Essential mystery/crime novels

[Zoro]

Well, I'm really interested in this genre, but I haven't read any mystery/crime novel so far so can you recommend me the essentials?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Son_of_Shadoo]

Well, obviously there's the Sherlock Holmes series, and the complete works seems to be fairly available for a reasonable price. Alternatively you have the likes of Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep is a wonderful novel.

 

[Tobes]

Step on a Crack by James Patterson is really really good

 

[kittenmay]

And Then There Were None. Agatha Christie is a prolific mystery writer - this one was my favorite as a kid