The 100 best easy mystery and crime novels

Holmes is a staple of English-language literature, taught widely in detective fiction and Victorian literature courses, and the stories are among the most-translated in the world. They are taught less as high literature than The Great Gatsby but are universally recognized.

Sir Charles Baskerville dies on the Dartmoor moors, terror on his face, a giant hound's footprints nearby. A family curse tells of a spectral hound hunting the Baskervilles since the seventeenth century. Dr. Watson investigates while Holmes stays in London—or so it seems. The moor is fog-bound, treacherous, Gothic; the solution is pure Holmesian reason. Doyle killed Holmes at Reichenbach Falls in 1893 and resisted resurrection. This novel, serialized in 1901-02, is set before the death and doesn't quite bring Holmes back. But the public devoured it, and Holmes returned in full the following year. The Hound works both as mystery and Gothic atmosphere—the moor becomes a character, the hound hovers between supernatural and rational explanation until the last act. This is Doyle's most novelistic Holmes story, and many readers consider it the best.

The Journalist and the Murderer is a staple of journalism school curricula across North America and is widely assigned in media ethics, creative nonfiction, and literary journalism courses. Its opening sentence is among the most frequently quoted lines in American nonfiction. While it does not appear on general literary canons as broadly as major novels, within its domain — journalism studies and media ethics — it is as close to required reading as any single text.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is one of the most widely read and recognized works of detective fiction in any language. Holmes is arguably the most famous fictional character after Hamlet. The stories appear in English literature surveys, genre studies, and Victorian literature courses. While not taught with the same frequency as canonical literary novels, the collection's cultural ubiquity and historical importance to the detective genre give it strong canonical standing. Wikipedia articles exist in dozens of languages, and the stories remain continuously in print worldwide.

A celebrated work of Russian and Jewish literature, widely anthologized and studied alongside Red Cavalry.

Christie's most celebrated novel holds a dominant place in the mystery canon and is widely recognized as the best-selling mystery of all time. It appears on virtually every 'greatest mysteries ever written' list — TIME's All-TIME 100 Novels, the BBC's Big Read — and is frequently taught in genre fiction courses. Its canonical standing within popular fiction far exceeds that of typical genre works, though it sits below the academic canonicity of literary fiction anchors like Gatsby or Beloved.

Launched one of detective fiction's most enduring series. Nero Wolfe is a genre icon.

On the Modern Library 100 Best Novels (1998) and 137 university syllabi (53rd percentile in Open Syllabus). It is a core text in courses on American crime fiction, noir and film adaptation.

Launched one of the most acclaimed detective series in modern crime fiction. Edgar Award winner.

A fixture in mystery and detective fiction courses worldwide, and one of the most translated English-language novels of the twentieth century with Wikipedia articles in over 60 languages. Widely included on 'essential reading' and 'best mysteries' lists, though its presence in general literary syllabi is lower than canonical modernist works.