OpenTube

15 Criminally Underrated Mystery Book Recommendations

Topher's Library

143,272 views

Looking for your next great read but tired of seeing the same popular books everywhere? Today, we are diving into 15 criminally underrated mystery novels that deserve an immediate spot on your TBR pile, and I am confident there will be a few authors and books you have never heard of before.

If you are wondering what to read next, I've curated this list of mystery book recommendations just for you. For every single book, I'll be sharing a brief description, my spoiler-free thoughts, and what kind of reader it's for. These under-the-radar must-reads are worth your time. Whether you love atmospheric puzzles, fast-paced thrillers, cozy mysteries, or dark literary fiction stories, I got you covered. Stay Curious. Read Deeply.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JOIN THE COMMUNITY ON DISCORD - Discord: discord
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOOKS MENTIONED:
The Lighthouse Witches — C. J. Cooke
https://amzn.to/3NmtdqH
The Ambitious Card — John Gaspard
https://amzn.to/4sLF8gU
Not To Be — Katherine Ladny Mitchell
https://amzn.to/47ifJ6f
An Instance of the Fingerpost — Iain Pears
https://amzn.to/40tjZfi
The Camel Club — David Baldacci
https://amzn.to/4uyZ2xl
The World's Greatest Detectives — Caroline Carlson
https://amzn.to/47BRnnN
Three Fifths — John Vercher
https://amzn.to/3PkyYpn
The Red House Mystery — A. A. Milne
https://amzn.to/47vOBAx
The Liars Society — Alyson Gerber
https://amzn.to/4s1GeVE
The House of Silk — Anthony Horowitz
https://amzn.to/4cGwGux
A Man — Keiichirō Hirano
https://amzn.to/4sroPWR
The Mary Shelley Club — Goldy Moldavsky
https://amzn.to/4djasim
By the Pricking of My Thumbs — Agatha Christie
https://amzn.to/47xTCZp
Rinn’s Crossing — Russell Heath
https://amzn.to/4sbP9E6
The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond — G. K. Chesterton
https://amzn.to/4usKxe6

Affiliate Disclaimer
Some of the links above are affiliate links. If you choose to purchase through them, the channel may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the channel and helping keep the library open.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TIME STAMPS:
0:00 - Introduction
0:37 - Your Thoughts, Part I
0:54 - Grouping 1: Classic Detectives & Golden Age Energy
1:06 - Book 1: A familiar Author
2:07 - Book 2: Not Father Brown
3:20 - Book 3: Agatha Christie
4:32 - Book 4: Classic Meets Modern
5:40 - Grouping 2: Mysteries That Ask Bigger Questions
5:50 - Book 5: Iain Pears
6:58 - Book 6: A Man
8:12 - Book 7: Uncomfortable Realities
9:34 - Grouping 3: The Fun Side of Mystery
9:43 - Book 8: Not to Be
11:08 - Book 9: Magic As Mystery
12:02 - Book 10: Clue Meets Hogwarts Sorting
13:14 - Book 11: Liars, Teens, and a Mysterious Island
14:13 - Grouping 4: Dark Secrets & Dangerous Plots
14:25 - Book 12: Wait! Why Is He On This List?
16:15 - Book 13: Russell Heath
17:18 - Book 14: I Didn't Have That Club At My High School
18:32 - Book 15: Scotland, Witches, & A Lighthouse
20:03 - Your Thoughts, Part II

20 Comments

@cjjersey2455 6 months ago (edited)

I started to read mysteries at about age 12. I’m now 80 and have read thousands of them. In retirement, I listen to audiobooks nearly all day while doing household chores and creating art. It often takes me only a day to listen to a book, and rarely more than 2 days.
One of the downfalls of reading so many is that I often can’t remember titles, protagonists, or authors except for those who have dozens of titles published. That’s not due entirely to my age. I’ve always read a lot and I’ve always been horrible at remembering names.
My taste in mysteries has changed . When I was about 50, I realized I hadn’t read all of Christie’s books, so I picked up a few at the library. Compared to what I had been reading, they were so cosy, they put me to sleep. I was into Patricia Cornwall, Michael Connelly, Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller, Lee Child, Linda Barnes, JA Jance, Sara Paretsky, Tony Hillerman & his daughter Anne, Robert Parker, CJ Box, Craig Johnson.
Then over a few years, I started to enjoy books either written or set before computers, cell phones, and DNA. Many of those boring cosy mysteries are just my speed, now. I’ve recently read a ton of books that are set during both world Wars & ones that include real historical figures in a fictional setting. And I especially enjoy books with a bit of humor. Currently I’m laughing my way through M.C. Beaton’s Hamish MacBeth series (although I really hated her Agatha Raisin books.)
I like to spread out each series, so it might take a couple of years to get through 20 different book series. I like finding authors who already have a dozen or more books out so I don’t have to wait a year for the next book. Those dang writers can’t write as fast as I can read.
Sometimes I am stunned at the plot coincidences of what I pick up. Last week, I read 4 books in a row by different authors that included twins. Then I read three in a row that included art themes, although only one of those was from a series that always has art themes.
Happy sleuthing, everyone.

@terrylowell5560 6 months ago

Author Laurie R. King's, "The. Beekeepers Apprentice": precocious teenaged girl joins with the retired Sherlock Holmes to find a missing girl; "The Bones of Paris": American private investigator in jazz age Paris searching for a missing actress/model...surrealists central to mystery

@yunniem 6 months ago

I know it’s dated, but Rex Wolfe’s Nero Wolfe series is great!

@MargaretConrad-f7i 6 months ago

Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. Absolutely brilliant. She solves murders while working with her handsome husband on archeology sites in Egypt. Very British, very Victorian. Thrilling and tons of fun. Read them all.

@murphbee 6 months ago

Ellis Peter’s Cadfael books are a joy, especially if you are a fan of world-weary medieval monks. Good pacing, interesting settings, and colorful characters wrapped around a good mystery and easy humor.

@carolynbriggs6972 6 months ago

Ngaio Marsh mysteries - from roughly the same period as Christie and Sayers.

@cb2ndjml 6 months ago

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

@Linda-k9t2o 6 months ago

Colin Dexter. Everyone knows the Inspector Morse TV series , but the books are even better in my opinion.

@jannetteberends8730 6 months ago

I think for me it’s The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. About Richard III.
Everytime I see a video on YouTube about Richard III, and if he really was that bad, i think about that book. And wander if they didn’t read that book.

I’m from the Netherlands, and I was very young when I read that book. I knew nothing about Richard III. For me he was the person from that book. Still is. This book is more than only a detective, or you could say it’s a super detective. It "detectives" history.

@carolynbriggs6972 6 months ago

More recent series I love by Elly Griffiths - Ruth Galloway is an archaeologist and my fictional BFF who gets involved with crimes that have a tentacle in the past.

@paulschumacher1263 6 months ago

The most underrated mystery writer in my opinion is Kate Atkinson, with her Jackson Brodie books. There are 6 so far, and they are all good, but my favorite is the third, When Will There Be Good News? Atkinson writes other, non-mystery books, and several of those are very good, mostly her early ones, and the best of those is Emotionally Weird. To me, the main reason the Jackson Brodie books are so great is that they are really comedies posing as mysteries. Also, the JB books are brilliant satires of lots of things, and deal humorously with sexism, chauvinism, racism, patriarchy, parenting, sex, politics, religion, hack writers, etc.--you know, the usual funny topics.

@PurrfectBlunder 6 months ago

My favorite (probably?) underrated mystery is The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Thanks so much for those recommendations. Sound very much right up my alley!

@barleywine7675 6 months ago

I really enjoy Scandinavian writers Henning Mankell and Jo Nesbo. Great characters and storytelling,

@stardresser1 6 months ago (edited)

The Inspector Brunetti mysteries, set in Venice. By Donna Leon. FANTASTIC.

@QuoteUnquoteCg 6 months ago

Dorothy Sayers is one of my favorites! The Lord Peter mysteries aren't exactly "overlooked," but they do get dwarfed by Agatha Christie's output. My two favorites are GAUDY NIGHT and BUSMAN'S HONEYMOON, the two final books in the series. You definitely should read others first in order to appreciate them, but I like to call GN a polemic for women's higher education wrapped in the guise of a mystery novel and BUSMAN'S is a study of marriage in the same guise. So great, both of them.

@reneeb9905 6 months ago

I really like the Flavia De Luce series by Alan Bradley.

@meggy8868 6 months ago

And don't forget PD James

@Retired.LovingIt 6 months ago

The Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers

@sharonjensen3016 6 months ago

I recommend Michael Connelly's books, most of which feature Harry Bosch, and "The Thursday Murder Club" series by Richard Osman, about a group of senior citizens who solve crimes.