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15 Gripping Mystery Series to Start Now
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items Whether you’re in the mood for a gritty police procedural or a cozy village whodunit, these picks are guaranteed to keep you guessing. I’ve focused on "series starters" because, trust me, once you meet these characters, you’re going to want to follow...
Sections
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Amateur Sleuths Who Can't Mind Their Own Business
Brilliant Professionals and Private Eyes
Gritty Cases and Dark Secrets
Amateur Sleuths Who Can't Mind Their Own Business
Sometimes the best detectives are the ones who aren't actually "detectives" at all. I love these stories because the characters feel like people I’d actually know—if my friends were constantly stumbling over bodies, that is! These five books feature ...
I honestly wish I could move into this retirement village just to hang out with these four! It’s about a group of seniors who meet weekly to solve cold cases, but when a real murder happens on their doorstep, they prove that being "old" is actually t...
The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club Series #1)|Paperback
This book is such a wild ride—I couldn't stop laughing even when things got tense. Finlay is a stressed-out single mom and struggling author who gets mistaken for a contract killer, and watching her try to "investigate" her way out of a real-life cri...
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Finlay Donovan Series #1)
Vera is the meddling auntie I never knew I needed in my life. When she finds a dead body in her tea shop, she doesn't just call the cops; she does her own investigating because she's convinced the police won't do it right, and her methods are as hear...
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Imagine being told by a fortune teller exactly how you'll die—Annie’s great-aunt lived her whole life preparing for that moment. Now Annie has to step in and solve the decades-old puzzle her aunt left behind, and the way the past and present collide ...
How to Solve Your Own Murder: A Novel
Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce is a chemistry-obsessed genius, and I am obsessed with her. She’s way smarter than the adults in her 1950s English village, and watching her use her lab skills to clear her father’s name is a total delight for anyone wh...
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (Flavia de Luce Series #1)
Brilliant Professionals and Private Eyes
There is something so satisfying about watching a professional at the top of their game. These characters are officially on the clock, and their dedication to the "hunt" is what makes these books impossible to put down. If you like a more structured ...
Tana French is the queen of atmosphere, and this first book in the Dublin Murder Squad series is haunting. Detective Rob Ryan is investigating a case that mirrors a trauma from his own childhood, and the psychological depth she brings to his investig...
In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad Series #1)
Cormoran Strike is exactly the kind of gritty, down-on-his-luck private investigator I love to root for. He’s a war vet with a complicated past, and his partnership with his temporary secretary, Robin, feels so authentic as they navigate the glitzy (...
The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike Series #1)
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is the kind of leader we all want—kind, patient, and incredibly observant. This book introduces the cozy but mysterious village of Three Pines, and I love how Gamache looks for the "why" behind a murder just as much as ...
Still Life (Chief Inspector Gamache Series #1)
Perveen Mistry is one of the most unique investigators I’ve ever read about, being one of the first female solicitors in 1920s Bombay. Because she can talk to women in purdah whom male investigators can't reach, her perspective on solving a murder is...
The Widows of Malabar Hill (Perveen Mistry Series #1)
You can't have a mystery list without the GOAT, and this is where we first meet the legendary Hercule Poirot. Even in his first outing, his obsession with "the little grey cells" is on full display, and the puzzle is so tightly wound that it still ho...
The Mysterious Affair at Styles: The First Hercule Poirot Mystery
Gritty Cases and Dark Secrets
If you like your mysteries with a side of "edge," these are the ones for you. These investigators often have to walk a thin line between right and wrong to get to the truth. I find these stories stay with me a bit longer because the main characters a...
Lisbeth Salander is hands-down one of the most iconic characters in modern fiction. Watching her team up with journalist Mikael Blomkvist to solve a decades-old disappearance is intense, dark, and incredibly rewarding—she is the ultimate "don't under...
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series #1)
ack Reacher isn't a "detective" in the traditional sense, but he's a former military MP who knows exactly how to dissect a crime scene. When he's arrested for a murder he didn't commit in a tiny Georgia town, watching him systematically tear apart th...
Killing Floor (Jack Reacher Series #1)
Rachel isn't a pro, and she's a pretty "unreliable" narrator, but her obsession with a couple she sees from the train window pulls her into a missing persons case. It’s a messy, emotional investigation that felt so raw and real to me because she’s ju...
The Girl on the Train: A Novel
This is for the history buffs who love a dark twist. Set in 1890s New York, Dr. Laszlo Kreizler uses the brand-new "science" of psychology to track a serial killer. It’s a fascinating look at how criminal profiling began, and the team-up between the ...
The Alienist
Kay Scarpetta is the OG of forensic investigation. Long before CSI was a thing, she was using science to catch killers. I love how she has to fight for respect in a male-dominated field while piecing together clues that everyone else missed under the...
Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta Series #1)