A sudden death, an unknown killer, and a handful of shocking twists are just a few of the hallmarks of the mystery genre that draw you in and make for an ??exciting page-turner. If you’re looking for a new novel for the fall season, try any one of the ten best new mystery books we’ve assembled in the list below- they won’t disappoint.

10. Everyone on This Train is a Suspect, Benjamin Steven??son

Fans of the classic whodunnit will love Everyone on This Train is a Suspect, the second novel to follow the story of Ernest Cunningham and the mysteries he encounters in his writing career. Ernest, along with all the other people on the train, has previously published a book about a murder. It stands to reason then that everyone in the group would easily be able to get away with such a crime if something were to suddenly happen. If you love Agatha Christie’s classic Murder on the Orient Express, then you’ll have a great time with this one.

9. Murder at King’s Crossing, Andrea Penrose

Murder at King’s Crossing is Andrea Penrose’s eighth novel in the Wrexford & Sloane series, but it is still a great place to start reading the author’s work. The story stands on its own, and the overlap with previous books is simply from recurring characters. While Wrexford and Sloane are attending a wedding, the police find a body at nearby King’s Crossing. Its discovery comes with only a single clue- an invitation to t??he wedding. However, the invitation was not originally intended for the dead man.

8. Nightwatching, Tracy Sierra

Nightwatching is a tense page-turner that blends the thriller and hor??ror genre into its core mystery. In the dead of night, in t??he darkness of a relentless blizzard, an intruder steps into a mother’s home. He’s clearly dangerous, and there’s something about him that feels oddly familiar. The mother and her children have to avoid making any noise or risk a deadly confrontation. Incredible atmospheric details and more than a few surprises await the reader.

7. A Step Past Darkness, Vera Kurian

The unassuming town of Wesley Falls, with its seemingly perfect homes, hosts a terrifying crime in the summer of 1995. The main characters of A Step Past Darkness, who were teenagers at the time of the incide??nt, must return more than twenty years later after another murder occurs to uncover the dark secrets of a case they had hoped to leave behind forever. The story ho?ps between two timelines and lets the reader piece together what’s really happening.

6. Secrets of Rose Briar Hall, Kelsey James

Secrets of Rose Briar Hall features an ensnaring gothic darkness that makes it difficult to put down. The year is 1908, and Millie Turner, the wife of one of Long Island’s rich elite, plans to throw an elegant party. However, not everything goes according to her plan. When Millie later wakes up, she finds that the manor is mysteriously dark and that she has no memories of what really happened that evening. The novel is a loose adoption of the classic 1944 film Gaslight.

5. The Hunter, Tana French

When a former Chicago police officer moves to Ireland for retirement, he takes some of his most important experiences and personal ties with him into a new mystery. The most notable from the start is his tie with the two other main characters, Trey and Lena. The former is a teenager whose father returns to town with tales of gold and an easy-to-acquire fortune. The Hunter is a sequel to Tana French’s novel The Searcher, but you don’t necessarily have to read the former book t?o?? follow what’s going on in the new one.

4. Displeasure Island, Alice Bell

In Displeasure Island, Claire’s ability to talk to ghosts makes all the difference when she’s trying to solve a new mystery. When she goes on vacation with her best friend, who is incidentally a ghost, she attempts to use her experiences and insight to find a hidden pirate treasure. However, a murder occurs before she can reach her goal, and she’ll need to clear her name before it’s too late. There’s plenty of tension here in the sequel to Bell's Grave Expectations, but also lots of comedic moments as well.

3. Summerlin Groves, Elizabeth Camden

If you’re looking for a blend of mystery, romance, and history in your next read, Summerlin Groves migh?t be just the ticket. There’s a skeleton out back buried under the orange trees on Jenny Summerlin’s property with more than a few Cold War-era secrets. However, to uncover these secrets, Jenny will have to work with a local detective who’s also her former lover. ??Though author Elizabeth Camden is best known for her historical fiction novels about the late 1800s, her foray into a more contemporary setting is a great success.

2. Death at the Sign of the Rook, Kate Atkinson

Private detective Jackson Brodie is back in Kate Atkinson’s newest novel, Death at the Sign of the Rook. The mystery starts out with a simple art theft. However, as it continues, it quickly evolves into a story that utilizes the best tropes in the genre to its advantage. Brodie and the cast of suspects are snowed in at an old Englis??h manor that often hosts murder mystery nights for weekend patrons. Inside, there are plenty of secrets and traps, as well as a killer who’s on the loose.

1. The Hitchcock Hotel, Stephanie Wrobel

When the world’s biggest fan of Alfred Hitchcock opens a theme hotel that celebrates his favorite films, there are plenty of surprises in store for his guests. However, it’s not until one year after the grand opening, when the owner invites his college friends for a reunion, that things get seriously suspenseful. If you’re a fan of any of the classic films, you’re pretty much guaranteed to love this book. The Hitchcock Hotel is full to the brim with exciting references, from the rookery of ravens to direct quotes from films like Rope and Psycho.

The post The 10 Best New My??stery Books You Should Read This Year (Ra??nked) appeared first on Destructoid.

Cryptic clues, challenging inves??tigations, and mysterious murderers not only make for a great novel, but they are also the perfect setup for a fun, thematic board game. If you’re a fan of the classic whodunit, then you’ll enjoy each of the ten murder mystery board games on our list. Every title we’re highlighting here has fun puzzles, interesting twists, and gripping gameplay that will make you feel smarter than Sherlock Holmes when you finally solve the case. 

1. Deception: Murder in Hong Kong

In Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, each player is dealt a secret role and must convince the others that they’re innocent. One of the other people at the table is a killer, and dependin??g on the number of players, they might have an accomplice. The person who draws the role of the forensic scientist helps the investigators by identifying some of the key details amongst available the clues and potential murder weapons. If everyone’s accusations are incorrect, or if the time runs out, the killer gets away.

2. Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game

Detective blends classic clue gathering with FBI forensics, and to great effect. This mix ensures that every crime is satisfying to solve because of how many tools are at your disposal. You’ll of course need to break out the pin board and some red string, b??ut you’ll also get to spend some time perusing the Antares Database, an online resource that aids?? the investigators in their work with key details about each suspect.

3. Whitehall Mystery

A mysterious killer is on the loose in London, and your team of investigators in Whitehall Mystery needs to track him down and catch him. One player takes on the role of the murderer himself, aiming to cover up his tracks by landing on four different spaces spread across the board. The detectives will h??ave to deduce which roads, alleyways, and boats the killer will take. They’ll also need to investigate locations to find out if the killer has already been there. It’s a great board game if you want to skip right to the most action-packed part of the case.

4. Suspects: Claire Harper Takes the Stage

Three mysteries await you in Suspects: Claire Harper Takes the Stage, each with a unique theme and twist that matches the?? 1930s setting in which the stories take place. The art style of the maps, family trees, and other clues spread throughout the game environment is in??credible, and aid in making this an unmissable adventure for fans of classic mysteries.

5. Exit: The Game- Dead Man on the Orient Express

Exit: The Game is a series of escape room kits, with each box containing exciting new puzzles and riddles based on a particular theme. In Dead Man on the Orient Express, the story revolves around a mysterious murder on a train, with details that are, of course, similar to Agatha Christie’s famous novel Murder on the Orient Express. As far as the Exit series goes, this box is on th?e more difficult side, but that’s perfect for fans who love solving a challenging whodunit. 

6. Cryptic Killers: Murder of a Millionaire

Though the Cryptic Killers series isn’t a board game in the traditional sense, it’s an fun tabletop experience that’s sure to be a game night hit. Each case file has a collection of evidence that players will need to carefully examine. The evidence includes things like newspapers, photographs, letters, and texts. You’ll have to break codes, solve complex cyphers, and start in-depth discussions in order to solve the case. Murder of a Millionaire is the best-selling Cryptic Killers mystery, with a difficulty rating of 3.5/5. However, if you you want a more challenging experience, there are plenty of other Cryptic Killers kits.

7. Mysterium

In Mysterium, you and your fellow psychics investigate a haunted mansion to gather clues from the beyond that help you solve a murder. One of the players is a ghost who communicates only with abstract, spectral images that look like something out of a strange dream. Small details in the artwork will he??lp you find out who the killer is, what weapon they used, and ??of course, where the crime was committed. The clock is against you, and if daylight rises without everyone having gathered their clues, the entire team is defeated.

8. Chronicles of Crime

Chronicles of Crime is an app-integrated game that requires players to scan the QR codes on the locations and cards in play to investigate them. This is an innovative mechanic that allows you to search virtual 3D crime scenes and talk to sus??pects using your phone or tablet. Some of the game’s mysteries interlace with one another, though there isn’t a strict campaign, which means you can start with any case. 

9. Blood on the Clocktower

When the town storyteller is murdered by a mysterious demon, the villagers of Ravenswood Bluff must work together to identify who is secretly an agent of the forces of evil. Anywhere from 6 to 20 people people can play Blood on the Clocktower together, and in this case it??’s the more the merri??er. During the day phase, everyone will discuss who think is evil, and if the majority agree that someone is evil, that person is executed. During the night phase, the demons will choose their next victim. Everyone has an individual role, which means everyone knows something different.

10. Sherlock Holmes Consulting D??etecti??ve: Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures

Fancy yourself to be a detective as clever as Sherlock Holmes? Jack the Ripper & West End Adventures is the ultimate test of your investigative abilities. In front of you are maps of Whitechapel and greater London, a story booklet that details the case, and a series of newspapers through which you can search for clues. You’ll need to decide what locations are worth vi??siting and who you should interrogate before you run out of time. The Victorian-era setting in which the story takes place is richly detailed and incredibly well-realized. t’s not an easy game, but when you do finally manage to deduce the correct details, you’ll feel like an absolute genius.

The post The 10 Best Murder Mystery Board Games We’ve Ev???er Played appeared first on Destructoid.

If you’re looking forward to the star-studded Thursday Murder Club movie adaptation, then it’s understandable ??that you might want to read the book series first. If that’s the case, you should probably read them in order, right?

Richard Osman went from a face you'd recognize on British TV to beloved author when he wrote the Thursday Murder Club books. He took a group of pensioners in a retirement home and turned them into crime-solving heroes, and the book series has so far sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

Currently, there are only four books in the Thursday Murder Club book series, altho??ugh a fifth as-yet-unnamed book is set to be released?? in 2025. If you’re wondering which order you should read the books in, I’ve got you covered. 

1. The Thursday Murder Club (2020)

The first book rel?eased by Richard Osman, written entirely in secret and released in 2020. In this book, we’re introduced to Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron as they become embroiled in their first murder mystery. 

2. The Man Who Died Twice (2021)

Released in 2021, The Man Who Died Twice brings back Elizabeth and co. as they get caugh??t up in a plot involving stolen diamonds, the mob, and a string of murders.

3. The Bullet That Missed (2022)

With two murders taking place a de?cade apart, the retired gang of sleuths are on a mission to find a killer, of course. However, Elizabeth finds herself caught up in a whole side plot where she is asked to kill, or suffer being killed herself.

4. The Last Devil to Die (2023)

You know the drill by now. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron are on the hunt for a killer, ex??cept this tale i?nvolves a smuggled package, and the team can’t even catch a break over Christmas. It’s never a dull day at Cooper’s Chase.

The post Read?ing order for the Thursda??y Murder Club novel series appeared first on Destructoid.

Elementary, my dear Tav

Baldur's Gate 3 is still a ways away. But for those who want a little bit of the world before August arrives, Larian Studios is hosting an online murder-mystery RPG called Blood in Baldur's Gate leading up to release.

Set 15 years before the events of Baldur's Gate 3, Blood In Baldur's Gate sees the city dealing with a series of killings. W???ith a scarce trail of hints and info to go on, players will need to figure out how and why the killings are happening, before the culprit strikes again.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aK5_aMkzoM

To do so, players can investigate different areas of the map, by voting where to head next. So far, only a handful have been unlocked. But the idea seems to be that players can theorize, decide am??ongst themselves, and determine the course of the investigation through democratic means.

It's a fun experiment, and I'm curious to see how it ties into the full Baldur's Gate release. Seeing as there's a decent amount of time between this murder mystery and the start of Baldur's Gate 3, it could encompas?s ??a number of aspects, from the new game or its predecessors.

Return to Baldur's Gate

After many years, the Baldur's Gate series returns under Larian Studios. The Divinity development house has been steadily working on the massive RPG for a few years now, and the full release is set to launch on August 31 for PC and PlayStation 5.

Notably, Xbox is not out of the picture. Larian is working on it, but isn't quite ready to make an announcement as of yet. Still, with Final Fantasy XVI out this week and Baldur's Gate 3 in August, with Starfield just beyond it, RPG fans ce??rtainly have a lot to look forward to.

The post Baldur’s Gate 3 has an online murder mystery tie-in running now appeared first on Destructoid.

At night, the museum comes to life

Once upon a time, FMV games got a bad rap. Though once seen as cheesy and outdated, modern releases such as Her Story, Telling Lies, Death Come True, and Immortality have offered refreshing takes on the genre. This is also the case we've seen in our hands-on preview of Murderous Muses. The developer D'Avekki Studios has you exploring a haunted art museum, and you're investigating who killed the artist behind the beautiful paintings inside. While the journey can be cryptic at times, Murderous Muses so far pulls off a striking FMV experience for those who love the genre.

Murderous Muses pulls off an engaging atmosphere

[caption id="attachment_368984" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

D'Avekki Studios knows how to pull in players to its games, such as with The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker, and it does the same here. The paintings displayed are stunning but eerie at the same time. Each art piece is accompanied by a narrator providing curious worldbuilding of the strange setting. The music is also spot on as it helps drift you into this spooky art exhibit. Murderous Muses sets the stage for the intrigue? that takes place wonderfully.

The storyline format isn'??t traditional. You'll have three days to solve the mystery and get as much information as possible. The main premise is you're placing the paintings of each suspect on the wall, and a video clip plays when you match the painting with a certain topic. For example, the display says "All Hallow's Eve" and then they'll discuss how that day transpired. There are key topics you need to cover with each suspect, which seems to be randomized with every playthrough. With each day, there's a limit to how much dialogue you can witness, but as you complete all of the key tasks in front of you, the art gallery will begin opening up more.

It's engaging to explore the mysterious art gallery and solve pu??zzles. These puzzles ar??e relatively simple but engaging all the same. Once you solve a puzzle, you'll get a key. When used at a locked door, there are a few secrets to find and an exclusive word that hasn't been used in any of the rooms.

Lack of a cohesive story

Murderous Muses' narrative is disjointed. The acting and storytelling behi??nd each painting are engaging. However, it's hard to really piece a through-line on everyone's alibis and the motive behind the murder. S??ome may lose interest, due to the lack of a cohesive plot. Perhaps, with multiple playthroughs, the overall storyline becomes clearer. Just keep in mind, you may be scratching your head in the beginning. In one playthrough, I had 79 videos played out of 588 and no character lore videos were unlocked.

The goal of placing each painting in the right spot can be cryptic at points with no context provided. Some of the paintings make little sense with their titles at first. When you do manage to figure out the right positioning, however, it's quite clear as a white button appears from the woodwork. A rush fills your mind when you do finally solve the association. This white button can then be pressed for some commentary on the piece, now with?? the context you needed earlier.

Multiple playthroughs offer new content, but...

[caption id="attachment_368985" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

When you begin a new playthrough, ??the layout of the art gallery will change. New puzzl?es emerge, different paintings show up, and additional words are found. Like D'Avekki's other games, a new murder culprit is selected for the crime.

Multiple playthroughs are encouraged for Murderous Muses. This format, however, is a?? little flawed. A lot of the same paintings appear, and over and over again, you'll need to place them in the right locations. For the first time, it's enjoyable as you get drippings of lore from your efforts, but after a few playthroughs, this process will get repetitive.

That's also the case with a lot of the videos that play with word association. There is a list of words you need each ?painting to interact with in order to proceed to the next area. For example, three of the words for the character Otto may be Passion, Home, and Criminal. It's engaging to learn more backstory about each murder suspect, but with multiple playthroughs, you'll need to see (and skip) the videos you see over and over again.

Something you should keep in mind is that once you've completed a list, you should click on the sign below the picture. It will play a video with the police interviewing their suspect, and there's a neat callback to a past title The Shapeshifting Detective. These videos are easily skippable, s??o hopefully??, this can improve.

Flawed but fun

The format is flawed to an extent, but there is a lot of content to find within Murderous Muses, and learning who did it can be entertaining. You must decide who you think killed the artist. Then, a series of cutscenes play to determine if you've succeeded. Murderous Muses is an entertaining FMV that does have its faults. The environment, exploration, and worldbuilding are fascinating, but the overall gameplay can be repetitive with multiple playthroughs. The story can be c??onfusing to follow as well. It's possible the game's expanding narrative depends on you playing the game multiple times,?? however.

Murderous Muses is scheduled to release on April 12 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. What ?is here stands an ??FMV game with intrigue, engaging puzzles, and daring storytelling tools. It just comes across as jarring during your first playthrough, with cryptic motives and hard-to-follow narrative beats. Hopefully, some of the game's faults can be smoothed over by its launch.

The post Hands-on: Murderous Muses is ??an intri?guing yet flawed FMV affair appeared first on Destructoid.

Stage and solve the mystery

Novect has garnered a following over the years, thanks to the word-of-mouth campaign around its excellent visual novel The House in Fata Morgana??. Today, Novect announced its next game, project "M"; a murder mystery where the player is both killer and?? detective.

Project "M" will follow a serial murder case through two different lenses. The detective side pursues the truth in an adventure game setup, moving around areas and asking questions of different characters. But in the murder section, the player actually takes on the role of killer and stages v??arious "perfect crimes," like setting up a locked room murder.

The protagonist, working for a corpse disposal company, ends up exploring various parts of downtown Tokyo like Asakusa and Yoshiwara.?? It's going to be a fairly dark story, it seems.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-MKBosBHn4

In an interview with The Mako Reactor, Novect'??s Hanad??a Keika says the team would like to simultaneously launch in English and Japanese. But he also emphasizes that a publisher will be necessary to help cover that.

Making a killing

There are a few games that have explored playing as both detective and killer. Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy's opening scene has the player rush??ing t??o leave as little evidence as possible, then analyze it and chase their own trail.

It's a novel idea, coming from a very interesting studio. The House in Fata Morgana has quickly become a very well-known visual novel, thanks in part to both word of mouth and a Switch port making it pretty accessible. It's a time-bending, perspective-altering thriller that really tugs at the heartstrings. All the more reason t??o think Novect could absolutely write a good murder mystery.

With Novect and a good portion of the team behind Fata Morgana on this, I'm interested to see what Project M becomes once it gains an offi??cial name, release date, and more.

The post The House in Fata Morgana dev announces new murder mystery ??project M appeared first on Destructoid.