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 |
© Paul Gorman