Given the existence of other lists, curious to see a mystery list with even more stringent requirements.

So - 40,000 ratings, first book in a series only, an average rating of 4.0 or above and shelved at least 500 times as mystery

This list is in reaction to the blog entry Top 50 favorite fantasy novels on goodreads from Hayley Igarashi on July 29, 2017.

It is an attempt to turn an arbitrary definition into a precise definition.

See also:
100 Mysteries and Thrillers to Read in a Lifetime Readers Picks
Best Mysteries of the 21st Century
Best Mysteries of the 20th Century
Popular Highly Rated Mystery

Books With a Goodreads Average Rating of 4 and Above and at least 30,000 ratings

Best Mysteries by Subgenre
Best Cozy Mystery Series
Best Crime Mystery Books
Best Historical Mystery
Best Literary Mysteries
Best Thrillers

Edgar Awards:
Edgar Award Winners
Edgar Award Winners for Best First Novel
Edgar Award Winners for Fact Crime
Edgar Award Winners for Best Young Adult Fiction

Best Mysteries By Decade
1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010

Best Mysteries By Ratings
100,000 or more
50,000 to 99,999
25,000 to 49,999
10,000 to 24,999

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116 books · 207 voters · list created December 21st, 2019 by Mitchell Friedman (votes) .
39 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Mitchell 11196 books
171 friends
Charlotte Igelkott 3184 books
1 friend
nellie evelina 1027 books
82 friends
Carter 3424 books
827 friends
Angelia 534 books
0 friends
RetroHound 498 books
2 friends
Saturday's 2294 books
66 friends
~☆~Autumn 8170 books
147 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-13 of 13 (13 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Nov 19, 2020 05:43AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) The Big Sleep (#18) is just under an average rating of 4.0 (at this moment). So are The Outsider (#69), Stalking Jack the Ripper (#66), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (#40), Storm Front (#28) and Still Life (#24).

It doesn't work, avarage rating, because the moment someone rates a book lower than the mentioned 4.0 (in this case), the average rating drop a tiny bit.


message 2: by Book (new)

Book Reader It says a book must have 40,000 ratings but #65 Penicillin has 2 ratings and Ninety-Five has 4 ratings.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Mitchell
Will you please state what books you deleted? Thanks.


message 4: by Book (new)

Book Reader Ok I see that both books have been removed. Thanks!


Charlotte Igelkott Removed for having an average rating of less than 4.0:
One of Us Is Lying
Never Never

Removed for having fewer than 40000 ratings:
The Case of the Captain's Hair


message 6: by LeAnn (new)

LeAnn Re: #13, do we really consider Harry Potter a mystery?


message 7: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman LeAnn wrote: "Re: #13, do we really consider Harry Potter a mystery?"

looking at Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
mystery is the 65th highest shelf with 989 people shelving this as mystery.

So it meets the stated criteria.

It is shelved 3rd as fantasy by 78,454 people.

That said the criteria could be adjusted - say it had to be shelved as mystery in one of the top 31 shelves - which would put it on the first column.


message 9: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman so to those who keep adding books to this list - if a new book gets added to this list and it has less than 40,000 ratings or is not a first book in a series or standalone or doesn't have an average rating of 4.0 or above - I will delete it without commenting.

If a book goes below 4.0 rating I will delete it with commenting.


message 10: by Mitchell (last edited Jun 24, 2026 02:47PM) (new)

Mitchell Friedman There's been an organized effort voting the same books to the same lists including this one. It is happening every couple hours and it has been happening every couple of days.

I wouldn't have noticed except that all but one of their books don't meet the criteria for this list so I keep on removing them - and the next "voter" adds them back

❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1) by Alan Bradley (Avg: 3.82, Pos: 27)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1) by Louise Penny (Avg: 3.90, Pos: 33)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] Her Royal Spyness (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries, #1) by Rhys Bowen (Avg: 3.83, Pos: 34)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] Death at La Fenice (Commissario Brunetti, #1) by Donna Leon (Avg: 3.89, Pos: 36)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell, #1) by Deanna Raybourn (Avg: 3.96, Pos: 62)
❌ OUTLIER: [TOO FEW RATINGS] A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder (Countess of Harleigh Mystery, #1) by Dianne Freeman (Ratings: 16,898, Avg: 3.81, Pos: 86)
❌ OUTLIER: [LOW AVG RATING] A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder (Countess of Harleigh Mystery, #1) by Dianne Freeman (Avg: 3.81, Pos: 86)


message 11: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman I've been seeing an organized effort pushing the same books on to the same lists. For this list all but one of the books don't meet the basic requirements - but it is rather annoying. You can check out the most recent voters to see what I'm seeing

✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes (Pos: 103, Ratings: 72,449, Pub: Unknown)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Bruno, Chief of Police (Bruno, Chief of Police, #1) by Martin Walker (Pos: 114, Ratings: 25,419, Pub: 2008)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": A Curious Beginning (Veronica Speedwell, #1) by Deanna Raybourn (Pos: 115, Ratings: 61,605, Pub: 2015)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Mademoiselle le Sleuth by Theasa Tuohy (Pos: 116, Ratings: 2,853, Pub: Unknown)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Her Royal Spyness (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries, #1) by Rhys Bowen (Pos: 117, Ratings: 41,997, Pub: 2007)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": A Beautiful Blue Death (Charles Lenox Mysteries, #1) by Charles Finch (Pos: 118, Ratings: 18,164, Pub: 2007)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce, #1) by Alan Bradley (Pos: 119, Ratings: 181,151, Pub: 2009)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Death at La Fenice (Commissario Brunetti, #1) by Donna Leon (Pos: 120, Ratings: 43,950, Pub: 1992)
✨ ADDED to "Popular Highly Rated Mystery": Still Life (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #1) by Louise Penny (Pos: 121, Ratings: 292,506, Pub: 2005)


message 12: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman they've been pushing those books and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (which does meet this list's criteria)

on to the same 10 lists


message 13: by Mitchell (new)

Mitchell Friedman So I just reported the following

===

So there has been what looks to be an automated effort to vote a set of books by suspicious voters.

An example of this is https://www.goodreads.com/list/user_v...
well except I'm about to delete most of these votes again

I've been deleting spurious votes off of https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... basically twice a day for several weeks

When I have looked the users, look fake to me.

I only noticed because on this list of 11 books, only Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers actually fit the list criteria.

A place to see this in action is
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2...

The batch of books voted as a group are easily visible there
- still life
- sweetness at the bottom of the pie
- bruno chief of police
- a curious beginning
- the marlow murder club
- vera wong's unsolicited advice for murderers
- cocaine blues
- a lady's guide to etiquette and murder
- a beautiful blue death
- death at la fenice
- how to solve your own murder

Really I don't expect you to do anything about this.
And I don't expect to hear from you.
And I don't this vandalism of my list to stop

But I figured I might as well report it.


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