Mystery fans know that it can be fun to be loyal readers of long-running series, following the recurring adventures of favorite fictional detectives. But it's also rewarding to find new favorites! Here are fifteen recent debut mystery novels to check out. If you find a great new author, keep your fingers crossed for sequels.
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Djinn patrol on the purple line : a novel
by Deepa Anappara In an award-winning debut based on true events, a 9-year-old reality-television enthusiast in India uses crime-show approaches to investigate the disappearance of a classmate, before additional abductions shatter life in his sprawling city home. |
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If I disappear
by Eliza Jane Brazier Investigating the disappearance of her favorite true-crime podcaster, an outcast follows clues to the site of an isolated ranch before uncovering sinister truths about other women who have gone missing from the property. |
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Your house will pay : a novel
by Steph Cha Two teenagers in Los Angeles, one Korean-American and the other African-American, deal with the ripple effects of a shooting from decades ago after a new incident brings their families’ painful memories hurtling back. |
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Mimi Lee gets a clue
by Jennifer J. Chow Owner of a pet grooming business, Mimi Lee, after the local breeder she exposed for mistreating Chihuahuas is murdered, must clear her name with the help of her talking cat, Marshmallow, who is the only one who can get her out of this mess. |
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Waiting for the night song
by Julie Carrick Dalton Cadie returns to her childhood home to confront her estranged best friend and the dark secret they both share and must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to protect the people and the land she loves. |
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Lightseekers
by Femi Kayode When Dr. Philip Taiwo is called on by a powerful Nigerian politician to investigate the public torture and murder of three university students in remote Port Harcourt, he has no idea that he's about to be enveloped by a perilous case that is far from cold. Philip is not a detective. He's an investigative psychologist, an academic more interested in figuring out the why of a crime than actually solving it. But when he steps off the plane and into the dizzying frenzy of the provincial airport, he soon realizes that the murder of the Okriki Three isn't as straightforward as he thought. With the help of his loyal and streetwise personal driver, Chika, Philip must work against those actively conspiring against him to parse together the truth of what happened to these students. |
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The last story of Mina Lee
by Nancy Jooyoun Kim Suspecting foul play in the wake of her mother’s accidental death, Margot Lee investigates her mother’s past as a Korean War orphan and undocumented immigrant before uncovering profound secrets. A first novel. |
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Arsenic and adobo
by Mia P. Manansala When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case. With the cops treating her like she's the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the storefront, Lila's left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block... |
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The eighth detective : a novel
by Alex Pavesi A young editor travels to a remote Mediterranean village to convince a reclusive writer to republish his classic detective stories, before discovering that the books hide even greater mysteries. A first novel. . |
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The sanatorium
by Sarah Pearse Accompanying family members to an isolated Swiss Alps hotel to recuperate from a traumatizing case, a woman detective uncovers the fates of long-ago tuberculosis patients who went missing from the property years earlier when it operated as a sanatorium. |
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The lost apothecary
by Sarah Penner Secretly dispensing poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them, a London apothecary triggers unintended consequences that shape three lives across multiple centuries. A first novel. |
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Shiver
by Allie Reynolds A reunion weekend in the French Alps turns deadly when five friends discover that someone has deliberately stranded them at a remote mountaintop resort during a snowstorm, where ominous things begin to happen. A first novel. |
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Dial A for Aunties
by Jesse Q. Sutanto Accidentally causing the death of a blind date, Meddy is persuaded by her meddlesome Chinese-Indonesian mother and aunts to dispose of the body, which upends a billionaire’s wedding and Meddy’s reunion with a former flame. |
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Winter counts : a novel
by David Heska Wanbli Weiden A vigilante enforcer on South Dakota's Rosebud Indian Reservation enlists the help of an ex to investigate the activities of an expanding drug cartel, while a new tribal council initiative raises controversial questions. A first novel. |
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White ivy : a novel
by Susie Yang Years after she is sent away from Boston to China for shoplifting, a conflicted Chinese-American woman reconnects with her golden-boy childhood crush before a ghost from the past threatens her ambitions. A first novel. |