10 Fall 2026 Mystery & Thrillers To Pre-Order

Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life looks different from where it was in The Return of Ellie Black. She’s now married, pregnant, has a new job, and a new case. The latter involves a murdered mother and a missing teen daughter. Told in multiple points of view and timelines, readers travel to Seattle and Japan as this mystery unravels.

I remain obsessed with this gender-swapped Sherlock series that always brings the banter, mystery, adventure, and delicious treats. If you’ve yet to join in this excellent reading series, you can start with A Study in Scarlet Women. (Deanna Raybourn fans should absolutely also be reading this series and vice versa.)

Any fan of zany families, words, and middle grade mysteries should absolutely be reading this series! You have plenty of time to catch up by reading A Dictionary of Scoundrels and A Gallery of Rogues.

This is one of the best YA mystery series that not only understands the mystery genre but also clearly loves it. The first three novels are a trilogy (starting with Truly, Devious), and are set at an Academy with an unsolved murder mystery. You can also start the series with book four, The Box in the Woods, or five, Nine Liars (The ending of Nine Liars is where The Velvet Knife begins).

If you like historical mysteries and action-packed novels, you should definitely be reading this series that has an odd couple pairing. While you wait for the new adventure—with its murdered scientist, missing weapons, and seances set in 1920s London—pick up The Murder of Mr. Ma.

If you prefer a modern setting as opposed to a historical one, Mosley’s recent PI series is for you. This time around, it takes readers from LA to NY, following King as he accepts a dying gangster’s request to find his missing granddaughter. Family drama, secrets, and danger are certain to follow. You can start the series with Down the River Unto the Sea.

Goldie Vance #1-8 are collected in this book. For comparison, Volume 1 of the graphic novel collects #1-4.

This is a fun, upper middle-grade graphic novel that follows Goldie Vance around a Florida hotel in the 1950s as she works as a valet, but is really trying to get the in-house detective’s job!

This is a young middle grade graphic novel about a young girl who, after being sent to detention for an outburst in class, is accused of destroying her fellow art students’ work. Clearly, she’s been framed and must find the real culprit to clear her name.

McFadden fans are in for a treat with not only another psychological thriller, but one that is fall-themed. A family’s seventeenth-century Massachusetts estate gives some serious gothic vibes, partially because of its dark hisotory. There was a woman who was executed for witchcraft at the estate in the past.

Fans of unsolved murder mysteries, wanting to escape the past, and a lead who can hear the dead victims will want this on their radar. You also get a past and present storyline, with the past being the ’80s punk scene!