6 Mystery Novels Where Everyone’s a Suspect

Let’s hit the ground running with a novel that finds a group of young mothers as the prime suspects in the supposed drowning of a twenty-one-year-old nanny named Sophie. Katherine Faulkner’s THE OTHER MOTHERS follows freelance journalist Natasha Carpenter as she investigates the case. Juggling parenthood at the same time, Tash enrolls her son in a playgroup and meets a trio of wealthy mothers that spend their time enjoying the finer things. Tash is happy to play along until she suddenly begins receiving death threats about her investigative reporting. She can’t help but think her new “friends” may somehow be involved, and her investigation soon turns toward the other mothers—each eliciting their own suspicions. Jumping back and forth between the perspectives of a paranoid Tash and Sophie in the period before her death, readers navigate a psychological thriller that will leave you out of breath right up until its epic conclusion.

Few do captivating mysteries better than Ruth Ware and her book THE IT GIRL proves that. The story begins by introducing us to Hannah Jones and April Clark-Cliveden, roommates at Oxford University. While polar opposites, the two become fast friends and cultivate a close group at school, including April’s boyfriend, Will. But when April is found dead via strangulation, Hannah is sent reeling. Her only comfort comes when the supposed killer, John Neville, is convicted and sentenced. Ten years later, Hannah and Will are now married, John has died in prison, and a young journalist finds evidence that may exonerate John. Hannah is then forced to reconnect with her college friends in an effort to find out what really happened. As she digs, she begins to suspect that each in the group, including her husband, may be misrepresenting the truth to avert any suspicion. In true Ware fashion, the novel brings each character to life as we witness Hannah piece together one fateful night a decade earlier to solve a mystery.

A classic whodunit, AN UNWANTED GUEST by Shari Lapena takes place in the Catskills, where a winter storm has just cut off power to Mitchell’s Inn. As the guests prepare to ride out the storm, an accident occurs: Dana Hart falls down the grand staircase and is killed. Though lawyer David Paley doesn’t believe it to be an accident, and without the ability to call the police, he decides to take it upon himself to try to figure out what really happened. We quickly find that there is a fair share of suspicious persons at the inn, and the group is quickly gripped by paranoia as more and more secrets are revealed. Even worse, other guests are dying in even stranger ways. Lapena’s characters are far from likable, and each seem capable of executing these terrible acts, making the story that much more interesting. Only time will tell if the group can survive the storm and identify the true culprit before it’s too late, but either way, you’ll be thoroughly entertained.

Loosely based on Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, DEATH ON GOKUMON ISLAND is Seishi Yokomizo brilliant locked-room murder mystery set in 1946 Japan. Following the Second World War, private detective Kosuke Kindaichi lands on the island of Gokumon on a mission. Before his friend Chimata Kito died, he revealed to Kindaichi that the lives of his three stepsisters were now in jeopardy. As a result, Kindaichi has traveled to the island to protect Chimata’s family from the forewarned danger. Armed with a list of the island’s three most prominent citizens (and the detective’s prime suspects), he must use his powers of detection to sniff out the threat that lurks among the community. His efforts are only made more challenging when one of the stepsisters’ bodies is found mutilated with the promise of more deaths to come. Written with Agatha Christie–like flair and in a similar style, DEATH ON GOKUMON ISLAND is a classic from one of Japan’s greatest crime writers.

In her debut novel, THE OTHER BLACK GIRL, Zakiya Dalila Harris tells the story of Nella Rogers, an editorial assistant at Wagner Books and the only Black person on staff. That is, until Hazel-May McCall arrives. The two quickly hit it off, and Nella is relieved to finally have someone to confide in about the office’s racial politics. But before long, Nella finds herself being looked over by the publishing house’s editors in favor of Hazel. She can’t help but think it has to do with Hazel’s background—born in Harlem, daughter of civil rights activists, grandfather who died protesting—which seems to resonate more than Nella’s suburban upbringing. To make matters worse, Nella soon finds a note on her desk that reads “Leave Wagner Now,” which leads to her searching for author of the threat. With suspects everywhere she looks, Nella soon uncovers a conspiracy that she could’ve never imagined. Part social satire, part thriller, THE OTHER BLACK GIRL is the perfect page-turner to keep you guessing.

Rounding out the list is THE WRITING RETREAT, Julia Bartz’s psychological suspense about a young author set at an exclusive writer’s retreat in the Adirondacks. Alex is all but ready to quit her pursuit of becoming a published author when she is, shockingly, granted an opportunity to attend a writing retreat at Blackbriar, the estate of feminist horror author Roza Vallo. It isn’t long after her arrival that Roza presents the writers with a challenge: complete a novel over the course of the next month that will then be judged by Roza herself. The best one will receive a book deal. For her part, Alex elects to write about Blackbriar, its architect, and his occultist wife. When one of the other writers disappears, Alex can’t help but think it may be history repeating itself. Mind games and cruelty follow, leading readers to with suspicions of every party in the group. With time running out, Alex must discover the true cause of this deadly chaos or likely suffer the same fate.