46 Great 20th Century Crime Novels

Columns: RANK and point values (PTS) explained below; READ year is most recent reading (red color indicates read since August 2011 retirement, “+” indicates at least one earlier reading). See also 113 Great 20th Century Novels (titles italicized here appear on it at number indicated in parenthesis) and 45+ Great 20th Century SciFi/Fantasy Novels.

Current progress: read 36 of 46 novels (78%).

# DATE READ TITLE AUTHOR
118,4,62012+The Big Sleep (17)Raymond Chandler
216,5,12017The Murder of Roger AckroydAgatha Christie
315,5,02018The Three CoffinsJohn Dickson Carr
315,5,02013+The Talented Mr. RipleyPatricia Highsmith
315,5,02017The Moving ToyshopEdmund Crispin
315,5,0Smallbone DeceasedMichael Gilbert
714,4,22012+The Maltese Falcon (92)Dashiell Hammett
814,2,82013+To Kill a Mockingbird (14)Harper Lee
913,5,0Beast in ViewMargaret Millar
1013,4,12016The Postman Always Rings TwiceJames M. Cain
1013,4,12018A Coffin for DimitriosEric Ambler
1212,4,22015The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (92)John le Carre
1312,4,02018The Tiger in the SmokeMargery Allingham
1312,4,02014+The Nine TailorsDorothy L. Sayers
1312,4,02016The Franchise AffairJosephine Tey
1312,4,0The Beast Must DieNicholas Blake
1312,4,02018Sadie When She DiedEd McBain
1312,4,02018A Thief of TimeTony Hillerman
1912,3,32017RebeccaDaphne du Maurier
2011,3,22017The Thirty-Nine StepsJohn Buchan
2110,4,02013+The Long GoodbyeRaymond Chandler
2210,3,12014Red HarvestDashiell Hammett
2310,2,41997The Name of the Rose (109)Umberto Eco
249,3,0Trent's Last CaseE.C. Bentley
249,3,02014The Glass KeyDashiell Hammett
249,3,02019The Friends of Eddie CoyleGeorge V. Higgins
249,3,02018The Fabulous ClipjointFredric Brown
249,3,02015The Daughter of TimeJosephine Tey
249,3,0The Circular StaircaseMary Roberts Rinehart
249,3,0Presumed InnocentScott Turow
249,3,02012+Murder Must AdvertiseDorothy L. Sayers
249,3,0Last Seen Wearing...Hillary Waugh
249,3,02021Hamlet, Revenge!Michael Innes
249,3,0Green for DangerChristianna Brand
249,3,02011Farewell, My LovelyRaymond Chandler
249,3,02019Devil in a Blue DressWalter Mosley
249,3,02022Crocodile on the SandbankElizabeth Peters
249,3,0A Taste for DeathP.D. James
249,3,0A Judgement in StoneRuth Rendell
249,3,02019A is for AlibiSue Grafton
419,2,32013Tinker Tailor Soldier SpyJohn le Carre
428,3,12018The Day of the JackalFrederick Forsyth
437,3,02015+The Laughing PolicemanMaj Sjowall and Per Wahloo
437,3,02023Dance Hall of the DeadTony Hillerman
457,2,12011The Killer Inside MeJim Thompson
457,2,12014Brighton RockGraham Greene
 

I like to think of this category as the “Mysteries” list, but the genre has come to be known as “Crime fiction.” It makes sense, as many—most?—of the novels represented here are not mysteries in the Sherlockian sense.

There are 38 different authors on the above list. Hammett and Chandler each make the list three times (but Hammett’s The Thin Man does not!). Sayers, Le Carre, Tey and Hillerman each place two books.

This list was compiled similarly to my 113 Great 20th Century Novels. A novel must appear on one of five main source lists (below) to be considered. Three points were awarded for each appearance on these sources. One point was added for each appearance on any of the more general (non-crime-novel-specific) sources used to compile the 113 Great 20th Century Novels list, and one point was added for an Edgar award win.

The points column lists total points accumulated, number of “crime” source list appearances (the inclusion of Edgar Awards make a total of six possible, though no novel appeared on more than five), and lastly, points earned from general source lists.

Interestingly, a couple of books received significant boosts from appearances on the general lists. Chandler’s The Big Sleep vaulted to the number one spot on the strength of six points garnered in this way. Without them, it would have finished in a four-way tie at #9 and there would have been a five-way tie for the top spot. Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, on the other hand, would not have made the list at all without the eight points earned from the general sources. Her novel, in my opinion, doesn’t fit well in the crime genre, but two of the primary source lists include it.

Though I have long considered myself a big fan of mystery novels, I had only read seven of the 46 novels represented here before beginning this exercise. This shouldn’t be too surprising given that there is so much available—of variable quality—in this genre, and tastes vary widely. I have read all (and reread most) of Dorothy Sayers, much of Patricia Highsmith (all of her Ripley novels) and every one of Wahloo and Sjowall’s “Martin Beck” novels. All three novelists are represented here.

I have excluded Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes on the dubious grounds that Holmes is a “19th century character” (two of the novels and many of the short stories were actually published in the 20th century). I have read and reread all of Doyle’s Holmes as well as a considerable selection of the apocrypha.

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See also: