Winters are the perfect time to curl up in a stuffy chair and grab a glass of hot chocolate (or wine) and lose yourself in the pages of a good whodunnit.

My personal favorite mystery novels are the ones with a closed room murder in a lavish country house somewhere, a fixed number of suspects and lots of motive! So basically, every other novel by Agatha Christie ?

Since I am a big fan of the genre, I have put together a list of 10 mystery novels that everyone must read!

Satisfaction Guaranteed– I have read everything on this list and I promise you, read one or read all, you will not regret it!

1. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express is probably the most popular of Agatha Christie novels with multiple adaptations made for television and movies. A heinous crime is committed on a stranded train and everyone on board seems to have a motive. Ghosts of Christmas past haunt the present, and Hercule Poirot must remove layers of subterfuge to get to the killer. Who would be so angry to stab a man 12 times to death?

2. Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

This novel-within-novel whodunit will keep you guessing till the end. Incredibly layered, well-written and quite a page-turner. One of the best murder mystery novels that I have read in recent times. Also, if you are a mystery buff like me, you are going to love all the hidden references to Agatha Christie’s work.

3. Arthur & George by Julian Barnes

As famous as his uber-logical detective, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a legend himself. In this novel by Julian Barnes, we peek into a period of Doyle’s life when he is enlisted to act as a real-life detective. George Edalji is a quiet man who has been unfairly accused of the Great Wryley Outrages and Doyle takes it upon himself to find out what really happened. Part history, part fiction the novel will keep you hooked to the end and shed some light on the creator of Sherlock Holmes.

4. Death at the President’ s Lodging by Michale Innes

This one is your typical genteel British mystery novels. There is no gore or loud action, but the plot is complex and peels off in oniony layers.  The crime occurs at the President’s Lodgings in St. Anthony’s college. The access to the lodging is limited by a set of keys which are in the hands of a few people. The access to the college itself is controlled by a set of keys, again the in the hands of a few people. Michael Innes employs his favorite detective to unravel the case, Inspector Appleby. The mystery is a brilliant puzzle. There is something mathematical about the issue of the keys, and the number of entrances to the college and the sequence of events of the night of the murder. The resolution to the mystery is truly imaginative. 

5. The Hound of Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle

I would be really surprised if anyone has made through high school and not read this. Sherlock Holmes is asked to investigate the death of Sir Charles Baskerville, the lord of Baskerville Hall. A gothic mansion, phantom hound, haunted moors, the family curse, inheritance at stake, escaped murderer – so many elements here that make it a great read.  Enough said.

6. The Wheel Spins by Ethel White

Adapted as the famous Hitchcock movie, The Lady Vanishes is a mystery novel about a young girl who believes she is going crazy because everyone around her says so.  
Iris is going to England on a train sharing a carriage with one another passenger, a Miss Froy.  Just before she boards the train, Iris is hit by a sunstroke which leaves her disoriented. Iris dozes off and when she wakes up Miss Froy is no longer there. Iris is convinced that something is wrong but as she tries to ask her fellow passengers they tell her they don’t know what she is talking about  – that there never was a Miss Froy.
What happened to Miss Froy? Did Iris just imagine the encounter?  What is really going on?

7. Acceptable Risk by Robin Cook

I read this book in high school and it has stayed with me. A brilliant scientist discovers a new strand of a fungus analyzing some mold found in an old house in Salem, Massachusetts. This fungus has certain behavior altering effects on humans and very soon the whole town seems to be adding berserk. Not unlike what would have happened in the village three hundred years ago, during the infamous Salem Witch Trials. What is going on? Is history repeating itself?

This one is most definitely a page-turner.

8. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale 

The only non-fiction to make the list. This book chronicles and analyzes the events around the gruesome murder of Saville Kent, a four-year-old at Road Hill House in England. Summerscale presents the evidence and sequence of events as they took place so that you are pushed to wear a detective’s hat and figure out for yourself what really happened. She also ties this incident to the growth of detective literature and the influences of the Road Hill Murder on it. Dickens, Collins, Braddon – the pioneers of the first detective novels were very active commentators in the Kent case and their stories and characters were heavily inspired by this one incident. This is an essential read if you love detective fiction as much as I do. 

9. Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

A bunch of girls from a stuck-up boarding school plan a picnic to Hanging Rock on Valentine’s day. During the picnic, four girls and a teacher decide to climb the monolithic rock that gives the picnic spot its name. Only one girl returns with no memory of what happened. What happened to those girls? The oppression of the school boundaries, the headmistress’s rules, the heat of the Australian summer – all this adds to the mood of the novel making it a riveting read. In the original publication, the last chapter which solved the mystery was withheld from the readers to create buzz and add to the discussion. Sort of 20th century viral marketing?

10. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold by John Le Carre

Le Carre’s brooding spy thriller is slow in execution but big in substance. Alec Leamas is an aging British intelligence officer who has been heading the Berlin division during the height of the cold war. His network has slowly collapsed over time due to one person – Mundt, an East German Intelligence Officer. Leamas is presented with an opportunity to take out Mundt. This starts an elaborate operation where the subterfuge is so well done that as a reader you are often confused as to what is happening. Le Carre keeps his cards close to his chest until the very end, and you follow Leamas’ fate like your own.

Bonus Podcast recommendation

If you are interested in history of detective fiction in the UK, I highly recommend listening to this series:

https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/dons-deaths-and-detectives-oxford-crime-fiction

For more book related articles go here