Let's Play: How To Make An Ominous-Sounding Mystery Title

Posted by Marie on April 2, 2018
Goodreads Mystery & Thriller Week 2018

Mystery & Thriller Week is sponsored by Penguin Random House Audio. Enjoy the suspense on audio.

Mainstream mystery titles have the uncanny ability to turn the ordinary into the ominous. Like a macabre version of Mad Libs, sometimes all a title needs is a combination of a person and a place to achieve maximum foreboding. The Body in the Library, The Couple Next Door, and The Woman in the Window are all prime examples of this. And if you want to turn the terror up a notch, you can never go wrong with adding the word "girl" to let readers know that trouble isn't too far away.

The rules to this game are simple: Match your birth month and birth date to the chart below. Then stand back for that spine-tingling (or snicker-inducing) effect. Who knows? Your title could be the next big name in the mystery genre!



What's your bestselling mystery title? Share it with us in the comments!


Comments Showing 1,101-1,150 of 1,633 (1633 new)


message 1101: by Chafic (new)

Chafic (Rello) DEATH AT THE BOTANICAL GARDEN..

Yep. Sounds just like me.


message 1102: by Feyre (new)

Feyre The Liar at the Botanical Garden. Doesn't sound very promising... Ah well. I'm enjoying the rest of my birthday with the book I just got.


message 1103: by Amber (new)

Amber Martingale The Stranger in the Elevator. That doesn't sound so ominous to me... .


message 1104: by Rosa (new)

Rosa Amber wrote: "The Stranger in the Elevator. That doesn't sound so ominous to me... ."
Just awkward, really.


message 1105: by Kirsten (new)

Kirsten Amber wrote: "The Stranger in the Elevator. That doesn't sound so ominous to me... ."

Better than The Stalker in the Elevator, which someone on this thread had.


message 1106: by Aditya (new)

Aditya Baruri The Widow in the Vitamin Aisle


message 1107: by Phoebe (new)

Phoebe Evil on the Cruise Ship.
Coulda been worse. lmao


message 1108: by Amber (new)

Amber Martingale Very awkward, Rosa. Not really, Kirsten. The one you mentioned is far more ominous than mine.


message 1109: by Ssawyer (new)

Ssawyer The Widow on Flight 42


message 1110: by Shaina (new)

Shaina Jerome "The Stranger at the DMV"


message 1111: by Shauna (new)

Shauna Daponde Death In the Vitamin Aisle..... that is very ominous lol


message 1112: by DarkAthena59 (new)

DarkAthena59 The Body in the Cemetery


message 1113: by Gerhard (new)

Gerhard The Widow on the Fire Escape


message 1114: by Meredith (new)

Meredith "The Imposter in the Wardrobe:" C.S. Lewis' short-lived, less popular horror sequel to, "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe."


message 1115: by Amber (new)

Amber Martingale Meredith wrote: ""The Imposter in the Wardrobe:" C.S. Lewis' short-lived, less popular horror sequel to, "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.""

PMSL! That's cute!


message 1116: by Hannah (new)

Hannah The Shadow in the Panic Room.


message 1117: by Michelle (new)

Michelle The Liar in the Swamp.


message 1118: by Dale (new)

Dale Barbra Death in the landfill


message 1119: by Anne (new)

Anne The Stalker in the Meat Locker. Sounds silly... :-P


message 1120: by alex (new)

alex The Imposter at the Farmer's Market
(me when I'm pretending to understand the difference between heirloom tomatoes)


message 1121: by Shoggothey (new)

Shoggothey Murder in the Landfill


message 1122: by Logan (new)

Logan Wieczorek The Shadow on the Steamboat


message 1123: by Emma (new)

Emma The Woman Under the Stairs.


message 1124: by Rachel (new)

Rachel The Stranger in the Panic Room


message 1125: by Sammy (new)

Sammy The Woman in the Warehouse. ...Ominous.


message 1126: by Jason (new)

Jason The Devil in the swamp


message 1127: by Kenzie (new)

Kenzie Franklin Evil on the Fire Escape

Not too bad. I'd read something like this.


message 1128: by Lina (new)

Lina Bnr The Woman At The Car Dealership :3


message 1129: by [deleted user] (new)

The stalker at the DMV?


message 1130: by Kirsten (new)

Kirsten Haris wrote: "The stalker at the DMV?"

God, the staff at the DMV are bad enough! Who needs a stalker??


message 1131: by Cammie (new)

Cammie Murder at the Farmer’s Market


message 1132: by Adrienne (new)

Adrienne Reeser Murder in the swamp


message 1133: by Roaa (new)

Roaa the widow in the fun house
so here's the plot : the husband used to work in a fun house as a clown and then someday dude disappears fast forward months later they find his body with nothing to prove how he died they assume it's a heart attack but he was healthy af wife is shook wife starts investigating all by herself she starts visiting the fun house regularly once she passed the trauma and if she thought that her husband's death was a turning point in her life well boy she was wrong


message 1134: by M⭐ (new)

M⭐ The liar in the funhouse!


message 1135: by Megan (new)

Megan The Stranger in the Emergency Room. As if there aren't a lot of those haha.


message 1136: by MEJ (new)

MEJ The Devil at the Farmer's Market.

Looking for locally sourced produce for the cafeteria in Hades?


message 1137: by Lukas (new)

Lukas Christensen "The Body in Room No. 8" lol so cliche but actually kinda good


message 1138: by Natalie (new)

Natalie Johnson The Devil at the DMV


message 1139: by Jesse (new)

Jesse Parks Murder at the Empty Zoo


message 1140: by Joseph (new)

Joseph The Body on the Steamboat


message 1141: by Christina (new)

Christina The Liar in the Landfill


message 1142: by Shawn (new)

Shawn Hubbard The Shadow in the Emergency Room


message 1143: by Fareesah (new)

Fareesah The devil at the farmers market


message 1144: by carola (new)

carola Evil in the warehouse ahahah lmao


message 1145: by Big (new)

Big City The Body In The Warehouse


❁ lilyreadsromance ❁ The Stranger on The Fire Escape.

Who is he? Why is he staring at you from across the room? Why did you keep having dead animals on your windowsill? Where is your missing cat?

Tune in next week for the exposure.


message 1147: by Sara (new)

Sara Eames The Widow at the Car Wash


Gaby (lookingatbooks) The body at the empty zoo.... sounds terrifying


message 1149: by MjA (new)

MjA The Woman at the Botanical Garden


message 1150: by Victoria (new)

Victoria Murder in the Parking Garage
That sounds very uninventive!


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