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  1. Genres
  2. ›Mystery

Best Mystery Books

Mystery and detective fiction

2,086 summaries

Showing 25–48 of 2,086

  1. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

    Erik Larson

    ★ 4.0 (522k) average on GoodreadsBiography

    At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, an architect's triumph is overshadowed by a serial killer who preys on visitors.

  2. The Lost Symbol

    Dan Brown

    ★ 3.7 (521k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon races through Washington D.C.'s hidden Masonic underworld to decipher ancient symbols and save his kidnapped mentor from a terrifying villain obsessed with unlocking esoteric wisdom.

  3. The Silent Patient

    Alex Michaelides

    ★ 4.1 (507k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A painter's silence after shooting her husband five times sends a psychotherapist on a quest for truth that threatens his own sanity.

  4. Fight Club

    Chuck Palahniuk

    ★ 4.2 (499k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    An insomniac office worker, an anarchist, and a fight club come together in a look at consumerism, masculinity, and the search for identity in a modern world.

  5. Misery

    Stephen King

    ★ 4.2 (499k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Held captive by his self-proclaimed 'number one fan,' a famous author is forced to write his greatest work under the threat of unimaginable pain and psychological torture in an isolated house.

  6. Dead Until Dark

    Charlaine Harris

    ★ 4.0 (496k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    When vampires reveal themselves to the world, telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse finds her quiet Louisiana life changed by a charming undead lover and a series of supernatural mysteries.

  7. One for the Money

    Janet Evanovich

    ★ 4.0 (483k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    Unemployed and desperate, Stephanie Plum trades lingerie for handcuffs, hunting down a charming ex-cop—who also happens to be the man who broke her heart and defiled her reputation years ago—in a hilarious and explosive quest for bounty money and overdue revenge.

  8. The Cuckoo's Calling

    Robert Galbraith

    ★ 3.9 (482k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A war-wounded private investigator looks into the world of high fashion and rock 'n' roll to find out the truth behind a supermodel's supposed suicide.

  9. Where'd You Go, Bernadette

    Maria Semple

    ★ 3.9 (481k) average on Goodreads

    After her eccentric, architect-turned-recluse mother vanishes before a family trip to Antarctica, a determined teenager pieces together a hilarious and heartbreaking mosaic of emails, invoices, and secret pasts to find her.

  10. We Were Liars

    E. Lockhart

    ★ 3.8 (465k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    On a private island of privilege and deceit, a summer of forbidden love and a tragic accident unravels a web of lies that shatters a seemingly perfect family forever.

  11. The Silence of the Lambs

    Thomas Harris

    ★ 4.2 (464k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    To catch a serial killer who skins his victims, a young FBI trainee must understand the mind of an imprisoned cannibalistic psychiatrist.

  12. The Shadow of the Wind

    Carlos Ruiz Zafón

    ★ 4.3 (462k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In post-war Barcelona, a young man finds a forgotten book by a mysterious author, pulling him into a gothic tale of forbidden love, murder, and literary obsession. Every page reveals a new, dangerous secret.

  13. The Woman in the Window

    A.J. Finn

    ★ 3.9 (454k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    An agoraphobic woman, whose only view of the world is her camera, witnesses a brutal crime she cannot prove, blurring the lines between reality and her wine-fueled delusions.

  14. Rebecca

    Daphne du Maurier

    ★ 4.2 (450k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A new bride fights a chilling psychological battle against the memory of her husband's first wife, Rebecca, whose perfection haunts the grand estate of Manderley and threatens her identity.

  15. The Scorch Trials

    James Dashner

    ★ 3.9 (446k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Thomas and the Gladers thought escaping the Maze meant freedom. Instead, WICKED sends them into the Scorch, a sun-baked wasteland with new enemies and impossible odds, where their next trial is a fight for survival.

  16. Pet Sematary

    Stephen King

    ★ 4.0 (425k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A father's grief drives him to use an ancient, evil burial ground to bring his dead son back, unleashing horror that shows some things should stay buried.

  17. 11/22/63

    Stephen King

    ★ 4.3 (420k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A high school teacher finds a diner portal to 1958. He goes on a mission to stop JFK's assassination, but his biggest challenge may be choosing between saving history and the woman he loves in a past that resists change.

  18. The Client

    John Grisham

    ★ 4.0 (401k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    An eleven-year-old boy, privy to a mob lawyer's explosive secret, must outwit both the ruthless mafia and the relentless FBI with only a tenacious, rookie lawyer as his shield.

  19. Along Came a Spider

    James Patterson

    ★ 4.1 (400k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A brilliant detective and a pioneering Secret Service agent must outwit a psychopathic kidnapper playing the ultimate game, all while navigating a dangerous, forbidden affair that threatens to unravel their lives and the entire investigation.

  20. The Bad Beginning

    Lemony Snicket

    ★ 4.0 (398k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Three intelligent but unlucky orphans must outsmart a greedy, master-of-disguise villain who relentlessly pursues their inheritance through a series of bizarre and miserable events.

  21. The Bourne Identity

    Robert Ludlum

    ★ 4.0 (397k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A man with no memory, a bullet-riddled past, and a Swiss bank account full of secrets races across Europe to uncover his true identity before the shadowy figures hunting him succeed in erasing him for good.

  22. Murder On The Orient Express

    Agatha Christie

    ★ 4.2 (381k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A luxurious train journey through the snow-laden European landscape turns deadly when a ruthless American business magnate is found stabbed to death, leaving Hercule Poirot to untangle a web of twelve suspects, each with a hidden connection to the victim's dark past and a shared secret.

  23. The Woman in Cabin 10

    Ruth Ware

    ★ 3.7 (375k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A journalist on a luxury cruise sees a woman thrown overboard. When all passengers are accounted for, she questions her sanity while searching for the truth at sea.

  24. The Pelican Brief

    John Grisham

    ★ 4.0 (374k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A brilliant but dangerous legal brief by a young law student unravels a conspiracy reaching the highest levels of power, forcing her into a desperate flight for survival with a tenacious journalist.

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