12 Authors Like Karin Slaughter

Just like Slaughter, bestselling author Peter Nichols knows the importance of atmosphere: The richly imagined settings in which many of his fiction and nonfiction narratives play out are just as vital as character or plot. In Granite Harbor, Nichols delivers a haunting murder mystery that’s sure to thrill. Set in a sleepy coastal Maine town, Granite Harbor follows Alex Brangwen, a single parent and a former novelist who’s adjusting to his life as the town’s new detective. All is quiet in Granite Harbor — until the brutalized body of a teenager turns up at a nearby archeological site. When a second victim surfaces, it confirms everyone’s worst fears: A serial killer is on the prowl. Suddenly faced with solving his first case, Alex scours the town for clues. Along the way, he teams up with Isabel, a fellow single parent who works at the archaeological site where the first victim was found. Together, they race to expose the killer in their midst as long-buried secrets begin to unstitch the fragile fabric of their once-quiet town. 

Alex Michaelides made a name for himself with his blockbuster debut The Silent Patient, a psychological thriller perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter’s propulsive investigative storylines and nuanced attention to the darkest corners of the human mind. In Michaelides’ novel, an artist shatters her seemingly perfect life when she shoots her husband and then refuses to speak another word. It’s up to criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber to get to the bottom of the brutal killing and the chilling truth about the perpetrator’s silence. Once you’ve finished The Silent Patient, be sure to check out Michaelides’ follow-up novel The Maidens, a dark academia thriller set at Cambridge University about a campus murder that’s shrouded in secrecy and ancient rites.

Denise Mina is a name you need to know if you love complex murder mysteries. The celebrated Scottish crime author was inducted into the Crime Writers’ Association Hall of Fame in 2014, and her gripping narratives make the perfect next read for Karin Slaughter fans. Those new to Mina’s novels should start with her award-winning Garnethill, the first in a three-book mystery series that’s reminiscent of Slaughter’s work in its emotional intensity and careful consideration of the trauma experienced by abuse survivors. The novel follows abuse survivor and former psychotherapist Maureen as she’s thrown into the center of a deepening murder investigation —one that begins with the grisly slaying of her live-in boyfriend and leads to a similar killing at a local psychiatric hospital. If you enjoyed the interlaced murder mysteries at work in Slaughter’s The Silent Wife, Mina’s Garnethill and its sequels are sure to satisfy.

New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner has definitely made a name for herself in the suspense and thriller world. Her well-researched police procedurals and fascinating explorations of the criminal mind are sure to hook Slaughter readers, especially fans of Cop Town or Slaughter’s Will Trent books. Gardner’s FBI Profiler and Tessa Leoni series are both binge-worthy reads, but we suggest first diving into her Detective D.D. Warren novels, specifically Find Her. The bestselling thriller centers on a young woman who goes from victim to survivor to vigilante to missing person. It’s up to Boston detective D.D. Warren to track her down and put an end to the excruciating ordeal. Slaughter herself is a fan of Gardner’s work, naming Gardner as “one of [her] favorite authors” whose “fast-paced and exciting novels twist when you expect a turn and turn when you expect a twist.”

Lisa Jackson is a number-one New York Times bestselling author who’s written more than 85 novels. Her hard-hitting, suspenseful plotlines suffused with psychologically rich characters and hints of romance will definitely appeal to Slaughter fans. For a propulsive tale that features two strong female leads and is reminiscent of Slaughter’s Pretty Girls, try Jackson’s Left to Die. In it, Jackson introduces us to Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli, two detectives in Montana who must race to stop a serial killer and his brutal games before he claims another victim. Left to Die will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way to its cliff-hanger ending.

Bestselling author Tess Gerritsen’s body of work spans the thriller spectrum, from medical thrillers and romantic suspense to her bestselling thriller series turned hit TV show, the Rizzoli and Isles novels. Slaughter fans will enjoy The Surgeon for its effective fusion of fast-paced police procedural and skin-crawling examination of criminal cruelty. Gerritsen introduces us to detectives Jane Rizzoli and Thomas Moore as they investigate a deranged killer who’s murdering women in their homes with surgical precision. When the killings lead back to an eerily similar attack from two years ago, the detectives must consult with the survivor and ensure that she isn’t pulled back into an all-too-familiar nightmare.

Ruth Ware is the author of a bevy of bestselling psychological crime thrillers, including One by One, The Woman in Cabin 10, and The Lying Game. We’re recommending Ware’s debut novel, In a Dark, Dark Wood, for its Slaughter-like insights into human behavior and its exquisite exploration of the deviant truths that lie just beneath the surface. The novel introduces us to Leonora, a reclusive crime writer who emerges from her apartment to attend an old friend’s weekend getaway in the English countryside. Needless to say, something goes terribly wrong. When Leonora wakes up, she’s in the hospital. She knows someone is dead, but she doesn’t know what happened — only that she must piece together what occurred and finally reckon with the long-buried secrets of her past.

Diamond Dagger Award–winning author Val McDermid is a living legend in the crime fiction world, best known for her intense Hill and Jordan mysteries. McDermid’s superb police procedurals that double as piercing examinations of the human psyche will captivate fans of Karin Slaughter. We suggest starting with The Mermaids Singing — the sharp and shocking story of clinical psychologist Tony Hill and Detective Inspector Carol Jordan’s hunt for a serial killer and the battle of wits they must win in order to survive the hunt.

B.A. Paris is an award-winning author who has made stellar contributions to the psychological thriller genre. While Slaughter fans are sure to enjoy propulsive reads like The Therapist and Bring Me Back, we suggest starting with Paris’s bestselling debut novel, Behind Closed Doors, for its twisting plot and relentlessly creepy mood. Grace and Jack are a picture-perfect couple who seem to lead the ideal life. And yet, there’s something disquieting about the newlyweds, especially when it comes to Grace. She never answers the phone and can never meet up with friends despite not having to work. She doesn’t take a single thing with her when she leaves the house, and there are security bars on the downstairs windows. Does true love really live here, or is something far more sinister at play? Perhaps the couple’s inseparable nature isn’t so romantic after all.

Edgar Award–winning British crime writer Mo Hayder is the author of the seven-book Jack Caffery series. She’s known for her shocking and brutal thrillers, and she is regularly discussed alongside authors like Stephen King, Stuart McBride, and, of course, Karin Slaughter. Slaughter herself described Hayder’s final Caffery book, Wolf, as “terrifying.” Slaughter fans in search of a grim and electrifying new read will find it in Hayder’s work. We’re listing the first installment of Hayder’s Caffery series, the Edgar Award finalist Birdman, to get you started. A woman is murdered in London, and young and ambitious Detective Jack Caffery is assigned as the lead investigator on the case. It isn’t long before more victims surface, each ritualistically murdered and bearing the same gruesome signature. Jack now finds himself on the hunt for a serial killer and must piece together the grisly puzzle before the fiend strikes again.

Slaughter fans will be swept away by any one of Riley Sager’s suspenseful narratives. The New York Times bestselling author has penned a number of novels, including the internationally bestselling Final Girls, which we loved for its breakneck pacing and twisting plot that kept us guessing all the way to its climactic end. Slaughter enjoyed Final Girls as well, toasting it as a “terrific read.” When Quincy escapes a mass murderer, she becomes one of the press’s “Final Girls” — women who are the lone survivors of horrible massacres. But when the original Final Girl turns up dead and the second one shows up at Quincy’s house, Quincy must race to decipher the clues and keep everyone alive.

Patricia Cornwell is an award-winning crime thriller author who’s written 29 New York Times bestsellers. While her body of work includes first-rate police procedurals and forensic medical thrillers that any Slaughter fan will obsess over, we recommend starting with Postmortem, Cornwell’s debut and the first in her acclaimed Kay Scarpetta series. Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta is after an elusive killer who’s left behind a trail of victims and precious few clues. The stakes couldn’t be higher — until Scarpetta realizes her investigation is being sabotaged from within and someone wants her dead.