Thrillers Set in Exotic Locales

 

I just love thrillers, especially set in remote to me or exotic locations, such as Paris.

The Woman on the Night Train by Katie Cook, Oct. 13, 2026, BooksGoSocial, NetGalley

Genre: mystery and thriller, travel, Paris

Book description: Her husband is missing from a moving train. The staff say she boarded alone.

She knows she did.

Paris, four o’clock. Cass Whitlock steps aboard the Orient Express with one small case, a rented dress, and a first-class ticket she never paid for. It came in a cream envelope, with no note and no name.

By dinner, she has told a carriage full of strangers that her husband has vanished.

But there’s no husband on the booking. No second passport. Nobody who saw him get on.

The Girl in the Lake by James Patterson and Brian Sitts,

Oct. 27, 2026; Little, Brown & Company, NetGalley

Genre: mystery and thriller set in Montana

Book description: At a frozen lakeside crime scene, a corpse carries an accusatory “If anything happens to me, arrest Brendan Holmes.”

Mysteries trail Brendan Holmes, Margaret Marple, and Auguste Poe wherever they go. At a remote lodge in upstate New York, the embattled private investigators have taken refuge from the assailant who bombed their sleek city headquarters. When the discovery of a body in the lake puts the detectives back in the headlines and under suspicion, the elusive killer issues his despicable stop solving crimes—and start committing them.

A Helluva Holiday by Gail Meath, Oct. 1, 2026; BooksGoSocial, NetGalley

Genre: mystery and thriller, Caribbean

Book desctiption: Aboard the SS Santa Rosa, 1938. Vivian Steele, a fashion designer with extraordinary sleuthing skills, may be lounging on the top deck of a luxury ocean liner, sipping champagne with her best friend, Carole Lombard, yet their voyage to a popular resort in the Caribbean is anything but smooth sailing.

Playboy Preston Stone, her new partner, arranged this all-expenses-paid excursion to track down a murderer, and he suspects the man is on board. To make matters worse, Vivian recognizes a few nasty characters from her past who would like nothing better than to prevent her from surviving this trip.

The Paris Files by Eva Jurczyk, Oct. 6, 2026; Viking Penguin, NetGalley

Genre: mystery and thrillers, Paris

Book description: Told entirely through police interviews, this stylish, sophisticated thriller captures the disastrous aftermath of Parisian rendezvous following the disappearance of a new lover

Genie St. Onge’s heart is broken more often than it’s not—but that doesn’t stop her from diving in head-first when she meets Jacob Ford. Their connection is instantaneous and consuming, and they agree to meet again in Paris. In a heady mix of sugared pastries and rumpled bedsheets, they begin plotting their future together. In the dreamy apartment they're renting in the 11th arrondissement, they become intoxicated by each other.

Until Jacob disappears.

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves

New Mysteries to Read

 

Found Verity by Colleen Hoover on my library website and started reading it, about a woman asked to finish the books in a series the original author is unable to finish due to her serious illness. The plot sounds familiar but I can't find anywhere that I have read it before. Hmmm. Maybe plots are similar in some books.... I'll continue reading it even though it does sound familiar.

Paris Match isn't available till April 2027, but I have the ARC from NetGalley and as I love Paris, I'll read it now! The description of this mystery has me hooked, especially as the book takes the reader into the arrondissements of Paris.  

Description

Fin Vollmer didn't do it.

A twenty-three-year-old American in Paris, Fin's luck is running out. He's been living off his wits and beauty, but his visa has expired and he can't go home to Ohio, where haunting memories await. He's turned to casual sex work to survive, but when Fin discovers a client murdered in his palatial apartment on Île Saint-Louis, Fin knows what's coming for him and he runs.

Jamie Hayes did.

I'm also reading The Family Friend by Claire Douglas, published in March 2026. A woman, Imogen, is flabbergasted to find out she has inherited a mansion in Bath, England, left to her by a deceased family friend, Dorothea Rowe, whom she last saw sixteen years ago. 

Imogen has to deal with rumors that Dorothea was murdered and tries to find out the truth about her inheritance. Suspenseful, so far, I think as I read along. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves

The Daughters by Leslie Jamison: The Greek Myth of the Minotaur

 

The Daughters by Leslie Jamison

Publication: Feb. 9, 2027; Little, Brown and Company,  NetGalley 
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I started reading this early in the morning, after I had woken up early. What a devastating read, one I couldn't put down till I had come to the end of the sections on the Minotaur. 

The author turns the Greek myth of the minotaur on its head, focusing on the minotaur's mother and how he was conceived, born, and weaned. All horrific and yet mezmerizing.

It all comes together, how the minotaur is confined to the labyrinth, how and why, and how he finally reaches the stars in the Taurus constellation. I am still reeling from the unusual quality of this book.

Note: I skipped the modern section, with the daughters. I have yet to go back and see how it fits in with the minotaur theme.

My next read, a modern one

Abandoning a Cat: a Personal Story by Haruki Murakami,

Publication: Oct. 27, 2026; Knopf, NetGalley

Book description:  Originally published in the New Yorker in 2019, and now presented in a full, unabridged form, Abandoning a Cat is a poignant, self-reflective work by Haruki Murakami.

Here he writes about his father, the son of a priest who might have become a priest himself had a clerical error not sent him into the second world war. Murakami's father wrote accomplished haiku and eventually became a teacher. As Haruki grew older -- as he became an adult and then a writer, he and his father found they had little in common. They were later estranged for twenty years, only reconciling on his father's deathbed.

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves

Winter Reading List: Multiple Genres in Fiction

 Books Chosen for Winter Reading

Sept. 28, 2026, romance

This cozy Christmas romance follows an overworked publicist who is snowed in at the Honeycrisp Orchard Inn with her nemesis, a sexy brewery owner, for the holidays. The festive spirit, hot chocolate, and six feet of sparkling snowdrifts conspire to turn these enemies into lovers.

April 6, 2027, general fiction 

An uproariously funny and surprisingly tender debut novel following a junior ping pong player who travels from Los Angeles to rural China to spend a transformative summer at an elite Table Tennis Academy

April 13, 2027, magical realism

A humorous and heartwarming novel that explores life, love, and loss through the eyes of Little Mister, a mischievous and curious cat who mingles with a wide range of human and animal friends in his Amsterdam neighborhood over the course of one year

Jan. 26, 2027, thriller, adventure

Wildlife biologist Alex Carter leads a hike through the mountains of Wyoming, where treacherous landscapes, majestic wolves, and a staggering discovery await—only for the hikers to reveal deadly motivations and shifting loyalties.

Jan. 12, 2027, adult fiction

Over the course of a three-day funeral, a woman discovers new sides to her deceased father in this hilarious and heart-tugging masterwork from one of Korea's most fearless writers.

Books and descriptions from NetGalley. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves

Frenchman's Creek and Other Famous Books by Daphne du Maurier

 

I'm re-reading an old favorite, Frenchman's Creek by du Maurier, originally published in 2003. 

Romance, suspense, drama, and adventure rolled into one book. A bored but wealthy housewife in Restoration London, Lady Dona escapes to her other house in Cornwall. She meets a daring French pirate and joins him in an adventure she has always dreamed of. 

I forgot the ending, and am wondering how the story will pan out at the end of the novel. 

Jamaica Inn is another of du Maurier's books I've read and want to revisit. Set in Cornwall among smugglers, this is another adventure novel. Young Mary Yellan joins her uncle at Jamaica Inn and finds romance and danger.

The House on the Strand is another book that was intriguing, with some magical realism. A young man is offered a potion that sends him back to medieval Cornwall. However, he finds he wants to go back time and again when the potions wear off after several hours. 

The Scapegoat is one of my favorites. John and Jean meet by chance at a railway station and notice their uncanny resemblance to each other. Jean takes John's satchel containing all his id's and disappears, leaving John to switch identities and manage a crumbling French chateau, where failing properties and dismal family relationships will challenge all his wits.

And of course, there is du Maurier's most famous  book, Rebecca, made into several films over time.

In this book, a new wife arrives at her husband's mansion on the Cornish coast and must deal with the memory of his deceased wife, Rebecca, who has a strange hold on the household and even on her husband. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves

Nine Coaches Waiting: Drama and Suspense in this Gothic Romance

 

More Gothic romances by Mary Stewart

I had to wait a while to get Nine Coaches Waiting at my local library as it was buried in the stacks of our downtown library. It was an old copy, well used, but all the pages were intact.

Story: Governess Linda Martin arrives at a French mansion/chateau in eastern France near the Swiss border, to teach the young Count Philippe de Valmy the English language. She fears his uncle whom she thinks wants the death of her charge in order to inherit the Valmy estate. Linda falls in love with another uncle, Raoul, whom she fears is in on the plan to murder young Philippe. 

Setting: The chateau is set in the woods and forests, with a winding road leading uphill to it.  There is a wooden bridge over a stream that spans this road. Some of the drama of the story takes place on this very bridge.

Review: Wonderful suspense mixed with romance and drama as Linda tries to save young Philippe from her wicked uncles. Too bad she has fallen in love with one of the uncles. But is he really as wicked as the thinks?  I loved the days she spent running in the woods with Philippe in order to get away from the ones trying to kill him. A satisfying ending to the family story of inheritance and greed.

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves

Megan Ridley Mysteries - Cozies

 

Five short cozy mysteries by Maisy Marple Publications

The cute dog and the pile of books on the covers grabbed my attention. I don't know who the real authors are, but the six books are put out by the group, Maisy Marple Publications. 

The books feature Megan Ridley and her dog, Gatsby, playing amateur sleuth in the book world. 

I like mysteries featuring dogs and books, so I look forward to reading this series.

The south side of Chicago is familiar to me, and so is the food! 

Savvy Summers and the Po'boy Perils

A Mystery

by Sandra Jackson-Opoku

July 21, 2026, Minotaur Books, NetGalley

Description:  Savvy Summers, owner of a soul food café in Chicago.

Savvy has her work cut out when an old friend hires her to cater a company luncheon at a nearby office building on Chicago's South Side. Stepping out of her traditional soul food comfort zone, Savvy whips together a menu of Creole classics, with her own spin, of course—mini po’boys with assorted fillings, sunburst salad, and bread pudding using Great Aunt Essie’s famous buttermilk biscuits.

But when someone is found dead in the company’s conference room, Savvy’s culinary creations are suddenly in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves

Romantic, Gothic Suspense by Mary Stewart

 

 I've been re-reading some of the Mary Stewart mysteries written in the 1960s. They combine mystery, suspense, romance, and great settings. 

Here are some of the titles. 

This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart, set on the Greek island of Corfu.  Mystery, suspense, and gothic romance.

Madam, Will You Talk? by Mary Stewart, set in southern France. 

Romantic suspense set in England.

Airs Above the Ground by Mary Stewart, set in Vienna. Romantic suspense, Gothic suspense.

 The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart, set on the island of Crete, Greece.

Romantic suspense, Gothic romance

Wildfire at Midnight by Mary Stewart, set in the Isle of Skye, Scotland.  Romantic suspense, mystery 

 

The author also wrote an outstanding Arthurian saga of five books, including the following.

 

 The Crystal Cave (Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart, historical fiction, mythology, classics, fantasy. Set in 5th Century Britain, the series centers on Merlin the magician and the coming of King Arthur. 

The Hollow Hills (Arthurian Saga #2) by Mary Stewart, Arthurian, mythology, historical, fantasy. 

Merlin must find the magical sword, Caliburn, which Arthur must claim in order to become the true High King of Britain. 

I haven't yet read any of this series but it's on my list!

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves

 

Thrillers by Freida McFadden and More

 Review

I enjoyed this book so well, I went out and borrowed three more by the author. 

Brain Damage by Freida McFadden

Genre: suspense thriller, to be published Aug. 25, 2026, NetGalley

Review: Charly wakes up in a hospital with a feeding tube in her stomach and no memory of why she is there, what happened to her, or who she is. As she slowly regains her strength, some memories come back as she tries to put together who had shot her in the head and left her for dead. 

The amnesiac angle of the story made it suspenseful and had the reader eagerly waiting for the protagonist to figure out what happened to her. This trope is becoming more used in thrillers and I am a fan. Enjoyable and well written, plotted, with realistic characters, the book made me look for the author's previous books.

Listening to:

I'm listening to the audiobook in spurts. It's another suspenseful and mysterious novel by the author. 

The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden

Genre: thriller 

Published March 23, 2020

Brief description: Victoria is confined to her room, unable to speak or walk after a terrible accident. Her husband hires a woman, Sylvia, to keep her company, read to her, and be a friendly companion. 

Sylvia soon discovers Victoria's diary, written before the accident, and tries to piece together the mystery behind the silent woman, who keeps trying to communicate something to Sylvia. 

Next on the list:

I enjoy the thrillers by Camilla Sten. This is a new one that I hope to read soon.

The Break-Up Retreat by Camilla Sten

Publication: June 9, 2026, Minotaur, NetGalley

This book is described as a "creepy thriller" about an undercover journalist who visits a women's psychological wellness center that caters to those who want to recover from heartbreak. I'm curious about it. 

And something more relaxing inbetween thrillers:

Out of Her League by Ava Rani

May 12, 2026, Avon, NetGalley

To make her ex jealous, an ambitious young surgeon recruits a charming star soccer player to be her date to a lavish Parisian wedding—but love might have a game plan of its own, in this stand-alone romance (publisher)

Tropes: fake dating, only one bed, fancy Paris hotel, and more. 

What are you reading this week?

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves