The 15 Most-Anticipated Mystery Novels Coming Out in March 2021
Whether you like psychological thrillers, cozy mysteries, or classic whodunits, there’s something for you to add to your to-be-read list next month. These books are some of the most-anticipated mystery novels coming out in March 2021.
‘Every Vow You Break’ by Peter Swanson
Peter Swanson’s Every Vow You Break is a fast-paced psychological thriller that will appeal to fans of Lucy Foley’s The Guest List.
Abigail Baskin is living out a bonafide romantic fantasy: her dream honeymoon at a stunning resort with a millionaire, who also happens to be the perfect husband. But her dream turns to darkness when a mistake from her past – a man she had an impulsive, drunken one-night stand with at her bachelorette party – shows up out of the blue.
‘The Bounty’ by Janet Evanovich and Steve Hamilton
Bestselling romance author and mystery novelist Janet Evanovich teamed up with Steve Hamilton for The Bounty, the latest book in the popular Fox and O’Hare series.
Nick Fox, a whip-smart career criminal, and Kate O’Hare, a savvy but straight-laced FBI agent, might seem like an odd match. But together, they’re an unstoppable villain-fighting duo. This time, they each enlist the help of their fathers to bring down the Brotherhood – an organization steeped in mystery – and find $30 billion of Nazi gold in a lost train buried somewhere in Eastern Europe.
‘By Way of Sorrow’ by Robyn Gigl
Robyn Gigl introduces high-powered New Jersey criminal defense attorney Erin McCabe in By Way of Sorrow, a legal thriller.
When a New Jersey State Senator is murdered, ostensibly by a 19-year-old trans sex worker, Erin McCabe knows the case will be one of her most difficult. But as a trans woman herself, Erin feels duty-bound to defend the rights of the accused woman in custody – until all her leads start mysteriously disappearing, that is.
‘An Unexpected Peril’ by Deanna Raybourn
Deanna Raybourn’s upcoming mystery, An Unexpected Peril, is the sixth book in the popular Veronica Speedwell series, set at the tail end of the 19th century.
Veronica Speedwell, a member of the elite global Curiosity Club for adventure-minded women, investigates the potential murder of a female mountain climber with her partner, Stoker, a natural historian. The intrepid heroine just might have to pose as a missing princess in order to uncover the truth about the suspicious death.
‘Not Dark Yet: A DCI Banks Novel’ by Peter Robinson
Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks series has been praised by the likes of Stephen King. The suspense author returns with the latest installment in Not Dark Yet.
Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks thinks he’s investigating the murder of a property developer in Yorkshire – but spy-cam footage reveals a sexual assault against an unknown woman instead. Meanwhile, Banks’ friend, Zelda, is haunted by a painful past of her own.
‘The Consequences of Fear: A Maisie Dobbs Novel’ by Jacqueline Winspear
Jacqueline Winspear’s New York Times bestselling, critically acclaimed Maisie Dobbs series continues in The Consequences of Fear.
It’s 1941, and private investigator Maisie Dobbs is secretly working for the French resistance during World War II. Meanwhile, a young deliveryman asks her to help him solve a murder he witnessed, but he might not be telling her everything.
‘Every Last Fear’ by Alex Finlay
Alex Finlay’s Every Last Fear is a twisty psychological thriller that’s landed on several lists of the most-anticipated books of 2021.
When it comes to tragedies and controversies, NYU student Matt Pine is used to being in the media spotlight. A popular true crime documentary claimed his older brother was innocent of the murder he’s serving a life sentence for – but Matt isn’t as convinced as the public. Matt gets back to his dorm room one night only to find out that his parents and younger siblings died under suspicious circumstances, forcing him to face everything he’s been avoiding until now.
‘Fatal Fried Rice: A Noodle Shop Mystery’ by Vivien Chien
Vivien Chien’s Noodle Shop Mystery series, a cozy mystery series set in a family-run Chinese restaurant in Cleveland’s Asia Village, continues with Fatal Fried Rice.
Noodle shop manager Lana Lee enrolls in culinary school on the side to beef up her cooking skills. But she and her boyfriend, Detective Adam Trudeau, team up for a murder investigation instead when her culinary instructor is found dead.
‘Too Good to Be True’ by Carola Lovering
Carola Lovering’s debut novel, Tell Me Lies, is being adapted into a Hulu series starring Emma Roberts. Her second psychological thriller, Too Good to Be True, promises just as many secrets for dark adult fiction lovers and Lisa Jewell fans to sink their teeth into.
Too Good to Be True is told from three perspectives. Skye, a newly engaged woman, hopes that her lifelong struggle with symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder won’t interfere with her hopes of the perfect wedding and marriage.
But Burke, her husband-to-be, is already married – and planning to use his future bride for nefarious purposes. Thirty years earlier, 17-year-old Heather just wants to leave Burke behind and start a new life, but it’s proving to be harder than she thought.
‘She’s Too Pretty to Burn’ by Wendy Heard
Debut young adult author Wendy Heard’s She’s Too Pretty to Burn is a YA romance and fast-paced psychological thriller inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Veronica, a photographer, and Nico, a performance artist, are inseparable best friends. But Veronica’s sudden rush of heady, mind-warping longing for Mick, a mysterious new girl, threatens to get in the way of that friendship. Amid the San Diego heat and the growing desire between the teens, somehow their summer of adventure turns into a twisted murder mystery.
‘The House Uptown’ by Melissa Ginsburg
Melissa Ginsburg’s coming-of-age novel The House Uptown is a suspense-packed domestic thriller set in New Orleans.
Fourteen-year-old Ava hardly knows her grandmother, Lane, a New Orleans-based artist who always kept her distance. But after her mother’s death, Lane is suddenly Ava’s new guardian. Being thrust together after so much time apart forces both of them to unpack the secrets – and traumatic memories – they preferred to stay buried.
‘The Dark Heart of Florence: A Lady Emily Mystery’ by Tasha Alexander
Acclaimed author Tasha Alexander returns with another Lady Emily Mystery in The Dark Heart of Florence, a lush historical mystery novel set in Florence in 1903.
Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves, follow a trail of disturbing burglaries all the way to Tuscany, Italy, only to be met with a stranger’s sudden murder. The investigation into a palazzo’s hidden treasures leads them back to the days of the Medici, when the radical friar Girolamo Savonarola ruled Renaissance Florence with an extremist puritanical fist.
‘Haunted Hibiscus’ by Laura Childs
Cozy mystery fans will rejoice at the return of Theodosia Browning in Laura Childs’ Haunted Hibiscus, the newest Tea Shop Mystery set in a run-down Charleston mansion just before Halloween.
Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop, heads out to a book signing at the Gray Ghost, a shadowy mansion turned into a haunted house. The party is teeming with guests dressed up as the spooky figures of literary history, from the Headless Horseman to Lady Macbeth. But the whodunit roleplay turns real when the guest of honor is suddenly murdered and Theodosia’s detective boyfriend is shot.
‘Saving Grace’ by Debbie Babitt
Debbie Babitt’s Saving Grace is an atmospheric debut suspense novel with a healthy dose of realistic horror.
Mary Grace Dobbs, the first female sheriff in a small Arkansas town, is haunted – by the loss of her parents at just 11; by the loneliness and pain of her childhood, filled with schoolyard bullies and abuse at home; and by the friends she made at a young age, only to see them disappear into thin air. Now, when the suspect in those kidnappings returns to town amid yet another disappearance, the sheriff will have to face her own past head-on.
‘Lost in the Never Woods’ by Aiden Thomas
Aiden Thomas’ Lost in the Never Woods is part romantic YA fantasy, part mystery-tinged Peter Pan retelling.
Wendy and her brothers disappeared into the woods five years ago, but people are starting to talk once more. When Wendy literally stumbles across Peter, the boy she thought was all in her head, she realizes she’ll have to return to the woods to uncover the truth.
