8 Historical Mystery and Suspense Books We’re Excited To Read
The past holds secrets, and sometimes they can be deadly. Whether you enjoy mystery novels set in the past where intrigue and murder were investigated without the aid of modern forensics and DNA, or mysteries that merely draw upon the events of the past, we’ve got eight amazing new books for you, from historical fiction centered on mysteries to mystery novels that explore the past in intriguing ways.
In a modern-day mystery, FBI Agent Corrie Swanson is assigned what should be a simple case: identify a body found in a New Mexico ghost town and file the paperwork. The body is old, so she brings in archaeologist Nora Kelly to help, and Nora reveals the body died in agony...concealing a rare and extremely valuable 16th-century Spanish gold cross. The race is on to identify the body, and unravel a puzzling case stretching back throughout the centuries.
Related: Read an Excerpt From The Scorpion's Tail
In 1878 London, Charles Lenox's private detective business is booming thanks to a recent corruption scandal at Scotland Yard. He's given a mission that will take him to America, where his reputation precedes him, and he makes all sorts of interesting connections on official business for the queen. But when the mysterious death of a wealthy debutante shocks society, Charles is called in to investigate. Was it suicide or murder?
In 1940, Osla, Mab, and Beth are three very different women burning to prove themselves in the war effort, and they come together on a super secretive code-breaking team at Bletchley Park. At first great friends, the events of the war are destined to tear them apart until 1947, when an old enemy resurfaces and they must reunite to break one last code—but it could cost them their lives.
Steve Berry explores the dark days of WWII in The Kaiser's Web, a novel about the tight election for the new chancellor of Germany. The two candidates couldn't be more different: one is a loyal politician who has served for years, and one is a nationalistic outsider. They both have secrets, but one of them has dark ties to the final days of Hitler and his closest advisors, and when an old Society spy dossier resurfaces, it will throw everything people have accepted about Hitler's death into question.
In 1944, a young Jewish woman stands on a platform, waiting to board a train headed for Auschwitz. Seeing no way to escape, she entrusts her most precious possession to a complete stranger. Nearly ten yers later, a French man named Jean Luc is living in California, having survived Nazi occupation in France and hoping to escape the horrors of the past when that past comes knocking on his door. While Paris Slept weaves together two different perspectives to tell a powerful story of the mysteries and secrets of the war.
In 1974, thirteen-year-old Graham and his family move to Beirut, Lebanon, a city on the cusp of major change. Graham's family is leaving behind a tragedy in the U.S., and he suspects his parents of keeping secrets—about their home life, and about the true nature of his father's job. Over the course of a turbulent year, Graham witnesses violence and murder, and the complete upheaval of everything he knows as he plays a key role in how a country and his family move forward.
Inspector Cutter is an investigator in 1893 London who, along with a Cambridge dropout named Gideon Bliss, begins an investigation into a seamstress who fell to her death with a mysterious message stitched into her body. She's somehow connected to a case of missing women, one of whom Gideon is in love with, and it's up to Cutter to unravel it. The pair is aided and hindered by Octavia Hillingdon, a young journalist who longs to break free of the society pages and write a story that matters.
Related: Thrilling Mysteries That Will Transport You To Another Time
Charlie and Margaret Marder survived the crime and corruption of 1950's DC in The Hellfire Club, and now they're taking on the mysteries and secrets of 1960s Hollywood. When the Attorney General asks them to fly to California to befriend Frank Sinatra, who are they to say no? The AG wants to ensure that Sinatra, a friend to the president, doesn't pose a security risk with his alleged mob connections, and the Marders agree to investigate. But their mission is derailed when a body is discovered in the trunk of a car, and they get caught up in Hollywood's dangers.
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