Countdown to the MysteryPeople Top 100: Meg Gardiner’s Top 20 List

Meg Gardiner’s bestselling thrillers are a great fusion of strong character and big story. Her novels are as addictive as the prose listed below. She’s as good at storytelling as her characters are at killing (and they are very good at killing). Gardiner lives in Austin, writes about California, and travels all over the world. Her Top 20 list reflects her style and influences, providing a pantheon of thrilling tales, classic and new.

1. A Stained White Radiance by James Lee Burke
2. Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
3. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
4. Without Fail by Lee Child
5. Tell No One by Harlan Coben
6. The Black Echo by Michael Connelly
7. The Coffin Dancer by Jeffery Deaver
8. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
9. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
11. F is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton
12. Stormy Weather by Carl Hiaasen
13. Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
14. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
15. Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard
16. Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
17. Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith
18. Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow
19. The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow
20. Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell

Meg will be joining the 3PM “Our Life In Crime” Panel preceding MysteryPeople’s 5th Anniversary celebrations, this Saturday, November 7th. The volumes listed above can be found on our shelves or via bookpeople.com. All volumes of our final top 100 list will be available either on our shelves or via special order.