This is a list of The Best (Anticipated) Mystery Books of 2021. There will probably be more new releases announced in the coming months and through the years, but here’s the best of what’s been announced far to be published in 2021.
Will you be reading any of these books when they come out? I’ll be updating this list as new titles get released, so stay tuned!
For more books coming soon, see the list of Upcoming New Release Books.
The Wife Upstairs
What It's About: A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, Rachel Hawkins's The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda.
Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives...Publication Date: January 5, 2021
What It's About: A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, Rachel Hawkins's The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda.
Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives...Publication Date: January 5, 2021
Too Good to Be True
What It's About: From Carola Lovering, the author of Tell Me Lies, comes Too Good to Be True, an emotionally nuanced psychological suspense, and an obsessive, addictive love story, for fans of Lisa Jewell and The Wife Between Us.
Skye Starling is overjoyed when her boyfriend, Burke Michaels, proposes after a whirlwind courtship...Publication Date: March 2, 2021
What It's About: From Carola Lovering, the author of Tell Me Lies, comes Too Good to Be True, an emotionally nuanced psychological suspense, and an obsessive, addictive love story, for fans of Lisa Jewell and The Wife Between Us.
Skye Starling is overjoyed when her boyfriend, Burke Michaels, proposes after a whirlwind courtship...Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Every Last Fear
What It's About: In one of the year’s most anticipated debut psychological thrillers, a family made infamous by a true crime documentary is found dead, leaving their surviving son to uncover the truth about their final days.
“They found the bodies on a Tuesday.” So begins this twisty and breathtaking novel that traces the fate of the Pine family, a thriller that will both leave you on the edge of your seat and move you to tears...Publication Date: March 2, 2021
What It's About: In one of the year’s most anticipated debut psychological thrillers, a family made infamous by a true crime documentary is found dead, leaving their surviving son to uncover the truth about their final days.
“They found the bodies on a Tuesday.” So begins this twisty and breathtaking novel that traces the fate of the Pine family, a thriller that will both leave you on the edge of your seat and move you to tears...Publication Date: March 2, 2021
Every Vow You Break
What It's About: A bride’s dream honeymoon becomes a nightmare when a man with whom she’s had a regrettable one-night stand shows up in this electrifying psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of Eight Perfect Murders.
Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb...Publication Date: March 23, 2021
What It's About: A bride’s dream honeymoon becomes a nightmare when a man with whom she’s had a regrettable one-night stand shows up in this electrifying psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of Eight Perfect Murders.
Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb...Publication Date: March 23, 2021
Untitled
What It's About: A new novel from the author of The Silent Patient.Publication Date: April 13, 2021
What It's About: A new novel from the author of The Silent Patient.Publication Date: April 13, 2021
The Good Sister
What It's About: Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother-In-Law, delivers a knock-out of a novel about the lies that bind two sisters.
From the outside, everyone might think Fern and Rose are as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one, with a home and a husband and a fierce desire to become a mother...Publication Date: April 13, 2021
What It's About: Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother-In-Law, delivers a knock-out of a novel about the lies that bind two sisters.
From the outside, everyone might think Fern and Rose are as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one, with a home and a husband and a fierce desire to become a mother...Publication Date: April 13, 2021
The Survivors
What It's About: Coming home dredges up deeply buried secrets in The Survivors, a thrilling mystery by New York Times bestselling author Jane Harper
Kieran Elliott's life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.
The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home...Publication Date: September 22, 2020
What It's About: Coming home dredges up deeply buried secrets in The Survivors, a thrilling mystery by New York Times bestselling author Jane Harper
Kieran Elliott's life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.
The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home...Publication Date: September 22, 2020
The Burning Girls
What It's About: An unconventional vicar moves to a remote corner of the English countryside, only to discover a community haunted by death and disappearances both past and present--and intent on keeping its dark secrets--in this explosive, unsettling thriller from acclaimed author C. J. Tudor.
Welcome to Chapel Croft...Publication Date: February 9, 2021
What It's About: An unconventional vicar moves to a remote corner of the English countryside, only to discover a community haunted by death and disappearances both past and present--and intent on keeping its dark secrets--in this explosive, unsettling thriller from acclaimed author C. J. Tudor.
Welcome to Chapel Croft...Publication Date: February 9, 2021
The Good Sister
What It's About: Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother-In-Law, delivers a knock-out of a novel about the lies that bind two sisters.
From the outside, everyone might think Fern and Rose are as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one, with a home and a husband and a fierce desire to become a mother...Publication Date: April 13, 2021
What It's About: Sally Hepworth, the author of The Mother-In-Law, delivers a knock-out of a novel about the lies that bind two sisters.
From the outside, everyone might think Fern and Rose are as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one, with a home and a husband and a fierce desire to become a mother...Publication Date: April 13, 2021
The Girls Are All So Nice Here
What It's About: Two former best friends return to their college reunion to find that they’re being circled by someone who wants revenge for what they did ten years before—and will stop at nothing to get it—in this shocking psychological thriller about ambition, toxic friendship, and deadly desire.
A lot has changed in the years since Ambrosia Wellington graduated from college, and she’s worked hard to create a new life for herself...Publication Date: March 9, 2021
What It's About: Two former best friends return to their college reunion to find that they’re being circled by someone who wants revenge for what they did ten years before—and will stop at nothing to get it—in this shocking psychological thriller about ambition, toxic friendship, and deadly desire.
A lot has changed in the years since Ambrosia Wellington graduated from college, and she’s worked hard to create a new life for herself...Publication Date: March 9, 2021
The Lost Village
What It's About: The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense.
Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl...Publication Date: March 23, 2021
What It's About: The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense.
Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl...Publication Date: March 23, 2021
Find Me: A Novel
What It's About: The disappearance of a young woman leaves her closest friend reeling and an NYPD homicide detective digging into her own past in this thrilling mystery full of twists from the New York Times bestselling author of The Better Sister and The Wife.
Some pasts won’t stay forgotten . . .
She calls herself Hope Miller, but she has no idea who she actually is...Publication Date: April 27, 2021
What It's About: The disappearance of a young woman leaves her closest friend reeling and an NYPD homicide detective digging into her own past in this thrilling mystery full of twists from the New York Times bestselling author of The Better Sister and The Wife.
Some pasts won’t stay forgotten . . .
She calls herself Hope Miller, but she has no idea who she actually is...Publication Date: April 27, 2021
Do No Harm
What It's About: From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Behind Every Lie and The Night Olivia Fell comes an unforgettable and heart-wrenching novel about the lengths one woman will go to save her son.
Emma loves her life. She’s the mother of a precocious kindergartener, married to her soulmate—a loyal and loving police detective—and has a rewarding career as a doctor at the local hospital...Publication Date: February 16, 2021
What It's About: From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Behind Every Lie and The Night Olivia Fell comes an unforgettable and heart-wrenching novel about the lengths one woman will go to save her son.
Emma loves her life. She’s the mother of a precocious kindergartener, married to her soulmate—a loyal and loving police detective—and has a rewarding career as a doctor at the local hospital...Publication Date: February 16, 2021
Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
What It's About: Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano’s adult debut Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a witty, fast-paced mystery series, following struggling suspense novelist and single mom Finlay Donovan, whose fiction treads dangerously close to the truth as she becomes tangled in real-life murder investigations...Publication Date: February 2, 2021
What It's About: Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano’s adult debut Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a witty, fast-paced mystery series, following struggling suspense novelist and single mom Finlay Donovan, whose fiction treads dangerously close to the truth as she becomes tangled in real-life murder investigations...Publication Date: February 2, 2021
You'll Be the Death of Me
What It's About: A YA murder mystery meets Ferris Bueller's Day Off, about three estranged friends who skip school and get caught up in a crime they can't solve without exposing their secrets. Publication Date: Not Available
What It's About: A YA murder mystery meets Ferris Bueller's Day Off, about three estranged friends who skip school and get caught up in a crime they can't solve without exposing their secrets. Publication Date: Not Available
She's Too Pretty to Burn
What It's About: An electric romance set against a rebel art scene sparks lethal danger for two girls in this expertly plotted YA thriller. For fans of E. Lockhart, Lauren Oliver and Kara Thomas.
The summer is winding down in San Diego. Veronica is bored, caustically charismatic, and uninspired in her photography...Publication Date: March 21, 2021
What It's About: An electric romance set against a rebel art scene sparks lethal danger for two girls in this expertly plotted YA thriller. For fans of E. Lockhart, Lauren Oliver and Kara Thomas.
The summer is winding down in San Diego. Veronica is bored, caustically charismatic, and uninspired in her photography...Publication Date: March 21, 2021
What a great list! It’s really hard to keep up with so many good books to read :)
haha I KNOW!! I can never seem to get ahead of my TBR, but ahh well. there are worse problems to have!
I do love a good mystery. I’m going to try to get my hands on a copy of Findlay Donovan is Killing it. It sounds like fun. Thanks for the heads up on these.