11 of the Best Mystery, Thriller, and True Crime Books Out in July

Hillier (Jar of Hearts, Little Secrets) is back with a new thriller! Imagine being arrested because you were covered in blood and holding a weapon in the same room as your murdered husband and that NOT being the worst thing. This is one of those thrillers where someone has a past and there’s a threat to expose it… I love secrets coming to get ya!

The author of Oona Out of Order has written a mystery! This is for fans of missing persons, true crime podcasts, and contemporary novels about women’s relationships. Violet Volk was a world famous magician who just disappeared one day. There’s been tons of speculation since, and now, for the ten year anniversary, there’s a true crime podcast digging into her life through interviews. It’s something her sister Sasha wants nothing to do with, especially since many have always thought she knows more than she’s saying or that she has never behaved the way they think a grieving sister should… This is one of my favorite reads this year — and I very much recommend the full cast narrated audiobook, which will make you think you’re listening to a podcast.

This one is for fans of historical mysteries! Lena Aldridge is a nightclub singer in 1930s London, lamenting over the career she’d wanted when just such an opportunity presents itself: a starring role on Broadway. To get to New York, she’s given a first-class ticket on the Queen Mary, which is perfect timing, seeing as there’s just been a murder in the club and she’d like to get away. But then a murder occurs on the ship, and, well, what are the odds, and how is Aldridge going to get away now?

*Rings bell for Ruth Ware fans* Ten years after a group of friends at Oxford had one of their own murdered, the man convicted has died. But rather than putting everyone at ease, a journalist presents evidence that the man convicted of the murder is innocent, leaving the friend group with a spotlight…

British procedural fans, take note! And also if you like picking up fictional crime books by criminal attorneys. This is the sequel to The Jigsaw Man, which had Detective Angelica Henley trying to figure out how there were new bodies when the serial killer was already in prison. Now she’s got another string of murders on her hand, starting with a popular preacher murdered in his church…

Fans of Murder in Old Bombay will be delighted that the sequel has finally arrived. Captain Jim Agnihotri, who became a sleuth after being in the war hospital reading Sherlock Holmes and coming across a case in the newspaper, is back. This time, he’s a newlywed and just moved to Boston from British Bombay. As a detective at an agency, he’s teaching his wife what he’s learned from Sherlock, which will surely come in handy when he goes missing…

This is for fans of armchair detecting, family, and food. Two cousins, with opposite personalities (I love an odd couple!), are running a food stall in Eastwood Village Night Market. They haven’t seen each other in 20 years, so this is already a difficult situation, and then a customer dies after having their bubble tea, leading them to become prime suspects!

YA. Mystery. Friendship. Past. Secrets. Dead boy. This book has it all. Celeste is the new girl in town who makes friend’s with the social pariah Vivvy. They spend their time writing a fan fiction love story that one night they aim to make reality. Except their story doesn’t end in the boy being murdered, and in real life it does. Doesn’t help that Celeste has no memory of what happened…

For fans of amateur sleuths who want to armchair travel while armchair sleuthing, here’s the newest entry into Lin’s series, which began with Ghost Month. Jing-nan runs a night market food stall in Taipei. After intervening between a romantic partner (his girlfriend’s mother’s boyfriend) who reneged on splitting lottery winnings, the man is murdered, and Jing-nan becomes suspect numero uno!

The television series adaptation may have ended, but the character and books continue! Escape the summer heat with this winter set mystery in North Carolina. Tempe Brennan meets up with her daughter, back from the army, to find a package on her porch. It has a human eyeball in it and GPS coordinates — of course! This sets Brennan off on a discovery of bodies and the hunt for a killer…

Denise Mina wrote a sequel to Conviction! Lisa Lee has an unsuccessful YouTube channel when she disappears after her last video showed her trespassing into a French Chateau and finding a priceless Roman silver casket. Now Anna and Fin join in the internet frenzy to find her, traveling across Europe to deal with con artists, religious zealots, and smugglers.