10 murder mystery books you NEED to read!🔪🩸

Hello, my name is Megan and I am the murder mystery detective from the future. Hello friends, today I'm going to be telling you about murder mystery books that you need to read. I do this video every year or so where I basically recommend any murder mysteries I've read in the past year that I've given four stars or above, that I really think are worth your time, and there's usually only about 10. When I go through my list there's a lot of mysteries that don't make the cut for me because I am a very picky customer when it comes to murder mysteries. I know what I want, I know what a book needs to do, I fear I've read so many that I'm maybe more picky than I should be. There's 11 here, two of which are actually 3.5s but I want to recommend them to you for specific reasons. They're honourable mentions though, we'll do them at the end. But yeah, we're going to talk about all the murder mysteries that I think are actually worth your time. 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I'm gonna go for two. There's a few here that I read in my Goodreads Choice Awards mystery thriller vlog. I usually do find quite a few in that that I enjoy. Listen, the Goodreads Choice Awards, there's a lot to say and there's a lot of books in there. Usually on the thriller side that aren't my kind of cup of tea but usually the mystery leaning books I do really enjoy. So, quick shout out. It's like number 20 in a, no, number five in a series but The Impossible Fortune by Rich Dosman. This one kind of is a murder mystery. I mean, no one's gonna argue with me that the Thursday Murder Club series isn't murder mysteries but this one is kind of a missing person mystery which I have another one on this list that is kind of a missing person mystery but I sometimes allow these onto the list even if the person ends up dead or alive. I've had ones on the list where the person ends up dead and ones on the list where the person ends up alive if it's structured like a murder mystery. There's some missing person thrillers that I wouldn't put on this list but if it's like a missing person mystery, have they been murdered, what's been done to them, then I do allow it in. So, listen, this is number five in the Thursday Murder Club series. Every one of these has made this, these lists before. I love the Thursday Murder Club. I love Rich Dosman, my man. I love his writing. He's one of my favourite, probably modern, probably my favourite modern author. Like, no one gets it like he does. This one, we open up at a wedding for one of the Thursday Murder Club's children and one of the guests goes up to Elizabeth and says they are fearing for their life and then they go missing and it's just, you're back with the gang. It's so good to be back with the gang. We had a two-year break. Rich Dosman, I always say, it's just like the way he writes life, the way he writes humans, no one compares. No one compares. No one compares to Rich Dosman. Wonder why because you are that and I'm this. You don't compare when you don't compete. You can't even get highlights in your hair like me, bitch. The way that he looks at what makes us tick as humans, what makes, what brings us joy, the little things that bring us joy. The little, also there's a lot to do with like, British culture in this and like, you know, a Tesco meal deal or Oliver Bonus or like, I don't even know. Little things. Countdown, question time, you know. He does it so, so well. So yeah, I mean obviously it's number five in the series so we don't need to spend too long on it. Then, I really, really enjoyed, this was actually my favourite from that vlog. It's a very unique style of murder mystery, Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson. So in this we're following Jett. Is it Jett? Yeah, it is. Oh my god, I remember the name. I remember the name once. As for the book, she gets hit over the head. She wakes up in hospital and she's like, oh my god, I'm alive, this is so great. Turns out that it's like, caused something, like a, something in the brain that basically means if they operate on it, she'll probably die. Like, there's only a 10% chance that she'll survive the surgery. If they don't operate on it, she's going to die within a week. So she's going to die. But she's alive right now, knowing she's going to die. And she decides, rather than like, waiting in the hospital, doing the surgery and basically never waking up, she's going to try and solve her own murder. And I loved this. This was me and Holly Jackson back together, baby. We've had a bit of a rocky few years. I hated if I survived. Wasn't super impressed by the reappearance of Rachel Price, but I loved this. I think the concept of someone trying to solve their own murder is so unique. I haven't seen anyone else do that and it really is quite emotional because you know what's coming, most likely. I just think Holly Jackson is back, baby. She's back. I really enjoyed this. I really enjoyed reading from Jett as a character. Now this is her adult debut. It is young adult. Not young adult. It's young adult. Jett reads like quite a young 27 year old and I didn't hate that. As someone who is 26 and feels like I am 16 still, I could relate to some of the stuff that Jett was feeling. And so I think this is a real sweet spot for Holly Jackson. Young adult. I'd really like her to stay in this zone. I think she's done young adult and I'd really like to stay in this kind of young adult. I need to stop saying this. But this kind of age category, I think her writing works really well for it. I thought it was paced really well. It made me sob, sob, sob, sob, sob, like ugly, ugly, ugly cry. I was really impressed by this. I think let's... What was that? Prina McFadden plug on the front. Let's not think about that. Let's not think about that. That's what you said. And you know what? What was that? Okay. James. As someone who reads so much, who reads hundreds of books, hundreds and hundreds of books, I often don't like have books that I can't put down anymore. I'd say there's like even some five stars. I don't have that feeling of like, I want to sack off everything else in my life to just read this book. Right. But I felt that with this. I couldn't look away. I couldn't. Oh, I just loved it. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. Then let's give a quick shout out. These are number like 14 in the series. I wasn't joking. I was joking with the Thursday Motor Club. We're literally like 15 into a series. I want to give a shout out to the Lady Hardcastles that I read this year in order, Fire at the Exhibition, An Assassination on the Agenda, The Beast of Litterton Woods. Bless them. If you are a murder mystery lover, some of you will be new in this video. Some of you won't have watched my videos before. If you are a murder mystery lover and you won like, you know, Not Quite Dead Yet is a high concept, high plot, high action murder mystery. This is a cozy, low stakes, formulaic murder mystery that I eat up every single time. I don't know what T.E. Kinsey is putting in these books, but it's dangerous. I'm not sure it's spit for human consumption because I'm just, I just love, love, love. So if you are new here, these are like number 12, 13, 14 in this series. I, oh my God, I'm up to date and it's really, it's really sad. It's really sad. In this series we are following Lady Hardcastle and her maid Flo as they solve murder mysteries together. They are ex-spies, kind of, a little bit, a little bit of spyage going on and they've retired to this quaint English village, but it turns out it's the murder hotspot of the world and they have so many murders to solve and I, oh, I love it. I love it and it gives me that buzz. It's, it feeds exactly what I want to do. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm up to date. Like, that's really scary. I need to go back and reread them all from the start. If you're going to read these books, audiobook. Audiobook. Audiobook narrator again. I don't know what she's ******* putting in that audiobook narration, but it's crazy. She is amazing. Probably one of the best audiobook narrators I've ever heard in my life. The way she brings the characters to life is outstanding. T.E. Kinsey ex-audiobook narrator, they're working some magic there. They're working some witchcraft. So yeah, obviously I'm super far into the series, but this is just, there's always a section in these videos where I hold up the Lady Hardcastle I've read so far this year because they're all 4.5s or 5s and I recommend them to you. So yeah, there'll only be one next year because I'll be up to date and that's a scary thought, but I mean, what are you doing if you have not picked these up yet? Let's give a quick shout out to actually the series that I feel like might replace, not replace Lady Hardcastle because Lady Hardcastle is still going on. However, fill the hole that is now left by Lady Hardcastle for me. And that is the Veronica Speedwell series. This is A Curious Beginning, which is the first in the series. We are following Veronica Speedwell, who is like, she's got something about her, you know what I mean? She's got a little bit of like, I'm not like other girls. Set in Victorian England, which I love. I love, I love Victorian England. I love it. I love it. I fear if I was in Ryberk, it might be Victorian times. Ever since I was a kid, I've been obsessed. I was obsessed with Tudors and Victorians, but particularly Victorians. I think just that time in history or Lady Hardcastle's like early 1900s, like Edwardian period. I like that as well. I just think it's such an interesting time in history where there's a lot of like social change going on, but also it's really good for like murder mystery era. Like it's like Jack the Ripper era, you know what I mean? It's just, oh, it just has something about it. Victorian England, dark, dirty. Oh, anyway. So yeah. Okay. This is, this is kind of a missing person mystery as well, I guess. There's a few, listen, there's a few on here, there's a few on here. I would cast this as a murder mystery. Again, it's kind of following the same formula, but anyways, she's like orphan or she's already orphaned, but the aunts that were looking after her died. This German baron comes to her and says, I knew your mum. I'm going to help look after you. He goes missing. And she is like, kind of not put in the care of, but like the baron takes her to this guy called Stoker. And he's like, okay, just look after her for a night. And then the baron goes missing. And so them two put together a trying to solve the mystery of what's happened to the baron. This is a series people have been recommending to me for literally five years. I gave this one four stars. I gave the First Lady Hardcastle four stars. And I feel like this is a similar series where I'm just going to grow more and more and more in love with the characters as time goes on. It's a kind of series also where like the characters are going to be a big part of it and their kind of will they, won't they relationship. I'm wanting more of that since I'm watching the X-Files and I'm on season five. Five now and Mulder and Scully are still... What do they do? Anyway, we're going to go on an X-Files tangent, but I ******* love them. Oh wait, no, the baron doesn't go missing. He's found murdered. Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me, it's not a missing person mystery. It's a murder mystery. But I did tell a bit of a lie there. I really enjoyed this. I see a lot of potential. I had issues with the pacing in this. There's like a part in the middle where they go to the circus where Sokka grew up and I felt like that didn't need to be in this book. I would have loved a whole book where we go to the circus. There's a mystery at the circus and we learn about Sokka's backstory that way. I didn't feel like it fit in this book, but I guess maybe Veronica Speedwell, not Veronica Speedwell, Diana Ravon didn't know she was going to get to write like 20 books. There's not 20 books yet, but get to write so many books in this series when this started to like get it. I just felt like it slowed the pacing down. But the mystery elements are very interesting and it takes a big swing at the end. The end is a bit crazy. The ending is a bit bonkers, you know, doolally, crazy, crazy, crazy. But I like that. I like when a book shoots for something. So yes, I enjoyed. Then I want to give a shout out to the two, oh god, the two Proros that I read in the past year that I loved. I did read Three Act Tragedy, but I think I only gave that three stars. But the ones I really enjoyed, I gave Death in the Clouds four stars and I gave The ABC Murders five stars, less so. I love a Proro. If you're clicking on this video, I fear you don't need me to tell you to read Agatha Christie, like she is the best who's ever done it. But I am reading the Proros in publication order because I am a completionist and I love murder mysteries and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Death in the Clouds is like a really good basic Proro, right? It's not doing anything crazy. You have the opening basically Proros on a plane and someone dies on the plane from a poisoned dart and you've got to figure out who on the plane did it. But the rest of the book doesn't take place on a plane. It's not like Merge on the Express being on the train the whole time. It goes off into the world where you have kind of these interesting characters. It follows a formula that a lot of the kind of like generic Proros followed to me. But I had a really good time reading it. Did I read this on holiday? I might have done, but I very much enjoyed myself. But The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie, listen, it's a classic. It's a classic. It's one of her most well-known ones. A classic? Classic. Not debatable. Not up for debate. For a reason. It's a very, very, very interesting murder mystery where people are getting killed following a formula where their initials are like AA and they're killed in a place beginning with A and then with B and C and so on. This book does something where we meet who... how would I want to say this? We start reading from the perspective of someone who you come... I don't know how to say this. You're reading from the perspective of someone who you believe to be the murderer, right? And I'm not going to say whether they are or not, but like that's a very interesting... because I don't want to spoil it for you either way. But that's a very interesting element where you're reading from the perspective of someone who is kind of going to do these murders, basically. And so just through the course of this book, she kind of like flips your expectations of what a murder mystery is going to be again and again and again. Like she keeps flipping the book on its head in a really interesting way. And this is the kind of book where I just feel like Aggie, she had a great idea. Like there's certain... like Murder on the Orient Express is another one, right? That has one of the greatest twists in a book ever, in my opinion. And there's just these certain books where she... there's the ones that are solid and she does the kind of basic... okay, the murder being committed. But there's these other ones where she plays either with the twist of the murder or the form of the book in a very, very interesting way. And this is one of them. I loved this. I think this is... if you're like not a completionist like me, and you're just kind of looking to read maybe some of her heavy hitters, I think this has to be on your list because I thought it was fascinating. I really, really, really enjoyed it. Okay, then we've got two others actually that were on the Goodreads Choice Awards video. Firstly, we have Vera Wong's Guide to Sleeping on a Dead Man. This is number two, so I won't spend too long on it. Again, in the Vera Wong's series. In this one, Vera is approached by a woman looking for help, trying to find her missing friend. But as the title is, it's Guide to Sleeping on a Dead Man, so I don't think it's a spoiler really to say that he's dead. I don't know. Again, it's just Vera Wong solving a murder mystery and kind of like gathering around the cast of suspects in a friendship almost, or like the cast of characters who are linked to this murder. She takes them all under her wing and Vera Wong's just one... I think she's such a great character. I think she's one of the great characters in kind of modern murder mysteries. She's so funny and she has these little kind of like quirks to her and things that she says, little quotes that she says again and again, that just brings so much joy and such a great character to her. And this one gets dark. You think from the cover it's like, you know what I mean, fun, fun, fun, and Vera Wong is that kind of character. But this has quite a dark twist and quite a dark reveal for what is going on, and I think it was handled in a really good way considering... hello, you just just come in... considering the tones it had to balance throughout the book. So yes, really, really enjoyed it. And then I do want to give a shout out to We Are All Guilty Here by Karen Slaughter. So this is another one that is kind of like a missing person mystery, but I'm putting it on the list. I gave this 4.5 stars. I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. This is a new Karen Slaughter series where we're following... we open up in this small town called North Falls and two teenage girls go missing. The first chapter we're reading from one of their perspectives and Emmy is the sheriff's daughter, but she's also the best friend of one of the girls' stepmoms. And right before one of the girls went missing, she tried to talk to Emmy and Emmy was like dealing with her own ---- and kind of blew her off. And so we're following the mystery of Emmy trying to figure out what's happened to these girls. But there is also quite a big, like, time jump at one point in this. And then we're kind of like... there's kind of multiple mysteries that we are uncovering, but I don't want to say too much more than that. This is my first Karen Slaughter and she absolutely blew me away. She absolutely blew me away. This kind of small town mystery is, you know, something that's done a lot and something that I often enjoy. It's got a really good Oliverson vibe to it, that kind of thing. It's done it again and again. But this was that with such intelligence, such nuance. It truly is one of the most, like, mature versions of a small town mystery I've done. There are so many characters that you care about, there's so many characters that own stuff going on. Emmy is such, like, probably one of my favourite characters that I've read in the past year. She has a lot going on and seeing her over the course of time dedicate herself to finding these girls and getting justice for these girls is really, really powerful. I love this. It made me cry multiple times. Now, it is horrible. If you've heard of Karen Slaughter before, if you've read of Karen Slaughter, they're horrible books. People often say, like, Karen Slaughter is maybe too dark for them, you know, so I would check trigger warnings for this. I would know going into it. It's heavy, it's dark, it's horrible. You're reading about some of the worst of society, the worst of society, arguably. So yeah, it is heavy, but I think, again, she handles it with real, like, maturity and nuance and I cannot recommend this enough. I really, like, it's a big book, it's a book that feels heavy. It's, like, it's not a light, easy read, but I think it was so well done. And then I do want to give two shout outs quickly to some 3.5 stars that I gave out. Firstly is A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith. I just read this. This is the perspective of Barrister Gabriel Ward. This is, again, in, like, yeah, 1901 England. He's a barrister and another, the Chief Lord Justice of England, is found dead, like, on his doorstep of his office, basically, and he is tasked with investigating it. There is also a case that he is the lawyer for to do with, like, copyright of this children's book called, was it Molly the Mouse or something? This mouse book that plays a big role in the story that he is the lawyer for. Now, here's the thing with this. I gave this book 3.5 stars. The first half of this book are The second half, a high four. So, this book, if you watched the vlog for it recently, you'll know that I feel like the author really, really grew into her writing craft throughout the book. It is a debut and I felt like the second half of the book is so much better. The first half, the pacing is slow. I didn't really care about the characters. I had some issues with the writing, where, you know, it would feel like someone in my patron said there was, like, 10 words, but there need to be really overly descriptive. By that, I mean, I'm not going to conversate with you. I'm not going to invest time. I think it's converse. Huh? Just say talk. I'm not going to talk to you. But then in the second half, it was like a switch had been flipped. There are some court scenes in the second half to do with that court case that I felt were really, really, I love a court scene. So, I felt like they were really, really well done. That is a way to get me. I love a court scene. I love court cases. Lawyer, he was doing some good lawyering, so I ate that up. And I felt like the that the mystery unveiled itself in the second half, the way he does eating crunchies. Excuse me, I'm not going to switch. The way that, yeah, we were led from clue to clue to clue to reveal was really well done in that second half. So, I would recommend this. I'm going to pick up the second in the series. I think that this may be as a series that will just get better as it goes on and the author writes more books. Yeah, I heard great things about it. The first half didn't do it for me. The second half absolutely did. And then I did just want to give a quick shout out to if you're looking for like a crazy, never been done before, speculative murder mystery. Again, I gave this 3.5 stars and it was a five star prediction, so I was a bit disappointed. But The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton is one of the most imaginative, speculative murder mystery plots you're ever going to find. So, basically, they're on this island. There's only like 150 people left on Earth. They have got this shield that is protecting them from this fog that killed the rest of humanity. And one of the scientists who kind of is, you know, leading, taking care of the area and the people, is murdered. But the security system that protects the island has wiped everyone's memory of the incident, including the murderer. The murderer doesn't even know that they did it. And it wasn't everything I wanted it to be, but I do think it's an incredible premise. And I think Stuart Turton, I love in theory what he's doing with murder mysteries. The Devil in the Dark Water is probably his least speculative one, and that was my favourite from him. I gave it five stars. I do love his writing. I just feel like this didn't quite stick the landing. It's very ambitious. Also with like, how the plot unveils itself. You think that that synopsis I gave you is ambitious? It's only the start. Like, the way the plot unveils itself and the reveals we get and how that informs what is happening in the story is so ambitious. So, like, really pushing the boat out here. And I'm not sure it quite stuck the landing. However, I love what Stuart Turton is trying to do with the murder mystery genre. He's like Janice Hallett for me. You know, I love her doing mixed media. She didn't make the list this year because I only gave the examiner three stars. But I love what she's doing with mixed media. I love what he's doing with these kind of imaginative plots. So I want him to keep doing that. I will keep reading his books. This one didn't quite get there for me, but I would recommend picking it up and giving it a go. So there we have it, friends. That is all of my murder mysteries that I think you need to read. Another video will be out next year with all the ones I've read in between now and then that I would recommend. But yeah, I think there's some really, really good picks here and like a mix of different stuff. Some more cosy, some more high action. Lady Hardcastle, all of you need to read. But yeah, I hope you enjoyed the video. Let me know some of the murder mysteries maybe you've read in the past year that you would really recommend getting to. I keep looking at this one over here. I'm going to be reading in the next month or so, The Murder at World's End. I have good feelings about this. A lot of my patrons have been reading this and really, really enjoying it. So yeah, we'll see. I hope to get to lots more murder mysteries and hopefully have lots more that I can recommend to you. But yeah, I hope you enjoyed this video. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you very soon in another one. Bye!