LEHMAN'S RECOMMENDED DETECTIVE NOVELS AND STORIES

The Best Mystery Books - Top 100

In his book, The Perfect Murder: A study in Detection (1989), David Lehman provides a list of recommended titles. They "were chosen for their importance in the evolution of the mystery genre or simply for the pleasure they reliably give; in many cases, both reasons apply."

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The Fashion in Shrouds	Margery Allingham	1938
The New York Trilogy	Paul Auster	1985
Trent's Last Case	E.C. Bentley	1912
The Big Kiss-Off of 1944	Andrew Bergman	1974
The Poisoned Chocolates Case	Anthony Berkeley	1929
Thou Shell of Death	Nicholas Blake	1936
The Beast Must Die	Nicholas Blake	1938
The Corpse in the Snowman	Nicholas Blake	1941
Minute for Murder	Nicholas Blake	1947
The Widow's Cruise	Nicholas Blake	1959
Double Indemnity	James M. Cain	1936
Words for Murder Perhaps	Edward Candy	1971
The Three Coffins	John Dickson Carr	1935
The Burning Court	John Dickson Carr	1937
The Crooked Hinge	John Dickson Carr	1938
The Big Sleep	Raymond Chandler	1939
Farewell, My Lovely	Raymond Chandler	1940
The High Window	Raymond Chandler	1942
The Long Good-bye	Raymond Chandler	1954
The Club of Queer Trades	Gilbert Keith Chesterton	1935
The Man Who Was Thursday	Gilbert Keith Chesterton	1908
The Innocence of Father Brown	Gilbert Keith Chesterton	1911
The Wisdom of Father Brown	Gilbert Keith Chesterton	1914
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd	Agatha Christie	1926
Murder in the Orient Express	Agatha Christie	1934
The ABC Murders	Agatha Christie	1936
And Then There Were None	Agatha Christie	1940
Curtain	Agatha Christie	1975
The Moonstone	Wilkie Collins	1868
The Moving Toyshop	Edmund Crispin	1946
Dancing Bear	James Crumley	1985
The Judas Window	Carter Dickson	1938
The Reader Is Warned	Carter Dickson	1939
A Study in Scarlet	Arthur Conan Doyle	1887
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes	Arthur Conan Doyle	1892
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes	Arthur Conan Doyle	1894
The Hound of the Baskervilles	Arthur Conan Doyle	1902
The Name of the Rose	Umberto Eco	1983
Mystery Stories	Stanley Ellin	1956
The Eighth Circle	Stanley Ellin	1958
The Big Clock	Kenneth Fearing	1946
The Red Thumb Mark	R. Austin Freeman	1907
"C" is for Corpse	Sue Grafton
Red Harvest	Dashiell Hammett	1929
The Maltese Falcon	Dashiell Hammett	1930
The Glass Key	Dashiell Hammett	1931
Strangers on a Train	Patricia Highsmith	1949
The Talented Mr	Patricia Highsmith
Falling Angel	William Hjortsberg	1977
Hamlet, Revenge!	Michael Innes
Death of an Expert Witness	P. D. James	1977
A Taste for Death	P. D. James	1986
Friday the Rabbi Slept Late	Harry Kemelman	1964
Glitz	Elmore Leonard	1985
A Kiss Before Dying	Ira Levin	1953
Hard Trade	Arthur Lyons	1981
Ten Plus One	Ed McBain	1963
Long Time No See	Ed McBain	1977
Ice	Ed McBain	1983
The Chill	Ross MacDonald	1964
The Good-bye Look	Ross MacDonald	1969
The Underground Man	Ross MacDonald	1971
Overture to Death	Ngaio Marsh	1936
Kiss Me Once	Thomas Maxwell	1986
Death Over Deep Water	Simon Nash	1963
Bitter Medicine	Sara Paretsky	1987
Tales	Edgar Allan Poe	1845
Verdict of Twelve	Raymond Postgate	1940
The Singing Detective	Dennis Potter	1986
The Chinese Orange Mystery	Ellery Queen	1934
Means of Evil	Ruth Rendell	1977
The Killing Doll	Ruth Rendell	1985
Strike Three, You're Dead	Richard Rosen	1984
Strong Poison	Dorothy Sayers	1930
Murder Must Advertise	Dorothy Sayers	1933
The Big Fix	Roger Simon	1974
The Death of the Detective	Mark Smith	1974
Too Many Women	Rex Stout	1947
And Be a Villain	Rex Stout	1948
The Second Confession	Rex Stout	1949
The 31st of February	Julian Symons	1951
The Daughter of Time	Josephine Tey	1951
The Killer Inside Me	Jim Thompson	1952
The Getaway	Jim Thompson	1959
A Fatal Inversion	Barbara Vine	1987