Mystery authors and series
The best-known mystery authors are Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. Below are all 151 mystery writers in the directory, their best-known series in reading order, and 334 of their books free to read.
- Authors
- 151
- Series
- 166
- Free to read
- 334
Best-known mystery authors
Agatha Christie
Mystery, 1890–1976
Stephen King
Horror, born 1947
Dan Brown
Literary fiction, born 1964
Ian Fleming
Thrillers, 1908–1964
Georges Simenon
Mystery, 1903–1989
Mario Puzo
Literary fiction, 1920–1999
John le Carré
Thrillers, 1931–2020
James Patterson
Thrillers, born 1947
Rex Stout
Mystery, 1886–1975
Sidney Sheldon
Literary fiction, 1917–2007
Robert Sheckley
Science fiction, 1928–2005
Dean Koontz
Horror, born 1945
Jack Vance
Science fiction, 1916–2013
Dashiell Hammett
Mystery, 1894–1961
Evan Hunter
Mystery, 1926–2005
Patricia Highsmith
Mystery, 1921–1995
Mary Higgins Clark
Mystery, 1927–2020
Fredric Brown
Science fiction, 1906–1972
Mystery series in reading order
All seriesHercule Poirot
Agatha Christie · 34 books
Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle · 10 books
Jack Reacher
Lee Child · 31 books
The Dark Tower
Stephen King · 9 books
Alex Cross
James Patterson · 36 books
Miss Marple
Agatha Christie · 12 books
The Housemaid
Freida McFadden · 3 books
Women's Murder Club
James Patterson · 26 books
Stephanie Plum
Janet Evanovich · 32 books
Alex Rider
Anthony Horowitz · 13 books
Kay Scarpetta
Patricia Cornwell · 29 books
The Southern Vampire Mysteries
Charlaine Harris · 15 books
Free mystery classics
All free classicsThe Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2
Edgar Allan Poe
The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1
Edgar Allan Poe
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Arthur Conan Doyle
The call of Cthulhu
H. P. Lovecraft
At the mountains of madness
H. P. Lovecraft
Whose Body? A Lord Peter Wimsey Novel
Dorothy L. Sayers
Unnatural death
Dorothy L. Sayers
The Black Abbot
Edgar Wallace
The strange countess
Edgar Wallace
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
Gaston Leroux
The Secret of the Night
Gaston Leroux
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar
Maurice Leblanc
Arsène Lupin intervenes
Maurice Leblanc
Classic mystery authors
Edgar Allan Poe
Children's books, 1809–1849
Arthur Conan Doyle
Mystery, 1859–1930
H. P. Lovecraft
Mystery, 1890–1937
Dorothy L. Sayers
Mystery, 1893–1957
Edgar Wallace
Mystery, 1875–1932
Gaston Leroux
Crime, 1868–1927
Maurice Leblanc
Mystery, 1864–1941
Raymond Chandler
Mystery, 1888–1959
Émile Gaboriau
Mystery, 1832–1873
S. S. Van Dine
Literary fiction, 1888–1939
Edmund Clerihew Bentley
Mystery, 1875–1956
Johnston McCulley
Literary fiction, 1883–1958
Josephine Tey
Mystery, 1896–1952
Pierre Souvestre
Literary fiction, 1874–1914
R. Austin Freeman
Literary fiction, 1862–1943
Anna Katharine Green
Mystery, 1846–1935
Marie Belloc Lowndes
Mystery, 1868–1947
All mystery authors
- Agatha Christie 128 books
- Edgar Allan Poe 22 books
- Arthur Conan Doyle 72 books
- Stephen King 136 books
- H. P. Lovecraft 47 books
- Dan Brown 9 books
- Dorothy L. Sayers 53 books
- Edgar Wallace 120 books
- Ian Fleming 74 books
- Gaston Leroux 12 books
- Georges Simenon 271 books
- Mario Puzo 18 books
- Maurice Leblanc 40 books
- Raymond Chandler 34 books
- John le Carré 37 books
- James Patterson 322 books
- Rex Stout 87 books
- Sidney Sheldon 34 books
- Robert Sheckley 39 books
- Dean Koontz 129 books
- Jack Vance 71 books
- Dashiell Hammett 19 books
- Evan Hunter 126 books
- Patricia Highsmith 40 books
- Mary Higgins Clark 79 books
- Fredric Brown 38 books
- Margery Allingham 42 books
- Lee Child 46 books
- Donald E. Westlake 98 books
- John D. MacDonald 85 books
- Julian Barnes 32 books
- Émile Gaboriau 10 books
- Martina Navratilova 6 books
- Hilary Duff 3 books
- Gertrude Chandler Warner 177 books
- James Hadley Chase 91 books
- Erle Stanley Gardner 156 books
- Jo Nesbø 33 books
- Shirley Jackson 18 books
- Harlan Coben 41 books
- Patricia Cornwell 48 books
- P. D. James 32 books
- Anthony Horowitz 83 books
- Ruth Rendell 93 books
- Michael Connelly 57 books
- Robert J. Sawyer 30 books
- Sue Grafton 35 books
- Elmore Leonard 59 books
- Arturo Pérez-Reverte 22 books
- Freida McFadden 32 books
- S. S. Van Dine 18 books
- Boris Akunin 40 books
- James Ellroy 30 books
- Ian Rankin 48 books
- Charlaine Harris 59 books
- Ngaio Marsh 44 books
- Dennis Lehane 17 books
- Janet Evanovich 94 books
- Peter Abrahams 45 books
- John Dickson Carr 89 books
- Len Deighton 43 books
- Kathy Reichs 44 books
- Edmund Clerihew Bentley 8 books
- Donna Leon 41 books
- Sara Shepard 52 books
- Karin Slaughter 42 books
- Johnston McCulley 9 books
- Ottessa Moshfegh 6 books
- Rita Mae Brown 70 books
- Edogawa Ranpo 8 books
- Mickey Spillane 55 books
- Andrea Camilleri 38 books
- Anne Perry 107 books
- Marion Chesney 169 books
- Louise Penny 31 books
- Robert B. Parker 75 books
- Phyllis A. Whitney 81 books
- Val McDermid 52 books
- Edith Pargeter 69 books
- Karen M. McManus 8 books
- Jeffery Deaver 66 books
- Eleanor Catton 3 books
- Carl Hiaasen 36 books
- Ross Macdonald 36 books
- Kate Atkinson 16 books
- Josephine Tey 13 books
- Arnaldur Indriðason 18 books
- Colin Dexter 18 books
- Tana French 11 books
- James M. Cain 22 books
- Pierre Lemaitre 12 books
- Lawrence Block 97 books
- Elizabeth George 33 books
- Philip Kerr 42 books
- Scott Turow 15 books
- Walter Mosley 63 books
- Lilian Jackson Braun 35 books
- Pierre Souvestre 3 books
- Jennifer Rowe 72 books
- Ann Cleeves 42 books
- John Sandford 67 books
- Jim Thompson 27 books
- Jasper Fforde 19 books
- Iris Johansen 115 books
- Cornell Woolrich 27 books
- Tony Hillerman 33 books
- Stuart Woods 106 books
- Robert van Gulik 22 books
- Maj Sjöwall 11 books
- Jonathan Kellerman 62 books
- Max Allan Collins 116 books
- Caroline Graham 11 books
- Maxine Paetro 41 books
- Lisa Gardner 38 books
- Peter O'Donnell 26 books
- Mick Herron 27 books
- C. J. Box 41 books
- Martina Cole 30 books
- Yrsa Sigurðardóttir 15 books
- B. A. Paris 10 books
- Donald J. Sobol 58 books
- Tami Hoag 43 books
- Dorothy Gilman 40 books
- Joan Lowery Nixon 99 books
- Joanne Fluke 46 books
- Kerry Greenwood 48 books
- Robin Stevens 19 books
- Marjorie W. Sharmat 74 books
- Naoki Urasawa 7 books
- Max Gladstone 13 books
- Karin Fossum 14 books
- R. Austin Freeman 0 books
- Ron Roy 77 books
- Anne Holt 16 books
- Anna Katharine Green 0 books
- Bill Pronzini 105 books
- J. A. Jance 80 books
- Michael Ledwidge 24 books
- Jennifer Ashley 25 books
- Marie Belloc Lowndes 0 books
- Tom Rob Smith 6 books
- April Henry 28 books
- Willo Davis Roberts 58 books
- Ed Gorman 93 books
- Iceberg Slim 8 books
- Gypsy Rose Lee 4 books
- Jean-Christophe Grangé 14 books
- Yulian Semyonov 3 books
- Edward D. Hoch 18 books
- Alexandra Marinina 0 books
- Bertus Aafjes 0 books
Mystery FAQ
- Who are the best mystery authors?
- The best-known mystery authors here, ranked by how widely they are read and written about, are Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stephen King and H. P. Lovecraft.
- What are the best mystery series?
- Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack Reacher by Lee Child and The Dark Tower by Stephen King — each listed in reading order.
- Can I read mystery books for free?
- Yes. 334 mystery books by these authors are in the public domain in the US and free to read here.