Spooky season is here, and it’s the perfect time to pick up a spine-tingling read to get you in the Halloween spirit! I’ve dug through crime and suspense novels old and new to bring you a comprehensive list of some of my favorite crime and suspense fiction titles perfect for Halloween. Whether you’re looking for a psychological suspense read, a serial killer thriller, a creepy book with Gothic inspirations, or a good old ghost story, you’ll find tons of options right here!

Welcome to The Goode School: an elite all-girls boarding school dedicated to preparing the daughters of the world’s most powerful men and women for Ivy League college degrees and high-powered careers. Nestled among the rolling hills of rural Virginia, The Goode School - and its students - are a picture of elegance, success, and wealth. But a newcomer has arrived at Goode, and she’s bringing with her secrets that aren’t just shocking—they’re deadly. Enter the world of J.T. Ellison’s pitch-perfect boarding school suspense novel, GOOD GIRLS LIE. Following a young woman who moves from the UK to attend The Goode School in the wake of a family tragedy, GOOD GIRLS LIE traces the fallout from our protagonist’s arrival at Goode and examines the series of events that led her to Goode in the first place. Intricately woven and cleverly plotted, GOOD GIRLS LIE is a masterclass in psychological suspense writing. It’s a story with as many dark corners and hidden secrets as the fabled school in which it’s set. Blending drama worthy of Pretty Little Liars with layered, intricate plotting and seriously sinister secrets, GOOD GIRLS LIE is, simply put, a heck of a lot of fun to read. This wicked psychological thriller is my new favorite Ellison book, and that’s saying something—I’ve loved every book of hers I’ve reviewed here. Readers looking for an adult suspense novel in the vein of Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars: add this book to your holiday wishlist immediately.

I’m delighted to welcome bestselling, beloved crime writer Lisa Unger to Crime by the Book today for a Q&A on her newest release, THE STRANGER INSIDE. An expert balance of page-turning plotting and rich character development, THE STRANGER INSIDE is an excellent choice if you’re in the market for a crime novel to cozy up with - and stay up all night reading - this fall. THE STRANGER INSIDE follows a new mother living a picture-perfect suburban life… only she has a very dark secret lurking in her past, and it’s about to be unearthed. In her childhood, our protagonist had a near brush with death; she escaped a kidnapping attempt, but her closest childhood friends weren’t so lucky. One was brutally murdered, and another was held captive and subjected to unspeakable trauma before he managed to flee his captor. Now, in the present day, a series of vigilante killings have begun, and our protagonist has reason to believe they might be connected to her own dark past. THE STRANGER INSIDE is gripping, page-turning suspense - a psychological thriller that delves deep into the inner lives of its protagonists and its villains. I loved this book, and am betting a whole lot of you will love it, too. It was such a pleasure to get to ask Lisa Unger a few of my most pressing questions on her excellent new release, and I’m so excited to share this Q&A with CBTB readers today!

Love crime novels that put a fresh spin on the serial killer thriller? Looking for a suspense book that reads a bit like an episode of Criminal Minds? I’ve got the book for you. This week, Lisa Unger - a prolific New York Times bestselling author with 17 novels under her belt - has released a harrowing “popcorn read” of a thriller: THE STRANGER INSIDE. This gripping character study takes readers inside the mind of a villain with terrifying authenticity, examining the fallout of a brutal crime through the inner lives of its survivors. Following a young mother living in suburban bliss, but harboring a dark past, THE STRANGER INSIDE doesn’t ask “whodunnit”—instead, it asks “whydunnit,” and the answer will be revealed to the reader bit by tantalizing bit over this book’s 380-odd pages. Lisa Unger is a master at crafting truly palpable tension, and her skill at plotting and suspense-building ensure that readers will be glued to the pages here, even long after the killer’s identity has been revealed. THE STRANGER INSIDE will prove to be a surefire hit for crime fiction readers looking for a page-turning, richly developed thriller with serious entertainment value. My only complaint? That now I’ve got to wait patiently to see what Lisa Unger does next.

You know that feeling when you pick up a book by a new-to-you author, and realize that it’s so perfectly up your alley, you just can’t believe you haven’t read the author’s work sooner? That was me in 2018, when I picked up Simone St. James’ chilling suspense novel The Broken Girls. I was completely swept up in the novel’s rich atmosphere, spine-tingling thrills, and compelling dual-timeline mystery - and I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting for a new Simone St. James novel ever since. If you, like me, are one of the thousands of readers who fell in love with The Broken Girls, you’re in luck: Simone St. James has a new suspense novel on sale in February 2020! THE SUN DOWN MOTEL by Simone St. James releases February 18th, 2020, and thanks to her publisher, CBTB readers can read an exclusive excerpt from the book right here!

I’m thrilled to welcome Søren Sveistrup to Crime by the Book today to give CBTB readers an inside glimpse into one of the season’s hottest thrillers: THE CHESTNUT MAN. Søren’s debut novel is garnering incredible buzz, and the read lives up to the hype. In THE CHESTNUT MAN, an unlikely duo of police officers in Copenhagen, Denmark must track down a brutal killer with a chilling calling card - “chestnut men,” dolls crafted out of chestnuts and matchsticks. THE CHESTNUT MAN is a big, layered, intricate crime novel—the kind of story that Nordic Noir dreams are made of. With harrowing, clever plotting and made-for-television tension and drama, THE CHESTNUT MAN will thrill fans of Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson. Søren Sveistrup is the creator of the hit television show The Killing, and THE CHESTNUT MAN is his debut novel. Read on for the inside scoop on THE CHESTNUT MAN, including plot details, a snippet from my full review, and my conversation with the author.

One of the season’s most hotly-anticipated new thrillers is finally here. From the mind that created the sensational television show The Killing now comes an equally-gripping - and equally-chilling - Nordic thriller: THE CHESTNUT MAN. In his debut crime novel, Søren Sveistrup instantly establishes himself as a must-read author for fans of Nordic Noir legends Jo Nesbø and Lars Kepler—and, for that matter, as a must-read for any reader who just wants a gripping thriller to sink their teeth into this fall. THE CHESTNUT MAN is good, old-fashioned Scandinavian crime fiction; it’s a hefty book, clocking in at 528 pages in the American hardcover edition, and immerses the reader in an intricate plot moving from the mundane details of police work to the cinematic (and gruesome) crimes of a twisted killer. If the plot of THE CHESTNUT MAN seems a bit familiar at first glance, don’t worry; Sveistrup sets up his debut novel in well-tread territory, but it quickly separates itself from the pack with richly-drawn characters, made-for-TV pacing, and, naturally, a killer with a modus operandi so sinister, you’ll want to read this book with all the lights on. The buzz surrounding the publication of THE CHESTNUT MAN has been significant; it’s earned incredible pre-publication praise, is a September Book of the Month Club selection, and is soon to be a Netflix original series. The buzz is warranted here; Sveistrup’s debut is a must-read for the crime reader looking for a big, bold, spend-all-day-reading thriller.

Summer might be winding down, but this season’s fantastic lineup of new crime fiction releases shows no sign of letting up. Whether you’re in the mood for a new psychological thriller, a serial killer novel set in Denmark, or a spine-tingling suspense novel with horror undertones, the end of summer 2019 has the book for you - and I’m rounding them up for you in this post! Here you’ll find three must-read late-summer thrillers from established masters of the genre and newcomers alike. Read on for book recommendations for your end-of-summer TBR!

Every summer, there’s one thing I look forward to arguably more than anything else: the newest novel by Ruth Ware. And every summer, without fail, Ruth Ware outdoes whatever brilliant novel she delivered the year prior. Ware’s 2019 release is no exception - THE TURN OF THE KEY is Ware’s best novel yet. Equal parts old-school gothic suspense and modern psychological thriller, THE TURN OF THE KEY seamlessly blends an homage to Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw with a page-turning story of surveillance, paranoia, and domestic drama. Following a young woman who accepts a nannying position at a state-of-the-art smart house in the Scottish Highlands, only to wind up imprisoned for the death of one of the children in her care, THE TURN OF THE KEY is one of the most binge-worthy, genuinely addictive suspense novels you will read this summer. It’s a truth universally acknowledged that if Ruth Ware writes a suspense novel, yours truly will read it and love it, but THE TURN OF THE KEY blew even this die-hard Ruth Ware fan away. If you haven’t already picked up Ruth Ware’s newest, add it to your TBR immediately. I’m calling it right now: this is one of my favorite books of 2019.

If you’ve been a crime fiction fan for even a short while, there’s a very good chance you’ve heard of Lisa Unger—and if you haven’t heard of her yet, not to worry, today’s post will serve as the perfect introduction to this prolific author’s work. Lisa Unger is the New York Times bestselling author of seventeen novels, including her forthcoming release THE STRANGER INSIDE. Lisa Unger’s novels have been published in twenty-six languages, and Lisa has received multiple Edgar Award nominations, among numerous other accolades. Her books have been selected as “Best of the Year” picks by the Today Show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, Amazon, IndieBound, and many, many more. I could go on, but you get the picture: Lisa Unger is a master of the suspense genre with a huge readership around the world. And today on CBTB, I’m so thrilled to spotlight Lisa’s forthcoming release THE STRANGER INSIDE, available September 17th from Park Row.