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  1. Genres
  2. ›Mystery

Best Mystery Books

Mystery and detective fiction

2,086 summaries

Showing 193–216 of 2,086

  1. The Likeness

    Tana French

    ★ 4.0 (126k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A detective must infiltrate a seemingly idyllic house of students by impersonating her own doppelgänger, found murdered with the detective's former undercover identity, to unravel a mystery where her past and present collide.

  2. I Am Pilgrim

    Terry Hayes

    ★ 4.3 (126k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A former black ops agent, code-named Pilgrim, must piece together a global trail of seemingly unrelated atrocities to thwart a brilliant terrorist's plot to unleash a devastating biological weapon on America.

  3. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

    Vincent Bugliosi

    ★ 4.0 (125k) average on GoodreadsPsychology

    This is the prosecutor's account of the Charles Manson murders, exposing Manson's psychological control over his followers and the Tate-LaBianca murders.

  4. The Last Mrs. Parrish

    Liv Constantine

    ★ 3.9 (125k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A social climber infiltrates the life of a rich couple, only to find the perfect facade hides dark secrets.

  5. I Am Watching You

    Teresa Driscoll

    ★ 4.0 (125k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A woman's guilt over a missed opportunity to help a missing girl turns into a terrifying ordeal when she becomes the target of a mysterious stalker who knows her secret, exposing a web of lies among those closest to the vanished teen.

  6. The Dark Half

    Stephen King

    ★ 3.8 (124k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    When a novelist's violent pseudonym takes on a life of its own, Thad Beaumont must confront the terrifying reality that his dark literary creation is committing real-world murders, all while framing him with his own bloody fingerprints.

  7. The Scarlet Pimpernel

    Emmuska Orczy

    ★ 4.1 (124k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    During the French Revolution, the Scarlet Pimpernel, a master of disguise, saves innocents from the guillotine while a French agent tries to find out who he is.

  8. The Mysterious Benedict Society

    Trenton Lee Stewart

    ★ 4.2 (123k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    Four uniquely gifted orphans infiltrate a mind-bending academy run by a nefarious villain, relying on their individual talents and burgeoning friendship to thwart a plot that threatens to brainwash the world.

  9. People of the Book

    Geraldine Brooks

    ★ 4.0 (123k) average on GoodreadsHistorical Fiction

    A rare-book conservator uncovers centuries of human drama, sacrifice, and artistic wonder hidden within an ancient illuminated manuscript, tracing its journey through inquisitions, wars, and the people who risked everything to preserve its beauty and secrets.

  10. Reconstructing Amelia

    Kimberly McCreight

    ★ 3.8 (122k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A grieving mother's relentless investigation into her daughter's supposed suicide uncovers the dark secrets of an elite all-girls school, revealing a truth far more sinister than she could have imagined.

  11. The Ersatz Elevator

    Lemony Snicket

    ★ 4.0 (122k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In the sixth book of their sad story, the Baudelaire orphans go down a dark elevator shaft, finding red herrings, secret passages, and parsley soda, all while trying to outsmart a master of disguise and figure out some mysterious initials.

  12. The Girl Before

    J.P. Delaney

    ★ 3.7 (121k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A minimalist house designed by a reclusive architect forces two women, years apart, to face their pasts and question their minds as they uncover the truth behind the previous tenant's death, which mirrors their own lives.

  13. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

    Douglas Adams

    ★ 4.0 (121k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    A disarmingly holistic detective, a couch, and an ancient ghost's time-traveling suicide attempt collide in a hilariously convoluted plot to save humanity from its own past.

  14. Lethal White

    Robert Galbraith

    ★ 4.2 (120k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    A mentally distressed man's fragmented memory of a childhood murder sends private investigators Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott spiraling through London's hidden elite, Parliament's shadowy corridors, and a sinister country estate, all while navigating their own complicated, fame-addled partnership.

  15. Tell No One

    Harlan Coben

    ★ 4.1 (120k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Eight years after his wife's murder, a doctor receives an impossible email suggesting she's alive, thrusting him into a desperate, hunted search for a truth someone will kill to keep buried.

  16. The Eyre Affair

    Jasper Fforde

    ★ 3.9 (119k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In an alternate 1985 where literary detectives can jump into novels, Special Operative Thursday Next must chase a master criminal through the pages of Jane Eyre to prevent the beloved character's murder and preserve literary history amidst a world obsessed with dodo cloning, time travel, and Shakespearean conspiracies.

  17. The Tenth Circle

    Jodi Picoult

    ★ 3.5 (119k) average on GoodreadsYoung Adult

    When his daughter accuses her boyfriend of rape, a mild-mannered comic book artist confronts the violent past he thought he'd buried, showing how far a father will go to protect his child.

  18. The Vile Village

    Lemony Snicket

    ★ 4.0 (119k) average on GoodreadsFantasy

    In a village obsessed with crows and rules, the Baudelaire orphans confront an angry mob, unjust arrests, and the mystery of V.F.D., all while sporting very strange hats.

  19. The Boxcar Children

    Gertrude Chandler Warner

    ★ 4.1 (119k) average on GoodreadsChildren's

    Four orphaned siblings turn an abandoned boxcar into a secret home, starting a self-sufficient adventure to stay together before finding the grandfather they never knew.

  20. My Sister's Grave

    Robert Dugoni

    ★ 4.0 (118k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Twenty years after her sister's murder, a Seattle homicide detective reopens the cold case, uncovering dangerous small-town secrets that shatter her past and put her life at risk.

  21. Hot Six

    Janet Evanovich

    ★ 4.2 (118k) average on GoodreadsRomance

    Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum navigates exploding cars, an incontinent dog, persistent arson attempts, and disastrous skin days, all while trying to clear her enigmatic colleague Ranger of a mob hit.

  22. The Day of the Jackal

    Frederick Forsyth

    ★ 4.3 (118k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    An anonymous assassin, known as the Jackal, plans to kill France's President Charles de Gaulle, while intelligence agencies try to find him and stop the assassination.

  23. We Have Always Lived in the Castle

    Shirley Jackson

    ★ 4.0 (118k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    Isolated in their crumbling mansion, the eccentric Blackwood sisters, one a suspected poisoner and the other a darkly protective recluse, must defend their peculiar sanctuary from an avaricious cousin and a prying world.

  24. Joyland

    Stephen King

    ★ 3.9 (118k) average on GoodreadsThriller

    In the summer of '73, a college student working at a North Carolina amusement park uncovers a brutal murder, experiences a child's final days, and grows up in a way that changes his view of life and death.

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