Pack Your Bags (And Nerves): Must-Read Destination Thrillers
By Kit Frick
Ah, vacation. Time away with family or friends. A destination promising luxury, intrigue, and escape. What could go wrong?
My latest mystery novel, Friends and Liars, is set at a luxe palazzo on Lake Como, Italy. The estate is gorgeous and a bit quirky—a beautiful terrace, acres of gardens, rooms named after Italian filmmakers, and an anachronistically modern boat house—but it was also the scene of a mysterious death five years ago, and as the characters gather once again for a week-long memorial celebration for their friend, it becomes home to a masterful revenge plot.
In these five destination thrillers, the characters are faced with a lot more than lost luggage, delayed flights, and travel tummy. Vacations that look idyllic on the page take dark and often deadly turns—and we can experience it all from the comfort of our couches, or from the safety of our beach blankets.
Best friends with a complicated history set off on a trip to an Italian villa with an equally complicated, and tragic, past. In the summer of 1974, Villa Rosato was occupied by a group of young musicians and artists. The summer led to some impressive creative output, but it also resulted in the murder of one of their own. Now, five decades later, Emily has come to the villa to work on her own writing—she’s overdue on her latest book—and finds much-needed inspiration there. But so does her best friend, self-help guru Chess, and what begins as a creative retreat for the two friends soon veers into rivalry, jealousy, and a dangerous betrayal.
Format
Hardcover
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around January 3, 2023. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
On a picture-perfect honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, documentary filmmaker Erin and her banker husband Mark find something in the water while scuba diving that will redirect the course of both their lives. The vacation is exactly what they need to escape work stress at home, and what they’ve found could be the answer to all their problems. Or it could be their undoing. I will read anything Catherine Steadman writes, but I’ll admit Something In the Water is my favorite, and it’s the perfect example of a chilling destination thriller.
Format
Trade Paperback
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around April 9, 2019. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
In a modern twist on one of the best-known mysteries of all time, Rachel Howzell Hall pays homage to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None in this twisty mystery. Seven strangers, each harboring a secret. A private island off the Mexican coast. An eerie estate with spotty cell service, surrounded by miles and miles of ocean. Ostensibly, Miriam and the others are here to film a brand-new reality competition show. The setting is undeniably magical, but from the start, things seem off. And then the accidents begin… As Miriam soon discovers, everyone has been brought here for a reason, and no one is safe.
Format
Trade Paperback
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around April 9, 2019. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
This is Lucy Foley at her absolute best. A large group of guests with complicated pasts gather to celebrate a wedding held on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. The location is isolated but luxe: this is a wedding befitting its bride and groom, the founder of a successful online magazine and the star of a popular survival television series, respectively. Every detail is expensive, perfect. But then a raging storm traps everyone on the island, and before the night is through, one guest is dead and everyone is a suspect. Told in multiple points of view that rotate through the cast, The Guest List is at once a captivating murder mystery and a story exposing the dark underbelly of perfection.
Format
Trade Paperback
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around August 3, 2021. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
When Tessa joins the other members of the bachelorette party at Baltic Vinyasa, an ultraluxe, brand new yoga resort on a private island off the coast of Sweden, she’s already having misgivings about the weekend ahead. Her podcasting career has recently taken a sharp nosedive, her romantic life has suffered for it, and she’s hardly in the mood for a weekend of putting on a brave face. But Isle Blind has a storied history—four young women disappeared there a decade ago—and Tessa’s desire to get the scoop and possibly salvage her podcast from the ashes overpowers her reservations about attending the gathering. But someone else on the island is as obsessed with what happened to the Nacka Four as Tessa is—and the bachelorette weekend swiftly careens into a game of revenge.
Format
Hardcover
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around June 10, 2025. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
It’s been five years since heiress Clare Monroe tragically died on New Year’s Eve at her family’s opulent Italian palazzo. What happened that fateful night was a horrible accident, but Luca, Harper, Sirina, and David are guilty, nonetheless. ANow, the estranged friends are each the recipient of an invitation from the Monroes to return to the lakeside palazzo for a long-overdue memorial for Clare. Accepting the Monroes’ invitation means playing with fire, but they can hardly refuse. Nothing is as it seems at the palazzo on the lake, and under their tormentor’s vengeful gaze, their secrets-and their lives-are in danger.
Format
Trade Paperback
This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around December 2, 2025. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.
