Thriller & Mystery Fiction Titles
Suspenseful fiction involving a person facing imminent harm, and attempts to evade that harm, or following a crime as it is investigated and solved, revealing clues and secrets as the story unfolds.
Works are alphabetized by author. Genres are listed beside works. For details about a specific work, refer to the author’s Substack. The Library is not responsible for content on individual authors’ Substacks.
(N) Novel / (NA) Novella / (NT) Novelette (B) Nonfiction Book
(C) Complete / (I) Serial In Progress
(F) Free / ($) Paid / (F)→($) Preview Available
Dracula’s Ghost | Travis Blake | Thriller & Mystery, Horror (N) (C) (F)
I am old, Mina.  Old and weary through long years of mourning the dead. By 1933, Dracula has been dead for forty years, and Jonathan Harker is consumed with grief for his dead wife and son.  When Jonathan’s friend is killed in a botched robbery, a sinister agent of Adolf Hitler unearths the Harker family’s darkest secrets and hatches a blackmail plot using the only remaining light in Jonathan’s world – his daughter Sarah. Dracula’s Ghost follows an ensemble cast as they journey from the graveyards of London to a hidden castle in the Carpathian Mountains to discover who – or what – lives behind its walls.
Dreadful Penny | Jamie Dibs | Thriller (N) (I) (F)
Who is Penny Lee? Half Chinese and half German, raised in the US, she has six passports of different names and nationalities, because she’s an industrial spy and professional honey trap. While on assignment in Dubai, seducing a Kazakh oil tycoon, the tables are turned: now she is the one being targeted—for death, by a Russian mobster named Viktor who bears an old grudge. She’s now on the run, with a mission to protect her long-lost sister, the last link to the life she had before she became Penny Lee. Viktor has discovered her deepest secrets and knows how to inflict the worst revenge against her. But when Viktor crosses a line, Penny can run no longer.
Bear & Cub | Brothers Krynn | Sword & Sorcery, Fantasy (N) (I) (F) → ($)
The first 4 chapters are free.
Two murders and all changes in Valhol. It takes the murder of his children for Hroðgar to turn on his liege-lord and to see him and the man’s sons for what they are. What ensues is a blood-feud that will take Hroðgar and his last remaining son, Sigewulf, from the frozen wasteland of Valhol, to Bretwealda in the west, and from safety into blood-soaked fields.
Haggard House | Elisabeth Rhoads | Historical (N) (I) (F)
Haggard House is a psychological thriller set in the mid-19th century. Imagine The Picture of Dorian Gray meets Tara Westover’s Educated.
Beasts of the Field | Bridget Riley | Paranormal (NA) (I) (F)
When Judith Temple, full-time software developer and part-time psychic detective, agrees to help Sheriff Tim Morrissey find a missing college student, she is confident that her psychic vision will bring the case to a close. The only problem is that Judith’s vision seems to be…wrong. Contending with skeptical police, hostile locals, and her own complicated emotions about the county sheriff, Judith must make sense of her visions and conflicting information about the case to find the missing girl before the trail goes cold.
Sweet Things Dying | R.R. Scott | Historical (N) (I) (F)→($)
Prologue and first two chapters are free; remaining chapters require a paid subscription.
1887—Adam Cole, a private investigator living in London’s East End, is drawn into the mystery of Heather Bloom, a popular local coffeehouse girl and Cole’s former lover. Heather has suddenly vanished, leaving behind a series of clues which do not add up. Cole is met with several challenges, including an unfinished letter sent by Heather moments before she disappeared along with push-back from Heather’s stern father, a local reverend who has an unsettled history with Cole. At the same time, he must deal with the mad pleas of his own father who is an inmate at Broadmoor Asylum, locked away for the murder of Cole’s older brother – a childhood memory that haunts him throughout his investigation. Over several days and nights, Cole uncovers secrets about Heather’s family and neighbours that lead him through the shadowy alleys of East London and to the sea-sprayed streets of Whitby. As Cole pieces together one shocking suspicion after another, he’s left with a terrible realisation about the Bloom family, along with guilty feelings about his own failed relationship with Heather – and if that weren’t enough, he is dealt one final, horrific blow regarding the childhood murder of his own brother.
Over the Top Secret | Alexa Tuttle | Action Adventure Comedy, Humor (N) (I) (F)
A fun, fast-paced, humorous mystery about a brainy, relatable heroine, a government experiment gone wrong, and the zany world of T.O.P.S.E.C.R.E.T. espionage! My name is Julie Richardson, and if you'd told me one week ago that I'd be racing through the sewers of Paris in search of a golden thumb drive to stop an Evil Villain from destroying the world, I'd have thought you were describing some off-brand James Bond film. Unfortunately for me, I had to go and *accidentally* trigger a dangerous government experiment that turned me into the most sought-after source of classified intel on the planet. I used to be worried about my GPA and graduating college at the top of my class. Now, I've got bad guys chasing after me, so-called "good guys" trying to experiment on me, and Evil Villains threatening to cut out my brain! The good news is, there's a chance I could get my normal life back. The bad news is that chance is slim to none. Forced to go on a life-threatening government mission? Check. Accompanied by the world's most handsome self-absorbed spy? Check. A plan? Not even close. Welcome to T.O.P.S.E.C.R.E.T.
A Long Night Cry | Terry Weaver | Thriller & Mystery (N) (C) (F) →($)
Free through chapter 15, then paid through chapter 56.Â
Detectives Eli Ridge and Thaddeus Preck are assigned to find three missing teenage girls, including the daughter of Ted Cronin, billionaire CEO and U.S. Senator. When the detectives are ordered to focus exclusively on the senator’s daughter, Eli’s choices place his career at risk and leave his loved ones teetering between life and death. As the young detective’s psyche fractures, he must race to find the girls and cover up what’s left in the wake of his dark side.
The Viper | Annelie Wendeberg | Historical (N) (I) (F)→($)
First four chapters are free, remaining chapters are behind paywall.Â
Like most gangsters, Quinn McCurley has been feeding lies to the police for as long as he can remember. Unlike most gangsters, he's an Inspector at Boston's Police Department of Criminal Investigation, hiding his true identity and deception from all. As the shadows of his past creep closer and his double life takes a dangerous turn, he must choose which side of the law he's truly on. Dr. Elizabeth Arlington finds herself entangled in a deadly game of deception that threatens her life and that of her children. As she uncovers the truth behind the conspiracy, she must decide whether to trust the man who has lied to her for years or risk the lives of those she loves.
The Spring | Annie Wilson | Crime Procedural (N) (I) (F)
November 1, 2014: The discovery of a body at a sacred spring in The Presidio of San Francisco launches an investigation that crosses federal and city jurisdictions. Was it teenagers getting rowdy on Halloween or something more nefarious? US Park Police Officer Paco Mayfield is joined by FBI Agent Mark Greenberg and SFPD rookie officer Jeannie Hagen to help solve the question of what happened to the victim, a teen girl. The three investigators form an unlikely team, venturing into the world of elite prep schools and affluent families where truths and consequences are difficult to unravel. Inspired by the natural landscape of The Presidio in San Francisco as well as classic British procedurals, The Spring is a serialized novel with new chapters published on Tuesdays and Fridays. Text is entirely free.
The Education of Lisa Rose | T. D. Wolf | Crime Fiction (N) (I) (F)
Los Angeles, in the year 2048. A city of pimps and parties, blackouts, and brothels. Where the cops are so corrupt they had to invent a new police force. And at the top of the criminal underworld is a woman with menacing plans, and her eyes on a new technology that could make her unstoppable. Into this world enters Lisa Rose, an ambitious young woman haunted by her past, who’s come to L.A. to reinvent herself. Tempted by the lure of sex, drugs and easy money, she enters a dark world whose only price is her eternal soul.
The Book of Answers | Darrow Woods | Classic Mystery (N) (I) (F)
The Book of Answers is the first in a series of mysteries in the life of Rev. Thomas Book. Tom’s a bit stuck in his life, two years into grieving the death of his wife, Carrie. He's the assistant pastor in the church where he'd once been the student minister. Circumstances serve to get him unstuck, in almost every part of his life, when dead bodies appear in all the wrong places. He gets drawn into the investigation, with help of his snarky best friend, who is also the local funeral director, a mysterious, not-as-retired as he appears former undercover cop, and what could be the church ghost. Along the way he's almost killed, makes friends with a cadaver dog, and takes baby steps towards romance with the dog's handler. The Book of Answers was nominated for a Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence. The author, Darrow Woods, is a member of Sisters in Crime, and Crime Writers of Canada, and writes a substack newsletter called reluctant sleuth. He is also working on the sequel to The Book of Answers, and the another series involving retired journalists who can't stay away from a good, or bad story.Â
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