Add these 5 murder mysteries to your TBR

Even though Halloween passed, it’s never too late to read something spooky — especially if it means solving a murder. Here are five murder mysteries that are bound to satisfy your cruel curiosity and feature a genre or trope for everyone. 

Such a Bad Influence by Olivia Muenter

This debut thriller is a deep dive into childhood stardom and social media culture. As the cohost of the popular Bad on Paper podcast, and with more than 42,000 Instagram followers herself, Muenter shares a new voice to the psychological thriller genre with an insider perspective into the lives of influencers. If you’re a fan of Collen Hoover, then this is a book you need to add to your TBR.  

Synopsis: Evie—or, as she’s better known, @evelyn—has grown up online, after being thrust into the spotlight at age five by her proto-influencer mother. Now Evie is eighteen years old with a multimillion-dollar career in her own right, and her life is entirely available online to be picked apart by the public. By contrast, her deeply protective older sister, Hazel, has avoided the spotlight and wants the same for Evie—a normal life, or at least the option to have one.

Hazel knows her sister. So when Evie disappears during a livestream on a brand-sponsored trip, Hazel is certain that something must be terribly wrong. In the face of a national online frenzy over Evie’s disappearance, and suspicious of everyone from Evie’s YouTuber boyfriend to their own mother, Hazel must venture into the strangest corners of the megapopular influencer world to try to bring Evie home—and confront dark truths about their family and herself along the way.

Touching on current issues such as child stardom, the effect on kids of growing up on the internet, the parasocial relationships we develop with online celebrities, and the ethics of influence, this page-turning debut novel will keep readers hooked from start to finish.

Available now from Quirk Books. Order here.

Friends in Napa by Sheila Yasmin

Accomplished food writer Yasmin’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, the New Yorker, Vogue, and other leading publications for the past decade. It’s no wonder her latest dark comedy is set against the backdrop of California’s wine country. Deliciously dark and perfect for fans of the vacation gone wrong trope, this book addresses the complications of wealth, ambition, and competition among friends. Grab a glass and turn the page to see what could go wrong in this honest portrayal of money and privilege. 

Synopsis: Raj and Rachel Ranjani have invited their closest friends from college for a celebratory weekend in Napa Valley. On the agenda: three nights in the couple’s opulent vineyard mansion, a lavish dinner at Napa’s hottest new restaurant, exclusive tastings, and the grand opening of the Ranjanis’ ultra-high-end winery. It’s a reunion of six friends who haven’t seen each other in years. What could go wrong? To start, there’s the less-than-warm welcome: a brick flung through a window and palpable tension between the hosts.

But no worries—all Raj has to do is pop a few bottles of vintage Dom, and the college vibes come rushing back. So do old resentments, animosities, and unrequited crushes. Soon enough, the illusion of friendship shatters like a gossamer wineglass, and one of the guests ends up dead. Everyone has their motivations. Everyone has something to hide.

Available now on Amazon from Mindy’s Book Studio. Order here. 

The Unquiet Bones by Loreth Anne White 

While entirely fictional, the first book in this haunting series is inspired by a brutal tragedy. White’s writing addresses the technical aspects of crime investigation while keeping the exploring elements of the genre intact. The Unquiet Bones is a perfect read to add to your TBR if you’re looking for an authentic portrayal of trauma and loss when it comes to the crime genre. 

Synopsis: When human bones are found beneath an old chapel in the woods, evidence suggests the remains could be linked to the decades-old case of missing teenage girl Annalise Jansen. Homicide detective Jane Munro has a lot to contend with—she’s pregnant, struggling with her own grief, and relegated to cold cases—but she throws herself into the investigation to regain her career footing and to bring closure to the girl’s family.

Jane discovers that her greatest adversary is a group of Annalise’s old friends—now highly respected, affluent members of their communities, they’ve closed ranks, determined not to revisit the details of that terrible night forty-seven years ago. Jane teams with brilliant forensic anthropologist Dr. Ella Quinn to get to the truth, and under their scrutiny, the tightly knit group begins to fracture. When Jane discovers a second body—that of the boy long blamed for Annalise’s disappearance—the friends will discover just how far they’ll each go to shield their carefully curated present-day lives from their past.

Available now on Amazon from Brillance Publishing. Order here. 

Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson

New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson has a new stand-alone YA mystery that became an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller. With a starred Booklist review, clearly Johnson is a prime suspect for acing the murder mystery genre. Death at Morning House is an engaging sapphic mystery following two timelines, quirky charm, and deadpan humor. 

Synopsis: The fire wasn’t Marlowe Wexler’s fault. Dates should be hot, but not hot enough to warrant literal firefighters. Akilah, the girl Marlowe has been in love with for years, will never go out with her again. No one dates an accidental arsonist. With her house-sitting career up in flames, it seems the universe owes Marlowe a new summer job, and that’s how she ends up at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned shortly thereafter. It’s easy enough, giving tours. Low risk of fire. High chance of getting bored talking about stained glass and nut cutlets and Prohibition. Oh, and the deaths. Did anyone mention the deaths?

Maybe this job isn’t such a gift after all. Morning House has a horrific secret that’s been buried for decades, and now the person who brought her here is missing. All it takes is one clue to set off a catastrophic chain of events. One small detail, just like a spark, could burn it all down—if someone doesn’t bury Marlowe first.

Available on Bookshop from HarperCollins. Order here. 

Dead Below Deck by Jan Gangsei

An usual yet compelling narrative, this YA thriller was inspired by the authors own experience on a yacht before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting with the news of a lost heiress at sea, this mystery unfurls in reverse chronological order revealing a cast of characters’ hidden desires and motivations and what actually happened on a luxury yacht. It’s a great recommendation for binge readers who enjoy multiple twists and turns. 

Synopsis: It was supposed to be the ultimate girls’ trip: five days, four friends, one luxury yacht, and no parents. But on the final night, as the yacht cruised the deep and dark waters between Florida and Grand Cayman, Giselle Haverford vanished. After a frantic search, security footage surfaces that captures her friend Maggie pushing Giselle overboard. But Maggie has no memory of the night before. All she knows is that she woke up with a throbbing headache, thousands of dollars in cash in her safe, a passport that isn’t hers, and Giselle’s diary.

And while Maggie had her own reasons to want Giselle dead, so did everyone else on board: jealous Viv, calculating Emi, even some members of the crew. Fearing the worst, Maggie works her way backward to determine what really happened on the top deck that night and brings the reader along for the ride. Letters, texts, journal entries, police transcripts and news clippings fill in the gaps, as the story moves back in time to climax with a knock-out final reveal.

On Sale: November 19, 2024 via HarperCollins. Order here. 

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