Best Mystery Books

Gillian Flynn made a real splash with her novel Gone Girl back in 2012. The book was extremely successful and made the writer one of the New York Times best-selling authors. It is a smart mystery novel with elements of thriller and crime story that you won’t be able to put down until you finish it.

In the beginning, you meet two main characters - Amy and Nick Dunne, who seem a happily-married couple getting ready to celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary. But their happiness turns out to be just an illusion. As the plot progresses, we find out that both main characters have skeletons in their closets and each of them has taken part in the destruction of their marriage.

The story starts with Amy's mysterious disappearance on the morning of their anniversary. And even though the crime scene looks like it was a kidnapping, some things just don’t add up to that, which quickly makes Nick one of the main suspects in the case. Since the story takes place in quiet suburbia of Missouri, such an accident has much resonance with the citizens. Now, Nick has to deal with the pressure from police, media, and his wife’s family while trying to investigate and figure out what has actually happened to his wife by following her clues that she left him to find a surprise gift for their celebration.

To understand Amy’s point of view, the readers will be able to check out the notes she made in her personal diary, written from the first person’s perspective. The things she describes and the fact that her husband so cleverly starts manipulating the society makes him look like a real kidnapper, or probably even a murderer. But is Amy a real victim in the story? You will be able to find out that only at the very end.

Where the Crawdads Sing is a drama mystery novel written by American author Delia Owens. She brings us to North Carolina and tells a story of loneliness, loss, and horrific crime that takes place against the beautiful nature background.

Back in the year 1952, 6-year-old Catherine Danielle Clark, or simply Kya, witnesses her mom leaving her. Shortly after, her four siblings decide to do the same due to the unbearable life with their alcoholic father. Kya tries extremely hard to bond with him, and she even achieves a little success as he tries to develop a passion for nature in his daughter. Yet, when a sudden letter from mother infuriates her dad, he comes back to drinking and gambling. Eventually, he disappears completely from Kya’s life. Now, a little girl has to learn how to survive while living in the cabin on the marsh.

Kya learns how to trade fish and mussels. Yet, she still doesn’t fit in with the townspeople and children in the local school, so she quickly abandons. But there is still kindness in the world, which Kya finds in the couple that lives nearby - Jumpin’ and Mabel. She also becomes close to Tate, a friend of one of her siblings. As time goes, the girl grows into a strong independent woman that learns how to read and write with Tate’s help and manages to get used to her lonely life. She gains success after publishing a book and manages to find true love.

But contrary to all the good and loving people on Kya’s way, the author also adds not very pleasant people to her life story. Despite the success Kya has achieved, the encounter with one of such characters leaves a big scar on the young woman and pushes her to a horrible crime.

British author, Paula Hawkins, has made a perfect mystery story for those fans of the mystery fiction who often go on long rides. The Girl on the Train will become your perfect companion on the road and will surely make your rides way less boring.

The story introduces the readers to three heroines - Rachel, Anna, and Megan, who narrate the book. Each woman tells her own story, which intertwines in an unexpected way. Rachel Watson, the first one, is an alcoholic. She used to have a perfect life with a job, a loving husband, and a beautiful house. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant, she develops a destructive addiction, which leads to losing everything she had. Now, living with her friend, she travels on a train to Manhattan every day, unable to confess to her friend she has lost the job. On her way, she rides along wealthy suburbia and looks at a happy couple that leaves in one of the cottages. The woman that lives there is Megan. She is married to a handsome man named Scott and they both seem to have the kind of marriage Rachel describes as "the one you can only dream of". She envies their happiness and their “safe” lives.

Megan, the other main character, is actually not so happy with her life as Rachel thinks. She has depression and complete apathy, that's why she tries to entertain herself by hooking up with several lovers. Yet, nothing makes her feel alive. Megan works as a nanny for her neighbors, Scott and Anna. Scott happens to be Rachel’s ex-husband, who was cheating on her with Anna. Now, they have a child and live in the house that once was Rachel’s.

Anna is the third heroine of the story that lives her life scared for her child since Rachel keeps stocking them. She also becomes very shocked by the news that Megan is leaving her job as a nanny and she will have to look up for her child alone.

Shortly after quitting babysitting and starting a new one in a gallery, Megan disappears. It happens right after Rachel sees her with another man from the train window. Infuriated with her cheating on her husband, Rachel goes off the train to go talk to Megan, but she passes out drunk and doesn’t remember anything. To get her memories back and help to find Megan, she finds herself involved in this mysterious and incredibly dangerous case.

I Am Watching You is a great example of thriller and mystery fiction. Teresa Driscoll has managed to create an interesting detective story by smartly using all the genre cliches. And if you have already read a lot of detective stories, you may be able to quickly recognize them. But all those who want to dive into the mystery genre may enjoy it a lot.

The story starts with Ella Longfield taking a trip on a train. She witnesses two charming men flirting with a couple of young girls. She doesn’t pay attention to that. However, after accidentally overhearing that the guys have just come out of prison, she becomes worried about the girls’ safety. As a mother of a teenager herself, she wants to warn girls but eventually gives up that idea.

Unfortunately, the next morning she sees that one of the young ladies, Anna Ballard, is missing. Feeling guilty for not making any actions to protect the girls, Ella decides to contact the police and family of the missing girl to help find her. The action takes place one year later when Anna is still missing.

There are several narrators in this book - Ella, the witness; Anna’s friend Sarah, who was traveling with her on that fateful day and who seems to be hiding something; the parents of the missing girl who also have some secrets; and later on, the detective also becomes the narrator. Since every chapter is narrated by a different person, you'll be able to look at the story from the perspective of different characters. The other interesting stylistic trick the author uses is the cliffhanger, which makes you want to read new chapters one by one. Thanks to that, this book is so hard to put down.

The Breakfast Club became the ultimate classic and a great example of a teenage story that stays popular among the few generations of people. Its premise was widely used for multiple books, films and TV series of different genres. Karen M. McManus also turns to this popular topic in her young-adult mystery One of Us Is Lying.

Five students are left after classes to serve the detention because they carried phones at school, or, as they say, someone planted the phones to them. The clique includes all the basic archetypes you can meet in most teen social groups - Addy, the beauty; Cooper, the jock; Bronwyn, the brain; Nate, the criminal; and Simon, the outcast. The plot thickens when Simon falls dead before the end of the detention after poisoning with peanuts (due to his allergy), and his death is proven to be not an accident. Later, it becomes obvious that he was going to tell the dark secrets about all four other students. Considering that his death is so convenient for each of four survivors, all of them become suspects in the murder case.

Each chapter is narrated by one of four students and the reader will have to detect who is lying. The author really shows off her writing skills by making complicated and realistic heroes, so you change your attitude towards the main characters throughout the whole book. Thus, you won’t be able to get the answer up to the very end.

However, the story doesn’t end there. One of Us Is Lying is the first book in the duology. It is followed by One of Us Is Next, which allows you to solve another mystery in the same school with some old and some new characters.