Category Archives: Mystery & Thriller

Six Truths and a Lie by Ream Shukairy

As fireworks pop off at a rowdy Fourth of July bonfire party, an explosion off the California coast levels an oil rig—resulting in chaos and worse, murder. At the center are six Muslim teens – six patriots, six strangers, and six suspects. An old soul caught in the wrong place. An aspiring doctor. An influencer with a reputation to protect. A perfect daughter with secrets to hide. A soccer star headed for Stanford. An immigrant in love. Each with something to hide and everything to lose. Faced with accusations of terrorism, The Six are caught in a political game that will pit them against each other in exchange for exoneration…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & Islamophobia (theme)

Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash

Lacey Bond is a thirteen-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents’ rural daycare center. Then the Satanic Panic hits. It’s the summer of 1990 when Lacey’s parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobia & slurs
  • Sexual assault & paedophilia discussed

A Vocation of Violence by Kerrigan Byrne

No one in London knows what befell Fiona’s family back in Ireland. At least, no one left alive. That is until her late brother’s best mate arrives in the city for the bareknuckle bout of the century. Blood is spilled in the ring before the fight, and when Fiona is hired to clean it up, she finds that the boy from her past is now a dangerous man who may have answers she’d lost all hope of finding. But while she frantically tries to keep his neck from a noose, it becomes apparent that her own is at risk.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Blood depiction
  • Death of an infant recounted
  • Murder
  • Captivity

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny – in the midst of her parent’s bitter divorce – and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella’s mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help. From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental divorce & infidelity
  • Traumatic mutism
  • Drug & alcohol abuse recounted
  • Murder

The Red Hunter by Lisa Unger

Claudia Bishop’s perfect life fell apart when the aftermath of a brutal assault left her with a crumbling marriage, a newborn daughter, and a constant sense of anxiety about the world around her. Now, looking for a fresh start with a home restoration project and growing blog, Claudia takes on a crumbling old house—one that unbeknownst to her has an ugly history and may hide long buried secrets. Claudia Bishop’s perfect life fell apart when the aftermath of a brutal assault left her with a crumbling marriage, a newborn daughter, and a constant sense of anxiety about the world… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Hallucinations
  • Murder of parents in a home invasion recounted

Bones of the Sun God by Peter Vegas

Sam heads to Belize to continue his investigation into his parents’ mysterious disappearance and to learn more about secret of the pyramids. But after being kidnapped by crocodile cultists, will he ever be able to find the answers he’s looking for?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Gun violence
  • Kidnapping
  • Imprisonment
  • Animal attack

The Serial Killer’s Wife by Alice Hunter

Beth and Tom Hardcastle are the envy of their neighbourhood – they have the perfect marriage, the perfect house, the perfect family. When the police knock on their door one evening, Beth panics. Tom should be back from work by now – what if he’s crashed his car? She fears the worst. But the worst is beyond imagining. As the interrogation begins, Beth will find herself questioning everything she believed about her husband. They’re husband and wife – till death do them part…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse
  • Murder
  • Strangulation

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counsellor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found. As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Statutory rape mentioned
  • Domestic violence
  • Death of children
  • Murder recounted
  • Drowning

The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding by Lydia Kang

Brooklyn, 1942. War rages overseas as brother and sister Will and Maggie Scripps contribute to the war effort stateside. Ambitious Will secretly scouts for the Manhattan Project while grief-stricken Maggie works at the Navy Yard, writing letters to her dead mother between shifts. But the siblings’ quiet lives change when they discover a beautiful woman hiding under their back stairs. This stranger harbours an obsession with poisons, an affection for fine things, and a singular talent for killing small creatures. As she draws Will and Maggie deeper into her mysterious past…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression & anxiety
  • Suicide & attempted suicide
  • Murder

Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang

New York City, 1899. Tillie Pembroke’s sister lies dead, her body drained of blood and with two puncture wounds on her neck. Bram Stoker’s new novel, Dracula, has just been published, and Tillie’s imagination leaps to the impossible: the murderer is a vampire. But it can’t be—can it? A ravenous reader and researcher, Tillie has something of an addiction to truth, and she won’t rest until she unravels the mystery of her sister’s death. Unfortunately, Tillie’s addicted to more than just truth; to ease the pain from a recent injury, she’s taking more and more laudanum and some in her…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape mentioned
  • Drug abuse
  • Murder