I’m a big fan of summery mysteries in every form—books, movies, TV shows, give it all to me. There’s nothing quite like visiting a quiet fictional British village or a luxurious villa in a vacation destination that suddenly has its inhabitants shaken to their core by murder. During the summer, I may not actually visit places like these, but it’s fun to escape into new settings and solve a case alongside some beloved and interesting characters.
![Woman reading on a hammock](https://offtheshelf.b-cdn.net/app/uploads/2021/05/HammockReadingSummer_iStock-823826038_OTS-1070x270.jpg)
7 Evocative Mysteries Perfect for Summer
Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life in Vanessa Walters’s THE NIGERWIFE. She left her past baggage behind in gloomy London when she moved to Lagos, Nigeria. She’s joined a community of foreign women who married wealthy Nigerian men, and things couldn’t be going better for her. But soon, her so-called perfect life appears to fall apart when she goes missing after a boat trip. Unsatisfied with the progress of the police investigation, Nicole’s auntie Claudine goes to Lagos to find her niece herself.
THE NIGERWIFE is a summer must-have book accessory! Stay tuned for fun sweepstakes and more on the Books Like Us page.
This twisty and electrifying debut novel about a young woman who goes missing in Lagos, Nigeria, and her estranged auntie who will stop at nothing to find the truth is perfect for fans of My Sister, the Serial Killer and The Last Thing He Told Me.
Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of glittering Lagos, Nigeria, and a glamorous group of friends. She left gloomy London and a dark family past behind for sunny, moneyed Lagos, becoming part of the Nigerwives—a community of foreign women married to wealthy Nigerian men.
But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her Auntie Claudine decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with only a cell phone and a plane ticket to Nigeria, she digs into her niece’s life and uncovers a hidden side filled with dark secrets, isolation, and even violence. But the more she discovers about her niece, the more Claudine’s own buried history threatens to come to light.
An inventively told and keenly observant thriller where nothing is as it seems, The Nigerwife is a razor-sharp look at the bonds of family, the echoing consequences of secrets, and whether we can ever truly outrun our past.
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I’m a big fan of The Great British Bake Off, and if you are too and wish you could be whisked away for a few weeks to a low-stakes baking competition at an English estate, then THE GOLDEN SPOON by Jessa Maxwell is the book for you. Sadly, instead of getting a glass cake plate as a souvenir, the competitors in THE GOLDEN SPOON must solve a murder and uncover the identity of the person sabotaging the competition.
“This delicious combination of Clue and The Great British Bakeoff kept me turning the pages all night!” —Janet Evanovich, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Only Murders in the Building meets The Maid in this darkly beguiling locked-room mystery where someone turns up dead on the set of TV’s hottest baking competition—perfect for fans of Nita Prose, Richard Osman, and Anthony Horowitz.
Every summer for the past ten years, six awe-struck bakers have descended on the grounds of Grafton, the leafy and imposing Vermont estate that is not only the filming site for “Bake Week” but also the childhood home of the show’s famous host, celebrated baker Betsy Martin.
The author of numerous bestselling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, though no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection, and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. As the baking competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it’s merely sabotage—sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned to high—but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.
A sharp and suspenseful thriller for mystery buffs and avid bakers alike, The Golden Spoon is a brilliant puzzle filled with shocking twists and turns that will keep you reading late into the night until you turn the very last page of this incredible debut.
Head off to Ireland with Private Investigator Regan Reilly and her new husband, Jack, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad in Carol Higgins Clark’s LACED. Regan and Jack are spending a romantic night at Hennessy Castle when a fire alarm interrupts their evening. But it isn’t fire they need to investigate, but the stolen objects that were lost in the chaos. The suspected culprits are none other than the two thieves Jack has been pursuing for over a year. Regan and Jack enlist the help of Regan’s cousin Gerard to find the thieves and the jewels they stole in a story that has as many twists and turns as the country roads of Ireland.
A haunted Irish castle, international jewel thieves, and a hotel fire—New York Times bestselling author Carol Higgins Clark has sent Regan and Jack Reilly on a honeymoon like no other.
Private Investigator Regan Reilly and her new husband Jack, head of the NYPD Major Case Squad, are off to Ireland. But their very first night at romantic Hennessy Castle is interrupted by a fire alarm that distracts hotel employees from the theft of a valuable antique lace tablecloth from the castle’s memorabilia room.
A taunting note is left by the culprits—a notorious pair of jewel thieves whom Jack has been pursuing for over a year. Disguised as an elderly couple, they had checked out in the midst of the mayhem. Regan’s cousin Gerard Reilly, a Galway resident, is eager to help with the hunt, but their search takes as many twists and turns as the winding country roads of the Emerald Isle.
With Carol Higgins Clark’s unique talent for creating quirky characters, this is a classic caper that will keep you laughing, turning pages, and maybe even believing in ghosts.
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The Great War may be ending in BLACKBERRY DAYS OF SUMMER by Ruth P. Watson, but mystery and intrigue are just starting to creep into town on the day Robert Parker is put to rest. Herman Camm shows up on the day they bury Robert, and his appearance disrupts the entire town, and three women in particular. Mae Lou Parker; her daughter, Carrie; and Pearl Brown find themselves the focus of Herman’s manipulations. But Herman goes from instigator to victim when he’s found dead from a shotgun wound. All three women–and many others in the town–are prime suspects, but how can you solve a crime when no one cares that the victim is dead?
In an exciting historical whodunit, a young black man is murdered and even though suspects abound, no one is trying too hard to find his killer.
The novel begins as The Great War is coming to an end. As Robert Parker’s body is lowered into the grave, Herman Camm introduces himself to the mourning family. He is a beady-eyed, small-framed, well-dressed man with a mysterious stare—and he is about to drastically change the lives of three women: Mae Lou Parker; her daughter, Carrie; and Pearl Brown.
On Christmas Eve in Jefferson County, Virginia, trouble arrives when Carrie reveals a disturbing secret that will haunt and change their lives forever. Mae Lou is fed up with Herman spending time with other women and she goes to confront him. Everybody wants a part of him, including Willie—however, the tables are slightly turned when Willie ends up with a gun pointing directly at him.
All of the stories converge when Herman is found dead from a shotgun wound. There are many people Herman has offended. And all three women are suspects in his murder. An investigation is launched. But no one really cares, including the police. Blackberry Days of Summer is a brilliantly crafted story of family secrets, complexity, and the courage of forgiveness.
A summer spent on a lake in Wisconsin sounds pretty idyllic. Unfortunately, in LAKE OF TEARS by Mary Logue, the burned-out hull of a replica Norwegian longboat set aflame on the shores of Lake Pepin and the ashes of a body found within, ruin the easy summer Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins had planned. Claire has a lot more to balance when the remains are discovered to belong to the ex-girlfriend of her new deputy—and, oh yeah, that deputy is also now dating Claire’s daughter Meg. This tale takes you on cases from Fort St. Antoine, Wisconsin, to the mountains of Afghanistan and back again.
"Logue writes beautifully about rural Minnesota life while telling a good mystery. For fans of J.A. Jance and Margaret Maron." --Library Journal
Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins has had an easy summer in Fort St. Antoine, Wisconsin; the only problem is that her daughter Meg is leaving for college soon. When Claire walks down to the park to watch the Burning Boat--a large replica of a Norwegian longboat set on the shores of Lake Pepin, burned at the autumnal equinox--she has no idea that more than just a wooden structure is going up in flames.
The next day, the bones of a young woman are found in the ashes. When Claire learns that the new deputy she has hired, a vet returning from Afghanistan, was the young woman's former boyfriend, and that he is now dating her daughter Meg, she is desperate to find out who is responsible for the death.
In order to get to the heart of this mystery, Claire must understand what happened in an attack in the mountains of Afghanistan, which left one man wounded, one man killed, and one man disturbed. Could one of those two remaining men be the killer?
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What would you do if you rented a vacation home and walked in to discover a body? That’s what Taylor has to reckon with in MY KILLER VACATION by Tessa Bailey. After her perfect vacation in Cape Cod takes a killer turn, Myles—a broody and rude, but sexy bounty hunter—shows up to find the murderer. Taylor decides to join the hunt and add catch a killer to her holiday itinerary.
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Hawaii has a lot to offer: beautiful scenery and weather, delicious food . . . and a murder disguised as an accident. In HULA DONE IT, Maddy Hunter gives us another adventure with travel escort Emily Andrew. When Emily takes a Hawaiian cruise, she’s expecting sand and surf, not the investigation of the death of Professor Dorian Smoker, a renowned expert on the legendary Captain Cook. Was Professor Smoker’s death just an accident, or does it have to do with the treasure map and journal that went missing at the same time? HULA DONE IT? will take you from sunny shores to deep jungles in search of a treasure that’s worth killing for.
Dead in the Water
For travel escort Emily Andrew and her fellow Iowans, aloha means "hello" to all the sun, surf, and scrumptious cuisine their Hawaiian cruise has to offer. But for Professor Dorian Smoker, a renowned expert on the legendary Captain Cook, aloha also means "good-bye" -- as in "man overboard."
Sure, it could have been an accident. But Emily wonders if some guest with a grudge might have knocked off the opinionated professor. Or maybe it had something to do with that missing journal Nana's friend lent him -- the one with the mysterious treasure map. Emily figures the map is probably a fake. But when another copy turns up, she and her friends take off, rafting down rivers and plunging through jungles to find the treasure themselves. Unfortunately, Professor Smoker's killer just might have the same idea. And this tropical heat wave could quickly turn into a crime wave...
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