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The Best Mystery Books - Top 100

BOURGEAU'S CLASSIC MYSTERY BOOKS

In his Mystery Lovers Companion of 1986, Art Bourgeau uses a rating scheme of one to five daggers to indicate the quality of the work he lists and briefly describes. The Mystery Lover's Companion reviews and rates some 2500 books. His highest rating, five daggers, is used to indicate “A True Classic.” These Classics are listed below

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 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins1860
 The Moonstone Wilkie Collins1868
The Leavenworth Case Anna Katharine Green1878
 The Mystery of a Hansom Cab Fergus Hume1886
 Pudd'nhead Wilson Mark Twain1894
The Scarlet Pimpernell Baroness Orczy1905
The Man Who Was Thursday C.K. Chesterton1908
The Innocence of Father Brown C.K. Chesterton1911
 Trent's Last Case E.C. Bentley1913
 The Lodger Marie Belloc Lowndes1913
The Wisdom of Father Brown C.K. Chesterton1914
 The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan1915
 The Haunted Bookshop Christopher Morley1919
 The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie1920
The Great Impersonation E. Phillips Oppenheimer1920
 The Red House Mystery A.A. Milne1922
John McNab John Buchan1925
 The Mousetrap Agatha Christie1925
 The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Agatha Christie1926
 The Chinese Parrot Earl Derr Biggers1926
 The Canary Murder Case S.S. Van Dine1927
 Meet Mr. Mulliner P.G. Wodehouse1927
The Footsteps at the Lock Ronald A. Knox1928
 The Greene Murder Case S.S. Van Dine1928
The Poisoned Chocolate Case Anthony Berkeley1929
 Red Harvest Dashiell Hammett1929
The Roman Hat Murder Elery Queen1929
 Mr. Pottermack's Oversight R. Austin Freeman1930
 The Maltese Falcon Dashiell Hammett1930
 Arundel Kenneth Roberts1930
 Strong Poison Dorothy Sayers1930
 Green Ice Raoul Whitfield1930
Death Walks in Eastrepps Francis Beeding1931
The Living Shadow Maxwell Grant1931
The Shadow Laughs Maxwell Grant1931
 Malice Aforethought Francis Iles1931
 Five Red Herrings Dorothy Sayers1931
 Keeper of the Keys Earl Derr Biggers1932
Death Under Sail C.P. Snow1932
Darkness at Pemberly T.H. White1932
 Was it Murder? James Hilton1933
An Oxford Tragedy J.C. Masterman1933
 Rabble in Arms Kenneth Roberts1933
 The Postman Always Rings Twice James M. Cain1934
 Murder on the Orient Express Agatha Christie1934
 The Nine Tailors Dorothy Sayers1934
 Fer-de-Lance Rex Stout1934
 The Mystery of Cape Cod Tavern Phoebe Atwood Taylor1934
The Chinese Orange Mystery Elery Queen1934
 Thank You, Jeeves P.G. Wodehouse1934
 The Three Coffins John Dickson Carr1935
 Enter a Murderer Ngaio Marsh1935
 The League of Frightened Men Rex Stout1935
Wax Ethel Lina White1935
 Thou Shell of Death Nicholas Blake1936
The Beast Must Die Nicholas Blake1936
 The ABC Murders Agatha Christie1936
 This Gun for Hire Graham Greene1936
Northwest Passage Kenneth Roberts1936
 The Lady Vanishes Ethel Lina White1936
 Hamlet Revenge! Michael Innes1937
Rebecca Daphne DuMaurier1938
 Ship of the Line C.S. Forester1938
 The Stoneware Monkey R. Austin Freeman1938
 Lament for a Maker Michael Innes1938
Death from a Top Hat Clayton Rawson1938
 The Code of the Woosters P.G. Wodehouse1938
A Coffin for Demetrios Eric Ambler1939
No Orchards for Miss Blandish James Hadley Chase1939
 And Then There Were None Agatha Christie1939
 Rogue Male Geoffrey Household1939
The Mysterious Mickey Finn Eliot Paul1939
Footprints on the Ceiling Clayton Rawson1939
 Oliver Wiswell Kenneth Roberts1940
The Bride Wore Black Cornrll Woolrich1940
 Mildred Pierce James M. Cain1941
A Pinch of Poison Richard & Francis Lockridge1941
The Black Curtain Cornrll Woolrich1941
 Payment Deferred C.S. Forester1942
Laura Vera Gaspary1942
Cue for Murder Helen McCloy1942
 Calamity Town Ellery Queen1942
 The Black Angel Cornell Woolrich1942
 The Lady in the Lake Raymond Chandler1943
 The Ministry of Fear Graham Greene1943
 Holy Disorders Edmund Crispin1945
 The Rising of the Moon Gladys Mitchell1945
The Red Right Hand Joel Townley Rogers1945
 The Moving Toyshop Edmund Crispin1946
 The Big Clock Kenneth Fearing1946
The Double Take Roy Huggins1946
Ride the Pink Horse Dorothy B. Hughes1946
The Pavilion Hilda Lawrence1946
Devil Take the Blue Tail Fly John Franklin Bardin1948
The Skeleton in the Clock Carter Dickson1948
Sudden Fear Edna Sherry1948
I, the Jury Mickey Spillane1948
 Rendezvous in Black Cornell Woolrich1948
 The Little Sister Raymond Chandler1949
 Buried for Pleasure Edmund Crispin1949
Cat of Many Tails Ellery Queen1949
 The Third Man Graham Greene1950
 Strangers on a Train Patricia Highsmith1950
 In a Lonely Place Dorothy B. Hughes1950
My Gun Is Quick Mickey Spillane1950
 To Love and Be Wise Josephine Tey1950
 The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey1951
The Tiger in the Smoke Margery Allingham1952
The Ivory Green Rocc Macdonald1952
 The Killer Inside Me Jim Thompson1952
Meatball Frederick Brown1953
 The Long Goodbye Raymond Chandler1953
 The Night of the Hunter Davis Grubb1953
 A Kiss Before Dying Ira Levin1953
 The Black Mountain Rex Stout1954
 A Hell of a Woman Jim Thompson1954
Wilders Walk Away Herbert Brean1955
Beast in View Margaret Millar1955
 The Talented Mr. Ripley Patricia Highsmith1956
Landscape for Dead Dons Robert Robinson1956
 Our Man in Havana Graham Greene1958
 Anatomy of a Murder Robert Traver1958
 Psycho Robert Bloch1959
The List of Adrian Messenger Philip McDonald1959
Watcher in the Shadows Geoffrey Household1960
 The Rose of Tibet Lionel Davidson1962
 The Ipcress File Len Deighton1962
Seven Days in May Fletcher & Bailey
 The Zebra-Striped Hearse Ross Macdonald1962
How Like an Angel Margaret Millar1962
The Will of the Tribe Arthur W. Upfield1962
 The Spy Who Came in From the Cold John Le Carre1963
 Ice Station Zebra Alistair MacLean1963
 The Emperor's Pearl Robert Van Gulik1963
Funeral in Berlin Len Deighton1964
The Liquidator John Garner1964
The Night of the Generals Hans Helmut Kirst1964
The Minuteman Murder Jane Langton1964
 This Rough Magic Mary Stewart1964
 Pop, 1280 Jim Thompson1964
Winter of Madness David Walker1964
In the Heat of the Night John Ball1965
Who Is Lewis Pinder? L.P. Davies1965
 The Quiller Memorandum Adam Hall1965
 The Doorbell Rang Rex Stout1965
The Double Image Helen MacInnes1966
Green Grow the Tresses-O Stanley Hyland1967
The Seersucker Whipsaw Ross Thomas1967
 Necklace and Calabash Robert van Gulik1967
The Laughing Policeman Sjowall & Wahloo1968
 Flashman George MacDonald Fraser1969
 Puppet on a Chain Alistair MacLean1969
 The Godfather Mario Puzo1969
The Fire Engine that Disappeared Sjowall & Wahloo1969
 Time and Time Again Jack Finney1970
 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth1971
 The Friends of Eddie Coyle George V. Higgins1971
Bear Island Alistair MacLean1971
 The Underground Man Ross Macdonald1971
Blood on a Harvest Moon David Anthony1972
 The Rainbird Pattern Victor Canning1972
 The Odessa File Frederick Forsyth1972
 The Eiger Sanction Trevanian1972
 The Defection of A.J. Lewinter Robert Littell1973
 The First Deadly Sin Lawrence Sanders1973
 The Death of the Detective Mark Smith1973
If You Can't Be Good Ross Thomas1973
The Plot Against Roger Ryder Julian Symons1973
 The Loo Sanction Trevanian1973
 Jaws Peter Benchley1974
 The Dogs of War Frederick Forsyth1974
 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy John Le Carre1974
 The Dreadful Lemon Sky John D. MacDonald1974
 Other Paths to Glory Anthony Price1974
 The Onion Field Joseph Wambaugh1974
 The Eagle Has Landed Jack Higgins1975
A Big Enough Wreath William Gardner1975
Stealing Lilian Tony Kenrick1975
 The Eye of the Tiger Wilbur Smith1975
The Cavanaugh Quest Thomas Gifford1976
The Boys from Brazil Ira Levin1976
Someone Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe Nan & Ivan Lyons1976
Best Martin Hewitt Detective Stories Arthur Morrison1976
 Cry Wolf Wilbur Smith1976
 Flashman's Lady George MacDonald Fraser1977
Charlie M. Brian Freemantle1977
The Punch and Judy Murders George Hart1977
 A Judgement in Stone Ruth Rendell1977
 Flyaway Desmond Bagley1978
 The Last Good Kiss James Crumley1978
 The Eye of the Needle Ken Follett1978
The Death Freak Irving & Bukholz1978
The Random Factor La Rosa & Tannenbaum1978
The Mobius Strip William Gardner1979
 Shibumi Trevanian1979
The Fifth Horseman Collins & LaPierre1980
 Congo Michael Crichton1980
Mantis Peter Fox1980
Mr. American George MacDonald Fraser1980
A Woman Called Scylla David Gurr1981
Paragon Walk Ann Perry1981
 Red Dragon Thomas Harris1981
The Queen's Messenger W. R. Duncan1982
 Twice Shy Dick Francis1982
The Heights of Rimring Duff Hart-Davis1982
 Fatal Vision Joe McGinniss1983
Dolly and the Bird of Paradise Dorothy Dunnett1984
The King's Commissar Duncan Kyle1984
The Tragedy at Tiverton Raymond Paul1984