Here are 100 books that The Day Is Dark fans have personally recommended if you like
The Day Is Dark.
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I’ve been a fan of amateur sleuths since my first foray into our local library. Reading opened a whole world to me, and I devoured each new story with relish, imagining myself in the role of the hero and how I might deal with the perils that befell them. I raced through each book series in a matter of weeks, from The Famous Five and The Hardy Boysto Alfred Hitchcock’s The Three Investigators. I remember the thrill of moving to the library's adult section and discovering even more books where humble heroes were dragged into murder mysteries, unexpected adventures, and thrilling chases across dangerous landscapes. Woo-Hoo!
One of the reasons I loved this book is because it reminded me of Desmond Bagley’s books, with plenty of action and a twisty-turny plot.
I really liked the hero, Tyler, and his methodical way of tracking down the killer. The location, too, is exciting–set on a remote Scottish island, I knew that both the hero and the killer had nowhere to go, which heightened the tension and drove the plot along at a terrific pace. I also loved the author’s attention to detail, his clever use of language, and the way he kept things rattling along all the way through.
'One of the thrillers of the year' Scottish Sun 'A first class thriller... This debut is going to be huge' Mari Hannah, author of Without a Trace
FACT: In 1942, in growing desperation at the progress of the war and fearing invasion by the Nazis, the UK government approved biological weapons tests on British soil. Their aim: to perfect an anthrax weapon destined for Germany. They succeeded.
FACT: Though the attack was never launched, the testing ground, Gruinard Island, was left lethally contaminated. It became known as Anthrax Island.
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I’ve been a fan of amateur sleuths since my first foray into our local library. Reading opened a whole world to me, and I devoured each new story with relish, imagining myself in the role of the hero and how I might deal with the perils that befell them. I raced through each book series in a matter of weeks, from The Famous Five and The Hardy Boysto Alfred Hitchcock’s The Three Investigators. I remember the thrill of moving to the library's adult section and discovering even more books where humble heroes were dragged into murder mysteries, unexpected adventures, and thrilling chases across dangerous landscapes. Woo-Hoo!
What I love about this book is that the central character is an ordinary guy who is thrown into a horrifying situation. Discovering someone has poisoned him, Jaakko’s only chance of surviving is to find the culprit.
I loved the peculiarity of his business and his reaction to the threat from a rival company. I like the way the mystery unfolds, with some truly unexpected scenes–particularly those involving a sauna and a Samurai sword.
The author’s black humor and his use of language (even in translation) are delightful, and I found myself thoroughly entertained all the way through.
When Finnish mushroom entrepreneur Jaakko discovers that he has been slowly poisoned, he sets out to find his would-be murderer ... with dark and hilarious results. The critically acclaimed standalone thriller from the King of Helsinki Noir...
***Shortlisted for the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year*** ***Shortlisted for the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award***
'Right up there with the best' Times Literary Supplement
'Deftly plotted, poignant and perceptive in its wry reflections on mortality and very funny' Irish Times
'Told in a darkly funny, deadpan style ... The result is a rollercoaster read in which the farce…
I’ve been a fan of amateur sleuths since my first foray into our local library. Reading opened a whole world to me, and I devoured each new story with relish, imagining myself in the role of the hero and how I might deal with the perils that befell them. I raced through each book series in a matter of weeks, from The Famous Five and The Hardy Boysto Alfred Hitchcock’s The Three Investigators. I remember the thrill of moving to the library's adult section and discovering even more books where humble heroes were dragged into murder mysteries, unexpected adventures, and thrilling chases across dangerous landscapes. Woo-Hoo!
I’ve read several of this author’s books, so I am familiar with her talent for telling compelling stories. Like all the best reads, I couldn’t put it down from the very first page.
The heroine is a strong woman whose world falls apart at the death of her son and the prospect of his heart being donated to someone else. I loved how the author handled this intensely sensitive subject while keeping the mystery side of the story at the forefront. I liked that there is a creepiness to a few of the characters, too, so you never know for sure who the good guys are.
When grief spirals into obsession, the outcome can be deadly…Greer Maddox's world shatters when her son, Tom, dies. An unexpected phone call leads her to Nathan Taylor, who received Tom's heart in a transplant. Greer becomes obsessed with Nathan, but her feelings turn to hatred when she discovers he harbours a dark side. Two women are missing, one of whom has now been found murdered. Could Nathan be the killer?
Greer is hiding a few secrets of her own, however. Ones she intends to keep buried. Can those closest to her uncover the truth before someone else dies? A gripping…
Delve into this internationally best-selling series, now complete! A fast paced laugh-out-loud mix of Urban Fantasy and Mystery.
I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx, a PI hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar–yet my gut…
I’ve been a fan of amateur sleuths since my first foray into our local library. Reading opened a whole world to me, and I devoured each new story with relish, imagining myself in the role of the hero and how I might deal with the perils that befell them. I raced through each book series in a matter of weeks, from The Famous Five and The Hardy Boysto Alfred Hitchcock’s The Three Investigators. I remember the thrill of moving to the library's adult section and discovering even more books where humble heroes were dragged into murder mysteries, unexpected adventures, and thrilling chases across dangerous landscapes. Woo-Hoo!
What I love about this book is that it is beautifully told by two different women in alternating narratives, mixing a local legend with a more modern tale.
I really like the way the author presents two distinct voices and yet retains the richness of her language in each. The setting of the watermill, too, is superb, and the author’s ability to describe each scene perfectly adds to the tension as each aspect of the story snowballs its way to a thrilling conclusion.
A twisty and propulsive read, this dark psychological thriller of sibling rivalry, love, betrayal, and the dire consequences of family fallout brilliantly plays on our fears of loneliness and abandonment, harkening to the modern gothic bestsellers by Ruth Ware and Liz Nugent.
Is a story ever just a story?
Mac, a retired academic and writer, is working on a new collection of folktales, inspired by local legends, and at the insistence of her only child, Arthur, she hires a young assistant, Lucie, to live in a cottage on her property and help her transcribe them. What Arthur doesn’t know…
What I look for in a book is something that triggers my serious side. So be it if that removes a whole range of fantasy books or those that merely titillate. Because I’ve traveled a lot, ‘feasible fiction’ is what I write and what I look for in other books. A story might be entirely fictitious, but as long as it’s not far-fetched, has a cast of realistic characters, an international or historic location, and keeps me on my toes to the very end, that’s great. If it’s got some politics and science thrown in, that’s even better. I hope my list lives up to expectations.
C. J. Sansom, a historian, died just recently, but he’s left a legacy of historical crime novels based around the time of Henry VIII. The main character is a charismatic, hunchbacked lawyer called Matthew Shardlake.
If, like me, you like books with strong characters, then, together with Sansom’s skill at weaving in the sights, sounds, smells, political shenanigans, and countless characters of Tudor England, Tombland is a fantastic read. It’s a long book (800 pages), so take your time on it, but I think this is historical crime fiction at its best.
Tudor England is brought vividly to life in Tombland, the seventh novel in C. J. Sansom's number one bestselling Shardlake series, for fans of Hilary Mantel and Philippa Gregory.
'When it comes to intriguing Tudor-based narratives, Hilary Mantel has a serious rival' - Sunday Times 'Sansom has the trick of writing an enthralling narrative. Like Hilary Mantel, he produces densely textured historical novels that absorb their readers in another time' - Andrew Taylor, Spectator
The Sunday Times Number One Bestseller
England, 1549: Two years after the death of Henry VIII, England is sliding into chaos . . .
I love a good, clean mystery/suspense story that's light enough to be escape fiction but has enough heart that I engage with the characters. Let me root for them and watch them grow. Give me hope and a happy ending. Bonus if there are some quirky ones who make me smile or some snappy dialogue. Double bonus if it's Christian fiction with an organic, non-preachy faith element and characters who grow spiritually. Why leave faith out of our fiction if it's part of our lives? I hope you'll make some new imaginary friends in the books I've listed!
I love how nothing fazes Nicole, even when she gets into awkward situations. Her novelty socks (so not lawyerly) and occasional geeky lines make me smile, and I like the friends she finds in the middle of trying to prove—and solve—her uncle's murder.
I always take sides with characters whose parents have manipulated their life's path, so I feel Nicole's conflict over her profession and the distance it causes within her family. She comes into this story feeling like a failure, and I want to see her succeed. Plus, I like the potential for romance with the county medical examiner.
**Mystery/Cozy Gold Medalist in the 2018 IPPY Awards**
**Grand Prize Winner of the 2018 Writer's Digest Ebook Awards**
Sometimes the truth can be a sticky thing…
Nicole Fitzhenry-Dawes feels like she’s the only failure amid a family of high achievers. Her last serious boyfriend turned out to be married and her career as a criminal defense attorney is in tatters. When her uncle passes away and leaves her his maple syrup farm in Michigan, she thinks it might be time for a career change—hopefully one that allows her to stay as far away from murderers and liars as possible.
On the morning of December 26, 2004, an undersea earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami killed an estimated 230,000 people across fourteen countries, from Indonesia to Sri Lanka to Thailand to the Maldives to India and all the way to East Africa.…
Many of us were taught as children that life isn’t fair. I never accepted this; shouldn’t we do all we can to make life fair? I grew up to be a lifelong activist and a writer for social justice organizations. As a reader and writer, I love books about women’s lives, especially women who realize that the world around them shapes their own experiences. Sometimes history is happening right here, right now—and you know it. Those transformative moments spark the best stories, illuminating each book I’ve recommended.
Any book in which a journalist and a librarian are the heroes gets a gold star from me. In this gripping novel, a Black journalist from Detroit who writes about the Black Lives Matter movement goes to Birmingham, Alabama, in 2019 on a personal and professional quest.
Her great-grandfather was, she believes, killed there by a white policeman 90 years ago, and she’s determined to find out the truth. She also thinks his story can illuminate what’s happening nationwide today. Based on this compelling premise, the novel is a mystery, a love story, a history, and an examination of racial justice rolled into one. I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes view of exactly how a journalist builds a story.
A searing and tender novel about a young Black journalist’s search for answers in the unsolved murder of her great-grandfather in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, decades ago—inspired by the author’s own family history
Birmingham, 1929: Robert Lee Harrington, a master carpenter, has just moved to Alabama to pursue a job opportunity, bringing along his pregnant wife and young daughter. Birmingham is in its heyday, known as the “Magic City” for its booming steel industry, and while Robert and his family find much to enjoy in the city’s busy markets and vibrant nightlife, it’s also a stronghold for the Klan. And with…
If I knew why I'm attracted to ghost stories, spooky stories; “mysteries from beyond the veil”, it wouldn't be a mystery, would it? My brother was the same. We can (or could) suddenly find the streets where we lived as mysterious as a lost world. We used to call it “The Land of Ghosts and Witches”. Did we imagine this feeling? Did we make it up? I don't know. But there is a long name for a condition, a little kink that matches my experiences. I found an article in New Scientist about it once, but I've forgotten what it was.
A Japanese ghost story, set in an imaginary, contemporary, Japanese town by a Singaporean first novelist.
I picked this out at Brighton Library because I liked the cover, but Clarissa Goenawan's Rainbirds has survived the goodreads treatment, so hopefully she's a writer to watch (I mean, there will be more of these).
Readers have recalled Haruki Murakami, because it's allegedly Japanese, and a bit off-kilter, but to me this dreamlike narrative seemed fresh and floating: ungrounded, not alienated. I thought of another Japanese writer, Kazuo Ishiguro, & The Buried Giant: a misty, off-kilter take on Arthurian Britain, in which everyone seems either asleep, or else making the journey the dead make to wherever they go, while dreaming the novel's action...
No, I give up, I can't explain the charm, you'd have to try it and see, & yes, those are goldfish, not any kind of birds on the cover, and…
Set in an imagined town outside Tokyo, Clarissa Goenawan's dark, spellbinding literary debut follows a young man's path to self-discovery in the wake of his sister's murder.
Ren Ishida has nearly completed his graduate degree at Keio University when he receives news of his sister's violent death. Keiko was stabbed one rainy night on her way home, and there are no leads. Ren heads to Akakawa to conclude his sister's affairs, failing to understand why she chose to turn her back on the family and Tokyo for this desolate place years ago.But then Ren is offered Keiko's newly vacant…
When I decided to write about psychopathic killers, I studied real stories and facts about these people. I also read about 80 novels a year as well as writing crime thriller novels. I’ve won more than a few awards and keep studying my craft. Makes me feel young. I love stories with action that make you think and are a little different and unique. I want to make a reader cry and laugh, which is what I look for in a good novel. So, when I write about serial killers, I try to keep it real. I love it!
I love this book! A famous female pianist in Boston who kills bad people, and she has quirks. She also changes boy toys during the story; that whole dynamic is sexy and unusual.
One of my new favorite books. I hate heavy procedural books, and this is not one. The FBI is involved, but not how you think. The railroad killer was also very creative. She does have the FBI chasing her and has friends in the FBI, which is unique, too. The beginning is good, with lots of action and intrigue, and the middle holds up with a bang for an ending.
There are a few surprises here and there, but it is just a solid story.
The Queen's Gambit meets Kill Bill in one of Goodreads' best thrillers of the year.
When a genius pianist turned hunter of serial killers finds herself connected to her latest victim by an eerie twist of fate, her world spirals into dark chaos. Caught in a relentless game of cat-and-mouse with a tenacious FBI agent, she is also thrust into a dangerous face-off with a serial killer whose lethal cunning could rival her own.
"I Kill Killers" is a pulse-pounding journey into moral ambiguity, blurring the slippery line between heroes and villains.
Nelson West, a former Chicago homicide detective, is hired by wealthy heir Lionel Bing to discreetly help “fix” scandals and legal problems for his father’s wealthy friends.
Bing, a brilliant but troubled investigator, suffers from PTSD symptoms as a result of being kidnapped and witnessing the murder of his mother…
I’ve always been drawn to stories where women defy expectations and carve out power in a world that seeks to silence them. As a writer of historical mysteries, I love exploring unconventional heroines—women who take risks, uncover secrets, and refuse to conform. The best mysteries blend atmosphere, intelligence, and a touch of rebellion, and I seek out books that do just that. Whether it’s a detective disguising her true identity or a woman outwitting society’s constraints, these stories inspire me. My book was born from this passion, and I hope readers who love fiercely independent heroines and richly layered mysteries will enjoy this list as much as I do.
This book transported me to 1930s Singapore, a setting so vivid and immersive that I could almost feel the humidity and smell the frangipani trees. I was completely captivated by Su Lin, a young woman who is determined to carve her own path despite the barriers in her way.
The mystery was gripping, but what really made me love this book was Su Lin’s intelligence, resilience, and charm. Her story stayed with me long after I turned the last page.
First in a delightfully charming crime series set in 1930s Singapore, introducing amateur sleuth Su Lin, a local girl stepping in as governess for the Acting Governor of Singapore.
1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore, and the British abdication crisis and rising Japanese threat seem very far away. When the Irish nanny looking after Acting Governor Palin's daughter dies suddenly - and in mysterious circumstances - mission school-educated local girl Su Lin - an aspiring journalist trying to escape an arranged marriage - is invited to take her place.
But then another murder at the residence occurs and it…
