A Ruse of Shadows is an unmissable high point of Sherry Thomas’ Lady Sherlock, a joyfully original historical mystery series with a romantic twist.
The Best Mystery & Suspense of 2024
Fittingly, for a list that includes a book literally titled The Sequel, the year’s best mysteries and thrillers demonstrated the art of the follow-up, expertly continuing and, in one notable case, concluding a series’ story.
Deadly Animals, Marie Tierney’s brilliantly plotted debut mystery, introduces readers to Ava Bonney: a 14-year-old English girl obsessed with decomposing bodies.
Exposure is equally—if not more—electrifying than Ramona Emerson’s debut, the National Book Award-longlisted Shutter.
By Attica Locke
Attica Locke’s language is precise, refreshing and often beautiful in Guide Me Home, the final installment in the literary triumph that is her Highway 59 mystery series.
By Joseph Kanon
Joseph Kanon’s artful and compelling new thriller transports readers to 1930s Shanghai, the only city to let in Jewish refugees without a visa.
By Pip Drysdale
World-weary and distinctively jaded, The Close-Up is a fantastic, Los Angeles-set neo-noir.
Gripping, disturbing and absolutely wild, The Sequel is a more than worthy, well, sequel, to Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot.
Sarah Easter Collins’ literary thriller, Things Don’t Break on Their Own, is a rare treasure, bursting with emotion and built to last.
By Flynn Berry
Set aside some time once you start reading Trust Her, because Flynn Berry’s return to the world of Northern Spy is nothing short of thrilling.
In We Solve Murders, Richard Osman accomplishes the seemingly impossible: a cozy mystery-thriller mashup.
Previous Best Mystery & Suspense lists
Recent starred mystery
A. Rae Dunlap’s The Resurrectionist is a heartfelt yet gruesome historical thriller following two body snatchers as they fall in love and evade Burke and Hare.
Paraic O’Donnell inserts touches of humor and insight without lessening the tension in his breathtaking gothic historical mystery, The Naming of the Birds.
Melissa Larsen’s must-read debut thriller, The Lost House, is a note-perfect example of Nordic noir—written by an American.
By Sara Sligar
Sara Sligar’s Vantage Point is an entertaining literary companion to shows like Succession, but also a chilling warning about the rise of deepfake technology.
By John Straley
John Straley’s nonstop, high-octane Big Breath In introduces the unforgettable Delphine, a 68-year-old cancer patient-turned-investigator.