Love gripping mysteries? Here are 5 mystery novels for a true thriller fan

Indian Express

03-05-2025

A locked room, a crowd, or an uncanny moor, the detectives are trapped in a series of unkempt, gruesome murder mysteries, and so are you.
To keep you hooked till the very end, here are five mystery novels if murder mysteries excite and thrill you.
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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd- Agatha Christie (1926)
'Life is only one of great illusions!' The great detective Hercule Poirot features for the third time in the crime series of Agatha Christie.
Published in 1926, the novel has an innovative twist at the end, keeping the readers glued as mysteries unfold one after the other.
One of the most controversial novels written by Christie, the British Crime Writers' Association nominated the novel as 'the best crime novel' in 2013.
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2. The Hound of the Baskervilles- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1902)
Trapped once again in a crime scene, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are here to take you on a thriller ride.
But this time it is not a mere crime scene, but an uncanny horror.
Burdened by the curse passed down in the family, Holmes and Watson are invited to Devonshire Moorlands to unfold the mystery behind the death of Sir Charles Baskervilles.
With the fascinating combination of gothic horror and deduction skills, this book is a must-read for detective fans.
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3. Whose Body- Dorothy L. Sayers (1923)
A corpse, a bathtube, and a missing financier, Dorothy L. Sayers introduces Lord Peter Wimsey at an unsettling crime scene.
With his witty character and sharp deduction skills, Wimsey, a rich, charming man who solves crimes 'just for fun', is stuck with a surreal murder.
This eccentric investigation may be a century old, but it is a classic in the era of detective fiction.
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4. The Blue Cross- G.K. Chesterton (1910)
A notorious criminal and a round-faced, humble Father Brown make their debut in G.K. Chesterton's The Blue Cross.
A cat-and-mouse chase between an international thief, Flambeau, and an old priest, Father Brown, a detective, who, unlike others, not just wants to catch the criminal but also to understand them.
This classic mystery novel is a blend of wit, sin, deception, misdirection, and a sense of morality.
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5. The Man in the Queue- Josephine Tey (1929)
Published in 1929, this revolutionized genre introduces Inspector Alan Grant in the golden age of mystery.
Grant combines empathy and logic while infolding the mystery, emphasizing justice over the procedure.
A crowd, a theatre queue, and a man stabbed to death in the dark theatre, this locked-room murder mystery, this detective fiction pulls in the reader to not just follow but also think!
(The writer is an intern with The Indian Express.)