The Best Mystery Thriller Books From The Last Few Years

Ex-FBI agent Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia, and the moral heart of this gritty story. Charon might seem like a quiet, small Southern town, but there are some dark secrets simmering.

The secrets come to a head following a school shooting where a white teacher is shot by a Black teen who's then killed by the police. As Titus investigates the case, he uncovers a serial killer in their midst and has to navigate his own traumas and small-town politics while trying to stop the killer. 

This thriller is a police procedural mystery with a hefty dose of social commentary on both religion and race relations, and Titus is a flawed, compelling, and conflicted main character. It gets quite dark, so please check trigger warnings before picking this one up.

Harlow Ford’s mother, Cora, is on the run from something—Harlow doesn’t know what—and dragging her teen daughter with her. But when one of their 3 am escapes ends in a car accident that leaves Cora fatally injured, she gives Harlow a key to a safety deposit box and tells her to never stop running. In the box, Harlow finds money, fake IDs, an old photo, the deed to a house, and newspaper clippings about the disappearance of a grandmother that Harlow never knew about.

Harlow realizes she can keep moving on forever, or use the clues she’s been given to piece together the secrets of her family’s past, and lay her mother’s ghosts to rest. But she finds more questions than ever when she visits the house on the deed—her mother's childhood home—and meets a pretty girl who tells her that the woods around it are haunted.

Is Harlow running headfirst into the danger that her mother worked so hard to protect her from all her life?

This YA mystery thriller has twists and turns throughout, with themes of grief and the desire to belong, while Harlow searches for answers to the puzzle of her past, sorting the truth from the lies.

King’s popular recurring character, Holly Gibney, gets her own story in this New York Times bestseller. Holly’s resourcefulness and ethics have made her a firm fan favorite, and the tension is high in this  thriller set against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Holly receives a call at the Finders Keepers Detective Agency from a mother worried about her missing daughter and takes the case despite having several personal reasons to decline. Besides Bonnie Dahl, there have been several other disappearances in the area, and Holly suspects they are all connected.

We find out quite quickly who the perpetrators are as we get chapters from their POV, so this story is less about 'whodunnit' than 'whydunnit.' The answer is very disturbing, making the book lean strongly into the horror side of mystery thriller books, and Holly will need all her wits to outsmart the chillingly normal-seeming antagonists.

A graphic content warning for this one, so please check before reading.

And if you want to read all Stephen King’s books featuring Holly, then a recommended reading order is:

1. Mr. Mercedes

2. Finders Keepers

3. End of Watch

4. The Outsider

5. If It Bleeds

6. Holly

7. Never Flinch

Assistant District Attorney Kaj Cardozo, known for his fight against corruption, has recently moved to New Orleans and is working on a high-profile celebrity sexual assault case. When his son Elijah is nearly kidnapped in an attempt to intimidate Kaj, he hires Broussard Investigations to look into the incident, and veteran Marine Val Sorenson is assigned to protect Elijah. As Val grows closer to Kaj and Elijah, the investigation uncovers a network of drugs, corruption, and murder-for-hire.

This is a police procedural/crime thriller with romantic suspense. In fact, it is book #28 in the Romantic Suspense series by Rose, all in the same universe, and the second to be set in New Orleans, but it can be read as a standalone.

I really like how this book subverts the usual 'man as protector' by having Val be the bodyguard for Elijah; strong, complex female characters are a common feature of Rose’s books, with book #32 in the Romantic Suspense series publishing in August 2025.

This young adult mystery thriller has an enemies-to-lovers romantic subplot, with themes of privilege and complex family dynamics.

When Addie Blackwood’s sister Fiona is found at the bottom of a ravine, it is officially ruled an accident or suicide—but Addie believes it is murder. Her prime suspect is their rich neighbor, Thatcher Montgomery, who had always had a thing for Fiona and whom Addie overheard arguing with Fiona before her death. To complicate things further, on the night of Fiona’s death, Addie was with Thatcher’s cousin Seth—her childhood rival, which makes her guilt and grief overwhelming.

But one year later, Thatcher himself is found dead at the bottom of the same ravine, and this time, Addie and Seth are considered suspects. They team up to solve this deadly mystery before the killer can strike again.

This novel is a suspenseful YA mystery thriller from the author of the bestselling series A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder, so you know it's going to be a good one!

Annabel Price was the only witness to her mother’s unsolved disappearance sixteen years ago, when Bel was only two. She has no memory of the incident, but she's lived her life in the shadow of it. Rachel Price has long been presumed by everyone to be dead, but the mystery gets renewed attention when the Price family agrees to the filming of a new true crime documentary.

Bel just wants her life to go back to normal, but then Rachel reappears with an unbelievable story about what happened. Skeptical, Bel is determined to uncover the truth about her mother’s mysterious absence, not sure who to trust… all while the cameras continue to roll.

The title refers to the phenomenon that missing white women get a disproportionate amount of media attention compared to missing men or people of color. It explores the reality of racial profiling and the mob mentality of 'trial by social media.'

On the last day of a romantic getaway with her new boyfriend, Ty, Breeana comes downstairs to find a dead body—and Ty is gone. The dead white woman is Jannelle Barret, a missing dog walker who has been the subject of an internet campaign, #Justice4Janelle, and famous influencer Billie is conducting her own true crime investigation, all while harassing Bree.

Both Ty and Bree are murder suspects—to the police and the court of public opinion—and in desperation, Breeana turns to her ex-best friend Adore, who's a lawyer. Bree has things in her past she wants to keep hidden, and decides the only way to clear her name is to find out what really happened to Janelle and Ty.

This character-driven adult mystery thriller makes use of mixed media in the form of transcripts of TikTok Lives, and the plot twists will keep you guessing to the very end.

Bestselling author Lucy Foley is back with another atmospheric adult mystery thriller told through multiple points of view —including diary entries from the past—and multiple timelines, leaving the reader in suspense over what really happened 15 years ago and who is not who they say they are.

It’s the midsummer solstice and the opening night of The Manor, an exclusive wellness retreat in coastal England. No expense has been spared to make this a truly memorable experience for the rich guests attending.

But secrets from the past are just under the surface, and bordering the estate grounds is an ancient forest, the subject of many unsettling folktales. There are unhappy locals, old mysteries, and birds everywhere—in the woods, on the estate, appearing dead on people’s doorsteps. Then there's a fire, and a body is found…

If you're a fan of dark academia romances, you'll love this young adult mystery thriller!

Every year at the elite boarding school of Wilde Academy, the Wilde Trials are held, during which, in the two weeks leading up to graduation, a dozen seniors are chosen to compete in a series of physical and mental challenges.

Chloe Gatte is determined to win and take home the $600,000 prize, money she needs to help her sick sister. But competition is fierce, and she's up against her ex-boyfriend Hayes Stratford, whose brother died during the Trials a few years earlier.

When someone starts blackmailing Chloe, she makes a deal with Hayes: if he helps her find out who is threatening her, she will help solve the mystery Hayes’s brother left behind. But the Wilde Trials are not what they seem, and as Chloe tries to ignore the feelings for Hayes that are resurfacing, she'll have to work out who she can trust and decide if the chance of winning the Trials is worth dying for.

The premise of this adult mystery thriller promises a cozy mystery, but both romance (closed-door) and suspense share the front seat in this story.

Nura Khan is a society matchmaker in her family business, the Piyar Matchmaking Company, with an exclusive clientele. Nura herself is 31 and single, but her best friend Azar is happy to pose as her fiancé at her clients' weddings, all while Nura acts like her feelings for Azar are all pretend.

There are strict criteria to be accepted as Nura’s clients, and she is no stranger to receiving threatening messages from disgruntled couples who have not met the standards. But when two of Nura’s meticulously planned weddings are sabotaged, Nura realizes that she's being targeted, and with Azar's help, she decides to investigate who is determined to ruin her business—and her life.

Slocumb is an accomplished musician, and this is his third book featuring music as a key part of the protagonist’s life. The author is also a fan of comic books, and this is reflected in the story in an unexpected way, making it stand out from his first two books set in the same universe.

The Dark Maestro is the story of young Black virtuoso cellist Curtis Wilson, whose exceptional talent wins him a coveted position as soloist with the prestigious New York Philharmonic—only for his family to have to go into witness protection due to his father’s criminal activities. A small-time drug dealer who gets in over his head, Curtis’ father, Zippy, informs on his crime lord boss, and the Wilsons have to abandon their lives, including Curtis’ budding musical career.

But when the FBI seems unable to bring down the cartel, Curtis and his family decide to take matters into their own hands to get their lives back in their own way.