32 Best Crime, Mystery and Thriller Books: February 2024

Our February 2024 list of best crime, mystery and thriller books includes highly-anticipated titles such as The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie and Three-Inch Teeth by C. J. Box, as well as exciting new releases including nordic thriller You Can’t See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir.

Note: Mystery Tribune’s Reading Lists include the best crime and thriller books of each month as well as our picks for different sub-genres: Check them out here.

The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie (February 6)

Lewis has helped Peter Ash out of more trouble than Peter cares to remember.  So he doesn’t hesitate when Lewis asks a favor in return. Lewis has left his criminal past behind, but a former associate may be in trouble, and he and Peter must drive into the teeth of a blizzard to find him. When they discover blood in the snow and a smoldering cabin, both men know things are bad. Then they learn that someone has stolen notebooks full of incriminating secrets about Lewis’s long-ago crimes, and realize the situation is much worse than they’d thought.

To save Lewis’s wife, Dinah, and her two boys, Lewis and Peter must find the notebooks. With Peter’s longtime girlfriend, June Cassidy, they begin the search—facing ruthless and violent foes at each turn, including one powerful person who will stop at nothing for revenge. Will Peter and Lewis be able to keep that dark past buried? Or will they need to step into the darkness to save the people they love most?

The Deepest Kill by Lisa Black (February 20)

A riveting thriller that puts the New York Times bestselling author squarely in the same league as Patricia Cornwell and Jefferson Bass, the Locard Institute Thriller series draws on Lisa Black’s real-life scientific expertise and her skill in crafting complex and dynamic female characters, as two female forensic experts team up to solve the deadliest and most devious crimes.

For software pioneer Martin Post, the third richest man in America, his private compound on the Florida coast is a sunny no-man’s-land separating his family from the rest of the world. Now, expert forensic analysts Ellie Carr and Rachael Davies of the renowned Locard Institute have been summoned to its dark side.

Martin’s pregnant daughter, Ashley, had ventured on a day trip in her motorboat into the Gulf, only to wash up dead on a nearby shore. Although the local coroner determined her death was an accident, Ellie and Rachael soon confirm Martin’s gravest fear: His daughter was murdered. Was it a kidnapping gone wrong? Or something even more brutal? Ashley and her husband, Greg, had been working working with Martin on a revolutionary new defense initiative for the US military – could espionage have played a part in her death?  Martin believes Greg is behind the murder, and the spoiled charmer does set off Rachel’s deception radar.  If the widower didn’t kill Ashley himself, why isn’t he more upset that she’s dead?

Drawn into the Posts’ increasingly dangerous family dynamic, Ellie and Rachael must work hard and fast to discover what secrets are buried at the heart of the crime. Because the churning waters of the Gulf are getting rougher. And soon, Ellie and Rachael  themselves will be in danger of getting crushed in their depths.

You Can’t See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir (February 13)

A wealthy Icelandic family is investigated and dark secrets are exposed when a body is found on the lava fields outside the hotel where they’ ve gathered for a reunion … the chilling, gripping prequel to the addictive Forbidden Iceland series

The wealthy, powerful Snæ berg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland’ s remote Snæ fellsnes peninsula.

Petra Snæ berg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social-media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. Ageing carpenter Tryggvi is an outsider, only tolerated because he’ s the boyfriend of Petra’ s aunt, but he’ s struggling to avoid alcohol because know what happens when he drinks … Humble hotel employee, Irma, is excited to meet this rich and famous family and observe them at close quarters … perhaps too close…

As the weather deteriorates and the alcohol flows, one of the guests disappears, and it becomes clear that there is a prowler lurking in the dark.

But is the real danger inside … within the family itself? Masterfully cranking up the suspense, Eva Bjö rg æ gisdó ttir draws us into an isolated, frozen setting, where nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted, as the dark secrets and painful pasts of the Snæ berg family are uncovered … and the shocking truth revealed.

Kill Your Masters by G Q Smith (February 20)

Bioshock meets Django Unchained in this horror thriller novel. Trapped in a feudalistic system, slavery, human trafficking and classism converge to create a nightmarish reality, weaving together historical elements with modern twists.

Irma Lalaurie embodies moral decay and sexual predation. Becoming an unwitting agent in her machinations, Aida explores the brutal reality of a society where individuals are born into roles based on race. Grappling with questions about her place, Aida sees her own vulnerability and strives for freedom, revealing resilience, maternal instinct, and a determination to defy her fate.

Emotions become the source of people’s power, whether it is love, hatred, or fear. People gain unique abilities reflective of their reputation between the intricate web of the world of Ns.

Aida developed the ability to see the negative emotions of others and control them at will based on what her family thinks of her.

In the blood-soaked tapestry, against the guards, robots, ghosts, or cyborgs, Aida wields her sword, Graduation, with deadly precision, painting scenes of brutality.

For mature readers seeking a thought-provoking, multilayered exploration of modern and historical societal issues, the novel stands as a powerful work of horror and thriller. There are graphic depictions of violence, sexual abuse, and torture.

Three-Inch Teeth by C. J. Box (February 27)

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett faces two different kinds of rampaging beasts—one animal, one human—in this riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestseller C.J. Box.

A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage—killing, among others, the potential fiancé of Joe’s daughter. At the same time, Dallas Cates, who Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison with a special list tattooed on his skin. He wants revenge on the people who sent him away: the six people he blames for the deaths of his entire family and the loss of his reputation and property.

Using the grizzly attacks as cover, Cates sets out to methodically check off his list. The problem is, both Nate Romanowski and Joe Pickett are on it.

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