The best atmospheric mysteries with twists I didn’t see coming

The Secret Keeper is a master class in atmospheric mystery storytelling. Kate Morton always writes the most gorgeous, sweeping novels with epic twists and such strong senses of place.

Whenever someone asks for a book that made me gasp or had a twist I never saw coming, this is the first book that always comes to mind. Morton became an auto-buy author for me after this one, with her ethereal prose, her lush manor settings, and her time slips between rich historical flashbacks and present day.

This book is one that’s best read on a wraparound porch spattered with summer shadows and holding a glass of iced tea. 

I can’t possibly have a best-of list that doesn’t include Louise Penny. Her Inspector Gamache series exudes such a joyous, hopeful, cozy warmth—even when they’re about premeditated murder.

How the Light Gets In is one of my very favorites because it at first seems like such a quiet, wintry book where subtle hints wink like sunlight on sparkling snow. But there’s something so much more ominous lurking beneath the surface and it leads to a truly shocking climax.

As with all of Penny’s books, this one brims with heart and makes me wish I could travel to the cozy town of Three Pines. Best read near a crackling fire with a blanket and a steaming hot toddy.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time is the book I have found myself most recommending over the last year.

Gillian McAllister perfectly captures the wide spectrum of feelings that accompany motherhood—overwhelming love, regret, anxiety, courage. This book is thought-provoking, page-turning, and plumbs emotional depths that quickly elevated it to one of my favorite books.

It begins with a mother who witnesses her son committing a brutal murder, and then traces the days and years backward to figure out what led to the crime—and whether she can stop it from happening. An incredibly original story that plays with form, kept me guessing, and pulled at my heartstrings. Best read at the lake, as the sun sets, with a glass of blood red wine.

No one does dialogue and atmospheric tension like Tana French. Faithful Place is my favorite of hers.

I felt like the characters were so alive that I could hear their voices in my head long after I had closed the book. This story is rife with a gritty, urban Irish atmosphere and thick with familial tension. French does a cross between literary fiction and procedural that is devastating, at times quite dark, and yet ringing with hope—one of my favorite qualities in a mystery.

Best read on a dark, rainy afternoon with a mug of rich coffee—or a Guinness. 

I love mysteries that play with form and narration. Malice was published in 1996 by Keigo Higashino and it’s unlike any mystery that I’ve ever read.

There are multiple stories being told at different levels and I loved the way the puzzle unravels. It’s a locked room mystery set in Tokyo that midway through the narrative switches from being about who the murderer is to why they did it. The atmosphere is chilling and almost sterile, like a flickering fluorescent light.

Best read on a redeye flight with a web of city lights spread out beneath you—or on a commuter train to work between sips of black coffee.