11 mystery novels we’re devouring this August

Nothing gets us turning pages like a small-town murder. Part of the North Falls novel series by Karin Slaughter, this one is about the notorious Vickery family. When Allison Vickery is found murdered in her own kitchen, all leads point to the obvious suspect, but, of course, a town like this—and a house like this—is filled with secrets, lies, and a truckload of inherited trauma.

Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie—and their kids—are all grown up in this sequel to the hit novel Big Little Lies that releases on August 26. The kids are now in high school, but the lying and the stealthy games continue—starting with a severed finger mailed to their school principal. Throw in a strange man wandering around the school and drama from the women’s personal lives, and you’ve got a perfect Moriarty book where different perspectives come together to form an expertly written, satisfying (as early reviews state) sequel.

Mostly known for her psychological thrillers, Sarah Pekkanen is taking on the paranormal with The Women in White. A mystery set in the past and present features a quartet of women who become subjects of a parapsychology experiment by a well-known scientist in 1964. In the present, a young woman becomes a caretaker to an old woman, Betty. Betty lives in a world of no Wi-Fi, cell phones, microwaves or television—she doesn’t even know these concepts exist. So, our young protagonist proceeds to do some digging into Betty’s past, including the experiments she went through, and comes up with one big question: What happened to the other three women?

PS: The novel is inspired by real experiments conducted by Duke University.

Mysteries with missing women set in alternating past-present timelines seem to be a trend. In 1926, five women have disappeared from a Vermont island, and in 2026 history seems to be repeating itself. The Unknown adds a little glamour to the spooky—its protagonist is an actress who travels to New Avalon to shoot a film about the unsolved mysteries of the island. Very soon, though, things begin to go wrong—the cast is left stranded and an old diary reveals a seance gone wrong in this spooky novel with And Then There Were None energy.

This one is making the rounds on all the must-read lists this month. Set in the late 1970s, it starts with a talented teenager, Mira Winston, who hits a golf ball from her tee with such force that it slams, smack dab, into the temple of a high-school junior named Kenny Foster, causing a freak fatal accident (‘accident’ being the operative word). As 18-year-old Mira’s relationship with a married man comes to light, secrets about her past and her family become fodder for gossip and everyone turns on her.

A 2016 Brazilian novel releasing in English this month, The Secret Dinner illustrates what happens when a joke goes too far. Here, four broke college friends move to Rio from their small towns and start hosting exclusive, underground dinner parties for the wealthy to afford their burgeoning rent. Themes of cannibalism abound in this dark comedy about friendship and ambition. Safe to say you might want to be vegetarian for a while after reading this one.

Another translated work. This one is a cult Japanese mystery that makes it to English-language shelves this month. More of a dystopian mystery (Stuart Turton’s 2024 novel The Last Murder at the End of the World comes to mind), in Arane Araki’s fictional world an asteroid is hurtling towards the Earth and everyone’s got only two months to live. Twenty-three-year-old Haru is only trying to pass her driving test. Instead, she finds the brutally stabbed corpse of a woman in the trunk of her car. Along with her driving instructor, a vigilante ex-cop named Isawgawa, Haru sets out to look for the murderer, world coming to an end or not.

A serial killer (who strikes only at carnivals) recants his 25-year-old confession to a murder, calmly stating he killed only four girls, not five. Well, who killed that fifth girl then? In the aftermath of that question, two former best friends who now live completely separate lives (one is a Real Housewife, while the other runs a gossip blog that trashes said Real Housewives reality TV show franchise) are forced to confront what happened the night their best friend died. She was the fifth girl, and they were the last ones to see her alive. Heart of Glass is out on August 25.

Writer of cult TV series The Wire, George Pelecanos returns after 14 years with a mystery involving private investigator Derek Strange. When he’s hired to prove the alibi of a suspect accused of murder, Strange gets embroiled in Washington DC’s dark underworld once again. The PI is now older, slightly unsure of himself, but fans of the series say it’s got all the hallmarks of a true Derek Strange novel.

The writer behind bestseller The Next Mrs. Parrish, Liv Constantine is back with a domestic thriller about an aspiring writer who marries her literary idol, moves to his secluded home in the woods (eeep..), and uncovers some disturbing secrets about his deceased first wife. While the premise gives Verity vibes, Promise Me Never actually promises a host of twists and turns in the company of an unreliable narrator.

We love a mystery set in a creepy haunted grand home, and Lisa Gardner’s newest release is exactly that. A young couple moves to a new (small) town where everyone knows everyone and everyone knows about the mystery of the Dixon family lodge where 30 years ago, a family of six—two parents and their four children—disappeared one night, leaving behind only bloody footprints. Now as the Collinses move into that very home, the local rumour mill goes into overdrive, (literal) skeletons are unearthed, and theories about witches and old treasures abound.