For A Criminally New Year: 11 New Mystery, Thriller, True Crime Releases for January 2024
Whether you are looking forward to what 2024 has in store or are indoors with a helmet on and are unprepared: Happy New Year. While I can’t fix the state of the world, I can sift through endless catalogs, emails, galley sites, and more to find you mystery, thriller, and true crime books to read.
And we’re starting off 2024 with a focus on remote mysteries, which there are three of: one is set on a cruise, one is set in a house during a hurricane, and one is set on a train! There’s a dark academia mystery at an elite private school for YA mystery fans, an art college setting with friendship and a murdered frat guy, an urban thriller for crime fans about a reluctant bodyguard, and a twisty mystery from Gillian Flynn’s imprint.
You can read a true crime book that ties centuries of crime cases with the laws they impacted, cheer on a group of misfits fighting crime in a boarding school, return to a childhood home where a woman was accused of murdering her parents, and explore trauma with a YA thriller. There are plenty of mysteries and thrillers to get you armchair sleuthing this new year, so enjoy!
Midnight by Amy McCulloch
For fans of remote mysteries — set on a cruise — where people start getting murdered!
A cruise to the Antarctic with her art dealer boyfriend sounds like a dream trip to Olivia Campbell, an actuary. But when things go wrong — dead bodies — having a job that assesses risk for a living may hopefully come in handy to keep her alive…
The Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh
For fans of remote mysteries, family dramas, and amateur sleuths!
Jia Shah has enough on her plate after a recent move and a divorce while caring for her tween son when she’s forced to evacuate her apartment due to a hurricane. It should come as a relief that she can go stay at her sister’s home, except that just creates a pressure cooker of family drama, and soon someone is dead…
Everyone on this train is a Suspect (Ernest Cunningham #2) by Benjamin Stevenson
For fans of remote mysteries on trains!
Author Ernest Cunningham has been invited to a crime-writing festival by the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society. On the train are Ernest and five other authors ranging from a legal thriller writer to a forensic science writer. When one is killed, it’ll put all their knowledge of mysteries and murder to the test as they’ll have to deduce who the killer is…
If you want to start at the beginning of the series, even though they read as standalones, pick up Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.
Wander in the Dark by Jumata Emill
For fans of YA mysteries, elite private schools, dark academia, siblings, and when the accused must solve the crime!
Celebrity chef Martin Trudeau left his wife and son Amir — something Amir hasn’t forgiven. Now, he’s forced into a new family with his half-brother, Marcel, and has to attend an elite private school. He wants none of it. Until he wakes up with a dead girl from his school stabbed to death, and he’s seen fleeing the scene, forcing him to need Marcel’s help to investigate what happened…
Silent Judgment by Zaire Crown
For fans of urban thrillers and ripped-from-the-headline plots!
Amelia Chess has become known as a Black conservative who verbally attacks marginalized people, including her own community. But her latest editorial leads to her getting death threats and needing a bodyguard. Silence is that bodyguard, except he would never take this job willingly because he’s against everything Chess says and does. Problem? His orders to protect her come from a kingpin he’s indebted to…
The Misfits #1: A Royal Conundrum by Lisa Yee, Dan Santat (Illustrator)
For fans of middle grade graphic novels and crime-fighting teams!
Olive Cobin Zang has been sent to a reform school — a castle turned prison boarding school — where she discovers and joins RASCH: a group of misfits in the school who are fighting crime! Problem? The group is going to be shut down unless they stop a heist!
One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall
The latest from Gillian Flynn’s imprint!
After his marriage doesn’t work out, Cole moves from London to a small seaside cottage to start over. Here, he meets a neighbor, Leonora, who is an artist living a reclusive life. They hit it off until two women passing through disappear, and Cole and Leonora each find themselves in the middle of the investigation…
Not Dead Enough by Tyffany D. Neiheiser
For fans of YA thrillers exploring trauma!
Charlotte is now trying to get her life back, working through her PTSD with a therapist after surviving a car accident that killed her boyfriend, Jerry. Except, as she tries to move forward, she starts to receive messages from someone claiming to be Jerry. And he’s threatening her…
No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall
For fans of past murder mysteries, estranged sisters, and secrets!
Pregnant Emma Palmer is about to face her past — which she’s kept from her husband — when he loses his job and they lose their apartment. It forces them to move into her childhood home, where her parents were murdered, she was the suspect, and her younger sisters were taken to foster care. Now it’s time to face the past…What could go wrong?
Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham
For fans of college settings, friendship, and murder mysteries!
At a liberal arts college in South Carolina, shy Margot —with trauma from a friend’s death in high school — accepts a friendship and invitation to room with Lucy, the complete opposite in personality. This leads to an off-campus living arrangement with three other women their sophomore year, which should be full of fun and new experiences, but this is a mystery, so instead, there’s a murdered frat boy and a missing Lucy…
Crimes of the Centuries: The Cases That Changed Us by Amber Hunt
For readers of true crime.
True crime podcaster Amber Hunt takes a dive into the history of famous and not widely known criminal cases, tying them to how they’ve changed and shaped the laws and our legal system.
Looking for even more mystery and thrillers to read? We got you! Also, make sure to check out the magical New Release Index, which is organized by genre and release date.
