“The culprit responsible for kidnapping the three kids is their father himself.” “The bus tragedy turned out to be a planned act by the owner of that bus himself.” you might have heard some similar cases in the news or some crime shows (crime patrol, to name one). Do such stories make you want to become a detective and solve crimes? If not, you can do this by reading 35 fantastic literary crime novels for crime readers.
Whenever I hear any such news on the television or something, my mind suddenly starts running as to predicting who the criminal might be and what his intentions might be. I’m mostly wrong, as my mind runs toward the least possible scenarios, but it is fun. It’s not good to wish for such incidents to happen in real life just for my pleasure, but we can read crime novels to drive that pleasure.
Crime novels are heavy to take yet lighten your mind off other things burdening your mind. They’re scary yet enjoyable, even for someone like me who usually can’t take much scary stuff. They can act as an exercise drill for our minds as “n” number of possibilities can be derived from a particular incident.
Now, without stalling any further, let me share some great crime novels you will never forget after you’ve read them at least once. Keep reading further.
Greatest Literary Crime Novels for Crime Readers.
Some mind-blowing literary crime novels of all time are listed below. Have a look!
1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Full Title: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
Genre: Thriller
Publishing Date: 2005
Description:
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, has been absent for much more than 4 decades. Her elderly uncle is still searching for the truth after all these years. Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently incarcerated for libel, is appointed to investigate.
Lisbeth Salander, a pierced and tattooed punk prodigy, assists him. They tap into a vein of unfathomable wickedness and unbelievable corruption whenever they operate together.
2. The Hound of the Baskervilles
Full Title: The Hound of the Baskervilles
Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Detective Novel
Publishing Date: 1951
Description:
Could the enormous ghostly dog that is supposed to have plagued Sir Charles Baskerville’s family for generations have been to fault for his untimely death? Sherlock Holmes, ever the arch-rationalist, dismisses the hypothesis as gibberish. And, absorbed in another inquiry, he assigns Watson to Devon to guard the Baskerville heir and keep an eye on the suspects.
It is one of the best crime novels ever written, with its intrigue on ancient, wild grassland and its horrific apparition. As Sherlock Holmes struggles to overcome an opponent practically his equal, rationalism opposes the inexplicable righteousness against evil.
3. The Daughter of Time
Full Title: The Daughter of Time
Author: Josephine Tey
Genre: Mystery Novel
Publishing Date: 1951
Description:
In her legendary bestseller novel, the author recreates one of history’s most infamous and brutal atrocities, a must-read for fiction fans, now with a new introduction by Robert Barnard. While due to a broken leg, Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard becomes charmed with a contemporary painting of Richard III that has little similarity to the actual Wicked Uncle.
Could a sympathetic, noble face be of one of the world’s most vile criminals, a poisonous hunchback who may have slain his brother’s children to secure his seat of power? Or was Richard the victim of the usurpers of England’s throne, who turned him into a monster?
4. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Full Title: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Detective Novel
Publishing Date: 1926
Description:
King’s Abbot, a tranquil English village, is astonished. Ferrars, the widow, was killed by a veronal overdose. Roger Ackroyd, the man she decided to marry, is assassinated less than twenty-four hours later. It’s a puzzling case involving extortion and death that puts Hercule Poirot’s “grey cells” to the challenge before he arrives at one of his most significant determining.
5. Shutter Island
Full Title: Shutter Island
Author: Dennis Lehane
Genre: Psychological Fiction
Publishing Date: 2003
Description:
1954, U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his new partner, Chuck Aule, landed on Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient at Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane.
Numerous murderess Despite being confined in a locked cell under continuous monitoring, Rachel Solando is on the run someplace on this distant and arid island. A peculiar case takes on even darker, more sinister aspects as a monster storm bears down on them, with clues of radical experimentation, horrible surgery, and lethal countermoves undertaken in the name of a secret shadow war. That no one will make this out of Shutter Island alive because nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it appears. Teddy Daniels, on the other hand, isn’t.
6. The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Full Title: The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Author: Agatha Christie
Genre: Detective Novel
Publishing Date: 1920
Description:
Poirot, a World War I refugee, has relocated to England near Styles Court, his wealthy donor Emily Inglethorp’s farmhouse. Poirot puts his great investigating motivation to work when Emily is poisoned, and the authorities are confused.
The victim’s considerably younger husband, her angry stepsons, her longtime hired companion, a young family friend working as a nurse, and a London poison specialist who just happens to be visiting the surrounding village are all suspects.
All of them have secrets they desperately want to keep hidden, but none can deceive Poirot as he navigates the clever red herrings and narrative twists that have gained Agatha Christie the label of “Queen of Mystery.”
7. The Name of the Rose
Full Title: The Name of the Rose
Author: Umberto Eco
Genre: Historical Mystery
Publishing Date: 1980
Description:
1327 is the year when Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate Benedictine’s suspects of heresy at a beautiful Italian abbey. Brother William will become a detective when seven strange deaths eclipse his sensitive objective.
Aristotle’s logic, Thomas Aquinas’ theology, and Roger Bacon’s empirical observations were polished to a gleaming edge by wry wit and passionate curiosity. The main findings show decodes secret markings and texts and explore the abbey’s uncanny labyrinth, where “the most exciting events occur at night.”
8. The Thursday Murder Club
Full Title: The Thursday Murder Club
Author: Richard Osman
Genre: Mystery
Publishing Date: 2020
Description:
Four odd friends regularly meet in the Jigsaw Room in a serene elderly town to discuss unsolved murders; they name themselves The Thursday Murder Club. Even though Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron are in their eighties, they still have a few tricks up their sleeves.
The Thursday Murder Club finds themselves in the thick of their first live investigation when a local developer is murdered with a curious photograph next to his body. Can the unconventional but clever gang catch the culprit before it’s too late?
9. Dare Me
Full Title: Dare Me
Author: Megan Abbott
Genre: Coming-of-age
Publishing Date: 2012
Description:
Beth Cassidy’s closest mate and loyal subordinate have always been Addy Hanlon. A long-established order of things has led them to the height of their high-school professions, with Beth calling the orders and Addy carrying them out.
Coach Colette French lures Addy and the other cheerleaders into her life, cool and commanding, an emissary from the adult world just beyond their reach. Then a death draws the attention of the police to Coach and her group.
Following the initial surprise and sadness, Addy sets out to discover the truth behind the death—and discovers that the line between loyalty and love may be dangerous territory.
10. Faithful Place
Full Title: Faithful Place
Author: Tana French
Genre: Mystery
Publishing Date: 2010
Description:
Frank Mackey was nineteen years old in 1985, coming up poor in Dublin’s urban core and sharing a tiny flat with his folks on Faithful Place. He had his eyes set on a lot more, though. He and his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, were planning to flee to London, marry, obtain decent careers, and escape industrial employment, misery, and their previous life. Rosie, however, did not turn up on a cold night when they were due to leave.
Frank assumed she’d turned him the cold shoulder because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and overall weird family. He never returned home, and neither did Rosie.
11. Presumed Innocent
Full Title: Presumed Innocent
Author: Scott Turow
Genre: Legal Thriller
Publishing Date: 1986
Description:
The novel has been hailed as one of the most gripping and engaging in decades. Presumed Innocence revives our biggest terrifying experience: the conviction of a normal citizen for the most heinous crimes.
It’s a remarkable depiction of one man’s all-too-human, deadly attraction to a beautiful woman who isn’t his spouse and the tale of how his infatuation puts all that he loves and cherishes test his entire life. It’s a work that exposes a horrifying world of deceit and killing and the human heart’s hidden layers. And this will grab you captive and disturb you far after the shocking climax has been achieved.
12. The Murders at Fleet House
Full Title: The Murders at Fleet House
Author: Lucinda Riley
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publishing Date: May 2022 (upcoming)
Description:
The unexpected demise of a student at Fleet House at St Stephen’s – a small private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is a shocking event that the headmaster quickly dismisses as an awful tragedy. The case forces the return of tall Detective Superintendent Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunting to the force since the local police cannot rule out foul play.
Jazz intends to leave her London police job, but she grudgingly accepts to lead the inquiry as a favor to her former boss. She joins the secluded world of the school with her faithful sergeant Alastair Miles. As Jazz begins investigating the details surrounding Charlie Cavendish’s terrible death, actions take a frightening turn.
13. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Full Title: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Author: Ogla Tokarczuk
Genre: Mystery
Publishing Date: 2009
Description:
Janina spends the dark, cold nights in an isolated Polish village researching astrology, translating William Blake’s poetry, and looking after the vacation residences of wealthy Warsaw people. Her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans adds to her reputation as a weirdo and loner.
Then Big Foot, a neighbor, is discovered dead. Other bodies are found soon after in increasingly bizarre settings. As doubts grow, Janina joins the inquiry, confident that she knows the detective story.
14. Bluebird, Bluebird
Full Title: Bluebird, Bluebird
Author: Attica Locke
Genre: Noir Fiction
Publishing Date: 2017
Description:
East Texas has its own set of norms regarding law and order, as black Texas Ranger Darren Mathews understands all too well. He was the first in his family to get as far away from Texas as possible, deeply uncomfortable about growing up black in the single-star state.
Until he is summoned by service, when his loyalty to his origins endangers his career, he drives Highway 59 to Lark, where two murders, a black lawyer from Chicago and a native white woman, have sparked a hornet’s nest of hatred. Before Lark’s lengthy racial fault lines erupt, Darren must solve the wrongdoings and save himself.
15. The Woman in the Window
Full Title: The Woman in the Window
Author: A.J. Finn
Genre: Thriller
Publishing Date: 2018
Description:
Anna Fox is a recluse who stays alone in her New York City apartment, unable to leave. She spends her days sipping wine, watching old movies, reminiscing about happy moments, and monitoring her neighbors.
The Russells, a father, a mother, and their teenage son, then move into the house across the street—the ideal family. However, when Anna sees something she shouldn’t one night while staring out her window, her world unravels, and its horrifying secrets are revealed.
16. The Day of the Jackal
Full Title: The Day of the Jackal
Author: Fredrick Forsyth
Genre: Spy Fiction
Publishing Date: 1967
Description:
The Jackal is a fictional character. A tall, blond Englishman with grey eyes that are impenetrable. He is a professional killer at the top of his game. Any secret service in the world has never heard of him.
A killer hired to assassinate the world’s most heavily guarded individual. Armed with a weapon, one man can alter the course of history. One man’s mission is so classified that even his employers are unaware of his identity.
As the minutes tick down until Jackal’s closing scene of the killing, it appears that no force on Earth can stop him.
17. Killing Floor
Full Title: Killing Floor
Author: Lee Child
Genre: Thriller
Publishing Date: 1997
Description:
Jack Reacher, a former military police officer, is a nomad. He’s merely going through Margrave, Georgia, when he’s charged with manslaughter in less than an hour. Not exactly a warm greeting. Jack only knows that he did not murder anyone. Not around here at all. Not recently.
However, he has little hope of persuading anyone. In Margrave, Georgia, no. There’s no way in hell.
18. Death of a Red Heroine
Full Title: Death of a Red Heroine
Author: Qiu Xiaolong
Genre: Mystery
Publishing Date: 2000
Description:
A young national exemplary worker, known for her dedication to Communist Party beliefs, is discovered dead in a Shanghai canal. Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Special Cases Bureau is challenged by the same political groups that have directed his life since childhood as he tries to discover the hidden strands of her background.
If Chen wants to get to the bottom of this crime, he’ll have to work past his superiors and sacrifice his career and life to see justice done.
19. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
Full Title: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
Author: John le Carré
Genre: Spy Fiction
Publishing Date: 1963
Description:
He constructed a world unlike any other in suspense literature before it. Le Carre highlights the shady dealings of international espionage in the story of a British agent who longs to leave his profession but accepts one more bone-chilling assignment with unequaled expertise collected from his years in British Intelligence.
Alec Leamas wants to finally come in from the cold when the last operative under his command is slain, and he is summoned back to London. Control, his former spy, however, has several other ideas. Control sends Leamas back into the fray as a dishonored spy to draw the opponent to his ultimate defeat.
20. The Big Sheep
Full Title: The Big Sheep
Author: Raymond Chandler
Genre: Detective Fiction
Publishing Date: 1939
Description:
Los Angeles in 2039 is a perplexing and divided city. Following the fall of 2028, public officials abandoned a large chunk of LA, known as the Disincorporated Zone, which became a third-world country within the city’s borders.
Navigating the border between DZ and LA proper is difficult, and only some people are more qualified than quirky private investigator Erasmus Keane. When a prized genetically manipulated sheep goes missing from Esper Corporation’s laboratory, they summon Keane.
However, when Keane and his more realistic sidekick, Blake Fowler, are on the hunt for the missing sheep, they come upon a far greater scandal.
21. The Talented Mr. Ripley
Full Title: The Talented Mr. Ripley
Author: Patricia High Smith
Genre: Psychological Fiction
Publishing Date: 1955
Description:
We meet suave, attractive Tom Ripley in this tale, a youthful striver who has recently arrived in the heady world of Manhattan in the 1950s in this novel. Ripley, a result of a shattered home and labeled a “sissy” by his contemptuous Aunt Dottie, becomes captivated by his new acquaintance Dickie Greenleaf’s moneyed world.
When Ripley is dispatched to Italy to fetch back his decadent companion, Dickie, Ripley becomes furious at Dickie’s conflicted affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante.
22. The Moonstone
Full Title: The Moonstone
Author: Wilkie Collins
Genre: Epistolary Novel
Publishing Date: 1868
Description:
Rachel Verinder wears the gorgeous yellow diamond she suddenly acquired from her uncle, Colonel John Horncastle, at her eighteenth birthday party. She had no idea that the Moonstone has been lost for fifty years since it was stolen from a revered Hindu shrine in southern India, where her uncle had served with the British troops.
However, somebody understands the Moonstone’s secret and will go to great lengths to recover it. When it disappears later that evening, assumptions are raised, and charges are made. Could it be a trio of enigmatic Indian jugglers spotted near the house? Or perhaps a love-struck housekeeper behaving weirdly? And then there’s Rachel, who is enraged when her former lover, Franklin Blake, organizes efforts to locate it.
23. The Rebecca Notebook
Full Title: The Rebecca Notebook: and Other Memories
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Genre: Gothic Fiction
Publishing Date: 1938
Description:
This book explains how Rebecca got to be created, including its beginnings, evolution, and possible future directions. The author describes how she first discovered the mysterious mansion deep in Cornish woodland that would form the backdrop for her most famous novel.
This property was abandoned and meticulously repaired to become her home, the basis for Manderley. Other family members are introduced in later memories, including her movie star father Gerald, her grandpa George, the Punch artist, and her cousins, for whom J. M. Barrie wrote Peter Pan.
24. Second Violin
Full Title: Second Violin
Author: John Langton
Genre: Suspense
Publishing Date: 2007
Description:
In the year 1938, Europe is already on the verge of war. As London prepares for airstrikes, Frederick Troy, a freshly promoted member of Scotland Yard’s elite murder squad, is tasked with rounding up a list of German and Italian hostile foreigners. His brother Rod is also on the list. He discovers from an internment letter that he was born in Austria while growing up in England.
Hundreds of men are led to an abandoned settlement on the Isle of Man via train. As the missiles rain on London, a slain rabbi is discovered, followed by another, and then another. Killing is what counts in a huge conflict.
25. Candlemoth
Full Title: Candlemoth
Author: R.J. Ellory
Genre: Mystery
Publishing Date: 2003
Description:
Daniel Ford and Nathan Verney met at a South Carolina lake when they were six years old and became great friends even though Daniel was white and Nathan was black. Daniel is found guilty of Nathan’s murder thirty years later, and he now awaits a lengthy and lonely journey to the electrocution.
With the clock going out before his conviction, Daniel recounts to a sympathetic priest his story, which includes his first love, Vietnam, and the pair’s attempt to avoid the draught, which resulted in Nathan’s terrible murder. Candlemoth is a breathtaking suspense novel, and an evocative tale of lost friendship, that paints a vivid picture of the American South in a time of turmoil.
26. Little Deaths
Full Title: Little Deaths
Author: Emma Flink
Genre: Historical fiction
Publishing Date: 2017
Description:
Queens, New York’s streets are glistening in the heat of July 1965. A separated cocktail waitress, Ruth Malone, wakes up one hot morning to discover her two small children are lost. The police uncover a shocking find after a brief but desperate search.
The investigators, fueled by neighborhood gossip and supposition, survey the empty liquor bottles and love notes that litter Ruth’s flat and her nicely tousled strawberry-blonde hair and daring attire. When newbie newspaper writer Pete Wonicke is assigned to cover the case on his first major assignment, a lucky break, he can’t help but assume the same conclusions.
Pete starts questioning all he thought he knew as he spends more time with Ruth and learns more about the darker workings of the police and the press. Ruth Malone is captivating, difficult, and inaccessible, but does that make her a murderer?
Little Death Death is an exhilarating tale of love, morality, and addiction, exploring the power of good and evil within us all. It’s frightening, seductive, and full of heart-pounding tension.
27. Idaho
Full Title: Idaho
Author: Emily Ruskovich
Genre: Domestic Fiction
Publishing Date: 2017
Description:
Our latest creative addiction will be this novel about grief, loss, and forgiveness. A family goes to a mountainous meadow to gather birch wood on a scorching August day. Jenny, the mother, is now in charge of using a hatchet to remove any small limbs from the logs. The piling is done by Wade, the father.
June and May, aged nine and six, pass the time by drinking lemonade, swatting horseflies, bickering, and singing snippets of songs. But then Jenny does something horrible, an act so heinous that it scatters the family in all directions and leaves years of unsolved mysteries.
28. Darkness, Take My Hand
Full Title: Darkness, Take My Hand
Author: Dennis Lehane
Genre: Mystery
Publishing Date: 1996
Description:
The newest client of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro is a distinguished Boston psychiatrist who is fleeing a violent Irish mob. Private detectives are aware of cold-blooded retaliation.
They’ve already seen the horror that dwells in the minds of the poor, having grown up on the streets of downtown blue-collar Dorchester. But an evil that even they are unaware of is about to strike as long-buried truths explode, triggering a cycle of brutal killings that will taint everything, including reality.
29. The Return of Captain John Emmett
Full Title: The Return of Captain John Emmett
Author: Elizabeth Speller
Genre: Psychological Fiction
Publishing Date: 2010
Description:
Laurence Bartram has been a recluse since the death of his wife and baby, as well as his experiences on the Western Front.
Death, as well as the legacy of the struggle, keep casting a shadow on postwar England, and Laurence is compelled to confront the war’s darkest moments when a young woman he formerly knew tries to persuade him to investigate circumstances that allegedly led her brother, John Emmett, to commit suicide.
More disturbing fatalities are revealed as Laurence unravels the relationships between Captain Emmett’s suicide, a band of war poets, a fierce divisional quarrel, and a covert love affair.
30. The Perfect Nanny
Full Title: The Perfect Nanny
Author: Leila Slimani
Genre: Thriller
Publishing Date: 2016
Description:
Myriam, a French-Moroccan attorney, and her spouse search for the ideal nanny for their two small children when they return to work after having children. They hardly expected to find Louise, a quiet, pleasant, and loyal woman who sings to the kids, wants to clean the family’s stylish apartment in Paris’s upmarket tenth neighborhood, works overtime without protest, and throws enviable kiddie parties.
Envy, hatred, and mistrust grow as the couple, and the nanny becomes more reliant on each other, breaking the beautiful scene.
31. Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead
Full Title: Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead
Author: Sara Gran
Genre: Mystery
Publishing Date: 2011
Description:
Claire DeWitt is different from your typical private detective. She is an expert at deductive reasoning and evidence collection. Claire also relies on Détection, the only book written by the departed, great, and enigmatic French investigator Jacques Silette, to help her solve crimes and her dreams, omens, and mind-expanding herbs.
Claire has just landed in post-Katrina New Orleans, which she has shunned since her instructor, Silette’s student Constance Darling was murdered there. She is looking into the disappearance of Vic Willing, a prosecutor notorious for getting people convicted in a city plagued by homicides.
Is Vic the victim of a vengeful lawbreaker? Or did he take advantage of the weather to flee? Claire investigates the leads, reuniting with old friends to make new foes, including Andray Fairview, a teenage career criminal who may hold the key to overcoming the puzzle.
32. A Killing in the Hills
Full Title: A Killing in the Hills
Author: Julia Keller
Genre: Mystery
Publishing Date: 2012
Description:
Tourists only notice the beautiful natural splendor of the Appalachian Mountains’ foothills. But it’s a different story for people who live there. The mountain routes conceal locations ideal for producing prescription medications that attract the needy poor.
Bell Elkins was a damaged youngster who couldn’t escape her history. Bell has returned to Raythune County as the state’s lawyer, eager to sweep up the only home she has ever known. As winter approaches, Bell’s family is in danger, and her daughter witnesses a terrible triple murder. Will she be able to uncover the truth before her world is destroyed once more?
33. The Price of Silence
Full Title: The Price of Silence
Author: Camila Trinchieri
Genre: Gay Fiction
Publishing Date: 2007
Description:
Emma Perotti teaches English to international students and new residents as a second language. She is blissfully married, and the couple has a 16-year-old son named Josh. When one young Asian artist named An-link enrolls in Emma’s classroom, Emma detects a desire in An-ling for more than English classes.
She quickly discovers that An-ling needs and wants a mother’s love, understanding, and support, which Emma believes she can provide. On the other hand, Tom is enraged by their connection and demands Emma cease dating An-ling.
On the other hand, Josh considers An-ling the most beautiful creature he has ever seen and wishes to spend more time with her. When An-Ling is discovered deceased in her loft, the evidence points to Emma, who was present that day. She is detained and charged with her killing.
Tom and Josh had also paid An-Ling a visit on the day of her death. It was later revealed.
34. Death in a Strange Country
Full Title: Death in a Strange Country
Author: Donna Leon
Genre: Mystery
Publishing Date: 1993
Description:
The corpse of a young guy is retrieved out of a foul-smelling canal by Commissario Guido Brunetti of the Venice Police Department early one day. All the evidence points to a brutal mugging, but the theft motivation seems too handy for Brunetti.
Brunetti gets persuaded that someone is taking great care to present a ready-made explanation of the crime when something is discovered in the victim’s flat that shows the existence of an elevated conspiracy.
35. Murder as a Fine Art
Full Title: Murder as a Fine Art
Author: John Lawton
Genre: Suspense
Publishing Date: 2007
Description:
Thomas De Quincey, best known for his autobiography “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater,” is the main suspect in a string of heinous mass killings that have tormented London for the past forty-three years.
De Quincey’s essay “On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts” appears to have served as a template for the murders. De Quincey is supported by his loyal daughter Emily and a couple of diligent Scotland Yard investigators in his desperate attempt to redeem his name, despite his opium dependency.
Conclusion| Top 35 Literary Crime Novels for Crime Readers
Even though I have already read these books, I had goosebumps after recalling them. Trilling. I know it was. It’s about time you buy these books to read them at least once and then repeatedly.
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