We All Sleuth: 11 New Mystery Thriller Books For April 2024
Publishing is in full swing and there are more books being released every day than you can possibly read. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by this fact, tuck yourself into your favorite reading spot, put on your sleuthing cap, and get ready to choose from this list of mystery and thrillers that I’ve selected for you. I’ve aimed to round up a wide range of tropes, subgenres, and types of crime books, so there should be something here for every reading mood.
What does April have for mystery and thriller readers? There is a domestic thriller with a social media influencer obsessed with a true crime, a chef sleuth, an English detective agency, a middle grade school set mystery, a fictional serial killer procedural, and a novel for fans of Only Murders in the Building. There are two historical mysteries: a YA set in L.A. with the murder of a film star and an adult mystery set in London with a Holmes-inspired duo. We have a return-home mystery, a multiple POV domestic thriller, a slow-burn remote mystery, and the latest in a long-running cozy mystery series where the animals help solve the cases. Hope you’re ready to solve some mysteries!
Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett
For fans of domestic thrillers, missing person cases, murder mysteries, and social media influencers!
Bree is staying in a luxury New Jersey home with her new boyfriend, Ty, but it turns into a nightmare rather than a love nest when Bree wakes up to Ty missing and a dead white woman in the home. Not only is Bree concerned for Ty, but the past she distanced herself from when she was arrested in college comes flooding back. She’s forced to call a friend from her previous life—who is now a lawyer—because the dead woman is a missing person the internet is obsessed with finding, helmed by a beauty influencer using the case to boost her engagement.
For backlist readers, pick up Garrett’s cozy series starter Hollywood Homicide and murder mystery standalone Like a Sister.
The Last Word (Harbinder Kaur #4) by Elly Griffiths
For fans of English mysteries, detective agencies, delightful characters, and murder mysteries!
Edwin is in his 80s and partnered with Natalka, 50 years his junior, in a detective agency they’ve opened up. They are bored with minor cases in the likes of fraud until they get a murder mystery: Melody Chambers, a local writer, is dead, and her daughters believe she was murdered. Enter Edwin and Natalka taking on the case and going undercover!
This is a loosely tied-together series where the books can be read as standalones, but all are delightful and wonderful. If you want to start at the beginning, pick up The Stranger Diaries. Griffiths also has the popular Ruth Galloway series, starring an archaeologist, that starts with The Crossing Places.
Murder on Demand (The Morning Show Murders Book 4) by Al Roker, Matt Costello
For fans of celebrity-written series, and amateur sleuth chefs!
Billy Blessing is starting life over a decade after leaving Chicago, with a chef job in Long Island. But it isn’t long before a mystery finds him: a boat washed up with no one on it and the police are going with a “there must have been an accident” theory. But the daughter of the boat’s owner wants to know where her father is or what happened to him. So Billy will look into it…
If you want to start at the beginning, pick up The Morning Show Murders.
Drew Leclair Crushes the Case ( Drew Leclair #2) by Katryn Bury
For fans of LGBTQ+ middle grade mysteries, kid detectives, and school settings!
Drew has asthma and anxiety and loves solving a mystery: something that recently got her in trouble at school. So she knows better but also, she was born to solve mysteries. So she is absolutely looking into who is breaking into PE lockers and leaving ransom notes, something she’d rather focus on instead of her mom having run off with her school counselor.
If you’re looking for a delightful mystery series, be sure to pick up the first, Drew Leclair Gets a Clue.
The Murder of Mr. Ma by John Shen Yen Nee, SJ Rozan
For fans of Holmes-inspired duos, historical mysteries, and murder mysteries!
In London, 1924, academic Lao She ultimately ends up partnered with Judge Dee Ren Jie after a series of events. Now they have a murder to solve: who killed Ma Za Ren with one of his own store’s weapons? Come for the mystery, and stay for the humor and action!
Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson
For fans of Only Murders in the Building!
Dorothy Darling, in her 70s, and Kat Bennett, in her 20s, are new neighbors at Shelley House, with Darling being the longest resident and Bennett the newest. They are not getting along. But that will have to be put aside when they have to come together with the residents to save the building from their landlord and also figure out who attacked one of the tenants…
Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
For fans of historical YA mysteries!
Sisters May, Gemma, and Peony Chow find the body of Lulu Wong, a 1930s movie star. The LAPD isn’t motivated to investigate, and they’re known to be corrupt, so the Chow sisters—once classmates and neighbors of Wong’s—decide to solve the murder mystery themselves.
Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda
For fans of returning to a small town and mysteries involving inheritances!
Detective Perry Holt has died in his North Carolina hometown, and Hazel Sharp returns home for the funeral. Hazel was raised by Holt, along with his two sons, when Hazel’s mom walked out on Holt after cleaning him out. It’s as much of a surprise to Hazel as everyone else that Holt’s home was left to her in his will, and soon she’ll find out that it comes with the cost of past secrets…
Feline Fatale (Mrs. Murphy #32) by Rita Mae Brown
For fans of cozy mysteries with cat and dog sidekicks!
You can find our sleuth Harry in Crozet, Virginia, caught up once again in a mystery: a mysterious death! There’s currently a bill to improve road clearing, which Harry’s friend is advocating for. A delegate opponent of the bill, with plenty of enemies, has one of her young pages die under mysterious circumstances. Enter Harry—with help from cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter and dogs Tucker and Pirate—to solve the case!
If you want to start at the beginning, pick up Wish You Were Here!
While We Were Burning by Sara Koffi
For fans of domestic thrillers, “Is it a murder” mysteries, and dual POV!
Elizabeth and David have recently moved to a wealthy Memphis neighborhood, and the closest thing to a friend Elizabeth has is their neighbor Patricia. On the morning she’s meant to go for a run with Patricia, Elizabeth instead finds her dead. Her death is ruled a suicide, but Elizabeth refuses to believe it is, and her husband David tries to help her spiraling mental health by getting her an assistant. But the assistant doesn’t distract Elizabeth as she’s meant to; instead she also has questions about Patricia’s death.
One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole
For fans of slow burn remote mysteries with thriller endings!
Ken Nash has dissociative disorder and has not been the one in charge of herself since punching a boyfriend’s father. She comes to find that her alters have gone through a pandemic, have been evicted, and took a job in a castle on a remote island that technically doesn’t start until she’s spent a full night there. As she tries to establish herself back in the world and learn what her alters have been doing and are currently doing, she’s trapped on an island with a caretaker who isn’t thrilled to have Ken there.
Always looking for a great mystery to curl up with? We got you covered!
