A great mystery is a promise: everything will make terrible sense eventually. This year's best deliver on that promise from an Adirondack summer camp, an outback train, a Catalina harbor and a Missouri town that never stopped looking for a missing boy. Here are the 10 mysteries we keep recommending, each linked to our full preview with an original cinematic trailer.
Quick picks:
- The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: our preview + trailer
- All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker: our preview + trailer
- We Solve Murders by Richard Osman: our preview + trailer
How we picked
Every book here lives on the Curatsy Bookshelf, our library of the 120 most talked-about new books, each with a full preview and an original thirty-second cinematic trailer. For this list we weighed reader buzz, author track record and how hard the premise refuses to leave your head. We only feature books we would hand to a friend.
1. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
Her family owns the camp. And the mountain. And the silence.
A camper vanishes from a summer camp her family owns, along with the mountain and the silence. The literary mystery of the moment.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon2. All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
Some people spend their whole lives painting a face from memory.
A one-eyed boy, a vanished girl and decades of searching. The word-of-mouth monster that earns every tear.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon3. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
Somebody is framing her for murder. They are about to regret it.
A retired cop, a restless bodyguard and a glamorous novelist with a price on her head. Osman's new team is pure joy.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon4. Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
Who better to solve a murder than the people who invent them?
Six crime writers on a festival train, one corpse by chapter three. Meta, witty and fair-play to the end.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon5. Nightshade by Michael Connelly
Paradise makes a beautiful place to bury the truth.
Connelly opens a new series on Catalina island, where a woman with no name is pulled from the harbor.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon6. Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
Now a true crime podcast has come to town to prove it.
Everyone knows she killed her best friend. A true crime podcast comes to town to prove it. She honestly cannot remember.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon7. Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
Some sleepovers never end.
His best friend vanished from the tent beside him thirty years ago. Now something is leaving signs in the yard.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon8. Heather by Caitlin Mullen
The Pine Barrens keep every secret buried in their sand.
A dark family mystery in the eerie emptiness of the Pine Barrens. Atmosphere thick enough to lose a trail in.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon9. The Shadow Step by Mark Billingham
The confession is airtight. It is also impossible.
An innocent man keeps confessing to a crime he could not have committed. Detective Miller pulls the thread.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on Amazon10. Murder on the Upper East Side by Gigi Waldorf
Old money, new body, everyone lying beautifully.
Old money, new body, everyone lying beautifully. For the Gossip Girl and Only Murders crossover crowd.
Read our full preview and watch the trailer →
→ Get it on AmazonKeep browsing
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- Browse the full Curatsy Bookshelf: every book, every trailer
