Category Archives: Mystery & Thriller

Final Word by Janet Sumner Johnson

Thirteen-year-old twins Hope and Gordon enter a spelling bee in a last-ditch effort to save their family from financial ruin, only to find themselves in a cut-throat competition to uncover a fortune and dark secrets about the wealthy relations they’ve never known. Hope Smith can’t stand rich people—the dictionary magnate family the Wintertons most of all. Not since she and her twin brother, Gordon, learned that their dad was one. So when Gordon enters the family into the Winterton’s charity spelling bee, Hope wants nothing to do with it. But with… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Familial estrangement due to substance addiction
  • Gambling addiction mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a teenage boy in a car accident
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Saltwater by Katy Hays

In 1992 Sarah Lingate is found dead below the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Despite suspicions that the old-money Lingates are involved, Sarah’s death is ruled an accident, and every year the family returns to prove it’s true. But on the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah’s death, the Lingates arrive at the villa to find a surprise waiting for them—the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Blackmail
  • Drowning

The Trade Off by Sandie Jones

For Stella, deputy editor of The Globe , the choice has always been clear. It doesn’t matter how low she has to stoop―getting the best story is what she’s built her reputation on. For Jess, The Globe ’s rookie reporter, the story stops when the truth does. But she knows that the dirty tricks of the tabloids will be hard to overturn. And when a celebrity is hounded by The Globe and pays the ultimate price, Jess wonders just how much Stella and the paper are responsible. Determined to show the world what the tabloid is capable of, Jess will do whatever it takes to uncover the truth, but… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Suicide

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones

Rachel and Noah have been friends since they met at university. While they once thought that they might be something more, now, twenty years later, they are each happily married to other people, Jack and Paige respectively. Jack’s brother Will is getting married, to the dazzling, impulsive Ali, and the group of six travel to Portugal for their destination weekend. Three couples.
As they arrive at a gorgeous villa perched on a cliff-edge, overlooking towering waves that crash on the famous surfing beaches below at Nazaré, they try to settle into a weekend of fun. While Rachel is looking forward to getting to know her future… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fatphobia & body-shaming
  • Infidelity
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use
  • Hospitalisation
  • Death of a friend
  • Car accident

The Half Sister by Sandie Jones

Kate and Lauren meet for Sunday lunch every week without fail, especially after the loss of their father–but a knock at the door is about to change everything. A young woman by the name of Jess holds a note with the results of a DNA test, claiming to be their half sister. As the fallout starts, it’s clear that they are all hiding secrets, and perhaps this family isn’t as perfect as it appears.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental infidelity discussed
  • Abusive relationship
  • Death of a father recounted

The First Mistake by Sandie Jones

THE WIFE: For Alice, life has never been better. With her second husband, she has a successful business, two children, and a beautiful house. HER HUSBAND: Alice knows that life could have been different if her first husband had lived, but Nathan’s arrival into her life gave her back the happiness she craved. HER BEST FRIEND: Through the ups and downs of life, from celebratory nights out to comforting each other through loss, Alice knows that with her best friend Beth by her side, they can survive anything together. So when Nathan starts acting strangely, Alice… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Abandonment
  • Depression
  • Death of a spouse

The Blame Game by Sandie Jones

As a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse, Naomi has found it hard to not become overly invested in her clients’ lives. But after helping the middle-aged Jacob make the decision to leave his wife, Naomi has begun to worry that she’s gone too far this time. On the morning of Jacob’s first session after his escape, doors that Naomi is sure she’d locked have been mysteriously left open, and Jacob’s client file is missing. Then, another client approaches Naomi for assistance in leaving behind her abusive husband, and Naomi is once again unable to turn aside someone in need. But… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse

I Would Die for You by Sandie Jones

Now: Nicole Forbes lives a quiet life in a small seaside Californian town with her husband and daughter. She is not expecting a writer to knock on her door asking for her personal insight into the downfall of the biggest British band of the 1980s—unveiling the threads of a life she put behind her years ago. The same day, her daughter goes missing and the school claims her aunt picked her up . . . but she doesn’t have an aunt. Convinced of a link between the two, Nicole is forced to revisit long-abandoned memories from her past to protect everything she now holds dear… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Drug use

Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley

Jane and Dan have been married for nineteen years, but Jane isn’t sure they’re going to make it to twenty. The mother of two feels unneeded by her teenagers, and her writing career has screeched to an unsuccessful halt. Her one published novel sold under five hundred copies. Worse? She’s pretty sure Dan is cheating on her. When the couple goes to the renowned upscale restaurant La Fin du Monde to celebrate their anniversary, Jane thinks it’s as good a place as any to tell Dan she wants a divorce. But before… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Hostage situation (on-page, theme)

The Snowbirds by Christina Clancy

Kim and Grant are at a turning point. A couple for thirty years, their “separate but together” partnership is running up against the realities of late middle age: Grant’s mother has died, the college where he taught philosophy was shuttered, and their twin girls are grown and gone. Escaping the bitter cold of a Midwestern winter for the hot desert sun of Palm Springs seems as good a solution as any to the more intractable problems they face. When they arrive at Le Desert, a quirky condo community where everyone knows everyone’s business, Kim immediately embraces the opportunity to make new friends and explore a more… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Suicide & self-harm mentioned
  • Alcoholism mentioned