Mystery is considered one of the greatest literary genres. However, those who think that writing a book and making it exciting, entertaining, and coherent from start to finish is easy have never experienced the challenges of writing. Mystery writers are highly creative (perhaps a bit eccentric) artists with the ability to create a novel that captures and holds the reader in every sentence.

Mystery novels that hide a clue in every chapter, where each clue is significant and the reward is so satisfying, are rare; however, such works are among the classics. These eight novels not only deserve a place on a shelf; you should have them in hand right now, preferably accompanied by a drink and a free afternoon. Here are the classic mystery novels that are perfect from the first page to the last.

Edgar Allan Poe is regarded as a pioneer of the horror/mystery genre; if he isn’t the inventor, he is certainly one of the earliest examples who captivated readers and could craft a clever, somewhat tragic murder investigation. Indeed, before The Murders in the Rue Morgue, there were no fictional detectives; there was no Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, or Sam Spade. Poe's C. Auguste Dupin is the prototype for every clever and eccentric detective that followed.

In The Murders in the Rue Morgue, two women are brutally murdered in a locked room in Paris, and the police are left helpless. However, Detective Dupin, using only his powers of observation and deduction, finds both a shocking and logical solution. Rue Morgue is a short story that can be read in one sitting, but its impact is significant: the locked room mystery, the armchair detective, and the presentation of logic leading to the conclusion. The language may be a bit dense by modern standards, and Poe loves lengthy philosophical digressions, but if you want to understand where every mystery novel you love comes from, you should start with Rue Morgue.