The Plot Thickens...

Mystery Solved…The Who, Why & How Of It All

“The writer of murder, like all writers, must be a miser, conceding revelations bit by bit; for every novel is a puzzle, every writer a murderer, and every reader a sleuth.”

Ah, the allure of a tantalizing, twisty plot! Have you ever found yourself completely absorbed in a mystery novel, eyes eagerly scanning each word as you trek through suspenseful subterfuge? If the answer is a resounding yes, you're not alone.

The mystery genre, with its intricate puzzles and unpredictable character arcs, has been entrancing readers for generations, and its popularity seems to be soaring ever higher. This surge can likely be attributed to the genre's unique ability to engage the reader's mind. It's not a passive reading experience; it's an intellectual chase, a battle of wits between the author and the reader.

Why do we enjoy this so much, you ask? Perhaps it's the thrill of the unknown, the exhilarating sense of adventure as you piece together clues, or the satisfaction of solving a complex puzzle before the protagonist does. Perhaps it’s that we as the reader never really gain our footing as to which, or who’s, story we are in. Perhaps it’s having our curiosity peeked.

In these curated titles you will find no swift resolution, no failure of the writer in keeping you glued to the page, no lack in the pushing at the bounds of plausibility. You will find yourself in the company of characters that are all plotting in one way or another; to further their ambitions, for true love, for revenge, and even for sheer entertainment. Certainly, for your entertainment dear reader.

Plot Twist(s)…

…audacious characters and their wicked ways

The Sequel – Jean Hanff Korelitz

  Anna has taken care of business, laying to rest the anonymous accusations of plagiarism that tormented her husband. She is adjusting to life as a literary widow and enjoying his royalty cheques. When she publishes her own novel, she begins to get the same sort of threats her husband did. But how is that possible, she took care of it. Or so she thought. Mixing dark wit with chilling suspense, this novel takes the reader on a tour through the mind of a someone with ill intent. Why it’s a blast I can’t put my finger on, but it is!

The Hitchcock Hotel – Stephanie Wrobel

Alfred is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with fifty crows. To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college Film Club for a reunion. He hasn’t spoken to any of them in sixteen years, not after what happened. Remember this my friends, no Hitchcock set is complete without a body. A pitch perfect rendering of what makes Hitchcock’s films so special!

The Last Murder At The End Of The World – Stuart Turton

  Solve the murder, save the world. Beyond the island there is nothing; the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island are a hundred villagers and three scientists living in harmony, the villagers content to farm and always do what they are told. When one of the beloved scientists is found brutally stabbed to death, the islands security system malfunctions and if the murder isn’t solved within four days, the fog will smother the island and all of them with it. The clock is ticking. A mind-bending literary mystery with a sly and clever plot.

French Windows – Antione Laurain

Five floors. One Murder. Let the therapy begin…Nathalia, a young photographer, has been seeing a therapist. Having accidently witnessed a murder from her apartment, she finds she has lost all inspiration. Doctor Faber suggests a surrogate creative exercise. Write about the neighbours she spends hours idly observing in the building across the street. Going floor to floor, they can be real or entirely made up. With each vivid and beautifully written snapshot, the doctor wonders at the level of detail infused in each story. Has she somehow imbued each with her own fears and desires? Or something worse? An ingenious book!!

End Of Story – A.J. Finn

  “I’ll be dead in three months. Come tell my story.” So says the note from Sebastian, a reclusive mystery novelist, to his longtime pen pal Nicky, an expert in detective fiction. How could she say no? Soon after arriving she gets caught up in family secrets and some of Sebastian’s as well. Did the perfect crime writer commit the perfect crime? Well, no spoilers here. Full of Hitchcockian menace and brilliant twists!

This Book Will Bury Me – Ashley Winstead

After an unexpected death, Jane is desperate for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. In this morbid internet underground, Jane finds friendship, purpose, and even glory...So when news of the shocking deaths of three college girls takes the world by storm, and sleuths everywhere race to solve the crimes, Jane and her friends are determined to beat them. Soon they find that every answer only begs more questions and begin to suspect their killer may be smarter and more prolific than any they've faced before. Placing themselves in the center of the story starts to feel more and more like walking into a trap...

Grey Wolf – Louise Penny

Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in a tiny Québec village, one impossible to find on any map. Someone manages to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. She watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning. Only the first in a sequence of oddities, ones that will turn out to be more sinister than they could have imagined. Full of epic scope, puzzles and pulse pounding cliffhangers without a single sacrifice to character or artful writing.

The Stars Turned Inside Out – Nova Jacobs

Deep beneath the ground outside of Geneva, where CERN’s Large Hadron Collider smashes subatomic particles at breathtaking speeds, a startling discovery is made when the tunnel is down for maintenance: the body of a brilliant and recently arrived young physicist, who appears to have been irradiated by the collider. But security shows no evidence of him entering the tunnel. A private investigator is brought in to investigate, uncovering petty rivalries, personal secrets and out of control ambitions. A gripping mystery set in the world of science? Fascinating and unique!

The Tainted Cup – Robert Jackson Bennett

In this fantasy with a mystery twist we are introduced to a Holmes and Watson style duo who are impossible to resist. A high-level officer lies dead under unusual circumstances and eccentric and brilliant investigator Ana is tasked with solving the crime. At turns scandalized and perplexed by his new superior, her new assistant Din is the perfect partner. Inventive, wickedly funny and clever this is a puzzle box of a story with just enough weird to keep it interesting.

Getting Away With Murder…

…murder with a hefty dose of mayhem

We Solve Murders – Richard Osman

Osman hits it out of the park with this book, the first in a new series. A savvy departure from the shenanigans of his Thursday Murder Club, sacrificing none of the crisp plotting, razor sharp wit and intimate character portraits that infuse every page of his books. The plot in a nutshell; Amy, a bodyguard assigned to protect a Jackie Collins-esque novelist being threatened by a Russian oligarch who took offense at a character in one of her books, finds out that her past clients are dropping like flies. And someone seems to be framing her the grisly killings. She reaches out to the only person she trusts, her father-in-law (not her husband, but that’s a story for another day). And they are off, trying to outrun a killer, find a nefarious adversary intent on Amy paying for their crimes, and maybe finding new friends and new purpose along the way.

Authors Guide To Murder – Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig & Karen White

  Agatha Christie meets Murder, She Wrote in this witty locked room mystery and literary satire written by a trio of bestselling authors. A literary superstar has been found dead under bizarre circumstance in a famous gothic castle during a writer’s retreat. Our prime suspects are Kat, a seductive erotica writer; Cassie, a mom of six juggling multiple cozy mystery series and Emma, a critically acclaimed author of historical fiction. They claim to be best friends writing a book together, but their stories aren’t lining up. But what’s a little murder among friends?

Ink Ribbon Red – Alex Pavesi

A group of friends are gathered for a birthday party. As the entertainment for the evening, they are each asked to pull a name from two jars and then write a story, where one of the group kills another. Then they will read them, and all will vote for the best of the bunch. But writers always start from a place of truth, the write what you know philosophy. We, the reader, will be hard pressed to tell the truth from the fiction. This author is a master at misdirection and clever plotting. Be warned, he demands that your head is in the game!

Everyone On This Train Has Killed Someone – Benjamin Stevenson

Here are some truths. Seven writers board a train. At the end of the line, five will leave it alive. One will be in cuffs. And Ernest, our narrator, didn’t kill anyone. At least not this time. Ernest, struggling to write his second book, wonders how he got an invite to a prestigious writer’s festival aboard a luxury train. By this point he is certain that his first book, a memoir of his murderous family, was a lucky fluke. When the bodies start dropping, he finally feels that creative spark. Whew! Ernest gets down to business with a delightful combination of zeal and obliviousness, interrogating his fellow authors and dangling clues for the reader.

The Four Queen Of Crime – Rosanne Limoncelli

1938, London. The queens of British crime fiction, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Margery Allingham are hosting a gala to raise money for the Women’s Voluntary Service to help Britain prepare for war. Baronet Henry Heathcote has loaned them his house for the event, and all the elites of London society are attending. The gala is a brilliant success, despite a few hiccups, but the next morning, Sir Henry is found dead in the library. Detectives from Scotland Yard are quickly summoned and discover several suspects including an upset fiancée, an ambitious son, an irate in-law and a rebellious teenage daughter. When they realize they need help, how lucky are they that they have these four queens at the ready!

The Last Word – Elly Griffiths

Natalka and Edwin are perfect if improbable partners in a detective agency. At eighty-four, Edwin regularly claims that he’s the oldest detective in England. He is a master at surveillance, deploying his age as a cloak of invisibility. Natalka, more than fifty years his junior, is a math whizz, who takes any cases concerning fraud or deception. Despite a steady stream of minor cases, Natalka is frustrated. She loves a murder, as she’s fond of saying, and none have come the agency’s way. That is until local writer Melody Chambers dies. Suddenly they find themselves caught up in all sorts of shenanigans. As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.

Presumed Guilty – Scott Turow

The peace that’s taken retired judge Rusty so long to find evaporates when his soon to be wife’s young adult son, Aaron, living under their supervision while on probation for drug possession, disappears. Aaron eventually turns up with a vague story about a camping trip with his troubled girlfriend, Mae. Days later, when she still hasn’t returned, suspicion falls on Aaron, and when Mae is subsequently discovered dead, Aaron is arrested and set for trial on charges of first-degree murder. If you are my age, you probably remember Presumed Innocent. Thrilled that this author is back for a follow-up to Rusty’s story!

Burn After Reading – Catherine Ryan Howard

  A year ago, former professional cyclist Jack lost his wife in a fire at their home. But the nation's sympathy turned to anger when it emerged that she had died before the fire started, in a violent attack. Although Jack has never been charged in connection to her death, a suffocating cloud of suspicion hangs over him and he's become convinced that the only way out is to tell his side of the story. When Emily is offered the gig as his ghostwriter, she soon discovers that the story he must tell isn’t the one she expected. Throwing into something she may not get out of. Sounds like a Dateline episode!

The Split – Kat Frick

  Sisters Jane and Esme used to be thick as thieves, but as adults they have grown apart. So, when Esme reaches out needing a place to stay after she left her husband, Jane is hopeful this will be an opportunity for them to become close again. The reader is taken on two realities’; one where Esme goes missing on her way to Jane, the other where the sister’s come together with a difference set of disastrous consequences. Twin narratives that take this mystery on not one but two trajectories. Clever!

Shh, Don’t Tell…

…smart snoops and witty busybodies

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder – Kerryn Mayne

  Lenny likes her life to be orderly, taking the same route to work each day, not straying from her weekly meal plans. And she is very good at not remembering the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was a child. The day the voice in her head starting whispering…you did this. When a letter from the parole board arrives, she starts to unravel as long buried memories bubble up and her careful routines fall apart. Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming, a novel about secrets and vengeance with an irresistible narrator!

One Death At A Time – Abbi Waxman

When Julia, a cranky ex-actress and professional thorn in the side of authority, runs into Mason at an AA meeting, it’s anything but a meet cute. Julia just found a dead body in her swimming pool, and the cops say she did it, and since she already went to jail for murder once, they think she’s making a habit of it. Mason is eager to clear Julia’s name and help keep her sober, but all Julia wants is for Mason to leave her alone. This unconventional duo soon realizes their shared love of sarcasm and poor life choices are proving to be a powerful combination. Will secrets from their past trip them up, or will their ragtag crew of showgirls, cat burglars, and Hollywood agents help them stay one step ahead? Will they manage to solve the crime before they kill each other? I’m good with all of it!

Wordhunter – Stella Sands

Tattooed, pierced, and a bit of a mess, Maggie is a genius when it comes to words, a savant able to solve any linguistic puzzle. The top student in her forensic linguistics class, she’s tapped by local police to use her skills to decipher harrowing notes left by a stalker-turned-killer and succeeds brilliantly. When she is asked to help on a new case, along with her new best friend, detective Jackson, Maggie begins to analyze the texts, emails, and verbal tics of various suspects, and comes to a disturbing conclusion that will rock the community. If you love puzzles and words and a well-crafted story, what are you waiting for?

Nosy Neighbors – Freya Sampson

  Nothing brings neighbors together like someone else’s juicy secrets. At Shelley House, the walls have ears, and they’re attached to a pair of busybodies ready to snoop! Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy has lived at Shelley House longer than anyone, and if you ask their opinion, she is as curmudgeonly as they come. Twenty something Kat has never known a place she could call home, until now. As their building face’s threat of demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy finally find something to agree on. When someone plays dirty, they are truly united. It’s impossible not to adore these ladies. Full of warmth and charm.

This Is Not A Game – Kelly Mullen

Widow Mimi lives on idyllic Mackinac Island where cars are not allowed and a cocktail at the witching hour is compulsory. Her granddaughter, Addie, is getting over the heartbreak of her fiancé, Brian, dumping her and cutting her out of the deal for the brilliantly successful video game, Murderscape, they invented together. When Mimi gets an invitation from local socialite Jane, a seventy something narcissist who is having an affair with her son-in-law, to a charity auction, it is the perfect excuse to get Addie to join her for the weekend. What Mimi isn’t telling Addie is that a blackmail threat from Jane looms over the party’s invitation. In case the scene wasn’t already set for a turbulent weekend, a big storm rolls in, trapping everyone in the mansion. And then, Jane’s body is found. A delightful crime solving duo is born!

Vera Wong’s Guide To Snooping – Jesse Q Sutanto

Ever since a man was found dead in Vera's teahouse, life has been good. For Vera that is. She’s surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tilly, has a girlfriend! All thanks to Vera, because Tilly's girlfriend is none other than Officer Selena Gray. The very same Officer Gray that she had harassed while investigating the teahouse murder. Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn't be ungrateful, even if one is slightly...bored. In case you're wondering…she’s not bored for long

Three Card Murder – J.L. Blackhurst

  Tess’s first murder scene has two big problems. One, the victim was thrown from the balcony of a flat locked from the inside. Two, she knows him. But the problems don’t stop there, her half-sister has links to the deceased and the criminal skills to mastermind this murder. But she’s a con artist, not a killer. And the killing isn’t done yet! Three deviously clever crimes structured like a puzzle box for the reader!

Village Library Demon-Hunting Society – C.M. Waggoner

Librarian Sherry keeps finding bodies and solving murders. But she's concerned by just how many killers she's had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count...but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural. When her cat seems to become possessed by what seems like a demon, she thinks made need to add exorcist as well as amateur sleuth to her resume. It’s like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote had a crossover episode. An absolute riot!

The Last Line – Scott Lyerly

The new production at Ellie’s community theater could save her from financial ruin, but her overbearing lead, Reginald, is determined to antagonize every cast member. Nervous and with her Tourette’s syndrome flaring, Ellie is relieved when opening night seems to be going well. But then Reginald’s death scene at the end of the play turns out to be an all too real curtain call. Talk about a showstopper. Ellie and her childhood friend race to solve the case before its curtains for someone else! Quirky and enchanting!