The Best Mystery Books

(according to 400+ really successful people)

These are the best books about Mystery.

Sources include interviews, biographies, podcast transcripts, public online lists, and more.

In Cold Blood
Truman Capote
3 recommenders
"Truman Capote's best book. It's a really, really good book." - Ben Shapiro
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The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle
2 recommenders
"Few thoughts happier than realizing it's been long enough since you last read the Sherlocks Holmes stories that you can read them again." - Paul Graham
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The Girl on the Train
Paula Hawkins
2 recommenders
Barack Obama's "2016 Summer Reading List."
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The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown
2 recommenders
On the "books read" section of Ev Williams' GoodReads profile.
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American Spy
Lauren Wilkinson
1 recommender
Barack Obama's favorite books of 2019 list.
Killing Floor
Lee Child
1 recommender
Malcolm Gladwell mentioned reading 'all of Lee Child’s books' in the "Tools of Titans" book.
The Deep Blue Good-by
John D. MacDonald
1 recommender
"The best pulp I’ve ever read. And I’ve never had anybody read [this book and say it wasn't] good." - Mike Rowe
The Day of the Jackal
Frederick Forsyth
1 recommender
"The best action novel ever written. By a looong shot!" - Ben Shapiro
The Maltese Falcon
Dashiell Hammett
1 recommender
Recommended on Jordan Peterson's website.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
John le Carré
1 recommender
"I would read at least through [this book]." - Malcolm Gladwell
Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn
1 recommender
"A great read. I highly recommend it." - Anderson Cooper
The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler
1 recommender
Recommended on Jordan Peterson's website.

See which books made our other lists