Six Books You Should Read After Watching Only Murders in the Building
A serendipitous meeting of strangers. The backdrop of a glamorous city with an idiosyncratic set of characters to match. A Gatsbyesque building pregnant with secrets. All the makings of a murder mystery. Recently Hulu released Only Murders in the Building, starring Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, and Martin Short. With a sparkling of humor that leads characters to wildly unpredictable places, the anthropomorphization of a Manhattan building as gleaming and chic as the city outside its walls, and an all-star cast, Only Murders in the Building is the kooky yet enduring TV show we’ve been waiting for. Not to mention that there’s something so bookish about it that we can’t get enough of. As the season comes to an end, we’re left searching for a replacement—and with Knives Out 2 still filming—we’ll let’s just say nothing streaming right now will scratch that itch. So we’ve rounded up six murder mysteries perfect at capturing the spirit of Only Murders in the Building for those like us who don’t want to mystery to ever come to an end.
On the day he retires, Inspector Ashwin Chopra inherits two unexpected mysteries.
The first is the case of a drowned boy, whose suspicious death no one seems to want solved. And the second is a baby elephant.
As his search for clues takes him across the teeming city of Mumbai, from its grand high rises to its sprawling slums and deep into its murky underworld, Chopra begins to suspect that there may be a great deal more to both his last case and his new ward than he thought.
And he soon learns that when the going gets tough, a determined elephant may be exactly what an honest man needs. . .
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She may be a bestselling author, but ex-librarian Jacqueline Kirby’s views on the publishing biz aren’t fit to print. In fact, she’s thinking of trading celebrity for serenity and a house far away from fiendish editors and demented fans when her agent whispers the only words that could ever make her stay: Naked in the Ice. Seven years ago, this blockbuster skyrocketed Kathleen Darcy to instant fame. Now the author’s heirs are looking for a writer to pen the sequel. It’s an opportunity no novelist in her right mind would pass up, and there’s no doubting Jacqueline’s sanity…until she starts digging through the missing woman’s papers–and her past. Until she gets mixed up with Kathleen’s enigmatic lover. Until a series of nasty accidents convince her much too late that someone wants to bring Jacqueline’s story–and her life–to a premature end.
Related: What Makes a Cozy Mystery?
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Appetite for Murder
by Cecile Lamalle
While foraging for fungi in his secret spot, Charly Poisson, owner and chef of La Fermette, inadvertently unearths more than the oyster mushrooms he enjoys on his breakfast toast. Someone, apparently, has had the bad taste to bury an Hermes scarf in the hummus—with a woman still attached! Mon Dieu!
Now, plagued by a series of mysterious barn burnings and a psychotic killer on the loose, a once-sleepy upstate New York town has suddenly become a bubbling hot compote of danger and intrigue. Does the blood-hungry murderer lurk among Charly’s quirky, epicurean clientele? Worse yet, do the police intend to put the case on the back burner? Add to the mix one chubby French chef with a dangerous craving to solve the crime, rumors of mob ties, age-old vendettas, and a melange of motives that make almost everyone a suspect. Stir the pot vigorously and heat to serve…
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The Word Is Murder
Anthony Horowitz
One bright spring morning in London, Diana Cowper – the wealthy mother of a famous actor—enters a funeral parlor. She is there to plan her own service.
Six hours later she is found dead, strangled with a curtain cord in her own home.
Enter disgraced police detective Daniel Hawthorne, a brilliant, eccentric investigator who’s as quick with an insult as he is to crack a case. Hawthorne needs a ghost writer to document his life; a Watson to his Holmes. He chooses Anthony Horowitz.
Drawn in against his will, Horowitz soon finds himself a the center of a story he cannot control. Hawthorne is brusque, temperamental and annoying but even so his latest case with its many twists and turns proves irresistible. The writer and the detective form an unusual partnership. At the same time, it soon becomes clear that Hawthorne is hiding some dark secrets of his own.
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The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.
When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
As the bodies begin to pile up, can our unorthodox but brilliant gang catch the killer, before it's too late?
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Truly Devious
Maureen Johnson
Ellingham Academy is a famous private school in Vermont for the brightest thinkers, inventors, and artists. It was founded by Albert Ellingham, an early twentieth century tycoon, who wanted to make a wonderful place full of riddles, twisting pathways, and gardens. “A place,” he said, “where learning is a game.”
Shortly after the school opened, his wife and daughter were kidnapped. The only real clue was a mocking riddle listing methods of murder, signed with the frightening pseudonym “Truly, Devious.” It became one of the great unsolved crimes of American history.
True-crime aficionado Stevie Bell is set to begin her first year at Ellingham Academy, and she has an ambitious plan: She will solve this cold case. That is, she will solve the case when she gets a grip on her demanding new school life and her housemates: the inventor, the novelist, the actor, the artist, and the jokester.
But something strange is happening. Truly Devious makes a surprise return, and death revisits Ellingham Academy. The past has crawled out of its grave. Someone has gotten away with murder.
Related: Heart-Pounding Suspense: When a Protagonist Will Stop at Nothing
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