Are you ready to be captivated by twisted plots and compelling characters? From retirement schemes gone murderously wrong to espionage in 1960s London, our curated selection of mystery novels offers something for every thriller enthusiast. These six page-turners feature unlikely detectives, vengeful seniors, and dark secrets waiting to be uncovered. Prepare to lose yourself in these masterfully crafted mysteries that will keep you guessing until the final page.
Must Read Mysteries For June 2025
The Retirement Plan
9781408733448 | Sphere | TPB
Sue Hicenbergs
Their husbands are driving them mad, and murder is on their minds . . . but the men have a plan of their own.
Pam, Nancy and Shalisa once imagined retirement would mean setting aside their worries, picking up their margaritas, and lying back in a hot tub. Right up until their husbands lost all their savings in a reckless investment.
Now, collecting their husbands’ life insurance is starting to sound more appealing than growing old with them. But enlisting the help of the local barber/hitman isn’t merely the most daring thing the friends have ever done – it’s also where the trouble really begins.
Because they don’t realise their husbands have some tricks up their sleeves. And there’s no turning back now . . .
From the first laugh to the final twist, The Retirement Plan is full of characters who will steal your heart while plotting their dark deeds.
Bad Influence
9781398711891 | Orion | TPB
C.J Wray
There are three things Jennifer ‘Jinx’ Sullivan promised herself she would never do:
1. Eat fast food.
2. Go on a coach trip.
3. Die without exacting revenge on the people who ruined her life.
She’s about to let herself down on the first two, but she can still keep her word on the third. On a coach trip to Florence.
89-year-old Jinx is going to face her painful wartime history, unearth long-buried skeletons (quite literally) and plan long overdue vengeance on the worst best friend a woman ever had. That’s the best friend who trained her in etiquette, cocktail-mixing and silent killing.
It’s going to be a tough journey – not least because she’s sharing it with twenty senior citizens and a recalcitrant teen. But Jinx knows that some promises are worth keeping, no matter how hard it may be…
A Case of Mice and Murder
9781526668721 | Raven Books | PB
Sally Smith
When barrister Gabriel Ward steps out of his rooms one sunny May morning in 1901, his mind is so full of his latest case – the disputed authorship of bestselling children’s book Millie the Temple Church Mouse – that he scarcely registers the body of the Lord Chief Justice of England on his doorstep.
But even he cannot fail to notice the judge’s dusty bare feet, in shocking contrast to his flawless evening dress, nor the silver carving knife sticking out of his chest. In the shaded courtyards and ancient buildings of the Inner Temple, the hidden heart of London’s legal world, murder has spent centuries confined firmly to the casebooks. Until now.
As the police have no authority in the Temple, who better to investigate than a man who has dedicated his life to the law? But Gabriel soon discovers that murder is much messier outside the courtroom – and that behind the Temple’s heavy oak doors are stranger secrets than he could ever imagine.
Mrs Spy
9781035914227 | Aria | TPB
M.J. Robotham
Get ready for a pulse-pounding, laugh-out-loud ride through 1960s London as Maggie Flynn, unexpected MI5 operative and single mum, unravels the intelligence agency’s most treacherous secrets.
***
Maggie Flynn isn’t your typical 1960s mum.
She’s a spy, an unsuspecting operative for MI5, stalking London’s streets in myriad disguises.
Widowed and balancing her clandestine career with raising a Beatles-mad teenage daughter, Maggie finds comfort and purpose in her profession – providing a connection to her late husband, whose own covert past only surfaced after his death.
But Maggie’s world spins out of control when a chance encounter with a mysterious Russian agent triggers a chilling revelation: he knew her husband. And what’s worse, the agent suspects someone on home soil betrayed him.
As Maggie searches for answers, she’ll question everyone – and everything – she thought she could trust. In the murky and perilous world of espionage, can she outsmart those determined to keep her silenced?
There’s Nothing Wrong With Her
9781526607348 | Bloomsbury Publishing | PB
Kate Weinberg
A crackling, comical, tender, and highly original novel about mental health, the certainties of medicine, buried trauma, love, death and time lost in the crushing – and comical – hopes of modern life
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Vita Woods is on the brink. She has a good job and a successful doctor boyfriend, Max, with whom the sex is great and the chat sufficient; a vivacious and charming sister Gracie, her verbal sparring partner and best friend for life; and she’s even got a goldfish called Whitney Houston, who brightens her days by showing her she’s not the only one going round in circles.
Because it’s the days that are Vita’s problem. Vita is not leaving the house. In fact, Vita rarely exits the basement apartment where she lives, since Vita is in “The Pit” – a place of deep exhaustion and semi-consciousness where she spends much of her time, dead to the world and to herself. She has been sick for months, with an illness that no doctor, not even Max, can medically diagnose.
One day an unexpected courier delivery forces Vita upstairs, into the light – and into a chance encounter with her neighbours upstairs. Suddenly, Vita finds herself faced with an even trickier dilemma. She likes her new friends; she’ll even sneak upstairs to see them while Max is out, against all medical advice but something about her “condition” is nagging at the borders of her mind. After all, what is a house-bound girl to do when she can’t keep the light, her new friendships, or – worst of all – her memories out? The problem might be Vita herself but as far as anyone can prove… there’s nothing wrong with her.
The Examiner
9781800810471 | Viper Books | PB
Janice Hallett
Six Students. One Murder. Your Time Starts Now…
The mature students of Royal Hastings University’s new art course have been nothing but trouble. From accusations of theft and setting fire to one another’s artwork, to a rumoured extramarital affair and a disastrous road trip, course leader Gela Nathaniel is at her wits’ end. But finally they are given their last assignment: to build an art installation for a local manufacturer. With six students who have nothing in common except their clashing personal agendas, what could possibly go wrong?
The answer is: murder. When the external examiner arrives to assess the students’ coursework, he becomes convinced that a student was killed on the course and that the others covered it up. But is he right? Only a close examination of the evidence will reveal the truth. Your time starts now…
