The crime genre is now more popular than ever before – in fact crime novels and thrillers are now outselling all other fiction genres.

Its success is a testament to not only to the fantastic writers who have managed to craft intricate tales that abound with mystery and intrigue, but also to the wide variety of subgenres within the field: from classics such as the Sherlock Holmes stories to the booming true crime sector, spearheaded by Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

Here our critics offer their pick of the 20 greatest crime novels of all time.

The Woman in White (1854), Wilkie Collins

“Women can resist a man’s love, a man’s fame, a man’s personal appearance, and a man’s money, but they cannot resist a man’s tongue when he knows how to talk to them,” wrote Collins in the first great Victorian thriller."

The Complete Sherlock Holmes (1892-1927), Arthur Conan Doyle