What to Read

Your Summer Bucket List: Hot Summer Thrillers and Mysteries

For some readers, summer is the season for steamy romances and gushy chick lit. More power to ‘em! But for some of us, summers are best spent with our hearts racing and wheels turning because of a book we just can’t put down. If this is how you want to spend the rest of your summer, keep reading for the hottest thrillers and mysteries.

Just One Look by Lindsay Cameron

After a shameful fall from the top of a corporate ladder, Cassie Woodson drudges through a temp job reviewing correspondence for a large-scale fraud suit. When tender and private emails between the partner at the firm and his wife pop out at her, Cassie can’t help but follow her nose for anything more exciting than dull legal emails. Soon she’s following their exchanges every day, and her admiration explodes into full-on envy. And when an orchestrated chance meeting between Cassie and the husband reveals a crack in their marriage, Cassie sees an opportunity: to transform a dream into her reality.

Her Last Breath by Hilary Davidson

Deirdre is lost in sorrow from her sister Caroline’s sudden death when she receives a message from Caroline sent days before she died warning her death was not accidental. Armed with this bone-chilling information, Deirdre heads to the funeral to confront Caroline’s husband, Theo, whom Caroline’s message revealed killed his first wife and got away with it. But as Deirdre digs deeper and finds out Theo suspected Caroline of having an affair, she also realizes her own life may be at risk, and that there may be more than one killer among them.

Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

The Cold Creek Highway stretches through the rugged wilderness of the west coast and is well known as a hunting ground for predators. Young women have gone missing there for decades, and their abductors are never brought to justice. Two more women are in danger of the same fate: Hailey, who’s shifting from the loss of her father who taught her to respect nature and never travel the highway alone, and Beth, who’s searching for her sister who fell victim to the highway. But the more Beth searches, the more danger follows her, and the more the truth of Hailey’s recent disappearance also unfolds.

The Therapist by B. A. Paris

Alice and Leo feel like they’re dreaming when they find the perfect house in The Circle, an exclusive gated community better than anything they could’ve imagined. But as Alice gets to know the neighbors, she uncovers a devastating secret about their new home, specifically about Nina, the therapist who lived there prior. As Alice feels a connection to Nina strengthening, her obsession with piecing together the whole story also grows… but her neighbors are tight-lipped, and things suddenly are not as perfect as they once seemed.

A Hex for Danger by Esme Addison

This one’s a magical mix of mystery and summer beach vibes! The supernatural secrets of Bellamy Bay become a little much for the small town when bodies start showing up in the local history museum. Aleksandra Daniels is busy helping her friend Celeste plan the annual Mermaid Festival, an event close to their hearts because of their own mermaid heritage, when one of the festival artists winds up dead in his office. Alex takes it upon herself to call on her magically-inclined family to find the culprit and clear her friend’s name, but she worries that she’ll put herself on the hook instead of finding the crook.

Such A Quiet Place by Megan Miranda

Make sure your heart is in good health – it’ll be racing with this blend of thriller and mystery. Hollow’s Edge was a perfect suburban haven for its residents, whose sense of community contributed to its peace. But after Brandon and Fiona were murdered, their neighbors found themselves stuck, unable to sell their homes, and forced to see the empty house and relive the crime through the trial, which implicated one of their own. With her conviction overturned, Ruby returns to Hollow’s Edge; but this endangers the whole neighborhood, including her ally Harper, who realizes she must uncover the truth before someone else is murdered.

We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz

This best-selling author will have you wrapped up in this backpacking-trip-turned-murder-mystery before you have even had a chance. Emily is living her best life with her best friend Kristen on their annual trip in the mountains of Chile. But when Emily enters their hotel suite to find blood and broken glass everywhere and Kristen insisting she was protecting herself from the now-dead backpacker in the room, it reminds her of a chillingly similar situation last year, when a different backpacker wound up dead. As they return home and Kristen fights to keep her close, Emily grapples with the truth and secrets that could destroy her relationship, her freedom, and her life.

56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard

Before you really say goodbye to COVID, indulge in this quarantine-killer thriller. 56 days ago, Ciara and Oliver had a meet-cute in a supermarket line in Dublin and started dating the same week that COVID-19 hit Ireland. 35 days ago, Oliver suggests that they move in together to take advantage of their relationship building with their families at bay due to social distancing. Now, Ciara’s decomposing body has been found by detectives – and no one on the outside even knew they were dating. Was lockdown the perfect opportunity for Oliver to hide who he really is and commit the perfect crime?

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones

Three couples – five friends who’ve known each other for years and one new fiancée – travel to Portugal together for one of the couple’s destination wedding. As they arrive at the gorgeous clifftops, this is their chance to get to know Ali, the fiancée, a little bit better. She seems sweet, and Will, their lifelong friend, seems happy for once in a relationship. But when one of the friends discovers an unsettling secret about Ali, everything begins to shift. As the wedding weekend unfolds, the secrets start tumbling out, and everything begins to climax towards unraveled friendships, marriages, and lives.

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

Ike is a Black man who hasn’t had so much as a speeding ticket since he got out of jail fifteen years ago. Buddy is a white man who also has been keeping clean since his criminal record, but he still has contacts in the underworld. When they find out their sons, who were married and in love despite their fathers’ prejudice and rejection, have been murdered, Ike and Buddy desperately work together to confront their own judgments about their sons and each other as they hunt down those who hurt their boys.