Read any mesmerizing mysteries lately?
I’d been in a bit of a reading slump when the upcoming thriller by the always good Clare Macintosh hit my iPad. Hostage is a page turner, the sort of book one happily ignores one’s loved ones to figure out HOW IT ALL ENDS. (It comes out in June and I can’t wait for everyone to read it.)
After I finished it–in don’t bother me, I’m reading 48 hours–I craved that rush again so, like any sane person, I turned to AAR’s Powersearch. This led me to Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter, an author I’d never read. I inhaled it as well. I was struck by the precision of Slaughter’s prose and, after reading several reviews of her Will Trent books here, I picked up the first one, Triptych.
24 hours later–those dishes can wait–I downloaded the next book in the Will Trent series, Fractured. I don’t want to quit reading it either but someone has to walk Sophie and write these posts! (It is fair to say, however, that Sophie is very disappointed with me the length of today’s walks….)
The past year has been a good one for me for mystery and thriller reading. Tana French’s The Searcher is one of her best which is saying something. American Dirt is a page turner and one that made me think. I reread In Cold Blood which remains the best true crime novel I’ve ever encountered. Mysteries, along with romance, have always been my favorite genre fiction.
How about you? Read any thrilling thrillers or mesmerizing mysteries recently?
My favorite of all the Will Trent books is on sale today for 4.99.
It’s a dual timeline story and it is superb.
Just sayin’.
https://amzn.to/3eTkisN
Dr. Feelgood and I are blasting through the Will Trent books.
We’re on book five, Fallen, and, with the exception of book four Undone, we have enjoyed them all. I ended up buying the box set of the first seven which is a much better deal than buying them each individually.
Slaughter is really good at dialog–she makes you laugh, gasp, and believe in the words her characters use.
I am so over Angie and I dislike Faith’s decisions around Emma but I adore Sara and Will and Amanda.
I just finished book six in the Will Trent series, Criminal. It might be my favorite one yet.
The plotting in this book was remarkably deft so kudos to Slaughter for that. She just keeps getting better.
But the best part of the book is the parts set in the 1970s. She utterly nails that time, especially the sexism and racism (and their uneasy juncture). I adored seeing Evelyn and Amanda at the start of their careers.
I do still hate Angie and the last thing we learn about her here–a definite shocker–came as no surprise to me nor did it make me think any more of her. Sara and Will are lovely together and I hope and pray that Slaughter doesn’t pull a Whedon and pull their happiness out from underneath them.
Reading the comments, I agree with so many!
First, Karin Slaughter’s Will Trent series is amazing! It eventually merges with her earlier series featuring Sara Linton. I love the characters she has developed and how they continue to evolve.
Slaughter has several stand alone mysteries. They are good, but are a little higher on the gore or body content. I’ve enjoyed them but not likely to reread.
Second, read Kelley Armstrong’s mysteries! Her Rockton novels are sublime! Some gore, abuse, manipulation. But the setting is unique and fascinating. You will get sucked into the series from the beginning.
Kelley Armstrong’s Cainsville series is also wonderful. There is more romantic elements and more of a puzzle. Lots of supernatural elements.
Thanks!
I’m now on book three of the Will Trent books–I am hoping the “women tortured” theme doesn’t permeate all her books as much as it has in Fractured and Undone but other than that, I am really enjoying them.
Love Kelly Armstrong’s Rockton. Hopefully the series is not ending!
YES, my friends, I have the next mystery series for you! I have just finished a great 13 book (with the 14th book coming out in June) series. I don’t typically care for unreliable narrators or horror. I enjoy a who-done-it with characters who I can grow to love. If this suits you, please read the The Crossing Places (Ruth Galloway Series book 1) by Elly Griffiths. And read all the books in the series. You won’t be sorry.
Ruth is a 39/40 year old doctor of forensic archeology at a university in Norwich, UK. She is called in by the police to examine some bones to see if they are recent. The mystery starts there. The history and archeology is fascinating. I’m googling the heck out of the archeological terms and places as I read.
The author develops her characters personalities in such a way that you can almost recognize your friends and family (and perhaps yourself) in them. I have truly enjoyed the growth of Ruth, as well as the secondary characters, throughout the series. The mystery is, for me at least, the perfect level of complexity – not so much that I have no idea in God’s green earth what is going on, but not so easy that I’m bored. Although, I will say that I am a fairly lazy mystery reader.; I don’t want to work that hard. The clues are there…pick ‘me up!
If you choose to read The Crossing Places, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I agree! The Ruth Galloway mysteries are addictive. They are a great combination of history, modern relationships, ongoing stories in the series. This series hasn’t gotten old. Highly recommend.
Another one for the list!
Samantha Downing is doing some great stuff with thrillers – loved He Started It, about adult siblings forced to reconstruct a cross-country road trip they once took with their grandfather when they were kids, in order to inherit a fortune . Only someone doesn’t want them to finish the trip, and maybe that someone is in the car with them. (think of the Succession siblings on a road trip).
For a great series with a very, very, slow build relationship, the Maeve Kerrigan series by Jane Casey. Maeve and Derwent remind me so much of Linden and Holder in The Killing. These are really good police procedural mysteries, but are an auto-read for me because of Maeve and Derwent.
As you are loving Karin Slaughter, I’d suggest Lisa Gardner’s D. D. Warren series. Complex and dark, but with some hope found in the shadows.
If you haven’t read them yet, I’d also recommend Nalini Singh’s two suspense/mysteries, A Madness of Sunshine (small romantic element) and Quiet in Her Bones.
Dabney, you’ve mentioned you don’t like serial killers (and gore? Did I read that?), but the reviews I’ve read for the Slaughter books seem to be bloody and often about serial killers. I’d love to find a new mystery/suspense series to get into, but I don’t want to be in the mind of a serial killers or read “on screen” violence against women (or children). Would the Slaughter books be a good choice?
I’m on my third Slaughter and none of them are about serial killers but I don’t know about the rest.
Pieces of Her is definitely not about serial killers and I found it to be mesmerizing. It’s not about violence against women or children and isn’t particularly gory.
Book two did veer more into not serial killers but definitely violence against women. And book three is so firmly in that realm in the beginning I had a hard time getting through the first couple of chapters.
I love the characters and her writing but think it would NOT be for you. You might try Pieces of Her which isn’t about torture or violence against a specific group at all.
I love, love, love the Will Trent books. I even love the ones that aren’t the best of the series. In the author note at the end of the last one, Slaughter says she just realized she’s been writing a romance. I’ve known that all along.
I read We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker this weekend. It is a mystery and a love story and so much more. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read before. I DNF so many books that most of the books I finish are 4 and 5 stars. I wish I could have given this 6.
That is quite a recommendation!
What did you love about it?
Bad things happen to people in mysteries and romances. It doesn’t generally affect me emotionally. I know there will be a satisfying ending, The 13 year old in this book broke my heart. I tried to read a romcom after finishing this and for the first time thought “I’m too old for this book.” After meeting Duchess Day Ridley, I really didn’t like Eve. I wish I was better at at expressing why I love a book.
BTW, I read and loved Team Player and am so excited about Bench Player.
Reviews indicate it’s super sad. Would you agree?
Yes, but a lot of the books I read are sad. I wouldn’t say it’s uplifting either. I spent a lot of the book in tears and was satisfied at the end that things would be better for all involved. It wasn’t a romance so I didn’t expect a happy ending. I think anyone who is willing to read the gloom that is a lot of modern mystery (I’ve been reading Jane Harper) will be glad they tried it.
I’m OK with sad but sad for kids is hard for me.
Yeah, I can understand that and know you’ve probably got a good grasp of the plot. I’ll just say…I’ve never seen a sister love a brother better than in this book. It is heartbreaking. It made me appreciate the way my sister has had to love me through the past six very hard years.
I love reading mysteries but I never liked the gore of thrillers as much. My favourite mystery author is definitely Agatha Christie, I’ve read practically all of her books. As a kid, I used to love Enid Blyton’s books like the Five Find-Outers and Famous Five. I love plot twists, clever but fair clues and ‘cozy’ mysteries, but it’s difficult to find this now.
I was a mystery reader long before I was a romance reader, and in fact came to romances through romantic suspense and romantic mysteries. Even when I read mysteries, I enjoyed the personal relationship parts of them,and was always sad when the relationships went awry, like in Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley series. I read Martha Grimes, Margery Allinghan, Dorothy Sayers, Charlotte MacLeod, Ian Pears, Josephine Tey, and P.D. James. I found a set of mysteries by Earlene Fowler that had a romance subplot and those books along with Anne Perry’s drove me to search for more books with “successful” relationships instead of the serial failures in most mystery series. That led me to Linda Howard, Sandra Brown,and Jayne Ann Krentz, and the rest is history. From there I went to straight romance and rarely read anything outside the genre anymore. I love sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, etc., but they generally need at least some central relationship arc to keep my interest.
I don’t read much suspense written today because it is so gory and dark. I’m tired of serial killers and violence against women. I loved the authors I listed above because,although they can be sad, they are intelligent and complex, and more about the twists and turns and human psychology than about violence and gore.
Lately I’ve read Sheri Cobb South’s John Pickett mysteries, Anna Lee Huber’s Lady Darby and Verity Kent mysteries, and Kindle Unlimited authors Melinda Leigh (Morgan Dane mysteries among others) and Kendra Elliot (both quite good).
I also recently read the first two books of the Ravenwood Mysteries by Sabrina Flynn,set in San Francisco in 1800. The city is a major character in the books so there is a strong sense of place and time, and her writing is absolutely beautiful. But the languid pace of the books didn’t quite suit me in this pandemic year, so I’ve not gone back to read more, although I still might. They are books for patient readers and really pick up in the last third or so. I rated both A-/B+
Ian Pears! I loved those art-connected books.
Yes, I loved all the John Argyll mysteries. I also read and loved his book,An Instand at the Fingerpost. I don’t remember much about it since it’s been many years ago, but I remember that my husband and I both read it (He read the Argyll mysteries,too) and talked a long time about it.
Making this list had me remembering some of my favorite mystery books. I loved the Martha Grimes’ Richard Jury books so much at the time. I loved the names of them, too. They are all named after a real Pub, with names like A Man With a Load of Mischief, and The Horse You Came In On. And I always loved the way P. D James wrote. I may revisit some of these soon. I know Grimes wrote several more Richard Jury novels after I went on to read mostly romances.
I’m a long-time mystery reader, and mysteries have always been my first choice for leisure reading, but I’m finding fewer and fewer that I enjoy recently. Part of the problem is that I like the classic puzzler type, and no one seems to be writing them these days. I don’t like gore, I’m not interested in serial killers, and I don’t like mysteries solved by cats.
So I’ve been rereading books that I read so long ago that I no longer remember whodunnit. Particular favorite authors recently have been Michael Gilbert and Emma Lathen. I am very grateful that I can get them as ebooks from the library.
I too dislike serial killers and mysteries where the credit is shared by creatures.
Have you tried Lucy Foley, Louise Penny, or Stuart Turton?
I don’t know them. I’ll have to give them a try. Thanks—recommendations always appreciated.
Oh poor Sophie and her adorable disappointed face!
I used to be a big mystery reader but not so much anymore. The one mystery series I do still read is Kelley Armstrong’s “Rockton” series. I read it for the character development and world building as much, if not more than the mysteries now though.
I enjoy the setting as she has created a situation and setting where most modern technology is not available to help solve crimes so she gets around the “just call them on a cell phone”, “dial 911” or “google it on your phone” solutions that are so easy today.
It manages to be very contemporary but have an old west kind of feel to it. Each book has its own mystery (murder but more than that) to be solved but there also overarching ones that are carried through the series.
I recently read the latest installment and I am still enjoying them.
I completely agree with you about the Rockton series – it is fantastic and I read each release very soon after it comes out. The setting/premise are unusual and the world-building very interesting from a societal standpoint. I also really enjoy the watching the development of the main character’s various relationships over the course of the series – romantic, friendship and familial. Highly recommended!
Yes, I agree with all this! The character development and the relationships are wonderful and what keep me coming back even more than the mysteries.
Four books thus far, right?
It’s six now, one was just published in the last month or so.
https://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/series/rockton/
The last book led me to believe there may be a spin off.
Yes, something is definitely being set up as either a big change or a spin off.
I hope Jacob is involved. I’d like to see more about him in the series. It’s been just off screen mentions of him lately.
I have the last three but not the first. #addstoTBB* pile.
*To Be Bought
Well try the first one to see if you like it. I think you will.
This is book one?
https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/city-of-the-lost-kelly-armstrong/
Yes! It’s great and it has a romantic element (but subtle) as well.
The background/set up part at the beginning is OK but when things move (pretty quickly) to “The City Of The Lost” I was absolutely riveted by the story, characters and world building. It also has a good amount of surprises, I couldn’t solve the whole mystery (I got a few pieces right) and it was all well thought out and logical.
I definitely think it is a series you have to read in order. Book 1 is the sexiest as it is the start of the romantic relationship of the main character (Casey). The beginning is a little slow but I think it really picks up once she gets to Rockton. Romance is not as prominent in the rest of the books but the world building delves into Casey’s partner’s background and the surrounding community, which deepens her relationship.
As soon as I finish the Will Trent series, I’m reading this
Dabney I would definitely read them in order.
Somewhat off the beaten path, and perhaps not a mystery per se, but I was not expecting to be as engaged with Nyla K’s DISTORTED as I was. Although it’s marketed as a dark erotic romance, DISTORTED has so many elements of psychological suspense and horror, it could easily be classified as something else. It’s a well-written but extremely dark m/m story about the relationship between an inmate and a prison guard (cw/tw: non-consent, dubious-consent, power imbalance, pain infliction), with a couple of twists you will not see coming. As in psychological suspense, characters’ words and actions are ambiguous and subject to various interpretations; and, as in horror, logic is often suspended and a hazy, trance-like quality pervades the atmosphere. If you go into DISTORTED expecting a standard mystery (or romance), you’ll be disappointed; but if you go into it expecting something twisty and dark, you may (like me) enjoy the ride. Perhaps more “romance-adjacent” than actual romance—and not for the faint of heart.
Sounds interesting, but not for me. I don’t read any horror!
Yes! I just finished A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson and I am currently reading Blacktop Wasteland.