Being presented with a problem and finding the solution to it is one of the most basic and bare-bone pleasures known to us. It stimulates our creative thinking and instills in us an innate sense of accomplishment, even if it’s only the smallest of victories.
When the problem actually presents an intriguing puzzle, it can be as enjoyable as any non-problematic pleasure in life. I think as a whole, the human civilization has become somewhat addicted to solving puzzles of all kinds, and to supplement this incessant demand, authors have one day come up with the mystery genre, which today also encompasses thrillers.
Whether it’s theft, murder, disappearance, or some widespread conspiracy, mystery and thriller novels have always sought to entertain us by constantly pushing us to answer questions without obvious solutions and challenging our expectations with the real answers. There definitely are and will be more worthy books in this genre than I’ll ever get to read, but in here you will find the mystery and thriller novels which I did have the time to get acquainted with and believe are worthy of a greater spotlight.
Newest Reviews
“The Final Game” by Caimh McDonnell – The Greed Competition
Caimh McDonnell has always had the talent of dealing with death from a humorous perspective, and in The Final Game, his latest standalone novel, he returns to form with a plot centred on a recently-deceased woman, Dorothy Graham. Though she is gone from this world, she devised a competition for her relatives to engage in to determine who the inheritance will belong to, as well as having preemptively hired a detective agency to solve the mystery of her own murder.
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“A Line to Kill” by Anthony Horowitz – Festival of Reckoning
Anthony Horowitz has solved some serious crimes as Daniel Hawthorne’s sidekick in A Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery series, and in the third book, A Line to Kill, they get embroiled in a murder mystery with a classic setup. The story has Daniel and Anthony staying at guests on an idyllic island off the coast of England for a literary festival, one harbouring a cold-blooded killer ready to set his plan in motion.
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“Nine Days in Vegas” by Brian O’Sullivan – The Investigator’s Instinct
Brian O’Sullivan has put Quint Adler through three cases already, but only in this fourth one, titled Nine Days in Vegas, does he finally take up the official mantle of private investigator. His first case has him travelling to Sin City in search of Emmy Peters, a missing showgirl from a rich family, who also happened to be an aspiring novelist.
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“Bury Your Dead” by Louise Penny – A String of Tragedies
Louise Penny has defied time and time again any doubters as to her proficiency for coming up with more original mysteries for Chief Inspector Gamache to solve, and in the sixth book of the series, Bury Your Dead, he finds himself pushed to his limits. Recovering from a horribly-failed police operation, Gamache is drawn into the murder investigation surrounding a historical society in Quebec, and most surprisingly, Samuel de Champlain himself.
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“The Bookman’s Promise” by John Dunning – One Last Request
John Dunning has recently written a few mysteries revolving around books with a flair for the genre few can match. More precisely, he penned the Cliff Janeway Novels, and in the third entry in the series, The Bookman’s Promise, a complex mystery is afoot involving an old and lost collection of rare books, as well as a killer quite intent on letting secrets remain in the deep past.
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“Flicker” by Theodore Roszak – The Celluloid Underground
Theodore Roszak was a significant literary figure in his heyday, publishing quite a few materials relating to the counterculture revolution. He also dabbled quite selectively in the realm of fiction, with Flicker being one of his more unique and outstanding works. It takes us into the now-forgotten realm of underground cinema before the advent of modern technology, following a movie buff’s search for a forgotten genius of the silver screen.
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“The Brutal Telling” by Louise Penny – Into the Woods of Antique Mystery
Louise Penny has created an unforgettable protagonist through A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery series, and in The Brutal Telling, the fifth book, the titular inspector returns to his favourite idyllic village of Three Pines. Yet another murder has shaken the community, this time the victim being a complete stranger found on the floor of the local bistro. The stories presented to the inspector are full of holes, and he soon finds himself wrapped in a spiderweb of mystery.
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“A Rule Against Murder” by Louise Penny – Domestic Summer Storm
Louise Penny seems determined never to give Chief Inspector Gamache a moment of respite, and in the fourth book of the series, titled A Rule Against Murder, he finds himself drawn into an investigation while celebrating his wedding anniversary with Reine-Marie. The isolated manor they’re staying at is also host to family reunion, one which leaves a dead body behind in the wake of a storm.
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“The Cruelest Month” by Louise Penny – Fatal Fright at a Seance
Louise Penny has certainly drawn the little community of Three Pines from its relative forgotten obscurity in A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery series, and the third entry, The Cruelest Month, brings it right back to the foreground of Quebec news. Celebrating Easter, the people of Three Pines decide to hold a seance to clear the evil spirits, when one of them dies of fright. Foul play is nowhere to be found, but Gamache’s experience tells him otherwise.
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“The Bookman’s Wake” by John Dunning – The Edition Worth Killing for
John Dunning has become known in recent years for his ability as an author to integrate his love for books into his stories as pivotal plot elements. In The Bookman’s Wake, the second entry in the Cliff Janeway Novels series, we follow the cop-turned-bookdealer on his adventure to reign in a fugitive from Denver, one who possibly stole a priceless edition of Poe’s “The Raven”. To find the mysterious woman, he’ll have to delve deep into the strange past surrounding the book.
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“A Fatal Grace” by Louise Penny – An Open Death Nobody Saw
Louise Penny has brought the quaint streets of Quebec to the forefront of the literary world with her Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery series, and it was in large part due to the second novel, A Fatal Grace, winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel. Following Chief Inspector Gamache once again, we are treated to his investigation into macabre Christmas murder in a picturesque Quebecois village.
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“Still Life” by Louise Penny – No Accidents in Three Pines
Louise Penny, back in 2008, began something I’m sure even she had trouble anticipating, creating the first novel in the Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery series (now with sixteen entries and counting), titled Still Life. For his first time out under the sun, the inspector is tasked with a deceitful case, appearing like an open-and-shut tragic accident. Gamache, however, can feel there’s something dark and rotten hiding in the remote woods of Three Pines.
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“The Day of the Jackal” by Frederick Forsyth – The Pinnacle of Professional Killing
Frederick Forsyth might have very well written one of the absolute best criminal espionage novels when he published The Day of the Jackal back in 1971. Following a nameless English hitman known only as The Jackal, the story focuses on his methodical preparation to carry out what might be the most ambitious assassination of all time: killing Charles de Gaulle.
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“Booked to Die” by John Dunning – The Bookseller’s Justice
John Dunning has been working on his award-winning book-centred mystery series, the Cliff Janeway novels, for over two decades at this point, offering a taste of something unique in a sea of thrillers. The first novel which started it all, Booked to Die, introduces us to the Cliff Janeway as he first loses his badge by taking a bit of revenge on a murder suspect, and then opens a small bookshop while still searching for evidence to take the man down for good… and this is when more bodies start appearing.
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“The Guest List” by Lucy Foley – The Perfect Ruination
Lucy Foley has decided to treat us to yet another instant classic, this time drawing inspiration from the timeless works of Agatha Christie in her latest novel titled The Guest List. A whodunit murder mystery at heart, it takes us to a remote wedding celebration between a rising television star and a magazine publisher. Everything seemed slated for perfection, until a body suddenly turns up, sparing none from the lens of suspicion.
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“The Sentence is Death” by Anthony Horowitz – Enemies of the Deceased
Anthony Horowitz has decided to take us back to a simpler time for straightforward murder mysteries with his Detective Daniel Hawthorne series, with the second book having seen the light of day recently, titled The Sentence is Death. In it, we follow the detective on another curious case, this time involving the murder of a celebrity-divorce lawyer, Richard Pryce, via a bottle of wine worth three thousand pounds.
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“The Word is Murder” by Anthony Horowitz – A Partnership with the Morbid
Anthony Horowitz is one of the busiest and most inventive writers in his country, constantly trying the push the boundaries of literary techniques for our amusement. In The Word is Murder he once again takes a unique path, writing himself into his own novel as the sidekick and chronicler of disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne. Together, they try to unravel the peculiar case of a woman who is found dead six hours after arranging her own funeral service.
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“Last Day” by Luanne Rice – Promises to the Fallen
Luanne Rice has been pumping out quality novels since the mid-80s at a staggering rate, but it certainly hasn’t dulled her edge as we can see in her latest work, titled Last Day. Taking us to a small seaside community, we follow a detective who failed to keep his promise. Twenty years ago, he swore to protect two sisters whose mother was taken, along with a famous Moonlight painting. Now, one of them has been murdered, and the painting has gone missing yet again.
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“Revenge at Sea” by Brian O’Sullivan – Detective Newsman
Brian O’Sullivan is further and further stretching his writing arm in the thriller genre, moving away from political topics to give us a more classic crime story in his latest book, Revenge at Sea. Following a small-time reporter by the name of Quint Adler, the story takes us on a wild chase as he becomes a suspect in some gruesome murders and is forced to finish the search for truth he foolishly started in hopes of moving up in life.
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“Wrecked” by Joe Ide – The Oxford Gangster
Joe Ide has done a magnificent job in fleshing out private investigator Isaiah Quintabe over the course of his IQ Series, getting closer and closer to bringing the man into the realms of popular culture. In the third book of the series, titled Wrecked, we follow Isaiah as he takes on the case of a young artist’s missing mother, and unbeknownst to himself, embarks on an irrevocable collision course with his very own nemesis.