The ultimate Whodunit of Whodunits: What's the greatest mystery of all time? With the help of our staff, we narrowed down the top 16 masterpieces of suspense. Choose your favorites and vote each round to discover which of these page-turners rise above the rest.
(It just might be the least-likely suspect!)
The Winner
And Then There Were None
And Then There Were None
One of the world’s bestselling novelists, Agatha Christie wrote 78 mystery novels, 19 plays, two poetry books, two autobiographies, a children’s book and more than 100 short stories during her career. And, And Then There Were None, happens to be her bestselling book. The story of a group of people lured to an island under different pretexts, this page-turner is a masterpiece of the mystery genre.
Purchase at HPB.comGone but not forgotten
The Firm
The Firm
John Grisham was on the fast track to become a tax attorney when a tax law class inspired him to switch to criminal defense law instead. The trials he observed in real life helped inspire such bestsellers as A Time to Kill. Grisham is extremely prolific: he starts each new novel the morning after his last completed manuscript is sent off to his agent. With 37 published novels, The Firm’s suspenseful plot set in a corrupt law firm assures it is one of Grisham’s finest works.
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A Is For Alibi
A Is For Alibi
Sue Grafton learned mystery writing from the best—before becoming an author she was a screenwriter for 15 years, successfully adapting Agatha Christie’s works Sparkling Cyanide, Killer in the Family and A Caribbean Mystery into screenplays. Famous for her Alphabet Mystery series, Grafton sadly passed away before finishing the alphabet, which ended at “Y.” A is for Alibi is the knockout thriller featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone that started it all.
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Rebecca
Rebecca
Dame Daphne du Maurier’s thriller Rebecca sold nearly 3 million copies between its publication in 1938 to 1965 and has never gone out of print. Set in the fictional Manderley estate (based on a house where du Maurier stayed as a child), the story of a naïve young woman living in the shadows of her husband’s first wife was famously adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock. It seems quite a few of the author’s 17 novels and short stories were cinematic—her work served as the source material for movies such as Don’t Look Now, Jamaica Inn and The Birds.
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Sherlock Holmes: The Novels
Sherlock Holmes: The Novels
The star of four novels and 56 stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes is one of the world’s most famous fictional detectives. Inspired by Conan Doyle’s university teacher who was a master at observation, logic, deduction and diagnosis, Holmes has conquered mysteries from his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet to classics like The Hound of the Baskervilles. Sherlock Holmes: The Novels gathers together his greatest cases in one essential volume.
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The Bone Collector
The Bone Collector
Former journalist Jeffery Deaver returned to school to get a law degree, which helped him create novels like The Bone Collector. The story of the quadriplegic former homicide detective Lincoln Rhyme, who is tasked with tracking down a serial killer, it was a hit with readers and moviegoers (the film starred Denzel Washington). Rhyme and his police officer cohort Ameila Sachs have returned for ten sequels to date, with an 11th in the series—The Cutting Edge—coming out this April.
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One For The Money
One For The Money
Aspiring writer Janet Evanovich received so many rejection letters, she filled a cardboard box with them, which she later set on fire. Thankfully, she persevered and created an indelible character in the guise of Stephanie Plum. Inspired by the film Midnight Run, Plum is the heroine of multiple titles—the last 17 of which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. This spunky combination of Nancy Drew and Dirty Harry is a bounty hunter with a boundless appeal for readers.
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The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
The pen name of David Cornwell (who couldn’t write under his own name while working for the Foreign Office), le Carre launched a successful career with this Cold War thriller. After his success with The Spy, the writer was able to resign from the Foreign Office and work full time, which was good news for fans of his 24 (to date) spy novels.
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Eye Of The Needle
Eye Of The Needle
Welsh author Ken Follett’s first bestseller earned him the 1979 Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. Needle was also the first book to bear Follett’s name—he previously used four different pseudonyms on his ten previous books! This classic spy thriller set during World War II was made into a movie starring Donald Sutherland, who coincidentally also starred in the TV series of Follett’s historical fiction novel Pillars of the Earth.
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Presumed Innocent
Presumed Innocent
American author and lawyer Scott Turow has published everything from the nonfiction classic One L: What They Really Teach You at Harvard Law School to the successful legal drama Presumed Innocent. It's just one of five of Turow’s novels that have been adapted for the big or small screen. The story centers on prosecutor Rozat "Rusty" Sabich, who is caught up in a colleague’s murder investigation. The book inspired a movie adaptation starring Harrison Ford.
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Sharp Objects
Sharp Objects
Former journalist Gillian Flynn originally wanted to be a crime reporter, but her shyness led her to a career in entertainment criticism instead. While working at Entertainment Weekly, she penned her first bestseller Sharp Objects while traveling the world covering film. The story of reporter Camille Preaker hot on a trail of two murders in her small hometown, the book will be adapted in a HBO miniseries starring Amy Adams this summer. With other books such as Gone Girl and Dark Places under her belt, Flynn helped popularize a genre of female-centric thrillers.
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An Unsuitable Job For A Woman
An Unsuitable Job For A Woman
The Baroness James of Holland Park is better known as the detective novelist P.D. James. Forced to leave school at the young age of 16 to work in a tax office, James ultimately took up writing in the mid-1950s and has since produced 17 novels. Her 1972 detective novel An Unsuitable Job for a Woman is a classic of the genre, and its heroine, private detective Cordelia Gray, went on to appear in James’ The Skull Beneath the Skin.
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Killing Floor
Killing Floor
Lee Child, the nom de plume of Jim Grant, has produced 23 novels, including the upcoming Past Tense, due out in November 2018. Having worked behind the scenes in television for 18 years in Manchester on shows like Brideshead Revisited, Prime Suspect and Cracker, Child used his experience with dialogue and pacing to create the bestselling Killing Floor, which featured the debut of former military police officer Jack Reacher. As played by superstar Tom Cruise, the character was the main subject of the 2012 film Jack Reacher and its 2016 sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.
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The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
First published under the (apt) title Men Who Hate Women in the author’s native Swedish, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo became a cultural phenomenon thanks to its memorable heroine, Lisbeth Salander. Salander’s world-class hacking skills and take-no-prisoners attitude was enough of a hit with readers that she went on to star in four more books in the series (two written after Larsson’s death) and two films, a 2009 Swedish and 2011 American adaptation.
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A Great Deliverance
A Great Deliverance
Honored with the Anthony and Agatha Best First Novel Award, A Great Deliverance was the first of nineteen mysteries featuring Inspector Thomas Lynley. A huge hit in the U.K, it was adapted by the BBC into an Inspector Lynley Mysteries series. As penned by George, this Scotland Yard inspector continues to solve crime up into the present day— the 20th Lynley novel, The Punishment She Deserves, will hit shelves on March 20, 2018.
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The Name Of The Rose
The Name Of The Rose
The first novel by Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose also inspired a 1986 hit film starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater. The story of a Franciscan friar called upon to solve a deadly mystery, its success upon publication led the Italian writer to pen other classics such as Foucault’s Pendulum, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana and The Prague Cemetery.
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HPB Staff Pick
One For The Money
“Zany cast leaves you wanting more.”
Diamond
HPB Staff
HPB Staff Pick
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
“My favorite Cold War spy novel”
Jaci
HPB Staff
HPB Staff Pick
Sharp Objects
“Reads like a dream, plays out like a nightmare.”
Allen
HPB Staff
HPB Staff Pick
Identical
“Turow returns to Kindle County for a twisting tale about twins”
Jonnie
HPB Staff
HPB Staff Pick
Still Life
“Leaves you changing your mind about whodunit to the very nail-biting end.”
Frances
HPB Staff
HPB Book Club Pick
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
“An intriguingly dark, twisty story and eccentric characters make this book a standout.”
-Kirkus Reviews
It’s Mystery Madness at Half Price Books, so it’s only fitting that our current HPB Book Club culprit, er, we mean selection, is a mystery. Put your detective skills to the test to find the killer.
Featured Rare Finds
Farewell, My Lovely
First Edition, Alfred A. Knopf, 1940
A lovely copy of the author’s second book, his personal favorite. There is minor chipping to the spine of the price-clipped dust jacket, and a couple of small stains on the rear panel and a very small, faint stain on the front panel. A mystery high point in the colorful original dust jacket, from the library of producer/agent Charles K. Feldman!—$2,000
Contact The Buy GuyA Special HPB Collection: Non-detective Detectives
A Special HPB Collection: Half Pint Detectives
A Special HPB Collection: Female Detectives
A Special HPB Collection: Crime-Fighting Duos
Mystery Books That Are Book Mysteries
Most mysteries still feature private eyes and cops, but people from all sorts of professions are getting into the sleuthing act: priests, hockey players, hair stylists—and quite a few from the world of books.
New Bestselling Mysteries
Use coupon code MADNESS for 20% off your entire order online only at HPB.com from 12:01 AM 3/2/2018 - 11:59 PM 3/4/2018 CST. Limit one coupon per account. Not valid during sales or in combination with any other discount or coupon. No adjustments made to prior purchases. Cannot be used on single items priced at $300 or more, pretax. Cannot be used to purchase gift cards.