Not to be outdone by the British Crime Writers’ Association – Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time, the Mystery Writers of America came up with their list five years later. If you compare the lists, you will see that there are quite a few authors who appear on both. I am happy to see a few of the authors I follow on the list. There are also a few authors (like Thomas Harris and Joseph Wambaugh) who I read on occasion.
In 1995, the Mystery Writers of America comprised a list of:
The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time
- Arthur Conan Doyle: The Complete Sherlock Holmes (1887-1927)
- Dashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon (1930)
- Edgar Allan Poe: Tales of Mystery & Imagination (1852)
- Josephine Tey: The Daughter of Time (1951)
- Scott Turow: Presumed Innocent (1987)
- John le Carré: The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1963)
- Wilkie Collins: The Moonstone (1868)
- Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep (1939)
- Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca (1938)
- Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None (1939)
- Robert Traver: Anatomy of a Murder (1958)
- Agatha Christie: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
- Raymond Chandler: The Long Goodbye (1953)
- James M. Cain: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934)
- Mario Puzo: The Godfather (1969)
- Thomas Harris: The Silence of the Lambs (1988)
- Eric Ambler: A Coffin for Dimitrios (1939)
- Dorothy L. Sayers: Gaudy Night (1935)
- Agatha Christie: Witness for the Prosecution (1948)
- Frederick Forsyth: The Day of the Jackal (1971)
- Raymond Chandler: Farewell, My Lovely (1940)
- John Buchan: The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915)
- Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose (1980)
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Crime and Punishment (1866)
- Ken Follett: Eye of the Needle (1978)
- John Mortimer: Rumpole of the Bailey (1978)
- Thomas Harris: Red Dragon (1981)
- Dorothy L. Sayers: The Nine Tailors (1934)
- Gregory Mcdonald: Fletch (1974)
- John le Carré: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974)
- Dashiell Hammett: The Thin Man (1934)
- Wilkie Collins: The Woman in White (1860)
- E. C. Bentley: Trent’s Last Case (1913)
- James M. Cain: Double Indemnity (1943)
- Martin Cruz Smith: Gorky Park (1981)
- Dorothy L. Sayers: Strong Poison (1930)
- Tony Hillerman: Dance Hall of the Dead (1973)
- Donald E. Westlake: The Hot Rock (1970)
- Dashiell Hammett: Red Harvest (1929)
- Mary Roberts Rinehart: The Circular Staircase (1908)
- Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express (1934)
- John Grisham: The Firm (1991)
- Len Deighton: The Ipcress File (1962)
- Vera Caspary: Laura (1942)
- Mickey Spillane: I, the Jury (1947)
- Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö: The Laughing Policeman (1968)
- Donald E. Westlake: Bank Shot (1972)
- Graham Greene: The Third Man (1950)
- Jim Thompson: The Killer Inside Me (1952)
- Mary Higgins Clark: Where Are the Children? (1975)
- Sue Grafton: “A” is for Alibi (1982)
- Lawrence Sanders: The First Deadly Sin (1973)
- Tony Hillerman: A Thief of Time (1989)
- Truman Capote: In Cold Blood (1966)
- Geoffrey Household: Rogue Male (1939)
- Dorothy L. Sayers: Murder Must Advertise (1933)
- G. K. Chesterton: The Innocence of Father Brown (1911)
- John le Carré: Smiley’s People (1979)
- Raymond Chandler: The Lady in the Lake (1943)
- Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)
- Graham Greene: Our Man in Havana (1958)
- Charles Dickens: The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)
- Peter Lovesey: Wobble to Death (1970)
- W. Somerset Maugham: Ashenden (1928)
- Nicholas Meyer: The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson (1974)
- Rex Stout: The Doorbell Rang (1965)
- Elmore Leonard: Stick (1983)
- John le Carré: The Little Drummer Girl (1983)
- Graham Greene: Brighton Rock (1938)
- Bram Stoker: Dracula (1897)
- Patricia Highsmith: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955)
- Edmund Crispin: The Moving Toyshop (1946)
- John Grisham: A Time to Kill (1989)
- Hillary Waugh: Last Seen Wearing … (1952)
- W. R. Burnett: Little Caesar (1929)
- George V. Higgins: The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1972)
- Dorothy L. Sayers: Clouds of Witness (1927)
- Ian Fleming: From Russia, with Love (1957)
- Margaret Millar: Beast in View (1955)
- Michael Gilbert: Smallbone Deceased (1950)
- Josephine Tey: The Franchise Affair (1948)
- Elizabeth Peters: Crocodile on the Sandbank (1975)
- P. D. James: Shroud for a Nightingale (1971)
- Tom Clancy: The Hunt for Red October (1984)
- Ross Thomas: Chinaman’s Chance (1978)
- Joseph Conrad: The Secret Agent (1907)
- John D. MacDonald: The Dreadful Lemon Sky (1975)
- Dashiell Hammett: The Glass Key (1931)
- Ruth Rendell: A Judgement in Stone (1977)
- Josephine Tey: Brat Farrar (1950)
- Ross Macdonald: The Chill (1963)
- Walter Mosley: Devil in a Blue Dress (1990)
- Joseph Wambaugh: The Choirboys (1975)
- Donald E. Westlake: God Save the Mark (1967)
- Craig Rice: Home Sweet Homicide (1944)
- John Dickson Carr: The Three Coffins (1935)
- Richard Condon: Prizzi’s Honor (1982)
- James McClure: The Steam Pig (1974)
- Jack Finney: Time and Again (1970)
- Ellis Peters: A Morbid Taste for Bones (1977) Tied with Ira Levin: Rosemary’s Baby (1967)
If you take a look at both the 1990 British list and this 1995 USA list, you will no doubt notice that a lot of the authors are duplicated. I guess it just doesn’t matter on which side of the pond you live, good crime fiction is simply good crime fiction!
(I highlighted the authors who can be found on the Cozy Mystery site.)
Kay says
Thanks for sharing these two lists. There are a lot of titles I haven’t read. I’d better get busy!
I’m glad to see Rex Stout made it on this one.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Kay, I was glad to see him, also.
Donna says
Glad that Spillane made the list this time around but still nothing by Ngaio Marsh? Were her books out of print at the time the lists were made or did I miss something?
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Donna, there’s no accounting for taste, is there?!?
linda says
Danna, I think “Where Are the Children” was the first book by Mary Higgins Clark that I read. I have read several more over the years but I haven’t read, except for the books with the Christmas themes that she co-authored with her daughter for the last few years. I thought maybe she had changed her style of writing and I didn’t care a whole lot for some of her books.. I hope some time this winter to be able to catch up on her more recent books. She is a good writer. One of the best, I think. I intend to give her another chance. I have always enjoyed her books so much.
For some unknown reason there are several writers that I enjoy more when I can read them during the darker winter months. Maybe because I don’t have as much to do in the winter and I can spend more time reading these more heavy type reading. I hope this makes some sense.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, I know it gets pretty cold in Ohio. There’s probably something about being inside, nice and toasty, when winter months are cold and dreary. And, what better way to spend those dreary days than reading.
linda says
The winter months make for good reading seasons because now that I am retired I don’t have to go out in the bad weather at 5 a.m. A good pot of hot cofee, some french vanilla coffee creamer, an oldies station on the radio and a good book!! Just how I hope to be able to spend my winter months from now until doomsday!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Linda, if an oldies station playing in the background while I tried to read, I’d end up being totally distracted. I don’t multi-task while trying to read. Both of my children can, which amazes me.
Judith says
While I have read more of these books than I had from the British list, there are still a lot that I have not read. Between the two lists, I see a number of opportunities to make my TBR pile grow!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Me, too, Judith!
Nikki says
Great list. Unfortunately, it looks like the only ones I haven’t read are by Josephine Tey. I’ve got to check those out. Some I’ve re-read many times. Christie and Hammett are my “go to” authors when I’m feeling down. Miss Marple can always improve my mood.
P.S. Just discovered all the old British mystery shows on Acorntv. Love them.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Nikki, I wish my list of authors who I haven’t read from these lists was only Josephine Tey! There are many, many who I haven’t read. But, thankfully, I don’t want to read all of those who I haven’t read yet. That would keep me busy for a long time.
Maria (BearMountainBooks) says
Woot! Number 82!!!
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Why doesn’t that surprise me, Maria?!?
Julia says
I’m not sure why “To Kill a Mockingbird” is on the list – it’s a marvelous book about family and childhood and the darker side of what is usually called ‘a simpler time’…but as murder mysteries go it seems about on par with “Peyton Place.”
I’m glad to see at least one Elizabeth Peters and one Ellis Peters made the list (to be honest I would have ditched a Dorothy Sayers or two in favor of more of them). And the Mary Higgins Clark they mentioned is an oldie but one of her best.
Also very glad to see “Daughter of Time” made the list – and so far up! It’s a great book, and it made a dyed-in-the-wool Ricardian of me (which led me to read a number of other wonderful books on or around the subject, such as Elizabeth Peters’ “The Murders of Richard III”).
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Julia, I wish Josephine Tey’s Daughter of Time was available in Kindle format (so I can adjust the font). Hopefully, it will be converted to e-book format soon.
Speaking of Ellis Peters, I was quite surprised that she just barely made this list. I couldn’t believe she is #100!
Sally says
Thank you! Thank you! I am so happy with this site. Several years ago, I read one of the authors on your list. I knew a husband wife team wrote a series of books and then when he died there were no more books. I forgot the name of the authors and couldn’t remember the name of the book. I thought it was “The Terrorist” but was unable to find the books. As soon as I saw #46 on your list I knew I had found them again. I’ve ordered two of their books and am looking forward to receiving them.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Sally, I had never heard of Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö before this list. Please let us know if they are still as good as you remember them to be.
Laura says
I think they are excellent! Better than Mankell and even Indriasen, and that’s high praise indeed.
Ksenija says
Strange, I cannot seem to find any Sidney Sheldon’s books on this list. Maybe I’m just too tired and cannot see good, but I always had the idea that his books were massively popular.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
You’re not too tired, I don’t have him on the site…