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Mysteries, Thrillers & Crime

Mysteries, Thrillers & Crime: news, interviews and reviews from NPR Books
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Black Mad Wheel

Black Mad Wheel

by Josh Malerman

Hardcover, 291 pages

A Detroit band desperate to reclaim fame is recruited by the government to track down the source of a mysterious sound in the African desert, which they link to an ominous conspiracy and an enigmatic accident victim's remarkable recovery.

  • The Power Of Music Is At The Heart Of 'Black Mad Wheel'
Based on a True Story

Based on a True Story

by Delphine De Vigan

Hardcover, 378 pages

An award-winning psychological thriller from France by the author of No and Me imagines the author's increasingly dangerous friendship with a sophisticated and spontaneous woman who gradually threatens the author's identity as both a writer and an individual.

  • 'Based On A True Story' May Not Be True — But It's Still Scary
City of Miracles

City of Miracles

by Robert Jackson Bennett

Paperback, 451 pages

After the assassination of his former friend and ally, Prime Minister Shara Komayd, a fugitive and exile, Sigrud je Harvaldsson, sets out on a mission of revenge.

  • An Old Soldier Is Back In Action In 'City Of Miracles'
Into the Water

Into the Water

by Paula Hawkins

Hardcover, 388 pages

When a single mom and a teen girl are found murdered at the bottom of a river in a small town weeks apart, an ensuing investigation dredges up a complicated local history involving human instincts and the damage they can inflict.

  • Paula Hawkins Prepares To Dive 'Into The Water'
Killers of the Flower Moon

Killers of the Flower Moon

The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

by David Grann

Hardcover, 338 pages

A true account of the early 20th-century murders of dozens of wealthy Osage and law-enforcement officials, citing the contributions and missteps of a fledgling FBI that eventually uncovered one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history.

  • In The 1920s, A Community Conspired To Kill Native Americans For Their Oil Money
The Shadow Land

The Shadow Land

by Elizabeth Kostova

Hardcover, 478 pages

Accidentally taking a parcel from a family with whom she shared a cab, a young American tourist in Bulgaria is horrified to discover that the parcel contains an urn of ashes and embarks on an effort to return it to its family, making astonishing discoveries along the way. By the award-winning author of The Historian.

  • A Strange Odyssey Through Bulgaria In 'Shadow Land'
The Road to Jonestown

The Road to Jonestown

Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

by Jeff Guinn

Hardcover, 531 pages

A portrait of the influential cult leader behind the Jonestown Massacre examines his personal life from his extramarital affairs and drug use to his fraudulent faith healing practices and his decision to move his followers to Guyana, sharing astonishing new details about the events leading to the 1978 tragedy. By the award-winning author of Go Down Together.

  • Nearly 40 Years Later, Jonestown Offers A Lesson In Demagoguery
Anatomy of Innocence

Anatomy of Innocence

Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted

by Leslie S. Klinger and Laura Caldwell

Hardcover, 260 pages

This collection presents the stories of more than a dozen innocent men and women who were convicted of serious crimes and forced to endure a flawed criminal justice system before their exonerations.

  • An Exoneree Shares His Story Of Wrongful Conviction In 'Anatomy Of Innocence'
Ill Will

Ill Will

by Dan Chaon

Hardcover, 461 pages

A psychologist is unwittingly embroiled in two spectacular unsolved murders, three decades apart, when the foster brother convicted of killing their family years earlier is exonerated, making him question the testimony that led to the conviction.

  • Dread Builds As Good Guys Turn To Bad In 'Ill Will'
Celine

Celine

by Peter Heller

Hardcover, 333 pages

A missing-persons tracker who specializes in reuniting families to make amends for a loss in her own past, Celine searches for a presumed-dead photographer in Yellowstone, only to be targeted by a shadowy figure who wants to keep the case unsolved.

  • 'Celine' Is An Ace Detective With A Crack Shot, A Quick Wit And A Good Story
Waking Lions

Waking Lions

by Ayelet Gundar-goshen and Sondra Silverston

Hardcover, 341 pages

Fleeing the scene after accidentally running down an African migrant whose widow makes an impossible demand for his silence, a neurosurgeon with a seemingly idyllic life resorts to extreme lengths to save his family and reputation. A first U.S. novel. 35,000 first printing.

  • A Fatal Hit-And-Run Leads To A Collision Of Cultures In 'Waking Lions'
The Mercy of the Tide

The Mercy of the Tide

by Keith Rosson

Paperback, 283 pages
  • Adolescence Isn't The Only Horror In 'The Mercy Of The Tide'
Shining City

Shining City

by Tom Rosenstiel

Hardcover, 356 pages

Hired by the President to vet a nominee for the Supreme Court, fixer Peter Rena and his partner, Randi Brooks, scour the candidate's past and outmaneuver ambitious adversaries, only to discover that a killer is murdering random victims to cover up an assassination plot.

  • 'Shining City' Is Packed With Timely Thrills
Universal Harvester

Universal Harvester

by John Darnielle

Hardcover, 214 pages

Working for a 1990s small-community video rental store under threat by a major chain competitor, Jeremy is reluctantly drawn into a mystery involving chilling footage of criminal activity that has been recorded onto the store's VHS tapes.

  • Horror Tropes And Human Sadness In 'Universal Harvester'
  • In 'Universal Harvester,' Mountain Goats Lyricist Reaps A Creepy Crop
Black Edge

Black Edge

Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street

by Sheelah Kolhatkar

Hardcover, 344 pages

Traces the rise and fall of stock trader Steven Cohen and his hedge fund, SAC Capital, to offer insight into personalities behind the largest insider-trading investigation in Wall Street history while revealing how Cohen continues to make billions as a free man.

  • 'Black Edge' Recounts The Biggest Insider-Trading Scandal In History
A Very Expensive Poison

A Very Expensive Poison

The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko and Putin's War with the West

by Luke Harding

Paperback, 454 pages

An account of the life, poisoning death and legacy of journalist and Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko traces the author's own life-risking investigation through Litvinenko's final months infiltrating the arenas of organized criminals and political power players. Original.

  • Journalist: Russia's Interference Is An 'Assault On The Western Liberal Order'
Writing to Save a Life

Writing to Save a Life

The Louis Till File

by John Edgar Wideman

Hardcover, 193 pages

Traces the story of Louis Till, the father of iconic civil rights martyr Emmet Till, tying their fates together to reveal how the father was wrongly convicted for rape and murder before being executed by the Army a decade before his son's murder.

  • Emmett Till's Father Was Also Hanged: A New Book Tells His Story

The Second Wife hide caption

toggle caption

The Second Wife

by Kishan Paul

Paperback, 248 pages

When psychologist Alisha Dimarchi is kidnapped by an obsessed client and held captive in his Pakistani compound for two years, her husband must enlist the help of a mercenary to save her.

  • 3 Romances To Light Up Your Diwali
A Study in Scarlet Women

A Study in Scarlet Women

by Sherry Thomas

Paperback, 323 pages

When Victorian London is struck by a trio of unexpected deaths and suspicion falls on her sister and her father, Charlotte Holmes is desperate to find the true culprits and clear the family name.

  • NPR's Book Concierge: Our Guide To 2016's Great Reads
  • Charlotte Holmes Is On The Case In 'A Study In Scarlet Women'
IQ

IQ

by Joe Ide

Hardcover, 321 pages

A resident of one of LA's toughest neighborhoods uses his blistering intellect to solve crimes the LAPD disregards — even when he only gets paid in chickens.

  • In 'IQ,' A Sherlock For South Central
The Girl from Venice

The Girl from Venice

by Martin Cruz Smith

Hardcover, 308 pages

In occupied 1945 Venice, a fisherman rescues a Jewish woman on the run from the Wehrmacht SS and chooses to protect her from the Nazis, a decision that leads them into a turbulent love affair marked by beauty and danger.

  • A Fisherman And His Beautiful First Mate, On The Run In 'Girl From Venice'
The Wonder

The Wonder

by Emma Donoghue

Hardcover, 291 pages

Hired to care for a small Irish village girl said to have miraculously survived on nothing but "manna from heaven" for months, a journalist and nurse veteran of Florence Nightingale's Crimean campaign quickly finds herself fighting to save the child's life.

  • NPR's Book Concierge: Our Guide To 2016's Great Reads
  • A Tight, Intense Drama Unfurls Within The Confines Of A Sick Room In 'The Wonder'
  • 'The Wonder' Is A Hard-To-Believe Tale Of Belief
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