Fall mysteries and thrillers we can’t wait to read
Vannessa Cronin | August 18, 2021
The days are getting shorter and the TBR tower (we passed “pile” sometime back in July) is getting taller. And it’s because of the books below. Between returning favorites (Liane Moriarty, Paula Hawkins, Lisa Jewell, and Val McDermid) and exciting debuts, the mysteries and thrillers we’re excited to read this fall promise something for everyone. Here is a list of our favorites to date. (Note: We’re reading furiously; this list will grow.)
Paula Hawkins (The Girl on the Train, Into the Water) is back with another addictive suspense novel, this one about the murder of a young man on a London houseboat, and the three women who may be involved. Multiple narrators—which is Hawkins’ signature—keep readers guessing, and one of those narrators, Laura, is one of the most fascinating, infuriating characters we’ve come across in a long time. (August 31) When Mickie Lambert creates a “digital scrapbook,” basically an electronic box of keepsakes, for a client who’s just died of suicide, it turns out those 12 tokens have meaning for someone else also, and that person may be a serial killer. Hall’s And Now She's Gone was an editors’ pick for Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense in 2020 and we’re excited for this one, too. (September 1) Lisa Jewell (Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs) returns with another suspenseful family drama. The Night She Disappeared refers to a young mum who goes out for a drink one night and never returns, leaving the woman’s mother—and readers—to wonder what on earth could possibly have happened to her daughter? A grippingly suspenseful head-scratcher of a thriller. (September 7) The massive success of the screen adaptation of Big Little Lies catapulted Moriarty into the stratosphere, and the upcoming adaptation of Nine Perfect Strangers looks set to be another smash. But nothing beats cracking open a new Moriarty novel, and Apples Never Fall —which introduces the loving, generous, possibly murderous Delaney family—is a treat. (September 14) The first debut on our list is a dark, chilling story about a woman, Paloma, who takes in a lodger—a recent transplant from India—to offset the cost of her San Francisco apartment. But when Arun uncovers secrets about how Paloma came to America from Sri Lanka, things take a murderous turn and the past may catch up with Paloma. Utterly original and riveting from start to finish. (September 14)
News of a new novel from Val McDermid is always cause for celebration, and 1979 is a series starter with an intriguing hook: the series will follow Glaswegian investigative journalist Allie Burns from the beginnings of her career in 1979, checking in with her every ten years. In 1979, Allie is trying to avoid being pigeonholed into covering women’s stories but an alliance with another reporter brings fraud, terrorism, and murder to her door. (October 5)
The Corpse Flower is another debut or at least a US debut. It’s already been a huge international best seller, pitched as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets Sharp Objects. Another series starter, it introduces readers to Heloise Kaldan, a journalist in Copenhagen, whose career is already in peril when she starts receiving letters from a woman wanted by the Danish police in connection with a fatal stabbing a few years earlier. What is the connection between Heloise and Anna? (October 12) A father and daughter have lived in the remote Appalachian mountains for almost a decade. When their only human connection with the world beyond the mountains fails to appear, it sets off a fateful chain of events. Atmospheric, tense, full of dark secrets and paranoia, but with a poignant father-daughter relationship at its heart, These Silent Woods is a gripping thriller. (October 26)
Another debut, All Her Little Secrets is a white-knuckle thriller set in a law firm. Ellice Littlejohn, like author Wanda M. Morris, is a corporate attorney in an Atlanta law firm. And keeping secrets is the name of her game. Her biggest secret is the affair she’s been having with her white boss. When he’s murdered and she is promoted into his position, her past—her other dark secret—suddenly surfaces. Nuanced, intricately plotted, with a fresh voice. (November 2)
Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s body of work included eight novels, was translated into more than 50 languages, and was published around the world. When he passed away in 2020, readers were devastated. So this posthumous collection of stories set in the world of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, first visited in one of his best-known novels, The Shadow of the Wind, is both bittersweet and very welcome. (November 23) The last title on the list is a suspenseful debut about an aspiring writer in a Wisconsin town rampant with crime. When in the course of her day job as a transcriber she hears about an overdose victim with a connection to a notorious drug dealer named the Candy Man, she gets a ringside seat to the kind of investigation that could fill three novels. If a killer doesn’t get her first. A fresh take on a police procedural, with a fascinating protagonist. (November 30)
Of course, if you think we’ve got it narrowed down to 12 books, think again. Here are some others we’re excited to read this fall:
Nice Girls by Catherine Dang (September 14)
Litani by Jess Lourey (October 19) And we’re not leaving out our favorites series: check out our list of the great mystery and thriller series returning this fall.
