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  1. Genres
  2. ›Mystery

Best Mystery Books

Mystery and detective fiction

2,086 summaries

Showing 145–168 of 2,086

  1. Trainspotting

    Irvine Welsh

    ★ 4.1 (153k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    This story follows the lives of Edinburgh's heroin addicts as they deal with friendship, betrayal, and the constant search for drugs, all while rejecting the normal 'choose life' mantra.

  2. Watchers

    Dean Koontz

    ★ 4.2 (153k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A man, a woman, and a smart golden retriever run from a genetically engineered assassin and a monster that escaped a secret lab.

  3. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

    Michelle Hodkin

    ★ 4.0 (153k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Haunted by a forgotten tragedy that gives her terrifying, reality-bending powers, Mara Dyer must solve the mystery of her past and her connection to the enigmatic Noah Shaw before her own mind turns against her.

  4. You

    Caroline Kepnes

    ★ 3.9 (151k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A bookstore manager becomes a predator, creating a 'perfect' romance with a writer by using her online footprint. In an age of oversharing, privacy is a deadly illusion.

  5. Midwives

    Chris Bohjalian

    ★ 4.0 (151k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In 1981 rural Vermont, a dedicated midwife performs an emergency C-section during a blizzard to save a baby, leading to a murder trial as her daughter recounts the community's struggle with truth and guilt.

  6. Dead in the Family

    Charlaine Harris

    ★ 3.9 (150k) average on GoodreadsFantasy
  7. My Sister, the Serial Killer

    Oyinkan Braithwaite

    ★ 3.7 (150k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A Nigerian nurse’s loyalty to her charming, homicidal sister is tested when the man she loves becomes her sister's next potential victim, forcing a darkly comedic choice between family and justice.

  8. No Country for Old Men

    Cormac McCarthy

    ★ 4.1 (148k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A hunter finds a drug deal gone wrong in Texas, starting a brutal chase with a coin-flipping killer and pulling an aging sheriff into a new, amoral world.

  9. Two for the Dough

    Janet Evanovich

    ★ 4.1 (148k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum chases a wealthy shooter, deals with her rival (and crush) Joe Morelli, avoids a new enemy, and wrangles her pistol-packing Grandma Mazur, all while trying not to blow up more cars in Trenton.

  10. The Sense of an Ending

    Julian Barnes

    ★ 3.7 (147k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    A retired man's carefully built memories of youth and a past betrayal fall apart when a lawyer's letter forces him to face how unreliable his own history is and the crushing weight of forgotten truths.

  11. Caraval

    Stephanie Garber

    ★ 4.0 (147k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A sheltered girl enters a dangerous game, where the line between performance and reality blurs, to find her kidnapped sister within the magical spectacle of Caraval.

  12. Night Shift

    Stephen King

    ★ 4.0 (147k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Stephen King delivers a chilling collection where industrial machines thirst for blood, ancient evils lurk in cornfields, and the dead refuse to stay buried, proving terror exists in life's most ordinary corners.

  13. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

    Alan Bradley

    ★ 3.8 (145k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    In the summer of 1950, an eleven-year-old chemistry prodigy with a penchant for poisons finds her life truly begins when a mysterious dead bird and a dying man in the cucumber patch launch her into a delightfully macabre investigation at her family's eccentric estate.

  14. Murder at the Vicarage

    Agatha Christie

    ★ 4.1 (145k) average on Goodreads

    When a universally despised colonel is murdered in a vicar's study, Miss Marple must navigate a village teeming with suspects who all secretly wished him dead.

  15. Bird Box

    Josh Malerman

    ★ 4.0 (143k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    An unseen force drives people to madness. A mother, blindfolded, must navigate a dangerous river with her two children, using only sound to escape the horror.

  16. Leaving Time

    Jodi Picoult

    ★ 4.0 (142k) average on Goodreads

    A daughter uses her missing elephant researcher mother's journals to find her, uncovering family secrets and the science of animal grief.

  17. The Miserable Mill

    Lemony Snicket

    ★ 3.9 (141k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    At the grim Paltryville lumber mill, the Baudelaire orphans encounter a giant pincher machine, a sinister hypnotist, and a man with a smoky head, proving that even coupons cannot sweeten their latest bitter misfortune.

  18. The Girl in the Spider's Web

    David Lagercrantz

    ★ 3.8 (140k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A genius hacker and a disgraced journalist are drawn into a global conspiracy involving stolen government secrets and an assassination plot.

  19. Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas

    James Patterson

    ★ 4.2 (139k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    A woman's new love vanishes, leaving a diary that reveals he is a husband and father in another family, forcing her to unravel a heartbreaking mystery of love, loss, and hope.

  20. Grave Peril

    Jim Butcher

    ★ 4.2 (139k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    When Chicago's spirit world erupts into a city-wide haunting, professional wizard Harry Dresden must find who is weaponizing the dead before their chaos claims him and everyone he cares about.

  21. A Bend in the Road

    Nicholas Sparks

    ★ 4.0 (138k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    A grieving deputy, haunted by his wife's unsolved hit-and-run, finds unexpected love with his son's teacher, only to discover their intertwined past holds a devastating secret that threatens to shatter their newfound happiness.

  22. Jaws

    Peter Benchley

    ★ 4.0 (137k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A summer of sun-drenched beaches turns into a blood-soaked nightmare when a monstrous great white shark begins to systematically devour swimmers, forcing a small island community to confront the terrifying, insatiable predator.

  23. I Am the Messenger

    Markus Zusak

    ★ 4.0 (137k) average on GoodreadsYoung Adult

    An aimless cab driver's life takes a strange turn when he receives mysterious playing cards, each a clue forcing him to intervene in the lives of strangers, all while wondering who made him the messenger.

  24. Three to Get Deadly

    Janet Evanovich

    ★ 4.1 (136k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum navigates a disastrous hair month, a missing beloved citizen turned potential vigilante, and the confusing politeness of Joe Morelli, all while trying to keep her ex-hooker sidekick Lula from stuffing perps into car trunks.

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