The 28 Best Crime Novels of the 1990s

Nineties crime fiction ran from hard-boiled LA noir to Nordic cold cases and Sicilian sunshine, with a few series debuts that went on to own the bestseller lists.

1. 1
   In the Electric Mist

   James Lee Burke's 1993 Dave Robicheaux novel, where a Louisiana murder case meets Civil War ghosts.
   1000pts
2. 2
   One for the Money

   Janet Evanovich's 1994 comic debut for Stephanie Plum, a broke Trenton lingerie buyer turned bounty hunter.
   773pts
3. 3
   Smilla's Sense of Snow

   Peter Høeg's 1992 Danish bestseller about a woman investigating a boy's fall from a Copenhagen rooftop.
   591pts
4. 4
   Faceless Killers

   Henning Mankell's 1991 first Kurt Wallander novel, a cornerstone of the Nordic noir boom.
   590pts
5. 5
   Postmortem

   Patricia Cornwell's 1990 debut introducing medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, winner of the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony and Macavity awards.
   590pts
6. 6
   The Mermaids Singing

   Val McDermid's 1995 Gold Dagger winner introducing profiler Tony Hill on the trail of a serial killer.
   590pts
7. 7
   Along Came a Spider

   James Patterson's 1993 first Alex Cross thriller, about a kidnapping at an elite Washington school.
   590pts
8. 8
   Déjà Dead

   Kathy Reichs's 1997 debut introducing forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan in Montreal.
   590pts
9. 9
   Hannibal

   Thomas Harris's 1999 sequel to The Silence of the Lambs, following Hannibal Lecter to Florence.
   590pts
10. 10
    The Sculptress

    Minette Walters's 1993 Edgar-winning psychological mystery about a writer interviewing a convicted killer.
    590pts
11. 11
    American Tabloid

    Ellroy's 1995 conspiracy novel tracing the underworld road to the Kennedy assassination.
    500pts
12. 12
    Devil in a Blue Dress

    Walter Mosley's 1990 debut introducing Easy Rawlins, a reluctant detective in postwar Los Angeles.
    500pts
13. 13
    Out

    Natsuo Kirino's 1997 Japanese novel of factory night-shift workers who help dispose of a husband's body.
    500pts
14. 14
    The Shape of Water

    Andrea Camilleri's 1994 first Inspector Montalbano novel, set in a fictional Sicilian town.
    500pts
15. 15
    The Poet

    Michael Connelly's 1996 thriller about a reporter hunting a serial killer who targets homicide detectives.
    388pts
16. 16
    Killing Floor

    Lee Child's 1997 debut introducing drifter Jack Reacher, caught up in a murder in small-town Georgia.
    388pts
17. 17
    White Jazz

    Ellroy's 1992 fever-dream finale to the L.A. Quartet, narrated by a crooked police lieutenant.
    388pts
18. 18
    The Black Echo

    Michael Connelly's 1992 debut and the first Harry Bosch novel, an Edgar winner for best first novel.
    388pts
19. 19
    Black and Blue

    Ian Rankin's 1997 Gold Dagger-winning Rebus novel shadowing the hunt for a copycat of Bible John.
    388pts
20. 20
    Clockers

    Richard Price's 1992 street-level novel of a young drug dealer and the homicide detective circling him.
    388pts
21. 21
    Gone, Baby, Gone

    Dennis Lehane's 1998 Kenzie and Gennaro mystery about a missing girl and a brutal moral dilemma.
    388pts
22. 22
    The Firm

    John Grisham's 1991 bestseller about a young lawyer who discovers his firm works for the Mob.
    388pts
23. 23
    The Long Firm

    Jake Arnott's 1999 novel of a gay gangster in 1960s Soho, told through five voices.
    388pts
24. 24
    Rum Punch

    Elmore Leonard's 1992 caper of a flight attendant and a bail bondsman scheming against a gun runner.
    0pts
25. 25
    L.A. Confidential

    James Ellroy's 1990 epic of three LAPD cops tangled in corruption and murder in 1950s Los Angeles.
    0pts
26. 26
    The Secret History

    Donna Tartt's 1992 literary murder story about a clique of classics students at a Vermont college.
    0pts
27. 27
    Get Shorty

    Elmore Leonard's 1990 comic crime novel about a Miami loan shark who tries his hand at Hollywood.
    0pts
28. 28
    The Alienist

    Caleb Carr's 1994 historical thriller of an early psychologist profiling a killer in 1896 New York.
    0pts

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