Plot: A series of murders launches a teacher on a dark sexual odyssey.

Why it's on the list: Reviewers applauded this "beautifully crafted story of obsession, sex, violation," calling it a "ferociously uninhibited erotic thriller," the pinnacle of clit lit. It was NYPD Blue with a degree in English and a minor in the Marquis de Sade. It made us wonder why so few mysteries have believable sex scenes.

Excerpt: "Put your hand there. Cup it, weigh it." He waited. "The pussy that I like, when you slip your middle finger in, it's deep, and the folds of the vagina are floppy and soaking wet. You run your middle finger up. There's no greater feeling in the world than pussy like that. Your clit is right there. It comes down to meet me. It jumps in my hand. When you touch a woman and her clit is right out there, you know that she knows about sex. You know you can get to her."