Agatha Christie is frequently mentioned first when discussing the best mystery authors. Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English mystery writer who wrote 66 novels and 14 short story collections, many of which featured fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

Under the pen name Mary Westmacott, she wrote six books, including The Mousetrap, the world's longest-running play, which has been performed in the West End since 1952. Christie received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the first time in 1955. Witness for the Prosecution won an Edgar Award for best play later that year. In 2013, 600 professional novelists from the Crime Writers' Association named her the best mystery writer and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd the best crime book ever. According to Guinness World Records, Christie is the best-selling fiction author of all time, with more than two billion copies sold.

Famous Books: And Then There Were None, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Murder on the Orient Express

P.D. James, also known as Phyllis Dorothy James White, was a British mystery writer who developed the Dalgliesh character, a skilled detective with an introspective mentality who solves crimes. Her series of investigative books featuring Adam Dalgliesh, the police commander, and poet, pushed her to popularity. She also published a series of nonfiction books that focused on true crime stories.

In the mid-1950s, she began writing under her maiden name ("My genes are James genes"). Cover Her Face, her debut novel, was released in 1962 and featured New Scotland Yard detective and poet Adam Dalgliesh. Many of James' mystery books are set in UK institutions including the criminal justice system and the National Health Service, where she worked for decades beginning in the 1940s. Her later books frequently took place in a restricted society, such as a publishing firm, barristers' chambers, a theology college, an island, or a private clinic.

Famous Books: Death Comes to Pemberley, The Children of Men, Cover Her Face,...

William Thomas Harris III (born September 22, 1940) is an American author best known for his series of mystery books featuring Hannibal Lecter, his most renowned character. The majority of his books have been transformed into films and television, with The Silence of the Lambs being only the third film in the Academy Awards history to sweep all major categories.

Harris's debut novel, The Black Sunday, was released in 1975. But when it comes to this great author, The Silence of the Lambs, which was released in 1988 is the most noticeable book. In this book, FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling is introduced, who, at Jack Crawford's request, performs a study on Hannibal Lecter, but his real purpose was to seek assistance on another case. The book received a lot of positive feedback and honors. It was made into a big feature film in 1991, starring Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Lecter.

Famous Books: Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Rising,...

Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, DBE (13 May 1907-19 April 1989) was an English novelist and dramatist. When Alfred Hitchcock developed a film based on her short story "The Birds" and her novel Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier became famous as a mystery writer. Critics did not take her seriously when she first released her works, but her talent is now widely recognized.

DuMaurier is well known for his novel Rebecca. Rebecca sold almost 3 million copies between 1938 and 1965. The story revolves around an anonymous narrator who recently married a wealthy widower. However, when she moves to the gloomy and strange house where her new husband and his previous wife Rebecca used to live, she realizes that his wife isn't fully gone. The memory of Rebecca haunts every part of the house and every person who lives there. Today, Rebecca continues to inspire modern fiction, cinema, and art and is beloved among readers worldwide.

Famous Books: Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, Jamaica Inn,...

Samuel Dashiell Hammett (May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was a hard-boiled detective novelist and short story writer from the United States. In addition to being a scriptwriter, he was also a political activist. Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), the Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse), and the comic strip character Secret Agent X-9 are some of the memorable characters he created.

"Hammett is now largely considered as one of the best mystery authors of all time," according to the New York Times. Red Harvest, a novel by Hammett released in 1929, was featured in Time's selection of the 100 best English-language novels written between 1923 and 2005. Three of his books were chosen for the Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time list by the Crime Writers' Association in 1990. Four of his novels were included in the Mystery Writers of America's Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time five years later.

Famous Books: The Thin Man, The Maltese Falcon, Red Harvest,...

James Patterson, Jr. (born March 22, 1947), an American novelist best known for his thriller and suspense books, who always has a ubiquitous presence on best-seller lists in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He was the first person to sell one million e-books, and his novels have sold more than 300 million copies.

The Thomas Berryman Number (1976), his debut novel, won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for an outstanding first novel from the Mystery Writers of America. Patterson's approach to writing fiction had changed by the early 1990s, and he had chosen a style characterized by plain prose, bite-sized chapters, and fast-paced, simplified narratives. Patterson topped Forbes' list of highest-paid authors for the third year in a row in 2016, earning $95 million. Over the span of a decade, his total earnings are projected to be $700 million.

Famous Books: Along Came a Spider, The Angel Experiment, 1st to Die,...

Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE (17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English thriller and psychological murder mystery author. The Silver, Gold, and Cartier Diamond Daggers from the Crime Writers' Association, three Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, The Arts Council National Book Awards, and The Sunday Times Literary Award are among Baroness Rendell's awards.

While she was praised for her inventive plots, keen social observation, and incisive social criticism, evocative settings, and startling and often grim endings. But it was her mastery of aspects of style (figurative language, dialogue, and sarcasm) more frequently associated with "serious" literature that elevated her work above the level of much detective fiction. Rendell has been called the "new Agatha Christie," the "new First Lady of Mystery," and the "British Simenon," among other things.

Famous Books: Anna's Book, From Doon with Death, A Judgement in Stone,...

Truman Garcia Capote (September 30, 1924, to August 25, 1984) was an American author, screenwriter, dramatist, and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays, notably the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) and the real crime book In Cold Blood (1966), which he referred to as a "non-fiction novel," have been acclaimed as literary masterpieces. More than 20 films and television dramas have been made based on his novels.

Truman Capote began his writing career as a short story writer. The critical acclaim for "Miriam" (1945) drew Random House publisher Bennett Cerf's notice, and it offered him a contract to write the novel Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948). In Cold Blood (1966), a journalistic work on the murder of a Kansas farm family in their home brought Capote the greatest acclaim. Capote wrote on the book for six years, with the help of his close friend Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).

Famous Books: In Cold Blood, Summer Crossing, Breakfast at Tiffany's,...

Karl Stig-Erland "Stieg" Larsson (August 15, 1954, to November 9, 2004) was a Swedish journalist and writer. He was the world's second-best-selling fiction author in 2008, behind Afghan-American Khaled Hosseini, thanks to the popularity of the English version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Stieg Larsson is best known for the Millennium trilogy of crime novels, which were released posthumously after the author died abruptly of a heart attack in 2005. The trilogy was converted into three films in Sweden and one in the United States (for the first book only). David Lagercrantz was commissioned by the publisher to expand the trilogy into a lengthier series, which now comprises six books as of September 2019. Larsson spent much of his life in Stockholm, where he worked and resided. His journalistic work focused on socialist politics, and he also worked as an independent right-wing extremism researcher.

Famous Books: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest,...

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is a horror, supernatural fiction, thriller, crime, science fiction, and fantasy novelist from the United States. His works have sold more than 350 million copies, and many have been made into films, television shows, miniseries, and comic books.

He is known as the "King of Horror," a play on his surname and a reference to his great status in pop culture. King has written 63 novels and five non-fiction books, seven of which were written under the pen name Richard Bachman. He's also authored almost 200 short tales, the majority of which have been collected in anthologies. Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, and British Fantasy Society Awards have all been given to King. He has also received honors for his contributions to literature throughout his career, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2004 and the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award in 2007.

Famous Books: The Shining, The Stand, It,...