Propulsive Books for Mystery, Suspense, and True Crime Readers
While I’ve spent the last decade writing and reading all things crime books for the Unusual Suspects newsletter, I’ve never stopped reading all the other genres. I love mysteries and thrillers, but my first love will always be stories, and I never want to miss a great one by remaining boxed into only one genre or category.
Most of the genre books I read are usually firmly in that genre (or category), but sometimes I read books that make me think, “mystery readers would love this, even if it’s not actually a mystery.” It makes me feel for publishers/authors/publicists in having to market something that isn’t actually a thing but totally appeals as one. So here I am with three novels (all on my Best of 2026 list) and a nonfiction book (Best of 2020) that I think have great appeal for suspense, mystery, and true crime readers.
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Books for Mystery, Suspense, and True Crime Readers (that Aren’t Actually Mystery, Suspense, or True Crime)
The Take by Kelly Yang
For suspense readers: This is the pacing and buildup you expect and want in mystery/suspense novels.
Hollywood producer Ingrid Parker is fighting against ageism and sexism and can’t get her latest project made. After going through a health scare and a crumbling marriage, she decides to do a new medical treatment to reverse aging. She just needs a young woman’s blood donation. Enter the just-fired, struggling writer Maggie Wang, who is desperate for money and a career…
Good People by Patmeena Sabit
For mystery and true crime readers: the book’s format is designed to discuss a tragic event without revealing it, building up to it. It feels like the true crime docs that interview tons of people and just splice in those clips.
After a tragedy, you get to know the wealthy Sharaf family through gossip, interviews, neighbors, friends, strangers, lawyers, investigators… all laying at your feet the surrounding speculation and questions surrounding what happened. But what is prejudice, what is rumor, what is assumption, and what is the truth?
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
For crime and suspense readers: the intensity and behavior of both leads feel suited for a thriller/crime novel.
It makes total sense that A24 has bought the rights to adapt Josh Silver’s novel about a once-popular author who has writer’s block until she decides to write a tragic literary gay novel. So she gets on dating apps, poses as a gay man, and finds a gay man to “learn from.” What could possibly go wrong?
Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
True crime readers: there’s a surprising unsolved murder.
This starts with the author writing a memoir about her depression and a biography of a scientist who overcame many obstacles and kept going. However, it ends up having a “twist” that turns into an unsolved murder and the history of eugenics in the US. Oh, and why the title of the book—”fish don’t exist”—is actually true!
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