Mystery Book Reviews

The best mystery book reviews. Mysteries are typically crime stories in which readers follows a detective or amateur sleuth attempting to solve a criminal puzzle. Compared with “crime thrillers,” mysteries often feature less graphic violence and shocking subject matter.

Gate 76, One of the Year’s Best Thrillers, by Andrew Diamond

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The Bottom Line: One of the year’s best thrillers. 34-year-old private detective Freddy Ferguson, a man still largely defined by his former career as a prize fighter, is waiting to board a flight to Washington D.C. when he spots Anna Brook. She is attractive in a hassled sort of way, but it’s her interaction with her male companion – a knucklehead gripping her arm in […]

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The Bishop Burned the Lady, a Stellar Murder Mystery by Bill Percy

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The Bottom Line: This stellar mountain murder mystery will stick with you long after turning the last page. In Bill Percy’s vivid new novel, a devastating Montana wildfire season has worn out Deputy Andi Pelton and her boyfriend, psychologist Ed Northrup. But there will be no rest anytime soon, as they are tipped off about a mysterious fire in a remote forest clearing. They discover

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Blind Eye, One of the Year’s Best Crime Thrillers

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The Bottom Line: One of the year’s best thrillers so far. The riveting second Jack Bailey novel is a victory for detective fiction fans in search of a clever new series. Following her razor-sharp debut novel, Bailey’s Law, author Meg Lelvis has resurrected detective Jack Bailey for another adventure on the mean streets of Chicago. When popular parochial teacher Sister Anne is found murdered along

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The Man by the Sea, a Highly Recommended Mystery by Jack Benton

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Bottom Line: An absolute feast for noir and paranormal thriller fans alike. Highly recommended. Slim Hardy is a functioning alcoholic who has paid his dues to the military. More recently, he has embarked on a career as a private eye, where he is tasked with figuring out exactly what Ted Douglas is doing in a remote cove every week. What seems like a straightforward marital

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The Escape Artist, a Truly Magical Crime Thriller by D.B. Cooper

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The Bottom Line: Hands down, Brad Meltzer’s best novel. Whether in his novels or in his short-lived TV show, Decoded, Brad Meltzer has always favored using historical events as the basis for implausible but entertaining conspiracy thrillers. In The Escape Artist, Meltzer demonstrates that he can also invent a truly magnificent character that, in virtually all ways, is better than the real-life characters he often

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Longreave, a Mesmerizing Horror Novel by Daniel Barnett

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The Bottom Line: Horror fans will find a treasure trove of supernatural surprises in Daniel Barnett’s Longreave. Set in a hotel called Longreave, situated in the fictional Atlantic seaboard town of Manxfield, author Daniel Barnett delivers plenty of creepy ambiance, especially when he introduces Mark Currier, a man who is picking up the pieces after a failed marriage. Mark isn’t unfamiliar with the hotel. His

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Force of Impact, an Addictive Crime Thriller by Bryan Cassiday

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The Bottom Line: A potent shot of contemporary LA Noir that will have readers hooked from page one. Fans of Dennis Lehane and James Ellroy will love Force of Impact. When LA horror novelist Bart Dillinger’s girlfriend doesn’t return home to the condo they share, he calls one of her friends to see if she’s seen her. The awkward call doesn’t produce any leads, so

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Silent Victim, a Dark Psychological Thriller by Caroline Mitchell

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The Bottom Line: If only they were all this good. A shake-you-to-the-core thriller that will touch every reader’s deepest fears. Emma is a loving wife, a devoted mother…and an involuntary killer. For years she’s been hiding the dead body of the teacher who seduced her as a teen. It’s a secret that might have stayed buried if only her life had been less perfect. A

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In a Cottage In a Wood, a New Thriller by Cass Green

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The Bottom Line: If you love big, never-saw-it-coming endings, this wintertime gem is for you. With the audiobook version weighing in at a brisk eight hours (compare that to The Goldfinch’s 32 hours), the payoff rests on a carefully-crafted crescendo, starting when a woman, Neve, meets troubled Isabelle on Waterloo Bridge late one night. Isabelle forces a parcel into Neve’s hands and jumps to her death

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One of Us, an Essential YA Whodunnit by Karen M. McManus

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The Bottom Line: An essential whodunnit for both YA and adult crime fiction fans. Karen M. McManus’ teen murder mystery is the perfect antidote to Netflix’s Riverdale, the Twin Peaks-meets-Archies mashup that never really feels set in high school. By contrast, McManus artfully sets up a believable single-setting high school atmosphere that feels inspired by both Clue and the Breakfast Club. On Monday afternoon, five

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