Favorite Mystery Novels
Discover the best mystery novels of all time in this curated reading list, featuring Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon, and thrilling picks from Michael Connelly, John Grisham, and more. From classic whodunits to hard-boiled detective fiction, find your next favorite page-turner among these iconic mystery books.
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The Last Coyote
by Michael Connelly
Harry Bosch's life is on the edge. His earthquake-damaged home has been condemned. His girlfriend has left him. He's drinking too much. And after attacking his commanding officer, he's even had to turn in his L.A.P.D. detective's badge. Now, suspended indefinitely pending a psychiatric evaluation, he's spending his time investigating an unsolved crime from 1961: the brutal slaying of a prostitute who happened to be his own mother. Even after three decades, Harry's questions generate heat among L.A.'s top politicos. And as the truth begins to emerge, it becomes more and more apparent that someone wants to keep it buried. Someone very powerful...very cunning...and very deadly. Edgar Award-winning author Michael Connelly has created a dark, fast-paced suspense thriller that cuts to the core of Harry Bosch's character. Once you start it, there's no turning back.
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Devil in a Blue Dress
by Walter Mosley
Devil in a Blue Dress, a defining novel in Walter Mosley’s bestselling Easy Rawlins mystery series, was adapted into a TriStar Pictures film starring Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins and Don Cheadle as Mouse. Set in the late 1940s, in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles, Devil in a Blue Dress follows Easy Rawlins, a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Monet, a blonde beauty known to frequent black jazz clubs.
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Maximum Bob
by Elmore Leonard
A woman probation officer pursues the people trying to kill a red neck Florida judge.
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The Maltese Falcon
by Dashiell Hammett
FEATURING THE CHARACTER THAT INSPIRED THE AMC SERIES MONSIEUR SPADE STARRING CLIVE OWEN ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME Detective Sam Spade is a private eye with his own solitary code of ethics. When his partner is killed during a stakeout, he is drawn into the hunt for a fantastic treasure with a dubious provenance—a golden bird encrusted with jewels. Also on the trail are a perfumed grifter named Joel Cairo, an oversized adventurer named Gutman, and Spade’s new client Brigid O’Shaughnessy, a beautiful and treacherous woman whose loyalties shift at the drop of a dime. These are the ingredients of Dashiell Hammett’s coolly glittering gem of detective fiction, a novel that has haunted generations of readers. *With a new introduction by Richard Russo*
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The Lady in the Lake
by Raymond Chandler
Crime fiction master Raymond Chandler's fourth novel featuring Philip Marlowe, the "quintessential urban private eye" (Los Angeles Times). In The Lady in the Lake, hardboiled crime fiction master Raymond Chandler brings us the story of a couple of missing wives—one a rich man's and one a poor man's—who have become the objects of Philip Marlowe's investigation. One of them may have gotten a Mexican divorce and married a gigolo and the other may be dead. Marlowe's not sure he cares about either one, but he's not paid to care.
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Eight Million Ways to Die
by Lawrence Block
Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in this city. A young prostitute named Kim knew it also—and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn't deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn't deserve her death. The alcoholic ex-cop turned p.i. was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons on a crumbling New York City waterfront pier. Now finding Kim's killer will be Scudder's penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the slain hooker's past that are far dirtier than her trade. And there are many ways of dying in this cruel and dangerous town—some quick and brutal ... and some agonizingly slow.
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Presumed Innocent
by Scott Turow
Scott Turow's #1 runaway bestseller comes to theaters everywhere as a major motion picture from Warner Bros., starring Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia, and Bonnie Bedelia, directed by Alan Pakula, best known for his award-winning work in "Klute".
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The Street Lawyer
by John Grisham
After a violent encounter with a homeless man, talented corporate lawyer Michael finds himself out in the streets, lucky to be alive, and holding a top-secret file belonging to his former employers.
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Black Cherry Blues
by James L. Burke
Ex-cop Dave Robicheaux: His wife had been murdered ... Now they're after his little girl... From the Louisiana bayou to Montana's tribal lands,he's running front the bottle, a homicide rap, aprofessional killer ... and the demons of his past.
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Death on the Nile
by Agatha Christie
ONE HEARTBROKEN KILLER. ONE CLASSIC POIROT that really floats. A honeymoon cruise turns deadly when a jilted bride stalks two young newlyweds.
