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Great Mystery Novels

I composed this list by counting how many times individual mystery novels appeared on multiple best-of lists. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd appeared on five best-of lists, more than any other novel. The novels without a number listed in the fifth column appeared on a single best-of list.

First name Last name Title Year Count
Agatha Christie The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 1926 5
Arthur Conan Doyle The Hound of the Baskervilles 1902 4
Dashiell Hammett The Maltese Falcon 1930 4
Edmund Crispin The Moving Toyshop 1946 4
Patricia Highsmith The Talented Mr. Ripley 1957 4
Wilkie Collins The Moonstone 1868 3
E.C. Bentley Trent's Last Case 1912 3
Dashiell Hammett Red Harvest 1929 3
Dorothy Sayers Strong Poison 1930 3
James M. Cain The Postman Always Rings Twice 1934 3
Agatha Christie Murder in the Orient Express 1934 3
John Dickson Carr The Three Coffins 1935 3
Michael Innes Hamlet, Revenge! 1937 3
Ngaio Marsh Surfeit of Lampreys (a.k.a. Death of a Peer) 1940 3
Kenneth Fearing The Big Clock 1946 3
Michael Gilbert Smallbone Deceased 1950 3
Josephine Tey The Daughter of Time 1951 3
Margery Allingham The Tiger in the Smoke 1952 3
Edgar Allan Poe Tales 1845 2
Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes 1892 2
Jacques Futrelle The Thinking Machine 1907 2
G.K. Chesterton The Man Who Was Thursday 1908 2
Mary Roberts Rinehart The Circular Staircase 1908 2
G.K. Chesterton The Innocence of Father Brown 1911 2
G.K. Chesterton The Wisdom of Father Brown 1914 2
A.A. Milne The Red House Mystery 1922 2
Anthony Berkeley The Poisoned Chocolates Case 1929 2
C.P. Snow Death Under Sail 1932 2
Dorothy Sayers Murder Must Advertise 1933 2
Ellery Queen The Chinese Orange Mystery 1934 2
Dorothy Sayers The Nine Tailors 1934 2
Rex Stout The League of Frightened Men 1935 2
Nicholas Blake Thou Shell of Death 1936 2
Agatha Christie The ABC Murders 1936 2
Nicholas Blake The Beast Must Die 1938 2
Daphne DuMaurier Rebecca 1938 2
Eric Ambler A Coffin for Demetrios 1939 2
Raymond Chandler The Big Sleep 1939 2
Cornell Woolrich The Bride Wore Black 1940 2
Raymond Chandler The High Window 1942 2
Ellery Queen Calamity Town 1942 2
Raymond Chandler The Lady in the Lake 1943 2
Christianna Brand Green for Danger 1944 2
Helen Eustis The Horizontal Man 1946 2
Nicholas Blake Minute for Murder 1947 2
Frederick Brown The Fabulous Clipjoint 1947 2
John Franklin Bardin Devil Take the Blue Tail Fly 1948 2
Edmund Chrispin Buried for Pleasure 1949 2
Ellery Queen Cat of Many Tails 1949 2
Jim Thompson The Killer Inside Me 1952 2
Ira Levin A Kiss Before Dying 1953 2
Raymond Chandler The Long Good-bye 1954 2
Margaret Millar Beast in View 1955 2
Stanley Ellin Mystery Stories 1956 2
Philip McDonald The List of Adrian Messenger 1959 2
John Le Carre The Spy Who Came in From the Cold 1963 2
Ross MacDonald The Chill 1964 2
Jim Thompson Pop. 1280 1964 2
John Ball In the Heat of the Night 1965 2
Sjowall & Wahloo The Laughing Policeman 1968 2
Ross MacDonald The Underground Man 1971 2
Mark Smith The Death of the Detective 1974 2
James Crumley The Last Good Kiss 1978 2
Richard Rosen Strike Three, You're Dead 1984 2
P.D. James A Taste for Death 1986 2
Collins Wilkie The Woman in White 1860
Anna Katharine Green The Leavenworth Case 1878
Fergus Hume The Mystery of a Hansom Cab 1886
Arthur Conan Doyle A Study in Scarlet 1887
Arthur Conan Doyle The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes 1894
Mark Twain Pudd'nhead Wilson 1894
Anna Katharine Green The Circular Study 1900
Baroness Orczy The Scarlet Pimpernell 1905
Austin Freeman The Red Thumb Mark 1907
C.K. Chesterton The Innocence of Father Brown 1911
Marie Belloc Lowndes The Lodger 1913
Oliver Onion In Accordance With the Evidence 1915
John Buchan The Thirty-Nine Steps 1915
Christopher Morley The Haunted Bookshop 1919
E. Phillips Oppenheimer The Great Impersonation 1920
Agatha Christie The Mysterious Affair at Styles 1920
Agatha Christie The Mousetrap 1925
John Buchan John McNab 1925
Earl Derr Biggers The Chinese Parrot 1926
G.D.H. Cole & R. Postgate The Murder at Crome House 1927
S.S. Van Dine The Canary Murder Case 1927
P.G. Wodehouse Meet Mr. Mulliner 1927
S.S. Van Dine The Greene Murder Case 1928
Ronald A. Knox The Footsteps at the Lock 1928
Freeman Wills Crofts The Purple Sickle Murders (or The Box Office Murders) 1929
Thomas Kindon Murder in the Moor 1929
Elery Queen The Roman Hat Murder 1929
Kenneth Roberts Arundel 1930
R. Austin Freeman Mr. Pottermack's Oversight 1930
Raoul Whitfield Green Ice 1930
Miles Burton The Secret of High Eldersham 1930
Dashiell Hammett The Glass Key 1931
Francis Iles Malice Aforethought 1931
Maxwell Grant The Living Shadow 1931
Francis Beeding Death Walks in Eastrepps 1931
Maxwell Grant The Shadow Laughs 1931
Eden Phillpotts Found Drowned 1931
Henry K. Webster Who Is the Next? 1931
Dorothy Sayers Five Red Herrings 1931
Earl Derr Biggers Keeper of the Keys 1932
T.H. White Darkness at Pemberly 1932
Ellen Wilkinson The Division Bell Mystery 1932
Dermot Morrah The Mummy Case Mystery (or The Mummy Case) 1933
James Hilton Was it Murder? 1933
Kenneth Roberts Rabble in Arms 1933
J.C. Masterman An Oxford Tragedy 1933
Phoebe Atwood Taylor The Mystery of Cape Cod Tavern 1934
P.G. Wodehouse Thank You, Jeeves 1934
Rex Stout Fer-de-Lance 1934
G.K. Chesterton The Club of Queer Trades 1935
Ethel Lina White Wax 1935
Ngaio Marsh Enter a Murderer 1935
James Hilton Was It Murder? 1935
Gerald Bullett The Jury 1935
Nicholas Blake The Beast Must Die 1936
James M. Cain Double Indemnity 1936
Ngaio Marsh Overture to Death 1936
Kenneth Roberts Northwest Passage 1936
Ethel Lina White The Lady Vanishes 1936
Graham Greene This Gun for Hire 1936
John Dickson Carr The Burning Court 1937
Margery Allingham Dancers in Mourning 1937
Margery Allingham The Fashion in Shrouds 1938
John Dickson Carr The Crooked Hinge 1938
Carter Dickson The Judas Window 1938
Michael Innes Lament for a Maker 1938
R. Austin Freeman The Stoneware Monkey 1938
Clayton Rawson Death from a Top Hat 1938
P.G. Wodehouse The Code of the Woosters 1938
Georgette Heyer A Blunt Instrument 1938
Rex Stout Too Many Cooks 1938
Paul McGuire A Funeral in Eden (or Burial Service) 1938
C.S. Forester Ship of the Line 1938
Arthur Upfield The Bone Is Pointed 1938
Carter Dickson The Reader Is Warned 1939
Agatha Christie And Then There Were None 1939
Clayton Rawson Footprints on the Ceiling 1939
Eliot Paul The Mysterious Mickey Finn 1939
James Hadley Chase No Orchards for Miss Blandish 1939
Geoffrey Household Rogue Male 1939
Elspeth Huxley The African Poison Murders 1939
Chandler Raymond Farewell, My Lovely 1940
Agatha Christie And Then There Were None 1940
Raymond Postgate Verdict of Twelve 1940
Kenneth Roberts Oliver Wiswell 1940
C.W. Grafton Beyond a Reasonable Doubt 1940
Nicholas Blake The Corpse in the Snowman 1941
James M. Cain Mildred Pierce 1941
Cornell Woolrich The Black Curtain 1941
Richard & Francis Lockridge A Pinch of Poison 1941
C.S. Forester Payment Deferred 1942
Vera Gaspary Laura 1942
Helen McCloy Cue for Murder 1942
Cornell Woolrich The Black Angel 1942
Michael Innes The Daffodil Affair 1942
Graham Greene The Ministry of Fear 1943
Virginia Perdue Alarum and Excursion 1944
Erle Stanley Gardner The Case of the Crooked Candle 1944
Joel Townley Rogers The Red Right Hand 1945
Gladys Mitchell The Rising of the Moon 1945
Clifford Witting Measure for Murder 1945
Lewis Lange The Birthday Murder 1945
Edmund Crispin Holy Disorders 1945
Marco Page The Shadowy Third 1946
Hilda Lawrence The Pavilion 1946
Roy Huggins The Double Take 1946
Patricia McGerr Pick Your Victim 1946
Dorothy B. Hughes Ride the Pink Horse 1946
Rex Stout Too Many Women 1947
Rex Stout And Be a Villain 1948
Edna Sherry Sudden Fear 1948
Carter Dickson The Skeleton in the Clock 1948
Mickey Spillane I, the Jury 1948
Thomas Kyd Blood on the Bosom Divine 1948
Cornell Woolrich Rendezvous in Black 1948
Patricia Highsmith Strangers on a Train 1949
Rex Stout The Second Confession 1949
Philip Clark The Dark River 1949
M. Heberden Engaged to Murder 1949
Ngaio Marsh A Wreath for Rivera 1949
Cyril Hare When the Wind Blows 1949
Raymond Chandler The Little Sister 1949
Norman Longmate Strip Death Naked 1949
Ross Macdonald The Drowning Pool 1950
Dorothy B. Hughes In a Lonely Place 1950
Mickey Spillane My Gun Is Quick 1950
Josephine Tey To Love and Be Wise 1950
Graham Greene The Third Man 1950
Elizabeth Daly Death and Letters 1950
Patricia Highsmith Strangers on a Train 1950
Matthew Head The Congo Venus 1950
Andrew Garve No Tears for Hilda 1950
Julian Symons The 31st of February 1951
John & Emery Bonett A Banner for Pegasus (or Not in the Script) 1951
Ross Macdonald The Ivory Green 1952
Stanley Ellin The Key to Nicholas Street 1952
Joanna Cannan The Body in the Beck 1952
Michael Innes One-Man Show 1952
Frederick Brown The Deep End 1952
Frederick Brown Meatball 1953
John D. MacDonald Dead Low Tide 1953
Josephine Tey The Singing Sands 1953
Davis Grubb The Night of the Hunter 1953
Raymond Chandler The Long Goodbye 1953
Hillary Waugh The Missing Man 1954
Jim Thompson A Hell of a Woman 1954
Julian Symons The Narrowing Circle 1954
Rex Stout The Black Mountain 1954
Walter Tyrer Such Friends Are Dangerous 1954
Herbert Brean Wilders Walk Away 1955
William Mole The Hammersmith Maggot (or Small Venom) 1955
Alex H. Atkinson Exit Charlie 1955
Christopher Landon Stone Cold Dead in the Market 1955
Robert Robinson Landscape for Dead Dons 1956
Maurice Proctor The Pub Crawler 1956
Edward Grierson The Second Man 1956
Stanley Ellin The Eighth Circle 1958
Henry Kuttner Murder of a Wife 1958
Nigel Fitzgerald Suffer a Witch 1958
Graham Greene Our Man in Havana 1958
Bruce Hamilton Too Much of Water 1958
Robert Traver Anatomy of a Murder 1958
Nicholas Blake The Widow's Cruise 1959
Jim Thompson The Getaway 1959
Robert Bloch Psycho 1959
Helen Robertson Swan Song (or The Chinese Goose) 1960
Leo Bruce Furious Old Women 1960
Geoffrey Household Watcher in the Shadows 1960
Jean Scholey The Dead Past 1961
Glun Carr Death Finds a Foothold 1961
Arthur W. Upfield The Will of the Tribe 1962
Lionel Davidson The Rose of Tibet 1962
Ross Macdonald The Zebra-Striped Hearse 1962
P.D. James Cover her Face 1962
Dick Francis Dead Cert 1962
Margaret Millar How Like an Angel 1962
Fletcher & Bailey Seven Days in May 1962
Simon Nash Killed by Scandal 1962
Len Deighton The Ipcress File 1962
S.B. Hough The Bronze Perseus (or The Tender Killer) 1962
Ed McBain Ten Plus One 1963
Simon Nash Death Over Deep Water 1963
Thomas Blanchard Dewey A sad Song Singing 1963
Alistair MacLean Ice Station Zebra 1963
Robert Van Gulik The Emperor's Pearl 1963
Harry Kemelman Friday the Rabbi Slept Late 1964
John Garner The Liquidator 1964
David Walker Winter of Madness 1964
Amanda Cross In the Last Analysis 1964
Jane Langton The Minuteman Murder 1964
Len Deighton Funeral in Berlin 1964
Hans Helmut Kirst The Night of the Generals 1964
Mary Stewart This Rough Magic 1964
Rex Stout The Doorbell Rang 1965
L.P. Davies Who Is Lewis Pinder? 1965
Adam Hall The Quiller Memorandum 1965
Patricia Moyes Johnny Under Ground 1965
Carlton Keith The Crayfish Dinner (or The Elusive Epicure) 1966
J.B. Priestley Salt Is Leaving 1966
Emma Lathen Murder Makes the Wheels Go 'Round 1966
Helen MacInnes The Double Image 1966
Stanley Hyland Green Grow the Tresses-O 1967
Ross Thomas The Seersucker Whipsaw 1967
Robert van Gulik Necklace and Calabash 1967
J.J. Marric Gideon's River 1968
Ross MacDonald The Good-bye Look 1969
Simon Troy Swift to Its Close 1969
George MacDonald Fraser Flashman 1969
Sjowall & Wahloo The Fire Engine that Disappeared 1969
Mario Puzo The Godfather 1969
Colin Watson Just What the Doctor Ordered 1969
Alistair MacLean Puppet on a Chain 1969
Frank Swinnerton On the Shady Side 1970
Jack Finney Time and Time Again 1970
P.M. Hubbard High Tide 1970
Edward Candy Words for Murder Perhaps 1971
George V. Higgins The Friends of Eddie Coyle 1971
A.H.Z. Carr Finding Maubee 1971
Alistair MacLean Bear Island 1971
Frederick Forsyth The Day of the Jackal 1971
Tony Hillerman The Fly on the Wall 1971
Frederick Forsyth The Odessa File 1972
David Anthony Blood on a Harvest Moon 1972
Trevanian The Eiger Sanction 1972
Victor Canning The Rainbird Pattern 1972
John Miles The Night Hunters 1973
Trevanian The Loo Sanction 1973
Lawrence Sanders The First Deadly Sin 1973
Julian Symons The Plot Against Roger Ryder 1973
Ross Thomas If You Can't Be Good 1973
K.C. Constantine The Man Who Liked to Look at Himself 1973
Robert Littell The Defection of A.J. Lewinter 1973
Andrew Bergman The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 1974
Roger Simon The Big Fix 1974
Peter Benchley Jaws 1974
Anthony Price Other Paths to Glory 1974
Joseph Wambaugh The Onion Field 1974
Frederick Forsyth The Dogs of War 1974
John D. MacDonald The Dreadful Lemon Sky 1974
John Le Carre Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 1974
Agatha Christie Curtain 1975
William Gardner A Big Enough Wreath 1975
Tony Kenrick Stealing Lilian 1975
Wilbur Smith The Eye of the Tiger 1975
Jack Higgins The Eagle Has Landed 1975
Thomas Gifford The Cavanaugh Quest 1976
Arthur Morrison Best Martin Hewitt Detective Stories 1976
Ira Levin The Boys from Brazil 1976
Ellis Peters Never Pick Up Hitch Hikers 1976
Wilbur Smith Cry Wolf 1976
Nan & Ivan Lyons Someone Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe 1976
William Hjortsberg Falling Angel 1977
P.D. James Death of an Expert Witness 1977
Ed McBain Long Time No See 1977
Ruth Rendell Means of Evil 1977
George MacDonald Fraser Flashman's Lady 1977
Ruth Rendell A Judgement in Stone 1977
George Hart The Punch and Judy Murders 1977
Brian Freemantle Charlie M. 1977
Ken Follett The Eye of the Needle 1978
La Rosa & Tannenbaum The Random Factor 1978
Irving & Bukholz The Death Freak 1978
Desmond Bagley Flyaway 1978
Trevanian Shibumi 1979
William Gardner The Mobius Strip 1979
Collins & LaPierre The Fifth Horseman 1980
George MacDonald Fraser Mr. American 1980
Michael Crichton Congo 1980
Peter Fox Mantis 1980
Arthur Lyons Hard Trade 1981
Thomas Harris Red Dragon 1981
Ann Perry Paragon Walk 1981
David Gurr A Woman Called Scylla 1981
Dick Francis Twice Shy 1982
Duff Hart-Davis The Heights of Rimring 1982
W.R. Duncan The Queen's Messenger 1982
Umberto Eco The Name of the Rose 1983
Ed McBain Ice 1983
Joe McGinniss Fatal Vision 1983
Dorothy Dunnett Dolly and the Bird of Paradise 1984
Raymond Paul The Tragedy at Tiverton 1984
Ross Thomas Briarpatch 1984
Duncan Kyle The King's Commissar 1984
Paul Auster The New York Trilogy 1985
James Crumley Dancing Bear 1985
Elmore Leonard Glitz 1985
Ruth Rendell The Killing Doll 1985
Thomas Maxwell Kiss Me Once 1986
Dennis Potter The Singing Detective 1986
Sara Paretsky Bitter Medicine 1987
Barbara Vine A Fatal Inversion 1987
Sue Grafton "C" is for Corpse
Henry Wade Heir Presumptive