In his Mystery Lovers Companion of 1986, Art Bourgeau uses a rating scheme of one to five daggers to indicate the quality of the work he lists and briefly describes. His highest rating, five daggers, is used to indicate “A True Classic.” These Classics (to 1960) are listed below.

Collins, Wilkie - The Woman in White (1860)

Collins, Wilkie - The Moonstone (1868)

Green, Anna Katherine - The Leavenworth Case (1878)

Hume, Fergus - The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886)

Twain, Mark - Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)

Orczy, Baroness Emmuska - The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905)

Chesterton, GK - The Man Who Was Thursday (1908)

Chesterton, GK - The Innocence of Father Brown (1911)

Bentley, EC - Trent's Last Case (1913)

Lowndes, Mrs Belloc - The Lodger (1913)

Chesterton, GK - The Wisdom of Father Brown (1914)

Buchan, John - The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915)

Morley, Christopher - The Haunted Bookshop (1919)

Christie, Agatha - The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920)

Oppenheim, E Phillips - The Great Impersonation (1920)

Milne, AA - The Red House Mystery (1922)

Buchan, John - [John McNab] (1925)

Christie, Agatha - The Mousetrap (1925)

Christie, Agatha - The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)

Biggers, Earl Derr - The Chinese Parrot (1926)

Van Dine, SS - The Canary Murder Case (1927)

Wodehouse, PG - Meet Mr Mulliner (1927)

Knox, Ronald - The Footsteps at the Lock (1928)

Van Dine, SS - The Greene Murder Case (1928)

Berkeley, Anthony - The Poisoned Chocolate Case (1929)

Hammett, Dashiell - Red Harvest (1929)

Queen, Ellery - The Roman Hat Mystery (1929)

Freeman, R Austin - Mr Pottermack's Oversight (1930)

Hammett, Dashiell - The Maltese Falcon (1930)

Roberts, Kenneth - Arundel (1930)

Sayers, Dorothy L - Strong Poison (1930)

Whitfield, Raoul - Green Ice (1930)

Beeding, Francis - Death Walks in Eastrepps (1931)

Grant, Maxwell - The Living Shadow (1931)

Grant, Maxwell - The Shadow Laughs (1931)

Iles, Francis - Malice Aforethought (1931)

Sayers, Dorothy L - Five Red Herrings (1931)

Biggers, Earl Derr - Keeper of the Keys (1932)

Snow, CP - Death Under Sail (1932)

White, TH - Darkness at Pemberly (1932)

Hilton, James - [Was it Murder?] (1933)

Masterman, JC - An Oxford Tragedy (1933)

Roberts, Kenneth - Rabble in Arms (1933)

Cain, James M - The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934)

Christie, Agatha - Murder on the Orient Express (1934)

Sayers, Dorothy L - The Nine Tailors (1934)

Stout, Rex - Fer-de-Lance (1934)

Taylor, Phoebe Atwood - The Mystery of Cape Cod Tavern (1934)

Queen, Ellery - The Chinese Orange Mystery (1934)

Wodehouse, PG - Thank You, Jeeves (1934)

Carr, John Dickson - The Three Coffins (1935)

Marsh, Ngaio - Enter a Murderer (1935)

Stout, Rex - The League of Frightened Men (1935)

White, Ethel Lina - Wax (1935)

Blake, Nicholas - Thou Shell of Death (1936)

Blake, Nicholas - The Beast Must Die (1936)

Christie, Agatha - The ABC Murders (1936)

Greene, Graham - This Gun for Hire (1936)

Roberts, Kenneth - Northwest Passage (1936)

White, Ethel Lina - The Lady Vanishes (1936)

Innes, Michael - Hamlet Revenge! (1937)

Du Maurier, Daphne - Rebecca (1938)

Forester, CS - Ship of the Line (1938)

Freeman, R Austin - The Stoneware Monkey (1938)

Innes, Michael - Lament for a Maker (1938)

Rawson, Clayton - Death from a Top Hat (1938)

Wodehouse, PG - The Code of the Woosters (1938)

Ambler, Eric - A Coffin for Demetrios (1939)

Chase, James Hadley - No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1939)

Christie, Agatha - And Then There Were None (1939)

Household, Geoffrey - Rogue Male (1939)

Paul, Elliot - The Mysterious Mickey Finn (1939)

Rawson, Clayton - Footprints on the Ceiling (1939)

Roberts, Kenneth - Oliver Wiswell (1940)

Woolrich, Cornell - The Bride Wore Black (1940)

Cain, James M - Mildred Pierce (1941)

Lockridge, Frances and Richard - A Pinch of Poison (1941)

Woolrich, Cornell - The Black Curtain (1941)

Forester, CS - Payment Deferred (1942)

Gaspary, Vera - Laura (1942)

McCloy, Helen - Cue for Murder (1942)

Queen, Ellery - Calamity Town (1942)

Woolrich, Cornell - The Black Angel (1942)

Chandler, Raymond - The Lady in the Lake (1943)

Greene, Graham - The Ministry of Fear (1943)

Crispin, Edmund - Holy Disorders (1945)

Mitchell, Gladys - The Rising of the Moon (1945)

Rogers, Joel Townsley - The Red Right Hand (1945)

Crispin, Edmund - The Moving Toyshop (1946)

Fearing, Kenneth - The Big Clock (1946)

Huggins, Roy - The Double Take (1946)

Hughes, Dorothy B - Ride the Pink Horse (1946)

Lawrence, Hilda - The Pavilion (1946)

Bardin, John Franklin - Devil Take the Blue Tail Fly (1948)

Dickson, Carter - The Skeleton in the Clock (1948)

Sherry, Edna - Sudden Fear (1948)

Spillane, Mickey - I, the Jury (1948 )

Woolrich, Cornell - Rendezvous in Black (1948)

Chandler, Raymond - The Little Sister (1949)

Crispin, Edmund - Buried for Pleasure (1949)

Queen, Ellery - Cat of Many Tails (1949)

Greene, Graham - The Third Man (1950)

Highsmith, Patricia - Strangers on a Train (1950)

Hughes, Dorothy B - In a Lonely Place (1950)

Spillane, Mickey - My Gun Is Quick (1950)

Tey, Josephine - To Love and Be Wise (1950)

Tey, Josephine - The Daughter of Time (1951)

Allingham, Margery - The Tiger in the Smoke (1952)

Macdonald, Ross - The Ivory Green (1952)

Thompson, Jim - The Killer Inside Me (1952)

Brown, Fredric - Meatball (1953)

Chandler, Raymond - The Long Goodbye (1953)

Grubb, Davis - The Night of the Hunter (1953)

Levin, Ira - A Kiss Before Dying (1953)

Stout, Rex - The Black Mountain (1954)

Thompson, Jim - A Hell of a Woman (1954)

Brean, Herbert - Wilders Walk Away (1955)

Millar, Margaret - Beast in View (1955)

Highsmith, Patricia - The Talented Mr Ripley (1956)

Robinson, Robert - Landscape for Dead Dons (1956)

Greene, Graham - Our Man in Havana (1958)

Traver, Robert - Anatomy of a Murder (1958)

Bloch, Robert - Psycho (1959)

MacDonald, Philip - The List of Adrian Messenger (1959)

Household, Geoffrey - Watcher in the Shadows (1960)