Winter Wonderland: Murder In the Darkest Days of the Year
The cooler months are the perfect time for crime stories. Atmospheric mystery thriller books that feature winter’s elements use blizzards and snow to ratchet up the tension. In each of these mysteries, it’s a race against time to melt the threat. Fortunately, the brazen detectives and unlikely heroes in these must-read thriller books do everything to thwart diabolical criminals.
When the bodies of two Indigenous women are found in the wilderness of northern California, it is only the latest horrific development in a string of similar crimes in the area. Despite all evidence to the contrary, officials rule the deaths isolated incidents, which soon join the ranks of countless other unsolved cases quickly dismissed by law enforcement.
In a town where too many injustices are tolerated or brushed under the rug, only a few people remain who refuse to let a killer walk free. But Private Investigator Sharon McCone is one of those few. She is hired by an organization called Crimes against Indigenous Sisters to go undercover in Meruk County—a community rife with secrets, lies, and corruption—to expose the truth.
In an isolated cabin in the freezing, treacherous woods, McCone must work quickly to unravel a mystery that is rooted in profound evil—before she becomes the killer’s next target.
Martin, who has always been drawn to the ocean, moves his wife Alexandra and their two young children move to his family’s idyllic summer cottage in the picturesque island village of Orust, on the west coast of Sweden. Martin begins to cultivate a mussel farm, where he soon runs into trouble with the locals.
From bestselling duo Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, White Fire is the thirteenth installment in the beloved thriller suspense Special Agent Pendergast series. White Fire sees Pendergast investigating a series of potentially related mysteries. Sent to examine the remains of the eight miners killed by a grizzly bear in 1876, Pendergast’s colleague Corrie Swanson experiences resistance from the town. When Pendergast arrives, he does so amidst the chaos of an arsonist targeting wealthy families. To solve the case in time, Pendergast and Swanson work together to connect the past to the present, with an assist from a rare, long-lost story featuring Sherlock Holmes.
The Girl in the Ice is a chillingly captivating thriller perfect for cooler months. This series starter introduces Detective Erika Foster as she launches an investigation into a string of murders rippling through London, the latest of which found a socialite with a seemingly perfect life frozen under a sheet of ice. Coming off a recent career low, Erika is eager for a chance to prove herself with the high-profile case. But in order to solve the serial murders, Erika will need to overcome her personal trauma to be fully present—especially as the serial killer with a personal vendetta against Erika closes in.
The men on board HMS Terror have every expectation of triumph. As part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition, the first steam-powered vessels ever to search for the legendary Northwest Passage, they are as scientifically supported an enterprise as has ever set forth. As they enter a second summer in the Arctic Circle without a thaw, though, they are stranded in a nightmarish landscape of encroaching ice and darkness. Endlessly cold, with diminishing rations, 126 men fight to survive with poisonous food, a dwindling supply of coal, and ships buckling in the grip of crushing ice. But their real enemy is far more terrifying. There is something out there in the frigid darkness: an unseen predator stalking their ship, a monstrous terror constantly clawing to get in. When the expedition’s leader, Sir John Franklin, meets a terrible death, Captain Francis Crozier takes command and leads his surviving crewmen on a last, desperate attempt to flee south across the ice. With them travels an Inuit woman who cannot speak and who may be the key to survival, or the harbinger of their deaths. But as another winter approaches, as scurvy and starvation grow more terrible, and as the terror on the ice stalks them southward, Crozier and his men begin to fear that there is no escape.
In the 19th installment in James Patterson’s gripping San Francisco-set Women’s Murder Club books, the ladies celebrate a drop in crime, mercy from the courts, and a lull in news. But the calm doesn’t last long when a menacing, attention-hungry criminal known as “Loman” threatens a massive coordinated crime on Christmas morning with help from his cronies. With the impending disaster on the way, it will take the female friends and a Christmas miracle to stop Loman dead in his tracks.
By clicking 'Sign Up,' I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
What to Read Next
.