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100 Mystery and Thriller Recommendations by Setting
Location, location, location…
The famous old saying about real estate, it turns out, can be a useful way to parse books in the mystery and thriller categories. After all, a murder mystery needs a body (usually), and the body needs to be found in a particular place.
We’ve gathered below a specially curated list of mystery and thriller titles sorted according to the setting where the body is found. Or unearthed. Or stumbled upon. You’ll find some classic crime scenes here: the country house! the library! the locked room! But we’ve also found some locales that are surprisingly well-stocked with cadavers: on campus! in space! lost in time itself!
Have fun, and if anyone is ambitious enough to actually organize their bookshelf along this motif, send us a picture.
In a Library
Talk about getting shushed…permanently.
In a Hotel Room
Rest and relaxation of the eternal variety.
At the Theater
A flair for the dramatic so often turns deadly.
At the Office
When we said we'd kill to get out of forced workplace merriment, we didn't mean this.
In a Creepy Apartment
You really don't want to shelter in these places.
At the Table
These restaurants appear to serve up some truly killer cuisine.
In a Country House
Want to stay alive? Never accept an invitation to visit someone's country estate.
In a Locked Room
No exits!
On Campus
Putting the final in final exams.
At Church
Priests making confessions, priests hearing confessions, that sort of thing.
In a Very Cold Place
Literally spine-chilling!
On Planes and Trains
High-speed peril.
On a Boat
Homicide on the high seas.
By the Shore
The other kind of beach body.
On an Island
Isolated isles do make ideal murder conditions.
Through Time
As if establishing an alibi weren't hard enough already.
In Space
You know what they say about how no one can hear you scream.
Where do your favorite mysteries and thrillers take place? Let's talk settings and books in the comments below!
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I enjoyed this list, but was surprised to find that my favorite author of literary thrillers was omitted. Seriously, no books on this list by Carol Goodman? Fans of thrillers with classical settings and plots (such as Donna Tartt's "The Secret History") would love Goodman's novels. Also, no one does atmospheric sense of place like Carol Goodman, whether it's the Hudson Valley in N.Y. or a villa near Pompeii.
I'd love to see a list categorized by city!
I have a question. Does anyone remember a series set in a high class hotel where the concierge is the detective. he has to solve the murders amidst keeping the very rich and privileged clientele happy.?I read this series in the sixties but can no longer remember any titles or the author. I think the author may have died as I can't think why else I would have lost track of the series.
I was so excited to see this list because I thought it was going to be geographic places - like Miami, or Monterey, California, etc. To me, the geography can add so much to a story.
Venice, I love author Donna Leon who writes about Guido Brunetti who is a fictional Italian detective with a love of the classical Roman and Greek writers. He is a commissario in the Italian State Police, stationed in Venice and a native of that city. Brunetti is the subject of 29 novels:. You get a real flavour of living in Venice and of Italian food as he love food and the cases he’s involved in are always interesting.
Angus wrote: "Oh, I so wanted this item to categorise real places. I am after books with a genuine sense of place, even if in translation."Sarah Caudwell
Connie Willis - The Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog
I've read a fair number of these (including all of the 'old' ones, and have read books in all of these categories. The choice of books selected here is a bit random, was there an underlying logic?
Jeremy M Ellis wrote: "How about a category for the Australian Outback - I'd be hard pressed to think of many books with a better setting-as-a-character than Jane Harper's "The Lost Man". Her best book so far in my opini..."Opal Country by Chris Hammer is authentic Outback in the desert.
I highly recommend The Sentence by Louise Erdrich.