Modern Russian authors of detective stories list. Detectives: books

Books of the 21st century are significantly different from those that were written before. Every year the world becomes different, and people, including. There are new opportunities and new challenges. There are no longer such a large number of wars on our planet, but there are wars within the person himself. All this affects art, including writers and books.

Detective stories are the most favorite topic for many readers. You will never be bored with these books. There will be brave main characters, and very cunning and resourceful villains, and intricate stories that seem completely impossible to unravel. A modern detective always combines several genres, which, intertwined with each other, create an excellent work that evokes a lot of emotions and experiences.

You can download the best modern detective stories from Russian, American, English and other authors for free and without registration on our literary portal in such formats as epub, txt, rtf, pdf, fb2. It is very convenient to read books online, saving your time.

The classic detective story has undergone changes over time, and modern writers have added their own, new, details and features. The main characters in the detective stories of the 21st century are not always brave policemen or real detectives, detectives. In books today, even housewives or ordinary people who are not connected with law enforcement agencies take up the investigation of crimes. Such books are more familiar to modern readers, because they describe the life that we face every day. In addition, everyone can feel like a detective and, perhaps, even be able to investigate some unpleasant or mysterious event in their lives.

The subject of detective stories of the 21st century is very diverse. It can be police investigations, and criminal showdowns, and political intrigues. In addition, the best Russian authors, like Daria Dontsova or Alexandra Marinina, write ironic detective stories for women. There are many funny moments and funny situations in them.

Anyone who loves books in the detective genre should also get acquainted with modern writers. On our portal you can read online the best works from both domestic and foreign authors. We have ratings of books by popularity among readers.

Downloading detectives of the 21st century for free is quite simple. You only need to go to the page of the work, select the appropriate format for your electronic device and click the appropriate button.

I made a list of your tips, it turned out to be very solid and, apparently, promising a lot of pleasure.

For those who, like me, love detective stories, I'll post it here. I would be glad if these tips are useful not only to me.

So:

1. Donald Edwin Westlake "Cursed Emerald". A masterpiece!) Sometimes you want unpredictability from a detective. None of the Donald Westlake novels I've read have been able to say, "Oh, I knew it!" or "Well, how else!" or "Yes, who would have doubted!".
http://lib.aldebaran.ru/author/uyestleik_donald/uyestleik_donald_proklyatyi_izumrud/
http://lib.ru/DETEKTIWY/UESTLEJK/
Fool died...
Dude - in consumption ...
2. J. Simenon - a series of books about Commissar Maigret. I read it just when I was very interested in detectives.
3. Erle Stanley Gardner with his hero lawyer Perry Mason. Gardner is great.
4. Wilkie Collins - "Woman in White", "Moonstone".
5. Neyo Marsh is quite a detective, but there are funny moments. Maybe not a detective in the modern sense, but it made an impression :)
6. Gorgeous J. Dickson Carr. If you find Karr, start with the Emperor's Snuffbox. Magnificent thing. That's class, that's class.
7. D. Francis
8. A. Christie
9. A. Conan Doyle
10. S. Japriso. "Lady with glasses and a gun in a car" (just high-class) and "Trap for Cinderella" (no worse, but different in atmosphere). "Killer Summer", "Goodbye Friend" - a delight. "Women's Favorite" and "Running Hare Through the Fields"
"The Executioner" is a detective story for a non-sleazy lover.
11. B. Akunin
12. Rex Stout - delicious! real jam.
13. Carter Brown - brash, brazen, humorous and very American style a certain number of years ago (Lieutenant Wheeler is a kind of Dr. House, only serving in the police))
14. Mickey Spilein,
15. D.H. Chase
16. Gaston Leroux. A little boring, IMHO.
17. Headley
18. Maurice and his Arsene Lupin.
19. John Le Carré "Our Game"
http://www.ingushetiya.ru/history/nasha_igra/
20. Dashiell Hammett
http://mydetectiveworld.ru/hemmet.html
21. Perez-Reverte - not militants with elements of a rebus
22. Victor Canning, Passed Pawn.
23. Probably also Ellery Queen. I've only read a couple of books, but my impressions are positive.
24. Chesterton
25. Alistair McLean
26. Jerzy Edigey
27. From modern Russian Malyshev. Especially her early stuff.
28. Priestley - Blackout in Gretley. You can call it a military detective.
29. Have you read Patricia Wentworth? She wrote somewhat earlier than Agatha Christie. Wentworth has a funny detective: Miss Silver is an old maid, a former governess.
30. Charles Snow - a great detective "Death under sail"? This is a very worthy detective. http://lib.ru/INPROZ/SNOW/snow.txt
31. Nora Roberts - not a classic, but something nice. There is a reflection.
32. Chandler, http://www.lib.ru/DETEKTIWY/CHANDLER/
33. Eksbrayya, http://publ.lib.ru/ARCHIVES/E/EKSBRAYYA_Sharl "/_Eksbrayya_Sh..html
34. Andras Totis, http://lib.ru/DETEKTIWY/TOTIS/
35. Ross Thomas, http://lib.aldebaran.ru/author/tomas_ross/
36. Penticost http://lib.ru/DETEKTIWY/PENTIKOST/
37. Boileau-Narsejac. "The one that was gone." And other books too.
38. Alistair McLean
39. Yu. Semenov - why not political detectives?
40. Robert Ludlem
41. Try reading Lillian Brown's The Cat Who. There are about 20 very cute classic detectives, I love them.
42. If you like historical detectives - a series of novels by Ellis Peters about Cadfael's brother.
43. There is a wonderful Phyllis Dorothy James - this is no longer a historical detective, but an ordinary one.
44. Ed McBain is a good cop novel.
45. Patricia Cornell - gloomy and naturalistic, but generally not badly written.
46. ​​Josephine Tay "Daughter of Time", etc.
47. Margaret Allingham
48. Dorothy Sayers - almost English. classic;
49. Georgette Heyer
50. Elizabeth Peters - a bit of a lady-adventure-humorous
51. Of ours, I liked Elena Afanasyeva "ne-bud-duroy.ru" and the sequels, but this is not quite a detective story.
52. Robert van Gulik is a classic detective from stylized medieval China. Super.
53. Richard Stark
54. "Conspiracy of the Papers" by David Liss. I highly recommend it to you, it's amazing. a solid English novel, but also very good as a detective story.
55. Umberto Eco "The Name of the Rose" - a medieval detective, there is both psychology and mysticism.
56. Rebecca de Mornay - psychological detectives from English life in the 19th century.
57. Valeria Verbinina - a series about the agent of the Russian empire Amalia. The action takes place in the 19th century, the heroine is a very charismatic person. There are already about ten books, but what they are good for is that each has its own genre. There is a thriller, there is an ironic, gothic and hermetic detective, there is a western, there is a treasure hunt detective. And in many of the books there are different narrators, so that the familiar heroine appears from the words of other characters - a very interesting effect.
58. From the modern detective story, I do not miss the books of Olga Tarasevich (Artifact Detective series) and Maria Briker (Reality Detective series). Tarasevich builds plots on cultural themes and biographies of famous people of the past ("The Weeping Angel of Chagall", "The Curse of Edvard Munch" - about artists, "Deadly Aroma No. 5" - about Coco Chanel and her famous perfumes). Two tenses are combined in detective stories - the crime in the present is intertwined with the events of the past and the life history of famous people. I still read her books as a cultural guide - biographies simply come to life in them, and it is written very excitingly about the work of artists or a fashion designer. Bricker's plots are quite famously twisted and the characters are very colorful.
59. Chesterton
60. E. Po
61. Forsythe
62. I advise Henning Mankel to everyone. If he made me, not a detective lover, read book after book, then this is a worthy author!
63. Well, and Benakvista and Pennak (stories about Mr. Malosen).
64. Fred Vargas and Jean-Christophe Grange - amazing French detectives. Both write very psychologically, do not come off. But Vargas is more refined, with humor, and Grange has more shocking details and hints of mysticism (but everything turns out to be more prosaic).
65. Eugene Pepperow, one of the most pleasant masters of the short detective story. I advise.
66. Victoria Platova to the list. All things except "Death in fragments of a meben vase", "Nubian cross", "Dance of Lakshmi". That's not her.
67. Mary Higgins Clark One of the best-selling detectives in America and practically unknown in Russia.
68. James Patterson.
69. Were there Weiners? How could it be without them?! Well this is our classic detective!
The most famous and read most often (and most loved):
"Visit to the Minotaur", "The Cure for Fear", "The Noose and the Stone in the Green Grass" and so on.
70. Ellery Queen. Also a classic of the genre.
Here you can read his things: http://www.2lib.ru/getbook/6251.html
"Sanatorium of death". I really liked it.
71. Anton Chizh and his "Divine Poison". This is an absolutely amazing book! It's a pity that little is known about her. In my opinion, one of the best Russian detectives over the past five years.
72. Gregory McDonald, Fletch series. Masterpiece!
73. Elizabeth George with her magnificent, dare I say it, series about Inspector Linley and Sergeant Havers. .
74. Ian Rankin and his Inspector Rebus series.
75. Jeffrey Deaver and his books about Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs.
76. Natalia Solntseva, modern author of mystical detective stories:) http://www.solntseva.com/
77. S. Rodionov, "Long business" - Soviet detective. Super!
78. Gregory MacDonald
79. Elmore Leonard.
80. There is also a good Scottish detective - Ian Rankin.
81. And my aunt writes well about maniacs (but painfully naturalistic, for an amateur) - Val McDermit.
82. Elizabeth George with her magnificent, dare I say it, series about Inspector Linley and Sergeant Havers. It's strange that she wasn't named.
83. Ian Rankin and his Inspector Rebus series.
84. Jeffrey Deaver and his books about Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs.
85. Another very popular guys in the West - Jeffrey Deaver
86. Michael Connelly
87. Lee Child
88. Harlan Coben
89. David Baldacci
90. Popular aunts - Cathy Reichs
91. Karyn Slaughter
92. Joanna Khmelevskaya. Everything is red. What the dead man said. Ancestral wells.
Although sometimes her works are called an ironic detective, she has nothing in common with Dontsova, or with all other "ironic detectives". There is a humorous wrapper, but at the core there is a real classic detective story.
Panya Vanya can be found here -
http://lib.ru/DETEKTIWY/HMELEVSKA/
93. Lev Sheinin "Notes of the Investigator". The author is painfully ambiguous, but in fact it is a detective story. Although I would rather consider it from a historical standpoint - as another look at the USSR.

If you consider modern detective stories to be frivolous literature, then you are greatly mistaken. A real detective is literature in its purest form, a mixture of top-level writing professionalism, multiplied by fantasy, but conditioned by very harsh rules of the game, since the detective is a genre, oh what a demanding one!

Few today follow the pure schemes of Agatha Christie or Raymond Chandler. The detective is increasingly becoming a field of experimentation, where the search for the killer has always been not in the first place.

Here is a selection of fresh novels that are impossible to ignore if you want to know what a top-notch modern detective looks like.

Y. Nesbe. "Police"

Norwegian writer Jo Nesbe does the really impossible on paper. He not only "did not blow away" until the tenth book in the series about detective Harry Hole, but all the time he was on the rise. And now he has published almost his best novel!

Nesbe is an exemplary Scandinavian writer whose style is renowned for its deadly brutality. Its essence is a criticism of human nature and society as such, where you are either a criminal or a victim, and if you are a victim, this does not mean that you are innocent, because everyone is guilty.

The main character is such that you don’t know whether to spit in his face or make friends forever. That is, such a popular now (with the advent of House and Dexter on the screens) kindness with an inhuman face. Nesbe, by the way, formed this genre - together with Mankell and Vale.

Detective Hole is an alcoholic whose achievements in this field are proportional to the level of professional intuition. He almost died in the previous book, which is why he decided to quit the service, the bottle, start teaching and even get married. But at the sites of long-standing unsolved crimes, one by one, the corpses of murdered police officers begin to be found. It becomes more and more clear that the killer does not take revenge, but punishes those who themselves did not punish the evil. And the best detective lectures and is not going to return.

And this is where the most interesting begins: Hole realizes that they can’t cope without him. But he also understands that along with the work, his demons will return to him ...

"Police" is a reference example of a detective story that turns into a story about a detective.

Without a doubt, this is the best detective story of the past year - today only a few can keep such tension on voluminous 600 pages with so many characters and constantly deceive even the most experienced readers. And Nesbe is definitely one of them.

Joel Dicker. "The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair"

The author of the detective story is only 27 years old. He is one of the major literary sensations of 2012: his book has received all sorts of prestigious awards, has been translated into more than 30 languages ​​and currently has millions of copies. To ignore such texts is a crime!

A very successful young, but already in a state of deep creative crisis, the writer Markus Goldman goes to his teacher and good friend, the living classic of American literature Harry Quebert in search of inspiration. But here's the problem - in the Quebert garden they find the remains of a fifteen-year-old girl who disappeared 33 years ago, and next to her in her purse is the manuscript of Harry's most famous novel, who, in turn, confesses that he had true love with the deceased. And now Marcus, who sincerely wants to help a friend and understands the full potential of a book about such an investigation, combs the American province in the hope of getting to the bottom of the truth.
What kind of postmodernist tricks are there in Pravda! In fact, this is a novel about novels and writers, a textbook on writing skills (each chapter begins with advice from the elder to the younger), the laws of which do not work in the novel itself. From a set of locations and characters that appeal to the broadest cultural background, the head is spinning!

If you want, start digging into Pravda and seek out the basics, or if you want, savor the thrilling detective story to the point of trembling, because the rules of the game are perfectly followed here: having set hundreds of traps, Dicker hides the real killer so deep in the plot that the probability of premature guessing is extremely small.

The critics are right when they consider Dicker's novel uneven, twisted and far from coherent everywhere. But he is so impudent and ambitious in a good way that, without exaggeration, he becomes the main must reed of the season.

Keith Atkinson. "Crime from the Past"

Once upon a time in England, near Cambridge, a three-year-old girl disappeared from her father's garden at night; right at the workplace, the daughter of a famous lawyer was killed, it is not clear why and for what; in one family many years ago there was a scandal that ended with the use of an ax. Different times, different families, different stories. Behind such a strange and voluminous beginning (names, details, all kinds of oddities), you don’t immediately notice when Jackson Brody appears - an ex-police inspector, now a private detective, a loser who is going through a divorce, sleeping with clients, but trying to remain honest and principled in the world filled with chaos and darkness.

It is to him that the relatives of the people who appeared in these long-standing crimes turn. So he begins a hopeless investigation. Over time, Jackson realizes that everything is connected in some incomprehensible way.

In 2010, Crimes of the Past was translated for the first time, and is now being reprinted - we took advantage of this to add the novel to our list, since many sincerely consider this detective project of the writer the best project of the decade (Stephen King, for example) and there are enough reasons for such a statement. It is on the example of this text that one can fully understand how the detective genre itself mutates in the twenty-first century.

A lot of sarcasm and irony, enough farce, eccentricity, specific humor that goes hand in hand with horror - the genre affiliation of "Crimes of the Past" may raise questions. From the classic detective here is really a bit. "Romance with a crime", "black satire on English society", "intellectual prose": there can be many definitions.

And the fact that the story is really somewhat overloaded with events (3 crimes, attempts on Brody himself, his own secrets) does not spoil the novel in any way - the mechanism works perfectly, the style is verified to the word. British literature, in a word.

Nikolay Svechin. "Warsaw Secrets"

Svechin was rightly compared with Akunin. But always over the top. Everything would have continued like this if not for the most influential Russian critic Lev Danilkin, who once decided to re-read Svechin's novels, make an interview with him, and from himself - a star, if not of the first, then definitely of a serious magnitude.

"Hunting for the Tsar", "Shot on Bolshaya Morskaya", "Bullet from the Caucasus". Indeed, where the late Akunin has buffoonery and stylization for the sake of stylization, Svechin has a first-class historical novel with a strong detective lining. The Novgorod writer's heroes are not supermen like Fandorin, but ordinary people, provincials, whose origin is an important plot-forming moment.

The author of "Secrets" sees the very element of history as a priority. Svechinsky's hero Lykov is a collegiate assessor, a nobleman in the first generation, of average mental abilities, does not know foreign languages ​​at all, which often brings him down catastrophically. But he sees evil, is not afraid and acts, and this is already a strong foundation. In Warsaw Secrets, Lykov, together with his constant boss, intends to find out the real reasons for the brutal murders of Russian officers in the Polish capital.

Jesse Kellerman. "Heat"

That infrequent case when the words from the cover exactly correspond to the essence of the book - "sun-drenched noir." It would seem that oxymoron, which should be denoted either by some stylistic chimera, or something that was not even close to the classic noir. But no - "Heat" is one of those debuts with which one can enter the history of American literature.

Los Angeles, about our time, earthquake. Thirty-five-year-old secretary Gloria goes to the office to check if the collection of figurines that her boss Carl, who, in turn, she adores, has survived. From the confused messages on the answering machine, she understands that something has happened to him, and what is impossible to understand.

But most importantly, he is somewhere in Mexico, where she goes. And there - the surreal world of a provincial town, where the only noticeable places are a funeral home and a cemetery, and people are real ghosts who run from the heat. But one should not rush to conclusions: Kellerman's novel is as much a thriller and road movie ala Castaneda as it is a full-blooded detective story. The boss is unknown where and why. He's probably not who he claims to be. And he didn't die the way she thought. The policeman who is doing this is behaving rather strangely. The son of the boss, with whom the heroine begins an affair, is not his son at all ...

And at the end there is a plot somersault, which will testify to the full power of the past, capable of returning. Yes, not a very classic detective story, or rather, not a classic one at all. Multi-genre mix, but it has the main detective components. And most importantly, it is impossible to tear yourself away from this action-packed thing until you read it to the end.

Kellerman is a 35-year-old American writer, the son of famous writers Fay and Jonathan Kellerman, not yet a cult, but already close to this status, the author, probably the best of his generation, since each of his five novels became a loud sensation.

Kellerman is one of the greatest discoveries of recent times. A writer who creates the fabric of his novels in such a professional and magical way that at some point you simply begin to enjoy the very air of literature, literature as a pure possibility. A very rare gift!

Lifehacker has collected the best detective stories from different eras: from classics of the genre to neo-noir paintings. All of them are highly rated on IMDb. Many have received prestigious awards and nominations.

  • Thriller, drama, detective.
  • USA, 1974.
  • Duration: 130 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.2.

Roman Polanski's film is about private detective Jake Gitts. A rich lady approaches him, suspecting her husband of. The detective begins an investigation, not knowing what it will turn out for him.

The film was nominated for 11 Oscars and received one statuette for best screenplay. But the Golden Globe jury and the British Film Academy did not stint on awards for Jack Nicholson (Best Actor) and Roman Polanski (Best Director).

  • Thriller, detective.
  • USA, 1954.
  • Duration: 105 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.2.

Tennis star Tony Vendis suspects that his wife has fallen in love with famous detective story writer Mark Halliday. Out of fear of losing all the money, he plots to kill his wife. Tony comes up with a detailed plan, but leaves out Holliday's excellent analytical skills.

3. Window to the courtyard

  • Thriller, detective.
  • USA, 1954.
  • Duration: 112 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.5.

The photographer breaks his leg and ends up in a wheelchair. Out of boredom, he watches the neighbors and comes to the conclusion that a murder has taken place in their house.

  • Detective thriller.
  • USSR, 1987.
  • Duration: 130 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.0.

10 strangers arrive at the estate. The owners of the house are not in place, but the butler kindly helps the guests to accommodate. He later turns on a tape of an unknown voice accusing each guest of murder.

  • Thriller, drama, detective.
  • USA, 1957.
  • Duration: 116 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.4.

Seriously ill lawyer Wilfrid Robarts is forced to stop working in court. But here his attention is attracted by a very complex criminal case. Leonard Vole is accused of murdering a close and very wealthy girlfriend. All evidence points to Leonard being the culprit. Despite the prohibitions of doctors, the lawyer takes on this losing case.

  • Terrible, detective.
  • UK, Canada, USA, 1987.
  • Duration: 113 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.3.

Private detective Harry Angel is approached by Mr. Cypher. He asks to find a man who disappeared after the war. The detective starts an investigation. And the further his search progresses, the more complicated the matter becomes.

7. Not caught - not a thief

  • Thriller, drama, detective.
  • USA, 2006
  • Duration: 129 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.6.

The perfect bank robbery is happening in downtown New York. There are no leads. But that doesn't stop Detective Frazier. He begins an investigation and soon finds out that the criminals were interested in something more than money.

  • Noir, detective.
  • USA, 1941.
  • Duration: 100 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.1.

The film noir tells the story of private detective Sam Spade, who takes part in a deadly race to recover the statuette of the Maltese falcon that has disappeared without a trace.

The film was a great success with critics and audiences. The picture was nominated for three "", and in 1989 it was included in the US National Film Registry.

  • Drama, detective.
  • USA, 1941.
  • Duration: 119 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.4.

Newspaper mogul Charles Cain dies in his mansion, having uttered the word "rosebud" before his death. To find out the meaning of the mysterious message, journalists begin an investigation and find out who Citizen Kane really was.

Orson Welles' legendary film received nine Oscar nominations, but won only one award for best original screenplay. Nevertheless, the contribution of this tape to cinema is invaluable. The American Film Institute in 1998 compiled a list AFI's 100 GREATEST AMERICAN MOVIES OF ALL TIME of the best American films, in which "Citizen Kane" was in first place.

  • Thriller, drama, detective.
  • USA, 1974.
  • Duration: 113 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.9.

A successful businessman hired Harry Cole, the best wiretapper, to follow the young couple. Usually Cole does not delve into the essence of other people's conversations, but simply does the work and transfers the data to the customer. However, this time he broke his own rule to prevent the murder.

  • Thriller, detective.
  • USA, 1985
  • Duration: 94 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.3.

The mysterious murder of Mr. Boddy takes place in the mansion. The guests deny their involvement, although each of them had a serious motive. To exonerate themselves, the suspects need to hide in the house.

  • Comedy, detective.
  • USA, 1934.
  • Duration: 91 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.1.

On Christmas Eve, the secretary of the famous inventor Vanant is found dead. The first suspect is Vanant himself, who disappears without a trace.

13. Goodbye baby, goodbye

  • Thriller, drama, detective.
  • USA, 2007.
  • Duration: 114 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.7.

A little girl goes missing in Boston. Her own aunt turns to two private investigators because the police are investigating too slowly. The detectives are reluctant to take on a case that will change their lives forever.

  • Thriller, detective.
  • UK, 1949
  • Duration: 104 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.2.

Author of novels Holly Martins comes to Vienna to meet with his old friend, and finds out that he died in an accident. The police consider the deceased a criminal and a scoundrel. Then Martins decides to conduct his own investigation in order to restore the good name of his comrade and prove that it was a murder.

15. Zodiac

  • Thriller, drama, detective.
  • USA, 2007.
  • Duration: 158 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.7.

The people of San Francisco are kept at bay by a serial killer known as the Zodiac. Local newspaper employees team up with police detectives to uncover the maniac's identity and break the chain of murders.

16. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

  • Thriller, detective.
  • USA, Sweden, Norway, 2011.
  • Duration: 153 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.8.

  • Thriller, detective.
  • USA, 1946.
  • Duration: 109 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.0.

General Sternwood's daughter is being blackmailed. Detective Marlow agrees to find the extortionists. But it is not so easy to do this: the suspects die one by one.

18. Shutter Island

  • Thriller, detective.
  • USA, 2010
  • Duration: 138 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.1.

Two marshals come to the island, where there is a psychiatric hospital for criminals. They have to investigate the escape of the patient and uncover the secrets of this dangerous place.

19. Brick

  • Detective drama.
  • USA, 2005
  • Duration: 110 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.4.

A brutal teen story about a guy named Brendan Fry. One day he meets his ex-girlfriend Emily, who soon disappears without a trace. Brendan senses something is wrong and goes looking for her.

20. Bang Kiss

  • , detective.
  • USA, 2005
  • Duration: 103 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.6.

The unlucky thief Harry Lockhart, escaping from the police, gets to the audition. The producer notices Harry and takes on the role of a detective. And to make the image convincing, the former thief is sent for an internship with the real detective Perry van Schreik. The heroes go to investigate the murder and get into comical situations.

21. Captives

  • Thriller, drama, detective.
  • USA, 2013.
  • Duration: 153 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.1.

Two little girls go missing at a neighbor's party. The police are investigating, but the only clue they have is a van parked near the home of the victims. The father of one of the girls cannot sit idly by and starts looking for his daughter on his own.

  • Thriller, drama, detective.
  • USA, 1997.
  • Duration: 138 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.3.

The neo-noir film tells the story of three detectives investigating a mass murder in a cafe. Evidence leads the police to the bandits, who die in a shootout. The case is closed, but the detectives begin to doubt that these were the same killers from the cafe.

23. Murder on the Orient Express

  • Drama, detective.
  • UK, 1974
  • Duration: 128 minutes.
  • IMDb: 7.3.

There was a murder in one of the compartments of the Trans-European Express. The train got stuck in the snow, so before the arrival of the police, the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is investigating. The case turns out to be confusing, because every passenger on the train had a motive for the murder., 2003.

  • Duration: 131 minutes.
  • IMDb: 8.1.

    • Two women are killed in the Korean outback. The police are trying to find the killer by any means. When they reach a dead end, Seoul detective Seo Tae-yoon is sent to help them.

    • Drama, detective.
    • USA, 1944.
    • Duration: 88 minutes.
    • IMDb: 8.1.

    Police Lieutenant McPherson is assigned to investigate the murder of successful entrepreneur Laura Hunt. The detective is imbued with sympathy for the deceased and decides to look into her apartment, not suspecting what awaits him there.

    • Drama, detective.
    • USA, 1967.
    • Duration: 109 minutes.
    • IMDb: 8.0.

    At a time when racial prejudice was still strong, a black and white cop gets a chance to work together. Detectives differ not only in skin color, but also in their views and methods. To successfully solve the case, the two policemen will have to learn how to work together. The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor.

    Instead of the son of a successful businessman Gondo, the criminals kidnap the child of his personal driver. Gondo faces a choice: pay the ransom and bankrupt his company, or suffer guilt for the rest of his life.

    29. Suspicious faces

    • Thriller, drama, detective.
    • USA, Germany, 1995.
    • Duration: 106 minutes.
    • IMDb: 8.6.

    Police are investigating the deaths of 27 people due to a ship explosion. In search of the truth, the investigators are helped by a surviving criminal named Chatterbox, who was going to do a little business with his friends.

    The British Academy awarded the picture with a statuette for best film, and Kevin Spacey received an Oscar for best supporting actor.

    • Drama, detective.
    • Japan, 1950
    • Duration: 88 minutes.
    • IMDb: 8.3.

    The story is set in Japan in the 11th century. The case of the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife is being investigated. The investigation has four versions of what happened. But which one to choose if every witness is sure that he is telling the truth?

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    In this selection, the best foreign detectives are books by famous authors. In the list you will find bestsellers that have become famous due to their adaptation in films and TV shows.

    Donato Carrisi. Prompter

    The main character of the novel is Mila Vasquez. She is a detective who, along with her Albert team, must search for six girls who are not related to each other in any way. The heroes managed to find a burial with five left hands, which means that the last victim can still be saved from death ... More

    The novel will tell about the police academy of Quebec, which has a bad reputation. Corruption and illegal acts of the teaching staff reign here. The protagonist is a retired senior inspector who became the head of the Academy. His name is Armand Gamache. After a map was found in the wall, Arman ordered the cadets to deal with this, but the matter took an unexpected turn. Farther

    Camilla Parker works as a journalist for a small Chicago publication. The girl was instructed to write an article about a maniac who takes the life of schoolgirls by pulling out the victims' teeth. During the investigation, it turned out that all the inhabitants of the city keep terrible secrets. Farther

    People are in mortal danger in the form of wasps, which are able to take away a human life with just one bite. With all this, they lay eggs in the bodies of their victims. To understand this, the Sigma detachment takes up the matter, because only they can prevent this terrible catastrophe that can destroy humanity. Farther

    Donato Carrisi. girl in the fog

    In the detective work "The Girl in the Fog" we will talk about the disappearance of a young lady named Anna Lu. She walked to church, but never reached her destination. To figure this out, Detective Vogel takes over the case. It was he who attracted media workers to cooperate. But will it help the investigation? Where did Anna go? Farther

    Yu Nesbo. Thirst

    Detective Harry has always sought to eliminate crime and bring order to this world. He returned to work in Oslo to catch a serial maniac preying on individuals who make a date through a dating site. This brings the hero back to his dark past. Farther

    Peter James. Jump over the abyss

    Vera Ransome is married to a plastic surgeon. They have a son, Alec. Thanks to her husband, Vera looks great, but for what reason did she have a deep depression? Perhaps it's all about the spouse, who controls every step of the missus? Farther

    Megan Miranda. All the missing girls

    Psychologist Nicoletta Farrell works in Philadelphia and is preparing for the wedding. She left her native land after the disappearance of her friend Corinna. After her brother's call, the girl returned to her father's house, because her father lost his mind, and again he talks about his missing friend. In his words, the police find new facts about the missing girl. Soon everything will be revealed, but is the heroine ready for this? Farther

    Dan Brown. Lost Symbol

    Robert Langdon is preparing to give a lecture in the Capitol's National Statue Hall when he suddenly hears a scream. Having rushed in, he sees a severed hand with a ring on a pedestal. It symbolizes the "Hand of the Mysteries". The main thing is that the owner of the hand is a longtime friend and mentor of Robert, whose name is Peter ... More

    Joel Dicker. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair

    Markus Goldman suffers from the fact that he has not been visited by the muse for a long time, so he goes to his friend, the successful writer Harry Quebert. Harry is accused of a longtime murder. Markus begins his own investigation, and unexpectedly receives advice on writing a bestseller. Farther

    Again, readers are waiting for the continuation of the adventures of detective Kormoran Strike and his assistant Robin Ellacott. This time, the heroes will be looking for a psycho who kills victims with a machete. In this book, the author will reveal the secrets of the former lives of the heroes, so the reader will be able to understand what contributed to the fact that Kormoran and Robin became such personalities. Farther

    A group of girls receives a message from their friend Kate, which is exactly the same as 17 years ago, when Kate's father died. The heroines have always been inseparable, but they got infamous because they lied to others, but did not lie to each other while playing the game. Now they must get together again to realize that the main rule of their fun has been violated. Farther

    Richard always wanted to get into the closed club of the course of ancient culture, but getting here is not so easy. Over time, his dream came true. And so, once a student of this closed club died, but the perpetrators escaped punishment. Now hard-hitting secrets are beginning to surface, turning into a series of tragedies. Farther

    Stieg Larsson. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

    For 40 years now, an elderly magnate has been worried about the secret disappearance of his relative. He asks for help from a journalist - Mikael Blomkvist, who takes on this case in order to distract himself. But when he comes close to the solution, the man's life is in danger. The investigation leads to a quiet town in which hell reigns. Farther

    Mayfly. James Hazel

    Charlie Priest is a lawyer and former police officer who was attacked in his own home. The offender demanded what the hero did not have, then the enemy left the house. Very soon they found him impaled. Charlie cannot leave the case without investigation, so he conducts his own investigation. Farther

    Jonathan Kellerman. The killer's daughter

    The main character of the novel is Grace Blades. She is a successful psychotherapist who finds an approach to each patient. The girl has a hobby - casual relationships with strangers. Everything changes when one of her patients turns out to be one of her casual lovers. He was found dead, and the police had a lot of questions for Grace. Farther

    Leanne Moriarty. Big little lies

    The book tells about three mothers whose children study in the same educational institution. Everything is safe in their families, but everyone keeps an unpleasant secret. How to overcome the difficulties that have arisen in families? What is the cause of domestic violence, misunderstandings and disrespectful behavior? Will these secrets become the subject of general attention? Farther

    Robert Bryndza. dark waters

    In this novel, Erica Foster continues her detective work. This time the heroine will deal with the case of a girl who disappeared 6 years ago. Recently found dead, Erica takes over. Gradually, new facts about the family of the deceased are revealed, and the woman herself fears for her own life ... More

    Gillian Flynn. Dark secrets

    Libby lost all her relatives at an early age, except for her brother. The girl grew up and turned into an egoist who does not take into account other people's opinions. She blamed her brother for the death of her loved ones, but is he guilty? Will Libby be able to accept the truth about the nightmarish event that happened 24 years ago? Farther

    The story will tell about a psychiatrist named Matthias Frere. His life changed after one patient suffering from the "patient without luggage" syndrome. Now the hero is forced to collect memories bit by bit in order to become what he was before. In addition, some events contributed to Matthias being accused of the murders. Farther

    These were the best foreign detectives - books from the most popular authors with a worldwide reputation. If you have already read something from our list, tell us about your impressions. 😉

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