The MWJ (Japan) Top 100 Western Mystery Novels (2012), As Ranked.

Tozai List. The Mystery Writers of Japan
Top 100 Western Mystery Novels (2012) by rank.


In 2012 Shukan Bunshun Magazine, together with the Mystery Writers of Japan put together a revised list of the Top 100 Mystery Novels. It is presented below in order of rank.

Rank  author name  book title  (year) 

1       Agatha Christie     And Then There Were None     (1939)
2       Ellery Queen     The Tragedy of Y     (1932)
3       Arthur Conan Doyle     The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (short stories) (1892)
4       William Irish     Phantom Lady     (1942)
5       Agatha Christie     The Murder of Roger Ackroyd     (1926)
6       Raymond Chandler     The Long Goodbye     (1953)
7       Umberto Eco     The Name of the Rose     (1980)
8       G. K. Chesterton     The Innocence of Father Brown (short stories) (1911)
9       Thomas Harris     The Silence of the Lambs     (1988)
10     John Dickson Carr     The Burning Court     (1937)
11     Agatha Christie     Murder on the Orient Express     (1934)
12     Stieg Larsson     Millennium series  (three novels)  (2005-2007)
13     Ira Levin     A Kiss Before Dying     (1953)
14     Ellery Queen     The Tragedy of X    (1932)
15     Ross Macdonald     The Chill     (1964)
16     John Dickson Carr     The Hollow Man aka The Three Coffins  (1935)
17     Frederick Forsyth     The Day of the Jackal     (1971)
18     S. S. Van Dine     The Bishop Murder Case     (1929)
19     Jack Higgins     The Eagle Has Landed     (1975)
20     Anthony Berkeley Cox     The Poisoned Chocolates Case  (1929)
21     Lawrence Block     Eight Million Ways to Die     (1982)
22     Jeffery Deaver     The Bone Collector     (1997)
23     Ellery Queen     The Greek Coffin Mystery    (1932)
24     Christianna Brand     Death of Jezebel    (1948)
25     Gavin Lyall     Midnight Plus One     (1965)
26     James P. Hogan     Inherit the Stars    (1977)
27     James Ellroy     White Jazz     (1992)
28     Gaston Leroux     The Mystery of the Yellow Room     (1907)
29     Scott Turow     Presumed Innocent     (1987)
30     Sjöwall & Wahlöö     The Laughing Policeman     (1968)
31     Anthony Berkeley Cox     Trial and Error     (1937)
32     Lucien Nahum     Shadow 81    (1975)
33     Freeman Wills Crofts     The Cask     (1920)
34     Edgar Allan Poe     The Murders in the Rue Morgue (short story)  (1841)
35     Dick Francis     For Kicks     (1965)
36     Dashiell Hammett     The Maltese Falcon     (1930)
37     John Dickson Carr     The Emperor's Snuff-Box     (1942)
38     Dashiell Hammett     Red Harvest     (1929)
39     Josephine Tey     The Daughter of Time    (1951)
40     Stuart Woods     Chiefs     (1981)
41     Sébastien Japrisot     Trap for Cinderella     (1962)
42     Ellery Queen     The Egyptian Cross Mystery     (1932)
43     R. D. Wingfield     Frost at Christmas     (1984)
44     Carter Dickson     The Judas Window    (1938)
45     Dorothy L. Sayers     The Nine Tailors     (1934)
46     Dick Francis     Whip Hand     (1979)
47     Arthur Conan Doyle     The Hound of the Baskervilles     (1902)
48     Eden Phillpotts     The Red Redmaynes     (1922)
49     Anthony Berkeley Cox     Jumping Jenny aka Dead Mrs. Stratton  (1933)
50     John Thomas Sladek     Invisible Green     (1977)
51     Ruth Rendell     A Judgement in Stone    (1977)
52     Ferdinand von Schirach     Crime     (2009)
53     Catherine Arley     Woman of Straw     (1956)
54     Stephen Hunter     Point of Impact     (1993)
55     James Ellroy     The Black Dahlia    (1987)
56     Tom Rob Smith     Child 44     (2008)
57     Ross Macdonald     The Wycherly Woman     (1961)
58     Carol O'Connell     The Judas Child     (1998)
59     Anthony Berkeley Cox     The Second Shot     (1930)
60     James Ellroy     The Big Nowhere     (1988)
61     Stephen King     Misery     (1987)
62     Agatha Christie     The A.B.C. Murders     (1936)
63     William L. DeAndrea     The HOG Murders    (1979)
64     Roald Dahl     Someone Like You (short stories)     (1953)
65     R. D. Wingfield     A Touch of Frost     (1987)
66     Isaac Asimov     Black Widowers (short stories)     (1974)
67     Wilkie Collins     The Moonstone     (1868)
68     Harry Kemelman     The Nine Mile Walk (short stories)  (1967)
69     Dan Brown     The Da Vinci Code     (2003)
70     Alistair MacLean     HMS Ulysses     (1955)
71     Trevanian     Shibumi     (1979)
72     Robert Goddard     Past Caring     (1986)
73     Jeffery Deaver     The Cold Moon    (2006)
74     Kazuo Ishiguro     Never Let Me Go     (2005)
75     Robert R. McCammon     Boy's Life     (1991)
76     Charlotte Armstrong     A Dram of Poison     (1956)
77     Don Winslow     A Cool Breeze on the Underground     (1991)
78     Ellery Queen     Cat of Many Tails     (1949)
79     Raymond Chandler     Farewell, My Lovely     (1940)
80     Colin Dexter     Last Seen Wearing     (1976)
81     Theodore Roszak     Flicker     (1991)
82     Sarah Waters     Fingersmith     (2002)
83     George Pelecanos     The Big Blowdown     (1996)
84     Scott Smith     A Simple Plan     (1993)
85     Thomas Harris     Red Dragon     (1981)
86     G. K. Chesterton     The Poet and the Lunatics (short stories)   (1929)
87     Don Winslow     The Power of the Dog    (2005)
88     Sarah Waters     Affinity     (1999)
89     Craig Rice     Home Sweet Homicide     (1944)
90     Ellery Queen     Calamity Town     (1942)
91     Desmond Bagley     High Citadel     (1965)
92     Maurice Leblanc     The Hollow Needle     (1909)
93     Robert B. Parker     Early Autumn     (1981)
94     Thomas H. Cook     The Chatham School Affair     (1996)
95     Jeffrey Archer     Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less     (1976)
96     Arthur Conan Doyle     A Study in Scarlet     (1887)
97     Donald E. Westlake     The Hot Rock     (1970)
98     Richard Neely     A Madness of the Heart     (1976)
99     Agatha Christie     Death on the Nile     (1937)
100   Isaac Asimov     The Caves of Steel     (1954)

 Repeat numbers indicate ties. Bold indicates collections. Italics indicates translation.

via Wikipedia.