12 Sizzling New Mysteries and Thrillers to Read This Summer

A recently widowed father striving to provide for his child, a young law student cleaning houses to get by, and a wealthy couple masking their dysfunction behind closed doors — they’ve all got something to hide in M. T. Edvardsson’s gripping new domestic thriller, The Woman Inside. Pushed beyond his limits to care for his child, widower Bill Olsson takes in a lodger to make ends meet. That lodger is Karla, an aspiring judge who moonlights as a house cleaner to pay her way through law school. Karla’s clients are the Rytters, a wealthy couple with a life that’s just too good to be true. Disaster hangs in the air, and when the Rytters are found murdered, Karla and Bill are propelled into a dark new reality that they never anticipated. Masterfully plotted and brimming with suspense, The Woman Inside is the perfect page-turner to take with you to the beach this summer and is “highly recommended for fans of psychological thrillers” (Booklist).

Publication date: June 13, 2023

In The Only One Left, bestselling thriller author Riley Sager conjures a modern gothic tale, complete with a dreary setting, suspicious characters, and spellbinding details. The Hope family massacre of 1929 shocked the world with its savagery. Lenora Hope, the only family member to survive the murders, was always suspected of carrying out the deed — she maintained her innocence, though, and the police were never able to prove her guilt. Six decades later, it’s 1983 and the case lives on in whispered retellings and morbid schoolyard chants. Lenora is in her 70s, wheelchair-bound and living out her remaining days in her family’s crumbling seaside mansion. Enter Kit McDeere, who arrives at the mansion as a caretaker for Lenora. When Lenora signals that she’s finally ready to share her story, Kit agrees to help, though she soon senses that something is terribly, terribly wrong. Is Lenora telling the whole truth about that bloody night in 1929? And what really happened to Lenora’s previous caretaker?

Publication date: June 20, 2023

Award-winning author S. A. Cosby is one of the most exciting crime writers working today, and we can’t wait to read his new Southern mystery, All the Sinners Bleed. When Titus Crown returns to Charon County, the racism of the current police force motivates him to run for sheriff — the first Black sheriff in the county’s history. But when he is just a year into the position, his deputies shoot and kill a Black man, sending Titus on a righteous search for answers. The violence he unearths, however, runs far deeper than he expected. As Titus strives to catch a killer hiding in plain sight, he must also save himself from being consumed by the community he’s sworn to defend.

Publication date: June 6, 2023

Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott is a creepy and suspenseful tale that you won’t want to miss this summer. Newly married and with a baby on the way, Jacy and Jed set out on a road trip to visit Jed’s father, Dr. Ash, at his secluded forest home. Though the visit is at first idyllic and Jacy feels welcomed and loved by her father-in-law, there’s something unsettling about the house manager, Mrs. Brandt. And when Jacy has a health scare, her anxiety begins to rise as she learns more about Jed’s family and their past. Is it just Jacy’s imagination, or is there something terribly wrong going on inside this house?

Publication date: May 30, 2023

When Julia Bennett agreed to help her daughter move to college, she knew move-in day would be rough — she just didn’t expect it to be marred by an on-campus attack or that she’d be forced to save her daughter’s life. Ren Petrovic, soon to be a mother herself, leads an unconventional life as an expert assassin. And while she didn’t carry out the attack on campus that day, she knows her equally deadly husband was there. What Ren can’t figure out is why her husband never told her about the hit, and why that one woman in the crowd reacted so differently from everyone else. Julia and Ren will do whatever it takes to protect their families and unearth the truth, even if it means ending up in the other woman’s crosshairs. Smart, surprising, and suffused with complex characters, Before She Finds Me by Heather Chavez is sure to get your heart racing as the temperatures climb.

Publication date: June 27, 2023

Jack and her husband, Gabe, are the best in the business — they can break into any building and outwit any security system. But when a job goes sideways, Gabe winds up dead and Jack finds herself in the law’s sights. Now she’s on the run, reeling from the loss of her husband and no longer certain who’s on her side. From internationally bestselling author Ruth Ware, Zero Days belongs at the top of every mystery fan’s reading list this summer. And if you can’t wait for it to hit the shelves, we’ve got a list of authors like Ruth Ware to satisfy your urge.

Publication date: June 20, 2023

New York Times bestselling author Andrea Bartz delivers an alluring new thriller in The Spare Room. Things just aren’t going to plan for Kelly. She’s in a new town with no friends and no job, and now she’s stranded in the middle of lockdown with the man who just ended their engagement. So when Sabrina, a childhood friend, reaches out and offers Kelly the spare room in her secluded mansion, she happily accepts. Sabrina and her husband are wildly successful and impossibly glamorous; Kelly soon finds herself falling for them both and swept up in their open relationship. But when Kelly learns that the last woman in her place is now missing, she begins to wonder if she’s truly safe in this beautiful home with these two beautiful people.

Publication date: June 20, 2023

Liv Constantine’s latest is part medical mystery, part psychological thriller, and utterly impossible to put down. D.C. philanthropist Sloane Chase is ready to rejoin the political power scene after the tragic loss of her husband. She now has a new partner by her side — Senator Whit Montgomery. When Sloane is preparing for a major surgery, she and her new husband decide to hire a home health aide to assist with her recovery. Athena is the ideal employee, but as Sloane’s condition slips, Athena’s pointed questions about Sloane’s life and philanthropy, combined with the attention she pays to Whit, begin to trouble Sloane. Is she just being paranoid? Feeling insecure as she struggles with her health? Or is her perfect employee actually plotting against her? Suspenseful and packed with plot twists, The Senator’s Wife will keep you riveted.

Publication date: May 23, 2023

Wes and Ivy’s amorous relationship hits the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. From sweeping romance to screaming matches and physical altercations, their on-again, off-again is a seesaw of promise and regret. Yet there’s one episode that Wes and Ivy never discuss: The night things went too far and someone ended up dead. So when a detective starts asking questions about that fatal evening, Wes and Ivy have one more reason to stay together — especially as the investigation closes in on them both. “A deliciously clever thriller” (New York Times bestselling author Sylvia Day), A Twisted Love Story by Samantha Downing is a dark delight.

Publication date: July 18, 2023

Bestselling author Shari Lapena delivers a sharp, propulsive domestic thriller in Everyone Here Is Lying. Stanhope is an idyllic family neighborhood, and local resident William Wooler is the perfect husband and father — at first glance, anyway. He’s also carrying on an affair, which just ended badly at a nearby motel. When William comes home and discovers his young daughter Avery back early from school, he snaps. Hours later, Avery is declared missing. The neighbors come forward with information, but who’s actually telling the truth? As suspicions swirl, hope for Avery’s return slips away, and the not-so-perfect community begins to spiral out of control.

Publication date: July 25, 2023

In None of This Is True, acclaimed mystery author Lisa Jewell tells the deliciously twisted tale of a true crime podcaster who becomes the subject of her own work. When hit podcast host Alix Summer goes out to celebrate her 45th birthday, she bumps into a woman named Josie Fair, who happens to be celebrating her 45th birthday as well. A few days later, Josie reappears in Alix’s life, declaring that she’d make a perfect subject for Alix’s podcast. Alix agrees, wary but intrigued, as Josie’s story certainly is unusual. Soon, however, it becomes clear that Josie is playing a very dangerous game — and when Josie disappears, Alix realizes she’s ensnared in a trap and her family’s lives are at stake.

Publication date: August 8, 2023

Growing up, Bridget Kittinger and her neuroscientist mother Jo played a game of other worlds and other selves — it was a game, right? But her mother’s growing obsession with the “dreamworm,” a mythical object that opens portals to alternate realities, eventually drove the pair apart. Now Jo is dead, and Bridget is left to pick up the pieces. But as she clears out her mom’s place, she actually finds it — the dreamworm — and it works. Could her mother still be alive somewhere in another dimension? Bridget is prepared to find out, but others are on the hunt for the dreamworm, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get their hands on it. Thrust into a life-or-death chase, Bridget races across multiple dimensions to reconnect with her mother, find her true self, and escape her pursuers. Bursting with speculative fiction thrills and otherworldly visions, Lauren Beukes’s Bridge is sure to set your head spinning this summer.

Publication date: August 8, 2023