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Thrill & Chills: 10 Mysteries to Keep You Guessing
The suspense will kill you in these novels from veteran crime writers like Walter Mosley and Amy Stuart to newcomers like Sarah, Duchess of York / BY Nathalie Atkinson / February 15th, 2023
Incisive social commentary, psychological suspense and cozy mysteries — there’s something for every crime reader in our picks of the latest thrillers to see us through the last weeks of winter.
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1ExilesThe British-Australian bestselling author (The Dry) gives her workaholic investigator Aaron Falk a third and final outing that explores the way relationships change and how people drift apart over time. Set in the lush beauty of South Australia’s wine country, where vacationing Falk looks into the disappearance of a mother, it makes for a thrilling character-driven finale.
The British-Australian bestselling author (The Dry) gives her workaholic investigator Aaron Falk a third and final outing that explores the way relationships change and how people drift apart over time. Set in the lush beauty of South Australia’s wine country, where vacationing Falk looks into the disappearance of a mother, it makes for a thrilling character-driven finale.
2A Most Intriguing LadyWho doesn’t love a titled gumshoe? Like her debut, Her Heart for a Compass, the next historical novel from Sarah, Duchess of York, is set in Victorian Scotland, but adds a dash of aristocratic swashbuckling to the romance. A Duke’s wallflower daughter, who leads a double life as an amateur sleuth, forges an unlikely alliance with Col. Walter Trefusis, a war veteran who secretly works in the British intelligence service. Together, they solve crimes, with all the period trappings.
Who doesn’t love a titled gumshoe? Like her debut, Her Heart for a Compass, the next historical novel from Sarah, Duchess of York, is set in Victorian Scotland, but adds a dash of aristocratic swashbuckling to the romance. A Duke’s wallflower daughter, who leads a double life as an amateur sleuth, forges an unlikely alliance with Col. Walter Trefusis, a war veteran who secretly works in the British intelligence service. Together, they solve crimes, with all the period trappings.
3Decent PeopleThe fallout of an unsolved triple murder in North Carolina is fertile ground for the Southern author’s second whodunit exploring prejudice and homophobia in a town divided by race. The victims came from a successful Black professional family, and unravelling the secrets of this tangled murder mystery, set in 1976, is 60-year-old Josephine, who’s just returned to her hometown after decades in New York. She turns into an amateur sleuth to exonerate an old friend (now her fiancé) in her African-American community.
The fallout of an unsolved triple murder in North Carolina is fertile ground for the Southern author’s second whodunit exploring prejudice and homophobia in a town divided by race. The victims came from a successful Black professional family, and unravelling the secrets of this tangled murder mystery, set in 1976, is 60-year-old Josephine, who’s just returned to her hometown after decades in New York. She turns into an amateur sleuth to exonerate an old friend (now her fiancé) in her African-American community.
4Everyone in my Family Has Killed SomeoneDepending on your tolerance for self-referential metafiction (Jasper Fforde’s fantasy novels are a possible litmus test), you’ll either love or loathe this Australian writer’s unconventional and much-hyped novel (soon to be an HBO series). Chapters about each member of an extended family prove the title thesis as a loyal but estranged clan reluctantly gathers at a remote mountain resort for favourite son Michael’s release from prison. Narrator Ernie (whose testimony convicted him) is a teacher of crime fiction, and he breaks the fourth wall to address the reader and editorialize on the proceedings as the body count — and snowbanks — pile up.
Depending on your tolerance for self-referential metafiction (Jasper Fforde’s fantasy novels are a possible litmus test), you’ll either love or loathe this Australian writer’s unconventional and much-hyped novel (soon to be an HBO series). Chapters about each member of an extended family prove the title thesis as a loyal but estranged clan reluctantly gathers at a remote mountain resort for favourite son Michael’s release from prison. Narrator Ernie (whose testimony convicted him) is a teacher of crime fiction, and he breaks the fourth wall to address the reader and editorialize on the proceedings as the body count — and snowbanks — pile up.
5The Writing RetreatThis is a white-knuckle read about who will publish and/or perish. When reclusive horror novelist Roza Vallo hosts a month-long retreat for emerging female authors at her grand Gothic home, each must write a new novel or lose the chance at a publishing contract. As their isolation from the outside world grows, fatal mind games escalate in this suspense novel from a Brooklyn-based writer and therapist that probes the nature of ambition, friendship and envy in the creative life. (Feb. 21)
This is a white-knuckle read about who will publish and/or perish. When reclusive horror novelist Roza Vallo hosts a month-long retreat for emerging female authors at her grand Gothic home, each must write a new novel or lose the chance at a publishing contract. As their isolation from the outside world grows, fatal mind games escalate in this suspense novel from a Brooklyn-based writer and therapist that probes the nature of ambition, friendship and envy in the creative life. (Feb. 21)
6Every Man a KingThe second in Mosley’s series about Black detective Joe King Oliver unravels a complex family saga when a family friend asks the former NYPD investigator to figure out whether a white nationalist accused of murder and treason is being unjustly set up. It’s yet another novel that demonstrates why Los Angeles-based Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress) is one of America’s pre-eminent crime fiction writers. (Feb. 21)
The second in Mosley’s series about Black detective Joe King Oliver unravels a complex family saga when a family friend asks the former NYPD investigator to figure out whether a white nationalist accused of murder and treason is being unjustly set up. It’s yet another novel that demonstrates why Los Angeles-based Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress) is one of America’s pre-eminent crime fiction writers. (Feb. 21)
7Device Free WeekendThings go very, very wrong for six college friends who reunite on the private island of their billionaire pal, a social media mogul, who promptly asks them to hand over all electronic devices. When their host disappears, they must use their wits to escape the island in Washington’s Puget Sound. Yes, it’s an of-the-moment thriller: think Glass Onion meets And Then There Were None, with the stinging class critique of The White Lotus. (Feb. 28)
Things go very, very wrong for six college friends who reunite on the private island of their billionaire pal, a social media mogul, who promptly asks them to hand over all electronic devices. When their host disappears, they must use their wits to escape the island in Washington’s Puget Sound. Yes, it’s an of-the-moment thriller: think Glass Onion meets And Then There Were None, with the stinging class critique of The White Lotus. (Feb. 28)
8A Death at the PartyWhile a hundred people are assembled at a summer party to mark her mother’s birthday (and a more ominous anniversary), hostess Nadine stands over a dead body in her basement powder room. In the Toronto writer’s tense domestic suspense, the story then rewinds to the morning (and the hostess’s past) for this whodunit in reverse. Through a haze of stream-of-consciousness memories, the circumstances and preparations for the party unfold over the course of a single day, with intentional echoes of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. (Mar. 7)
While a hundred people are assembled at a summer party to mark her mother’s birthday (and a more ominous anniversary), hostess Nadine stands over a dead body in her basement powder room. In the Toronto writer’s tense domestic suspense, the story then rewinds to the morning (and the hostess’s past) for this whodunit in reverse. Through a haze of stream-of-consciousness memories, the circumstances and preparations for the party unfold over the course of a single day, with intentional echoes of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. (Mar. 7)
9Death of a BooksellerRegular Zed Book Clubbers know we love reissues of unjustly neglected fiction, so we had to spotlight this 100th volume, a gem from 1956, in the British Library Crime Classics reprint series. A conscientious police sergeant, who has befriended an eccentric bookseller, investigates his death (and the theft of a rare title). The mystery sends him into the corners of the secondhand book market in this bibliophile’s delight. (Mar. 7)
Regular Zed Book Clubbers know we love reissues of unjustly neglected fiction, so we had to spotlight this 100th volume, a gem from 1956, in the British Library Crime Classics reprint series. A conscientious police sergeant, who has befriended an eccentric bookseller, investigates his death (and the theft of a rare title). The mystery sends him into the corners of the secondhand book market in this bibliophile’s delight. (Mar. 7)
10Death and CroissantsThe first book in the British comedian’s series has earned comparisons to Richard Osman’s wildly bestselling The Thursday Murder Club, but it’s set in the rural French countryside rather than England (which is why I picked it up). The cozy frolic about what happens when a droll, retired, middle-aged Englishman, who runs a guesthouse in the Loire Valley, investigates after an older guest vanishes also has the humorous foibles and cultural friction of recent BritBox pleaser, Murder in Provence. (Mar. 14)
The first book in the British comedian’s series has earned comparisons to Richard Osman’s wildly bestselling The Thursday Murder Club, but it’s set in the rural French countryside rather than England (which is why I picked it up). The cozy frolic about what happens when a droll, retired, middle-aged Englishman, who runs a guesthouse in the Loire Valley, investigates after an older guest vanishes also has the humorous foibles and cultural friction of recent BritBox pleaser, Murder in Provence. (Mar. 14)