10 murder mystery books you NEED to read!🔪🩸

I am here to chat with you about 10 mystery books, kind of more than 10, but like let's say 10, 10 mystery books that you need to read. So I realised the other day, in terms of like dedicated mystery, murder mystery, actually these are murder mystery, did I say that? They're just murder mystery, not mystery, murder mystery. In terms of murder mystery recommendation videos that I've done in the past, I've only done it for beginners or my top murder mystery books. I'll leave that linked here. But there's stuff in between that, that I wouldn't necessarily recommend for beginners and aren't necessarily my favourites, but are ones that I really enjoyed and would recommend. And so I wanted to do a dedicated video for that. And maybe I'll do this every year or so as well. So shall we just get into it and chat about the murder mystery books that you need to read? Okay, I will say I have been fairly strict with, is it a murder mystery or not? These first two I really loved and I wanted to recommend. They are scraping it. The rules don't apply. A little bit, in their own unique ways. I don't know, a little bit. They're not quite your traditional murder mystery, but let's chat about them. So my first one is Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister. A lot of you will have seen, because it's now my most viewed video ever, but my Goodreads Choice Awards video where I read the top 10 mystery thrillers of the year. This was the highlight for me of a book. I need to take that sticker off. Do that later. Of a book that I read because of that video. Now this is a murder mystery, I would say. It has a lot of the hallmarks for murder mystery, but kind of what we're trying to discover is not who committed the murder, because we know that, it's why the murder was committed. So basically our main character witnesses her son stab someone right at the start of the book. And it's obviously very horrific and she goes to sleep and she wakes up and it's the day before. She goes to sleep, it's the day before that. And over time she's trying to figure out how did her son get to this place. Because before that day she thought everything was kind of normal, maybe he was acting a bit strange, but like not to the point of murdering someone. So yeah, we know her son commits the murder, but she's trying to figure out why. And she kind of assumes this detective role in a sense. So I would say it is a murder mystery. Just, I like books nowadays, I guess they're being published in the modern era, that take the murder mystery genre and put a little bit of a twist on it. We'll talk about that in the next book as well. I loved this, I thought it was such a fun twist. I loved the time travel element. I've said before, one of my favourite things about this is that she is completely on her own in trying to figure this out. Because every day she goes, you know, a day previous or a week previous. And so if she tries to have a conversation with anyone about it, when she goes to sleep they won't remember her conversation at all. And so she has to start at square one again. And I just loved also how this is about a mother's love for her son. I thought it was really beautiful, kind of the lengths that she would go to, to protect him and to save him. And there were some twists in this that were pretty ******* good. I like drama. Drama drives me at times. The first twist, I was gagged. And then there's like a second twist from that first twist that I did see coming, but I still loved it. I thought it was such an interesting mystery that unravelled over time. So yeah, I really, really enjoyed this one. This next one was a four star. It wasn't quite a five star for me, but I think about it a lot. It's one of the books that I read last year that I would say has had a lasting impact on me. And it is The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett. It says on the front, it's time to solve the murder of the century. I, okay. This one, you get basically this set of audio files that have been recorded from a person's phone and the person is now missing. And basically it's our main character who has just gotten out of prison. He's talking about this mystery that he found out about when he was a young child from his teacher, Miss Isles, about this children's book that had been written and the codes, secret codes that were in this children's book. And he believes that Miss Isles then went missing. And so you're trying to figure out, it's never outright said at the beginning, oh, this person's dead, but you have got two people that are missing. Both are protagonists who will then read the whole, most of the story is us going through real time with him and these audio files he records with other people, trying to figure out the mystery of the code. Or are we trying to solve the mystery of the murder of Miss Isles, perhaps? Did something happen to her? So I think this is one of the best twists I read last year. I gave it the award for best twist of the year. Oh, y'all wanted a twist, eh? Come on, season six, let's get sticky! I just think the reveal in this was so clever. I don't think those twists come along very often, where you read it and you're like, holy ----! Oh my god! It was just such, like a twist that just lights you on fire. Like, I don't know, I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved, loved the twist of this. And I think it would really hold up to rereads. It's the kind of twist that I don't think you could ever, you might get hints of what's happening, but like, you'll never fully understand until it's revealed to the full extent of what's going on. And I don't know, I just think it was really clever. Really, really clever. I am so excited to read Janice Hallett's new release that's just come out this year. I may be reading it next week for a video. It's a video that I'm not sure what I'm reading yet. Yeah, this wasn't a five star. I think I gave it maybe a 4.5 actually, but it's one of the books I think about the most. And Janice Hallett is just doing really unique stuff in the murder mystery genre at the moment. My next recommendation is one you absolutely have to read if you are a big Agatha Christie fan, and it is The Three Dahlias by Katie Watson. I haven't really heard anyone else speak about this. I picked this up on a whim in a bookshop I went to. So we are following three actresses who have played the role of Dahlia Lively throughout the years. So like, one is an elderly woman, one is a really young girl who's about to play her for the first time. And Dahlia Lively is one of the most renowned detectives to ever exist in this book. And they go to this convention that's being held kind of for fans of the books at the author's old stately home, and murders start occurring and they kind of team up to solve it. And I just thought this was just such a fun dedication and homage. But you know, it's just so referential to the murder mystery genre and to Agatha Christie in particular. Agatha Christie is mentioned in this, so it's not like Agatha Christie doesn't exist in this world. But you can tell that the author is very much based on Agatha Christie. And it was just really fun seeing these characters team up to solve this mystery. What I think is unique about it is it is dual perspective from each three of the characters, but you kind of spend a third of the book with each rather than like hopping between them a lot. At the end it kind of hops between them a lot, but for most of the book you spend like a big chunk with each. And I did enjoy that because I felt like it gave you time to really figure out that character and figure out what was going on with them in their life. And I don't know, just like a convention of murder mystery superfans like was just such a fun setting. So I really enjoyed this. This is a series so I'm really excited for the second one which is coming out later this year. Next is a mixed media recommendation. I love a bit of mixed media. It is True Crime Story by Joseph Knox. So in this we're following the story of Zoe Nolan, who was a Manchester University student who went missing and is presumed dead essentially. And it's mixed media because it's all told through interviews with people in her life. So her boyfriend, her friend, her parents, trying to piece together what's going on. And it is a story that is story, kind of Joseph Knox is a character in the story as well. And he's trying to piece this together after his friend who was trying to piece this together died. And so there's kind of letters from him throughout as well. I loved the audiobook for this. I think the audiobook can get a bit confusing. I think it's similar to other like interview format books where it is full cast, but they're not going to say who they are at the start of when they start speaking. So you have to remember which voice is who. So I did read along physically with the audio. But I think this has great twists. It has great like developments throughout the book. You really don't know who you can trust. And it was just such a fun read. You know, I love a book like this. Any recommendations for mixed media murder mysteries, I am all for it. Please give them to me. Then I just quickly want The first is A Quiet Life in the Country. I have read the first five. I just read The Burning Issue of the Day, the fifth one, and I gave it five stars. I love this series. I feel like I don't talk about it enough because I don't typically vlog it. But this is my favourite cosy mystery series. And we are following Lady Hardcastle and her maid Flo. They used to be, let's say, co-detectives, maybe spies. And they have retired and moved to this lovely little village in England. But it turns out it is the murder hotspot of the world. They have a lot of murders that they need to help solve. I'm here to investigate and find out what had happened. And it's just so funny. Like Lady Hardcastle and Flo's relationship is so endearing and funny and lovely in the way that they understand each other after being friends for so long. And I love the mysteries. I think the mysteries are just fun, like easy, cosy mysteries. The audiobooks are incredible. The narrator for the audiobooks is amazing. If you're going to read these, I would recommend the audiobooks, not necessarily the physical books because I think the audiobooks are just so lovely. And it's just my favourite cosy mystery series. Okay, I'm going to try and get completely caught up with the next four in the series this year because it's just perfect. The series is perfect and I love it. Next, we have the first classic mystery that I've ever read that wasn't Agatha Christie and that is The Winching Him Mystery by Anthony Barclay. So in this, there's our main character is a newly employed... what's it called? Footman at this house. He had been kind of living in the same world as the people he's now serving but he'd run out of money so he's now working as a footman. And there's this seance at the evening dinner. We've got a lot of characters. I did a whole video where I tried to solve this because this was famously one of the only books that Agatha Christie couldn't solve the final twist for. There's a seance and the lights go out and one of our characters goes missing. So it kind of is like a missing person murder mystery. They do... I feel like if it's a missing person and you're like trying to figure out have they been kidnapped or have they been murdered, I often do class it still as a murder mystery because it's very much the same format. And I was just surprised by how much I really enjoyed the writing in this. I thought the writing was funny. I feel like in murder mysteries, particularly typical ones, it's often like archetypal characters, right, who have got a few key traits and they just play up on them. But I don't mind that and I feel like this had that where like all the characters felt fleshed out but yes they were just archetypes. That's okay. It's made me want to read a lot more classic murder mysteries that aren't just Agatha Christie. Like it's made me want to delve into this genre a lot more. So yeah, I'm definitely intrigued. I'll definitely try out some more from Anthony Berkley and it was just funny. It was a fun time, enjoyable. I don't know, I really enjoyed it. Next, I don't necessarily need to recommend these because I talk about them all the time but we have the next two in the Thursday Madder Club. I've read both two and three. I gave them both five stars but number three for me was better than number two. You've heard me speak about this a hundred times if you're here. Nothing new, nothing changed, same old ----. But the Thursday Madder Club is following a cast of characters who live at this retirement home. They have this club that they used to have every Thursday where they tried to solve cold cases but then murders start turning up on their doorstep. And for me, these are just perfect. I love them so much, they are amazing. They are great mysteries, really clever murder mysteries. They are funny, they are joyful, they have such a wonderful perspective on life because you are following elderly characters. And I think when you get to that point in life it's kind of seeing the beauty in everything. I don't know, I always come out of reading these books like hopeful for life, I don't know. Our cast of characters are just funny, endearing, I love the writing, and I love the mysteries. So I had to give these a little bit of a shout out as well. Then a new surprise favourite for me was The Broken Girls by Simone St. James. This was in my top three, definitely, books of last year. So we're following two timelines in this. One in the present day where we've got a woman whose sister was murdered I think about 10, oh no, 20 years ago. And the body was found on the grounds of this old school and then we're following some girls at the school many years ago because a body has been found during renovations of the school that are now happening. And I don't usually like dual timelines but I really loved the dual timeline in this. I thought both mysteries were equally interesting. I loved the writing, I loved the pacing, I thought it would just pace so well. It was kind of a book where you just have this wonderful time reading it. You're just sitting there, you can't put it down, you're reading it in one sitting. And there is a little bit of like speculativeness. I won't get into it much because it is kind of just at the end, just a little hint of something, but I loved that. I loved the development of that and like where it took the book. I just thought it was so interesting because often I feel like if you're going to have a speculative element in a murder mystery it's often at the beginning and then the ending is like, oh it was nothing, you know what I mean? Whereas this one there's not really much of it throughout the book but at the end there's just a little hint of something, just a little hint. Simone St. James after alluding to the And I think all of Simone St. James books have that, so it's not really a spoiler, it's kind of like a feature of her books. But I just loved this, I thought the writing was incredible and I can't wait to make my way through all of Simone St. James's backlist. Then one that I know is a little bit controversial and not everyone agrees with me, but I agree with me. It's The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley, okay? It's The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley. I loved this, this is another like missing person murder mystery. We've got a main character who turns up to her brother's Paris apartment and he is not there, we don't know where he is. Is he missing? Has he been killed? And she's kind of asking for the help of all of these people who live in the apartment block that he did and it becomes clear that everyone has secrets, you know? And this had a midway twist, I love a good midway twist that completely turns the book on its head, that was just so good. I don't know, not everyone else loved this, it hasn't made one that a lot of people have loved, but I did, okay? But the guest list in The Paris Apartment just do something for me. They have those archetypal characters that like Agatha Christie had, where like they are identifiable by like key characteristics. Yes, they're maybe a bit cardboard cut out, but like it's fun, it's fun, her books are fun. This one I didn't love as much as the guest list, but I just think it was such a fun setting. The setting was almost a character in itself, you know, this Paris apartment with secret passageways and like being able to see people from across the centre bit of the apartment block. I loved it, I really, really loved it. I had a great time, it gave me a twist I wanted. So if you enjoyed the guest list, I would recommend this, I think. And then lastly, I want to give a quick shout out to the two Agatha Christie's that I have read most recently. I read Death on the Nile and Peril at the End House. This was a 5 star and this was a 3.5, 4 star. This one, everyone knows, is that boat in the Nile. This one, I feel like I can't remember what about the plot is a spoiler, what I can tell you, but just know there's a murder on a boat on the Nile, basically, and Urquhara is there to figure it out. And this one is kind of about a girl who seems to be, attempted murder seems to be happening. There is a murder about halfway through the book, but like there's, we're following a girl who it looks like someone keeps trying to kill her, basically. Agatha Christie is just, it's like a nice palette cleanser, a nice simple read, her books are never very long. I would like to start Miss Marple this year, I'd like to read maybe one or two Marples and read one or two Urquhara. Listen, I'm here for a long time, hopefully, so hopefully I'll have time to read a lot of Agatha Christie's in my life over the years. So there we have it, that is the top 10, apart from there was five Lady Hardcastle's, two Urquhara's and two Rich Rosman's, but like 10 categories of murder mysteries that I have loved lately and that I think you should read. I love murder mysteries, my favourite genre, so yeah, I hope you enjoy some of these if you pick them up. If you got into the end of the video, comment your murder weapon of choice. And thank you so much for watching, I'll see you very soon in another video, bye!