12 New Mystery Books That’ll Have You on the Edge of Your Seat in 2023

Carole Johnstone provides pulse-pounding panic in the thriller “The Blackhouse.” Maggie MacKay has been drawn to the remote island of Kilmeray ever since she was a child and predicted the murder of Andrew MacNeil there despite never having been there. Years later (and recently released from a psychiatric ward), Maggie is finally ready to visit Kilmeray and face the havoc her childhood claims brought to the island. When she arrives, the locals are less than welcoming, and her investigation into Andrew hits a dead end when she discovers no records of him exist. But Maggie’s struck a nerve because ominous threats begin to appear warning her to stay away, but from what? Maggie could be on the right track to uncovering the truth she predicted all those years ago, but the cost of answers could be fatal.

Release date: Jan. 3

Rachel Hawkins continues her catalog of twisty mysteries with “The Villa.” In it, childhood best friends Emily and Chess find they have grown apart in adulthood as life has taken them down divergent paths. When Chess suggests they take a trip to an Italian villa, it feels like the perfect chance to catch up. But Emily soon becomes engrossed with the villa’s history when she discovers a famous rock star was murdered there, but there’s more to the iconic case than meets the eye. Emily’s investigation into the star’s murder – aided by clues found around the villa – creates tension between her and Chess. The estate is the site of murderous secrets from the past, but it looks like history could repeat itself.

Release date: Jan. 3

In Mary Kubica’s “Just the Nicest Couple,” secrets between two couples come to a head when one husband disappears. Nina Hayes and her husband, Jake, have been having trouble. After a blowout of a fight, Jake disappears into the night and doesn’t return, so Nina turns to her married friends, Lily and Christian, for help finding him. But the other couple may know more than they’re letting on, and where their loyalties lie is yet to be seen. Told in multiple POVs, two picture-perfect marriages crumble as Lily, Christian, and Nina fight to protect their secrets and themselves in this simmering mystery.

Release date: Jan. 10

Centering on a rich family fighting over an inheritance, fans of the Knives Out franchise will enjoy Kat Rosenfield’s clever mystery “You Must Remember This.” When Miriam Caravasios, the 85-year-old matriarch of the Caravasios family, descends upon her familial home for a reunion, tensions run high amid the family, but things go from tense to downright terrifying when Miriam slips through ice on a frozen lake. With the entire family already gathered, the will is read, and no one is more surprised than Miriam’s granddaughter Delphine that she will be the sole heir to Miriam’s inheritance. With everyone up in arms over being cut out of the will, Delphine questions if Miriam’s death was truly a misguided mistake or if someone she calls family was willing to kill her in order to get their expected cut of the inheritance. In a cutthroat game of whodunnit, Delphine races to uncover the truth about the lengths her family could go to secure their own fortune.

Release date: Jan. 10

Residents of one high-rise building set up Iris Yamashita’s “City Under One Roof.” The citizens of Point Mettier, Alaska, all live in a former military base-turned-residence, with the only access to the building being one tunnel. When a teen’s severed body parts wash ashore, detective Cara Kennedy makes her way to the icy tundra to investigate his murder, but has motivations of her own for wanting to look around Point Mettier. When a powerful snowstorm blocks the tunnel, Cara, the residents, and the suspects are trapped in the building with no way in or out. Neighbors seem to be holding more grudges than Cara realized, and everyone under this roof is in danger unless Cara can crack the secrets hiding in this isolated city.

Release date: Jan. 10

“The Hunter” is Jessica Herrera’s generational mystery that’ll keep readers on their toes. NYPD detective Leigh O’Donnell’s career goes up in flames after she turns her gun on her partner instead of on a suspect one night. When her brother offers her a job in his department in Ohio, she takes it as a chance to recoup and hopefully rebuild her tarnished reputation. While there, she uncovers a case of three murdered men that mirrors a case from years ago involving three teens who committed suicide. Leigh suspects the cases are connected, but the question is how. Uprooting a town tragedy and generational wounds leads to tension between Leigh and the community, but unmasking the truth about what happened years ago might be the key to what happened to the three murdered men today. Herrera’s debut threads uneasiness and mistrust through a pulse-pounding mystery.

Release date: Jan. 10

In “The House in the Pines” by Ana Reyes, Maya has been haunted by the sudden loss of her best friend Aubrey for almost eight years. She, Aubrey, and Aubrey’s boyfriend Frank had been an inseparable trio that summer nearly a decade ago, until Aubrey dropped dead right in front of Frank. When Maya finds a video showing a woman dying exactly the same way Aubrey did, she thinks it’s a sad coincidence until she spots the man standing across from the woman moments before she died: Frank. Spurred on by her conviction that something has always been amiss with Frank, Maya heads back to her hometown in Massachusetts to find clues to trigger memories of that fateful summer with Frank. Finding scraps of memorabilia, Maya begins to see that she and Aubrey are part of a larger plan, and the only way she’ll get answers is to find the house that started it all.

Release date: Jan. 10

Maria Dong’s debut “Liar, Dreamer, Thief” is an unpredictable rollercoaster ride from start to finish. Working a soul-sucking job and being looked down on by her family has Katrina Kim struggling to maintain hold of reality, so she fixates on her co-worker Kurt. One night while rifling through his things, Katrina finds evidence that someone is aware of what she’s been doing and she escapes to her ritual spot at the bridge to soothe herself. But when she arrives, Kurt is there, and he hurls a horrifying accusation at her before jumping to his death. Spiraling from his indictment, Katrina returns to Kurt’s desk only to discover that she was not the only one observing in their office. Kurt was watching her, too. Diving into Kurt’s life only leads to shocking revelations about her own, and Katrina may not have left her past as far behind as she thought.

Release date: Jan. 10

Bringing the refreshing thrills from his novel “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires,” Grady Hendrix plays up the eerie setting in “How to Sell a Haunted House. Louise hadn’t planned on returning to her childhood home, but after her parents pass away, she’s the one who must take charge of their assets. Dealing with her young brother brings up old wounds and casts tension over the house that is inescapable as Louise prepares to put the house up for sale. Ominous warnings and ghastly experiences shake Louise to her core, and the only way to escape is to rid her family of the house, but it seems the spirit of the manor has other plans.

Release date: Jan. 17

In Kate Lice Marshall’s adult debut “What Lies in the Woods,” friendship dynamics are tested when someone threatens to reveal a long-held secret. When Naomi was 11, she spent every waking moment with her best friends, Cassidy and Olivia, frolicking through the Washington woods in search of adventure. Instead, the girls found tragedy that marked them as heroes when their testimonies put a suspected serial killer behind bars. More than 20 years later, the news of the killer’s death in prison does little to settle the questions Naomi always had about that night. When Olivia threatens to crack about the secret they all kept, Naomi is forced to return to the scene to fortify her friendships (and secrets) or risk losing everything.

Release date: Jan. 17

Stephen Amidon’s menacing mystery “Locust Lane” follows the moneyed families of a suburban town closing ranks when a murder threatens their futures. The murder of teenager Eden Perry has changed everything for the residents of Emerson, Massachusetts. The cops suspect Eden’s friends that were seen partying with her that night: Jack, a spoiled heir; his girlfriend Hannah; and Christopher, a newbie to the friend group. With their reputations and futures on the line, the parents of each suspect must abandon former allegiances to protect their child, even if that means throwing each other under the bus. Only one child has to go down for the crime, and each parent will do anything to ensure it’s not theirs.

Release date: Jan. 17

In Erin Kelly’s “The Skeleton Key,” a father’s literary reputation threatens the lives of his loved ones. 50 years ago, Nell’s father penned one of the greatest literary mysteries that led to a nationwide treasure hunt across England, citing the book as a guide. However, his fame came at a cost. With media and fans becoming increasingly more involved in their everyday lives, Nell moved away to evade the limelight and live a life of her own. A year later, the simultaneous release of a new edition of the book, a documentary surrounding it, and a new treasure hunt is drawing the spotlight back onto their family, and Nell can’t say no when her father asks her to return home for the filming. When her father reveals the location of the final missing clue, a body turns up, and what started as a fun game is now a murder case, with Nell and her family at the crux of it all.

Release date: Jan. 24