Mystery 
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This claustrophobic two-hander set in an unidentified British colony follows the tense relationship between Soraya Matas, a live-in Muslim housekeeper, and Alice Hattingh, her widowed British boss. As the pair engage in escalating psychological warfare, Davids expands her scope to consider the awful legacy of colonialism—to electrifying effect.
Working in a relaxed, episodic register, Berney tracks an Oklahoma crime family across five decades, stuffing a dazzling array of stories about the children of swindlers Buddy Mercurio and Lillian Ott into an overarching meditation on legacy and fate. Funny, fleet, and populated by unforgettable characters, it’s a triumph of tone that never forgets to be exciting.
Pavone takes a Tom Wolfe–worthy look at Manhattan’s elite in his best thriller yet. It centers on ex-Marine Chicky Diaz, the doorman at a glitzy Upper West Side co-op. As Chicky observes the comings and goings of several shady characters across a single afternoon, Pavone makes potent points about unchecked privilege on his way to a firework-filled finale.
The master of Florida crime fiction proves he’s still got it in this loopy romp that sends up white supremacy, corrupt politicians, and eccentric revolutionaries. As Hiaasen’s cast of indelibly drawn dimwits collide over a scheme to fund a far-right militia in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot, it’s impossible not to laugh, however uncomfortably, at the familiar absurdity.
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Wright, a Pulitzer-winning journalist, brings his empathy and intelligence to bear on this wrenching thriller about an Irish-Arab FBI agent who travels to Gaza to connect with his roots, then gets roped into investigating the murder of an Israeli police chief. Resisting easy answers, Wright makes good on the book’s title, measuring with care and precision the human toll of a stomach-turning conflict.
This slow-burn stunner keeps its cards close to its vest, painting an oblique portrait of the fallout from an affair between a ruthless artist and her young protégé before ripping the rug from under readers’ feet. When the full range of Bronwasser’s themes become clear—including questions about destiny and the very ethics of storytelling—it’s tempting to start again from page one.
After debuting with the brain-teasing Anna O., Blake dives back into the murk of human memory with this excellent whodunit about a WWII survivor who suddenly insists, at 96, that she murdered a woman at the end of the war. As her granddaughter tries to get to the bottom of the bizarre claim, someone dies, kicking off a chain of jaw-dropping twists.
This hefty working-class crime saga cements Boyle as an essential Brooklyn novelist. Decades after a Gravesend woman accidentally kills her abusive husband, her son starts to wonder about his late father, setting the stage for a sprawling, tragic reflection on class and the ripple effects of violence across generations.
Refashioning the myth of Persephone and Demeter into a lyrical ghost story set in the Mexicali borderlands is no small task. Givhan more than meets the challenge, spinning an atmospheric, urgent, and frightening tale about a woman searching for missing girls near the Salton Sea.
Currie introduces readers to a memorable mafiosa in this cinematic epic about a French American crime matriarch in Maine who embarks on a violent crusade after the death of her daughter. Juggling an impressive array of subplots without sacrificing stakes or character development, Currie envelops readers in Babs’s bloodthirsty revenge campaign until the bitter end.
A former investigative reporter tracks down details about an aunt she never knew in Berry’s sharp, expressive debut. When Sydney Singleton learns her aunt was one of six Black women to vanish from Raleigh, N.C., in a two-year period, the narrative turns an unflinching eye toward racial disparities in crime solving, making this among the year’s most potent mysteries.
Cerebral, shocking, and winningly surreal, this shimmering suspense novel follows a man as he obsessively prepares an apartment in Lisbon for a wife who may or may not arrive. As the timeline starts to blur, Muñoz masterfully and ruthlessly immerses readers in the unstable psychology of loss.
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