The plan was to come up with a top 100 that I was prepared to stand by – but I wanted to re-read so many of the books that I might have included but now remembered too vaguely (such as Ngaio Marsh’s output or books like Tey’s hugely popular The Daughter of Time) that I thought I should publish only a partial list. Not to mention finding it a it hard to just settle on one book by Georges Simenon given the enormity of his output – I have placed a list of 80+ titles on the site and am extremely open to suggestions …
So here are My (Nearly) Top 100 Mystery Books
My list begins with Wilkie Collin’s magisterial The Woman in White …
Tipping My Fedora 
I’ve been toying around with the idea of compiling my own list of 101 favorite mystery novels and short story collections, but I still feel like I haven read nearly enough of them to make a list that not only reflects my personal taste but also represents the genre as a hole – from Edgar Allan Poe to Bill Pronzini.
But here are some suggestions that will definitely end up on my list:
Seichi Yokomizo’s The Inugami Clan (the famous Japanese detective novel), John Sladek’s Black Aura (a stunning locked room mystery on par with the best of JDC), Christianna Brand’s Green for Danger (arguably one of the best detective novels from the post-WWII era) Leo Bruce’s Case for Three Detectives (a hilarious send-up of the genre), Elspeth Huxley’s Murder on Safari (the epitome of the fair-play detective story and a great read all-around) and Kelley Roos’ The Frightened Stiff (personal favorite of mine, and, IMHO, an unsung masterpiece).
Hello TomCat and thanks very much for the excellent suggestions. I definitely plan on reviewing both of Sladek’s mystery novels which I’ve been putting aside for years but now think the time has come to sit down and enjoy them after all the nice things people have been saying about them. Brand on the other hand is an author stopped reading about 15 years ago but have about half a dozen of her works so I’ll start reading her again. I particularly liked CAT AND MOUSE and the film adaptation of GREEN FOR DANGER is an absolute classic. I have never read any books by Kelley Roos or Huxley for shame so I shall definitely take this opportunity and search for some of those.