Tag Archives: Murder & Attempted Murder

This page lists books that contain trigger warnings for the depiction of murder and attempted murder.

See also Genocide and mass murder, and War themes & military violence.

Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood

Verity Beresford is worried about her husband. Oliver didn’t come home last night so of course Verity goes straight to Judith Potts, Marlow’s resident amateur sleuth, for help. Oliver, founder of the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, had hired The Marlow Belle, a private pleasure cruiser, for an exclusive party with the MADS committee but no one remembers seeing him disembark. And then Oliver’s body washes up on the Thames with two bullet holes in him – it’s time for the Marlow Murder Club to leap into action… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Adult-minor relationship
  • Parent with substance addiction
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use including overdose
  • Cancer
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Animal death

Motheater by Linda H. Codega

After her best friend dies in a coal mine, Benethea “Bennie” Mattox sacrifices her job, her relationship, and her reputation to uncover what’s killing miners on Kire Mountain. When she finds a half-drowned white woman in a dirty mine slough, Bennie takes her in because it’s right—but also because she hopes this odd, magnetic stranger can lead her to the proof she needs. Instead, she brings more questions. The woman called Motheater can’t remember her true name, or how she ended up inside the mountain. She knows only that she’s a witch of Appalachia, bound to tor and holler, possum and snake, with power in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Murder
  • Imprisonment
  • Animal death

I Bet You’d Look Good in a Coffin by Katy Brent

Your favourite anti-heroine, Kitty Collins, is back! Expect more wit, sass, and, of course, murder…My name is Kitty Collins and I’m a serial killer. I don’t want to kill. It’s just so hard to resist. Some men really, really deserve it. Men like Blaze Bundy, an anonymous influencer spreading misogyny online. He’s making it very hard for me to control my murderous urges. Meanwhile I’m in the South of France to watch my mother marry a man I’ve never met. I should be drinking cocktails and focusing on my tan, not plotting a murder. But a woman’s work is never done. Surely one more teensy little kill wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Hate crimes mentioned
  • Graphic attempted sexual assault (on-page)
  • Domestic violence mentioned
  • Murder (on-page)

When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain

The past three years have been tough for Lucifer’s Creek, Arkansas, a small town quietly tucked away in the Ozark mountains. More than two dozen people have disappeared on the local hiking trails; there one moment, gone the next, not a trace left behind, until their buried bodies are discovered. 17-year-old Dovie doesn’t believe in magic even though she comes from a long line of women who can hear the bones of the dead sing, and for the past few years the bones have been crooning nonstop, calling out to Dovie… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Child abuse & domestic violence including setting fire to a cabin with wife & child inside
  • Blood & gore depiction including dead bodies
  • Death of a mother mentioned
  • Death of a grandfather from a fall into a ravine
  • Murder by arrow to the throat
  • Gun violence & threats of gun violence
  • Physical assault (hit in the head with a rock)
  • Disappearance of a parent discussed
  • Drowning & near-drowning
  • Accidental poisoning mentioned

Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn

After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their rest, but the lack of excitement is starting to chafe: a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions before she gets the itch to get back in the game. When they receive a call from Naomi Ndiaye, the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready to tackle the greatest challenge of their careers. Someone on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, all of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism mentioned
  • Sexual harassment
  • Child abuse mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug use mentioned
  • Murder
  • Gun violence
  • Physical assault
  • Animal death mentioned

Enchantra by Kaylie Smith

Genevieve Grimm has felt adrift ever since her sister became the head of the family. So when a mysterious friend of their mother’s invites her to Italy, she accepts. She arrives at his grand palace, expecting passion and magic, decadence and luxury… perhaps even a midnight ball. She doesn’t expect the owner’s ruthlessly handsome son to slam the door in her face. Rowin Silver is tall, dark, and exceptionally rude, and invitation or not, he demands Genevieve leave and never come back. But Genevieve follows nobody’s orders, especially those of arrogant rich boys. She slips inside…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Slut-shaming recounted
  • Child neglect
  • Self-harm (secondary character)
  • Panic attack
  • Alcohol consumption & drugging (drink spiking)
  • Blood & gore depiction including the depiction of dead bodies, emesis & graphic injuries
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Knife violence

Inferno by Luna Mason

Are you prepared to participate in the decadence experience? Where your inhibitions must be left at the gates. The rules are simple. You SUBMIT to the challenges in five rooms. Only the surviving contestant shall win a golden ticket to lead them to the Master of Inferno. Be warned, one must be prepared to step into hell to explore both their desires and nightmares. Good luck and may all your erotic dreams come true.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Domestic violence & abuse including martial rape & sexual assault*
  • Forced marriage*
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Pregnancy
  • Murder & torture
  • Kidnapping of a minor*
  • Organised crime (mafia)
  • Fire, blood & knife play (consensual, on-page)

Context : The female protagonist is kidnapped when she is 18-years-old and forced to marry a man who physically & sexually abuses her.

Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage

Things are heating up, and not just because of Blanche’s hot flashes. Rose’s cousin is eloping to Miami, and Rose is playing host. If she can’t balance the groom’s family’s snobbery against the traditional St. Olaf wedding week guidelines, her hometown may never accept her cousin again! Dorothy quickly realizes she needs a date with whom she can exchange wedding-related wisecracks. Turning to a newfangled VHS dating service, she believes she’s found the ideal conversationalist. Unfortunately… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Misogyny
  • Abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Murder
  • Kidnapping
  • Fire

Watch Me by Tahereh Mafi

James Anderson had a plan. Or half of one. All that matters is that he managed to do what his older brother, the famous Aaron Warner Anderson, never did: infiltrate Ark Island, the last refuge of The Reestablishment. In the past decade no outsider has breached the stronghold of the authoritarian regime, but James is in. In a prison cell, sure, but as far as James is concerned, a win is a win. It’s been ten years since the fall of The Reestablishment. Ten years since the notorious duo — Juliette Ferrars and… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Graphic murder
  • Blackmail

How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin

Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune-teller Peony Lane shares a cryptic message only hours before being found dead inside the locked Gravesdown estate. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of her new countryside home in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about, before her brand-new life comes crashing down around her. 1967: Teenage Frances Adams, Annie’s great aunt, finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault mentioned
  • Drug use
  • Murder
  • Knife violence mentioned
  • Fatal car accident