Looking for your next best mystery novel? Read on for four fantastic mystery novels that will have you reading them till all hours of the night. Believe me.
“Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng
Ok, so you have probably heard of this novel. It has been everywhere on novel lists and recently, news is that it is being turned into a Hulu series, with Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington. I am very excited to see the show and see how it matches to what I pictured the characters to be like.
Before the show starts, I highly recommend reading the novel first.
Book Summary
The novel takes place in an Ohio suburb in the early 2000s and focuses on an mysterious arson and racial tensions. It also focuses on a single mother, Mia Warren and her daughter and the strange life they have built in many different cities across the U.S.
Some might not place this novel in “mystery,” but for me, this book had me questioning motives and meanings behind secret glances, so it fit in “mystery” for me.
“The Lying Game” by Ruth Ware
Ruth Ware has written a number of fantastic books, like “The Woman in Cabin 10” and “In a Dark, Dark Wood,” both of which I really enjoyed, but “The Lying Game” made this list because it stuck with me long after I read it.
Book Summary
Have you ever had inside jokes or games with childhood friends? “The Lying Game” plays on this theme, but in a not so innocent way.
Isa, the novels main narrator, receives a text from an old friend, “I need you,” and drops everything to travel to the place where for years, her and her friends would play the game. 17 years later, Isa returns Salten to help her friend. Slowly, as the rest of the friend group comes together at Salten, the reader starts to question the validity of what they are saying.
“All the Missing Girls” by Megan Miranda
Initially, the novels structure threw me off. The story is told in reverse and can be a bit jarring at first, but the storyline draws you in and in the end, the reverse order of the story actually makes sense.
Book Summary
The story of two missing girls, who have gone missing a decade apart from the same small southern town of Cooley Ridge, is seen through the eyes of Nicolette. Corinne, the first missing girl, was Nicolette’s best friend and after her disappearance, Nicolette left to become someone else.
Returning to Cooley Ridge 10 years later to help with her ailing father, Nicolette is dealing with more bad news then she can handle, another missing girl.
As the book description says, it this novel is really nothing like you read before.
“Into the Water” by Paula Hawkins
There’s nothing I love more then mystery novels set in the U.K.; something about the description of the rolling green hills, small towns and the strange people that live there. “Into the Water” has all this and more.
Book Summary
Nel, an artsy, single mother turns up dead at the bottom of a dark, deep pool, known as the Drowning Pool. Left behind is her daughter, Lena, who is reeling, trying to deal with the death of her mother.
Jules, Nel’s estranged sister, has to return to the town she deliberatly left to take care of Lena. Full of twists and turns, this novel makes the reader question each character’s emotions and motives.
Connect with me on Goodreads, I would love to see what you are reading! Check out my last book list for more novel ideas!