Collection: Mystery, Thrillers, & Crime

The first in a new Pacific Northwest-set mystery series inspired by the real "Halloweentown!"

Bailey Briggs adores her year-round Halloween-themed town of Elyan Hollow, Oregon. But when she takes over her grandfather's beloved bookshop, Lazy Bones Books, she accidentally discovers the town's secret dark side . . .

Normally, spooky season is Bailey Briggs' favorite time of year, and her Halloween-themed small town's time to shine. But between managing Lazy Bones Books, working on her graphic novel-in-progress, and running the Spooky Season Literary Festival, Bailey hardly has a moment to enjoy Elyan Hollow's spot-on seasonal vibes. Not to mention, at every turn she seems to be tripping over the contentious crew of Gone Ghouls, a ghost-hunting reality TV show currently filming around town. Bailey tries to stay focused on the Lit Festival, which is supposed to kick off Elyan Hollow's annual Halloween Fair; instead, this year's festival begins with a murder . . .

It's bad enough Bailey discovered the victim, but now, as a lead suspect with some (admittedly) damning evidence pointing her way, she's got to clear her name! With the help of her librarian friend, Colby, and Jack Skeleton, her world-class bookshop dog (and the absolute bestest boy ever), Bailey sets out to solve a murder . . .

As her investigation weaves through family secrets, professional rivalries, and town feuds, the list of suspects is growing fast . . . and unfortunately, so is the list of victims. If Bailey doesn't find the killer soon, Elyan Hollow's haunted reputation will get a little too real . . .

Alex Segura, LA Times Book Prize-winning author of Secret Identity, returns with a clever and escapist mystery set in the world of comic books. In the present day, a comics legend is given the chance to revive a beloved but forgotten character. But at what price?

Annie Bustamante is a cultural force like none other: an acclaimed filmmaker, an author, a comic book artist known for one of the all time best superhero comics in recent memory. But she's never been able to tackle her longtime favorite superhero, the Lethal Lynx. Only known to the most die-hard comics fans and long out of print, the rights were never available--until now.

But Annie is skeptical of who is making the offer: Bert Carlyle's father started Triumph Comics, and has long claimed ownership of the Lynx. When she starts getting anonymous messages urging her not to trust anyone, Annie's inner alarms go off. Even worse? Carlyle wants to pair her with a disgraced filmmaker for a desperate media play.

Annie, who has been called a genius, a sell-out, a visionary, a hack, and everything else under the sun, is sick of the money grab. For the first time since she started reading a tattered copy of The Legendary Lynx #1 as a kid, she feels a pure, creative spark. The chance to tell a story her way. She's not about to let that go. Even if it means uncovering the dark truth about the character she loves.

Sharply written, deftly plotted, and with a palpable affection for all kinds of storytelling, Alter Ego is a one-of-a-kind reading experience.

"This is the one: the next must-read, must-recommend, must-discuss, must-re-read novel. A miraculous literary thriller, shocking, daring, moving, haunting, infinitely rewarding-- as though Kate Atkinson and Ruth Rendell had joined forces."--A.J. Finn

Things Don't Break on Their Own is a literary thriller about sisters, lovers, and a dinner party gone wrong.

25 years ago, a young girl left home to walk to school. Her younger sister soon followed. But one of them arrived, and one of them didn't.

Her sister's disappearance has defined Willa's life. Everyone thinks her sister is dead, but Willa knows she isn't. Because sisters know things about each other that no one else can.

Willa sees fragments of her sister everywhere -- the way that woman on the train turns her head, the gait of that woman in Paris. If there's the slightest resemblance, Willa drops everything, and everyone, and tries to see if it is her. Because there are some things that only sisters know about each other -- and some bonds only sisters can break.

When Willa is invited to a dinner party, she has no reason to expect it will be anything other than an ordinary evening. But nothing about Willa's life has been ordinary since the day her sister disappeared, and that's not about to change tonight.

Sarah Easter Collins has written an extraordinary literary suspense novel that will leave you gasping as you turn the pages.

The first in a new series from the record-breaking phenomenon and globally bestselling author Richard Osman, starring a brand-new detective duo who partner up to solve international mysteries that nobody else can.

An unflinching YA debut about a troubled teen who discovers a pack of feral girls in the woods and is swept up in the ensuing mystery: Are the Wild Girls of Happy Valley lost princesses from a faraway land, as they believe, or are they brainwashed victims of a deranged kidnapper?

In her ambitious debut perfect for fans of Sadie and The Hazel Wood, Madeline Claire Franklin crafts a gripping exploration of how the world teaches young girls to cage their wildness--and what happens when they claw themselves free.

After being placed in foster care, Rhi is hungry for a fresh start and begins working at the Happy Valley Wildlife Preserve. While in the woods, she stumbles upon a surreal sight: a pack of wolves guarding four feral and majestic girls. After Rhi gains their trust, they reveal that they're princesses from another land, raised by a magical prophet they call Mother--and they're convinced Rhi is their lost fifth sister.

Unsure what to believe, Rhi ushers the girls to civilization, where they're met with societal uproar and scrutiny, dubbed by the ravenous media and true crime junkies as "The Wild Girls of Happy Valley." Desperate to return to their kingdom, the girls look to Rhi for help. Rhi knows the girls are deluded, but at the same time she's drawn in by their boldness and authenticity--traits she is afraid she has lost within herself. And when Rhi witnesses strange phenomena she can't quite explain, the line between fantasy and reality grows blurry.

As the hunt for answers intensifies, Rhi must make a decision that will change the course of her lives and the lives of her Wild Girls forever.

Harvard University, 1941

Will Shaw and his friends are typical American students, still celebrating the end of the Depression and dreaming about a future filled with success. The war in Europe is far away and someone else's concern.

Until it isn't.

Compelled to do their part, Will and his best friend enlist, but Uncle Sam has other plans for these boys. Will's classes become consumed with learning German, understanding topography, and secret uses of radio transmitters.

When Thomas, a handsome Naval officer, steps onto campus, Will's heart spins nearly as quickly as his head.

Crimson is a slow-burn MM Romance wrapped in a 1940s thriller, a first-in-series that promises many great adventures.

Trapped in the past and hunting a serial killer? Of course Zatanna's birthday got magically messed up.

Continuing from the Webtoons tale--when Zatanna is attacked and bested by a powerful sorceress, her father casts a spell to protect her and send her away from the chaos she's caught in the middle of.

Zatanna arrives in Whitechapel, London, in the year 1888. She soon discovers a serial killer plaguing the streets of the city, Jack the Ripper. Unable to return home and certain that the supernatural killer has answers, Zatanna sets out in pursuit of the Ripper alongside the denizens of Whitechapel and one John Constantine.

The author of sales sensation If We Were Villains returns with a story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave.

Every night, in the college's ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.

One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn't there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?

Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks--and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.

Atmospheric and eerie, with the ensemble cast her fans love and a delightfully familiar academic backdrop, Graveyard Shift is a modern Gothic tale in If We Were Villains author M. L. Rio's inimitable style.

This emotional debut thriller follows a teen girl being haunted by the ghost of her toxic ex-girlfriend, who gives her a chilling ultimatum--help her possess another girl or go down for her murder.

"A blistering exploration of the ugliest and tenderest parts of love, Kennedy turns the classic ghost story on its head."--Courtney Gould, author of The Dead and the Dark

Maya has always belonged to Alana. After four years of dating, and on the precipice of graduating high school, Maya has been too terrified to consider the idea of life outside of their volatile relationship. Until she finds the courage to break up with Alana while they're hiking in Southern California.

Then Alana goes missing. As the police get involved and the media run wild with the story, everyone seems to think that Maya is lying about Alana's disappearance. Secretly, Maya knows they're right: if Alana's dead, she's the one to blame.

But that's not Maya's only secret. Alana isn't gone, not really--and she isn't going to let Maya go so easily...

The author of the "clever, atmospheric, and creepy" (Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author) The Golden Spoon returns with a sly and addictive new mystery about an advice columnist searching for answers about her predecessor's murder.

Her most important letter might be her last...

Years ago Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. Now, aside from trips to her regular diner for coffee, she keeps to herself, gets her perfectly normal copywriting job done, and doesn't date. Her carefully cultivated world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance, and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times.

When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies, never expecting to actually get the job. Against all odds, Alex is given the position and quickly proves herself skilled at solving other people's problems. But soon, she begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis's murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. Including her boss, editor-in-chief Howard Dimitri, who has a habit of staying late at the office and drinking too much.

As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor's murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface and Alex suddenly finds herself trapped in a dangerous and potentially deadly game of cat and mouse that takes her all the way from the power centers of Manhattan to Francis Keen's summer house, where her body was found and where the killer may just be waiting for her.

In this heart-pounding, much-anticipated sequel to Threads That Bind, Io will face threats even more dangerous and players even more powerful as she discovers what it will mean to follow--or defy--her fate.

It's been five weeks since Io left Alante to follow the golden thread, and she's no closer to finding the god on the other end. She spends her days in constant, grueling travel and her nights worrying over the fate-thread she shares with Edei--which seems to be fraying. Making matters worse, she and Bianca soon realize that their only lead has shaken them off, snapped the golden thread, and disappeared.

But not before Io gathers some crucial clues. Her investigation leads her to a new mystery, a rash of sibling disappearances across the Wastelands that seems to be connected to the murders in Alante. And all signs point to Nanzy, the golden city, as the center of the whole conspiracy.

As Io and Bianca make their way to Nanzy, they face powerful enemies, find allies new and old, and uncover a horrifying plot that traces back centuries. The more Io learns, the more she begins to suspect that the future of the world may truly rest on her shoulders. But she will have to determine how much of the future is her choice--and how much is simply her fate.

Hi. My name is Julia. I'm a Synth. And I'm here to find love...

Synthetic woman Julia Walden was designed for one reason: to compete on The Proposal and claim the heart of bachelor Josh LaSala. Her casting is controversial, but Julia seems to get her fairy-tale ending when Josh gets down on one knee.

Fast forward fifteen months, and Julia and Josh are married and raising their baby in small-town Indiana. But with haters around every corner, Julia's life is a far cry from the domestic bliss she imagined. Then her splintering world shatters: Josh goes missing, and she becomes the prime suspect in his murder.

With no one left she can trust, Julia takes the investigation into her own hands. But the explosive truths she uncovers will drive her to her breaking point--and isn't that where a person's true nature is revealed? That is...if Julia truly is a person.

Told via dual timelines, Jenna Satterthwaite's twist-filled debut deftly explores the exhilarating point where artificial intelligence, reality TV and bone-chilling murder mystery meet.

The national bestselling author of #HorrorBookTok sensation The Troop returns with a heart-pounding novel of terror about a young woman searching for her missing friend and uncovering a shocking truth.

On a sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it on to find a text from her best friend, Charity Atwater. The problem is, Charity's been missing for over a month. Most people in town--even the police--think she's dead.

Margaret and Charity have been lifelong friends. They share everything, know the most intimate details about one another...except for the destructive secret hidden from them both. A secret that will trigger a chain of events ending in tragedy, bloodshed, and death. And now Charity wants Margaret to know her story--the real story. In a narrative that takes place over one feverish day, Margaret follows a series of increasingly disquieting breadcrumbs as she forges deeper into the mystery of her best friend--a person she never truly knew at all...

A young widow grapples with the arrival of a once-in-a-lifetime comet and its tumultuous consequences, in a debut novel that blends mystery, astronomy, and romance, perfect for fans of Emma Cline's The Girls and Ottessa Moshfegh's Death in Her Hands.

Sylvia Knight is losing hope that the person who killed her husband will ever face justice. Since the night of the hit-and-run, her world has been shrouded in hazy darkness--until she meets Theo St. John, the discoverer of a rare comet soon to be visible to the naked eye.

As the comet begins to brighten, Sylvia wonders what the apparition might signify. She is soon drawn into the orbit of local mystic Joseph Evans, who believes the comet's arrival is nothing short of a divine message. Finding herself caught between two conflicting perspectives of this celestial phenomenon, she struggles to define for herself where the reality lies. As the comet grows in the sky, her town slowly descends further and further into a fervor over its impending apex, and Sylvia's quest to uncover her husband's killer will push her and those around her to the furthest reaches of their very lives.

A novel about the search for meaning in a bewildering world, the loyalty of love, and the dangerous lengths people go to in pursuit of obsession, Bright Objects is a luminous, masterfully crafted literary thriller.

Phoenix, May 6, 1946

At close to midnight in the Union Station baggage room, the air is hot, still, and thick. The eleven forty-five Golden State Limited to Los Angeles is approaching rapidly when the baggage handler, Alfred Brody, notices a stray hound dog sniffing around one of the steamer trunks. The horrific discovery of a body inside the trunk can mean only one thing: there's a murderer among them.

The young woman was certainly murdered, but who did it, and why? Suspects and motives abound as Private Detective Mason Adler investigates. He soon realizes that nothing, and no one, are what they seem to be as he races to uncover the truth and bring the real murderer to justice without becoming the next victim.

Can a detective and a policeman find love amidst murder? Heath Barrington is an attractive, clever, big city detective, confident, strong, and crazy about police officer Alan Keyes. Down-to-earth, noble, and naïve, Alan struggles with his desires for Heath versus 1940s America and his guilty conscience. Heath's skills of deduction and reasoning are put to the test as he and Alan work together to solve the murder of an eccentric millionaire in his mysterious, isolated estate. They search for clues and uncover long buried secrets of the weekend guests while keeping secrets of their own. It's up to Heath to solve the mystery and convince Alan that some secrets aren't worth keeping, and lust can lead to love.