6 Mysteries and Thrillers I've Been Recommending to All My Friends This Summer

The Hermit, by Danish author Thomas Rydahl, is the first in a planned trilogy that follows a reclusive Danish taxi driver and piano tuner who stumbles into solving the murder of a baby boy. Set in the Canary Islands, this novel is an intriguing read with an unlikely protagonist you can't help but be fascinated by.

I've been obsessed with Monet and his water lily paintings since I was little (even visiting his gardens in Giverny, France, in college), so I when I spotted Black Water Lilies by French author Michel Bussi in the window of a bookstore in London and read the synopsis, I couldn't get it in my hands fast enough. I proceeded to spend the next 24 hours of my vacation with my nose in this book about a murder that takes place in the painter's French village. If you don't have goosebumps after reading the first chapter, I'll give you your money back.

I picked up After the Crash immediately after devouring Michel Bussi's other novel, Black Water Lilies, and I'm already antsy for his next book. I won't give away too much, but the premise is enough to hook you. A plane crashes in the Swiss Alps, killing all passengers except one — a newborn baby girl. The problem? There were two girls around the same age on the flight. Now, almost 20 years later, the answer isn't as clear as it seems . . .

If you couldn't put down The Girl on the Train, you'll find Paula Hawkins's latest novel, Into the Water, just as addicting. I actually enjoyed it even more thanks to its haunting, atmospheric descriptions that weave the characters and setting together. The multilayered plot — following the death of two women in the same river a few months apart — twists and turns until the end.

The Owl Always Hunts at Night is the second in a series by Norwegian novelist Samuel Bjork, following I'm Traveling Alone. Veteran police investigator Holger Munch and the brilliant but troubled investigator Mia Kruger return to solve the disturbing, possibly ritualistic murder of a woman who had been held prisoner before her death. The way Bjork cleverly connects multiple stories and introduces compelling characters will keep you guessing until the last page. I read this cover to cover in a single day.

After reading a few reviews comparing Ruth Ware's psychological thriller The Woman in Cabin 10 to Agatha Christie novels (à la Murder on the Orient Express), I had to see what the buzz was all about. This engrossing mystery follows Lo Blacklock, a travel journalist who has been invited on an exclusive Scandinavian luxury cruise, but things take a dark turn when she wakes to the sound of the woman in the cabin next to her being thrown overboard. Everyone else on the ship tells her there never was a woman in that cabin — it was empty. Ware does a phenomenal job pulling you down into the depths of Lo's psyche as you become just as confused and claustrophobic as she is as the mystery unfolds.