Mystery

The mystery genre is a genre of fiction that follows a crime (like a murder or a disappearance) from the moment it is committed to the moment it is solved. Mystery novels are often called “whodunnits” because they turn the reader into a detective trying to figure out the who, what, when, and how of a particular crime. Most mysteries feature a detective or private eye solving a case as the central character.

New Releases Tagged "Mystery"

The Impossible Fortune (Thursday Murder Club, #5)

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests

You Are the Detective: The Creeping Hand Murder

The Killing Stones (Jimmy Perez and Willow Reeves, #1)

More new releases tagged "mystery"...

Giveaways

Death at the Door (Ruby and Cordelia Mysteries #2)

Olivia Blacke (Goodreads Author)

Release date: Oct 21, 2025

Enter for a chance to win an early copy of this darkly funny, witty, paranormal mystery starring Ruby and her ghostly roommate, Cordelia.
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Availability: 20 copies available, 5207 people requesting

Giveaway dates: Sep 07 - Oct 06, 2025

Countries available: U.S. and Canada

All of Us Murderers

K.J. Charles (Goodreads Author)

Release date: Oct 07, 2025

Enter for the chance to win one of thirty copies of KJ Charles's ALL OF US MURDERERS where darkly sweet romance meets a gothic mystery. ...more
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Availability: 30 copies available, 14154 people requesting

Giveaway dates: Sep 08 - Oct 06, 2025

Countries available: U.S.

Photograph

Brian Freeman (Goodreads Author)

Release date: Oct 07, 2025

We're giving away 10 copies of PHOTOGRAPH, the latest emotional, cold case mystery from bestselling author Brian Freeman. ...more
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Availability: 10 copies available, 4984 people requesting

Giveaway dates: Sep 06 - Oct 06, 2025

Countries available: U.S.

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Most Read This Week

The Housemaid's Secret (The Housemaid, #2)

Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #2)

Lists

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

100 Mysteries and Thrillers to Read in a Lifetime: Readers' Picks

2,162 books — 4,309 voters

Best Woman-Authored Books

8,118 books — 5,148 voters

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Best Twists

8,313 books — 8,903 voters

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Best Detective/Mystery Series

2,195 books — 2,290 voters

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

Best Literary Mysteries

2,526 books — 4,518 voters

I AM IN LOVE !!!

4,357 books — 6,763 voters

Mystery Books

Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot, #10)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)

The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Hercule Poirot, #1)

The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games, #1)

One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1)

The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club, #1)

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot, #4)

The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike, #1)

More mystery books...

Related Genres

Fiction
Thriller
Crime
Suspense
Cozy Mystery
Detective
Murder Mystery
Historical Mystery
Noir

Paranormal Mystery
Whodunit
Amateur Sleuth
Hard Boiled
Golden Age Mystery
Détective
Thriĺler
Ficțion
Fiçtion

Related News

19 New October Books the Goodreads Editors Can't Wait to Read

Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we sort through a lot of books each month. Our monthly Readers' Most Anticipated Books feature is exactly...

Quotes Tagged “Mystery”

“ Snake Street is an area I should avoid. Yet that night I was drawn there as surely as if I had an appointment. The Snake House is shabby on the outside to hide the wealth within. Everyone knows of the wealth, but facades, like the park’s wall, must be maintained. A lantern hung from the porch eaves. A sign, written in Utte, read ‘Kinship of the Serpent’. I stared at that sign, at that porch, at the door with its twisted handle, and wondered what the people inside would do if I entered. Would t Snake Street is an area I should avoid. Yet that night I was drawn there as surely as if I had an appointment. The Snake House is shabby on the outside to hide the wealth within. Everyone knows of the wealth, but facades, like the park’s wall, must be maintained. A lantern hung from the porch eaves. A sign, written in Utte, read ‘Kinship of the Serpent’. I stared at that sign, at that porch, at the door with its twisted handle, and wondered what the people inside would do if I entered. Would they remember me? Greet me as Kin? Or drive me out and curse me for faking my death? Worse, would they expect me to redon the life I’ve shed? Staring at that sign, I pissed in the street like the Mearan savage I’ve become. As I started to leave, I saw a woman sitting in the gutter. Her lamp attracted me. A memsa’s lamp, three tiny flames to signify the Holy Trinity of Faith, Purity, and Knowledge. The woman wasn’t a memsa. Her young face was bruised and a gash on her throat had bloodied her clothing. Had she not been calmly assessing me, I would have believed the wound to be mortal. I offered her a copper. She refused, “I take naught for naught,” and began to remove trinkets from a cloth bag, displaying them for sale. Her Utte accent had been enough to earn my coin. But to assuage her pride I commented on each of her worthless treasures, fighting the urge to speak Utte. (I spoke Universal with the accent of an upper class Mearan though I wondered if she had seen me wetting the cobblestones like a shameless commoner.) After she had arranged her wares, she looked up at me. “What do you desire, O Noble Born?” I laughed, certain now that she had seen my act in front of the Snake House and, letting my accent match the coarseness of my dress, I again offered the copper. “Nay, Noble One. You must choose.” She lifted a strand of red beads. “These to adorn your lady’s bosom?” I shook my head. I wanted her lamp. But to steal the light from this woman ... I couldn’t ask for it. She reached into her bag once more and withdrew a book, leather-bound, the pages gilded on the edges. “Be this worthy of desire, Noble Born?” I stood stunned a moment, then touched the crescent stamped into the leather and asked if she’d stolen the book. She denied it. I’ve had the Training; she spoke truth. Yet how could she have come by a book bearing the Royal Seal of the Haesyl Line? I opened it. The pages were blank. “Take it,” she urged. “Record your deeds for study. Lo, the steps of your life mark the journey of your soul.” I told her I couldn’t afford the book, but she smiled as if poverty were a blessing and said, “The price be one copper. Tis a wee price for salvation, Noble One.” So I bought this journal. I hide it under my mattress. When I lie awake at night, I feel the journal beneath my back and think of the woman who sold it to me. Damn her. She plagues my soul. I promised to return the next night, but I didn’t. I promised to record my deeds. But I can’t. The price is too high. ...more ”
― K. Ritz, Sheever's Journal, Diary of a Poison Master

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“ Aurelia was just about to take a sip of a mimosa when Mother Guardian snatched the flute away and promptly downed the drink in one gulp. Burping unashamedly, she said, "We can't have the validity of the marriage contracts jeopardized because the bride got rat-assed on her wedding day. ...more ”
― Therisa Peimer, Taming Flame

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