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  1. Genres
  2. ›Mystery

Best Mystery Books

Mystery and detective fiction

2,086 summaries

Showing 1,153–1,176 of 2,086

  1. The Little Sister

    Raymond Chandler

    ★ 4.0 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In the sun-drenched, shadow-laden world of 1940s Hollywood, Philip Marlowe navigates a serpentine trail of blackmail, drug rings, and escalating murders, all sparked by a seemingly innocent search for a missing brother.

  2. The Scarlatti Inheritance

    Robert Ludlum

    ★ 3.9 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A Nazi's defection threatens to expose the 'Scarlatti Inheritance,' a secret that could ruin powerful Western figures and change World War II.

  3. Tempest

    Julie Cross

    ★ 3.7 (13k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Stuck two years in the past, a heartbroken time-traveler races against shadowy 'Enemies of Time' to master his powers and rewrite a tragic future, all while trying to save the girl he loves and possibly the world.

  4. The Way the Crow Flies

    Ann-Marie MacDonald

    ★ 4.1 (13k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    An eight-year-old girl's 1960s childhood on a Canadian Air Force base ends with a local murder, forcing her to uncover family secrets and the complexity of human morality over two decades.

  5. Maybe This Time

    Jennifer Crusie

    ★ 3.7 (13k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A woman escaping her ex-husband gets tangled in a funny, ghost-filled adventure with his magically mischievous wards, forcing her to face both supernatural hauntings and the lingering feelings from their past.

  6. The Lake of Dreams

    Kim Edwards

    ★ 3.2 (13k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    Haunted by her father's death, Lucy finds forgotten objects in her childhood home, uncovering a dark family secret that will redefine her past and future in the mysterious Lake of Dreams.

  7. Confessions

    Augustine of Hippo

    ★ 4.1 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Augustine's spiritual autobiography follows his search for God through his sinful past, examining memory, desire, and human nature with a philosopher's mind and a convert's heart.

  8. The Painter

    Peter Heller

    ★ 3.8 (13k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A celebrated painter in rural Colorado, haunted by a violent past, sees his fragile peace shattered when an act of vigilantism forces him back into a brutal world, where he confronts his inner darkness and seeks redemption through art.

  9. The Improbability of Love

    Hannah Rothschild

    ★ 3.7 (13k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    A lovelorn chef finds a lost 18th-century masterpiece in a junk shop, starting a high-stakes treasure hunt through London's art world and forcing her to confront its secrets and her own capacity for love.

  10. Enigma

    Robert Harris

    ★ 3.9 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    At Bletchley Park during WWII, a brilliant but troubled codebreaker races to crack Germany's new Enigma cipher, all while investigating the disappearance of the woman he loves, who he suspects might be a spy.

  11. The Interpretation of Murder

    Jed Rubenfeld

    ★ 3.5 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In 1909 New York, Sigmund Freud and his American protégé must unravel the dark subconscious of a city terrorized by a sadistic killer preying on heiresses, all while navigating a conspiracy to discredit the very foundations of psychoanalysis.

  12. The Sign of the Twisted Candles

    Carolyn Keene

    ★ 4.0 (13k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    Nancy Drew unravels a decades-old family feud and unearths a hidden birthright, transforming the life of a young woman caught in its bitter grip.

  13. The Lie

    Helen Dunmore

    ★ 3.8 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A WWI survivor returns to Cornwall, haunted by the trenches and a love forged in their fires, only to find peace shattered by a past lie's unforeseen consequences.

  14. Carter Beats the Devil

    Glen David Gold

    ★ 4.1 (13k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a 1920s world of grand illusions and hidden dangers, master magician Charles Carter must find out how President Harding died, even if it means his own carefully built life might disappear.

  15. SilverFin

    Charlie Higson

    ★ 3.8 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Before he was the legendary spy, a young James Bond uncovers a deadly, aquatic secret called SilverFin while navigating the treacherous waters of a new boarding school.

  16. Shine

    Lauren Myracle

    ★ 3.8 (13k) average on GoodreadsYoung Adult

    In a town full of secrets and bias, a determined teen uncovers the truth behind her best friend's hate crime, challenging her community.

  17. Hotel

    Arthur Hailey

    ★ 4.0 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Beneath the gilded facade of New Orleans' St. Gregory Hotel, a five-day drama of ambition, betrayal, and hidden desires unfolds as a diverse cast navigates personal crises and professional intrigue amidst the sweltering Louisiana heat.

  18. The Fall

    Albert Camus

    ★ 4.2 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A former lawyer in an Amsterdam bar dissects his own moral failings, challenging the reader to confront their own hidden hypocrisy.

  19. The Bone Labyrinth

    James Rollins

    ★ 4.1 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Neanderthal bones and cave art send Sigma Force on a global hunt, uncovering a 50,000-year-old conflict between early humans and monstrous shadows, while a modern genetic threat endangers humanity.

  20. Pushing Brilliance

    Tim Tigner

    ★ 4.0 (13k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Framed for a murder he didn't commit, a former Olympic biathlete must team up with his dead brother's fiancée to stop a global conspiracy involving a revolutionary invention and assassins from Russia to Silicon Valley.

  21. These Shallow Graves

    Jennifer Donnelly

    ★ 4.0 (12k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In 1890s New York, a socialite risks her life to expose the truth behind her father's death, entering a world of crime, corruption, and forbidden romance.

  22. The Missing Sister

    Elle Marr

    ★ 3.6 (12k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A woman travels to Paris to identify her twin sister's body, only to discover a chilling message: her sister is alive and trusts no one, plunging her into a dangerous search through the city's underbelly for answers.

  23. All the Rage

    Courtney Summers

    ★ 3.8 (12k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Branded a liar and ostracized for accusing the town's golden boy, a girl from the wrong side of the tracks must choose between her hard-won anonymity and exposing a predator when another girl goes missing.

  24. The Beach Trees

    Karen White

    ★ 4.0 (12k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    A woman haunted by her sister's childhood disappearance finds a path to healing and a connection to a forgotten past in a hurricane-damaged Gulf Coast home, unraveling a century of family secrets.

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