The most recommended murder mystery books

John Banville, who won the Booker Prize in 2005 for The Sea, may have retired from literary fiction in favour of more commercially-focused crime novels, but this book proved he has been able to take his extraordinary writing with him–elevating the crime novel to new heights, rather than dumbing-down his own output.

This is the third installment of the Strafford & Quirke mystery series under his own name–he had written others previously with the same characters under his pseudonym, Benjamin Black. Pathologist Dr. Quirke and Detective Inspector Strafford make an unlikely partnership in tackling the darkest crimes of 1950s Dublin, but Banville’s lyrical prose draws you in so all-consumingly it’s easy to forget you exist in your own time period while you have your head in the novel.

I’ll never understand why humorous writing is less respected than the more literary kind. Yet, I believe creating characters that are both convincing and amusing and steering them through a complicated plot–without letting the humour flag–takes great skill. For me, this is what the author Stevyn Colgan achieves in his South Herewardshire books, the first of which is A Murder to Die For. 

I found the laughs just kept on coming as farce piled upon farce. As well as giving me a good chuckle, I relished the rural setting, a touching reminder of the splendors and eccentricities of English village life that I, for one, would be sad to lose.

As a cat lover, the cover of this book drew my attention, and I also loved the title which hinted at a secret. Both play big roles in the book that features a private library in a strange mansion where the main character, Laura Lee, accepts a summer job as a housekeeper. When the chauffeur is murdered and a valuable crown is missing, Laura Lee investigates the mystery with the help of Hank the cat who travels through the house via secret passageways and seems to know many of the mysteries of the house. As a fan of gothic mysteries, I found this book a great read and look forward to reading more in the series.

FBI Special Agent Maggie O’Dell is on the hunt for a serial killer who strikes at truck stops and rest areas. Ryder Creed, an injured vet suffering from PTSD, has returned home from Afghanistan without his bomb detection dog, and opened a company specializing in training rescues to become air scent dogs. Law enforcement laughs when Creed appears on the scene to aid O’Dell, accompanied by Grace, a Jack Russell terrier. The laughter ends when Grace locates bodies above and below ground as well as underwater.

As Creed and O’Dell work the case, Kava weaves in information about the differences in dogs tracking missing persons, finding cadavers, and sniffing out drugs, explosive devices, and even certain health conditions. This book launched her Creed series and is tightly written, suspenseful, and educational. Grace, Creed, and Maggie are exceptional characters and a joy to read. So good!

At a home for troubled girls, a young girl has been brutally murdered. One of the other girls has gone missing and the murder weapon is discovered in her bed. But is it really that easy? Detective Inspector Joona Linna pieces the evidence together.

Lars Kepler is the pseudonym of husband and wife team Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. The Joona Linna series follows Linna, Detective Superintendent at the police's National Operations Department, and Saga Bauer, an Operational Superintendent at the Swedish Security Service. The diverse viewpoints and short chapters give an exciting and varied read.

On the surface, Blood Sugar seems like a suspense thriller told in workman-like prose without literary pretensions: it just sets forth what happened next and next and next, hooking you with suspense that keeps tightening until your fingers are sore from gripping the book.

Many might finish the novel and see nothing more. I however saw Rotschild doing here what Nabokov did in Lolita. The key lies in the fact that the story is told in first person by an unreliable narrator. After you’ve finished it, you find yourself pondering what really happened and who the various characters really are—because, remember, you don’t know anything about any of them except through the eyes of that unreliable first-person telling the story. 

This suspense story takes an already deadly dangerous setting – one of the world’s highest peaks – and sets a female journalist and climber to identify and survive a murderer.

The author writes so well from her personal experience, that I can feel every frozen breath and learn every step needed to stay alive. All this spectacular scenery, well-developed characters, and a mystery to solve too. 

This is book 4 in the series, so please don’t read it first. Richard’s four main characters, all interesting people in their own rights with complex relationships, formed “The Thursday Murder Club” in Book 1. 

Okay – not a romantic comedy, more a cozy crime mystery set in an old people’s home, but you get the impression reading any of his books, that Richard really loved writing them and spending time with his characters, which makes all of them such a joy to read.

Lots of twists and turns, but the crime is solved in the end – so a Happy Ever After of sorts and the author keeps throwing in lighter moments to keep you reading and smiling through to the end. There is a dog in this one too.

This riveting book covers the gruesome discovery of a murder in a Georgian house in the sleepy village of Road in Wiltshire. That someone has died is awful enough but realising that the murderer is a member of the household brings fresh horrors. The author meticulously follows the crime and subsequent investigation, sticking strictly to the facts while using her imagination to recreate the tense atmosphere while bringing the characters to life. Unputdownable.

I loved this book for its strong characters, especially the quirky Nicoletta Gavelli and her sharp tongue. I love the hometown atmosphere, which is such a part of cozy mysteries.

Another favorite in the book is Sally Muccio, the amateur sleuth who solves the murder. She has the support of a loving family, especially her husband.