Find Whodunit: Murder Mystery Books To Wake Your Inner Sherlock Homes

Bringing a storyline which departs from the norm of having reliable POVs, In The Woods by Tana French offers a mystery for the murder of a 12 year old named Katy Devlin. The main detectives follow the lines of the more the merrier by having two detectives on the case, Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox. Till now it sounds like a normal mystery novel but the added information that brings the story together is that she was murdered close to the same woods where Rob’s friends had gone missing years ago. 

It moves in an eery manner where the reader might get confused from the telling as the POVs tend to change from past to present. It is more a psychological thriller involving a murder where you have to find what had happened in your memory and how it relates to the tragic end of the little girl. The author of the book has received the esteemed Edgar Award in 2008, giving you assurance on how immersive it is. 

Penned in 1987, The Black Dahlia is perfect for the relentless justice seekers who can digest a bit of truth in their crime novels. The setting of this novel which is set in the shady world of LA in the 1940s is what makes it an instant classic. Another unsettling fact about this novel is that it’s heavily influenced by the real murder of Elizabeth Short, who was left in an empty lot in a gruesome state. 

The author makes it a point to make the protagonist a justice lover and how it consumes him, letting you see the dark part of life. With clear depictions of corruption and questioning of what’s right and wrong, readers would feel as if they are also attached to the victim and would keep turning pages until they find out who was the culprit. James Ellroy does give a fictional end to a story that still remains unsolved, which adds another layer of mystery on top.

What would you do if you were murdered by a serial killer on the loose and brought back to life by a government scheme along with the other five victims? Well you can ask Lou that question who also happens to be the protagonist of this story. It seems that the culprit is gone and she’s free to be back with her kid and husband but is all as it seems? Struggling to remember her past life before she was cloned, she starts to notice some weird things in her surroundings that don't quite match the story she was told. She sets out to figure out if she was really killed by the serial killer or was it somebody else. 

You can follow her story throughout the book as she unravels what had really happened on the day she had died. This book has some really dark comic timings and will have you gasping from the surprises she comes across. 

Bombay in 1921 was a different time and that is exactly where this book takes you when reading it. Starring the intelligent and quick witted Perveen Mistry who is introduced to be one of India’s first female lawyers (like we said, a different time). She is all set to join her father’s known law firm and she is very adamant in women’s rights based on her own past experiences which you will learn as you read. 

One case of the Will settlement of a wealthy mill owner takes a dark turn when murder gets involved. She is running against the odds as her own life becomes dangerous while investigating this case. Her match with the criminal mind is definitely one to read, especially if you love to read about a female protagonist in a detective role.

Investigating a murder can sometimes lead to you getting accused of it and our main protagonist, Jack Reacher, would know all about it. After he has gotten off the bus and just walked a few miles to a small place in margrave, he has found himself in the middle of chaos as he struggles to find out what had happened to his brother in that town. After a while of careful deductions and numerous introductions of characters, he starts to see a bigger conspiracy that is taking place around him.

His investigation doesn’t leave him unscathed as he is met with some kind of danger at every turn but would he stop? Figure out how he and his partner detective from the same town unfold the mystery of counterfeit gangs and what really lies beneath it all. This book was the starting of the Jack Reacher character which is now beloved by many in the detective fiction genre.