8 Best Mystery Books of All Time, According to Goodreads
Remus is a writer, editor, journalist, and author with an eye for detail and an extremely active imagination. He is an enthusiast of everything to do with the graphic medium, whether it's Western comics and their adaptations or manga and anime. Remus is also the author of the sci-fantasy novel Once Upon a Time in Hyperspace and several works of short fiction in the mystery, comedy, and horror genres.
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Mystery books have a long history of topping bestseller charts, with millions of readers eagerly devouring them year after year. And with good reason: there’s nothing quite as satisfying or immersive as a great mystery that draws you in with uncanny occurrences and interesting characters, pulling you along on a twisty and unpredictable journey towards the truth. So it’s no surprise that mystery books are also wildly popular on Goodreads.
The internet’s go-to destination for book reviews and ratings, Goodreads is a convenient and popular website that uses the reviews of its 150 million+ members to help new readers find books they love. It’s not perfect, and the site certainly has plenty of competitors these days, but a good Goodreads rating is still a widely accepted indicator of a book’s quality. With that in mind, here’s a look at some of the best mystery books of all time, according to Goodreads.
8 ‘Rebecca’ (1938)
Goodreads Rating: 4.25/5
Written by Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca is a Gothic mystery novel presented as the recollections of an unnamed woman. While working as a companion to a rich American woman in Monte Carlo, the narrator meets, falls in love with, and marries wealthy English widower Maximilian de Winter. Arriving at Manderley, his family estate, the narrator finds herself psychologically persecuted by the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, who is still fiercely loyal to Maxim’s dead wife, Rebecca.
Arguably the most celebrated work of Daphne du Maurier’s career, Rebecca is a masterpiece of Gothic mystery with an atmospheric and intriguing narrative. It’s a ghost story in a sense, but rather than a supernatural force, the book’s narrator is haunted by her predecessor’s immaculate reputation and the suspicion that her new husband is still in love with her. It’s also a murder mystery, and a pretty solid one at that, but it’s the intense characterizations and creepy environment that make Rebecca such a powerful read.
7 ‘The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest’ (2007)
Goodreads Rating: 4.25/5
The third and final book of Stieg Larsson’s original Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (Swedish: Luftslottet som sprängdes) is a psychological thriller novel that continues the story of Larsson’s iconic protagonist, Lisbeth Salander. Picking up immediately after The Girl Who Played with Fire, the book begins with a critically injured Salander being hospitalized after a head wound. With a shadowy government unit out to destroy her and her ally, Mikael Blomkvist, Salander must survive a deep-state conspiracy and face a criminal trial on fabricated charges.
Of the three Millennium books that Larsson wrote before his death in 2004, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is easily the most famous. However, when it comes to intense, almost addictive storytelling, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is by far the best. It’s a compelling mystery that explores institutional corruption at the highest levels, leading to a satisfying conclusion to Salander’s story. Like the previous two books, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest was also adapted as a movie starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist.
6 ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ (1926)
Goodreads Rating: 4.26/5
Agatha Christie’s third novel featuring the iconic Hercule Poirot, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd started life as a serial titled Who Killed Ackroyd? that was published in the London Evening News in 1925. The novel is presented from the perspective of Dr. James Sheppard, a country physician living in the village of King's Abbot, where he assists Poirot in investigating the killing of the titular character, a wealthy widower.
Though it may not have been the first, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is arguably the best of Christie’s Poirot stories. The novel’s climactic twist turned out to be quite controversial for its time, making it one of the most famous detective novels ever published, and it had a significant impact on the genre. The story has been adapted several times, most notably as an episode of the ITV series Agatha Christie’s Poirot and a one-hour radio play by Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz produced for The Campbell Playhouse.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Classic Mystery Movie Are You? Clue · Rear Window · Se7en · Memento
Answer eight quick questions and we will tell you which one you are. Four films that solve a mystery in four completely different ways, from a comedy with three separate endings to a thriller told backwards.
🕯Clue(1985)
🪟Rear Window(1954)
📦Se7en(1995)
📸Memento(2000)
01
What kind of film night are you after? Pick the one that sounds most like you.
02
How would your friends describe you? Be honest.
03
What do you do when you are stuck at home? One answer only.
04
How do you react to a plot twist? Pick the closest answer.
05
Pick a room. No wrong answers here.
06
What is your memory like? Pick the closest answer.
07
How do you feel about endings? Think about the last film that got you.
08
What should a mystery film do to you? Last one. This is the one that decides it.
Roll Credits Your Film Is…
Clue went back into cinemas for its fortieth birthday with the three endings handed out at random, which is a good reminder that the mystery film will try anything. Here is yours, what it says about you, and the case for it being the best of the four.
Clue
You are the most fun thing in the room and you are not remotely in control of it. Clue is a murder mystery built from a board game, played at farce speed by one of the best comic ensembles ever assembled, and it refuses to commit to a single answer.
- You keep the energy up and the plan loose, and people have a much better evening because of it.
- Three different endings were sent to different cinemas in 1985, so the answer depended on which screen you walked into.
- It flopped completely, found its audience on video, and went back into cinemas for its fortieth anniversary with the endings randomised again.
- Your flaw is that chaos is excellent company and a terrible plan.
Rear Window
You watch, and you notice the thing everybody else walks past. Hitchcock trapped James Stewart in one room with a broken leg and a view of his neighbours, and built an entire thriller out of a man looking out of a window and being right.
- You are quietly the most observant person in your circle and you clock changes before anybody announces them.
- The courtyard was one of the largest sets ever built at Paramount, with thirty-one apartments and working plumbing.
- It was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Director and is still taught as the cleanest thriller ever constructed.
- Your risk is that watching and doing something about it are not the same, and you know it.
Se7en
You take things on and you do not put them down. Fincher made a serial killer film where the detectives are losing the entire time, shot it so dark the studio complained, and refused to change an ending that everybody told him would sink the film.
- You are the one who keeps going after everybody else has accepted it cannot be solved.
- New Line wanted a different ending and Brad Pitt reportedly refused to make the film without the one they shot.
- It turned Fincher from the director who had a bad time on Alien 3 into the defining thriller director of his generation.
- Your weakness is that carrying something this long does real damage, and you are usually the last to notice.
Memento
Nobody can quite follow your thinking and you get there anyway. Nolan told the story backwards, so the audience knows as little as the man at the centre of it does, and the whole film becomes an argument about how much of what you believe you simply decided to believe.
- You work things out sideways, and explaining the route takes longer than the answer did.
- It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing in 2002 and won neither, which still annoys people.
- It cost around nine million dollars, made over five times that, and built the career that led to everything after.
- Your flaw is trusting your own version of events slightly more than the evidence supports.
5 ‘Verity’ (2018)
Goodreads Rating: 4.27/5
Written by Colleen Hoover, Verity is a psychological romantic thriller centered on Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer. Lowen gets a job ghostwriting a bestselling book series after a car accident leaves the original author, Verity Crawford, comatose. While at the Crawford family home, Lowen learns of the tragic events that led to Verity’s accident and finds an unfinished manuscript that reveals dark secrets about Verity. A movie adaptation starring Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson was released in 2026.
Before Verity, Colleen Hoover was primarily known for her work in the romance and young adult genres, and the mystery thriller is a departure for the author, but a welcome one. The book is a gripping read full of unexpected twists and turns, exploring themes of obsession and deception in a story that lingers in the mind long after you’ve read the last line. The novel was originally self-published in 2018 and later picked up by Grand Central Publishing after a surge in popularity, and it was nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance in 2019.
4 ‘And Then There Were None’ (1939)
Goodreads Rating: 4.27/5
The best-selling mystery novel of all time, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is one of the most famous books ever written. The novel brings 10 individuals of varying backgrounds to an isolated island off the coast of Devon, where they are all accused of past crimes and killed one by one. It bears mentioning that the original 1939 version of the book used rather problematic racial language for both its title and text, both of which were subsequently revised.
Language aside, And Then There Were None has always been a widely celebrated novel with a timeless mystery that still works today. Its setting and premise may feel familiar to present-day audiences, but that’s only because the story has been adapted and referenced in numerous films, TV shows, and more. With impeccable craft, a complex plot, and tense, unputdownable writing, And Then There Were None is a mystery masterpiece and one of Christie’s greatest works.
3 ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ (2001)
Goodreads Rating: 4.31/5
Written by Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafón, The Shadow of the Wind (Spanish: La sombra del viento) is the first book in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, which revolves around the titular secret library of rare and banned books. The novel is presented as a story within a story, following Daniel, the son of a bookshop owner in 1940s Barcelona, who is taken to the Cemetery, where he finds a book titled The Shadow of the Wind by Julián Carax. Falling in love with the story, Daniel sets out to learn more about its author, uncovering a tragic love story.
First published in 2001 and translated into English by Lucia Graves in 2004, The Shadow of the Wind is an international bestseller and one of the best-selling mystery books of all time. The novel’s metafictional approach and gothic storytelling have earned it praise from several critics and readers, including Stephen King. The Shadow of the Wind was followed by a prequel, The Angel’s Game, and two sequels, The Prisoner of Heaven and The Labyrinth of Spirits.
2 ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ (2018)
Goodreads Rating: 4.4/5
A coming-of-age murder mystery novel written by Delia Owens, Where the Crawdads Sing is centered on Kya, a young girl who lives an isolated life in the marshes of North Carolina. Set in the 1950s and 1960s, the book explores the story of Kya’s life in the context of a murder investigation where she becomes the primary suspect, with the timeline switching between events before and after the murder. The book also features vivid descriptions of the natural world, reflecting Owens’ background as a zoologist.
First published in 2018, Where the Crawdads Sing was quite favorably received, earning praise for its layered ecocritical and feminist themes, and the book was notably selected for Reese Witherspoon's book club. Some critics have also connected the book’s story to Owens's alleged involvement in a real-life murder in Zambia, though the fictional case in the novel doesn’t share many similarities with the case. It became a bestseller over the next few years, and with over 18 million copies, Where the Crawdads Sing now ranks among the best-selling books of all time. A film adaptation, produced by Witherspoon, directed by Olivia Newman, and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kya, was released in 2022.
1 ‘The Complete Sherlock Holmes’ (1986)
Goodreads Rating: 4.51/5
Let’s face it, there’s no way you can talk about mystery books without mentioning Sherlock Holmes. The specific volume we’re spotlighting here is the 1986 Bantam Classics collection, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, which includes the entirety of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s writings featuring the legendary master detective and an introduction by Loren D. Estleman, but it’s worth mentioning that all these stories are now in the public domain and available for free.
Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in the 1886 novel A Study in Scarlet. Over the next 40-odd years, Holmes appeared in 56 short stories and four novels, achieving greater heights of success and popularity than any literary character before him. With the assistance of his loyal companion, Dr. John Watson, Holmes investigates baffling cases with his characteristic mix of calm, cold logic, keen observations, and an impeccable understanding of forensics and human psychology. There’s a reason Sherlock Holmes is widely regarded as the greatest fictional detective of all time, and his adventures are a must-read for every mystery fan.
- Release Date
- 1954 - 1955-00-00
- Directors
- Sheldon Reynolds
- Writers
- Kay Krausse
-
Arnold Bell
Guy Durham
-
Dawn Addams
Doreen Meredith
-
Ferdy Mayne
Uncredited
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Howard Marion-Crawford
Dr. Watson
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.