9 Fresh Mysteries and Thrillers to Dive Into This Summer

By Joanne Camas

The water will have to wait. Because these mysteries and thrillers are sure to keep you glued to your beach chair from the first page.

The Kingdoms of Savannah

By George Dawes Green

This enthralling new murder mystery digs deep into Savannah’s past and present, guided by an unconventional amateur detective named Morgana Musgrove. Morgana is known for her imperious manner; even her four adult children have grown weary of her demanding ways. Nevertheless, when murder strikes at a local watering hole, Morgana takes up the case and soon convinces her adult children to help. Together, they embark on a zigzagging investigation across Savannah that leads directly into the city’s dark heart. George Dawes Green, who grew up in Georgia, draws on his intimate knowledge of the titular city to create a rich and beguiling southern murder mystery, one that brings Savannah’s romantic facade and seedy underbelly to life. Throughout The Kingdoms of Savannah, the author conjures an atmosphere as thick and sultry as a humid Georgia night. It’s a chilling tale perfect for a sweltering summer evening.

My Summer Darlings

By May Cobb

Cocktails, idle gossip, commiserating over their irksome teenage kids… Summer starts off on an all-too-familiar note for lifelong friends Jen, Kittie, and Cynthia. Little do they know that a mysterious stranger is about to invade their small East Texas town and turn everything upside down. The rumor mill goes into overdrive after Will Harding moves into one of the grandest homes in town. He’s the talk of the neighborhood, and in no time grows startlingly close to Jen, Kittie, and Cynthia. But what lurks beneath Will’s charm? And are the three friends prepared for what they’re about to uncover? The Today show calls May Cobb’s My Summer Darlings a “perfect beach read.” Just fill your cooler with extra ice for this steamy Texas scorcher.

Last Call at The Nightingale

By Katharine Schellman

In Last Call at the Nightingale, Katherine Schellman draws you into a dazzling Jazz Age mystery that shimmers with glamor. New York in the 1920s: Young Vivian Kelly toils away the days living in a cramped tenement building with her sister and working long hours at a dress shop. At night, however, she loses herself at The Nightingale, an underground speakeasy where bootlegger booze awaits and fabulous patrons dance away their troubles. But everything changes when Vivian discovers a body behind the club. Now everyone from the police to members of New York’s criminal underworld are convinced that Vivian knows something about the dead man—and they’re dead-set on finding her.

Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight

By Riku Onda

It’s a hot night in Tokyo, and estranged friends Hiro and Aki have agreed to meet one last time in the apartment they still share. A disastrous mountaineering expedition has shattered their relationship, leaving a local guide dead. Hiro’s convinced that Aki committed murder; Aki believes the same about Hiro. Tonight, each man will do whatever it takes to extract a confession out of the other. Riku Onda creates a quietly intense psychological thriller in Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight, unfurling an interlaced narrative told alternately by Hiro and Aki. With each new chapter, a startling new detail about that deadly day on the mountain is revealed. The question becomes: Who’s telling the truth?

The House Across the Lake

By Riley Sager

A warning to all those vacationing at a lake house this summer! Recently widowed actress Casey Fletcher is struggling to piece her life back together and heal from her husband’s death. So she retreats to her family’s lakeside cottage in Vermont in search of relief. Peace is elusive, however. Instead, she becomes obsessed with the glamorous couple living in the glass-fronted house across the lake. With a bottle of bourbon in one hand and powerful binoculars in the other, Casey begins to spy on this husband-wife duo. But when the wife disappears, Casey is convinced that the husband’s to blame, and plunges into a spiraling search for the truth. If you love twisting tales of voyeuristic suspense like The Girl on the Train or Rear Window you’re sure to enjoy Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake.

One of the Girls

By Lucy Clarke

Lexi and her friends are excited about Lexi’s bachelorette party to an idyllic Greek island. Think: gorgeous beaches, blissful swims at sunset, and libations at the local taverna. It’s a sun-kissed dream come true—until it contorts into a nightmare. Each friend in this group has a secret to hide, and someone is determined to stop Lexi from reaching the altar. Loyalty, lies, and long-simmering resentments turn a simple island vacation into a dangerous excursion in One of the Girls, the latest page-turner from bestselling author Lucy Clarke.

The It Girl

By Ruth Ware

Hannah and April meet on the first day of school at Oxford University. The pair soon become inseparable and develop a sparkling constellation of friends. But by the end of the school year, it all comes crashing down with April’s murder. A decade later, Hannah has done her best to put the tragic past behind her—until a journalist appears at her doorstep and suggests that April’s convicted killer is innocent. Did Hannah’s statements help convict an innocent man? If so, then who did kill April? As she reexamines old friendships and uncovers alarming new truths, Hannah begins to worry over what she actually remembers—and what she chose to ignore—about her heady days at Oxford.

The Devil Takes You Home

By Gabino Iglesias

In The Devil Takes You Home, award-winning author Gabino Iglesias delivers a visceral, genre-defying crime fiction narrative that’s perfect for fans of Breaking Bad. Mario’s four-year-old daughter has leukemia and Mario has incurred massive medical debt to afford her treatment. To raise the money fast, he becomes a contract killer—and proves surprisingly adept at a life of violence. But to save himself and get out of the game for good, he must accept one final job: seizing a drug cartel’s cash shipment before it crosses over into Mexico. It’s a do-or-die mission, and he knows he may not survive. Yet as Mario races across the scorched Texas landscape to complete the heist, the dark truth of the job begins to take hold.

Daisy Darker

By Alice Feeney

What if your whole family gathered on a remote tidal island and a psycho killer began killing them off one by one? The dysfunctional Darker clan has gathered to celebrate Nana’s 80th birthday at her rundown island manor. But as the clock nears midnight, a ferocious thunderstorm descends, and Nana turns up dead. An hour later, another Darker relative bites the dust. Someone is eliminating the Darker family one member at a time, and with the tidal island cut off from the mainland for the next eight hours, there’s nowhere to hide. Who will be left standing when the tide finally recedes and all is revealed? Mystery maven Alice Feeney delivers a delicious Gothic thriller in Daisy Darker, one rich with secrets, drama, and sinister family dysfunction.

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