The Best Books of 2022
17 Best Thriller And Murder-mystery Books Of 2023, That We Reviewed
When you approach your library, local bookstore, online lists, or even #BookTok, on what books to read next, it's surely an overwhelming feat (trust us, we've been there).
While we adore the steamy hot relationships of rom-coms and the educational, wellness-based approaches to self-help books, there's just something about a good murder-mystery and thriller book that simply leaves you stunned.
And, only the best of the best will have your jaws dropping and your minds blown — that said, these are some of the hottest and interesting titles for summertime reading by the beach or pool.
To help make your book hunt easier, New York Post Shopping curated a custom edit of the 17 best murder-mystery and thrillers we recommend — all of which we've read, of course.
Not all of our top picks are psychological thrillers. Some are simply feature incredible suspense-driven plots that we still remember and recommend IRL. (Related: Best audiobooks we reviewed).
So, grab a cozy blanket (good for any time of year) and a mug of your favorite brew and get reading. We're on the edge of the seats waiting for you to be on the edge of yours.
1. "The House in the Pines" by Ana Reyes
© Provided by New York Post Amazon As a Reese's Book Club pick, "The House in the Pines" centers on Maya, the protagonist who was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead — right in front of the mysterious man Frank who they've been spending time with all summer.
Fast forward seven years later when the past comes rushing back to Maya after a YouTube video appeared. What it was? Another young woman dropping dead in front of Frank. It's a back-and-forth book that'll leave you on the edge of your seat, for sure.
buy now 2. "The Husbands" by Chandler Baker
© Provided by New York Post Amazon "The Husbands" by Chandler Baker goes down as one of the best books I've read of all time (seriously, that says a lot; I still think about this enticing book). Here, you'll follow successful attorney Nora Spangler, the 'supermom' who packs all the lunches, schedules the doctor's appointments and, quite frankly, does it all. But, when Nora and her husband purchase a ritzy new home in Dynasty Ranch, things take a turn.
On her block, Nora meets an award-winning therapist who agrees to help with a resident's wrongful death case. As the case unravels, explosive secrets emerge — and you won't believe the ending.
buy now 3. "Good Rich People" by Eliza Jane Brazier
© Provided by New York Post Amazon I love a juicy novel about rich-people suburbia these (think: "Gossip Girl" meets a murder-mystery spinoff of "The Real Housewives.") That's preciously what "Good Rich People" is about and, beautiful cover aside, it's one of the best books I've read this year.
Lyla has always had a competitive bone but, once she marries wealthy Graham, she realizes he and his mom invite self-made success stories to their up-for-rent guesthouse — and then destroys their identity. Then, meet Demi, the near-poverty-stricken girl who takes up the opportunity to be someone else, who just so happens to be the subject of the wicked couple's entertainment. Where paths cross, pages turn.
buy now 4. "The Social Climber" by Amanda Pellegrino
© Provided by New York Post Amazon If you're a Gen Z or millennial, read this book. Not only is there a shocking plot twist at the end of "The Social Climber" but it's surprisingly *not* predictable — and you'll adore all of the NYC descriptions and lululemon-wearing characters.
The week before Eliza's wedding, all of her ducks seem to go in a row: she's marrying into the prominent blue-blood Walker family, has a high-powered PR job and has all the riches at her fingertips. But, when Eliza's past attendance at her alma mater — an Evangelical college — comes to the light, she has to question marrying into wealth or seeking true justice. Oh, and there's a shocking mystery they follow.
buy now 5. "The Maid" by Nita Prose
© Provided by New York Post Amazon A Good Morning America Book Club pick, "The Maid" by Nita Prose follows 25-year-old Molly who works as a hotel maid at the Regency Grand Hotel. She notices the suite of wealthy Charles Black, only to find Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. For lovers of "Clue" and all things mysterious, this one is both gripping and delightful.
buy now 6. "The Mother-in-Law" by Sally Hepworth
© Provided by New York Post Amazon "The Mother-in-Law" by Sally Hepworth still haunts me to this day — seriously. Hepworth is such a clever writer and merged family drama and suburban suspense into the ultimate page-turner.
From the second Lucy met her future mother-in-law, Diana, she didn't feel the warm and fuzzies. Five years later, now-married Lucy realizes Diana is found dead, a suicide note beside her body. While Diana claims she no longer wanted to live in her cancer-ridden state, the autopsy contained no signs of cancer.
As you read, you'll notice the mother-in-law / daughter-in-law relationship grow more complex and striking — and it's one of the most phenomenal thrillers you'll read.
buy now 7. "The Golden Couple" by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
© Provided by New York Post Amazon Truth be told, I finished "The Golden Couple" in one sitting and, ever since, have been trying to find another book like it. Wealthy Washington couple Marissa and Matthew Bishop have the "dream life," but beneath the perfectionist-doused veneer, infidelity strikes.
So, the couple begins seeing therapist Avery. That's truly the beginning of a 'you just have to read it' type of book, so I'll leave it to just that. It's well-received, too.
buy now 8. "Danger on the Atlantic" by Erica Ruth Neubauer
© Provided by New York Post Amazon A hidden gem in the trough of thrillers, "Danger on the Atlantic" is the third book in Erica Ruth Neubauer's "A Jane Wunderly Mystery" series, though you don't have to read each one in order. I picked this one up because I love all things cruises, and this was by far a unique murder-mystery book with an unforgettable setting.
Meet Jane, voyaging from Southhampton in 1926. She goes undercover as the adoring wife of her partner, Mr. Redvers. They're tasked with identifying a German spy — until on-board newlywed Vanessa FitzSimmons announces the sudden disappearance of her husband at sea. It's page-turning and terrific.
buy now 9. "Greenwich Park" by Katherine Faulkner
© Provided by New York Post Amazon One word to describe "Greenwich Park" by Katherine Faulkner? Spooky. It's a unique take on woman-centered characters and urban pregnancies, and one that'll keep you hooked, for sure.
Helen lives an idyllic life with a handsome architect husband, a gleaming Victorian house and a baby on the way. But, when she meets a quirky single mother-to-be, Rachel, at one of her prenatal classes, things take a turn for the weird. But, once erratic behavior strikes, new secrets emerge.
amazon 10. "The Family Game" by Catherine Steadman
© Provided by New York Post Amazon Enter another book I've read in one sitting: "The Family Game" by Catherine Steadman. This rich, eccentric family has an annual tradition of a savage (and risky) cryptic game they play at their studded mansion. Harriet, when offered a tape that plays a shocking confession from her father-in-law, is now on a quest for her own survival in this psychological thriller that's a surefire must-read.
buy now 11. "A Novel Obsession" by Caitlin Barasch
© Provided by New York Post Amazon I've never met a more original plot than what I've page-turned with "A Novel Obsession." A girl who's obsessed with her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend? Now you know that's going to be juicy!
Not only that, but protagonist and New Yorker Naomi Ackerman is an aspiring novelist who finds herself writing about — and therefore, stalking — her boyfriend Caleb's ex, Rosemary. She's on a mission to discover how their lives intertwine — and manipulation and suspense ensue. It's one of the best-written books you'll thank me later for recommending, too.
buy now 12. "All the Dangerous Things" by Stacy Willingham
© Provided by New York Post Amazon "All the Dangerous Things" by Stacy Willingham was one of the most anticipated releases of 2023, and the hype is real. Follow Isabelle Drake, the woman whose toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were sleeping.
Of course, Isabelle's life revolves around finding him and, eventually, is interviewed by a true-crime podcaster who takes a ton of interest in this case. Suspenseful, thrilling and a book worth adding to your TBR (that's to-be read, for short).
buy now 13. "Fake" by Erica Katz
© Provided by New York Post Amazon If you're a lover of art and mysteries, pick up "Fake" by Erica Katz. It's a page-turning novel set in the high-stakes world of art forgery that's perfect for lovers of the show "Imposters" on Netflix. While a forger, Emma is also an art specialist who takes on a hot new job working for Leonard Sobetsky, the Harry Styles of the art world.
However, there's something lurking beneath the glitz and glamour — and you'll just have to read to find out.
buy now 14. "Killers of a Certain Age" by Deanna Raybourn
© Provided by New York Post Amazon "Killers of a Certain Age was in my Book of the Month order, and it simply has the perfect cover for your next thriller pick-me-up. And, while they say, 'don't judge a book by its cover,' I shamelessly admit I did, but I'm glad I did.
Four women friends have been inseparable in the international organization of which they once worked but, now at the ripe age of 60-years-old, they can't just retire — it's kill-or-be-killed season.
The foursome is sent on an all-expenses-paid vacation to celebrate their retirement, but they were sent to die. They have to escape and, though risky, have to rely on each other to do so. It's a modern-day "The Hunger Games," making it even better.
buy now 15. "Recipe for a Perfect Wife" by Karma Brown
© Provided by New York Post Amazon Retro cover aside, "Recipe for a Perfect Wife" by Karma Brown is truly spectacular. It centers on a modern-day woman who finds a hidden note left by her home's previous owner, the quintessential, stereotypical 1950s housewife. She finds shocking parallels between this woman's relationship with her husband and her own, and the searing secrets that are revealed make it, undoubtedly, a saucy page-turner.
buy now 16. "Verity" by Colleen Hoover
© Provided by New York Post Amazon Much like Taylor Jenkins Reid's acclaimed novel, "Verity" by Colleen Hoover is just as so. Lowen Ashleigh, struggling writer, accepts a job with Jeremy Crawford, husband of best-selling author Verity Crawford, to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.
But, this dream job comes to a screeching fork in the road when Lowen uncovers an unfinished, chilling autobiography Verity didn't want anyone to read. Horrifying truths abound, and it's one that'll have your jaws dropping.
buy now 17. "The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides
© Provided by New York Post Amazon This list would be incomplete without a mention of "The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides. It's a well-written psychological thriller that, while I don't believe is 100% worth the hype, is a solid thriller to read and enjoy if you haven't already.
Alicia shoots her husband five times in the face and, ever since, doesn't speak another word. After hitting the tabloids and grabbing national attention, she's admitted to the Grove, a forensic unit in North London, under the assessment and care of Theo Faber, criminal psychologist. Here, there's a twisted path they each go down on — and it's pretty interesting.
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Book Extract: Questions Remain Over Official Version Of Libor Scandal
On June 27, 2012, the Libor scandal exploded into the news, igniting suppressed public anger towards banks and bankers for the 2008 global financial crisis and its aftermath.
Three agencies in the United States and the UK's Financial Services Authority fined Barclays £290 million.
After Bob Diamond, the bank's chief executive, resigned on July 3, evidence emerged which appeared to suggest the Bank of England may have been involved in the same kind of misconduct for which Barclays had just been fined. This was explained away to MPs in parliamentary hearings as a "misunderstanding". There was a lot the US Department of Justice and regulators knew that never made it into their press releases, or detailed statements that accompanied them.
None of the four agencies fining Barclays mentioned, even in anonymised form, what Jerry del Missier — the bank executive who resigned in July 2012 — had told the DoJ in Washington in February 2011, namely, that Paul Tucker of the Bank of England had said that Barclays should get its Libor rates down on September 1, 2007.
Neither the DoJ, nor the UK's City regulator, nor other regulators mentioned what Peter Johnson, a senior Barclays Libor setter, had told all of them on November 19, 2010, about the pressure from international Libor and Euribor instructions from central banks and governments in October 2008 to artificially bring Libor rates down.
The regulators had corroborating evidence in the shape of contemporary audio recordings, emails and public information on what happened to each bank's submissions. But there was no sign they'd investigated it. Nor was there any information about the US central bank, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, asking Chase New York to intervene and offer to lend dollars at rates far below the market to get Libor rates down.
The DoJ, two US financial regulators and the UK's Financial Services Authority all had access to the audio recordings and emails where Barclays executives Mark Dearlove, Jon Stone, Miles Storey and Stephen Morse made it irrefutably clear that it was the board of directors of Barclays who were directing what Johnson and other traders did with their Libor and Euribor submissions, backing up what Johnson had told them — that executives on the thirty-first floor of Barclays Group headquarters, where Diamond and John Varley worked, had intervened.
They also showed that Varley, the bank's then group chief executive, was aware of this Libor "lowballing" issue and that Tucker had told him Downing Street had been involved.
Yet the releases made no mention of the evidence indicating it was the board of Barclays, the Bank of England and later the UK government that was the source of directions passed down to Johnson and others to "lowball" Libor rates, giving an artificially low indication of what it was costing banks to lend to each other during the height of the global financial crisis.
By 2012, top regulators on both sides of the Atlantic had known for two years about a recorded phone call between Dearlove and Johnson claiming the bank had come under "very serious pressure from the UK government and the Bank of England about pushing our Libors lower".
US and UK regulators and prosecutors knew the phone call also referred to other central banks, including the European Central Bank. All of them had a seat at the table in November 2010 when Johnson went through the transcript of the call with them and told them about the involvement of the Banque de France and the Federal Reserve in pressure to lowball.
A Google search would have reminded anyone checking out Johnson's information that the central banks were coordinating cuts in their official interest rates, including on October 8, 2008, when six central banks dropped their rates at once. This was the same day Gordon Brown announced his £50 billion plan to recapitalise stricken banks. Added up, it pointed to an international initiative to get Libor and Euribor down, either by making cash cheaper to borrow through emergency lending schemes, or by simply ordering it down.
Yet none of the regulators' public statements referred to these facts. The explanation for a note from Diamond referring to government pressure to reduce Libor rates — that it was all a misunderstanding — was already wafer thin.
Had the DoJ not failed to mention the Bank of England's earlier alleged interventions in Libor setting on September 1, 2007 — the instruction to Barclays to get rates down — it would have been even less plausible.
Dearlove's information about his meeting with Tucker at the Bank of England earlier in October 2008, when Tucker warned him that Barclays should lower its Libor rates because it was getting attention from the government, would have blown it apart. The FBI, DoJ, FSA and two US financial regulators — the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission — had been told about that meeting, too. But they would never mention it, not in their press releases, or in any public forum since then.
It appeared that the DoJ, the FBI, the CFTC, the SEC and the FSA were all allowing important, historic facts, about central bank manipulation of benchmark interest rates all around the world in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, to be kept from the public.
If seeking to obtain movements in the Libor average, not justified by similar movements in the real cost of borrowing cash, truly was unlawful, then the evidence given to the US and UK regulators pointed to two very important conclusions.
First, that the Bank of England, the Fed and the FSA had for months condoned the "illegal" behaviour because they were repeatedly told about the submission of false, lowballed Libor rates by numerous commercial banks and did nothing to stop it.
Second, that the Bank of England, starting in August 2007 through to October 2008, had itself allegedly engaged in the same misconduct on a much greater scale than traders who were jailed.
The evidence also suggested the Banque de France played a similar role to the Bank of England in the crisis. Other central banks and governments were also implicated in evidence seen by the regulators.
If getting more than one bank to change their Libor submissions to try to move the Libor average really did amount to illegal collusion, then the evidence suggested that the Bank of England, the Banque de France and the British Bankers' Association had more to answer for than any trader sent to prison. The shifts in Libor that they were seeking were far larger than anything any trader could have dreamt of — at least 160 times the size. The other big difference was that they hadn't been merely attempting to move the Libor average: unlike the traders, they'd succeeded.
Yet in the final notices and statements of fact published by the DoJ, the CFTC and the FSA, almost all the evidence they'd gathered that was awkward for central banks and governments was left unmentioned.
•Rigged: The Incredible True Story of the Whistleblowers Jailed after Exposing the Rotten Heart of the Financial System by Andy Verity is due to be published by Flint Books on June 1 (£25). To order a copy go to timesbookshop.Co.Uk. Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members.
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An instruction from Downing Street to lower Libor, a measure of the price at which banks lend to each other, on October 29, 2008 wasn't the only thing that no one was supposed to know about. It was much bigger than that.
Barclays' Mark Dearlove and Jon Stone, the bank's group treasurer, told the Bank of England on November 4, 2008, they thought there had been political pressure on French banks to cut their contributions to Euribor, the equivalent of Libor for euros. That was corroborated by the data on what interest rates each bank had submitted.
The French banks had suddenly, as one, dropped their submissions of their estimates of the cost of borrowing euros in the days that followed a co-ordinated central bank
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