The Best Mystery Books to Read in Summer 2025

Valerie Rankin never expected her crafting group drama to spiral into a murder, but that’s exactly what happened. Rather than go to the police, the members close ranks and decide to sniff out the killer themselves. It’ll take intelligence, guts, and more than a little creativity to figure out who among them is capable of murder…

After getting fired from his job at a Los Angeles law firm, Jason Brinkman is on a mission to begin again. He moves to a small town on the coast and opens a solo practice, with budding romances to follow. But when local kids find a body in a storm drain, his hopes for a fresh start quickly fall apart. 

18-year-old River Santos lost everything in a house fire—her clothes, her guitar, and lyrics, but most devastatingly, her father. However, it seems her luck has begun to change when she receives a two million dollar donation to her GoFundMe page. She can’t help but wonder if each new customer at the diner she works at is the benefactor.

One thing she knows for sure is that it wasn’t her equally attractive and cold coworker, Logan Evans, who’s always acted like he hates her. But when he helps her during an awkward run-in with an ex, she starts to think that maybe she was wrong—not just about him, but about her not-so-perfect dad and her chaotic mother. Secrets will be unearthed, and River will come to realize that there is always more to lose...

Nine people with international influence gather together on a remote island off the coast of Iceland. Only eight will live through the night. Trapped by a fierce storm, the survivors must put their heads together to sort through all the personal turmoil and figure out who the true killer is. With obvious nods to Agatha Christie and Nordic noir, Eliza Reid has produced “a brilliant debut” (Louise Penny).

Claire Cook’s life may seem perfect, but things are not always as they appear. There are downsides to having a powerful husband, and she’s ready to get away from it all. She makes her way to the airport, where she meets a woman with similar circumstances, and they switch tickets to make a fresh start.

When the other woman’s flight crashes, Claire realizes everyone will think she perished, freeing her to make a new life for herself. But by assuming the other woman’s identity, she’s also taking on her secrets…

Each day, Aiden Bishop wakes up in a new body—that is, until he can catch Evelyn Hardcastle’s killer. But he only has eight days to unravel the mystery of her murder, or he risks being trapped in Blackheath Manor forever. With each clock reset, in which Aiden is forced to relive the same day over again, the suspense becomes thicker, beckoning the reader to hasten forth before time runs out. 

Meg spends her time working at a casino while trying to keep herself afloat with a few too many pills. But reports of her sister’s death start to surface, throwing her a curveball. There are whispers of suicide, but Meg is uncertain. Her search for the truth leads her to Haley’s last known whereabouts—the remote rehab facility she was checked into to manage her addictions. 

Meg decides the only way to figure out what happened to Haley is to become an inpatient herself. Far from home, Meg quickly learns the answers she was looking for will be more difficult to find than she once thought, and that she may be in grave danger…

When Cass first arrives at Koh Sang, a remote island in Thailand, she’s looking to abandon a past riddled with dark secrets. Becoming a local dive instructor seems like the perfect escape. 

Years have passed, and when Cassie is not in scuba gear, she is with The Permanents, a group of people who have also fled who they once were and have been running ever since. It isn’t until a dive student is found dead that Cass realizes the oasis she has built is beginning to slip away. Someone on the island knows who Cass really is, and they’re doing their best to not let her forget. 

When Blake Porter is fired from his job and risks losing the brownstone he and his fiancée share, renting a room to Whitney, a beautiful and mysterious woman, seems like the perfect solution—until it’s not. Strange things start to happen—misplaced items, creepy noises, and a persistent stench—turning his life into a nightmare he can’t wake up from...that he welcomed into his home. 

Quinn is on the run. But before she has the chance to make her great escape, she is forced off-road by a snowstorm and must take shelter in a run-down motel. At first, Quinn thinks Baxter Motel is the perfect place to hide from the police, with its solitary setting and charming owner, Nick Baxter. 

Quickly, the facade peels away, leaving a much more sinister energy in its wake. Staring Quinn down through a window in the house across the street is Nick’s vexed wife. Quinn decides she will leave first thing when the weather is cleared. That is, if she makes it through the night…

Hazel is a single woman in her thirties, months away from losing her investigation business. When she meets Madeline, a socialite in need of her service, it appears her luck has finally started to change. 

A young girl has disappeared from a children’s home known as The Orphanage By The Lake, and Hazel is tasked with finding her. But the more she digs into the case, the stranger things become. With its lurking shadows and unexplained blood spatters, The Orphanage By The Lake is not at all what it seems, and neither is Madeline. 

Poe Webb hosts a unique true crime podcast where she invites guests to confess their crimes anonymously. Though she can’t promise the police won’t come after the confessors, the fame to follow is too tantalizing to resist. 

She’s not used to being on the other side of things; that is, having her own offenses aired out to an audience. Until a strangely familiar man comes on her show—claiming to be her mother’s murderer, which Poe knows is impossible. She killed him years ago…