Binge-worthy Books: Mysteries & Thrillers

I have already covered which Literary Fiction and Adult Fantasy authors and book series are most bingeable, to help us all fill time while we’re isolated and stuck inside.

Today, we’re talking about Mysteries and Thrillers.

Here are the books I would ignore everything to bingeread again. Let me know your favs or the ones I’ve overlooked in the comments!

Fantasy (Not YA)

1. The Dublin Murder Series by Tana French

Tana French’s books are truly addictive. This series in particular is different from any other crime solving series I have ever read. It seems pretty standard from reading the book blurb I’ve included below, but inside you won’t find anything you would ever expect.

The bestselling debut, with over a million copies sold, that launched Tana French, author of The Witch Elm and “the most important crime novelist to emerge in the past 10 years” (The Washington Post). 

“Required reading for anyone who appreciates tough, unflinching intelligence and ingenious plotting.” —The New York Times

Now airing as a Starz series.

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret. But when a twelve-year-old girl is found murdered in the same woods, he and Detective Cassie Maddox—his partner and closest friend—find themselves investigating a case chillingly similar to the previous unsolved mystery. Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him and that of his own shadowy past.

Richly atmospheric and stunning in its complexity, In the Woods is utterly convincing and surprising to the end.

2. Women’s Murder Club by James Patterson

How could I have a list of mystery and suspense without including James Patterson? While his most recent books seem to be coming out too quickly to keep up with, the earlier novels were stunning. He got me with a plot twist long before a girl on a train in England ever did. With a focus on four women friends who come together to solve murders and figure out their personal lives, often times over drinks and food, I fell in love with The Women’s Murder Club and am still reading this series today.

Four crime-solving friends face off against a killer in San Francisco in the Women’s Murder Club novel that started James Patterson’s thrilling series.

Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.

But the usual procedures aren’t bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women’s Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving each other a hand. The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered–before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong.
Full of the breathtaking drama and unforgettable emotions for which James Patterson is famous, 1st to Die is the start of the #1 New York Times bestselling series of crime thrillers.

3. Karin Slaughter

4. Robert Langdon Series by Dan Brown

There is a reason this book went viral, and after 17 years, there’s a whole new generation of readers who may not have taken the time to stop and read this mysterious gem. I wish I could go back and read this again for the first time.

An ingenious code hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

A desperate race through the cathedrals and castles of Europe.

An astonishing truth concealed for centuries . . . unveiled at last.

While in Paris, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is awakened by a phone call in the dead of the night. The elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum, his body covered in baffling symbols. As Langdon and gifted French cryptologist Sophie Neveu sort through the bizarre riddles, they are stunned to discover a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci—clues visible for all to see and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.

Even more startling, the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion—a secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci—and he guarded a breathtaking historical secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle—while avoiding the faceless adversary who shadows their every move—the explosive, ancient truth will be lost forever.

5. Sharon Bolton

This author comes from another bookstagram suggestion from my friend Crofteereader. I’ve put up a link and synopsis from her book due out this month, which I have already added to my TBR and plan pre-order. Anyone have any good indie bookstore suggestions?

Tense, gripping and with a twist you won’t see coming, The Split is an explosive new stand-alone thriller from Sharon Bolton about a woman on the run.

No matter how far you run, some secrets will always catch up with you…

The remote Antarctic island of South Georgia is about to send off its last boat of the summer – which signifies safety to resident glaciologist Felicity Lloyd.

Felicity lives in fear – fear that her ex-husband Freddie will find her, even out here. She took a job on this isolated island to hide from him, but now that he’s out of prison, having served a term for murder, she knows he won’t give up until he finds her.

But a doctor delving into the background of Felicity and Freddie’s relationship, back in Cambridge, learns that Felicity has been on the edge for a long time. Heading to South Georgia himself to try and get to her first is the only way he can think of to help her.

6. Under Suspicion by Mary Higgins Clark

I included this series on the list because its a really good mystery series but also a bit lighter. It’s always a murder mystery, but the undertones of the story and the thoughts of the bad guys aren’t as twisted as some of the other books I have listed.

In this gripping #1 New York Times bestseller from Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark, a Manhattan ER doctor is brazenly murdered in front of his young son in a city playground. Five years later, his killer is still at large.

When Laurie Moran’s husband was brutally murdered, only three-year-old Timmy saw the face of his father’s killer. Five years later his piercing blue eyes still haunt Timmy’s dreams. Laurie is haunted by more—the killer’s threat to her son as he fled the scene: “Tell your mother she’s next, then it’s your turn…”

Now Laurie is dealing with murder again, this time as the producer of a true-crime, cold-case television show. The series will launch with the twenty-year-old unsolved murder of Betsy Powell. Betsy, a socialite, was found suffocated in her bed after a gala celebrating the graduation of her daughter and three friends. The sensational murder was news nationwide. Reopening the case in its lavish setting and with the cooperation of the surviving guests that night, Laurie is sure to have a hit on her hands. But when the estranged friends begin filming, it becomes clear each is hiding secrets…small and large.

And a pair of blue eyes is watching events unfold, too…

If you want to try a bunch of books, now is the perfect time to try Kindle Unlimited!

Your thoughts?

So what do you think? Did I miss a mystery, suspense, or thriller writer that you can’t get enough of? If so, drop your thoughts in the comments and come back when we tackle the most binge-worthy YA Fantasy writers and series.