the guardian mystery book reviews

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett; West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman; Mrs Sidhu’s Dead and Scone by Suk Pannu; Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming; The North Light by Hideo Yokoyama

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett (Viper, £12.99) Bestseller Hallett ’s latest novel reunites us with the Fairway Players, the beleaguered am-dram group who featured in her debut, The Appeal. As before, young lawyers Femi and Charlotte are tasked with working out whodunnit from a bunch of emails, messages and transcripts of police interviews sent to them by their now retired pupil master, Roderick Tanner KC. Here, the source of discord is the Christmas show, Jack and the Beanstalk, with infighting over casting, logistics and scenery – the giant stem, a 40-year-old panto veteran that began its life in the West End, is rumoured to contain asbestos. Unfortunately, it also contains something else, which is gruesomely revealed during the first, and only, performance … Hallett is particularly good on small-town snobberies, rivalries and social dynamics – the splendidly snippy reactions to a boastful round robin are a highlight – and while this is a considerably slighter and less complex and emotionally engaging novel than The Appeal, there is a great deal of festive fun to be had.

West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman (Raven, £16.99 ) How much you enjoy West Heart Kill will largely depend on your appetite for the sort of metafiction that doesn’t so much break the fourth wall as crash through it in a bulldozer – to the extent that you, dear reader, become a character within its pages. There’s no doubt that this almost-too-clever-by-half American debut is very well executed indeed. The action begins with a metaphorical nod and wink as we accompany two men in a car to an exclusive country club, some time in the 1970s. One is private detective Adam McAnnis, who has been tasked by an unnamed client with looking for something “unusual or undesirable” among the privileged Wasp members, most of whom are sardonic, worldly types, given to cocktails and adultery. Much is made of the traditional “closed world” setting, with plenty of foreshadowing – a dog is run over, possibly on purpose, a storm and a power outage are forecast, and there are hints at past tragedies and financial troubles before the discovery of the first corpse. The author not only comments on his plot throughout, but also finds room for interesting disquisitions on the crime genre, which he clearly loves.

Mrs Sidhu’s Dead and Scone by Suk Pannu (HarperCollins, £16.99 ) In contrast, this debut novel is a gentle, straightforward comedy (the eponymous heroine has already appeared on radio and TV, played by Meera Syal). When widowed caterer Mrs Sidhu – Slough’s universal “Aunty”; shrewd, indomitable and very nosy – isn’t up to her elbows in brinjal bhajis, she is busy solving crimes. A mysterious phone call from self-help guru Stephen Eardly’s exclusive Benham House Retreat, followed by the discovery of murdered therapist Wendy Calman at her thatched cottage in the picturesque nearby village, sets her on the trail of the killer, to the dismay of her old adversary DCI Burton. An Asian spin on the traditional home-counties cosy with an appealing central character and a satisfying mystery, this is perfect for fans of Richard Osman .

Kennedy 35 by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins, £18.99) The third book in Cumming’s excellent Box 88 series is a time slip between the present and 1995, when protagonist Lachlan Kite, who was recruited at the age of 18 to the top-secret UK-US black ops spying agency, is sent to west Africa. With his then girlfriend, Martha, as cover, Kite’s brief is to help capture one of the genocidaires behind the massacre of more than half a million members of Rwanda’s minority Tutsi population. Augustin Bagaza is living at the titular address in Dakar, Senegal, apparently under French protection, and the mission to deliver him to The Hague to face justice goes badly wrong. Fast-forward almost three decades, and Kite is trying to patch things up with his estranged wife Isobel when he learns that someone is threatening to disclose incriminating details of the botched operation, putting lives, including Martha’s, at risk. A compelling exploration of the consequences of realpolitik and the intermingling of the personal with the political.

The North Light by Hideo Yokoyama, translated by Louise Heal Kawai (Riverrun, £22 ) Bestselling Japanese author Yokoyama’s latest novel centres on architect Minoru Aose, whose stalled career has been saved by a commission to create a home that he would want to live in, with the result, an acknowledged masterpiece, being featured in a coffee table book entitled Top 200 Homes of the Heisei Era. His clients, the Yoshino family, appear delighted with the building, but some months later Aose discovers that it remains empty, except for a single chair. Not only did the Yoshinos never move in, they seem to have disappeared altogether. This may look like a setup for a conventional mystery, and a solution is provided, but between those two points the book becomes something very different: a multilayered, offbeat, bittersweet and utterly engrossing meditation on ambition, creativity, guilt, and workplace and family relationships.

• Crime and thrillers roundup
• Crime fiction

Most viewed

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Book of the day Other Rivers by Peter Hessler review – spotlight on Generation Xi

Fiction Liars by Sarah Manguso review – searing tale of a toxic marriage

Politics books How Tyrants Fall by Marcel Dirsus review – road to revolution

Book of the day The Last Dream by Pedro Almodóvar review – fantastical fictions and candid personal curios

Tell us What have you been reading this month?

Fiction The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable review – compelling tale of Vivaldi’s musical protege

News Dozens of UK school librarians asked to remove LGBTQ+ books, survey finds

• All stories

What to read

Summer reading 50 new books to dive into

Summer reading beach books at the ready: authors pick their essential summer reads.

Paperbacks This month’s best paperbacks: Katy Hessel, Jesmyn Ward and more

Five of the best Five of the best books about Indian politics

100 best novels of all time From The Pilgrim's Progress to True History of the Kelly Gang

The 100 best books of the 21st century

Non-fiction reviews.

Education books Exam Nation by Sammy Wright review – testing times

TV and radio books Apprentice in Wonderland by Ramin Setoodeh review – how Donald Trump’s big break changed America

Society books The Abandoners by Begoña Gómez Urzaiz review – why do some mothers desert their children?

Literature books The Island: WH Auden and the Last of Englishness review – a deep dive into the poet’s early years

Biography books Survival Is a Promise by Alexis Pauline Gumbs review – a cosmic perspective on Audre Lorde

Music books And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music by Joe Boyd review – the Proust of music

Autobiography and memoir Earth to Moon by Moon Unit Zappa review – rock and a hard place

Fiction & poetry reviews.

Fiction The Voyage Home by Pat Barker review – a gritty Greek game of thrones

Crime and thrillers roundup The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

Fiction Yr Dead by Sam Sax review – comedy and darkness in an inventive debut novel

Fiction The Life Impossible by Matt Haig review – a journey of rediscovery

Fiction Wife by Charlotte Mendelson review – married to a monster

Short stories concerning the future of souls: 99 stories of azrael by joy williams review – brilliantly deadpan.

Fiction Phantom Limb by Chris Kohler review – an unusual debut

Children's and ya books.

Children's book roundup Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels

Children and teenagers children’s and teens roundup – the best new chapter books.

Interview Author Mark Haddon: ‘Bodies are such a good source of drama’

Interview Novelist Kate Atkinson: ‘I do feel a need to prove myself’

Interview Sarah Manguso: ‘I seem to have hit on a cultural sore spot’

Interview Elif Shafak: ‘As a writer in Turkey, you can be attacked, put on trial, imprisoned’

Interview Historian Richard J Evans: ‘I’m planning to write a book about pandemics next. I’ve had enough of Nazis’

Interview pat barker and benjamin myers in conversation: ‘i’m absolutely intolerable when i’m not writing’.

Interview Mick Herron: ‘Most people didn’t know I was writing – I was a secretive kind of writer’

The books of my life Jamaica Kincaid: ‘Don’t get me started on the New Testament, that celebrity magazine’

Big idea The big idea: are we all beginning to have the same taste?

Where to start with Where to start with: James Baldwin

You may have missed.

Janet Frame From poverty, psychiatric hospital and writing in a shed to literary stardom: Janet Frame at 100

Feature The curious incident of the author who couldn’t read or write: Mark Haddon on long Covid and overcoming five years of brain fog

Festival funding The future of UK literary festivals: ‘There is no magic fairy’

Feature ‘A spy in the land of the privileged’: why Eve Babitz’s cult Hollywood memoir still matters 50 years on

Most viewed, most viewed in books, most viewed across the guardian, ‘we all read like hell’ how ireland became the world’s literary powerhouse, how tyrants fall by marcel dirsus review – road to revolution, liars by sarah manguso review – searing tale of a toxic marriage, dozens of uk school librarians asked to remove lgbtq+ books, survey finds, other rivers by peter hessler review – spotlight on generation xi, i wag, therefore i am: the philosophy of dogs, the fellowship of the ring reviewed: ‘epic romance’ – archive, 1954, the 100 best books of the 21st century, all cheeses great and small: a life less blurry by alex james – review, in my youth, judaism and zionism felt synonymous. now the american jewish consensus has collapsed, live russia-ukraine war live: large drone attack on moscow as kursk incursion continues, bennifer is over – again. but why does ben affleck and jennifer lopez’s divorce feel so sad, how did ‘rawdogging’ become part of polite conversation, trump calls his supporters ‘basement dwellers’, says former press secretary, ‘america is ready for a better story’: barack obama lauds kamala harris in rousing speech, live sicily yacht sinking: cabin located but access blocked by furniture as search efforts continue – updates, jennifer lopez files for divorce from ben affleck after two years of marriage, canada’s conservatives criticised over ‘our home’ video featuring scenes from us, uk and serbia, a moment that changed me: i had a drunken idea to start a music festival – so i sold my house, ‘it felt shameful’: the profound loneliness of modern motherhood.

• Autobiography and memoir
• Biography books
• Music books
• Children and teenagers

Associated Press Book Review: A retired small-town cop searches for missing girls in William Kent Krueger’s mystery

Cork O’Connor, whose wife is a full-blooded Ojibwe and who is half Native American himself, retired from his job as Aurora, Minnesota, police chief a while back. He now runs a fast-food place, but when trouble comes to Minnesota’s Great North, Cork still is apt to end up in the middle of it.

In “Spirit Crossing,” William Kent Krueger’s 20th novel featuring Cork, there’s trouble aplenty.

For starters, the daughter of an influential politician is missing, and the FBI, state law enforcement agencies and the press are all over it. Oil pipeline construction is about to intrude on the wetlands of Spirit Crossing, an area sacred to the Native Americans, and the protesters and counter-protesters are gathering.

Meanwhile, Cork’s daughter, Annie, who worked as an aide worker in Central America for years, has just returned home. With her, she’s brought a Guatemalan nurse named Maria and a shattering secret she is reluctant to reveal to anyone.

The action begins innocently when Cork leads several members of his large family, including his 7-year-old grandson Waaboo (Little Rabbit) to a secret blueberry patch near an abandoned shack in the woods. As they near the patch, Waaboo discovers a shallow grave and says he can hear a sad girl’s spirit calling to him.

FBI and state law enforcement agencies descend, seizing control and ordering local authorities not to interfere. But when the body ends up being that of a Native American girl, they lose interest.

The investigation falls to Cork’s successor, Aurora Police Chief Marsha Dross, who enlists Cork and the Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police. Soon they discover more bodies of Native American girls, Cork suspects they may be connected to the missing white girl, suspicion falls on pipeline workers, and someone fearful of Waaboo’s visions targets him for murder.

Krueger has no Native American blood himself, but as usual, he treats native culture and mysticism with understanding and respect. His prose and character development are superb, and his vivid descriptions bring Minnesota’s north woods to life.

“Spirit Crossing” returns to three of the author’s familiar themes: the rape of the natural world in the pursuit of profit, the mistreatment of Native Americans, and, with emphasis this time, that thousands of Native American women and girls are missing and not much ever seems to be done about it.

The author puts this thought in the mouth of one of Cork’s relatives: “To be an Indian is to walk with loss. It goes before us and it follows us. It is our shadow self.”

Bruce DeSilva,  winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

Upcoming Events Near You

Lunch at the hub/sr. center, sing -along, 2024-2025 back to school supply drive, free poetry workshop featuring poet emily august, northwoods quilts gallery exhibition, youth mental health first aid training, boreal ship spotter - larger view here, aurora borealis forecast.

Boreal Community Media

• Entertainment

How We Chose the 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time

A dead body is found at the bottom of the stairs. A child is kidnapped. A wife vanishes without a trace. What happened? Who did it? And, perhaps most importantly, why? These are the questions that guide mystery and thriller books—and it’s the process of uncovering the answers that makes the genre so engaging. These are the novels that invite readers to investigate alongside hard-boiled detectives, aspiring sleuths, and hapless husbands, among others. In this world, anyone can be a hero or a villain. 

Which is why TIME set out to create a definitive list of the English language’s 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time . We began in early 2023 by recruiting leading authors to sit on our panel: Megan Abbott, Harlan Coben, S.A. Cosby, Gillian Flynn, Tana French, Rachel Howzell Hall, and Sujata Massey. This group joined TIME staff in nominating the top books of the genre and rating more than 250 nominees on a scale. (Panelists did not put forward their own work.) Using the responses, TIME editors created a ranking, then evaluated each finalist, as well as additional titles, based on key factors including plot payoff, suspense, ambition, originality, critical and popular reception, and influence on the mystery and thriller genre and literature more broadly.

The resulting list features books that came out as long ago as 1860 and as recently as 2022, were originally published in 15 different countries, and are written by 100 distinct authors—no single writer’s work appears more than once. Taken together, the list celebrates books that offer a chance to escape, but also to interrogate the darkest parts of humanity—to become engrossed in these stories is to enter worlds both familiar and foreign, to put together the pieces of a perplexing plot, to think critically about what it means to be good and what it takes to be bad, and all that exists in the messy in-between.

In her introduction to the project , panelist and best-selling author Tana French reminds us of the genre’s impact, especially in increasingly turbulent times. “In a world that can often be chaotic and reasonless, we need these stories,” she writes. “We need to believe that sometimes things can fit together and make sense, even when that seems impossible; that someday our crisis will end and we’ll be able to leave it behind.”

Read More: Why Mystery Books Are So Satisfying

To catalog the best mystery and thriller books of all time means considering the history and evolution of the genre. The invention of the modern mystery is widely attributed to Edgar Allen Poe, who established many of the conventions we associate with detective stories—from the genius, amateur sleuth to the friendly narrator—when he published the 1841 short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Crime and suspense were present in fiction before Poe, but it was his series of tales featuring eccentric investigator C. Auguste Dupin that originally emphasized solving a mystery by gathering evidence. Since Poe primarily wrote short stories and poems, none of his titles are included on this list of novels. But his influence on the development of the literary mystery is evident in every selection. 

In 1860, Wilkie Collins published what is considered the first mystery novel, The Woman in White . The genre took off from there, progressing from the early detective stories of the 19th century (in which a sleuth solved a crime using logic and reason), to the so-called golden age of detective fiction of the interwar era (in which the “whodunnit” subgenre gained popularity), to the hardboiled crime heyday of the 1930s to the 1950s (featuring protagonists with especially steely exteriors), and beyond. Each of these periods saw the rise of their own respective mystery masters, from Arthur Conan Doyle to Agatha Christie to Raymond Chandler .

For the purposes of this list, TIME defined mysteries and thrillers as books that center on an unsolved crime or threatening circumstance, and the person or people determined to solve or prevent it. With those guidelines in mind, we also contended with the fact that the genre is wide-ranging, covering everything from classic noir to police procedural to cozy mystery to modern thriller—a subset whose notable rise is reflected in its strong presence on this list. 

The origins of the literary thriller can be traced back to ancient texts like The Odyssey , The Epic of Gilgamesh , and The Arabian Nights , while 19th-century works like James Fenimore Cooper’s 1821 Revolutionary War novel The Spy and Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 revenge classic The Count of Monte Cristo laid the groundwork for the modern form. Contemporary, domestic thrillers became especially popular in the 2010s with Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl , a masterclass in the art of unreliable narration which followed the dissolution of a seemingly perfect marriage and set off a wave of copycats.

While working to create a list that reflects trends throughout this history, we also strove to contend with the stories that have been less represented in mainstream publishing. Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, mystery books have long been dominated by white authors telling stories that center white characters. The genre, like the rest of the industry, has become more inclusive in recent years, but as panelist and best-selling author Rachel Howzell Hall argues in her essay for this project , there’s still a long way to go. “Publishing and marketing more diverse writers will help the world of books become richer, fuller,” she writes. “If you agree, pull up a chair. We got a bunch of stories to tell.”

More Must-Reads from TIME

• Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
• Heman Bekele Is TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year
• The Reintroduction of Kamala Harris
• A Battle Over Fertility Law in China
• For the Love of Savoring Sandwiches : Column
• The 1 Heart-Health Habit You Should Start When You’re Young
• Cuddling Might Help You Get Better Sleep
• The 50 Best Romance Novels to Read Right Now

Write to Annabel Gutterman at [email protected] and Megan McCluskey at [email protected]

Book Review: A retired small-town cop searches for missing girls in William Kent Krueger’s mystery

William Kent Krueger returns to his favorite themes, the mistreatment of Native Americans and the rape of the natural world for profit, in his new mystery, “Spirit Crossing.”

Cork O’Connor, whose wife is a full-blooded Ojibwe and who is half Native American himself, retired from his job as Aurora, Minnesota, police chief a while back. He now runs a fast-food place, but when trouble comes to Minnesota’s Great North, Cork still is apt to end up in the middle of it.

In “Spirit Crossing,” William Kent Krueger’s 20th novel featuring Cork, there’s trouble aplenty.

For starters, the daughter of an influential politician is missing, and the FBI, state law enforcement agencies and the press are all over it. Oil pipeline construction is about to intrude on the wetlands of Spirit Crossing, an area sacred to the Native Americans, and the protesters and counter-protesters are gathering.

Meanwhile, Cork’s daughter, Annie, who worked as an aide worker in Central America for years, has just returned home. With her, she’s brought a Guatemalan nurse named Maria and a shattering secret she is reluctant to reveal to anyone.

The action begins innocently when Cork leads several members of his large family, including his 7-year-old grandson Waaboo (Little Rabbit) to a secret blueberry patch near an abandoned shack in the woods. As they near the patch, Waaboo discovers a shallow grave and says he can hear a sad girl’s spirit calling to him.

FBI and state law enforcement agencies descend, seizing control and ordering local authorities not to interfere. But when the body ends up being that of a Native American girl, they lose interest.

The investigation falls to Cork’s successor, Aurora Police Chief Marsha Dross, who enlists Cork and the Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police. Soon they discover more bodies of Native American girls, Cork suspects they may be connected to the missing white girl, suspicion falls on pipeline workers, and someone fearful of Waaboo’s visions targets him for murder.

Krueger has no Native American blood himself, but as usual he treats native culture and mysticism with understanding and respect. His prose and character development are superb, and his vivid descriptions bring Minnesota’s north woods to life.

“Spirit Crossing” returns to three of the author’s familiar themes: the rape of the natural world in the pursuit of profit, the mistreatment of Native Americans, and, with emphasis this time, that thousands of Native American women and girls are missing and not much ever seems to be done about it.

The author puts this thought in the mouth of one of Cork’s relatives: “To be an Indian is to walk with loss. It goes before us and it follows us. It is our shadow self.”

Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

Trending Reader Picks

Book Review: Moon Unit Zappa memoir rides messy legacy of father's genius on journey to self-love

• Aug 19, 11:39 AM

Chappell Roan addresses fans' 'creepy behavior'

• Aug 20, 10:47 AM

Movie Review: In 'Between the Temples,' Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane make beautiful music

• Aug 19, 1:46 PM

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer discusses Harris-Walz ticket

• Aug 20, 5:52 PM

Jools Lebron makes demure late night appearance

• Aug 20, 1:59 PM

ABC News Live

24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Your subscription makes our work possible.

We want to bridge divides to reach everyone.

Deepen your worldview with Monitor Highlights.

Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads .

Senior sleuths step in to solve the crime in ‘The Thursday Murder Club’

With wry British humor, and a cast of intrepid retirees, Richard Osman’s delightful mystery caper offers surprising depth.   

• By Rochelle O’Gorman Correspondent

September 22, 2020

Older people are more often portrayed as crime victims than crime solvers, even in the genre of cozy mysteries. Richard Osman’s “The Thursday Murder Club” turns that stereotype on its head with a droll tale of four septuagenarians who meet weekly to solve cold cases culled from the files of a retired police detective.  

The group includes a psychiatrist, a nurse, a union organizer, and a woman who did something mysterious in intelligence. All four live at Coopers Chase, an upscale retirement community on the grounds of a former convent in the English countryside. It’s a place with a superior restaurant, Pilates classes, lovely views, and a treasure-trove of hidden secrets.

We first meet this bunch as they discuss cold cases, but soon the four are involved in solving the murder of the establishment’s developer, drawing the local police detectives into their efforts to find the culprit. Using their specialized knowledge and skills, they manage to unearth serious malfeasance while skating just on the inside edge of the law. The occasional memory lapse aside, they prove themselves capable of (sometimes literally) digging up clues where the actual detectives would not think to look.

Their efforts are helped by Donna, a police constable who fled London with a broken heart and spends most of her time giving talks about security to pensioners or making tea for the lads at the station. The Thursday Murder Club puts her talents to better use and soon she is sharing bits of information with the group, which is reciprocated. 

The bodies begin to pile up when another of the retirement community’s owners is murdered and a possible homicide from decades earlier is uncovered. The plot sometimes gets a bit fussy, but Osman detangles the interwoven strands as the crimes are solved, even if a few incidents remain deliberately hidden by the senior sleuths.

Humor is everywhere, and it is very British – smart and a little prickly – but it would not be lost on an American audience.

The wit and the plot will bring readers back for more of this series, but what is truly memorable is the kindness and respect with which these friends treat one another and those they encounter. They have lived long lives, and they know that you can get a lot of mileage out of a cup of tea, a good lemon drizzle cake, and young people’s assumptions that older folks are a bit doddering. Of course, Donna, her partner, and the detective chief inspector fall for that trap only once, but it is a feint that comes in handy while collecting clues from unsuspecting suspects.

What surprises are the bittersweet moments, the more somber scenes dealing with aging and death and outliving partners and friends. After one such evening, one of the four “walks out into the darkness. A quiet, cloudless night. A night so dark you think you might never see morning again.”

“The Thursday Murder Club” is a mystery, but it can also be seen as a novel about friendship and longing and coming to terms with who we are, making it much more substantive than your average whodunit.

Help fund Monitor journalism for $11/ month

Already a subscriber? Login

Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. We believe news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow conventional expectations.

Our work isn't possible without your support.

Unlimited digital access $11/month.

Digital subscription includes:

• Unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
• CSMonitor.com archive.
• The Monitor Daily email.
• No advertising.
• Cancel anytime.

Related stories

Review ‘conviction’ is everything you could want from a mystery book, review ‘a better man’ shows louise penny at her compelling best, review ‘the city we became’ turns new york’s boroughs into multiracial avatars, share this article.

Link copied.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

Subscription expired

Your subscription to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. You can renew your subscription or continue to use the site without a subscription.

Return to the free version of the site

If you have questions about your account, please contact customer service or call us at 1-617-450-2300 .

This message will appear once per week unless you renew or log out.

Session expired

Your session to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. We logged you out.

No subscription

You don’t have a Christian Science Monitor subscription yet.

• Kindle $5.99
• Paperback See all buying options

Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC

Customers who bought from this series also bought

Explore more in similar genres

Report an issue with this series

Is this series page incomplete or incorrect? Tell us.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

No customer reviews

MARY JANE FORBES in Who’s Who in America

Mary Jane has penned over 30 novels, COZY, ROMANCE, MYSTERY and SUSPENSE genres.

As an author, Mary Jane’s goal is to entertain, to transport the reader away from the stress of the day—at times to shed a tear, to add a chuckle, and always to set your heart racing.

Fodder for her books comes from news stories—cybercrime to tiny houses, the stock market to bitcoins, cookie baking contests to terrorists. But, digging deeper, Mary Jane’s stories are about relationships, and family.

Visit Mary Jane on MaryJaneForbes.com

• About Amazon
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell products on Amazon
• Sell on Amazon Business
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Become an Affiliate
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Make Money with Us
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Amazon and COVID-19
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices

• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

• Craft and Criticism
• Fiction and Poetry
• News and Culture
• Lit Hub Radio
• Reading Lists

• Literary Criticism
• Craft and Advice
• In Conversation
• On Translation
• Short Story
• From the Novel
• Bookstores and Libraries
• Film and TV
• Art and Photography
• Freeman’s
• The Virtual Book Channel
• Behind the Mic
• Beyond the Page
• The Cosmic Library
• The Critic and Her Publics
• Emergence Magazine
• Fiction/Non/Fiction
• First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing
• The History of Literature
• I’m a Writer But
• Lit Century
• Tor Presents: Voyage Into Genre
• Windham-Campbell Prizes Podcast
• Write-minded
• The Best of the Decade
• Best Reviewed Books
• BookMarks Daily Giveaway
• The Daily Thrill
• CrimeReads Daily Giveaway

The Best Reviewed Mystery and Crime Books of 2022

Featuring fernanda melchor, robert harris, john darnielle, don winslow, and more.

We’ve come to the end of another bountiful literary year, and for all of us review rabbits here at Book Marks, that can mean only one thing: basic math, and lots of it.

Yes, using reviews drawn from more than 150 publications, over the next two weeks we’ll be calculating and revealing the most critically-acclaimed books of 2022, in the categories of (deep breath): Fiction ; Nonfiction ; Memoir and Biography ; Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror ; Short Story Collections ; Essay Collections; Poetry; Mystery and Crime; Graphic Literature ; and Literature in Translation .

Today’s installment: Mystery and Crime .

Brought to you by Book Marks , Lit Hub’s “Rotten Tomatoes for books.”

1. Paradais by Fernanda Melchor, trans. by Sophie Hughes (New Directions)

18 Rave • 6 Positive

“ Paradais is both more compact and more cogent [than Hurricane Season ]. Rhythm and lexis work in tandem to produce a savage lyricism. The translator Sophie Hughes marvellously matches the author in her pursuit of a new cadence … From its first sentence, in fact, Paradais feels rhythmically propelled towards a violent climax. Full stops occur rarely enough to seem meaningful, Melchor using long lines of unbroken narrative to reel in her terrible ending … The author wants to understand the violence, not merely condemn it … The novel’s language, meanwhile, is both high-flown and street-smart, strewn with Veracruzian slang, the odd made-up word and many eye-watering expletives … Pressure builds remorselessly to a dreadful climax. It is an extraordinary feat of control, making Fernanda Melchor’s exceptional novel into a contemporary masterpiece.”

–Miranda France ( Times Literary Supplement )

2. Devil House by John Darnielle (MCD)

14 Rave • 8 Positive • 2 Mixed Listen to a conversation with John Darnielle here

“… terrific: confident, creepy, a powerful and soulful page-turner. I had no idea where it was going, in the best possible sense … The thing about Darnielle’s writing, in all its forms, is this: If you’re that dorky outcast kid drawing a pentagram on the back page of your three-ring binder in algebra class, not because you want to drink anyone’s blood but because you think it’s cool, he sees you. His novels are in close contact with the alternative cultural universes of fantasy and the occult and science fiction, yet they don’t resemble genre fiction. They’re earthy and fly low to the ground. They are plain-spoken and in no hurry … Devil House …[is] never quite the book you think it is. It’s better.”

–Dwight Garner ( The New York Times )

3. Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (Harper)

14 Rave • 5 Positive

“Gripping … A belter of a thriller. It will be compulsive reading for those who loved An Officer and a Spy , Harris’s book about the Dreyfus affair. Like that novel, the research is immaculate. A chewy, morally murky slice of history is made into a tale that twists and surprises. The characters are strong and we care about their predicament. The story stretches over continents and years, but the suspense feels as taut as if the three main characters were locked in a room with a gun.”

–Antonia Senior ( AirMail )

4. City on Fire by Don Winslow (William Morrow)

14 Rave • 4 Positive Read an interview with Don Winslow here

“Winslow…brings his sharp interpretive skills to Virgil’s Aeneid, and makes the events at Troy and the founding of Rome into a riveting gangster tale. He makes me wonder why I had never before seen the Trojan War as the obvious fight between rival criminal gangs … In City of Fire, he returns to his New England roots for this new classic he says took him decades to write … Winslow is a master of pacing. Action and erotic sequences fire the adrenaline, while tender scenes feel languid and warm. He shades the relationship between men and women in noir tones. Tough guys don’t always get their way. Noir women are wicked smart, and press their advantages against how men’s low assumptions of women make them weak … Winslow has been lauded for the ways that his previous crime novels confront social issues. He has interrogated the ways that borders work between us, that we’re weak at the border when we build insurmountable walls to shore them up. One that runs under the surface of Winslow’s novel is that it’s not just the faults of individuals that cause these men to fail. But here, rigid definitions of who gets to belong in ‘our thing’ create fatal weaknesses among them. The refusal to think outside their constricted notions of masculinity and honor hobbles them.”

–Lorraine Berry ( The Boston Globe )

5. Bad Actors by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

9 Rave • 4 Positive Listen to an excerpt from Bad Actors here

“Herron’s plots are masterpieces of convolution and elegant wrong-footing. Beyond that, his action scenes are fast-paced and thrilling—there are a couple of high-octane doozies in this installment. But the real draw of the series is its dark, dark humor. Much of it is interpersonal, but the most biting of all concerns the state of Britain, a country beset by Brexit, COVID and incompetent, if mercenary, leadership … If there is bad news, it is that you really should have read some of the previous Slough House novels in order to get a handle on this party of rejects, their histories and capabilities. Further, if you are a veteran of the series, you may have become a little weary of Jackson Lamb’s extravagant foulness and his habit of magicking cigarettes and even himself out of nowhere. That said, this is still one of the most enjoyable series I have ever read.”

–Katherine A. Powers ( The Star Tribune )

6. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman Books)

9 Rave • 5 Positive • 1 Pan

“Osman concocts a satisfyingly complex whodunit full of neat twists and wrong turns. But unlike most crime novelists, he ensures his book’s strength and momentum stem not from its plot or its thrills but rather its perfectly formed characters. Once again, the quartet of friends makes for delightful company … If there is fault to be found it is a recurring one throughout the series—namely that Osman’s two men have less to do than his two women, and as a result feel like extras around the main double-act. But what a double-act … What could have been twee and uninvolving is in fact heartwarming and enthralling. ‘They carried a kind of magic, the four of them,’ a policeman muses. That magic is still there in abundance.”

–Malcolm Forbes ( The Washington Post )

7. Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan (Pegasus)

9 Rave • 2 Positive • 1 Mixed • 1 Pan

“. deliciously weird … Fagan once again examines the way people are affected by unhealthy spaces … she writes about placement and displacement with an arresting mix of insight and passion … Fagan tests each floor of No. 10 Luckenbooth as though she’s playing a literary version of Jenga, drawing out one block after another from this unstable structure … a muffled scream—with a feral melody and a thundering bass line. Her prose has never been more cinematic. This story’s inexorable acceleration and its crafty use of suggestion and elision demonstrate the special effects that the best writers can brew up without a single line of Hollywood software—just paper, ink and ghosts.”

–Ron Charles ( The Washington Post )

8. The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (St. Martin’s Press)

7 Rave • 2 Positive • 3 Mixed

“An ingenious new psychological suspense novel that concocts an elaborate backstory behind Christie’s disappearance … Here’s the neatest narrative trick of all: As Christie characteristically did, de Gramont hides the solution to the mystery of The Christie Affair in plain sight … The Christie Affair is richly imagined; inventive and, occasionally, poignant; and about as true-to-life as Christie’s own tales of quaint villages with their staggering murder rates. But when fabrications are this marvelous, why demand realism?”

–Maureen Corrigan ( The Washington Post )

9. Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner (William Morrow)

7 Rave • 2 Positive • 2 Mixed

“It’s a pulpy, expansive crime novel that feels of a piece with Mann’s filmography, from its hypercompetent, ambitious characters to the richly detailed underworlds they operate in … At times, Mann and Gardiner use the prequel portion of the book to directly explain the origins of iconic moments from the film, but even those instances tend to feel motivated by the story rather than like cheap ploys to get readers to do the Leo pointing meme … part of the fun of Heat 2 lies in watching its authors pull ideas and tiny details from across Mann’s entire filmography … Heat 2 , though, paints complete enough portraits of its characters to allow you to imagine them separately from the stars who played them, making a film adaptation with new actors easier to imagine.”

–Chris Stanton ( Vulture )

10. An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy (Viking)

6 Rave • 3 Positive • 2 Mixed Listen to an interview with Dwyer Murphy here

“Like the best noir practitioners, Murphy uses the mystery as scaffolding to assemble a world of fallen dreams and doom-bitten characters … Murphy’s hard-boiled rendering of the city is nothing short of exquisite. It’s a landscape of reeking garbage, of salty rain sweeping off the ocean, of Midtown towers that look ‘ghostly like a mountain range,’ … For anyone who wants a portrait of this New York, few recent books have conjured it so vividly. For those who demand a straightforward mystery without any humor, romance and ambience, well, forget it, Jake, it’s literature.”

–Christopher Bollen ( The New York Times Book Review )

Our System:

RAVE = 5 points • POSITIVE = 3 points • MIXED = 1 point • PAN = -5 points

• Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)

Previous Article

Next article, support lit hub..

Join our community of readers.

to the Lithub Daily

Popular posts.

The 10 Best Cookbooks of 2022 for Everyone on Your Holiday List

• RSS - Posts

Literary Hub

Created by Grove Atlantic and Electric Literature

Sign Up For Our Newsletters

How to Pitch Lit Hub

Advertisers: Contact Us

Privacy Policy

Support Lit Hub - Become A Member

Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member : Because Books Matter

For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall. But our future relies on you. In return for a donation, you’ll get an ad-free reading experience , exclusive editors’ picks, book giveaways, and our coveted Joan Didion Lit Hub tote bag . Most importantly, you’ll keep independent book coverage alive and thriving on the internet.

Become a member for as low as $5/month

Book Review: A retired small-town cop searches for missing girls in William Kent Krueger’s mystery

The Associated Press

August 19, 2024, 1:20 PM

• Share This:
• share on facebook
• share on threads
• share on linkedin
• share on email

Cork O’Connor, whose wife is a full-blooded Ojibwe and who is half Native American himself, retired from his job as Aurora, Minnesota, police chief a while back. He now runs a fast-food place, but when trouble comes to Minnesota’s Great North, Cork still is apt to end up in the middle of it.

In “Spirit Crossing,” William Kent Krueger’s 20th novel featuring Cork, there’s trouble aplenty.

For starters, the daughter of an influential politician is missing, and the FBI, state law enforcement agencies and the press are all over it. Oil pipeline construction is about to intrude on the wetlands of Spirit Crossing, an area sacred to the Native Americans, and the protesters and counter-protesters are gathering.

Meanwhile, Cork’s daughter, Annie, who worked as an aide worker in Central America for years, has just returned home. With her, she’s brought a Guatemalan nurse named Maria and a shattering secret she is reluctant to reveal to anyone.

The action begins innocently when Cork leads several members of his large family, including his 7-year-old grandson Waaboo (Little Rabbit) to a secret blueberry patch near an abandoned shack in the woods. As they near the patch, Waaboo discovers a shallow grave and says he can hear a sad girl’s spirit calling to him.

FBI and state law enforcement agencies descend, seizing control and ordering local authorities not to interfere. But when the body ends up being that of a Native American girl, they lose interest.

The investigation falls to Cork’s successor, Aurora Police Chief Marsha Dross, who enlists Cork and the Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police. Soon they discover more bodies of Native American girls, Cork suspects they may be connected to the missing white girl, suspicion falls on pipeline workers, and someone fearful of Waaboo’s visions targets him for murder.

Krueger has no Native American blood himself, but as usual he treats native culture and mysticism with understanding and respect. His prose and character development are superb, and his vivid descriptions bring Minnesota’s north woods to life.

“Spirit Crossing” returns to three of the author’s familiar themes: the rape of the natural world in the pursuit of profit, the mistreatment of Native Americans, and, with emphasis this time, that thousands of Native American women and girls are missing and not much ever seems to be done about it.

The author puts this thought in the mouth of one of Cork’s relatives: “To be an Indian is to walk with loss. It goes before us and it follows us. It is our shadow self.”

Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Related News

Here are all of the celebrities at the Democratic convention’s starry roll call

Shiloh Jolie, daughter of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, officially drops Pitt surname

James Patterson, Tamron Hall, Max Greenfield headline Library of Congress’ National Book Festival

Recommended.

Suspect in custody after fatally shooting man inside Gold's Gym in Reston

WATCH: The Obamas cap off Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention

Trial date set for man accused of trying to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh

Related categories:.

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Auto Racing
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Book Review: A retired small-town cop searches for missing girls in William Kent Krueger’s mystery

This cover image released by Atria shows “Spirit Crossing” by William Kent Krueger. (Atria via AP)

• Copy Link copied

Cork O’Connor, whose wife is a full-blooded Ojibwe and who is half Native American himself, retired from his job as Aurora, Minnesota, police chief a while back. He now runs a fast-food place, but when trouble comes to Minnesota’s Great North, Cork still is apt to end up in the middle of it.

In “Spirit Crossing,” William Kent Krueger’s 20th novel featuring Cork, there’s trouble aplenty.

For starters, the daughter of an influential politician is missing, and the FBI, state law enforcement agencies and the press are all over it. Oil pipeline construction is about to intrude on the wetlands of Spirit Crossing, an area sacred to the Native Americans, and the protesters and counter-protesters are gathering.

Meanwhile, Cork’s daughter, Annie, who worked as an aide worker in Central America for years, has just returned home. With her, she’s brought a Guatemalan nurse named Maria and a shattering secret she is reluctant to reveal to anyone.

The action begins innocently when Cork leads several members of his large family, including his 7-year-old grandson Waaboo (Little Rabbit) to a secret blueberry patch near an abandoned shack in the woods. As they near the patch, Waaboo discovers a shallow grave and says he can hear a sad girl’s spirit calling to him.

FBI and state law enforcement agencies descend, seizing control and ordering local authorities not to interfere. But when the body ends up being that of a Native American girl, they lose interest.

The investigation falls to Cork’s successor, Aurora Police Chief Marsha Dross, who enlists Cork and the Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police. Soon they discover more bodies of Native American girls, Cork suspects they may be connected to the missing white girl, suspicion falls on pipeline workers, and someone fearful of Waaboo’s visions targets him for murder.

Krueger has no Native American blood himself, but as usual he treats native culture and mysticism with understanding and respect. His prose and character development are superb, and his vivid descriptions bring Minnesota’s north woods to life.

“Spirit Crossing” returns to three of the author’s familiar themes: the rape of the natural world in the pursuit of profit, the mistreatment of Native Americans, and, with emphasis this time, that thousands of Native American women and girls are missing and not much ever seems to be done about it.

The author puts this thought in the mouth of one of Cork’s relatives: “To be an Indian is to walk with loss. It goes before us and it follows us. It is our shadow self.”

Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

Advertisement

Supported by

Crime & Mystery

The Best Crime Novels of 2022

Our columnist, who’s read dozens of books this year, selects her favorites.

• Share full article

By Sarah Weinman

Let’s start with a phrase I loathe, one I promise will never appear in this column again: “transcending the genre,” which is so often applied to crime novels. The implication is that crime fiction, as a category, is begging for reinvention and reinterpretation, for quality prose where it did not exist before, for some author to come along and save it from its worst instincts.

Nonsense. The genre does not need saving. Smart, sharp and endlessly inventive, it’s salvation for readers in need of entertainment and escape.

Reading widely, always my goal, introduced me to a marvelous array of mysteries this year. Here are the ones that stood out.

Best Debuts

When I reviewed Eli Cranor’s DON’T KNOW TOUGH back in March, I called it “one of the best debuts of 2022,” and my opinion hasn’t changed. The raw ferocity of Cranor’s prose is perfectly in keeping with the novel’s examination of a high school football team, their tormented coach and the town that demands constant winning no matter the cost. “Don’t Know Tough” is unmistakably noir in the rural Southern tradition: grim and gritty, a cauldron of terrible choices and even more terrible outcomes. I cannot imagine how Cranor will top it.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

• LISTEN & FOLLOW
• Apple Podcasts
• Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

'Magpie Murders' is a hall-of-mirrors whodunit with a satisfying resolution

John Powers

Lesley Manville (shown here with Danielle Ryan, right) plays editor-turned-detective Susan Ryeland in Magpie Murders . Bernard Walsh/Eleventh Hour Film hide caption

Lesley Manville (shown here with Danielle Ryan, right) plays editor-turned-detective Susan Ryeland in Magpie Murders .

Ever since Edgar Allan Poe created the modern detective story, mystery writers have sought ways to keep the genre exciting — dreaming up impossible crimes in locked rooms, setting murders in unexpected places, including medieval monasteries, South Korean military bases and cyberspace. These days, they've grown fond of what we can call the meta-mystery, the mystery about a mystery.

A textbook example is Magpie Murders , PBS' new series on MASTERPIECE Mystery! It's based on the bestselling novel by Anthony Horowitz, who, among other things, created the excellent World War II detective show Foyle's War . But where that earlier series was steeped in history, this lively new one is about the perils and pleasures of cleverness.

Author Interviews

What makes a good whodunit 'magpie murders' author spells it out.

Lesley Manville stars as Susan Ryeland, a London book editor who doesn't get along with her most important writer, Alan Conway. He's played by Conleth Hill, best known as the eunuch Lord Varys in Game of Thrones . A nasty sort, Conway has grown rich writing novels about a 1950s detective named Atticus Pünd. As the show begins, he's just turned in his latest book, also titled Magpie Murders . But there are two problems. The copy Susan receives is missing the final chapter in which Atticus Pünd solves the mystery. Even worse, Conway has been found dead in his country mansion in Suffolk. Is his death suicide — or murder?

Susan desperately tries to find the missing pages. Meeting with the people who know Conway, she soon grasps that his latest Pünd novel is populated with characters who are actually caricatures of them — his sister, his ex-wife, his just-dumped boyfriend, his aggrieved gardener, and so forth. They all have reason to hate him. If Conway was murdered, his novel — and missing final chapter — may hold the answer to who did it.

All of this makes the TV series Magpie Murder s something of a hall of mirrors. Even as Susan looks for answers about Conway's novel in the real world, the show offers a parallel track along which we watch Atticus Pünd — wryly played by Tim McMullan — attempt to solve the murder story in Conway's novel. Several of the actors appear in both tracks — for instance, Matthew Beard plays both Conway's cynical ex-boyfriend and Pünd's dim sidekick. As if that weren't enough, Susan even begins having conversations with Atticus Pünd, who gives her mystery-solving advice.

Now, Magpie Murders is not the first time someone has woven its protagonist into a fictional storyline. Buster Keaton did it more wittily in Sherlock, Jr ., where he plays a wannabe detective who falls asleep and enters a crime movie; Dennis Potter did it more movingly in The Singing Detective , about a man in a hospital who weaves a private eye story to help escape the pain of his life.

Yet to say that the series doesn't rival those two landmarks is hardly a damning criticism. The show is brisk and very enjoyably acted, especially by Manville, whom you may know from numerous Mike Leigh films and as the sister to Daniel Day-Lewis ' character in The Phantom Thread . She plays Susan with just the right level of seriousness. She nails the script's sharp lines and captures the bustling way that she buries herself in her job, thereby letting her avoid dealing with personal issues, like her Greek boyfriend who wants her to move to Crete and run a hotel, or her sister who wants her to make peace with her dying father.

'Alex Rider' Novelist On The Joys Of Reading (And Writing) Mysteries

It was the torment of Conway's literary career that he wanted to write serious books on serious themes, but the public only wanted the cleverness of Atticus Pünd. Horowitz, who adapted his own novel, clearly feels no such artistic frustration. Possessed of boundless energy — he's also written Sherlock Holmes novels, James Bond novels and the Alex Rider YA series, among others — he feels no shame in being clever and entertaining. On the contrary.

Indeed, Magpie Murder s neatly riffs on the relationship of art and life. It's especially astute about the consolations of detective novels. In a world of emotional uncertainties, Susan notes, the Atticus Pünd novels offer the pleasurable closure of a neat resolution. The same is true of this TV series. Our daily lives may not be easy, but at the end of Magpie Murders we get the satisfaction of knowing who done it.

Review: A murder mystery with a twist of Greek tragedy and myth

Sigmund Freud is supposed to have said that there is no such thing as an accident. We behave in certain ways—often toxic or destructive ways—whose origins we are only dimly aware of. We are, ultimately, inscrutable to ourselves. That is at least one of the reasons why people like Mariana, the psychotherapist protagonist of Alex Michaelides’s The Maidens , stays employed.

Celadon Books 352p $27.99

Of course, as one character points out, a psychotherapist is, etymologically speaking, a “healer of souls,” and it is Mariana’s soul that is in need of repair first of all. Her impossibly perfect partner, Sebastian, has drowned off the coast of Naxos, and he and his death occupy almost all of her thoughts. Despite her best efforts, she cannot bring herself to discard his possessions. In the middle of her own grief and crisis, she also has others to think about: her clients, including the highly volatile Henry, and her orphaned niece, Zoe.

Other tragedies await Mariana. The body of Tara, a friend of Zoe’s at the University of Cambridge, is found slashed to ribbons in the woods. And so Mariana must return, with some trepidation, to the place where she and Sebastian met and fell hopelessly in love.

Occasional citations from Tennyson, Aristotle and others intensify the carefully built sense of tension in Alex Michaelides's new book.

What follows is a taut and diligently plotted detective story. Mariana, whose intuitions are predictably dismissed by the inspector handling the case, decides to remain in Cambridge and get to the bottom of things herself. Sebastian is painfully present to her in Cambridge, and at times he appears in the guise of a guardian angel, pressing Mariana on and giving her strength. (At one point, Mariana comes upon a statue of an angel and thinks it looks like Sebastian, which is really not to give the reader any credit at all.)

The murder, Mariana learns, is bound up with Greek tragedy and myth. And so it is fitting that at the center of the mystery around Tara’s untimely demise is Professor Edward Fosca, a dazzling American expatriate and classics professor. He is the kind of teacher whose lectures students line up to watch. Fosca has a loyal student clique of “maidens,” an exclusive study group whose parties, we are told (in low, conspiratorial tones), are pretty wild.

The Maidens unapologetically takes the tone of a thriller. Readers should not expect sumptuous and dreamlike evocations of an old university town fondly remembered, as in Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited . Michaelides knows his genre (and his protagonist; he was himself trained as a psychotherapist), deftly controlling the flow of information and teasing us at times with snippets of story written on a typewriter by the ostensible villain.

Occasional citations from Tennyson, Aristotle (the author may have had the Poetics in mind at times while he was writing) and others intensify the book’s carefully built sense of tension. Hardly a word is wasted, let alone a chapter. And there is a smattering of memorable set-piece moments; a scene in which Mariana runs a group therapy session stands out in particular.

The author who most comes to mind while reading The Maidens is Dan Brown, a writer often dismissed as a mere entertainer, as if there were something wrong with entertainment.

Coincidences and clues accumulate in the plot like brushstrokes of paint on a canvas, coming together at a satisfying pace to form an image. But—and this is apt—one has the distinct impression that no one can truly be trusted, including the protagonist, who is naturally more aware than most of our inexhaustible capacity to hide inconvenient truths from ourselves. Michaelides has our heroine Mariana encounter both overtly sinister types and people who seem sinister by dint of not being sinister at all. Some of these characters do come across as obvious, shifty, red-herring types. But there is a real paranoia that colors The Maidens and mirrors Mariana’s mental landscape as she makes her way through Cambridge, asking question after question.

The novel has its flaws. Take the charismatic Professor Fosca, Mariana’s primary suspect. He is achingly handsome, charming, literate; he likes classical music. And, of course, he likes his meat rare . There are other well-worn tropes of commercial horror fiction. If Martin Amis is right in saying that good literature avoids cliché—well, you catch my drift. The inevitable twist, it has to be said, is entirely predictable, and from pretty early on. Michaelides also has that slightly trying habit of ending chapters with a single ominous sentence. But (I’m ashamed to say) it succeeds in making the reader feel compelled—even obliged —to read on. Clichéd or not, Michaelides knows how storytelling works.

The plot’s superficial similarities to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History are so obvious that it would be dull to devote much time to them here, though it is perhaps worth acknowledging that they are only superficial; in fact, the two books have very little of real significance in common. The author who most comes to mind while reading The Maidens is Dan Brown, a writer often dismissed as a mere entertainer, as if there were something wrong with entertainment. But Michaelides imbues this story with an almost palpable atmosphere of uncertainty, the discomfiting sense that one is not being told the whole story.

The Maidens is entertaining as well as readable in a single sitting, which is the best way to enjoy a book of this kind. Take it all in all and on its own terms, and it will prove a very welcome addition to the genre: a well-wrought, satisfying, psychological detective tale begging on every page to be adapted for the screen—something that is indeed already in the works.

This article also appeared in print, under the headline “Tales Ancient and New,” in the November 2021 , issue.

Harry Readhead is a writer and editor from London. He writes about politics and literature for titles like The Guardian, the New Statesman and the Times Literary Supplement.

Most popular

Your source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more.

The latest from america

• ADMIN AREA MY BOOKSHELF MY DASHBOARD MY PROFILE SIGN OUT SIGN IN

Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2023

MARCH 14, 2023

by Christopher Bollen

A gripping thriller with lingering emotional effects. Full review >

APRIL 4, 2023

by Christianna Brand

Hands down one of the best formal detective stories ever written. It’s a treat to have it back in print. Full review >

JAN. 3, 2023

by Christoffer Carlsson ; translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles

A brainy page-turner from a rising star in Scandinavian crime fiction. Full review >

OCT. 3, 2023

MYSTERY & DETECTIVE

by Robert Dugoni

Dugoni brilliantly folds murders past and present into his heroine’s earlier cases and her troubled history. Full review >

JUNE 20, 2023

THRILLER & SUSPENSE

by Julia Heaberlin

Mysterious, sexy, and smart. Full review >

SEPT. 5, 2023

by Ragnar Jónasson & Katrín Jakobsdóttir ; translated by Victoria Cribb

A slow-burning, spellbinding whodunit. Agatha Christie, to whom it’s dedicated, would be proud. Full review >

FEB. 21, 2023

by Walter Mosley

A strong second outing by Mosley's new hero. Full review >

SEPT. 19, 2023

by Jessica Knoll

A stunning, engaging subversion of the Bundy myth—and the true-crime genre. Full review >

JULY 18, 2023

by Dwyer Murphy

A shrewd, offbeat original. Full review >

JUNE 13, 2023

by Chris Offutt

Another love letter to Appalachia with a high body count. Another bloody delight. Full review >

MAY 16, 2023

by Kevin Powers

Masterful in its structure and pacing; a great read. Full review >

by Colson Whitehead

It’s not just crime fiction at its craftiest, but shrewdly rendered social history. Full review >

More Book Lists

Recent News & Features

• Book to Screen

• Seen & Heard

• Perspectives

• 21 Best September Books for Young Readers
• 150 Most Anticipated Books of the Fall
• YA Nonfiction That Stands the Test of Time
• Best Indie Books of August
• Episode 386: Chris La Tray
• Episode 385: Caro De Robertis
• Episode 384: Best August Books With Abi Daré
• Episode 383: Kyle Lukoff

The Magazine: Kirkus Reviews

Featuring 332 industry-first reviews of fiction, nonfiction, children’s, and YA books; also in this issue: our annual Fall Preview, with a first look at the season’s most anticipated titles, author interviews, and much more

The Kirkus Star

One of the most coveted designations in the book industry, the Kirkus Star marks books of exceptional merit.

The Kirkus Prize

The Kirkus Prize is among the richest literary awards in America, awarding $50,000 in three categories annually.

Great Books & News Curated For You

Be the first to read books news and see reviews, news and features in Kirkus Reviews . Get awesome content delivered to your inbox every week.

• Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
• News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
• Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
• Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
• Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
• More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
• About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

• Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Contact us: 1-800-316-9361 or email [email protected].

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

26 page-turning mystery books that will keep you guessing until the very end

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

• Mystery books are exciting puzzles for readers to solve.
• They include fast-paced thrillers and detective procedurals.
• We rounded up the best mystery novels from bestseller lists, Goodreads, and social media.

For decades, readers have loved the suspenseful and engaging puzzles between the covers of a great mystery novel. From Agatha Christie's classic detective novels to cozy, satisfying page-turners, mystery novels let readers follow a crime through revealing clues, suspenseful twists, and exciting reveals. 

The mystery novels on this list stretch from the classics to new releases and include nail-biting thrillers, courtroom procedurals, and genre-twisting mysteries with elements of horror, romance, and fantasy. We collected readers' favorite mysteries from bestseller lists, Goodreads reviews, and popular titles on TikTok and Instagram to find your next great mystery read.

The 26 best mystery books in 2022:

A mystery of maps and magic.

"The Cartographers" by Peng Shepherd, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $19.97

This adventurous and fantastical mystery novel takes off when Nell Young finds an incredibly valuable and rare map in her father's office after his mysterious death. When it appears someone is destroying the maps and anyone who gets in the way, Nell embarks on a journey of cartography and dark family secrets to get to the bottom of the map and the mystery.

A suspenseful mystery with an unreliable narrator

"A Flicker in the Dark" by Stacy Willingham, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.99

20 years ago, Chloe's father was arrested for the serial murders of six teenage girls in her hometown. Now, Chloe is getting ready for her wedding in Baton Rouge when teenage girls begin to go missing once again in this fast-paced thriller loved for its many twists and delightfully unreliable narrator.

A powerful mystery so much more than a missing violin

"The Violin Conspiracy" by Brendan Slocumb, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $17.88

Ray McMillian has been preparing for the most prestigious classical music competition in the world for years, bypassing financial, mental, and racial challenges on his mission to become a professional musician. When Ray's great-grandfather's violin, a priceless Stradivarius, is stolen, he's desperate to get it back — but must fend off his family and the descendants of those who once enslaved his great-grandfather in the fight to find the violin and prepare for the competition.

A classic murder mystery

"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie, available on Amazon and Bookshop , from $11.16

"And Then There Were None" is a classic Agatha Christie mystery novel about 10 strangers who are invited by an unknown millionaire as weekend guests to a mansion on a private island. When the guests are murdered one by one (as foretold in a nursery rhyme hung in every room of the home), they must quickly figure out who is behind the killings before none of them are left alive.

A complex mystery with a twisted ending

"The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.75

Alicia Berenson seems to live a perfect life as a well-known painter with her famous photographer husband — until one day when her husband returns home late and Alicia shoots him five times in the face and then never speaks again. Obsessed with Alicia's case and determined to find a motive, criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber sets out to uncover the truth in this gripping mystery with a fantastic final twist. 

A historical mystery set in Joseon-era Korea

"The Red Palace" by June Hur, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.59

In 1758 Korea, 18-year-old Hyeon has finally earned a position as a palace nurse when her closest friend and mentor is pegged as the prime suspect for the murders of four women in one night. Launching her own investigation to prove her friend's innocence, Hyeon teams up with a police inspector and begins to uncover deadly and dangerous secrets that could point to the Crown Prince as the murderer.

An exciting mystery novel by an iconic horror writer

"Billy Summers" by Stephen King, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.10

Though Stephen King is certainly most well-known for his sensational horror novels, "Billy Summers" is a crime thriller/mystery novel about a man who is an assassin for hire, but only if the target is a bad person who deserves to die. Billy is ready to retire and preparing for one final job, but no matter what he does to prepare, it seems nothing is going how it should.

A new mystery with an impossible crime

"Under Lock & Skeleton Key" by Gigi Pandian, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $21.99

"Under Lock & Skeleton Key" is a multi-layered locked-door mystery that follows Tempest Raj back to her family's home after an accident derails her life and career. While visiting her dad's latest renovation site for his unique construction company, Tempest's former stage double is found dead inside a wall that seems to have been sealed for over a century. Tempest fears she was the intended victim of the murder and must uncover the killer before they return for her.

A mystery set in 1960s Harlem

"Harlem Shuffle" by Colson Whitehead, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $17

This historical fiction mystery book is about Ray Carney, an honest neighborhood furniture salesman, who falls into a disastrous heist with his cousin in 1960s Harlem. Walking the line between upstanding citizen and criminal, Ray finds himself caught in a tangle of mortality in this new novel from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead.

An exhilirating mystery focused on Indigenous culture

"Firekeeper's Daughter" by Angeline Boulley, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $10.23

Daunis Fontaine is an 18-year-old, biracial, unenrolled tribal member who has put her schooling on hold to care for her ill mother. When Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, she begins her own investigation to track down the criminals and protect her community, all while learning what it truly means to be a strong Ojibwe woman.

A cozy mystery perfect for foodies

"Arsenic and Adobo" by Mia P. Manansala, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $12.99

In this delicious new mystery book, Lila Macapagal is recovering from a devastating breakup when she's tasked to help save her Tita Rosie's struggling restaurant. When a food critic (who just happens to be Lila's ex) dies moments after a confrontation with Lila, she becomes the chief suspect and must begin her own investigation to prove her innocence in this witty mystery.

A romantic and highly suspenseful mystery

"Verity" by Colleen Hoover, available at Amazon , from $15.50

When bestselling author Verity Crawford is injured in a terrible accident, her husband hires a young and struggling writer, Lowen Ashleigh, to finish Verity's highly anticipated series. While sorting through notes in Verity's office, Lowen uncovers a hidden autobiography, full of terrible secrets — including the truth behind her daughter's death. Deciding to keep the devastating manuscript from Verity's husband, Lowen begins to search for the truth when it seems everyone has their own secrets.

A suspenseful mystery set on an Indigenous reservation

"Winter Counts" by David Heska Wanbli Weiden, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.49

Virgil Wounded Horse serves as the community enforcer on his reservation in South Dakota, so when heroin begins to affect his community and a terrible incident hits close to home, Virgil is determined to stop the influx of drugs from hurting anyone else. Teaming up with his ex-girlfriend, Virgil follows a lead to Denver and finds himself in a complex situation — one that will test his identity, community, and loyalties.

An entertaining mystery about four unlikely detectives

"The Thursday Murder Club" by Richard Osman, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $12.99

In a quiet retirement community, four elderly friends gather every Thursday night to talk about cold case murders, dubbing themselves "The Thursday Murder Club." When a local man is found dead with a strange photograph left next to his body, The Thursday Murder Club uses their sharp wit and skills from their former careers to defy all the stereotypes and solve the crime in this entertaining mystery loved for its rich and lively characters. 

An emotional and heartfelt mystery about redemption

"Razorblade Tears" by S.A. Cosby, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.49

In this emotional thriller, Isiah and Derek are married and when they're both found murdered, their fathers each get a knock on the door with the terrible news. Fathers Ike and Buddy are flawed ex-cons with little in common besides their love for their sons, determination to find out who killed them, and a thirst for revenge.

A murder mystery about a copycat serial killer

"A Killer's Wife" by Victor Methos, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $11.99

In this mystery known for keeping readers on the edge of their seats, Jessica Yardley is a prosecutor who has moved on with her life after her ex-husband went to prison for a series of violent murders 14 years ago. When a string of new copycat murders begin once again, the FBI recruits Jessica to help find the killer, meaning working with her ex-husband and reliving the darkest days of her life.

A suspenseful courtroom mystery novel

"Miracle Creek" by Angie Kim, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.99

In this gripping courtroom mystery with multiple perspectives, a group of people in a small town in Virginia are brought together over a hyperbaric chamber that claims to cure anything from autism to infertility. When the chamber explodes and two people are killed, it's clear the explosion wasn't an accident, but it's not clear who is at fault. As the mystery unfolds, layers of secrets are revealed in this beautiful mystery about parenthood, healing, and the effects of our choices.

An engrossing mystery that demands to be read in a single sitting

"The Push" by Ashley Audrain, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.01

In this tense tour-de-force mystery, Blythe Connor wants nothing more than to be the mother she never had, but struggles to make a connection with her young daughter, convinced that something is wrong with her. After Blythe's son is born, she feels all the maternal love and instincts she's always longed for, but when her family's life changes in an instant, Blythe is left struggling to find out what really happened, even if that means confirming her worst nightmares.

A bestselling mystery novel

"Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13

"Angels & Demons" is the first book of the "DaVinci Code" series, which begins when world-renowned symbologist, Robert Langdon, is called to help solve the murder of a physicist who was discovered with a strange symbol seared into his chest. As Robert begins to investigate, he uncovers an elaborate plot against the Catholic Church by the Illuminati.

A historical murder mystery

"The Mimosa Tree Mystery" by Ovidia Yu, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.71

"The Mimosa Tree Mystery" is a historical fiction mystery story set in 1930s Singapore. It follows Su Lin, whose uncle is detained by the Japanese as retaliation for the mysterious murder of his neighbor, a known collaborator and blackmailer. When a former spy named Hideki offers Sun Lin's uncle in exchange for her help in finding the real killer, Su Lin discovers there is far more resting on this investigation than just one life.

A murder mystery with a paranormal twist

"Opium and Absinthe" by Lydia Kang, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $13.75

Set in 1899 New York City, Tille's sister is found dead — drained of blood and with two puncture wounds on her neck — and with the recent publication of "Dracula," Tille can't help but suspect a vampiric murderer. Tille is desperate to find out what happened to her sister, but as her obsession with the case intensifies, so does her addiction to opium. As each vice consumes her life, Tille struggles to know what's real in this Victorian-era murder mystery.

The first mystery featuring a famous detective duo

"A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $7.99

"A Study in Scarlet" was the first novel to feature the famous detective duo Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. First published in 1887, this story tells the origin of Holmes and Watson meeting as new roommates and solving their first murder together, which proves far more complex and intricate than either could have imagined.

A terrifying mystery about a young girl's dreams gone terribly wrong

"Grown" by Tiffany D. Jackson, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $10.49

When 17-year-old Enchanted Jones catches the eye of legendary R&B artist Korey Fields at an audition, she's offered the chance to make all her dreams come true and is ready for stardom, no matter the cost. One day, Enchanted wakes up with blood on her hands, Korey Fields' body next to her, and no memory of the previous night. In this emotional mystery, Enchanted must recount the horrifying details of the months prior in order to understand how something so terrible could have happened.

A classic gothic mystery book

"Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $10.19

First published in 1938, "Rebecca" is a classic mystery story where the unnamed narrator is swept off her feet by a wealthy and famous man named Maximilian de Winter, whose Cornwall mansion is even more famous than he is. When the narrator arrives at the mansion, she soon discovers that the ghostly presence of her husband's late wife is nearly impossible to escape — and slowly uncovers Rebecca's story in this mystery of layered revelations.

A gripping mystery about a missing woman

"When You Look Like Us" by Pamela N. Harris, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.39

When Jay Murphy's sister, goes missing, he knows the police won't go looking for her, seeing as they don't search for most Black kids that go missing from the projects. To make matters worse, the local news picks up the story of his sister's disappearance and twists it into a scandal. Despite the mountain of obstacles in his way, Jay is determined to find his sister in this gripping and authentic mystery about race and the dangerous power of stereotypes.

A murder mystery featuring a vigilante antihero

"Win" by Harlan Coben, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $11.99

When a recluse is found murdered in his New York City apartment, the FBI discovers a clue that not only gives them a lead, but links the crime to two other cold cases including the robbery and kidnapping of an heiress 20 years ago. The clue leads the FBI to Windsor ("Win") Horne Lockwood III, who has no idea how his family's stolen painting could have ended up at a crime scene, but is determined to use his personal connections and limitless fortune to solve the dangerous case.

• Main content

Join Discovery, the new community for book lovers

Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Monday, Apr 06

The 30 best mystery books of all time.

When you flip open a mystery novel, what do you expect? Probably a thrilling tale that keeps you wondering who the culprit was. The best mystery books are those with ingenious sprinklings of clues along the way that brings out the inner detective in you. Arguably, the best feeling when reading a crime novel is being faced with a sufficiently difficult puzzle and yet still being able to jump up and shout “I knew it!” when the final reveal comes around. 

A good murder case will always rank high on a list of mystery novels, but other stories also have their merits. From true crime books to espionage odysseys (of course, including whodunnit riddles) here are the 30 best mystery books that you cannot miss out on if you’re looking for twisted stories to keep you on the edge of your seat.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by the number of great mystery books to read, you can also take our 30-second quiz below to narrow it down quickly and get a personalized mystery book recommendation 😉

Which mystery book should you read next?

Discover the perfect mystery for you. Takes 30 seconds!

1. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

It’s impossible to talk about mystery novels without immediately thinking of the legendary Agatha Christie. Amongst all of her works , none has a story quite as impeccably crafted as And Then There Were None , which explains why it is the best selling mystery book of all time. 

The story follows ten people who are brought together, for various reasons, to an empty mansion on an island. The mysterious hosts of this strange party are not present, but left instructions for two of the ten to tend the house as the housekeeper and cook. As the days unfold in accordance with the lyrics of a nursery rhyme, each invitee is forced to face the music (literally) and bear the consequences of their troubling pasts, as death will come for them one by one. 

2. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Raymond Chandler’s idea of mystery strays from conventions — for him it’s less about the intricate plot and more about the atmosphere and characters. As such, The Big Sleep is no ordinary story: private eye Philip Marlowe gets hired to investigate the blackmailing of Carmen Sternwood, the second daughter of a wealthy general. The further he digs into this messy business, the more complicated the story gets, as Carmen continues to be blackmailed by others in a web of unexpected relations between the characters. 

Chandler’s work is complex: his characters are multi-faceted and his language rich with premonitions of the tragedy about to fall on this family. While the signs he drops are not exactly there to help you find out “who done it”, it will definitely give you a foreboding awareness that makes it hard to put the book down. 

3. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Perhaps better known by its major motion picture adaptation, Gone Girl is the ultimate mystery puzzle for the modern media age. Devoted wife Amy’s sudden disappearance throws Nick Dunne into a hailstorm of suspicion — from her parents to his neighbours to the investigators, everyone leans towards believing that he is somehow responsible. Nick himself becomes aware of how his wife viewed him, as well as how little he knows of her, when stories of her emerge from friends he’s never heard of. 

Even if you’ve failed to keep the media buzz regarding the movie adaptation from spoiling you, the experience of reading the minds of these unreliable narrators is well-worth picking this one up. 

4. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain

The Postman Always Rings Twice is often lauded the most important crime book of the 20th century, and it's not hard to see why. Short, racy, and full of surprises, it will leave you no time to catch your breath. In fact, the language used by Cain was so unprecedentedly explicit, the book was banned in Boston for a while. 

The story follows Frank Chambers and his roadside encounter with diner owner Cora Papadakis. Frank ends up working for Cora and her husband and then falling in love with her, despite her marriage. Frank’s spontaneity gets the better of him when he and Cora decide to sinisterly plot for the breakup of her marriage. Once the plan succeeds, they can stay happily ever after in each other’s arms… or so they think. 

5. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

As it’s based on a real-life case that has already been solved, you might think all the mystery is taken out of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood . Fortunately, that couldn’t be more wrong, because this nonfiction novel is one of the best-selling crime stories of all time. 

Capote had closely followed the investigation of a quadruple murder in Kansas, and was doing a bit of inerviewing himself before the murderers were caught. As a result, his book is filled with twists and turns you would not expect — surely such vile behaviors must be works of fiction?

6. Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

This Wilkie Collins’s late Victorian novel is among the earliest psychological thrillers ever written. It follows what first appears to be a simple story of two star-crossed lovers — Walter Hartright and Laura Fairlie — who weren’t meant to be together. Laura was betrothed to Sir Percival Glyde and yet she was mysteriously warned not to proceed with the marriage. Meanwhile, the city is gripped by the story of a strange woman clad in white who’s roaming its dark street.

As the title suggests, this final character is the key to the mystery that will enshroud these characters. Set in dimly-lit streets, The Woman in White is as much Gothic horror as it is mystery book, and that’s precisely why the clarity you get when the riddle is solved is so incredibly satisfying. 

7. Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver

Before there was How To Get Away With Murder and Suits , lawyer-related entertainment came in the form of criminal cases. Anatomy of a Murder , written by a Supreme Court Justice under the pseudonym Robert Traver, is such a classic. It follows lawyer Paul Biegler and his defense of Frederick Manion, who’s accused of murdering an innkeeper. While the case is overwhelmingly against Manion, his unreliable behavior leaves room for challenges against conviction, and that’s where Biegler and his seemingly laid-back attitude comes in. This thrilling courtroom drama will keep you on the edge of your seat, wondering how this lawyer can argue such an impossible case. 

8. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

Packed with interesting codenames and stressful covert actions, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is about an ex-spy, George Smiley (codename Beggarman), who is pulled out of retirement, to his relief, to weed out a Soviet mole in the British Intelligence Service. You’ve probably never seen the motto “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer” in better action than this, as Smiley attempts to distinguish the double-agent amidst old partners. There are plenty of clever hints and details about these cryptically named characters that you can pick up on, thus joining Smiley on the race to safeguard his country. 

From deceit to elaborate tricks, le Carré’s espionage masterpiece will not only keep you on your toes because of the constant suspicion, it will also shed some light on the incredible social tension that existed in the 1970s at the height of the Cold War.

9. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

Dan Brown knows how to write up a riddle — just read The Da Vinci Code and you’ll see. In this volume, Professor Robert Langdon is brought to Paris on a whirl to shed some light on a bizarre murder in the Louvre. As he and sidekick cryptologist Neveu tries to decode the artistic riddles left at the scene, all of which are related to the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Dan Brown takes readers scrambling through the City of Love, speechless (because of the shrewd puzzles and not Paris’ beauty, of course). 

You can imagine Dan Brown spending hours meandering between paintings and statues in Paris before coming up with this elaborate quest that Langdon embarks on. The story thus produced is shockingly satisfying to read, and it will no doubt leave you wanting to travel to France’s capital just to retrace Langdon’s steps. 

10. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

It appears a mark of a good mystery book is that it has been made into a movie. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is no exception. The first book of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series introduces us to journalist Mikael Blomkvist and freelance hacker Lisbeth Salander. Following two separate strings of events, the characters eventually find themselves both trying to find the person who, forty years ago, supposedly killed Harriet Vanger — niece of one of the wealthiest men in Sweden. Blomkvist is invited to stay over at the wealthy family’s island, where he comes into contact with other family members who were present at the scene years ago, and begins to wonder if any of them were involved. 

As Blomkvist decodes the copious amount of decades-old notes and newspaper clippings, he slowly fills in the missing pieces of the puzzle about this dysfunctional family. Larsson’s story takes classic mystery tropes — family feud, blackmailing sequences — and spices them up with additional developments in the protagonists’ personal lives. 

11. The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey

Delve into the past once more as we explore the story of King Richard III in The Daughter of Time . Scotland Yard Inspector Alan Grant takes time off from modern-day cases to recover from an injury, but still he searches for puzzles to occupy himself. Subsequently, he stumbles upon the mystery of King Richard III, a monarch accused of being a murderer but who Grant can only see as kind and wise. Following his strange physiognomic intuition, Grant rummages historical records to solve a complex case that occurred decades ago. 

Josephine Tey brings to life in this novel the intricacies of the past, and the way history is interpreted to reopen a case that was once done and dusted. The political intrigue and peculiar records make for a good dramatic story that is incredibly informative and intriguing, thereby winning The Daughter of Time tremendous love from the readers and praise from the critics. 

12. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

Gothic mystery Rebecca is a classic when it comes to telling bone-chilling stories set in an old, grand mansion. The unnamed protagonist of the tale becomes the wife of a widowed, wealthy man, Mr. de Winter, and moves into the Manderly, his stately home. Rather than promising a peaceful and happy marriage, the grand house holds the shadow of the first Mrs. de Winter over the new lady, and threatens not just her happiness but her life. 

Elegantly crafted and movingly told, Rebecca’s beauty will remind you of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre , only more sinister and enigmatic. 

13. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

Returning to detective stories we have The Maltese Falcon , which follows Sam Spade’s journey to find his client’s sister and her unwelcomed partner. Spade and his business partner, Miles Archer, are on their tail when things go off the track and Archer is found dead. Spade goes on trying to uncover the mystery surrounding the sisters while becoming a suspect for the death of his partner. 

Spade’s sleuthing opens his eyes, and yours, too, to a worldwide system he had never thought he’d walk into. Told without a single paragraph dedicated to the thoughts of any of the characters, this is truly an enigma that keeps you guessing.

14. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

“The Jackal” is the codename of the assassin hired to kill French President Charles de Gaulle in this enthralling tale. What’s more thrilling is the fact that this kill order came from within the government and thus must be covered up well. The Jackal’s challenge is thus two-fold — to circumvent the heavy safeguarding reserved for one of the most important men on Earth, and to protect his own identity, even from his employers. 

Inspired by an actual failed assassination attempt on the French President and politcally developments in Europe at the end of the Cold War, The Day of the Jackal is intriguing on many fronts. Prepare for some serious espionage, meticulous planning, and political infighting.

15. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Single mother Jane sends her son to kindergarten and befriends two mothers — Madeleine and Celeste. Along with their friendships is an array of family dramas, from ex- or abusive husbands to dark pasts. Jane doesn’t know it, but there’s a piece of her past that makes her fit perfectly into this wild puzzle. No one ever displays their domestic problems in their totality to others, not even to friends, and that makes Big Little Lies so much more captivating. 

16. In the Woods by Tana French

In the Woods takes readers to the woody outskirts of Ireland, where a 12-year-old girl is found dead. Two detectives, Rob and Cassie, are assigned the case, and the case forcibly reminds the former of the mystery that haunted his childhood — a mystery which happened in these same woods. As they make their way through the crime scene and interrogate dysfunctional parents and friends, Rob’s past keeps coming back to him, begging the question of whether it is related to this sad event. 

As haunting as it is alluring, In the Woods is more than just a mystery book. It is also a poignant tale of family ties and childhood trauma — a reminder of the importance of growing up in a safe and loving environment. 

17. The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

In this iconic suspense novel, FBI agent Clarice Stirling investigates a serial killer, “Buffalo Bill,” who preys on young women, and who potentially is linked to psychiatrist and cannibalistic murderer Hannibal Lecter. In order to weed a clue out from Lecter about Bill’s whereabouts, Stirling visits the psych ward where Lecter is imprisoned. However, her shuddering exchanges seem to reveal less about the killer on the loose, and more about Lecter’s astounding ability to get into the head of his victims. Follow Clarice Stirling on her bone-chilling mission, juggling two sociopathic criminals, in The Silence of the Lambs .

18. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of the best mystery books ever written; it’s certainly one of the most-read books of all time. Conan Doyle's legendary detective, Sherlock Holmes , presumed dead, returns to the land of the living to shed light on the petrifying death of his friend, Charles Baskerville. The Baskerville family estate is located on the moors of Devon, where legend has it there’s a demonic beast roaming about. Sinister supernatural forces appear to be the only explanation for this mystery, but the supremely rational Sherlock Holmes is not going to give up on his quest to find the one and only truth. 

19. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Aristocrat Rachel Verinder receives a beautiful gem, the Moonstone, from her uncle, a soldier returning from India, for her eighteenth birthday. She decides to wear it to the big party celebrating her adulthood, after which the jewel disappears from her room. Distraught, Rachel and her family seek the help of Sergeant Cuff to find the thief and recover the treasure. The case is more complicated than it seems, especially since the Moonstone has a mysterious history Rachel doesn’t yet know of. 

The Moonstone is widely regarded as the first mystery novel ever published, and Wilkie Collins paved the way for subsequent books in this genre by introducing hallmark elements such as the large number of suspects, an incompetent constabulary force, and an exceptionally brilliant detective.

20. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Rachel Watson takes a train from her home into the city center everyday, and to kill the time, she often spends much of it looking at the same houses that pass by her. She makes up stories for the lives she observes, stories that are better than her own, free of divorce and alcoholism. One day, she witnesses something that turns Rachel from a mere observer of the lives of this particular street to an active participant in it. 

The Girl on the Train is yet another suspenseful read that uses unreliable narrators to the full. Its intertwining perspectives will take turns changing your mind as to who is the real threat in this domestic drama. 

21. Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

Historical fiction novelist Ken Follett’s critical success is set during the turning point of World War II, when D-Day plans were being carried out. German spy Henry Faber, codename “The Needle,” stations himself in London, and is transmitting information back to Berlin. He’s the cream of the crop when it comes to this trade: only him and a few other German agents are still at large in Britain. Faber soon catches on to a crucial operation that the British are about to embark on — one that, if successful, will turn the table against Germany. The problem is the British are coming closer and closer to uncovering him… 

If you’ve read any of Ken Follett’s books, you’ll know he has a talent for vividly reviving the past in his pages. Eye of the Needle is no exception — the tension and secrecy that plagued this tumultuous time is captured skillfully in this volume. 

22. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Journalist Camille Preaker returns to work from her “break” at the hospital with a project that will take her back home: there is a girl who had been murdered, and another missing, in the little town she grew up in. Homecoming proves harder than she thought: Camille had been estranged from her family, and must now reconnect with them. The more she and the detective on the case, Richard Willis, delve into the mysteries, the closer to home Camille appears to be — much closer than she would hope. In probably the most unpleasantly satisfying way possible, Sharp Objects will leave you shivering with wonders about how far the effects of a broken family can reach.  

23. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

On a similar note, let’s watch as a saucy sibling drama unfurls in My Sister, the Serial Killer . Korede has a sister who has a tendency to date horrible men — men so bad she has to kill them, “in self-defense”. Korede doesn’t report or question this — her sister is family, after all, and Korede goes to great lengths to protect her family. But when her sister starts approaching a coworker that Korede likes, she begins to wonder how far is too far. Braithwaite’s novel is bleakly humorous and as wild as Lagos, the city it’s set in. 

24. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

If you still are in need of a good domestic thriller, Case Histories is your book. Get ready for three gruesome backyard tales: the disappearance of a young child in one home, the slaughter of a husband in another, and the murder of a solicitor’s daughter in the last. Beyond exploring the hurt and loss of each of these unfortunate families, Kate Atkinson also expertly tied all three together — how exactly, you’ll have to read to find out. 

25. The Detective by Roderick Thorp

The Detective is a classic when it comes to mystery novels — Thorp’s work is inspiration for several famous movies, including Die Hard . This story follows private eye Joe Leland as he is asked by a widow to look into the circumstances of her husband’s death. As he delves into the entangling relationships of this man who he happens to have known from his fighting days in World War II, Leland uncovers details about the victim he never would’ve guessed. 

26. The Alienist by Caleb Carr

Maybe you’ve heard of The Alienist before in the form of the Netflix original that takes the audience back in time to 1890s New York. Crime reporter John Moore takes the lead on the grisly and peculiar serial killing of teenage boys. The first victim who is found, and whose case Moore covered in the news, was dressed up like a girl and disturbingly mutilated, so much so that Moore believes there must be someone mentally sick behind it all. Moore turns to his friend and famous psychologist — then known as an alienist — in order to figure out this mystery and catch the murderer. This mystery book has everything from psychological analysis to breath-taking chases through New York’s grimy streets. 

27. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

When Rachel Solando, a patient at the Ashecliffe Hospital for the criminally insane, disappears from the facility, Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner are summoned to investigate and recapture her. Upon arriving at the island on which the hospital is located, the two detectives found traces that Solando left behind regarding the ill-boding operations of the institution. The investigation takes several sharp turns before finally unveiling the true conspiracy. In emulating Gothic elements by isolating the case from technology and the outside world, and combining it with modern-age psychology, Shutter Island fosters an eerie yet captivating atmosphere that makes it impossible to put down. 

28. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Not all of the best mystery books have to leave a heavy sense of dread at the bottom of your stomach, and The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is proof of that. The sleuth who saves the day in this novel is Flavia, an intuitive 11-year-old whose father is accused of murder. A stranger has ended up dead in the family’s yard, one who happened to have been seen arguing with Flavia’s dad days before. Determined that her stamp-loving father, who has been heart-broken since the death of his wife, would never kill anyone, Flavia tours the town to try and prove his innocence. Light-hearted as it may sound, this novel’s puzzle is incredibly well-crafted and its classical mystery style, reminiscent of the works of Agatha Christie and Josephine Tey, makes it easy to finish the volume in one sitting. 

29. The Deep Blue Good-by by John D. MacDonald

The Deep Blue Good-by is the first novel of MacDonald’s series about private investigator Travis McGee. As we are introduced to this tall, charming, and righteous character, he is swept away on a mission to find military man Junior Allen, a serial rapist and murderer. Allen has also discovered a smuggled treasure buried somewhere in Florida, and is using that to fund his malicious exploits. The difficult responsibility of trying to locate this psychopath falls onto McGee’s shoulders, the only person with the methodological patience to pick up Allen’s trace. Too often, the protagonist of detective stories are portrayed as being rational to the point of cold-hearted; it’s probably worth your while to change it up a little with Travis McGee’s quest for goodness.

30. Killing Floor by Lee Child

In another first book to a detective series we have Killing Floor , a novel full of action and secrets. Former policeman Jack Reacher gets arrested the moment he comes into the town of Margrave, for a murder he is sure he did not commit. As he tries to convince the detectives in charge of his innocence, Reacher initially only wants to get out of this mess and go on with his travels. The stakes, however, are raised when he found out that his own brother is somehow involved in the mystery, and the murder he is falssely accused of is nowhere near as simple as he thought. 

If you’re looking for more books to send chills down your spine, check out this list of best suspense books of all time ! Or have a look at our guide to Kindle Unlimited if you want to boost your reading game.

Continue reading

More posts from across the blog.

The 25 Best Places to Find Free Ebooks in 2024

In recent years, the ebook format has exploded in popularity. Today, it only takes a few clicks to find the ebook version of almost any title. And while you can always sa...

The 13 Best Octavia Butler Books Everyone Should Read

Octavia Butler is one of science fiction's greatest writers, but have you ever wondered where to start? Our complete guide to this legendary writer will walk you through all her books, so you can pick the perfect one for you.

45 Best True Crime Books of All Time

Humans have long been fascinated by all things fearful and forbidden. For centuries now, the pinnacle of that fascination has been crime. That's why we’ve unearthed the most wickedly wonderful works for your enjoyment. Whether you’re intrigued by ...

Heard about Reedsy Discovery?

Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations.

Or sign up with an

Or sign up with your social account

• Submit your book
• Reviewer directory

We made a writing app for you

Yes, you! Write. Format. Export for ebook and print. 100% free, always.

• Newsletters
• News Insiders

Book Review: A retired small-town cop searches for missing girls in William Kent Krueger’s mystery

By Bruce Desilva, The Associated Press

Posted Aug 19, 2024 02:21:37 PM.

Last Updated Aug 19, 2024 02:31:23 PM.

Cork O’Connor, whose wife is a full-blooded Ojibwe and who is half Native American himself, retired from his job as Aurora, Minnesota, police chief a while back. He now runs a fast-food place, but when trouble comes to Minnesota’s Great North, Cork still is apt to end up in the middle of it.

In “Spirit Crossing,” William Kent Krueger’s 20th novel featuring Cork, there’s trouble aplenty.

For starters, the daughter of an influential politician is missing, and the FBI, state law enforcement agencies and the press are all over it. Oil pipeline construction is about to intrude on the wetlands of Spirit Crossing, an area sacred to the Native Americans, and the protesters and counter-protesters are gathering.

Meanwhile, Cork’s daughter, Annie, who worked as an aide worker in Central America for years, has just returned home. With her, she’s brought a Guatemalan nurse named Maria and a shattering secret she is reluctant to reveal to anyone.

The action begins innocently when Cork leads several members of his large family, including his 7-year-old grandson Waaboo (Little Rabbit) to a secret blueberry patch near an abandoned shack in the woods. As they near the patch, Waaboo discovers a shallow grave and says he can hear a sad girl’s spirit calling to him.

FBI and state law enforcement agencies descend, seizing control and ordering local authorities not to interfere. But when the body ends up being that of a Native American girl, they lose interest.

The investigation falls to Cork’s successor, Aurora Police Chief Marsha Dross, who enlists Cork and the Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police. Soon they discover more bodies of Native American girls, Cork suspects they may be connected to the missing white girl, suspicion falls on pipeline workers, and someone fearful of Waaboo’s visions targets him for murder.

Krueger has no Native American blood himself, but as usual he treats native culture and mysticism with understanding and respect. His prose and character development are superb, and his vivid descriptions bring Minnesota’s north woods to life.

“Spirit Crossing” returns to three of the author’s familiar themes: the rape of the natural world in the pursuit of profit, the mistreatment of Native Americans, and, with emphasis this time, that thousands of Native American women and girls are missing and not much ever seems to be done about it.

The author puts this thought in the mouth of one of Cork’s relatives: “To be an Indian is to walk with loss. It goes before us and it follows us. It is our shadow self.”

Bruce DeSilva, winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including “The Dread Line.”

AP book reviews: https://apnews.com/hub/book-reviews

Bruce Desilva, The Associated Press

Top Stories

Halifax Regional Police say three dogs are dead after they attacked a woman in Fairview on Tuesday morning. At roughly 8:40 a.m., officers responded to a report that three large dogs were attacking...

The province says a new genetic test means newborns can now be screened for spinal muscular atrophy in the Maritimes. The government announced it was adding the test to the Maritime Newborn Screening...

The largest study of Canada's catastrophic 2023 wildfire season concludes it is "inescapable" that the record burn was caused by extreme heat and parching drought, while adding the amount of young forests...

CHICAGO — Canada's ambassador to the United States says the country is looking for an administration willing to deepen its defence relationships as NATO allies watch closely to see what the Democratic...

Most Watched Today

CityNews' Sports Reporter Lindsay Dunn spoke with former Blue Jay Santiago Espinal about being traded to the Cincinnati Reds and the fun he and Vladdy had away from the game.

The Canadian economy could come to a screeching halt with a possible railway strike just a few days away. Xiaoli Li with the ongoing labour dispute and the warning coming from the nation's top business association. 

Gaza has recorded its first polio case in 25 years after tests confirmed the disease in an unvaccinated 10-month-old. UN chief António Guterres has called for pauses in the Israel-Hamas war to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children.

Stock markets rebound from early August losses, Canopy Growth Corporation will get a new CEO next year and Air Canada pilots are wrapping up a strike vote next week. Kris McCusker explains.

Widespread condemnation following attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. The calls on Israel to do more to curb the violence. Erica Natividad reports.

Adjust preferences

With your consent we may collect cookies and information to enhance our service, and improve your experience.

These cookies and data are essential for browsing our website and allowing services. Examples include, session, authentication, and security cookies.

These cookies and data enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalized content.

These cookies and data inform us which pages are most informative and engaging via analytics.

These cookies may track data across websites for marketing and interest-based advertising to provide personalized content, offers, and advertisements.

• Traffic and Travel
• Submit Your Story
• Your Lancaster
• Other Sport
• Arts and Entertainment
• Things To Do
• Homes and Gardens
• Advertise My Business
• Place Announcement
• Place A Public Notice
• Advertise A Job

Death on the Lusitania by R L Graham: a shipboard thriller with a truly chilling undertow – book review –

The Lusitania – which had been specially built to be easily converted to a warship – was torpedoed and sunk without warning, and its final voyage has become notorious in maritime history... an event harnessed by R.L. Graham, aka a husband-and-wife team of historians and writers, for a thrilling Agatha Christie-inspired First World War murder mystery starring British government mandarin Patrick Gallagher.

This exciting authorial duo are very much drawn to the shadowy world of crime, espionage and political intrigue, and this fast-paced, thrills-and-spills adventure – based loosely on events on board the ship – expertly blends rich historical detail and a locked-room mystery with the very real pathos of Lusitania’s haunting last sailing.

Advertisement

Sign up to our daily newsletter

Thank you for signing up.

Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Lancaster Guardian, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.

In New York in 1915, RMS Lusitania, one of the world’s most luxurious ocean liners, departs for war-torn Europe . Among those on board is Patrick Gallagher, a civil servant in His Majesty’s government who has been tasked with escorting a British diplomat back to England.

When fellow passenger James Dowrich – a former Royal Navy officer returning from the States to do his ‘bit’ for the war effort – is believed to have shot himself in his cabin, Gallagher is asked by the captain to investigate the scene.

And he soon finds that one crucial detail doesn’t fit... the man’s body was discovered in a locked cabin with the key inside and no gun can be found. Was it really suicide... or murder?

Gallagher believes one of the passengers is a deadly killer, one who could strike again at any moment to protect their true reasons for being on board. And all the while, the ship sails on towards Europe, where deadly enemy submarines patrol dark waters...

Death on the Lusitania is a page-turning Golden Age delight, packed with the atmospherics and clever, complex plotting of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, and delivers all the enticing twists, turns, intriguing suspects and red herrings that make murder mysteries a perennial favourite.

Leading the action, and providing the important ‘little grey cells’ investigative skills, is the wily operator Patrick Gallagher, a wise and more than competent civil servant-cum-detective with a military and police service history, and still haunted by a very personal lost love.

Set against the febrile backdrop of the first twelve months of the Great War, and on the eve of Germany’s abandonment of ‘prize rules’ – under which U-boats would surface before attacking merchant ships, allowing passengers and crew to escape – this is a shipboard thriller with a truly chilling undertow.

And with the added poignancy of not just the last hours of Lusitania and its passengers, but also the death from cancer of Marilyn Livingstone – one half of R.L. Graham – during the writing of this book, it is heartening to learn that Gallagher is set to return next year in The Spies of Hartlake Hall.

(Pan, paperback, £9.99)

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.