Crime Fiction Books and Crime Fiction Book Recommendations - Fable

I think crime fiction can pave the way to human salvation. I believe it can alleviate if not eliminate most of the psychosocial and emotional issues holding us all back.
- Greg Levin

Skip to Crime book selections

What is Crime Fiction?

Crime fiction is an extremely popular literary category, encompassing a wide variety of books that explore the minds of both criminals and the people who pursue them. This can include detective stories, murder mysteries, police adventures, and mystery novels.

Crime writer Ian Rankin has published 25 novels in this category, winning awards around the world for his bestselling novels. He once explained why readers keep returning to crime fiction:

“People are interested in crime fiction because they are fascinated by the margins of the world, those places where society’s rules break down. They wonder what they would do in similar situations, how they would cope. They learn how to deal with fear and the unknown. And at the end, they have the sense that a certain justice has been seen to be done.”

What are the Top Crime Book Recommendations?

Crime stories take us to dark places, but we always return transformed after these journeys. Novelist Greg Levin believes that these books can set us free:

“I think crime fiction can pave the way to human salvation. I believe it can alleviate if not eliminate most of the psychosocial and emotional issues holding us all back, making us all miserable—even killing us.”

In that spirit of discovery and recovery, try some crime book recommendations from the Fable team!

Bluebird, Bluebird

By Attica Locke

Black Texas Ranger Darren Mathews travels up Highway 59 to the small town of Lark, where two murders have stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment.

The Big Sleep

By A dying millionaire hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, and Marlowe quickly finds himself over his head.

Raymond Chandler

Dare Me

By Megan Abbott

A crime novel set in an intensely competitive cheer squad where the raw passions of girlhood are brought to life in a taut, unflinching exploration of friendship, ambition, and power.

Swag

By Elmore Leonard

The smallest of small-time criminals, Ernest Stickley Jr. figures his luck's about to change when he meets a used car salesman with some surefire get rich quick schemes.

Discover Free Crime Novels on Fable

The crime genre is one of the oldest kinds of novels. You can read many classic crime novels for free on Fable.

Just follow these links to start reading some of the greatest crime stories of all time.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The legendary adventures of Sherlock Holmes are considered milestones in the field of crime fiction, inspiring generations of adaptations.

Poirot Investigates

By Agatha Christie

This classic collection of Agatha Christie short stories follows the famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot as he solves a series of mysteries.

The Short Fiction of Edgar Allan Poe

By Edgar Allan Poe

Poe helped found the crime and detective genres with some of his short stories like “The Gold-Bug” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.”

Whose Body?

By Dorothy L. Sayers

The first in a popular series of crime novels featuring detective Lord Peter Wimsey. There’s a good deal of humor carefully balanced against the grim reality of murder.

Join Crime book clubs on Fable

Fable is a social reading platform for book clubs. Our community members enjoy the many benefits of reading while making deeper human connections with other readers.

Fable makes it easy for crime fiction fans to share their thoughts and connect with others through Reading Clubs. With our platform, you can host every aspect of an online discussion at a single destination, to reach readers and build safe online communities regardless of location or time zone.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

In this exclusive Fable book club, you can dive into a compulsive page-turner with Pulitzer Prize-finalist Elif Batuman.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc

In this exclusive Fable book club, you can read the classic crime short stories that inspired Netflix’s amazing show, Lupin.

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