5 detectives on vacation

2641

04 July 2023

Readers-friendly

Yuliia Artseva

Author

POV: you're packing a not-so-perfect suitcase for vacation.

A pair of shorts, a bunch of T-shirts, a panama hat, flip-flops, one hoodie, and pants just in case it gets cold. Of course, sunscreen, sunglasses, and some pills just in case. Seems like everything is ready for vacation...

Sorry, but we have to intervene in your packing! You might be ready for a vacation, but for the perfect vacation, you're missing... a book. Agree?

If you're more into communication than solitude while on vacation, here's a counter-argument: what do you do on a train ride if not read? And what if, at your destination, there are uninteresting people nearby? Communication is good, but it depends on with whom, while a book never gets tired of talking.

Especially a detective! A good detective has all the chances to capture your attention, challenging your analytical skills. We’ve picked five just like that.

Let's see what you can take on vacation with you?

Friendly spoiler: this selection is not just for detective fans. Detectives are like olives – everyone likes them, though sometimes later.

This is not just a brilliant detective novel; it's a brilliant epistolary detective novel. A delicate play with details in other people's correspondence!

How deeply can you see a person through the emails they've sent? "Deeper than you think. Even one-line emails that people believe reveal nothing can tell everything" - Janice Hallett.

The plot unfolds in the unremarkable quiet town of Lockwood. Two strangers meet a tragic death. Law students Charlotte and Femi are tasked with solving the mystery of this mysterious death. Someone has already been jailed for the murder, but it's unlikely they are the real culprit. As the case progresses, new secrets keep appearing. The killer is hiding literally right before their eyes.

All the evidence is there, but will Charlotte and Femi find it? And you?

This is one of the top five best thrillers of 2014 according to Washington Post, and one of the top options to ensure you have the most exciting puzzle during your vacation according to us.

The novel takes place at the St. Kilda’s girls' boarding school in Dublin. Eight girls from rival factions find themselves at the center of events surrounding the murder of a boy named Chris on the school grounds. The case is investigated by young ambitious detective Steven Moran, but not immediately – it’s a year later when one of the students, Holly, brings him an anonymous note. "I know who killed him." She found it on the bulletin board, a place everyone calls the secret spot. Someone in the school knows the truth. Moran interrogates everyone at the school and learns that Chris had close relationships with most of the eight girls... It’s intriguing, what secrets and actions are teenagers capable of?

By choosing this book, you’ll kill three birds with one stone – the chance to spend your time interestingly, explore the psychology of teenage behavior, and also learn a good portion of selected English slang. It's interesting, but the high concentration of youth slang in the novel became the main reason some critics lowered their ratings. Nevertheless, this didn't affect the plot, and Tana French proved to be a true expert on teenage communication psychology.

Turning each page of this thriller, we didn’t stop guessing for a second who wrote that damn, excuse me, list. Thank God our names weren’t there! But Mary’s name appeared next to the date April 1st...

1st January MURDER LISA, OXFORD

1st February MURDER JANE, BIRMINGHAM

1st March MURDER DAVID, CARDIFF

1st April MURDER MARY, CHELTENHAM

Real names of people, real cities, real dates that become the days of their murders. A simple diary, which turned out to be a list of victims – that’s the gift Mary received from Cheltenham.

"Is this a joke?" It doesn’t seem so, because a woman named Lisa was murdered in Oxford on January 1st.

Does Mary have a murderer’s list, planning to commit a new crime every month? Wait, is Mary supposed to be murdered on April 1st?

The clock begins to tick loudly. The girl must find out the truth before she becomes the next victim.

Honestly, this confusion doesn’t stop... But it’s so thrilling! When you think you've solved all the mysteries, your expectations will be turned upside down. Just know, we haven’t told you anything.

"Read it once to find out the plot, read it again to see the beauty and elegance of French’s style."

Yes, another masterpiece by Tana French, as stated by editors at The New York Times and The Washington Post. Because a new release by this author is always a celebration, and what’s a vacation without a celebration?

Kel Hooper thought that a quiet Irish village would be the perfect place for an escape. After 25 years of working in the Chicago police and a difficult divorce, he just wanted to build a new life in a picturesque place with only one little pub and nothing special happening. But how naive! Of course, a case finds him – the disappearance of a local boy's brother. Kel couldn’t pretend not to care. Soon he discovers that the small town is full of big secrets, and the people living there are not who they seem to be.

We don’t know if you’ll do anything else besides read this book. We wouldn’t even leave the room if it weren’t for hunger. This is another high-octane detective novel by Harlan Coben. More than 4 of his bestsellers have turned into original Netflix series. The Stranger is one of them.

Adam Price lives the dream life, everything is perfect – family, estate, work. But one evening, he learns a devastating secret about his wife. The worst part is that the collapse of his perfect life is not his main problem. He becomes part of a terrifying conspiracy. If he takes even one wrong step, preventing it, the lives will not be ruined, but destroyed.

Once, Dan Brown, the author of the famous "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons", said that Coben is "a master of creating hooks and unexpected plot twists". And we say, with this book, it’s a sin not to dive into a vacation twist!

"Come on, let's twist again like we did last summer!"