The votes are in, and Goodreads’ readers have selected the following list as the best 100 mysteries & thrillers.
If you aren’t familiar with Goodreads, it is a social network site where members find and review books. It is a great way to get recommendations and see what your friends are reading. A reader’s candy store, in my opinion.
Be sure to pin or bookmark for your book club or reading needs.
Goodreads 100 Mysteries To Read In A Lifetime
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Book 1 of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
- And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
- The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
- Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) by Agatha Christie
- Rebecca
by Daphne Du Maurier
- The Complete Sherlock Holmes: All 4 Novels and 56 Short Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- The Girl Who Played with Fire: Book 2 of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest: Book 3 of the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson
- Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Mysteries, No. 1) by Louise Penny
- Gone Girl: A Novel by Gillian Flynn
- A Time to Kill: A Novel by John Grisham
- Angels & Demons: A Novel by Dan Brown
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo
- The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
- A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley Mysteries, No. 1) by Elizabeth George
- The Name of the Rose: including the Author’s Postscript by Umberto Eco
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- In the Woods by Tana French
- The Bone Collector: The First Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver
- Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- The Mysterious Affair at Styles: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold: A George Smiley Novel by John le Carré
- The Count of Monte Cristoby Alexandre Dumas père
- The Alienist by Caleb Carr
- Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
- The Black Echo (A Harry Bosch Novel) by Michael Connelly
- Killing Floor (Jack Reacher) by Lee Child
- Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow
- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
- Mystic River by Dennis Lehane
- The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (Book 1) by Alexander McCall Smith
- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
- The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
- Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery by Agatha Christie
- A is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries, No. 1) by Sue Grafton
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
- Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
- How the Light Gets In: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny
- The Murder at the Vicarage (Miss Marple Mysteries) by Agatha Christie
- Murder Must Advertise (The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries, 10) by Dorothy L. Sayers
- Into the Darkest Corner: A Novel by Elizabeth Haynes
- The Pelican Brief: A Novel by John Grisham
- The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
- Sharp Objects: A Novel by Gillian Flynn
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice: Or On the Segregation of the Queen
by Laurie R. King
- The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
- The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey
- The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
- The Cuckoo’s Calling (A Cormoran Strike Novel) by Robert Galbraith
- Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue
- Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe
- Relic (Pendergast, Book 1) by Douglas Preston
- No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
- A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 7) by Louise Penny
- The Snowman: A Harry Hole Novel (7) by Jo Nesbø
- Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody, Book 1) by Elizabeth Peters
- Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel by David Guterson
- The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
- The Firm: A Novel by John Grisham
- Storm Front (Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher
- The Brutal Telling: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny
- From Russia with Love (James Bond) by Ian Fleming
- A Fatal Grace: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny
- Strong Poison (Lord Peter Wimsey) by Dorothy L. Sayers
- Body of Evidence: A Scarpetta Novel by Patricia Cornwell
- Sister: A Novel by Rosamund Lupton
- Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers
- The Beautiful Mystery: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny
- A Discovery of Witches: A Novel (All Souls Trilogy) by Deborah E. Harkness
- Bury Your Dead: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
- A Taste for Death (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries, No. 7) by P. D. James
- Naked in Death (In Death, Book 1) by J.D. Robb
- Casino Royale (James Bond) by Ian Fleming
- Suspect by Robert Crais
- A Morbid Taste for Bones: The First Chronicle of Brother Cadfael (Brother Cadfael Mysteries) by Ellis Peters
- The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
- The Boys from Brazil: A Novel by Ira Levin
- Get Shorty: A Novel by Elmore Leonard
- Kings & Queens by Courtney Vail
- The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
- The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow
- The Eight by Katherine Neville
- Too Much Information by David Haskell
- Night Film: A Novel by Marisha Pessl
- The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
- Fer-de-Lance (Rex Stout Library) by Rex Stout
- The Innocence of Father Brown: Centennial Edition by G.K. Chesterton
- Conduit (An Emily Monroe Novel) (Volume 1) by Angie Martin
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
- The Bone Church: A Novel by Victoria Dougherty
- A Lesson in Secrets: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear
- Into the Killer Sphere: a Chase Williams cozy mystery novella (Chase Williams detective stories) by Stefania Mattana
- Jar City: A Reykjavik Thriller by Arnaldur Indridason
- Death in a Strange Country: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon
Also, be sure to check out Goodread 100 Books To Read In A Lifetime.
How many have you read? Do you agree with the Goodreads 100 Mysteries to Read in a Lifetime? Which books would you add?
Love this list. But nothing by Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine?