12 Most-Anticipated Mysteries and Thrillers of 2024

In 2019, Alex Michaelides hit the mystery and thriller scene with his #1 bestselling debut The Silent Patient, and he quickly became one of the most exciting voices in the genre. His dark academia follow-up The Maidens was equally as electrifying, and we cannot wait to see his new psychological thriller The Fury hit shelves this January. The Fury whisks readers away to a glamorous Greek island with an ex-movie star and her closest friends. The table is set and the bedrooms are prepared — but the idyllic getaway quickly twists into a murder mystery. Deliciously atmospheric and told by a charismatic narrator whom you most certainly cannot trust (or can you?), The Fury will have you puzzling over its complex mystery until the final page is turned. 

Publication date: January 16, 2024

Celebrated YA author Amy Tintera’s adult debut Listen for the Lie is a knock-out thriller that has already earned rave reviews from literary titans like Liane Moriarty and Stephen King, both of whom know a good mystery when they see one. Listen for the Lie centers on Lucy, who years ago was found wandering the streets of her hometown covered in the blood of her best friend, with no recollection of what happened. Years later, the baffling slaying becomes the subject of a hit true crime podcast, drawing Lucy back home to help solve her best friend’s murder. But when the truth finally comes to light, will she be absolved of suspicion — or exposed as the killer? 

Publication date: March 5, 2024

Fans of creepy thrillers like Alex North’s The Whisper Man or Thomas Harris’s Silence of the Lambs are sure to enjoy this upcoming crime novel by Peter Nichols, which uses its isolated coastal Maine setting to create a chilling sense of atmosphere and dread. Granite Harbor opens with the murder of a local teenager, whose brutalized body is found at a nearby archeological site. The slaying rocks the tight-knit community of Granite Harbor and provides local detective Alex Brangwen with his first murder case to solve. Alex’s daughter was close friends with the deceased, as was Ethan, the son of a woman named Isabel who works at the site where the body was found. When a second body surfaces, it becomes clear that a serial murderer is on the loose, and both parents race to find the killer before their children become the next victims. 

Publication date: April 30, 2024

Rachel Hawkins excels at crafting unputdownable mysteries steeped in domestic thrills. Her previous releases The Wife Upstairs, The Villa, and Reckless Girls were all bestsellers and are some of the best modern gothic suspense tales we’ve read in recent years. Her next book, The Heiress, is about the death of an incredibly rich Southern heiress with a thoroughly checkered past and the adopted son who returns home 10 years later with pointed questions for the family. 

Publication date: January 9, 2024

Tana French, the multiple-award-winning author of the Dublin Murder Squad series and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox) returns with The Hunter, an enthralling new narrative that follows her Cal Hooper character. The retired Chicago cop moved to rural Ireland to find a new life in The Searcher. Here, we find Cal has shacked up with a local named Lena and stepped in as a surrogate father for teenager Trey Reddy. But when Trey’s absentee dad returns, alongside a smooth-talking millionaire with a big payday scheme, things get dicey. Trey is out for revenge, their peaceful village is under threat, and Cal is definitely not going to get that quiet Irish life he wanted. 

Publication date: March 5, 2024

Prepare to disappear into this sharp, timely debut thriller by Kate Brody that delves into true crime, paranoia, and the perils of internet addiction. Rabbit Hole centers on Theodora “Teddy” Angstrom, whose sister Angie went missing a decade ago and whose father recently killed himself. When she finds out that her dad had been active on a subreddit focused on Angie’s disappearance, Teddy picks up where he left off and gets sucked into investigating the case — to the detriment of her personal life, relationships, and mental health. 

Publication date: January 2, 2024

Derek B. Miller is a Dagger Award–winning crime writer who crafts epic mystery dramas with fully realized characters and evocative settings. His newest release, The Curse of Pietro Houdini, is a WWII-era art heist adventure set in a mountain monastery outside war-torn Rome. It’s here that teenage orphan Massimo meets a mysterious man, Pietro Houdini, who claims to be the master artist and confidant of the Vatican. Massimo becomes Pietro’s assistant, but both have secrets to hide, as do the shifty characters who join the pair in a scheme to run away with precious works of art. 

Publication date: January 16, 2024

Anthony Horowitz, the bestselling author of innovative whodunits like Magpie Murders and The Word Is Murder, is back this year with Close to Death, the fifth installment in his Hawthorne & Horowitz mystery series. The book sees Detective Hawthorne investigating the murder of Charles Kentworthy, found dead on his doorstep with a crossbow bolt in his chest. It’s going to be quite the case to crack, as the Kentworthys are loathed in Riverside Close, having brought chaos, noise, and tackiness into the once-tranquil gated community.

Publication date: April 16, 2024

Mary Kubica is the bestselling author behind a suite of riveting suspense books, including Local Woman Missing, The Other Mrs., and Just the Nicest Couple. We’re stoked to read her upcoming release, which promises to be just as thrilling as her previous books. She’s Not Sorry centers on Meghan Michaels, an ICU nurse who becomes entangled in the case of a comatose patient named Caitlin. Caitlin fell into a coma after plunging 20 feet from a bridge onto the railroad tracks below. But when new information emerges suggesting that Caitlin may have been pushed, Meghan can’t let the case go — even if it puts her own life at risk.

Publication date: April 2, 2024

Jonathan Santlofer’s richly layered mysteries are a joy to read, and we can’t wait to pore over the award-winning author and artist’s newest release, The Lost Van Gogh. Like his previous mystery, The Last Mona Lisa, The Lost Van Gogh takes place in the darkened corridors of the art world. Luke Perrone, the great-grandson of the man who stole the “Mona Lisa,” and Alexis Verde, the descendant of an infamous art thief, discover what appears to be a priceless artifact: Van Gogh’s final self-portrait. The missing painting has haunted historians and collectors for decades and was thought to be lost forever. But just as fast as the portrait appears, it vanishes yet again, propelling Luke and Alexis on a perilous search that could cost them their lives.

Publication date: January 2, 2024

In The Night of the Storm, debut author Nishita Parekh puts a thrilling new twist on the locked-room mystery premise. Hurricane Harvey barrels down on Texas, forcing freshly divorced Jia Shah and her son to evacuate their apartment in Houston. Despite her misgivings, Jia takes shelter in her sister Seema’s lavish suburban home — alongside Seema’s family, her mother-in-law, and her brother-in-law and his wife. As the storm rages outside, tensions mount within, and it isn’t long before someone winds up dead.

Publication date: January 16, 2024

We round out our list of the most anticipated mysteries and thrillers of 2024 with a bang: the latest domestic thriller from B. A. Paris, the New York Times bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors. The Guest sounds very much like the type of taut and plot twisty novel we adore. It centers on Iris and Gabriel, who return from vacation to find their friend Laure inside their home. Laure has just walked out on her husband, Pierre, after he copped to an affair and having a love child. Though Iris and Gabriel are close to Pierre, they still want to be supportive of Laure, so they do their best to make room. After all, she just needs to get back on her feet. What’s the worst that could happen? Turns out, quite a lot.

Publication date: February 20, 2024