 · 2 lists
- 32
The Woman in White
Wilkie Collins · 1860 · 11 lists
- 33
Trents Last Case
E. C. Bentley · 1913 · 1 list
- 34
Double Indemnity
James M. Cain · 1943 · 3 lists
- 35
Gorky Park
Martin Cruz Smith · 1981 · 4 lists
- 36
Strong Poison
Dorothy L. Sayers · 1930 · 3 lists
- 37
Dance Hall Of The Dead
Tony Hillerman · 1973 · 2 lists
- 38
The Hot Rock
Donald E. Westlake · 1970 · 2 lists
- 39
Red Harvest
Dashiell Hammett · 1929 · 9 lists
- 40
The Circular Staircase
Mary Roberts Rinehart · 1908 · 1 list
- 41
Murder on the Orient Express
Agatha Christie · 1934 · 5 lists
- 42
The Firm
John Grisham · 1991 · 2 lists
- 43
The Ipcress File
Len Deighton · 1962 · 2 lists
- 44
Laura
Vera Caspary · 2019 · 1 list
- 45
I, The Jury
Mickey Spillane · 1947 · 1 list
- 46
The Laughing Policeman
Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö · 1968 · 3 lists
- 47
Bank Shot
Donald E. Westlake · 1972 · 1 list
- 48
The Third Man
Graham Greene · 1935 · 3 lists
- 49
The Killer Inside Me
Jim Thompson · 1952 · 3 lists
- 50
Where Are The Children?
Mary Higgins Clark · 1975 · 2 lists
- 51
A Is For Alibi
Sue Grafton · 1982 · 1 list
- 52
The First Deadly Sin
Lawrence Sanders · 1973 · 2 lists
- 53
A Thief Of Time
Tony Hillerman · 1978 · 2 lists
- 54
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote · 1965 · 16 lists
- 55
Rogue Male
Geoffrey Household · 1939 · 2 lists
- 56
Murder Must Advertise
Dorothy L. Sayers · 1933 · 3 lists
- 57
Smiley’s People
John Le Carré · 1979 · 3 lists
- 58
The Lady in the Lake
Raymond Chandler · 1943 · 2 lists
- 59
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee · 1960 · 33 lists
- 60
Our Man in Havana
Graham Greene · 1958 · 1 list
- 61
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Charles Dickens · 1870 · 2 lists
- 62
Wobble To Death
Peter Lovesey · 1970 · 2 lists
- 63
Ashenden, Or, The British Agent
W. Somerset Maugham · 2020 · 1 list
- 64
The Seven Per Cent Solution
Nicholas Meyer · 1974 · 2 lists
- 65
The Doorbell Rang
Rex Stout · 1965 · 2 lists
- 66
Stick
Elmore Leonard · 2007 · 1 list
- 67
The Little Drummer Girl
John Le Carré · 1983 · 2 lists
- 68
Brighton Rock
Graham Greene · 1938 · 5 lists
- 69
Dracula
Bram Stoker · 1897 · 16 lists
- 70
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Patricia Highsmith · 1955 · 13 lists
- 71
The Moving Toyshop
Edmund Crispin · 1946 · 2 lists
- 72
A Time to Kill
John Grisham · 1989 · 3 lists
- 73
Last Seen Wearing ...
Hillary Waugh · 1952 · 2 lists
- 74
Little Caesar
W. R. Burnett · 1929 · 1 list
- 75
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle
George V. Higgins · 1970 · 1 list
- 76
Clouds Of Witness
Dorothy L. Sayers · 1926 · 1 list
- 77
From Russia with Love
Ian Fleming · 1957 · 2 lists
- 78
Beast In View
Margaret Millar · 1955 · 4 lists
- 79
Smallbone Deceased
Michael Gilbert · 1950 · 2 lists
- 80
The Franchise Affair
Josephine Tey · 1948 · 2 lists
- 81
Crocodile On The Sandbank
Elizabeth Peters · 1975 · 1 list
- 82
Shroud For A Nightingale
P. D. James · 1971 · 1 list
- 83
The Hunt for Red October
Tom Clancy · 1984 · 5 lists
- 84
Chinamans Chance
Ross Thomas · 1978 · 1 list
- 85
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad · 1907 · 4 lists
- 86
The Dreadful Lemon Sky
John D. MacDonald · 1975 · 1 list
- 87
The Glass Key
Dashiell Hammett · 1931 · 3 lists
- 88
A Judgement In Stone
Ruth Rendell · 1977 · 3 lists
- 89
Brat Farrar
Josephine Tey · 1949 · 1 list
- 90
The Chill
Ross Macdonald · 1963 · 2 lists
- 91
Devil in a Blue Dress
Walter Mosley · 1990 · 2 lists
- 92
The Choirboys
Joseph Wambaugh · 1975 · 1 list
- 93
God Save The Mark
Donald E. Westlake · 1967 · 2 lists
- 94
Home Sweet Homicide
Craig Rice · 1944 · 2 lists
- 95
The Hollow Man
John Dickson Carr · 1992 · 4 lists
- 96
Prizzis Honor
Richard Condon · 1982 · 1 list
- 97
The Steam Pig
James McClure · 1971 · 1 list
- 98
Time and Again
Jack Finney · 1970 · 3 lists
- 99
Rosemary’s Baby
Ira Levin · 1967 · 3 lists
- 100
A Morbid Taste For Bones
Ellis Peters · 1977 · 2 lists
