Here are the 10 best mystery novels of 2024

This was a great year for fans of mystery novels. Not only were there new books in popular series by Donna Leon and Louise Penny, veteran Marcia Muller made a welcome return in 2024. And let’s not forget Richard Osman, Jane Pek and the many recent additions to the genre. Happy sleuthing!

1. ‘Circle in the Water’ by Marcia Muller

When veteran private eye Sharon McCone is hired by a group of San Francisco homeowners facing vandalism, she discovers that the damage is a coverup for far more serious crimes. As McCone digs further, her life is threatened. It has been three years since Muller, considered the mother of the American hard-boiled female detective, published a book in the McCone series, but this 35th - and last - volume was worth the wait.

2. ‘Echo’ by Tracy Clark

In Clark’s riveting police procedural, Chicago Police Detective Harriet “Harri” Foster struggles to discover who is stalking her while she tries to solve a murder case involving the son of a billionaire. Determined, courageous and grieving the murder of her teenage son, Foster must finally face some of her demons to move forward - both in the murder case and in her life.

3. ‘The Grey Wolf’ by Louise Penny

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache’s newest case begins with phone calls that disturb the peaceful August Sunday at his home in the fictional Three Pines, Quebec. Soon, things escalate to violence and then murder, and Gamache, the head of homicide for the Surêté du Québec, is plunged into his darkest investigation yet. In this 19th book in her beloved series, Penny explores a past chapter of Gamache’s personal life that he had hoped was closed forever. It now threatens to tear his world apart.

4. ‘May the Wolf Die’ by Elizabeth Heider

Nikki Serafino, a native Neapolitan, is an investigator who works as a liaison between local police and the American military base in Naples. When Serafino is assigned to a team probing the killing of two U.S. Navy officers, she’s thrust into a terrifying web of corruption, violence and murder. Heider, a physicist who lived in Naples for several years, has produced a page-turner of a debut mystery novel.

5. ‘The Princess of Las Vegas’ by Chris Bohjalian

In glitzy Las Vegas, Crissy Dowling makes a satisfying living with her long-running Princess Diana impersonation show. But Crissy is jolted out of her comfort zone when she and her sister Betsy - recently arrived in town with her financial wizard boyfriend and teen daughter - are drawn into the murky world of cryptocurrency and find themselves involved with mobsters.

6. ‘A Refiner’s Fire’ by Donna Leon

In this deeply emotional mystery, Commissario Guido Brunetti tries to save two of his police colleagues. One is being terrorized by a gang leader, while the other faces a blackmail demand. Leon’s adroit prose tempers her dark view of Venice’s ever-present corruption, as do glimpses of his home life with two teenagers and Brunetti’s own thoughtful character.

7. ‘The Rivals’ by Jane Pek

Lifelong mystery fan Claudia Lin loves working as a real-life dating detective at Veracity, an agency that verifies personal information on online matchmakers’ websites. When a Veracity client is killed, Lin and her colleagues discover that some matchmakers are illegally mining peoples’ personal data for nefarious purposes - and are willing to silence anyone in their way. In this sequel to “The Verifiers,” Pek again brilliantly combines a corporate espionage thriller with the messy drama of Lin’s family life.

8. ‘We Solve Murders’ by Richard Osman

Bodyguard Amy Wheeler finds herself the target of a terrorist death threat and teams up with her father-in-law, Steve Wheeler, a retired London police detective, to try to figure out who wants to kill her and why. “Thursday Murder Club” fans will find much to like in this new series, as Osman presents a lively thriller replete with his trademark mix of humor, drama and compassion.

9. ‘What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust’ by Alan Bradley

Precocious sleuth Flavia de Luce returns after a five-year hiatus in a compelling mystery that unearths family secrets and shakes her 1950s world. A scientific savant, teenage Flavia - working with her partner in detection, family gardener Arthur Dogger - uses her extensive chemistry knowledge to try to clear the family’s cook, Mrs. Mullet, from police suspicion that she poisoned a recluse in their small English village.

10. ‘Where They Last Saw Her’ by Marcie R. Rendon

When women on the Red Pine Reservation in Minnesota go missing, Quill, a young mother of two, is convinced that men working on a nearby oil pipeline are responsible. The tribal police’s desultory response to the situation frustrates Quill, so she and two friends decide to investigate. Rendon, a citizen of the White Earth Nation, brings home the emotional trauma endured by families and friends of the thousands of missing Native American women.

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Karen MacPherson, the former children’s and teen coordinator at the Takoma Park Maryland Library, is a lifelong mysteries aficionado.