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.

ZigZag Girl, a Must-Read Whodunnit by Ruth Knafo Setton

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The Bottom Line: A must-read whodunnit in which illusion, misdirection and motive are cleverly intertwined. Set amid the neon glamour of Atlantic City, ZigZag Girl opens on what should be a pivotal performance for magician Lucy Moon. But as showtime approaches, her co-performer and closest friend, Vanessa Kim, still hasn’t arrived. Vanessa would never miss a performance, and as minutes tick by, Lucy’s concern hardens into dread. That […]

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The Body Brokers is the Year’s Best Crime Thriller

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The Bottom Line: Voted the Year’s Best Crime Thriller in the 2025 BestThrillers.com Book Awards. Disgraced attorney Jason Feldman’s life collapses the moment his girlfriend dies from a fentanyl overdose. Unwilling to accept the official story, he descends into a world where human life is expendable and the truth is far more devastating than anyone wants revealed. When police dismiss Emily’s death as an accident,

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The Regression Strain is the Year’s Best Medical Thriller

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The Bottom Line: Voted the Year’s Best Medical Thriller in the 2025 BestThrillers.com Book Awards. Kevin Hwang, a widely published professor of internal medicine, delivers a standout work of medical suspense in The Regression Strain, this year’s Best Medical Thriller. The novel opens as Dr. Peter Palma joining the medical staff of a transatlantic cruise, expecting the usual mix of minor ailments and vacation mishaps. Instead, a

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Vatican Daughter is the Year’s Best Conspiracy Thriller

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The Bottom Line: Voted the Year’s Best Conspiracy Thriller in the 2025 BestThrillers.com Book Awards. The novel begins in Vatican City, where newly elected Pope Joseph Morris slips into the papal garments. Just before stepping out to greet the adoring throngs in St. Peter’s Square, he asks one of the assisting clergy, Cardinal Roselli, to hear his confession. And much to Roselli’s surprise, the Pope discloses

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Justice for Emerson is the Year’s Best Mystery Novel

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The Bottom Line: Voted the Year’s Best Mystery Novel in the 2025 BestThrillers.com Book Awards. Karen E. Osborne’s chilling new novel opens at the headquarters of a local not-for-profit organization 45 minutes North of New York City. If you’re the kind of reader who warns characters about the dangers of dark basements, prepare to get started in the very first chapter. Aria, the organization’s 50-year-old CEO,

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GRQ is the Year’s Best Domestic Thriller

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The Bottom Line: Voted the Year’s Best Domestic Thriller in the 2025 BestThrillers.com Book Awards. GRQ (Get Rich Quick) begins in Los Angeles, where a mysterious financial advisor (who swears he’s not an unreliable narrator) begins by telling us about his client, Marlon. It seems that Marlon is an ideas man who purchased a home he couldn’t afford. As foreclosure notices slip through the mail slot, we

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Mind the Blinds, a Character-Driven Psychological Thriller by Becky Anyanwu

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The Bottom Line: A spellbinding, character-driven psychological thriller that will keep you questioning what is real and who to believe. Mind the Blinds follows Elyas Kamalu, a 17-year-old Nigerian student navigating the world with alexithymia, a condition that makes emotional interpretation feel like a foreign language. His struggle to understand both his own impulses and the intentions of others gives the story a uniquely charged internal tension.

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The Last One to Die, a Compelling New Domestic Thriller by Terri Greening

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The Bottom Line: An atmospheric, unnerving thriller about the secrets we bury to survive.  Set against the misty backdrop of a fictional lakeside town, The Last One to Die invites readers into a world where every calm surface hides something unspeakable below. At its center is Faron Chevalier, a recently widowed woman fleeing notoriety after the shocking death of her wealthy husband. Seeking solace, she retreats to the

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Full Circle, a Darkly Clever Murder Mystery by Stephen Kronwith, MD

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The Bottom Line: Darkly clever, fiercely human and utterly engrossing. Kronwith has created another original gem. Full Circle opens with an unforgettable prologue: a young policewoman witnesses a fatal hit-and-run, and her sharp observations and quick action lead to the conviction of the driver, a brilliant but unrepentant physicist named Liam Martin. Ten years later, the same officer, Detective Sergeant Jane Rieger-Franklin, has built an

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