Category Archives: Mystery & Thriller

Mrs England by Stacey Halls

West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the children of Charles and Lilian England, a wealthy couple from a powerful dynasty of mill owners, she hopes it will be the fresh start she needs. But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there’s something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ruby is forced to confront her own demons in order to prevent history from repeating itself. After all, there’s no such thing as the perfect family – and she should know.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic abuse
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Attempted murder of a child

Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose

After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before. While going through their parent’s belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Substance addiction & drug abuse mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of mother & child
  • Murder
  • Fire

You Shouldn’t Have Come Here by Jeneva Rose

Grace Evans, an overworked New Yorker looking for a total escape from her busy life, books an Airbnb on a ranch in the middle of Wyoming. When she arrives, she’s pleasantly surprised to find that the owner is a handsome man by the name of Calvin Wells. But there are things Grace discovers that she’s not too pleased about: A lack of cell phone service. A missing woman. And a feeling that something isn’t right with the town. Despite her uneasiness and misgivings from Calvin’s friends and family, the two grow close and start to fall for one another. However, as her departure date nears, things between them start to change for… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Acrophobia & hallucinations mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Death of parents & a partner recounted
  • Murder
  • Car accident recounted

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

Sarah Morgan is a successful and powerful defense attorney in Washington D.C. At 33 years old, she is a named partner at her firm and life is going exactly how she planned. The same cannot be said for her husband, Adam. He is a struggling writer who has had little success in his career. He begins to tire of his and Sarah’s relationship as she is constantly working. Out in the secluded woods, at Adam and Sarah’s second home, Adam engages in a passionate affair with Kelly Summers. Then, one morning everything changes. Adam is arrested for Kelly’s murder… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Homophobic slur
  • Infidelity
  • Substance addiction mentioned (secondary character)
  • Death of a parent mentioned
  • Murder of a pregnant woman by stabbing

Context : The protagonist is a lawyer defending her husband from the murder of his mistress.

Across the Desert by Dusti Bowling

Twelve-year-old Jolene spends every day she can at the library watching her favorite livestream: The Desert Aviator, where twelve-year-old “Addie Earhart” shares her adventures flying an ultralight plane over the desert. While watching this daring girl fly through the sky, Jolene can dream of what it would be like to fly with her, far away from her own troubled home life where her mother struggles with a narcotic addiction. And Addie, who is grieving the loss of her father, finds solace in her online conversations with Jolene, her biggest—and only—fan. Then, one day, it all goes wrong… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parent with substance addiction
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a father
  • Plane crash

    Accidental Romeo by Nicole Snow

    A perfect stranger just kissed away the worst day of my life. Emphasis on perfect. Hunter Forsythe is so far out of my league I can’t even buy tickets. And now he’s insta-date to my stuck up sister’s wedding?! Brace for everything to go hilariously wrong. But my mysterious new hero is no flipping joke. Rich as sin. Knockout eyes. A snarlypants single dad. Muscle, muscle everywhere .Too good for the quiet baker girl no one ever noticed. Then I find out what—and who—put him up to this insanity. I’m so mad I could spit nails. Imagine my surprise when Romeo keeps coming. Hear my door slamming in his face. Witness my jaw… Read more.

    Goodreads

    Trigger and Content Warnings

    • Cheating recounted
    • Gambling addiction mentioned
    • Death of a brother recounted
    • House fire recounted
    • Animal death (fish)

    One by One by Freida McFadden

    One by one, they will get what they deserve… A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation. She thought this would be a break from the stresses of work and raising her young children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubs with two other couple friends. It sounded like heaven. Then Claire’s minivan breaks down on a lonely dirt road. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to hike the rest of the way to their hotel. But it turns out the woods aren’t as easy to navigate as they… Read more.

    Goodreads

    Trigger and Content Warnings

    • Infidelity
    • Murder

    The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden

    Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until the evening when two detectives show up at her front door A high school girl has vanished from Erika’s quiet suburban neighbourhood. The police suspect the worst–murder. And Erika’s teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive. Erika has always sensed something dark and disturbed in her seemingly perfect older child. She wants to believe he’s innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can’t deny the truth–Liam may have done the unthinkable. Now she must ask herself: How far will she go to protect her son?

    Goodreads

    Trigger and Content Warnings

    • Infidelity
    • Hospitalisation
    • Starvation & dehydration
    • Death of parents
    • Murder
    • Kidnapping
    • Incarceration
    • Fire
    • Animal death & cruelty

    The Coworker by Freida McFadden

    Dawn Schiff is strange. At least, everyone thinks so at Vixed, the nutritional supplement company where Dawn works as an accountant. She never says the right thing. She has no friends. And she is always at her desk at precisely 8:45 a.m. So when Dawn doesn’t show up to the office one morning, her coworker Natalie Farrell—beautiful, popular, top sales rep five years running—is surprised. Then she receives an unsettling, anonymous phone call that changes everything…. It turns out Dawn wasn’t just an awkward outsider—she was being targeted by someone close. And now Natalie is irrevocably tied to Dawn as she finds her… Read more.

    Goodreads

    Trigger and Content Warnings

    • Infidelity
    • Suicide & suicidal ideation
    • Death of a friend
    • Murder
    • Bullying & discussions of a toxic work environment

    The Locked Door by Freida McFadden

    While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement. Until the day the police arrived at their front door. Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way. Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims. Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take… Read more.

    Goodreads

    Trigger and Content Warnings

    • Alcohol consumption
    • Blood & injury depiction including loss of limb
    • Hospitalisation
    • Murder
    • Torture
    • Animal death (pet mouse)