Mysteries and thrillers are two popular genres, so I'm often asked for my recommendations for mystery and thriller books. I’ve previously written about some of my favorite mysteries and thrillers, but it’s been a few years, and it’s definitely a genre I get asked about a lot, so it seemed like it was high time for an update! Some of the authors I had just discovered in 2018 when I wrote those entries have become favorites, and I’ve discovered some new authors and books since then as well.
Repeat authors:
When I last wrote, I had only read Jane Harper’s debut novel The Dry. Since then, she has published, and I have absolutely loved, 3 more books. Force of Nature was a 5 star read and a top 10 favorite of 2018 for me, and The Lost Man and The Survivors were both 4.5 star books for me. Note that her books are literary mysteries, quieter in tone and structure, not your average psychological thriller with bonkers twists.
Tana French remains my favorite mystery writer, with her most recent book The Searcher landing on my top 10 of 2020. It's a standalone, not part of my favorite mystery series of all time the Dublin Murder Squad, and is another quiet literary mystery.
Ruth Ware continues to be a favorite thriller writer for me and an absolute must read (as are Tana French and Jane Harper), and I’ve loved all three of her books of the last few years: The Death of Mrs. Westaway, The Turn of the Key, and One by One. Her books have great atmosphere and I feel like she's very much a modern day Agatha Christie.
Megan Miranda also remains another favorite thriller author, as in addition to her first two books which I had read when I last posted, I really enjoyed her two most recent books, The Last House Guest and The Girl From Widow Hills, and looking forward to her next book coming this summer.
I also want to briefly shout out Kate Atkinson and Susie Steiner from my previous mystery list, as I enjoyed their most recent books, Big Sky and Remain Silent, respectively.
And finally, some new additions to the favorites list:
Conviction by Denise Mina - When this novel starts, main character Anna’s marriage is dissolving when she starts to listen to a true crime podcast which turns out to be about someone she knew. She has been living under a fake identity for a long time, but everything starts to unravel and she starts to investigate the crime in the podcast.
The Holdout by Graham Moore - This was a fast-paced and interesting mystery/thriller, alternating between two time periods - 2009, when a jury on a murder trial ultimately is swayed to acquit the accused by the lone holdout Maya, and 10 years later when they reunite for a documentary and one of them ends up murdered and Maya is accused of doing it. Great and different premise with lots of little twists and turns.
The Banker’s Wife *and* Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger - The Banker’s Wife is a mystery thriller about a Swiss banker who dies in a private plane crash, investigated both by his wife and a female journalist - with a pace almost like an old fashioned spy thriller, a refreshing change from the overly unreliable narrator thrillers that predominate these days. Girls Like Us is a more traditional mystery, about a FBI agent on leave from her job who gets asked to consult on a murder investigation while home for her father’s funeral. Both were well-written, satisfying page turners.
You Can’t Catch Me *and* I’ll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie - I’ve been a fan of Catherine McKenzie for a while now though I still need to catch up on a few of her earliest books, and am looking forward to her new book coming out in May as well. Somewhere along the way she went from being a contemporary women’s fiction writer to a thriller writer and her books keep getting better and better. I’ve particularly enjoyed these last two books - one about a death at a sleep away camp 20 years before, and one about stolen identity, cults, and more!
Watching You, The Family Upstairs, *and* Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell - I’ve enjoyed all three of these psychological thrillers by Lisa Jewell over the last few years, and looking forward to checking out more of her books. All 3 use alternating perspectives and jumping back and forth to build suspense.
And, in no particular order, some of the other mysteries and thrillers I’ve enjoyed the most over the last few years, all of which were 4 star reads for me:
Strike Me Down - Mindy Mejia
The Favorite Sister - Jessica Knoll
Girls Night Out - Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
Sadie - Courtney Summers
Whisper Network - Chandler Baker
The Guest List - Lucy Foley
The Night Swim - Megan Goldin
Don’t Look For Me - Wendy Walker
The Lie - CL Taylor
The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton
The Sun Down Motel - Simone St. James
The Thursday Murder Club - Richard Osman
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