The 20 Best Mystery Books to Read for Your Inner Sleuth

If you’re looking for an outside-the-box true crime + memoir I highly recommend this one.

It is impossible to categorize this book, which is one of my favorite things about it, and the same can be said about the author, Myriam Gurba. It’s a memoir of sorts, with stories from her life and family, including her grandfather’s life as a publicist and her prima’s childhood abuse that led to her joining a gang. But it’s also a true crime book and a book on history that dives into the actual heart of the events, crimes, and criminals, focusing on the victims and society. It’s a spotlight on the very title word, creep(s), and how we create them, allow them, defend them. The book is an essay collection, but again can’t be categorized easily as such because there is play with the narrative and structure in itself.

I was a huge fan of her previous genre-bending memoir Mean, so I ran to this one and once again continue to love her work, infused with her dark humor and observational insight mixed with research. She narrates the audiobook, and while I love hearing work in the author’s own voice, I can also see this being a book readers will want to highlight or mark with sticky notes in a print/ebook copy. I may have almost burned dinner while pausing the audiobook to go jot down a line that has since stayed with me: “The living expect a lot from dead women.”

(TWs she talks about so many stories, cases, and histories that it’s easiest to just say everything, though I’ll note it never feels gratuitous or graphic for the sake of being.)

For fans of coastal town settings, murder mysteries, and three generations of amateur sleuths!

It’s a big month for fall mystery books and book clubs: GMA chose Happiness Falls and Reese’s Book Club chose Mother-Daughter Murder Night.

Lana Rubicon is an LA businesswoman currently living in a coastal town with her daughter and granddaughter following a cancer diagnosis. She’s obviously not thrilled about all the life changes but finds herself less bored when her granddaughter finds a body. Lana may have seen something important to the investigation and it’s time for this family to start sleuthing in order to solve a murder, dredge up small-town secrets, and save themselves.