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
Stieg Larsson
Paper Book
#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The thrilling first book in the Millenium series featuring Lisbeth Salander: "Combine the chilly Swedish backdrop and moody psychodrama of a Bergman movie with the grisly pyrotechnics of a serial-killer thriller, then add an angry punk heroine and a down-on-his-luck...
Storm Front
Jim Butcher
Audiobook
The Big Sleep
Raymond Chandler
Audiobook
Phoenix Audio presents Raymond Chandler's 1939 celebrated novel The Big Sleep; the first mystery to feature detective Philip Marlowe. Here, the cynical sleuth takes on a blackmail case for the Sternwood family and ends up being surrounded by lies and bodies.
The Cuckoo's Calling
Robert Galbraith
Paper Book
***The 7th novel in the Strike series, THE RUNNING GRAVE, is coming in September 2023. Pre-order now and be the first to read it*** 'The Cuckoo's Calling reminds me why I fell in love with crime fiction in the first place' VAL...
The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Agatha Christie
Ebook
A Study in Scarlet
Arthur Conan Doyle
Paper Book
A detective's duty is to unravel the scarlet thread of murder... When Dr John Watson takes rooms in Baker Street with amateur detective Sherlock Holmes, he has no idea that he is about to enter a shadowy world of criminality and violence. Accompanying Holmes to an ill-omened...
A is for Alibi
Sue Grafton
Audiobook
Now Available on CD! 3 CDs/ 3 hours Read by Judy Kaye Plenty of people in the picturesque town of Santa Teresa, California, wanted Laurence Fife, a ruthless divorce attorney, dead.  Including, thought the cops, his young and beautiful wife, who was...
Rivers of London
Ben Aaronovitch
Paper Book
Book 1 in the Rivers of London series, from Sunday Times Number One bestselling author Ben Aaronovitch. My name is Peter Grant, and I used to be a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police...
Whose Body?
Dorothy L. Sayers
Ebook
Maisie Dobbs
Jacqueline Winspear
Paper Book
The Bone Collector
Jeffery Deaver
Paper Book
The Bat
Jo Nesbø
Paper Book
**HARRY HOLE IS SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX TV SERIES** Discover the addictive first book in the bestselling Harry Hole series. 'A stunning opening to the series' Sunday Times Harry is out of his depth. Detective Harry...
Knots and Crosses
Ian Rankin
Paper Book
Discover how it all began in the very first Rebus novel from 'Britain's No.1 crime writer' Daily Mirror 'And in Edinburgh of all places. I mean, you never think of that sort of thing happening in Edinburgh, do you...?' 'That sort of thing' is the...
Magpie Murders
Anthony Horowitz
Paper Book
The first Atticus Pund and Susan Ryeland mystery from bestselling author Anthony Horowitz, and inspiration for the major hit BBC series MAGPIE MURDERS. Editor Susan Ryland has worked with bestselling crime writer Alan Conway for years. Readers love his detective, Atticus Pünd,...
The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman
Paper Book
In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet up once a week to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their very doorstep, the Thursday Murder Club find themselves in the middle of their first live case. Elizabeth, Joyce,...
Raven Black
Ann Cleeves
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION DIAMOND DAGGER AWARD 2017NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMAIt is a cold January morning and Shetland lies buried beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a vivid splash of colour on the white ground, ravens circling above. It is the...
The Crossing Places
Elly Griffiths
Paper Book
Start right here! Discover the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries and become obsessed with one of the most popular crime series in Britain. 'Galloway now seems as real as Marple and Morse' The Times 'I've never before read a crime novel in which...
Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death
M.C. Beaton
Paper Book
'Every new Agatha Raisin escapade is a total joy' ASHLEY JENSEN 'No wonder she's been crowned Queen of Cosy Crime' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'A Beaton novel is like The Archers on speed' DAILY MAIL The first...
The Word Is Murder
Anthony Horowitz
Paper Book
A woman is strangled six hours after organising her own funeral. Did she know she was going to die? Did she recognise her killer? Enter Daniel Hawthorne, a detective with a genius for solving crimes and an ability to hold secrets very close. With...
The Stranger Diaries
Elly Griffiths
Paper Book

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