by Alexandra Ivy
Trying to narrow down my favorite suspense book is like trying to narrow down my favorite cheesecake. I discovered Nancy Drew when I was still in grade school and I credit those books for my lifelong love for reading. I suppose it would be inevitable that I would always have a place in my heart for a fantastic mystery.
I’ve included only a small snapshot of the books that have a place on my keeper shelf.
A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
I adore everything Agatha Christie has written. She has a unique ability to capture a setting and make you feel as if you’re on the plush Oriental Express or taking a sweltering trip down the Nile. In this story you’re firmly planted in a small English village, surrounded by charming suspects who all have secrets to hide.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Perhaps more a thriller than a mystery, but no book has ever frightened me like this one. To be so deeply in the minds of the killers and then to have a shocking twist at the end keeps this story in my mind. I’ll confess that I slept with my lights on for a long time.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
This book brought me back to my love of cozy mysteries. The characters are unique and so well-written you feel as if you know them and there’s a dry sense of humor that made me laugh out loud.
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
This is one of the most unique stories that I have ever read. There is a mystery wrapped in a mystery and it’s what I would label a page-turner. I have never read a book so fast trying to figure out whodunnit!
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
This is a slow, atmospheric story that amps up the chills until the very end. The characters have a creepy vibe and it’s hard to like any of them. For those who enjoy psychological thrillers this is one of the best.
I love all of Lisa’s books, but this one is a sultry, captivating story that lays bare the danger of keeping secrets in a way that made it impossible to put the book down.
Fans of Lisa Jackson, Lucinda Berry, and Kendra Elliot won’t want to miss the New York Times bestselling author’s suspenseful story of a small town with more secrets than residents, and a woman searching for the truth about a long-ago night…as killer prepares to silence her forever.
Teenager Lia Porter shouldn’t have been anywhere near the railroad bridge that night. Sneaking home after a party in the fields outside Pike, Wisconsin, she glimpsed a woman in a leather jacket, running in terror. Lia puts the incident from her mind—until a body is found near the same spot fifteen years later, wearing the same jacket. The police rule it a suicide. Lia knows different. The woman she saw was trying to save her own life, not end it. But whatever she was fleeing from found her first . . .
The stranger who arrives at Lia’s store shares her suspicions. Hollywood stunt driver Kaden Vaughn has come home to Wisconsin to learn the truth about what happened to his brother’s fiancée years ago. The leather jacket, the timing—he believes the dead woman is Vanna, and that Lia may be the only person who can help. Together they retrace Vanna’s steps, but the more they dig, the darker the secrets become.
The killer is still out there, stalking the streets of Pike again, willing to do whatever is necessary to keep the truth locked in mystery. One by one, all those who know something about that night must be silenced, until there is no one left to tell . . .
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