In past issues, we’ve highlighted classic mysteries and thrillers/mystery series from some of our favorite authors.
Get ready to add a few new favorite authors to your list.
This year for Mystery Month, we’ve selected ten recently released thriller/mystery novels for your reading pleasure.
Lock your doors, keep the lights on, and put on your thinking caps, it’s mystery-solving time in This Awful Awesome Life! Enjoy!
Did You Hear about Kitty Karr? By Crystal Smith Paul – When silver screen idol Kitty Karr dies, she leaves her multi-million estate to three young wealthy Black women, the St. John sisters. The sisters are as surprised as everyone else. Elise St. John searches Kitty’s private papers for the answer and uncovers a mystery generations old and long buried crimes that threaten to destroy their family.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman – Four friends in a retirement community meet weekly to discuss unsolved crimes. When a local developer is killed the group finds themselves in the middle of a real investigation.
Then She was Gone by Lisa Jewell – Fifteen-year-old Ellie Mack is the youngest of three children in a loving family. She’s well-liked and half of one of the most popular couples at her high school. Days before Ellie is supposed to start summer vacation, she disappears without a trace. Fast-forward ten years – Ellie is still missing. Her parents are divorced and a new clue about Ellie’s disappearance has been uncovered. Ellie’s mom, Laurel, is trying to move forward. She’s dating an incredible man with three daughters. When Laurel meets Floyd’s daughters, she’s immediately shocked by how much his youngest daughter, Poppy, looks and acts like Ellie. Coincidence or something much more sinister?
The Family Across the Street By Nicole Trope – Everyone wants to live on Hogarth Street with it’s perfectly manicured lawns, beautiful homes, and exceptional neighbors. John, Katherine, and their five-year-old twins seem like the perfect fit … until they aren’t. Why do they not come to neighborhood cookouts or answer the door when their neighbors knock? The secrets they hide will change Hogarth Street forever.
The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn – Anna Fox lives alone. She hasn’t left her New York City home in years. She spends her days drinking wine and looking out the window spying on her neighbors. After a new family moves in across the street, Anna sees something she can’t unsee. Did she imagine it or did something unspeakable really happen?
Cold Lake by Jeff Carson – When a fisherman hooks a plastic bag containing a human head, sheriff David Wolf and his deputies find themselves thrust into a twenty-two-year-old cold case Wolf’s father couldn’t solve. As the lake begins to give up its secrets, bodies are discovered. Wolf realizes there has been a serial killer on the loose for over twenty years. Can he and his deputies find the person responsible before they kill again?
The Girl by the Bridge by Arnalour Indridason – When an elderly couple becomes convinced their granddaughter is smuggling drugs, they reach out to Konrad, a former Reykjavik policeman, when she mysteriously disappears. Konrad, who is still trying to identify the person(s) responsible for his father’s death, must look into the past to find the answers he’s seeking after a young girls’ death in a Reykjavik pond appears to be related to his new case and possibly his father’s murder.
I Will Find You by Harlan Coben – David Burroughs had the perfect life, a loving wife and an adorable three-year-old son named Matthew, until the night his son was murdered, while David slept in a nearby room. The grieving father is incapable of mounting a capable defense. He is wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for Matthew’s murder. Five years later his sister-in-law visits him in prison with a recent photo of a boy at an amusement park who looks incredibly like Matthew. If Matthew is still alive, who was murdered? Unable to trust anyone, David hatches a desperate plan to escape, find Matthew, and clear his name. Can he evade the FBI long enough to find his son, discover what really happened that night, and bring the real killer to justice.
The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh – Emma is living a carefully constructed lie. Her loving husband Leo and her young daughter Ruby know nothing about the woman who shares their life. When Emma suffers a life-threatening illness, Leo must prepare for the worst. He works for a newspaper writing obituaries, and he’s determined to make sure Emma’s life is properly chronicled in case she doesn’t make it. Leo’s lovingly performed research uncovers a web of lies. Emma is not the woman she claims to be. When Emma recovers, can she convince Leo her intentions were noble? Will she have to reveal all her secrets in order to save the life she’s built?
The Ambassador’s Wife by Jack Needham –When an American ambassador’s wife is murdered in Singapore, Inspector Samuel Tay’s superiors insist it is an act of terrorism unrelated to other recent deaths of Americans women traveling abroad, but Tay is not convinced. How do you unravel a mystery no one really wants you to solve?