10 murder mystery books that keep you guessing

If you’ve got a killer craving that pages can’t quite satisfy, you can’t miss our first Ladies Who Lit Halloween event The Witching Hour — a night of books, wine, tarot and a little light mischief at the enchanting St Ethelburga's in London on Friday 30 October. There's an interactive murder mystery hunt winding through the venue with a trail of clues and hidden QR codes to crack. A place on our 2027 Seville Reading Retreat is up for grabs for those who solve the case. Get your ticket before they disappear!

There are few bittersweet pleasures in life quite like being completely, catastrophically wrong about whodunnit. You had a theory. The smugness set in. And then, somewhere around page 300, the author pulls the rug, the floor and the entire foundation out from under you.

If that's your idea of a good time, you're among friends, and we’ve got your next reads right here.

It's Not What You Think by Clare Mackintosh

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Nadeeka is certain her partner Jamie is lying to her, and she knows exactly what that means, because she's been here before. She races home to confront him and finds a crime scene instead. That's roughly the first twenty pages and the title isn’t lying: this one goes somewhere you will not predict. Go in blind. Trust us. (But a quick heads up: it takes on some heavy real-world themes around racism and political extremism.)

Claws Out! by Bella Mackie

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Diana Leyland is on the hunt for husband number four, and it's not her fault the first three died, is it? Her latest target is wealthy, well-connected David Farrand, but David's daughter Cat has some very pointed questions about her potential stepmother's track record. Wickedly funny, deliciously catty, and stuffed with people you'd hate at a dinner party and love on the page. If How to Kill Your Family was your Roman Empire, this is your next one.

The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter

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Sheriff Emmy Clifton hears gunshots on a quiet residential street and arrives to find her former colleague dead in her own kitchen and a teenage girl badly hurt upstairs. Everyone in North Falls is certain they know what happened. Everyone in North Falls is also hiding something. Emmy and her ex-federal-agent sister Jude make a brilliantly prickly investigative duo, and Slaughter's final-page reveals remain unmatched. (This is the second in the North Falls series but can be read as a standalone.)

His & Hers by Alice Feeney

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A woman is murdered in a sleepy Surrey village. The BBC news reader sent to cover the story used to live there. So did the detective assigned to the case. And the two of them used to be married. Told in his chapters, her chapters, and someone else's entirely, this is a masterclass in the unreliable narrator. Everyone is lying. Some of them are even lying to themselves.

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

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Jess turns up in Paris to crash at her half-brother Ben's flat, only to find the flat empty and Ben very much missing. The building is gorgeous, the neighbours are charming, and every single one of them would rather she went home. A locked-building mystery with a cast of beautifully awful suspects: perfect for anyone who likes their whodunnits with a side of interiors envy.

The Chestnut Man by Søren Sveistrup

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A small figure made of chestnuts and matchsticks is found at a Copenhagen crime scene. Then another. Then a link emerges to the daughter of a government minister, who went missing a year ago and was declared dead. Written by the creator of The Killing, so you know exactly what atmosphere you're getting: bleak, brilliant and impossible to put down until all is revealed.

The Inmate by Freida McFadden

Brooke takes a job as a nurse practitioner at a maximum security prison. The same prison holding the man she once loved, and the man she once testified against. He's always maintained his innocence. She's always been sure. Quick, propulsive, and exactly the kind of book you start at 9pm intending to read just one chapter, only to find yourself hooked on the ending at 3am.

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The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

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This is murder mystery: fantasy edition. A high-ranking imperial officer is found dead in a grand mansion, killed by a tree that erupted from inside his body. Investigating: the brilliant, blindfolded, house-bound Ana Dolabra and her assistant Din, who has been magically altered to remember everything he sees. It's Holmes and Watson in a fantasy empire under siege from sea monsters, and the mystery itself is airtight.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

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It’s 1954, and US Marshal Teddy Daniels arrives at a hospital for the criminally insane on a remote island off Boston to investigate a patient who has vanished from a locked room. Then a storm rolls in and cuts them off entirely. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll know the ending already, but if you haven’t, you’re in for a jaw-dropping reveal. Deeply unsettling, brilliantly constructed, and one of those books where the second read is a completely different experience to the first.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

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We couldn't do this list without the murder mystery queen. Roger Ackroyd is found stabbed in his study in a quiet English village, and a retired Belgian gentleman who has recently taken up marrow-growing is persuaded out of retirement to investigate. This is the one that had the crime-writing establishment in absolute uproar when it landed in 1926, and it's still the benchmark by which every twist since has been measured.

Want something even more immersive and unexpected? Come and solve a murder mystery with us for our Halloween event The Witching Hour, Friday 30 October in London. Gothic glamour dress code, tarot readings, circus performers, a spooky book swap, decadent spreads, and our coven-inspired murder mystery trail through St Ethelburga's. Crack the case and you could win a place on our 2027 Seville Reading Retreat. Book your tickets today!