Getting started with mysteries

Looking for a mystery series to get lost in? This list has the first book in some popular series to get you started!
Updated September 19, 2022
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The girl with the dragon tattoo
Larsson, Stieg
Paper Book
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME * #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The thrilling first book in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series featuring Lisbeth Salander: "Combine the chilly Swedish backdrop and moody psychodrama of a Bergman movie with the grisly...
One for the money
Evanovich, Janet
Paper Book
Discover where it all began--the first "snappily written, fast-paced, and witty" (USA TODAY) novel in the beloved Stephanie Plum series featuring a feisty and funny heroine who "comes roaring in like a blast of very fresh air" (The Washington Post), from Janet Evanovich, #1 New...
The cuckoo's calling
Galbraith, Robert
Paper Book
Published under a pseudonym, J. K. Rowling's brilliant debut mystery introduces Detective Cormoran Strike as he investigates a supermodel's suicide in "one of the best books of the year" (USA Today). After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan,...
"A" is for alibi
Grafton, Sue
Paper Book
READ THE SENSATIONAL BLOCKBUSTER THAT STARTED IT ALL! Take it from the top in #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton's knockout thriller that introduced detective Kinsey Millhone--and a hot new attitude--to crime fiction... A IS FOR...
Still life
Penny, Louise
Paper Book
Read the series that inspired Three Pines on Prime Video. In Still Life, bestselling author Louise Penny introduces Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec. Winner of the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys...
The black echo
Connelly, Michael
Paper Book
An LAPD homicide detective must choose between justice and vengeance as he teams up with the FBI in this "thrilling" novel filled with mystery and adventure (New York Times Book Review). For maverick LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch, the body in...
Whose body?
Sayers, Dorothy L.
Paper Book
The first novel by one of the greatest mystery writers of the twentieth century, in which she introduced her popular amateur detective, Lord Peter Wimsey. "[A] pure pleasure to read." --The New York Times Book Review   A famous London financier...
Maisie Dobbs : a novel
Winspear, Jacqueline
Paper Book
Hailed by NPR's Fresh Air as part Testament of Youth, part Dorothy Sayers, and part Upstairs, Downstairs, this astonishing debut has already won fans from coast to coast and is poised to add Maisie Dobbs to the ranks of literature's favorite sleuths. Maisie Dobbs isn't just any...
Crocodile on the sandbank
Peters, Elizabeth
Paper Book
From a New York Times bestselling author, a Victorian-era thriller featuring Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, a self-proclaimed spinster and heiress who's unrattled by anyone-including mummies. The unshakeable Amelia Peabody embarks on an Egyptian...
The bat
Nesb,̜ Jo
Paper Book
The Thursday Murder Club [kit]
Osman, Richard
Paper Book
Soon to be a Major Motion Picture The first installment in the beloved and New York Times bestselling series from Richard Osman, also author of We Solve Murders Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves A female cop...
The crossing places
Griffiths, Elly
Paper Book
When she's not digging up bones or other ancient objects, quirky, tart-tongued archaeologist Ruth Galloway lives happily alone in anbsp;remote area called Saltmarshnbsp;near Norfolk, land that was sacred to itsnbsp;Iron Agenbsp;inhabitants - not quite earth, not quite sea. When a child's bones are...
Chocolate chip cookie murder : a Hannah Swensen mystery
Fluke, Joanne
Paper Book
Hannah Swensen already has her hands full, but when the Cozy Cow Dairys beloved delivery man is found murdered behind her bakery with her famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him, Hannah sets out to track down a killer. Includes a bonus short story and brand-new recipes.
The distant echo
McDermid, Val
Paper Book
Four in the morning, mid-December, and snow blankets St. Andrews School. Student Alex Gilbery and his three best friends are staggering home from a party when they stumble upon the body of a young woman. Rosie Duff has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in the ancient Pictish cemetery. The...
Murder in the Marais
Black, Cara
Paper Book
Aimee Leduc, a Parisian private investigator, has sworn she would stick to tech investigation - no criminal cases for her. Especially since her father, the late police detective, was killed in the line of duty. But when an old Jewish man approaches Aimee with a secret decoding job on behalf of a...
The stranger diaries
Griffiths, Elly
Paper Book
International Bestseller Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel "This lively whodunit keeps you guessing until the end." --People "Utterly bewitching...As unforgettable as it is original." --A.J. Finn ...

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