Category Archives: Mystery & Thriller

A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh

A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh

Anahera Rawiri left New Zealand at twenty-one, fleeing small-town poverty and the ghosts of her childhood with no plans to look back. But eight years later, she returns, seeking familiarity as respite from the shattered remains of her new life. And despite the changes brought on by a bump in tourism–the shiny new welcome sign at the town line and a decidedly less shiny new police presence–Golden Cove appears much as it ever was: a small settlement on the savage West Coast of the South Island, populated by all the remembered faces and set against a back… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Rape recounted
  • Child physical & sexual abuse recounted
  • Domestic violence recounted
  • Cheating recounted
  • Pregnancy mentioned
  • Miscarriage recounted
  • Murder
  • Arson
  • Animal cruelty

Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski

Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski

It’s 1999 and Samantha has danced for years at the Lovely Lady strip club. She’s not used to mixing work and friendship―after all, between her jealous boyfriend and his young daughter, she has enough on her plate. But the newest dancer is so clueless that Samantha feels compelled to help her learn the hustle and drama of the club: how to sweet-talk the boss, fit in with the other women, and make good money. One night, when the new girl needs a ride home, Samantha agrees to drive: a simple decision that turns deadly… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Transmisia
  • Lesbomisia
  • Rape, implied
  • Domestic abuse mentioned

The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz

The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz

They called themselves “the lucky ones.” They were seven children either orphaned or abandoned by their parents and chosen by legendary philanthropist and brain surgeon Dr Vincent Capello to live in The Dragon, his almost magical beach house on the Oregon Coast. Allison was the youngest of the lucky ones living an idyllic life with her newfound family…until the night she almost died, and was then whisked away from the house and her adopted family forever. Now, thirteen years later, Allison receives a letter from Roland, Dr Capello’s oldest son, warning her that their father is ill and in his final days. Allison determines she must go… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Attempted rape
  • Foster care system experiences
  • Domestic violence
  • Cheating
  • Retrograde amnesia
  • Suicide
  • Drug use
  • Miscarriage mentioned
  • Seizure
  • Brain tumours mentioned
  • Medical procedures & treatment
  • Death of a child
  • Death of a mother from a car accident
  • Murder-suicide & attempted murder
  • Poisoning (lead)
  • Animal death & abuse

The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz

The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz

When Cooper McQueen wakes up from a night with a beautiful stranger, it’s to discover he’s been robbed. The only item stolen—a million-dollar bottle of bourbon. The thief, a mysterious woman named Paris, claims the bottle is rightfully hers. After all, the label itself says it’s property of the Maddox family who owned and operated Red Thread Bourbon distillery since the last days of the Civil War until the company went out of business for reasons no one knows… No one except Paris. In the small hours of a Louisville morning, Paris unspools the lurid tale of Tamara Maddox, heiress to the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Rape & attempted rape
  • Incest
  • Slavery

Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye

Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye

Timothy and Valentine Wilde must once again delve into the darkest underbelly of old New York. When the beautiful and terrified Mrs Lucy Adams stumbles into the Tombs, headquarters of New York’s newly formed police force, it’s the beginning of a dense, thorny maze of crime for copper star Timothy Wilde. He’s hardened to the injustices of life in the unforgiving city he’s grown up in, but that doesn’t mean he accepts them. With immigrants flooding into the docks every day, each community is both adapting and fighting for its place in the new world, and there are many who… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Slavery
  • Suicide & self-harm
  • Burn scars mentioned
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire mentioned

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

The Paragon Hotel by Lyndsay Faye

The year is 1921, and “Nobody” Alice James is on a cross-country train, carrying a bullet wound and fleeing for her life following an illicit drug and liquor deal gone horribly wrong. Desperate to get as far away as possible from New York City and those who want her dead, she has her sights set on Oregon: a distant frontier that seems the end of the line. She befriends Max, a black Pullman porter who reminds her achingly of Harlem, who leads Alice to the Paragon Hotel upon arrival in Portland. Her unlikely sanctuary turns out to be the only all-black hotel in the city, and its lodgers seem unduly terrified of a white woman on the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism, racial slurs & white supremacy
  • Misgendering
  • Blood & gore depiction
  • Murder & gun violence
  • Lynching
  • Organised crime
  • Animal death & cruelty

The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye

The King of Infinite Space by Lyndsay Faye

Meet Ben Dane: brilliant, devastating, devoted, honest to a fault (truly, a fault). His Broadway theatre baron father is dead—but by purpose or accident? The question rips him apart. Unable to face alone his mother’s ghastly remarriage to his uncle, Ben turns to his dearest friend, Horatio Patel, whom he hasn’t seen since their relationship changed forever from platonic to something…other. Loyal to a fault (truly, a fault), Horatio is on the first flight to NYC when he finds himself next to a sly tailor who portends inevitable disaster. And who seems ominously like an architect of mayhem himself. Meanwhile, Ben’s… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcoholism
  • Attempted suicide & suicidal ideation
  • Drug use & abuse
  • Gun & knife violence
  • Arson

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

Like the heroine of the novel she adores, Jane Steele suffers cruelly at the hands of her aunt and schoolmaster. And like Jane Eyre, they call her wicked – but in her case, she fears the accusation is true. When she flees, she leaves behind the corpses of her tormentors. A fugitive navigating London’s underbelly, Jane rights wrongs on behalf of the have-nots whilst avoiding the noose. Until an advertisement catches her eye. Her aunt has died and the new master at Highgate House, Mr Thornfield, seeks a governess. Anxious to know if she is Highgate’s true heir, Jane… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault
  • Domestic violence & child abuse
  • Drug & alcohol abuse
  • Miscarriage
  • Blood depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder
  • War themes

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

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The Fatal Flame by Lyndsay Faye

The Fatal Flame by Lyndsay Faye

No one in 1840s New York likes fires, copper star Timothy Wilde least of all. After a blaze killed his parents and another left him with a terrible scar, he has avoided flames of all kinds. So when a seamstress turned arsonist threatens Robert Symmes, a corrupt tycoon high in the Tammany Hall ranks, Timothy isn’t thrilled that Symmes consults him. His dismay escalates when his audacious and charismatic older brother, Valentine, himself deeply politically entrenched, decides to run against the incumbent, who they suspect is guilty of assault and far darker crimes. Immediately after his brother’s courageous declaration… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Burn scars mentioned
  • Murder & torture
  • Fire

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye

August 1845 in New York; enter the dark, unforgiving city underworld of the legendary Five Points. After a fire decimates a swathe of lower Manhattan, and following years of passionate political dispute, New York City at long last forms an official Police Department. That same summer, the great potato famine hits Ireland. These events will change the city of New York for ever. Timothy Wilde hadn’t wanted to be a copper star. On the night of August 21st, on his way home from the Tombs defeated and disgusted, he is plotting his resignation, when a young girl who has escaped from a nearby brothel, crashes into him; she… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Religious discrimination (anti-Catholic rhetoric in relation to anti-Irish sentiment)
  • Underage sex work (implied)
  • Burn scars mentioned