Looking for a Mystery Series with Just a Few Titles?

Mystery series are so much fun to read because they provide the opportunity to see the various characters develop over time, both personally and professionally. When I start a new book in a series I love, I feel like I am reconnecting with old friends as well as enjoying the progression of the crime solving and the possibility of revisiting earlier crimes and events. 

There are so many wonderful mystery series, and it can be difficult to decide which one to begin. Some of the long-running ones seem daunting to start because there are countless titles to read before getting to the current installment so I am recommending some fabulous series that published more recently. Here are four titles that published in the last few years, and each series has a total of two or three titles to date:

The Bitter Past by Bruce Borgos – After retiring from an Army Intelligence division, Porter Beck has returned home to take on the role as sheriff of Lincoln County, located in the high desert of Nevada north of Las Vegas. When a retired FBI agent is killed, the normally sleepy area suddenly springs to life as FBI agents arrive, and a mystery from 60 years ago when a Russian KGB agent came to pilfer the United States’ nuclear technology appears to be linked to the recent death. Toggling back and forth in time, The Bitter Past, the first in a new mystery series, is an enthralling read; the nuclear testing site storyline, the FBI aspects of the story, and the ending make this an all-around fabulous read. I could not turn the pages fast enough. Shades of Mercy is Book Two and Book Three, The Blue Horse, will publish this summer.

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn – This delightful and thought-provoking mystery stars four women, Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie, who have been employed by the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for four decades. When the Museum sends them on a fabulous vacation to celebrate their retirement, the women quickly determine that their trip is a ruse because they are being targeted by someone within the Museum due to the work they have done for the organization over the years. Times have changed and their skill sets are no longer valued by the Museum, but the friends are determined to upend the view that women of a certain age are expendable. Through experience and working together, they prove that their age and gender are positives versus negatives. Combining humor, reflections on what it means to age, and a clever mystery, Killers of a Certain Age kept me engaged from page one. The second in the series, Kills Well With Others, recently published.

In The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh, the town of Llyn Drych has a New Year’s Day tradition of a morning swim in the freezing cold Mirror Lake, but this year the swim is cut short when the body of a man is found floating in the lake. (Photo: Cindy Burnett)

The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh – This psychological thriller is set at The Shore, an exclusive community of lake lodges, in Llyn Drych (also known as Mirror Lake) under the shadow of Pen y Ddraig mountain and near the village of Cwm Coed, just inside the Welsh border with England. The town has a New Year’s Day tradition of a morning swim in the freezing cold Mirror Lake, but this year the swim is cut short when the body of a man is found floating in the lake. The victim, Rhys Lloyd, a local celebrity and has-been opera singer, is the developer of The Shore with his business partner Jonty Charlton. Due to The Shore’s location on the Wales/England border, a joint investigation with DC Ffion Morgan from North Wales and DC Leo Brady of Cheshire Major Crimes from the English side results. The story is written in a dual timeline format – the events that build up to the murder are relayed in the past, while the investigation into the murder is told in the present day – which works well for the mystery. The highlights of the book are the stellar mystery, the Welsh setting with a glimpse into the Welsh culture and history, and the solid cast of characters, and this is a stellar start to a new police procedural series. Book Two is A Game of Lies, and the third book in the series, Other People’s Houses, comes out in the U.S. in September.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto – Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a laugh-out-loud mystery set in San Francisco’s Chinatown. When 60-year-old Vera Wong finds a dead body in her tea shop, she calls the police, but not until after taking a flash drive from the dead man’s hand and hiding it. Frustrated with the police’s investigative work (it looks nothing like how the cops solve cases on TV), she decides to do a little detective work herself. Corralling the four individuals who stop by the shop following the body’s discovery, Vera works to crack the case while inadvertently making new friends with the people she is sure are suspects. Filled with humor and hijinks, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a delight from beginning to end. The follow up, Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man, publishes April 1st.

For more book recommendations and bookish thoughts, see Cindy’s monthly Buzz Reads column, her award-winning Thoughts from a Page Podcast or follow @ThoughtsFromaPage on Instagram.