Books to die for: the world's greatest mystery writers on the world's greatest mystery novels

1841: Edgar Allan Poe, The Dupin Tales / J. Wallis Martin

1853: Charles Dickens, Bleak House / Sara Paretsky

1859: Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities / Rita Mae Brown

1867: Metta Fuller Victor, The Dead Letter / Karin Slaughter

1868: Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone / Andrew Taylor

1892: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes / Linda Barnes

1902: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles / Carol O'Connell

1928: Liam O'Flaherty, The Assassin / Declan Burke

1929: Erskine Caldwell, The Bastard / Allan Guthrie

1930: Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon / Mark Billingham

1931: Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key / David Peace

1932: Dorothy L. Sayers, Have His Carcase / Rebecca Chance

1932: Leslie Charteris, The Holy Terror (aka the Saint v. Scotland Yard) / David Downing

1933: Paul Cain, Fast One / Chuck Hogan

1934: James M. Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice / Joseph Finder

1934: Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express (aka Murder on the Calis Coach) / Kelli Stanley

1938: Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca / Minette Walters

1938: Graham Greene, Brighton Rock / Peter James

1938: Rex Stout, Too Many Cooks / Arlene Hunt

1939: Geoffrey Household, Rogue Male / Charlaine Harris

1940: Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely / Joe R. Lansdale

1941: Patrick Hamilton, Hangover Square / Laura Wilson

1942: James M. Cain, Love's Lovely Counterfeit / Laura Lippman

1943: Léo Malet, 120, Rue de la Gare / Cara Black

1946: Edmund Crispin, The Moving Toyshop / Ruth Dudley Edwards

1947: Dorothy B. Hughes, In a Lonely Place / Megan Abbott.

1947: Georges Simenon, Act of Passion (Lettre àmon juge) / John Banville

1947: Mickey Spillance, I, the Jury / Max Allen Collins

1948: Carolyn Keene, The Ghost of Blackwood Hall / Liza Marklund

1948: Josephine Tey, The Franchise Affair / Louise Penny

1949: Raymond Chandler, The Little Sister / Michael Connelly

1949: Josephine Tey, Brat Farror / Margaret Maron

1950: Patricia Highsmith, Strangers on a Train / Adrian McKinty

1952: Margery Allingham, The Tiger in the Smoke / Phil Rickman

1953: Elliott Chaze, Black Wings has my Angel (aka One for the Money) / Bill Pronzini

1953: William P. McGivern, The Big Heat / Eddie Muller

1958: John D. MacDonald, The Executioners (aka Cape Fear) / Jeffrey Deaver

1958: Friedrich Dürrenmatt, The Pledge / Elisabetta Bucciarelli

1960: Clarence Cooper Jr., The Scene / Gary Phillips

1960: Margaret Millar, A Stranger in my Grave / Declan Hughes

1960: Harry Whittington, A Night for Screaming / Bill Crider

1960: Charles Willeford, The Woman Chaser / Scott Phillips

1962: Eric Ambler, The Light of Day (aka Topkapi) / M.C. Beaton

1962: P.D. James, Cover her Face / Deborah Crombie

1962: Kenneth Orvis, The Damned and the Destroyed / Lee Child

1962: Richard Start, The Hunter (aka Point Blank and Payback) / F. Paul Wilson

1963: Nicolas Freeling, Gun Before Butter (aka Question of Loyalty) / Jason Goodwin

1963: John le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold / Élmer Mendoza

1963: Ed McBain, Ten Plus One / Deon Meyer

1964: Ross Macdonald, The Chill / John Connolly

1964: Jim Thompson, Pop. 1280 / Jo Nesbø

1965: Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, Roseanna / Qui Xiaolong

1966: Truman Capote, In Cold Blood / Joseph Wambaugh

1967: Agatha Christie, Endless Night / Lauren Henderson

1968: Peter Dickinson, Skin Deep (aka the Glass-Sided Ants' Nest) / Laurie R. King

1969: Ross Macdonald, The Goodbye Look / Linwood Barclay

1970: Joseph Hansen, Fadeout / Marcia Muller

1970: George V. Higgins, The Friends of Eddie Coyle / Elmore Leonard

1971: James McClure, The Steam Pig / Mike Nicol

1973: Tony Hillerman, Dance Hall of the Dead / William Kent Krueger

1974: Donald Goines, Daddy Cool / Ken Bruen

1975: James Crumley, The Wrong Case / David Corbett

1975: Colin Dexter, Last Bus to Woodstock / Paul Charles

1976: Jean-Patrick Manchette, 3 to Kill (Le petti bleu de la côte ouest) / James Sallis.

1976: Mary Stewart, Touch not the Cat / M.J. Rose

1976: Newton Thornburg, Cutter and Bone / George Pelecanos

1976: Trevanian, The Main / John McFetridge

1977: Edward Bunker, The Animal Factory / Jens Lapidus

1977: John Gregory Dunne, True Confessions / S.J. Rozan

1977: Ruth Rendell, A Judgement in Stone / Peter Robinson

1978: James Crumley, The Last Good Kiss / Dennis Lehane

1979: Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Southern Seas (Los mares del sur) / Leonardo Padura

1980: Andreu Martín, Prótesis (Prosthesis) / Cristina Fallarás

1981: Robert B. Parker, Early Autumn / Colin Bateman

1981: Martin Cruz Smith, Gorky Park / Jean-Christophe Grangé

1982: Sue Grafton, A is for Alibi / Meg Gardiner

1982: Stephen King, Different Seasons / Paul Cleave

1982: Sara Paretsky, Indemnity Only / Dedra Say Mitchell

1983: Elmore Leonard, LaBrava / James W. Hall

1984: Kem Nunn, Tapping the Source / Denise Hamilton

1987: Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency / Christopher Brookmyre

1988: Thomas Harris, The Silence of the Lambs / Kathy Reichs

1988: Sara Paretsky, Toxic Shock (aka Blood Shot) / N.J.Cooper

1990: A. S. Byatt, Possession / Erin Hart

1990: Patricia Cornwell, Postmortem / Kathryn Fox

1990: Derek Raymond, I was Dora Suarez / Ian Rankin

1991: Lawrence Block, A Dance at the Slaughterhouse / Alison Gaylin

1992: Michael Connelly, The Black Echo / John Connolly

1992: Peter Høeg, Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow (aka Smilla's Sense of Snow) / Michael Robotham

1992: Philip Kerr, A Philosophical Investigation / Paul Johnston

1992: Margaret Maron, Bootlegger's Daughter / Julia Spencer-Fleming

1992: Richard Price, Clockers / Gar Anthony Haywood

1992: James Sallis, The Long-Legged Fly / Sara Gran

1992: Donna Tartt, The Secret History / Tana French.

1993: Jill McGown, Murder... Now and then / Sophie Hannah

1993: Scott Smith, A Simple Plan / Michael Koryta

1994: Peter Ackroyd, Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (aka the Trial of Elizabeth Cree) / Barbara Nadel

1994: Caleb Carr, The Alienist / Reggie Nadelson

1994: Henning Mankell, The Man Who Smiled / Ann Cleeves

1995: James Ellroy, American Tabloid / Stuart Neville

1996: George Pelecanos, The Big Blowdown / Declan Burke

1997: Suzanne Berne, A Crime in the Neighborhood / Thomas H. Cook

1997: Natsuo Kirino, Out (Auto) / Diane Wei Liang

1997: Walter Mosley, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned / Martyn Waites

1997: Ian Rankin, Black and Blue / Brian McGilloway

1997: Donald E. Westlake, The Ax / Lisa Lutz

1998: Cara Black, Murder in the Marais / Yrsa Sigurdardóttir

1998: Reginald Hill, On Beulah Height / Val McDermid

1998: Daniel Woodrell, Tomato Red / Reed Farrel Coleman

1999: J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace / Margie Orford

1999: Robert Wilson, A Small Death in Lisbon / Shane Maloney

2000: David Peace, Nineteen Seventy-Four / Eoin McNamee

2000: Scott Phillips, The Ice Harvest / Eoin Colfer

2001: Harlan Coben, Tell no One / Sebastian Fitzek

2001: Dennis Lehane, Mystic River / Chris Mooney

2005: Peter Temple, The Broken Shore / John Harvey

2007: Gil Adamson, The Outlander / C.J. Carver

2007: James Lee Burke, The Tin Roof Blowdown / Katherine Howell

2007: Laura Lippman, What the Dead Know / Bill Loehfelm

2007: Perihan Magden, Escape / Mehmet Murat Somer

2008: Mark Gimenez, The Perk / Anne Perry.