The 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century
As selected by The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association

IMBA's book, 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century, was published in December 2000 by The Crum Creek Press / Drood Review Books. Click here for more information about the book.

Last Name

First Name

Birth/Death

Book & Date of Publication

Allingham, 

Margery

(1904 - 1966)

The Tiger in the Smoke (1952)

Ambler, 

Eric

(1909 - 1998)

A Coffin for Dimitrios (1937)

Armstrong, aka Jo Valentine

Charlotte

(1905 - 1969)

A Dram of Poison (1956)

Ball, 

John

(1911 - 1988)

In the Heat of the Night (1965)

Barnard, 

Robert

(1936 -)

Death by Sheer Torture (1981)

aka Bernard Bastable

Barr, 

Nevada

(1952 -)

Track of the Cat (1993)

Blake, 

Nicholas

(1904 - 1972)

The Beast Must Die (1938)

Brand,

Christianna

(1907 - 1988)

Green for Danger (1944)

Brown,

Fredric

(1906 - 1972

The Fabulous Clipjoint (1947)

Buchan, aka Tweedsmuir

John

(1875 - 1940)

The 39 Steps (1915)

Burke

James Lee

(1936 -)

Black Cherry Blues (1989)

Cain,

James M.

(1892 - 1977)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934)

Cannell,

Dorothy

(1943 -)

The Thin Woman (1984)

Carr, aka Carter Dickson

John Dickson

(1906 - 1970)

The Three Coffins (1935)

Caudwell,

Sarah

(1939 - 2000)

Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981)

Chandler, 

Raymond

(1888 - 1959)

The Big Sleep (1939)

Christie,

Agatha

(1890 - 1976)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd  (1926)

Constantine,

K.C.

(1934 -)

The Man Who Liked Slow Tomatoes (1982)

Crispin, 

Edmund

(1921 - 1978)

The Moving Toyshop (1946)

Dreaming of the Bones (1997)

Crumley,

James

(1939 -)

The Last Good Kiss (1978)

Dickinson,

Peter

(1927 -)

The Yellow Room Conspiracy (1994)

Doyle, 

Arthur Conan

(1859 - 1930)

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)

DuMaurier,  

Daphne

(1907 - 1989)

Rebecca (1938)

Finney,

Jack

(1911 - 1995)

Time and Again (1970)

Ford,

G.M.

(1945 -)

Who in Hell Is Wanda Fuca? (1995)

Francis,

Dick

(1920 -)

Whip Hand (1979)

Fremlin,

Celia

(1914 -)

The Hours Before Dawn (1958)

A Great Deliverance (1988)

Gilbert,

Michael

(1912 - 2006)

Smallbone Deceased (1950)

"A" is for Alibi (1982)

Graham,

Caroline

(1931 -)

The Killings at Badger's Drift (1987)

Grimes,

Martha

(Unknown)

The Man With the Load of Mischief (1981)

Hammett,

Dashiell

(1894 - 1961)

The Maltese Falcon (1930)

Hare,

Cyril

(1900 - 1958)

An English Murder (1951)

Harris,

Thomas

(1940 -)

The Silence of the Lambs (1988)

Hiaasen,

Carl

(1953 -)

Tourist Season (1986)

Highsmith,

Patricia

(1921 - 1995)

The Talented Mr. Ripley  (1955)

Hill,

Reginald

(1936 -)

On Beulah Height (1998)

Hillerman,

Tony

(1925 -)

A Thief of Time (1988)

Himes,

Chester

(1909 - 1984)

Cotton Comes to Harlem  (1965)

Innes,

Michael

(1906 - 1994)

Hamlet, Revenge (1937) 

James,

P.D.

(1920 -)

An Unsuitable Job for a Woman (1972)

Kellerman,

Faye

(1952 -)

The Ritual Bath (1986)

Kellerman,

Jonathan

(1949 -)

When the Bough Breaks (1985)

Langton,

Jane

(1922 -)

Dark Nantucket Noon (1975)

le Carre,

John

(1931 -)

The Spy Who Came in From The Cold (1963)

Lee,

Harper

(1926 -)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)

Lehane, 

Dennie

(1965 -)

Darkness, Take My Hand (1996)

Leonard, 

Elmore

(1925 -)

Get Shorty (1990)

Lochte, 

Dick

???

Sleeping Dog (1985)

Lovesey,

Peter

(1936 -)

Rough Cider  (1986)

MacDonald,

John D.

(1916 - 1986)

The Deep Blue Good-by (1965)

MacDonald, 

Philip

(1899 - 1981)

The List of Adrian Messenger (1960

MacDonald, 

Ross

(1915 - 1983)

The Chill (1964)

Marsh, 

Ngaio

(1895 - 1982)

Death of a Peer (1940)

McBain, 

Ed

(1926 - 2005)

Sadie When She Died  (1972)

McClure, 

James

(1939 - 2006)

The Sunday Hangman (1977)

McCrumb, 

Sharyn

(1948 -)

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O (1991)

Millar, 

Margaret

(1915 - 1994)

Stranger in My Grave (1960)

Muller,

Marcia

(1944 -)

Edwin of the Iron Shoes (1977)

Neel,

 Janet

(1940 -)

Death's Bright Angel (1988)

O'Connell,

Carol

(1947 -)

Mallory's Oracle (1994)

Padgett, 

Abigail

(1942 -)

Child of Silence (1993)

Perez-Reverte,

Arturo

(1951 -)

The Club Dumas (1993)

Vanishing Act (1994)

Peters,  aka Barbara Michaels

Elizabeth

(1927 -)

Crocodile on the Sandbank (1975)

Peters, 

Ellis

(1943 -)

One Corpse Too Many (1979)

Pronzini,  aka Robert Hart Davis (with Jeffrey Wallmann), Jack Foxx, William Jeffrey

Bill

(1943 -)

Blue Lonesome (1995)

Queen, 

 

Ellery

Unknown

Cat of Many Tails (1949) Ellery Queen is the pseudonym of cousins Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. Aka Barnaby Ross

Rendell, 

Ruth

(1930 -)

No More Dying Then (1971)

Rice,  aka Daphne Sanders, George Sanders

Craig

(1908 - 1957)

The Wrong Murder (1940) )

Rinehart, 

Mary Roberts

(1876 - 1958)

The Circular Staircase (1908)

Robinson, 

Peter

(1950 -)

Blood at the Root (1997) aka Dead Right

Rosen, 

Richard

Unknown

Strike Three You're Dead (1984)

Ross, 

Kate

(1956 - 1998)

A Broken Vessel (1994)

Sayers, 

Dorothy

(1893 - 1957)

Murder Must Advertise (1933)

Sjowall & Wahloo

Per Wahlöö

(1926 - 1975)

The Laughing Policeman (1968)

Maj Sjöwall

 

(1935 -)

Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö were husband and wife. They were both committed Marxists and, between 1965 and 1975, they collaborated on

ten mysteries featuring Martin Beck.

Stout,

Rex

(1886 - 1975)

Some Buried Caesar (1939)

Tey, 

Josephine

(1896 - 1952)

Brat Farrar (1949)

Thomas, aka Oliver Bleeck

Ross

(1926 - 1995)

Chinaman's Chance (1978)

Todd,

Charles

(1949 -)

A Test of Wills (1996)

Turow, 

Scott

(1949 -)

Presumed Innocent (1987)

Upfield, 

Arthur

(1888 - 1964)

The Sands of Windee (1931)

Walters, 

Minette

(1949 -)

The Ice House (1991)

Sanibel Flats (1990)

Woolrich, aka George Hopley, William Irish

Cornell

(1903 - 1968)

I Married a Dead Man (1948)