The StoryBUZZ Bronze Wrench Award (2025) recognizes the mystery writers who are ranked 51st through 100th best of all time — writers who have made notable contributions and/or possess a loyal reader base.
For each writer, you can click on their name for an article that provides:
- The elements making up the scoring for their rank on the list (peer recognition, reader preference, and critics assessments)
- Main series characters and key standalone mystery novels
- Contributions to the mystery genre
- Why you may like to read their mysteries
- Our recommendation on a good place to start reading the writer's works (often the start of a series or a very popular and/or award-winning book)
- Similar mystery writers
If you're already familar with the writer and just interested in the recommended book to start with, you can click on the link to that book in the list below.
| # |
| 51 |
Lawrence Block |
Eight Millions Ways to Die |
Hard-Boiled Mysteries, Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 51 |
Sara Paretsky |
Indemnity Only |
Private Investigator Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 53 |
Ian Rankin |
Knots and Crosses |
Police Procedurals |
4-Modern |
| 54 |
Donald E. Westlake |
The Hot Rock |
Heist Thrillers, Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 54 |
Ellis Peters |
A Morbid Taste for Bones |
Historical Mysteries, Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 54 |
Margaret Millar |
Beast in View |
Suspense Thrillers, Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 57 |
Len Deighton |
The IPCRESS File |
Espionage Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 58 |
Ian Fleming |
From Russia, With Love |
Espionage Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 58 |
John Grisham |
The Firm |
Legal Thrillers, Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 60 |
Colin Dexter |
Last Bus to Woodstock |
Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 60 |
H. R. F. Keating |
The Perfect Murder |
Police Procedurals |
4-Modern |
| 62 |
Erle Stanley Gardner |
The Case of the Velvet Claws |
Legal Thrillers, Traditional Detective Mysteries |
2-Golden Age |
| 63 |
John D. MacDonald |
The Deep Blue Good-by |
Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 64 |
Reginald Hill |
A Clubbable Woman |
Police Procedurals |
4-Modern |
| 65 |
William Kent Krueger |
Ordinary Grace |
Crime, Private Investigator Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 66 |
Gillian Flynn |
Sharp Objects |
Suspense Thrillers, Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 66 |
Harper Lee |
To Kill a Mockingbird |
Crime |
4-Modern |
| 66 |
Paula Hawkins |
The Girl on the Train |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 66 |
Stieg Larsson |
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 70 |
Margaret Maron |
Bootlegger's Daughter |
Legal Thrillers, Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 70 |
Robert B. Parker |
The Godwulf Manuscript |
Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 72 |
Hillary Waugh |
Last Seen Wearing ... |
Police Procedurals, Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 73 |
Ira Levin |
A Kiss Before Dying |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 74 |
Jeffery Deaver |
The Bone Collector |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 75 |
Ross Macdonald
(Kenneth Millar) |
The Moving Target |
Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 76 |
Dennis Lehane |
A Drink Before the War |
Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 77 |
Elizabeth Peters
(Barbara Michaels) |
Crocodile on the Sandbank |
Historical Mysteries, Traditional Detective Mysteries, Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 78 |
David Baldacci |
Memory Man |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 78 |
James Patterson |
Along Came a Spider |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 80 |
Patricia Cornwell |
Postmortem |
Police Procedurals |
4-Modern |
| 81 |
Donna Tartt |
The Secret History |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 81 |
Jo Nesbø |
The Redbreast |
Police Procedurals |
4-Modern |
| 81 |
Keigo Higashino |
The Devotion of Suspect X |
Police Procedurals |
4-Modern |
| 81 |
S. A. Cosby |
Blacktop Wasteland |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 85 |
John Buchan |
The Thirty-Nine Steps |
Espionage Thrillers, Crime Action & Adventure, Traditional Detective Mysteries |
1-Early |
| 86 |
Ann Cleeves |
Raven Black |
Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 86 |
Mick Herron |
Slow Horses |
Espionage Thrillers, Traditional Detective Mysteries, Private Investigator Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 86 |
Minette Walters |
The Sculptress |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 86 |
Stanley Ellin |
Specialty of the House & Other Stories |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 86 |
Stuart M. Kaminsky |
A Cold Red Sunrise |
Police Procedurals, Private Investigator Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 91 |
James Ellroy |
The Black Dahlia |
Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 91 |
John Sanford |
Rules of Prey |
Suspense Thrillers |
4-Modern |
| 91 |
Marcia Muller |
Edwin of the Iron Shoes |
Private Investigator Mysteries, Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 94 |
JirŨ Akagawa |
Three Sisters Investigate |
Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 95 |
Barbara Neely |
Blanche Passes Go |
Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 95 |
Dorothy B. Hughes |
In a Lonely Place |
Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
3-Hard Boiled/Noir |
| 95 |
Joseph Wambaugh |
The Choirboys |
Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 95 |
Mignon G. Eberhart |
The Patient in Room 18 |
Traditional Detective Mysteries |
2-Golden Age |
| 95 |
Simon Brett |
What Bloody Man is That? |
Traditional Detective Mysteries |
4-Modern |
| 95 |
W. R. Burnett |
The Asphalt Jungle |
Hard-Boiled Mysteries |
3-Hard Boiled/Noir |
The Full List of the 100 Best Mystery Writers of All Time
You can see the full list of the 100 Best Mystery Writers of All Time in this article.
But even better ... do you want the full list of the Best Mystery Writers of All Time, with entries for each of the best mystery writers all in one convenient document?
Check out this link to get the FREE download: "The 100 Best Mystery Writers of All Time".
It's a 233-page reference that you can read on a computer, tablet, upload to your Kindle or other favorite e-book reader, or even print a hardcopy if that's your preference.
Before You Leave ... Are You a Writer?
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Check out this link to the "Write Fiction Faster ... and better" course with 23 bite-sized video lessons, 4 worksheets, a guide, and a workbook.
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