10 Mysteries You Haven’t Read Yet
Although online trends like BookTok and #bookstagram have made it easier than ever to connect with fellow bibliophiles, they also have a tendency to oversaturate search results and recommendations, which builds new obstacles for independent authors and book publishers. Bas Bleu handpicks lesser-known titles in order to support small publishers and backlists—and to offer a variety of titles we know our readers will love. So, without further ado, here are ten mysteries selected by the Bas Bleu editors that you may not have heard of, just in time for spooky season!
The Body in the Garden by Katharine Schellman
330 pages (paperback) 2022
What fun to watch Lily Adler—newly widowed, and much more independent than London's nineteenth-century upper crust might prefer—come into her own as a fearless amateur sleuth in this series debut. Juggling the glittering social scene, her secretive investigations of a murder (which she nearly witnessed at a ball thrown by her oldest friend), and the kind attention of her deceased husband's charming best friend, Lily has her hands full. But, as the nefarious plot unfolds, we find there's nothing this elegantly no-nonsense woman can't handle! (CH)
Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner
374 pages (hardcover) 2022
When Helen is abandoned at her first prenatal class by her high-flying architect husband, the fear that she will endure her pregnancy alone settles in. Perhaps that's why she accepts Rachel's friendship so easily, despite the red flags. Rachel effortlessly weaves herself in to the patterns of Helen's lonely life, and when Helen begins to uncover secrets from her husband's past, Rachel takes advantage of her precarious position and threatens to shatter Helen's peaceful (but oblivious) existence. An intriguing, crafty mystery, Greenwich Park is a captivating study of the precarious lives we build. (RR)
The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill
288 pages (paperback) 2022
Australian writer Winifred Kincaid procrastinates by naming the strangers sharing her table at the Boston Public Library: Heroic Chin, Handsome Man, and Freud Girl. But then a woman's scream piercing the silence in the reading room becomes the catalyst for a tenuous friendship among the four library patrons…a relationship that proves increasingly dangerous as the mystery behind the scream deepens. This wonderfully addicting and very clever literary thriller is a mystery-within-a-mystery unlike anything I've read before! (AG)
The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
384 pages (paperback) 2022
Modern-day filmmaker Alice Lindstedt assembles a small crew and heads to the Swedish "ghost town" of Silvertjärn. In 1959, every resident of the village, except for a murdered woman and an abandoned baby, mysteriously disappeared. Having kin among the vanished, Lindstedt seeks to find an explanation for the tragedy through her investigative documentary. But as the film crew begins their work, they begin to sense a malevolent presence…and then one of them goes missing. The Lost Village offers atmospheric thrills and a uniquely spooky story line! (CH)
Last Call at the Nightingale by Katharine Schellman
312 pages (hardcover) 2022
Living in New York City in the 1920s, Irish immigrant Vivian Kelly spends her days sewing dresses she could never afford and sharing a cramped tenement apartment with her sister. But at night, Vivian sips champagne, flirts, and dances the night away at the Nightingale, a speakeasy where men and women from all walks of life come together to blow off steam. When she stumbles upon a dead body behind the club, Vivian decides to play sleuth, a quest that will lead her to the seediest of dives and swankiest of residences as she risks her life to save her beloved Nightingale. This rollicking period mystery will have readers rooting for its resourceful and spunky flapper heroine. (AG)
Our American Friend by Anna Pitoniak
321 pages (hardcover) 2022
When White House correspondent Sofie Morse decides to leave her job after the notorious Henry Caine is reelected president, the last thing she's expecting is to be drawn even closer to his politics—or, more specifically, the politics of his mysterious wife, Lara, who asks Sofie to write her biography. But when Lara begins revealing treasonous truths about her adolescence in Soviet Russia, Sofie quickly realizes she's facing a moral dilemma: Does she betray Lara's trust in a last-ditch appeal for patriotism, or does she keep Lara's secrets at the risk of condemning herself? Buckle up—this political thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat. (RR)
The Left-Handed Twin by Thomas Perry
321 pages (hardcover) 2021
The complex, calculated, and pragmatic Jane Whitefield helps people in danger disappear by providing them with a new identity, lifestyle, and residence. One spring night, a young woman from Los Angeles approaches Jane at her home in upstate New York seeking her help. Jane is confident in her ability to outsmart the young woman's violent ex-boyfriend…that is, until he recruits a Russian organized crime brotherhood for help. Jane soon realizes that the brotherhood cares little about finding the young woman but is willing to do anything to capture Jane. Jane helps others disappear, but can she do the same for herself? (HC)
The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale
390 pages (hardcover) 2021
When Delphine returns to the Paris Opera Ballet after gaining recognition in Russia, she is confronted by a past she hoped had been forgotten. Now a burgeoning choreographer, Delphine entrenches herself into her former school before realizing the power dynamic has changed: Her old friends are now bitter ballerinas nearing retirement and her first love is a star in her new ballet. This is an exquisite story about women's relationships with their bodies, the desire to lose control, and the breaking point that reveals our deepest truths. With a scintillating scandal that will raise the hair on the back of your neck, The Ballerinas is a haunting return to the mistakes we make in adolescence and the ways we attempt to fix them in adulthood. (RR)
Who Is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews
324 pages (hardcover) 2021
Florence Darrow's life is not going as planned: She feels out of her depth with her sophisticated colleagues at her publishing job, and she's been unable to begin the great novel she knows is her destiny. But things start to look up when she stumbles into a position as assistant to Maud Dixon, aka Helen Wilcox, the pseudonymous author of the current runaway bestselling “it” novel. And when, a few weeks later, Florence wakes up in a Moroccan hospital with everyone calling her Helen Wilcox—and no memory of the night before—she begins to think fate has just handed her the opportunity of a lifetime.… A wickedly funny and compulsively page-turning mystery full of unexpected twists and turns, Who Is Maud Dixon? is enormously entertaining! (AG)
Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March
389 pages (hardcover) 2020
Bombay, 1892: Two women, sisters-in-law from a prominent Parsee family, fall to their deaths from a university clocktower in broad daylight. Captain Jim Agnihotri, an Anglo-Indian soldier on medical leave from the British army, is hired by the family to investigate the apparent suicides. Inspired by his hero, Sherlock Holmes, Captain Jim embarks upon a zealous investigation—full of adventure, danger, and even romance—to find those responsible for the tragic deaths. Rich with the sights, sounds, and smells of colonial India, this charming and engrossing historical mystery provides fascinating insight into life during the British Raj. (AG)