BookBrief
LibraryBrowseBook Lists
ExploreSign in
BookBrief

Distilled summaries from the world's most influential books. Free for everyone, forever.

Library

  • All Summaries
  • Browse Genres
  • Book Lists

Company

  • About Us
  • How We Write Summaries
  • Privacy Policy
© 2026 BookBrief. Distilled with Precision.hello@bookbrief.io
  1. Genres
  2. ›Mystery

Best Mystery Books

Mystery and detective fiction

2,086 summaries

Showing 1,777–1,800 of 2,086

  1. The Thieves of Ostia

    Caroline Lawrence

    ★ 3.9 (3k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    In ancient Ostia, a Roman girl and her friends solve a canine murder mystery, uncovering secrets and finding justice.

  2. A Void

    Georges Perec

    ★ 3.8 (3k) average on Goodreads

    In a city missing an essential piece, a detective uncovers a conspiracy where every clue is a gap, and the letter 'e' has vanished.

  3. Truth or Dare

    Jacqueline Green

    ★ 3.9 (3k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In the isolated town of Echo Bay, a seemingly innocent game of truth or dare becomes a sinister blackmail plot, forcing three girls to confront their darkest secrets or face deadly consequences.

  4. Fire in Frost

    Alicia Rades

    ★ 3.9 (3k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Psychic teen Crystal Frost, haunted by visions, must use her terrifying new abilities to unmask a blackmailer before secrets and lives are shattered.

  5. The Always War

    Margaret Peterson Haddix

    ★ 3.4 (3k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    In a ravaged future America, a resilient teen, her war-scarred childhood friend, and a street-smart orphan brave enemy lines to unearth the seventy-five-year deception fueling their nation's endless war.

  6. Arizona

    Eden Maguire

    ★ 3.6 (3k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    When the mysterious Beautiful Dead vanish, Darina must unravel the truth behind Arizona's apparent suicide before the past consumes them all.

  7. The Hired Man

    Aminatta Forna

    ★ 3.9 (3k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In a quiet Croatian village scarred by war, an old hunter's peaceful life changes when a British family arrives, making him confront his past and the town's hidden guilt as a mosaic reveals forgotten horrors.

  8. The Road of the Dead

    Kevin Brooks

    ★ 3.8 (3k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Driven by grief and a need for revenge, two half-gypsy brothers—one reckless, the other with unsettling visions—search storm-battered England for their sister's killer.

  9. Black Duck

    Janet Taylor Lisle

    ★ 3.7 (3k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    In 1929 Rhode Island, two boys get caught in a deadly war between rival Prohibition gangs after finding a body and a mysterious package on the beach, leading one of them aboard the legendary smuggling ship, the Black Duck.

  10. Twelfth Night

    William Shakespeare

    ★ 4.0 (3k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    A shipwrecked twin's disguise as a male page ignites a chaotic love triangle between a lovesick duke, a mourning countess, and a puritanical steward.

  11. Tenderness

    Robert Cormier

    ★ 3.7 (3k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Fresh from juvenile detention for parricide, eighteen-year-old Eric seeks a twisted form of 'tenderness' through murder, only to find a potential mirror—or victim—in the equally damaged and searching fifteen-year-old runaway, Lori.

  12. The Princess Plot

    Kirsten Boie

    ★ 3.7 (3k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A girl's unexpected film role as a princess turns into a real-life mystery in a charming kingdom, where the line between script and reality blurs.

  13. Being Henry David

    Cal Armistead

    ★ 3.7 (3k) average on GoodreadsYoung Adult

    An amnesiac teen renames himself after Thoreau and travels to Walden Pond, hoping the retreat will unlock his tragic memories and reveal his identity.

  14. Good Old Secret Seven

    Enid Blyton

    ★ 3.8 (3k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    The Secret Seven are on the case when mysterious lights and disturbed jackdaws at Torkling Castle hint at a secret lurking within its ruined tower, far more intriguing than a simple ghost story.

  15. Vengeance

    Kate Brian

    ★ 4.0 (3k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Haunted by a fiery past and relentless adversaries, Reed fights to resurrect her beloved boarding school from literal and metaphorical ashes, all while a sinister legacy threatens to consume her and the remaining Billings girls.

  16. The Tears of Dark Water

    Corban Addison

    ★ 4.2 (3k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A desperate family's round-the-world sailing trip collides with a Somali pirate's quest for vengeance and an FBI negotiator's past, igniting a global crisis where survival hinges on confronting buried truths.

  17. Hawkes Harbor

    S.E. Hinton

    ★ 3.1 (3k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Jamie Sommers, an orphan and lifelong sinner, used to the world's dark corners, faces an unimaginable evil in Hawkes Harbor that threatens his sanity and cursed existence.

  18. The Fugitive Factor

    Gordon Korman

    ★ 4.1 (3k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    On the run from the FBI, a killer, and the entire nation, Aiden and Meg Falconer must find evidence to clear their wrongly imprisoned parents.

  19. The Apple Tart of Hope

    Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

    ★ 3.9 (3k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    When the boy who baked the world's most perfect apple tarts disappears and everyone thinks he's dead, his best friend and little brother search for the truth, showing that even in deep sadness, hope is a strong force.

  20. The Twisted Claw

    Franklin W. Dixon

    ★ 3.8 (3k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    The Hardy Boys chase a self-styled pirate king from Bayport to a Caribbean stronghold, uncovering his role in museum thefts and the "Empire of the Twisted Claw."

  21. Woman on the Run

    Lisa Marie Rice

    ★ 4.0 (3k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A city woman's life falls apart after seeing a Mob hit, sending her into witness protection in rural Idaho. Her only comfort comes from a quiet, protective ex-SEAL rancher and a town determined to keep her safe from assassins.

  22. The Man With the Golden Arm

    Nelson Algren

    ★ 3.9 (3k) average on GoodreadsLiterary Fiction

    In post-war Chicago, a morphine-addicted drummer with a 'golden arm' for cards fights his demons and a relentless past for a chance at a new life with an old flame.

  23. Envy

    Sandra Brown

    ★ 3.4 (3k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A New York book editor's quest for a reclusive author's tantalizing manuscript leads her to a ruined plantation, an undeniable attraction, and a chilling realization that his fictional tale of betrayal and murder may be a terrifying reflection of her own husband's hidden past.

  24. The Secret of Nightingale Wood

    Lucy Strange

    ★ 4.2 (3k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    After her mother falls ill and her father leaves, a young girl named Henrietta must use stories to navigate the secrets of Hope House and the figures in Nightingale Wood, uncovering a truth that changes everything.

Previous1…7374757677…87Next