101 Mystery & Detective Classics You Should Read Before You Die
A Landmark Anthology of Gothic Crime, Locked-Room Puzzles, Espionage, and SuspenseBy Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Wilkie Collins, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Walter Scott, Daniel Defoe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, D. H. Lawrence, Oscar Wilde, H. G. Wells, R. Austin Freeman, Anna Katharine Green, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Ernest Bramah, Sapper, Arthur Morrison, Marie Belloc Lowndes, Dorothy L. Sayers, John Buchan, Robert William Chambers, E. Phillips Oppenheim, J. S. Fletcher, Richard Marsh, Annie Haynes, Alexandre Dumas, Maurice Leblanc, Gaston Leroux, Émile Gaboriau, Marcel Allain, Bram Stoker, Sheridan Le Fanu, H. P. Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson, Algernon Blackwood, Washington Irving, Guy de Maupassant, E. C. Bentley, A. A. Milne, Sax Rohmer, Erskine Childers, E. W. Hornung, Earl Derr Biggers, S. S. Van Dine
Length989h 12m
About this audiobook
101 Mystery & Detective Classics You Should Read Before You Die surveys the astonishing breadth of crime fiction, from Gothic menace, sensationalism, and supernatural terror to the analytic detective tale, espionage thriller, locked-room puzzle, and psychological mystery. Its selections place clue-driven investigation beside stories of doubles, hidden crimes, urban vice, imperial adventure, and moral uncertainty. Foundational detective narratives and memorable encounters with ingenious sleuths, elusive criminals, and apparently impossible crimes reveal how the genre repeatedly transforms fear into interpretation. The volume gathers British, American, French, Russian, and other European voices whose careers span the nineteenth century through the interwar period. Novelists associated with realism, the Gothic, Decadence, adventure fiction, science fiction, and the Golden Age of Detection collectively demonstrate that mystery writing developed through sustained exchanges among popular entertainment, literary experiment, and modern social anxieties. These writers variously shaped the detective's methods, the thriller's pace, the crime story's atmosphere, and the uncanny's power to unsettle rational explanation. This anthology is especially rewarding for readers seeking both pleasure and perspective. It offers an accessible education in the conventions that later crime fiction inherited, revised, and contested, while inviting comparison across national traditions and narrative styles. Read together, these classics create a lively dialogue about evidence, secrecy, justice, class, technology, and the enduring appeal of the unknown.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.4 (29)
Includes Amazon, Goodreads
GenreMystery and Thriller
Length989 hrs 12 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateOct 28, 2022
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1The Red Paste Murders (Annotated)
2The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Agatha Christie)
3Chapter 1 I Go to Styles
4Chapter 2 The 16th and 17th of July
5Chapter 3 The Night of the Tragedy
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter 4 Poirot Investigates
7Chapter 5 “It Isn’t Strychnine, Is It?”
8Chapter 6 The Inquest
9Chapter 7 Poirot Pays His Debts
10Chapter 8 Fresh Suspicions
11Chapter 9 Dr. Bauerstein
12Chapter 10 The Arrest
13Chapter 11 The Case for the Prosecution
14Chapter 12 The Last Link
15Chapter 13 Poirot Explains
16The Murder on the Links (Agatha Christie)
179. M. Giraud Finds Some Clues
1818. Giraud Acts
1928. Journey’s End
20The Secret Adversary (Agatha Christie)
21Prologue
22Chapter 1 The Young Adventurers, Ltd.
23Chapter 2 Mr. Whittington’s Offer
24Chapter 3 A Set Back
25Chapter 4 Who Is Jane Finn?
26Chapter 5 Mr. Julius P. Hersheimmer
27Chapter 6 A Plan of Campaign
28Chapter 7 The House in Soho
29Chapter 8 The Adventures of Tommy
30Chapter 9 Tuppence Enters Domestic Service
31Chapter 10 Enter Sir James Peel Edgerton
32Chapter 11 Julius Tells a Story
33Chapter 12 A Friend in Need
34Chapter 13 The Vigil
35Chapter 14 A Consultation
36Chapter 15 Tuppence Receives a Proposal
37Chapter 16 Further Adventures of Tommy
38Chapter 17 Annette
39Chapter 18 The Telegram
40Chapter 19 Jane Finn
41Chapter 20 Too Late
42Chapter 21 Tommy Makes a Discovery
43Chapter 22 In Downing Street
44Chapter 23 A Race Against Time
45Chapter 24 Julius Takes a Hand
46Chapter 25 Jane’s Story
47Chapter 26 Mr. Brown
48Chapter 27 A Supper Party at the Savoy
49Chapter 28 And After
50The Man in the Brown Suit (Agatha Christie)
The Story of London: Charles Dickens' Perspective in 11 Novels & 80+ Short Stories (Illustrated)Charles Dickens366h 19m4.6 (11)$1.99 · $0.00
A Tale of Two Cities (Illustrated)Charles Dickens74h 27m4.2 (184)$1.99 · $0.00
The Essential Dickens – 8 Greatest Novels in One EditionCharles Dickens143h 24m4.5 (1.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
A Child's History of England (Illustrated Edition)Charles Dickens33h 43m3.8 (3.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Dickens' Christmas SpecialsCharles Dickens80h 51m4.0 (235)$1.99 · $0.00
Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol & Other Christmas Books (5 Books in One Edition)Charles Dickens17h 27m4.2 (17.6K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Christmas Stories from Charles Dickens' Magazines - 20 Titles in One EditionCharles Dickens62h 25m$1.99 · $0.00
A TALE OF TWO CITIES (Illustrated Edition)Charles Dickens15h 27m4.2 (999.2K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Complete Short Stories of Charles Dickens: 190+ Titles in One Volume (Illustrated Edition)Charles Dickens213h 7m$1.99 · $0.00
David Copperfield (Illustrated Edition)Charles Dickens83h 28m4.2 (315K)$1.99 · $0.00
Nikolas Nickleby (Gesellschaftsroman)Charles Dickens35h 56m4.2 (93K)$1 · $0.00
SCHWERE ZEITENCharles Dickens15h 18m3.7 (387.2K)$1 · $0.00
Three Ghost StoriesCharles Dickens2h 9m3.9 (2.4K)$6 · $0.00
GREAT EXPECTATIONS (Illustrated Edition)Charles Dickens20h 7m4.0 (899.9K)$1.99 · $0.00
Oliver Twist (Musaicum Children's Classics)Charles Dickens19h 31m$1.99 · $0.00
The Greatest Christmas Books of All TimeCharles Dickens, Beatrix Potter, Louisa May Alcott, O. Henry, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lucy Maud Montgomery, George Macdonald, Leo Tolstoy, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow11h 5m4.1 (65)$1.99 · $0.00
A Christmas Carol (Musaicum Christmas Specials)Charles Dickens4h 53m$1.99 · $0.00
Charles Dickens' Most Influential Works (Illustrated)Charles Dickens336h 1m4.5 (1.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Greatest Children's Classics of Charles Dickens (Illustrated)Charles Dickens219h 24m4.5 (11)$1.99 · $0.00
Charles Dickens - The Man Behind the ClassicsCharles Dickens154h 13m4.4 (21)$1.99 · $0.00
Remarkably Bright CreaturesShelby Van Pelt11h 17m4.4 (1.7M)$29 · $0.00
Crime and Punishment (The Unabridged Garnett Translation) (Annotated)Fyodor Dostoevsky24h 25m4.5 (15.4K)$0.99 · $0.00
Three ComradesErich Maria Remarque15h 50m4.5 (47.3K)$2 · $0.00
AngelAnita Waller10h 30m4.6 (672)$30 · $0.00
The BorderDon Winslow29h 8m4.5 (35.7K)$53 · $0.00
FlashpointCatherine Coulter11h 38m4.5 (11.6K)$29 · $0.00
Tracking Stolen SecretsLaura Scott5h 37m4.5 (2.2K)$12 · $0.00
The Gothic Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Illustrated Edition)Edgar Allan Poe21h 5m4.5 (2.9K)$1.99 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Fang Si-Chi's First Love ParadiseYi-Han Lin8h 25m4.5 (4K)$26 · $0.00
The Rose CodeKate Quinn16h 2m4.4 (493.7K)$33 · $0.00
No Woman Left BehindJulie Moffett8h 49m4.5 (3K)$25 · $0.00
CovertJanie Crouch6h 15m4.5 (2K)$12 · $0.00
Cold Case InvestigationNicole Helm5h 30m4.6 (321)$5 · $0.00
The Lost Weekend (Annotated)Charles Jackson9h 46m4.5 (1K)$0.99 · $0.00
The ReunionJana DeLeon6h 31m4.5 (1.6K)$12 · $0.00
Courage Under FireSharon Dunn5h 50m4.5 (730)$24 · $0.00
Decoding the TruthJulie Miller7h 31m4.6 (350)$12 · $0.00
Murder Gone ColdB.J. Daniels5h 50m4.5 (562)$12 · $0.00
Crime and PunishmentFyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky22h 22m4.4 (1.3M)$0.60 · $0.00
You may also like
THE SECRET ADVERSARYAgatha Christie17h 8m3.9 (105K)$1.99 · $0.00
One, Two, Buckle My ShoeAgatha Christie5h 20m3.9 (48K)$24 · $0.00
Cat Among the PigeonsAgatha Christie6h 45m4.0 (75.4K)$24 · $0.00
AGATHA CHRISTIE Premium CollectionAgatha Christie37h 15m4.6 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
Hercule Poirot: The Complete Short StoriesAgatha Christie35h 5m4.4 (22.5K)$53 · $0.00
The UnsubOwen Parr9h 45m4.5 (496)$20
The Shattered TreeCharles Todd9h 36m4.1 (8K)$29 · $0.00
AscensionOliver Harris10h 11m4.2 (2.4K)$29 · $0.00
RecklessAndrew Gross12h 36m3.9 (5.3K)$33 · $0.00
Martin Hewitt - Complete Series: 25 Mysteries in One Volume (Illustrated) (Annotated)Arthur Morrison26h 54m4.2 (74)$2 · $0.00
Okewood of the Secret ServiceValentine Williams10h 7m3.6 (30)$2.30
The Big Four & Cards on the TableAgatha Christie11h 34m4.0 (221)$8 · $0.00
Christmas With Agatha Christie (Annotated)Agatha Christie72h 43m$1.49 · $0.00
Detectives White & Furneaux' Cases (Annotated)Louis Tracy40h 13m3.9 (22)$2 · $0.00
Chief Inspector Pointer's Cases - 12 Golden Age Murder Mysteries (Annotated)Dorothy Fielding105h 22m$2 · $0.00
The Woman of MysteryMaurice Leblanc9h 1m3.7 (487)$3.50 · $0.00
The raspPhilip MacDonald8h 20m3.5 (291)$1 · $0.00
The Wren He Couldn't ForgetDoris Fairweather7h 49m$5
MURDER MYSTERY Boxed Set – Dorothy Fielding Edition (12 Detective Cases in One Edition)Dorothy Fielding105h 30m$1 · $0.00
Sherlock Holmes and the King’s EvilDonald Thomas9h 37m3.9 (812)$26