Six of My Favorite Mystery Reads of the Year

Six Great Bossy Mystery Reads

I didn't read as many mysteries last year as I typically do, but here are six of my favorites. I'm hoping to up my mystery and suspense reading this year.

If you've read any of these books, I'd love to hear what you think! What are some of your favorite mystery or suspense reads?

01 The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

I loved this summer-camp setting, the slow build of mystery in two timelines, the privilege and working class disparities, the eventual revelations concerning the disappearances of both Van Lear children, and the beautifully wrought tragedy and redemption.

In August 1975, a teenage girl disappears from her Adirondack summer camp.

But the girl isn't just any camper. She's Barbara Van Lear, the daughter of the owners of the camp where many local residents work.

Oddly, her brother Bear, beloved by all who knew him, disappeared fourteen years earlier. He was never found.

A frantic search takes place, and as the locals look for Barbara, various Van Lear secrets come to light. The split between the largely blue-collar area and the privileged Van Lear family is shown to be stark and significant.

I love love love a summer-camp story, and I loved The God of the Woods.

I was intrigued by the mysteries and their layers, which are continually revealed, and while I usually feel more invested in one timeline over another, with The God of the Woods, I was equally interested in both timelines.

Liz Moore is also the author of Long Bright River as well as Heft and The Unseen World.

For my full review of this book, please see The God of the Woods.

02 Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

Knoll's novel was inspired by real events; Bright Young Women traces a serial killer targeting young women and in the character of Pamela, offers a no-nonsense, brilliant nemesis who won't let up until she brings the criminal to justice.

Jessica Knoll's novel Bright Young Women is inspired by real-life events: the targeting of a sorority by the first "celebrity serial killer" in his final killing spree.

But when the studious, responsible Pamela stays home from a party and investigates a strange noise in the sorority house, she discovers a horrible tragedy--two of her sisters (one, her best friend) are dead and two others are maimed. And in her shock and horror, Pamela spied the culprit as he skulked away.

In Seattle, Tina Cannon is trying to figure out what happened to her dear friend Ruth, who disappeared from a nearby state park. When she hears about the horrifying events in Tallahassee, she becomes convinced that what happened to Ruth is linked to the Florida sorority attack, and she travels to Florida, determined to get to the bottom of the crimes.

I expected the novel to feel more salacious, and I was thankful that it did not. I found it satisfying to read about Pamela's growing contempt for The Defendant, her long-term commitment to prosecuting him, and her mission to find peace for his victims. The friendships and love interests--which were powerful enough to overshadow the book's dysfunctional families and painful relationships--were welcome distractions from the horror at the heart of this story.

I read Bright Young Women for my book club.

For my full review, check out Bright Young Women.

03 Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

Listen for the Lie offers a fascinating story structure, dark humor, and deeply flawed characters as main protagonist Lucy works to resolve her memory loss surrounding the events leading to her best friend's death.

Twentysomething Lucy is found wandering the streets of her small Texas town, covered in her best friend Savvy's blood.

But Lucy suffered a head wound the night of Savvy's death and now she can't remember anything about the night Savvy was murdered.

Everyone assumes she killed Savvy, and Lucy can't escape the suspicions and resentment surrounding the mysterious conditions of Savvy's death.

I was hooked on the structure of the story and the way the truth is gradually revealed; the information is illuminating as it creeps out but Tintera's tone is never teasing. The author doesn't throw in red herrings, and she doesn't manipulate the facts in order to spring a surprise on the reader.

The podcast element was engaging--I loved how it allowed for layers of interpretation, revelation, and intrigue.

I loved listening to this as an audiobook. For my full review of this book, please see Listen for the Lie.

04 None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell's haunting psychological thriller centers around birthday twins, an unreliable narrator, disparate lifestyles, and dark secrets that emerge.

In Lisa Jewell's psychological thriller None of This Is True, successful podcaster Alix Summer is celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at the local pub when she meets a strange woman, Josie, also celebrating her birthday. Her "birthday twin" begins popping up where Alix is, and she's got a strange, disturbing life story to share.

Tempted by Josie's intriguing tales, Alix begins interviewing her for the podcast, despite feeling unsettled by her increasingly frequent presence.

But Josie has been keeping dark secrets, with horrifying details and impact beyond anything Alix could imagine. And they're all beginning to come out.

I enjoyed peeking at Alix's fabulous lifestyle and also the making of a podcast.

The story is dark and haunting, with intriguing, unreliable narrating; smaller mistakes that have enormous consequences; and nightmarish choices that are so upsetting, they're tough to read about.

I listened to None of This Is True as an audiobook.

For my full review, please see None of This Is True.

Lisa Jewell is also the author of The Family Upstairs.

Other books that center around a podcast are Listen for the Lie (reviewed above) and also the Good Girl's Guide to Murder series (featuring a favorite character of mine, Pippa Fitz-Amobi).

05 The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

I'm a big fan of Emiko Jean's writing. The Return of Ellie Black was a disturbing setup followed by a somewhat too-easy-feeling reveal, but in between, I was captivated by the ride.

I'm fascinated by a missing-persons story. In Emiko Jean's The Return of Ellie Black, Detective Chelsey Calhoun is shocked by the reappearance of Ellie Black, a young girl who's been missing for two years.

Chelsey is especially invested in the case because her own sister Lydia went missing years earlier--before falling victim to a tragic murder-suicide carried out by her boyfriend.

The story takes us inside the claustrophobic, twisted, abusive, extremely disturbing compound where Ellie is kept prisoner--and she's not the only girl being kept against her will. When she comes home alive, only Chelsey finds it strange that Ellie has left her captor and remains alive. Has Ellie been released, rather than escaped?

The reveal of the true story behind the abductions, cruelties, and murders seemed far-fetched (every one of the elements--motivations, participants, delusions--were linked to close-to-home situations). But as always, I enjoyed Jean's writing, and I couldn't wait to find out who was behind the infuriating, extremely disturbing kidnappings and why.

Emiko Jean is also the author of the great young adult stories Tokyo Ever After and Tokyo Dreaming and Tokyo Forever, as well as Mika in Real Life, Empress for All Seasons, and other books.

Click here for my full review of The Return of Ellie Black.

06 Sleeping Giants by Rene Denfeld

I was taken with the main characters of the past storyline here: a young boy at a children's home and his unlikely best friend. When his sister tries to solve the mystery of his death, she and her own unlikely companion unravel secrets and danger.

Almost thirty years ago, Dennis, a young boy from a children's home, washed away in the rough waves of an Oregon beach, and his body was never found.

His sister Amanda and Larry, her new local friend, believe that Dennis had an unorthodox friendship with a custodian at the boys' home, but can find out little else about Dennis's short life. Disturbing facts begin to emerge regarding the horrifying behavioral modification methods used at the home--and those who enacted them. Amanda and Larry are closer than ever to uncovering the whole, heartbreaking truth.

At times, particularly in the middle of the story, things felt disjointed to me and jumped around in a way that I found jarring. While I enjoyed the trip to Alaska (I love an Alaska storyline) and the polar bear-focused parts of the story, it felt far afield from the main plot. I didn't suspect that Amanda was coping with cognitive challenges until late in the book when multiple mentions were made regarding this; maybe I simple missed the earlier clues? Things wrap up in quite neat fashion at the close of the story, but I didn't mind because of the justice being served and the mysteries' resolution.

I mentioned Rene Denfeld's great book The Child Finder in the Greedy Reading List Six Chilly Books to Read in the Heat of Summer.

Click here for my full review of Sleeping Giants.