--- title: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time description: From ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ to ‘Gone Girl,’ here’s what made the list. canonical: https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-03-17T00:08:59.340Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-17T00:08:59.026Z og:title: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time og:description: From Agatha Christie's ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ to Gillian Flynn's ‘Gone Girl' og:url: https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea194be2c04a5ca3/698a40e8096a940f056ae2f7/final-digitalcrop.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time og:type: website twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time twitter:description: From Agatha Christie's ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ to Gillian Flynn's ‘Gone Girl' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea194be2c04a5ca3/698a40e8096a940f056ae2f7/final-digitalcrop.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. With a panel of celebrated authors—Megan Abbott, Harlan Coben, S.A. Cosby, Gillian Flynn, Tana French, Rachel Howzell Hall, and Sujata Massey—TIME presents the most gripping, twist-filled, satisfying, and influential mystery and thriller books, in chronological order beginning in the 1800s [Read More](/6316204/how-we-chose-100-best-mystery-thriller-books/) ## 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books *  [Why Mystery Books Are So Satisfying](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309691/mystery-books-satisfaction/) by Tana French byTIME Staff *  [The Woman in White](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309153/the-woman-in-white/) by Wilkie Collins byTIME Staff *  [Crime and Punishment](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309154/crime-and-punishment/) by Fyodor Dostoevsky byTIME Staff *  [The Leavenworth Case](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309155/the-leavenworth-case/) by Anna Katharine Green byTIME Staff *  [The Turn of the Screw](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309156/the-turn-of-the-screw/) by Henry James byTIME Staff *  [The Hound of the Baskervilles](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309157/the-hound-of-the-baskervilles/) by Arthur Conan Doyle byTIME Staff *  [The Murder of Roger Ackroyd](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309158/the-murder-of-roger-ackroyd/) by Agatha Christie byTIME Staff *  [The Crime at Black Dudley](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309160/the-crime-at-black-dudley/) by Margery Allingham byTIME Staff *  [The Patient in Room 18](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309161/the-patient-in-room-18/) by Mignon G. Eberhart byTIME Staff *  [The Maltese Falcon](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309159/the-maltese-falcon/) by Dashiell Hammett byTIME Staff *  [The Conjure-Man Dies](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309162/the-conjure-man-dies/) by Rudolph Fisher byTIME Staff *  [A Man Lay Dead](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309163/a-man-lay-dead/) by Ngaio Marsh byTIME Staff *  [Gaudy Night](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309164/gaudy-night/) by Dorothy L. Sayers byTIME Staff *  [The Three Coffins](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309165/the-three-coffins/) by John Dickson Carr byTIME Staff *  [Rebecca](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309167/rebecca/) by Daphne du Maurier byTIME Staff *  [A Coffin for Dimitrios](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309168/a-coffin-for-dimitrios/) by Eric Ambler byTIME Staff *  [The Rich, Underappreciated History of Mystery Writers of Color](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309690/mystery-writers-of-color-history/) by Rachel Howzell Hall byTIME Staff *  [Double Indemnity](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309166/double-indemnity/) by James M. Cain byTIME Staff *  [If He Hollers Let Him Go](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309169/if-he-hollers-let-him-go/) by Chester B. Himes byTIME Staff *  [In a Lonely Place](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309171/in-a-lonely-place/) by Dorothy B. Hughes byTIME Staff *  [The Daughter of Time](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309172/the-daughter-of-time/) by Josephine Tey byTIME Staff *  [Beat Not the Bones](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309173/beat-not-the-bones/) by Charlotte Jay byTIME Staff *  [Casino Royale](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309175/casino-royale/) by Ian Fleming byTIME Staff *  [A Kiss Before Dying](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309176/a-kiss-before-dying/) by Ira Levin byTIME Staff *  [The Long Goodbye](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309174/the-long-goodbye/) by Raymond Chandler byTIME Staff *  [Beast in View](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309180/beast-in-view/) by Margaret Millar byTIME Staff *  [The Quiet American](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309179/the-quiet-american/) by Graham Greene byTIME Staff *  [The Talented Mr. Ripley](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309178/the-talented-mr-ripley/) by Patricia Highsmith byTIME Staff *  [We Have Always Lived in the Castle](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309181/we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle/) by Shirley Jackson byTIME Staff *  [The Spy Who Came in From the Cold](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309182/the-spy-who-came-in-from-the-cold/) by John le Carré byTIME Staff *  [The Honjin Murders](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309170/the-honjin-murders/) by Seishi Yokomizo byTIME Staff *  [Where Are the Children?](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309183/where-are-the-children/) by Mary Higgins Clark byTIME Staff *  [The Shining](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309185/the-shining/) by Stephen King byTIME Staff *  [The Last Good Kiss](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309186/the-last-good-kiss/) by James Crumley byTIME Staff *  [The Name of the Rose](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309187/the-name-of-the-rose/) by Umberto Eco byTIME Staff *  [The Hunt for Red October](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309188/the-hunt-for-red-october/) by Tom Clancy byTIME Staff *  [A Dark-Adapted Eye](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309189/a-dark-adapted-eye/) by Barbara Vine byTIME Staff *  [The Decagon House Murders](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309190/the-decagon-house-murders/) by Yukito Ayatsuji byTIME Staff *  [The Silence of the Lambs](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309191/the-silence-of-the-lambs/) by Thomas Harris byTIME Staff *  [Devil in a Blue Dress](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309192/devil-in-a-blue-dress/) by Walter Mosley byTIME Staff *  [Mean Spirit](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309193/mean-spirit/) by Linda Hogan byTIME Staff *  [Postmortem](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309194/postmortem/) by Patricia Daniels Cornwell byTIME Staff *  [Faceless Killers](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309195/faceless-killers/) by Henning Mankell byTIME Staff *  [Dead Time](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309197/dead-time/) by Eleanor Taylor Bland byTIME Staff *  [The Secret History](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309196/the-secret-history/) by Donna Tartt byTIME Staff *  [Smilla’s Sense of Snow](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309227/smillas-sense-of-snow/) by Peter Høeg byTIME Staff *  [When Death Comes Stealing](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309198/when-death-comes-stealing/) by Valerie Wilson Wesley byTIME Staff *  [Fade Away](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309199/fade-away/) by Harlan Coben byTIME Staff *  [Killing Floor](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309201/killing-floor/) by Lee Child byTIME Staff *  [Lady Joker](/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309200/lady-joker/) by Kaoru Takamura byTIME Staff The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"CollectionPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/"},"headline":"The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time","description":"With a panel of celebrated authors—Megan Abbott, Harlan Coben, S.A. 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