The 66 Greatest Crime and Mystery Stories
For much of the history of crime and mystery publishing, the short story ruled. In the pulps era, readers got their weekly fix of murder and mayhem from the dozens of periodicals that filled magazine racks. Those publications specializing in crime and detective fiction have all but disappeared. But writers are still seeing their work published in the few magazines that still run such stories, as well as in hardcover or paperback collections of their works and in third-party anthologies.
This list focuses on the greatest stand-alone stories of crime and mystery, separate from the Greatest Crime and Mystery list, which is dominated by the longer forms.
For this list we define a short story as having fewer than 17,500 words—longer prose being categorized as a novella or a novel. Roughly, you can think of a short story as a prose narrative you can read in an hour or less.
You can expect the Greatest Crime and Mystery Stories to grow and change as our greatest literature research continues. Check back for updates.
Latest update: July 8, 2023
1830
"The Mysterious Mansion"
by Honoré de Balzac, France
Story
1841
"The Murders in the Rue Morgue"
Story
1843
"The Gold Bug"
Story
1844
"The Purloined Letter"
Story
1865
"The Trial for Murder"
Story
1880
"The Pavilion on the Links"
Story
1881
"Who Killed Zebedee?"
Story
1882
"The Knightsbridge Mystery"
by Charles Reade, England
Story
1883
"The Three Strangers"
by Thomas Hardy, England
Story
1884
"The Safety Match"
by Anton Chekhov, Russia
Story
1887
"Lord Savile's Crime"
by Oscar Wilde, Ireland
Story
1888
"The Ides of March"
by E.W. Hornung, England
Story
1891
"The Red-Headed League"
Story
1905
"The Problem of Cell 13"
by Jacques Futrelle, United States
Story
1906
"The Mystery of the Five Hundred Diamonds"
by Robert Barr, England
Story
1911
"The Invisible Man"
Story
1914
"The Doomdorf Mystery"
by Melville Davisson Post, United States
Story
1916
"My Favorite Murder"
by Ambrose Bierce, United States
Story
1917
"A Jury of Her Peers"
by Susan Glaspell, United States
Story
1923
"The Oracle of the Dog"
by G.K. Chesterton, England
Story
1925
"The Witness for the Prosecution"
Story
1926
"Locked Doors"
by Mary Roberts Rinehart, United States
Story
1927
"The Trumpet Sounds"
by Mary Roberts Rinehart, United States
Story
1928
"The Avenging Chance"
by Anthony Berkeley, England
Story
1931
by Thomas Burke, England
Story
1935
"The Baby in the Icebox"
Story
"Leg Man"
by Erle Stanley Gardner, United States
Story
1939
"Bitter Almonds"
by Dorothy L. Sayers, England
Story
1939
"I'll Be Waiting"
Story
1942
"Rear Window"
by Cornell Woolrich, United States
Story
1947
"Inspector Maigret Deduces"
by Georges Simenon, Belgium
Story
"Don't Look Behind You"
by Fredric Brown, United States
Story
"The House in Goblin Wood"
by John Dickson Carr, United States
Story
"The Nine Mile Walk"
by Harry Kemelman, United States
Story
1948
"The Specialty of the House"
by Stanley Ellin, United States
Story
1950
"Love Lies Bleeding"
by Philip MacDonald, England
Story
"Diagnosis: Homicide"
by Lawrence Blochman, United States
Story
1952
"The Two Bottles of Relish"
by Lord Dunsany, Ireland
Story
1953
"Lamb to the Slaughter"
by Roald Dahl, Wales
Story
1954
"The House Party"
by Stanley Ellin, United States
Story
1956
"The Blessington Method"
by Stanley Ellin, United States
Story
1959
"The Landlady"
by Roald Dahl, Wales
Story
1965
"The Possibility of Evil"
by Shirley Jackson, United States
Story
1967
"The Oblong Room"
by Edward D. Hoch, United States
Story
1974
"The Fallen Curtain"
by Ruth Rendell, England
Story
1976
"Sweet Fever"
by Bill Pronzini, United States
Story
1983
"The New Girlfriend"
by Ruth Rendell, England
Story
1984
"By Dawn's Early Light"
by Lawrence Block, England
Story
1986
"The Parker Shotgun"
by Sue Grafton, United States
Story
1989
"Too Many Crooks"
by Donald E. Westlake, United States
Story
1990
"Elvis Lives"
by Lynne Barrett, United States
Story
1994
"The Dancing Bear"
by Doug Allyn, United States
Story
1996
"Herbert in Motion"
by Ian Rankin, Scotland
Story
1997
"On the Psychiatrist's Couch"
by Reginald Hill, England
Story
2000
"Missing in Action"
by Peter Robinson, Canada
Story
2006
"The Home Front"
by Charles Ardai, United States
Story
2013
"The Caxton Private Lending Library and Book Depository"
by John Connolly, Ireland
Story
