Puzzling Locked Room Mystery Books

Book Summary

College student Darby is driving to Utah to see her dying mother when she’s caught in a dangerous blizzard in the Colorado mountains. She pulls off the road to a remote rest stop and finds four other travelers have done the same.

There’s no phone signal inside, so Darby heads back into the cold, hoping she’ll be able to make a call. Instead, she’s horrified to see a little girl trapped in an animal crate in the van next to her car. With no telephone and no passable roads to drive on, she’s trapped at the rest stop.

Darby knows one of the strangers inside must be the kidnapper. How can she save the girl and herself?

Book Summary

Lyla’s career is in flux as her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, and her relationship with Nico, an actor, is also floundering. So, when Nico sees an opportunity to audition for a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him.

After a whirlwind process, Lyla and Nico are headed to a tropical paradise in the Indian Ocean to compete against four other couples. However, the first challenge leaves everyone upset. Then, an overnight storm strands the cast away from the production crew. They must band together for survival, but as water runs low, tensions reach new heights.

Book Summary

Anxious People is about a failed bank robber who stumbles into an apartment open house and inadvertently holds a group of strangers hostage. The eclectic group of captives may just be the worst hostages in the world, and none of them are quite who they appear to be.

Throughout the ordeal, they divulge secrets, form allegiances, and set into motion a chain of events so unexpected that, when questioned by the police, they can hardly explain what happens next.

Book Summary

Eight guests head off for a luxury vacation at a secluded wilderness spa, but nothing they were promised is true. When a terrible storm adds to the drama, they begin to fear that they were lured into a trap. 

When homicide cop Mason Deniaud and search and rescue expert Callie Sutton hear about a group of travelers who disappeared, they have to face brutal elements on the mountain. But can they find the group while they are still alive?

Book Summary

When Jules takes a job as an apartment sitter in one of Manhattan’s most mysterious apartment buildings, she’s given some simple rules – no visitors and no nights away. She’s both heartbroken after a breakup and financially broke, so having someplace new to stay while getting paid is ideal. 

Fellow sitter Ingrid soon fills Jules in on the building’s dark history, which doesn’t spook Jules until Ingrid disappears. Then, as she tries to learn more about the Bartholomew, she uncovers terrors, including the disturbing fact that once you’re in, the building doesn’t let you leave.

Book Summary

Accidental author Ernest Cunningham is headed to the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society Crime-Writing Festival on a train between Darwin and Adelaide. While he is looking for story inspiration for his second mystery novel, he hopes it won’t involve real people killing each other this time.

Unfortunately, that didn’t work out and one of the six crime-writing authors aboard the train is murdered. The remaining five authors quickly turn into detectives, after all, they should be good at solving crimes. However, their careers have also given them the inside knowledge of how to commit a crime and get away with it.

Book Summary

Twenty-Five year old Molly has always been different from her peers. She struggles in social situations and only communicates very literally, both in her understanding of others and in her verbal communication back to them. Thanks to her Gran, she’s still managed to have a good life. However, after her beloved Gran dies, she loses the one person who understood both Molly and the world. 

She’s still excellent at her job as a hotel maid, with her penchant for perfection making this the ideal role. One day, she’s shocked to find the wealthy and infamous guest, Charles Black, dead in his room. When the police question her, her unusual communication is interpreted as deception, and Molly becomes a prime suspect.  She knows that the only way to clear her name is to figure out what really happened before she is arrested.

Book Summary

The East India merchant ship, the Saardam, was carrying spices and other mysterious cargo to Amsterdam in 1634. Samuel Pipp, the world’s greatest detective is imprisoned on board, but he’s headed to be executed for a crime he may or may not have committed. His bodyguard and friend, Arent, is also on board and determined to prove Samuel is innocent.

But the sailing is not smooth, mysterious and terrible things begin happening. Is it a curse? A mystery that goes deep into the past threatens to sink the ship, killing everyone. Can Arent solve the mystery before anyone else dies?

NOTE: Strange events aboard are believed by characters to potentially be of a demonic or evil nature, and livestock are slaughtered on the ship, so this book won’t be for everyone.

Book Summary

Imagine the picture-perfect wedding on a remote Irish island between a rising TV star and an intelligent magazine publisher. Despite the rough waves and spotty cell service, the wedding is sure to be idyllic, with every detail and moment planned in advance.

However, you can’t plan for old traditions and ongoing jealousy. The groomsmen are soon playing drinking games, someone may regret missing out on romance with the bride, and a bridesmaid ruins her dress – on purpose. So, when someone dies, who’s to blame?

Book Summary

Evelyne works on a munitions factory line in 1940 London. As a child, she was known as “The Parisian Orphan” after her mother died and her father, a successful but philandering businessman, disappeared from her life after sending her to boarding school.

When one of her father’s old friends sees Evelyne on a night out, she’s suddenly plunged into a new life as a secretary in Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s cabinet war rooms. Just as she gets settled into her new work and life, one of her co-workers is murdered. Evelyne uses her quick wit and sharp eyes to try to figure out what happened. Her determination puts her in the path of David Poole, a cagey minister’s aide who seems determined to thwart her investigations.

Book Summary

Journalist Lo Blacklock scores a dream assignment when she’s sent aboard a super-luxury cruise ship, the Aurora, which only has a few cabins. As they set off across the North Sea, everything is perfect. However, as the weather becomes dreary, so does the mood on the ship when Lo witnesses a woman being thrown overboard. 

However, the crew confirms all passengers are accounted for and the vacation continues. Lo knows what she has seen and must get others to understand that something sinister has happened.  The book is often named one of the best modern locked-room mystery novels. 

Book Summary

Room 712 at the historic Bellweather Hotel has quite a history. Fifteen years earlier, in 1982, a murder-suicide in the room shocked the community and the young bridesmaid who witnessed it, Minnie. Now, in 1997, an elite high school music festival is taking place on the aging property, and Minnie must return to the hotel and face her past. 

As a blizzard traps the attendees inside, room 712 is yet again the focus after a young prodigy disappears from the room. The page-turning search for the missing teen involves an eccentric cast of characters, each revealing a bit more of the truth. This novel will be especially enjoyed by those with a love of music and high school band! 

Book Summary

It’s Nana’s 80th birthday, and her party will be in her crumbling gothic family home, which is on a tiny, isolated island. Daisy has been avoiding her family members for years but agrees to attend the gathering to celebrate Nana.

At midnight, Nana is killed, followed by another family member an hour later. They’re all trapped together until the tide comes in, and it’s time to reconcile past secrets with the present danger before it’s too late.

Book Summary

It’s 1937, and the whole village of Okamura is buzzing because a son from the grand Ichiyanagi family is about to be married. 

On the wedding night, the entire household is woken up by a scream followed by eerie music. The only sign of a murder is a Samurai sword, which was left plunged into the snow outside. Scruffy amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is determined to figure out how a seemingly impossible crime was committed.

Book Summary

Ten years ago, ​​Milla was at the peak of her snowboarding career during a trip to the French Alps. When she’s invited back to Le Rocher by Curtis, she can’t resist returning, despite the disappearance of their beautiful friend Saskia during the last trip.

When Milla and the others from their friend group arrive, they quickly realize this won’t be the reunion they expected. The resort is deserted, the cable cars that dropped them off have stopped working, and an awkward icebreaker game was designed to reveal their secrets. The group is trapped, and Milla fears she may be the next to disappear.

Book Summary

Sophie is an intern at a grand but aging hotel in the Swiss Alps. There’s an annual New Year’s Eve Ball that brings back the glory days. Sophie frantically prepares to make sure the event goes flawlessly.

However, when the guests arrive, they come with unexpected problems. In fact, many of them aren’t even who they say!

Book Summary

Ten people, all with something to hide, are invited to a mansion on a private island. Unfortunately, when they arrive, the host isn’t there. They try to settle in anyways, but then a creepy nursery rhyme hung as art in each room begins to come true…

“Ten little boys went out to dine; One choked his little self and then there were nine. Nine little boys sat up very late; One overslept himself and then there were eight. Eight little boys traveling in Devon; One said he’d stay there then there were seven. Seven little boys chopping up sticks; One chopped himself in half and then there were six. Six little boys playing with a hive; A bumblebee stung one and then there were five. Five little boys going in for law; One got in Chancery and then there were four. Four little boys going out to sea; A red herring swallowed one and then there were three. Three little boys walking in the zoo; A big bear hugged one and then there were two. Two little boys sitting in the sun; One got frizzled up and then there was one. One little boy left all alone; He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.”

With over 100 MILLION copies sold, this may be the most popular locked room mystery. It’s also one of the most beloved. 

If you enjoy books from the golden age of detective fiction, be sure to read the novels of John Dickson Carr. The Hollow Man is book #6 in a series, but his most referenced work. 

Book Summary

It’s a typical Monday afternoon when five students walk into detention at Bayview High. But Simon, the school’s notorious gossip, doesn’t make it out of the room alive. He was ready to post juicy info about the other students the next day, giving them each a motive in his murder. 

Was it Bronwyn, the rule-follower headed to Yale, or Addy, the picture-perfect homecoming princess?   Or maybe Nate, who is already on probation for dealing?  What about Cooper, the all-star baseball pitcher?

Or maybe it was someone entirely?

Book Summary

While most of the world was destroyed by a deadly fog, one island shelters 122 villages and three scientists in an idyllic setting. But when one of the scientists is murdered, it triggers a lowering of the security system that has been keeping them safe. The remaining inhabitants of the island have to solve the murder within 107 hours to restore the security system and stop the encroaching fog.

Unfortunately, the security system has also wiped out everyone’s memory of the night before. It’s possible that the murderer doesn’t even know that they are to blame.

Book Summary

The Scarmado family has a glamorous new ship, and it’s setting sail from England to New York. Belle is aboard with her new, wealthy husband and new adult stepchildren who aren’t fans of her. She reaches out to her estranged friend Emily to join her on the voyage so she can have an ally in her corner.

The first night is great, but on the second night Emily is left wondering who sent her threatening notes. And on the third night, someone will die.

Book Summary

With her wedding approaching, Holly invites her bridesmaids on a weekend getaway for some girls’ trip fun. They head to a remote cabin, the perfect setup for a locked-room mystery. By the end of the first chapter, you’ll learn that one of the friends is dead, and the rest are all suspects. 

The book is told from the alternating perspectives of Holly and two of her bridesmaids, Suzanne and Claire. All three have long-hidden secrets that will test their friendships as they try to identify the killer.