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Stay-Up-Way-Too-Late Thrillers & Murder Mysteries
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items Cozies are my comfort reads, but some nights I want a book that makes me double-check the locks. These are the psychological thrillers, detective series, and classic whodunits I've loved over a lifetime of reading, from twisty modern page-turners to ...
Sections
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TWISTY PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS
DETECTIVE SERIES WORTH STARTING
MODERN WHODUNITS & FAMILY SECRETS
CLASSIC WHODUNITS THAT STARTED IT ALL
TWISTY PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS
These are the ones that keep me up past my bedtime. Secrets, unreliable narrators, and endings I want to talk about right away, including my own book, The Town That Pretended Nothing Happened.
Amy disappears on the morning of her fifth wedding anniversary, and every chapter has you changing your mind about who to believe. When I finished it, I needed someone to talk to about it right away.
A Missing Wife & a Marriage Full of Secrets
Alicia stopped talking the day her husband died, and Theo, a therapist, can't let go of finding out why. Hang in there until the last pages, because that ending got me good.
A Painter Who Won't Speak & the Therapist Determined to Reach Her
Every day Rachel rides the same train and invents stories about a couple she sees from the window, until the woman goes missing. She isn't the most reliable narrator, and that's exactly what keeps you guessing.
The Daily Commute That Turned Into a Missing-Person Case
Millie needs a fresh start, so she takes a live-in housekeeping job with a wealthy family, and strange things start happening right away. The chapters are so short that I kept saying just one more until 2 a.m.
A Live-In Maid Job That's Too Good to Be True
Jack and Grace look like they have the picture-perfect marriage, yet she's never alone and never seems to answer her phone. It's tense and a little unsettling, so you'll want the lights on for this one.
The Perfect Couple Nobody Really Knows
I wrote this one, so I'm a little biased, but it's the story of a town that decided the easiest way to live was to pretend nothing ever happened. If you like a slow unease and people who smile while they hide the truth, this is my psychological thril...
A Whole Town That Agreed to Forget
DETECTIVE SERIES WORTH STARTING
Once I find a detective I like, I'm hooked for years. These first books are where I met them, and if one clicks with you, you've got a long series ahead.
Within hours of walking into Margrave, Georgia, Jack Reacher is arrested for a murder he didn't commit. If you've only seen the TV show, this is the book where it all started, and it's a fast, satisfying ride.
A Drifter, a Small Georgia Town & a Wrong-Man Arrest
Harry Bosch finds a body in a drainage pipe and realizes he knew the man from his Army days in Vietnam. It kicks off a long series, so if Harry clicks with you, you've got years of reading ahead.
An L.A. Detective & a Case That Hits Close to Home
Detective Rob Ryan takes a case in the same woods where his two childhood friends vanished years ago, and he has never told anyone he was the boy left behind. Tana French writes so beautifully that I slowed down just to enjoy the sentences.
A Dublin Detective & a Mystery From His Own Childhood
Mikael and Lisbeth team up to find out what happened to a girl who vanished from her wealthy family's island 40 years ago. Fair warning, it gets dark in spots, but Lisbeth is one of the most unforgettable characters I've ever read.
A Swedish Journalist, a Brilliant Hacker & a Decades-Old Disappearance
Washington, D.C. detective Alex Cross takes a kidnapping case that becomes a battle of wits with a very clever criminal. This is the book that got me hooked on James Patterson's short, can't-stop chapters.
Meet Alex Cross: Detective, Psychologist & Devoted Dad
MODERN WHODUNITS & FAMILY SECRETS
Fancy weddings, cruises, school moms, and family secrets. Newer mysteries where someone is always hiding something, without going all the way back to the classics.
Everyone gathers on a windswept island off the coast of Ireland for a fancy wedding, and before the night is over someone is dead. The story jumps between the guests, and every one of them seems to be hiding something.
A Glamorous Island Wedding Goes Very Wrong
Travel writer Lo Blacklock is sure she heard a woman go overboard, yet every passenger is accounted for. If you loved the cruise mysteries on my cozy list, this is their spookier cousin.
A Small Luxury Cruise & a Passenger Nobody Else Saw
Three moms in a beachside Australian town become friends through their kids' school, and from page one we know someone dies at trivia night. It's funny and full of heart, until suddenly it isn't.
School Moms, Seaside Gossip & a Trivia Night Gone Wrong
Hannah's husband disappears and leaves her a note asking her to protect his teenage daughter, who wants nothing to do with her. It's as much about a stepmom and stepdaughter learning to trust each other as it is a mystery, and I loved that.
A Husband Vanishes & Leaves Behind One Note
Book editor Susan Ryeland starts reading her author's newest whodunit and discovers the last chapter is missing. You get two mysteries in one book, and the whole thing is a love letter to the classic English village mystery.
A Mystery Inside a Mystery for Agatha Christie Fans
CLASSIC WHODUNITS THAT STARTED IT ALL
These are the books that started it all for me. Christie, Holmes, Rebecca, and Marlowe, the ones I still think about years later.
Ten people are invited to an island off the English coast, and one by one they start dying. It's the best-selling mystery of all time for a reason, and I still think about that ending.
Ten Strangers, One Island & No Way Off
A snowdrift stops the train cold, and a passenger turns up dead in his locked compartment. Hercule Poirot has to solve it before the tracks are cleared, and the answer is one of Christie's cleverest.
Poirot, a Snowbound Train & a Car Full of Suspects
According to legend, a ghostly hound haunts the Baskerville family, and the newest heir might be its next victim. It's Holmes and Watson at their very best, with plenty of spooky moor atmosphere.
Sherlock Holmes, a Foggy Moor & a Family Curse
A shy young woman marries a wealthy widower and moves to Manderley, his estate, where his first wife's memory is everywhere. Add the creepy housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, and you have a slow-burn classic that still gives me chills.
A New Bride, a Grand Estate & the Wife Who Came Before
An elderly, wealthy general hires private eye Philip Marlowe to handle a blackmail problem involving one of his wild daughters. The sharp, witty one-liners alone make it worth the read.
The Original Hard-Boiled L.A. Private Eye