6 Mysteries & Thrillers Featuring Crimes of the Elite
By Mary Kay McBrayer
No murder mysteries are more fun than the ones that involve the uber-elite. I think that’s for a couple reasons: one, they play by a whole different set of rules and etiquette that are completely foreign to we normals, no matter how many times we stream Downton Abbey or The Crown or Sucession or White Lotus.And two, the resources are limitless, so it is actually possible to throw money at a problem… and it still not shake out the way you want it to. Anyway, if you’re as fascinated by the lives of the incredibly wealthy as I am, here are six thrillers that’ll be sure to snag you on the line.
Frankie is coasting through her senior year at a Jesuit prep school when her classmate takes his own life, right after posting a message about another student who died by suicide years earlier. Frankie and her best friend investigate their classmate’s death, and they uncover a lot more about their elite education and the institution that offers it than they ever knew possible.
It’s summer, also known as wedding season in Nantucket, and these blue-blooded bridal parties pull out all the stops. This one is memorable for a bad reason though: a body is discovered in the Harbor just hours before the Otis-Winbury ceremony. When Chief of Police Ed Kapenash interviews the families, he realizes the whole guest list is a minefield… and no one is perfect.
Speaking of the dark power of privilege, here’s another academic thriller to keep you guessing. When our narrator arrives at Cambridge University, his accent marks him as an outsider. Because he’s so musically talented, though, he falls in with a wealthy classmate, Bryn Cavendish. Bryn is all charisma, but something always happens to people who challenge or bother Bryn, and they aren’t ever the same after. The narrator starts to suspect something amiss with Bryn, and the tension between them grows into an unavoidable, fatal confrontation.
Format
Hardcover
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When the Agarwals’ patriarch Raj gathers the family to their Hebridean island to announce his succession plan to his Delhi-based conglomerate, everyone has ulterior motives… or a secret. They all try to unravel each other’s antics while furthering their own agendas, from his son’s dishonest influencer wife to the golden child’s looming bankruptcy. The family gathers heats to a boiling point as intentions are revealed and secrets try to remain buried.
Format
Trade Paperback
(Large Type / large print edition)
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In this classic thriller, our heroine is swept off her feet in Monte Carlo by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter. She’s already orphaned and working as a lady’s maid, so she jumps at his sudden marriage proposal. It’s not until she arrives at the family estate on the Cornish Coast, Manderlay, that she realizes what a constant presence her husband’s first wife, Rebecca, truly poses.
Format
Trade Paperback
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Here’s the time-turning concept: Evelyn Hardcastle is murdered at 11PM. Every day, Aiden Bishop wakes up in the body of one of eight witnesses at Blackheath Manor, and the clock resets every day until he can identify her killer. But some guests are more helpful than others, and no one is quite who they seem.
Format
Hardcover
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