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The 100 Most Popular Mysteries and Thrillers on Goodreads
With clever detectives, missing jewels, murderous women, daring spies, and more, mysteries and thrillers deliver page-turning delight with every twist and turn. To celebrate our favorite sleuths (and favorite villains), we followed the footsteps to find the top 100 most popular mysteries and thrillers on Goodreads.
As all good mystery readers know, uncovering the howdunit is sometimes just as important as unveiling the culprit. To create our list, we first started with the most reviewed books on our site. Additionally, each title needed at least a 3.5 star rating to make it onto our rap sheet. And because some of your favorite authors are repeat offenders, when it came to books in a series, we kept the title with the most reviews and buried the rest. (Otherwise, the top of this list would be very full of Dan Brown, Janet Evanovich, and Stieg Larsson.)
We suspect you'll find a book or two you'll want to read in this lineup. Here are the top mysteries and thrillers on Goodreads, listed from 1 to 100.
How many have you read? Tell us in the comments below, and don't forget to add titles that catch your eye to your Want to Read shelf!
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
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#10
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#12
#13
#14
#15
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#17
#18
#19
#20
#21
#22
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#24
#25
#26
#27
#28
#29
#30
#31
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#92
#93
#94
#95
#96
#97
#98
#99
#100
How many of these books have you read? What's your favorite mystery of all time? Let's talk books in the comments!
Comments Showing 1-50 of 350 (350 new)
Hehehe! Nice to know i've read several of the titles on this list. :)
Definitely have to agree about Elizabeth George!"The Poet" by Michael Connelly is underappreciated in my opinion.
This one is an older book, harder to find in physical print as it was written in the 1930s I believe, but there are now e-book versions out:
"The Blind Barber" by John Dickson Carr is one of the funniest locked room (well locked boat) mysteries I have ever read. I found myself laughing out loud at parts of it.
Jo Nesbo's "The Redeemer" is so much better than "The Snowman". In fact, all of Nesbo's earlier books are better, I think.
The Inspector Erlendur series by Arnaldur Indridason are well written as are the Inspector Wallander mysteries by Henning Mankell.
Melliott wrote: "With the exception of about a dozen from all the lists (Connelly, French, Penny), these are so generic and cookie cutter. You are missing so many good authors and series! What about...Kate Atkins..."
why dont you share your personal list with titles Melliot!
I think this lost may help those people who love mystery and thriller
I've read 19 of these BUT so many are on my to-read list...
Read 47 so far with 5 DNF's. And Then There Were None is probably my favorite.
John Grisham: "Hey, look, I've got a book in the top 5 that's over 30 years old...."Agatha Christie: "Hold my beer..."
Melliott wrote: "With the exception of about a dozen from all the lists (Connelly, French, Penny), these are so generic and cookie cutter. You are missing so many good authors and series! What about...Kate Atkins..."
They're curated by the most reviewed (as stated in the article), so they're not chosen by the author of the article :)
I've read 31 of these books and 35 of them are on my TBR shelf.
Loved this list. For those who are looking for other great reads, try Half Broken Things by Morag Joss, any Dick Francis book, the Rizzoli and Isles series by Tess Gerritsen, and books by Jonathon Kellerman.
Beth wrote: "I've read 19 of these BUT so many are on my to-read list..."Same here actually
Pam wrote: "Loved this list. For those who are looking for other great reads, try Half Broken Things by Morag Joss, any Dick Francis book, the Rizzoli and Isles series by Tess Gerritsen, and books by Jonathon ..."Rizzoli and Isles... isn't that Lisa Scottoline?
I've only read 12 of these, but I guess they're all on my TBR list now... :-)
I read & loved 3/100 🙌 Yay 🎉 Do I have any desire whatsoever to read the other 97? Well . . . Absolutely 😝 Or maybe ❣️ One of these days ⁉️
I have read 26 of these, currently on # 27. Have a few of them on my to read list, and will be adding a few more! I started reading The Witch Elm but couldn't get into it.
Only 51, lots to go plus many more not on this list
I've read:5 Stars
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
And Then There Were None
4 Stars
Angels and Demons
3 Stars
Murder on the Orient Express
Deception Point
This list seems to be entirely based upon ratings bestowed by American teenagers. Nothing wrong with that. But such a list completely disregards British classics, short-story collections, entire genres within mystery (locked room and other 'impossible crime') etc. With so many authors and editors present here, couldn’t the selection be made somewhat less moronic?
I read 9 books only out of this list36 in my TBR!
And currently reading one!
I've read 26 but a lot of these (almost all of the rest) are on my TBR list!
I've read 20 of these. Probably close to half I want to read. There are also a lot of mystery/thriller authors not on here that I read though. But you can only cover so many in 100 books :)
Roseanne wrote: "Pam wrote: "Loved this list. For those who are looking for other great reads, try Half Broken Things by Morag Joss, any Dick Francis book, the Rizzoli and Isles series by Tess Gerritsen, and books ..."No, it's Tess Gerritsen.
How about Brunetti and Maigret? Martha Grimes doesn't appear. Where are the Scandinavian authors? This isn't the best list in my humble opinion!
Gretchen wrote: "How about Brunetti and Maigret? Martha Grimes doesn't appear. Where are the Scandinavian authors? This isn't the best list in my humble opinion!"I agree. Scandinavian authors really deserves to be mentioned.
Brad Parks and Harlan Coben are not listed. They are among my top 5 favorites!
I have read a number of the books on this list, quite a chunk are on my to read list; and some writers I have never tried but looking forward to digging in!
Gretchen wrote: "How about Brunetti and Maigret? Martha Grimes doesn't appear. Where are the Scandinavian authors? This isn't the best list in my humble opinion!"This isn't supposed to be a "Best of" list. From the description:
"To celebrate our favorite sleuths (and favorite villains), we followed the footsteps to find the top 100 most popular mysteries and thrillers on Goodreads. - - - To create our list, we first started with the most reviewed books on our site."
I only read 12 books from those, but I miss a few of my favorites thriller's authors like John Katzenbach or Camilla Lackberg or John Verdon.
I read 12 of those. Three of them with 5 stars: 1x Tess Gerritsen and 2x Dan Brown.Dan Brown is in the past though. I tried a Dan Brown recently and did not like him anymore.
Agatha Christie is a QUEEN of mystery!!! AND THE SEVEN DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE IS ON HERE!!!!! THAT BOOK IS AMAZING!
I've read 23 of these books. The list looks old to me but I'm an early reviewer so have read many newer books. There are so many good mystery/thriller writers that aren't represented here, but I guess they just went with their data :)
Tana French: A must for anyone who likes being cornered at parties and talked to death by a long winded gasbag who is in love with their own intellect and is certain NO one is smater than them.
I have read 50. Stephen King's The Outside was my favorite on this list.
Thanks, some of many books mentioned..I put in my want to read before. This is my favorite books genre mystery and thriller!!!
Gillian Flynn and Jo Nesbõ are in my books shelf..
Alfred wrote: "No John Sandford?"Hear, hear,
I've read 31 of these, but they range from the 5-star Still Life to the 1-star Gone Girl. The Ruth Ware selections look interesting; I'll have to try her when/ir my library ever reopens.
Kate Atkinson
Sharon Bolton
Robert Crais
Deborah Crombie
Joseph Finder
Elizabeth George
Alex Grecian
Elly Griffiths
Steve Hamilton
C. S. Harris
Charlaine Harris
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Susan Hill
Craig Johnson