Halloween is just around the corner and us bookworms have to upgrade our TBRs (To Be Read) with thrillers and murder mysteries. The world is obsessed with “whodunnits” again. Trying to figure out who the killer is, what’s more Halloween than that? Here are some book recs for you to read this October!
1. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson
Starting with a fan favourite. The first book on this trilogy is about Pip, a true crime obsessed teenage girl who’s trying to prove for a school project that her whole town blames the wrong guy for the murder of Andie Bell that happened years earlier. The way the book uses transcriptions and images of evidence is part of why it’s so good, because it makes you feel like part of the investigation.
All of the three books and the spin-off have that kind of writting that you can’t put it down even for a minute. There is also a BBC adaptation (you can watch it on Netflix) of the first book and season 2 is on its way.
2. Truly Devious, Maureen Johnson
Stevie Bell is accepted in the Ellingham Academy, a school for specially talented students. Her gift? Being a detective; and she is determined to solve an old case that happened in that school in the 1930’s: the murder of the student Dottie Epstein and the kidnapping of Iris and Alice, the wife and daughter respectively of the founder of the Academy, Albert Ellingham. A letter signed as Truly Devious was received days before it all happened, warning something horrible was coming.
But during Stevie’s investigation, more murders happen in the school, all those decades later, and Stevie thinks it is all connected to the Truly Devious case. Will she be able to find out who the killer is before she is the next victim?
This is the first book in a trilogy (The Vanishing Star and The Hand on the Wall) and there are two others in the same universe (Nine Liars and The Box in the Woods). If you´re still not satisfied, don’t worr, there’s one more on the way expected for April 28th 2026 by the title The Velvet Knife. Worth the read if you love whodunnits and ennemies to lovers romance subplots.
3. One Of Us Is Lying, Karen M. McManus
Have you ever watched “Breakfast Club”? This one is sort of like this but… you know… with killing. A good mix of John Hughes’s classic with a bit of “Pretty Little Liars”. Five students walk into detention, but one of them doesn’t come out alive. Simon was hated by a lot of people, and everyone had a good reason for murdering him, especially the four students present at the moment he died. Simon had tea on all of them, and was planning to post it all on his website. Is the killer one of them? Is someone trying to frame them? Well, if so, they did a pretty good job.
Last teenage whodunnit trilogy of the day, I promise, but stick around for the other two recommendations…
4. You, Caroline Kepnes
You probably know this one from the Netflix series. Did you know it was based on a book? In this thriller, Joe Goldberg works in a bookstore where the beautiful Beck goes to. He immediately gets obsessed with her. It’s easy to stalk her since all he needs to know about the girl is on social media. Written in point of view of the stalker, this is a must if you want to read something different.
5. And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
You did not think I was going to leave The Queen of Crime out of this list, right? This is really great to start with Christie’s long list of popular books, and it’s obvious why it is one of her most famous works.
In this novel, there are ten people who are invited to an island in the middle of nowhere by the mysterious Mr. Owen. None of them are completely sure of why they are all there or who the hoster really is, but on the very first night, a tragedy happens, and it keeps happening during their stay, no way out. All of the sudden they are all equally likely to be suspects or next victims. Who is Mr. Owen? Is the murderer one of them? Is there someone else on the island?
This book is one of the most claimed mystery books of all time. Why don’t you see why for yourself?
So, those are my 5 book recommendations. What’s your next read for this spooky season?
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The article above was edited by Rafaela Navarro
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