The best mystery thrillers set in mountainous landscapes

Set in the frigid French Alps, One by One blends Christie-esque mystery with modern technology and a cast of deliciously unlikeable characters who die—you guessed it—one by one. A team of app developers rents a luxurious ski chalet and becomes trapped inside after a terrible avalanche. One of them is a murderer, but who is it? I picked up this book after indulging in some breathtaking hikes in the Alps and falling in love with the landscape. I am drawn to (and write) mystery thrillers that strip away the luxuries of modern technology by thrusting the characters into high altitudes. The characters in One by One must depend on their own smarts to not only discover who-dun-it, but also to escape with their lives.

Once again, King proves he is the king by thrusting a nine-year-old girl into the harsh Appalachian Mountains and leaving her to fight for her own survival. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon follows Trisha, a spunky kid who loses her way while hiking with her mom and brother. To stay alive, she must conserve what little food she has and maintains her sanity by listening to her Walkman and following baseball news about her favorite player, Tom Gordon. But little does she realize that something fierce and hungry is following her every step. As an avid hiker, I understand the harsh realities of getting lost in unfamiliar terrain—it’s [bleeping] terrifying. One of Stephen King’s best!

We’re back in the Alps—this time in Switzerland—and a storm’s a-brewin’. The Sanitorium follows an uptight detective hoping for some much-needed time away from work. But, lo and behold, the mountainside hotel of Le Sommet is anything but relaxing. I loved the cold and creepy isolation this book offers, and much of the mystery in the book centers on the hotel’s previous existence as a sanitorium for women with tuberculosis. Aside from the landscape, the way Pearse subtly criticizes the historical mistreatment of women in this book is what really hooked me.

I’m a huge fan of small bookstores, but even more so, I love the “Little Free Library” kiosks set up around various neighborhoods in my home city of Austin, Texas. It was inside one of these take-a-book/leave-a-book nests that I found Descent, which follows the Courtland family and their descent into a living nightmare when their teenage daughter is abducted. Tim Johnston is a master of setting, particularly the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I’m particularly keen on this landscape (and want to thank Tim for such vivid imagery) because my upcoming serial killer thriller is set in these same jagged peaks.

This one’s a little bit of a cheat because the Grand Canyon isn’t technically a mountainous landscape—unless you’re looking at it from the bottom. But as far as landscapes go, you can’t do much better. The Anomaly follows an I’ll-do-it-myself archaeologist who discovers an ancient cave that seems to have a mind of its own. More than anything, this book is just downright freakin’ fun. It’s evident that Rutger knows this landscape better than most, and he utilizes both history and conspiracy theories to his advantage. This one’s a true mystery where the setting is a character in itself.