I love to follow publishing trends! Since shows like Succession, Saltburn and The White Lotus, I’ve been seeing a LOT of books (and shows) about Rich Family Drama. Here’s my list of (Rich) Evil Family Mysteries and Thrillers, updated in 2026!
Books Like Succession: Rich Family Thrillers
As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Looking for Books Like Succession? Or books like Saltburn? I love a good story about a toxic fictional family, so I’ve been excited to see more and more mysteries and thrillers featuring back-stabbing, competitive, even murderous families. These families are often rich, with a lot of money to fight over.
Here’s my list of Evil Rich Family Thrillers, with a few movies thrown in. If you have suggestions for my list, please tell me in the comments!
New Rich Family Suspense in 2025 and 2026!
- A Killer in the Family
- The Safari by Jaclyn Goldis
- Salt Water by Katy Hays
- A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall
- A Girl Like Us by Anna Sophia McLaughlin
- The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha
2025 has been a banner year for those of us who enjoy Rich Family Suspense and Books Like Succession on HBO. We’ll see how 2026 shapes up, but that year has brought me a favorite:
A Killer in the Family by Amin Ahmad
The family: The Khans, a Southeast Asian family led by their controlling patriarch, Abbas Khan, a Muslim from Mumbai who has amassed a multi-billion dollar real estate empire.
When naive photographer Ali enters an arranged marriage with Abbas Khan’s daughter Maryam, he will have to wise up fast to keep ahead of all the intrigue and danger!
The Safari by Jaclyn Goldis (2025)
The family: the Babels, a wealthy Jewish family who is trying to reconcile their ideals with their ownership of a resort in South Africa
The family travels to this resort to celebrate the wedding of their widowed matriarch to a much younger man. But someone will be pronounced … dead.
Salt Water by Katy Hays (2025)
The family: the Lingates. Descendents of an oil magnate, they live off inherited wealth.
The family travels to Capri, Italy, the site of the tragic death of one of their members decades before.
But someone is out for revenge!
A Killing Cold by Kate Elizabeth Marshall (2025)
The family: the Daltons. They have a sprawling compound somewhere isolated, mountainous, and cold (Montana? Wyoming?)
When a new fiancee travels to meet her significant other’s family, she gets the eerie feeling she’s been to this place before. Will her visit help her regain lost memories, or put her in danger?
Check out my Review With Spoilers for A Killing Cold!
A Girl Like Us by Anna Sophia McLoughlin (2025)
The family: the Sterlings, a British family with a huge media empire
The family is dramatically summoned by code message when one of their own is found dead under suspicious circumstances. Even worse, she’s left her fortune to a very unexpected person!
Check out my Review with Spoilers (and a family tree) of A Girl Like Us!
The Inheritance by Trisha Sakhlecha (2025)
The family: the Agarwals
A small family gathering on a stunningly beautiful private island. An anniversary party that celebrates love and devotion. And … murder?
Check out my Review with Spoilers for The Inheritance!
Vantage Point by Sara Sliger
The family: the Wielands (rich, but they’ve been cursed for generations…)
Now the two surviving heirs and siblings, Teddy and Clara, are trying to evade this silly curse. He’s running for political office, she’s holding her fragile mental health together.
Check out my Review With Spoilers for Vantage Point.
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman
The family: Old Money Americans with a love for creepy games
When a thriller writer (yay) is marrying into an Old Money East Coast family, she learns that their eccentricity is as high as their bank balance. Creepy holiday games, anyone? And is one family member a murderer?
If you’ve read this one, please come and join my Spoiler Discussion for The Family Game!
Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
The family: The matriarch of the ill-fated Darker family lives in a Gothic Victorian mansion by the sea in Cornwall coast.
The Darkers, Nana, parents Frank and Nancy, and their children, Rose, Lily, and Daisy, gather at the mansion with Trixie, Lily’s teenage daughter, and Conor a friend of the family. A storm hits and one by one, members of the Darker family die.
Check out my Spoiler Review of Daisy Darker!
The Widowmaker by Hannah Morissey
The family: the richest family in a small town who is into some truly depraved and creepy stuff.
The patriarch of the Reynolds family disappeared twenty years ago. Morgan Mori, lured back to town by a cryptic note, is photographing the Reynolds’s holiday party. On her way home, she witnesses the shooting of a police officer in a convenience store robbery. How is all this connected? This one covers some VERY dark themes and is the sequel to Morrissey’s 2021 Hello, Transcriber.
Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
The family: the Mertons, a couple with grown children and grandchildren, seem to have it all. Including a killer on their family tree.
Fred and Sheila, plus their grown children Dan, Catherine, and Jenna, gather for Easter dinner. The next day, Fred and Sheila are dead. Their children have a lot of resentment and stand to inherit millions, so did one of them do it?
The Family Plot by Megan Collins
The family: The Lighthouses, a true-crime obsessed family with more than a few skeletons in their closet.
Dahlia Lighthouse was raised on an island, in the shadow of her twin brother’s mysterious disappearance. When her father dies, she returns home for the memorial, where more than one body turns up.
How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
The family: the Bernards.
When Grace’s rich biological father turns down her dying mother’s request for help, she decides to kill his entire side of the family. Oh, and she’s also in jail for murder, one she didn’t commit!
He Started It by Samantha Downing
The family: The Morgans
Silbings Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan finally meet up when wealthy grandfather dies and leaves a cryptic final message. They and their partners must take a cross-country road trip to fulfill his final wish and secure their inheritance. Everyone’s keeping secrets and trying to forget the past.
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
The families: three families lived at Cheyne Walk in Chelsea. One day the police are called and find one crying baby, three dead bodies, and the mystery of four missing children.
This one is SO creepy and these families are truly twisted. I read the sequel, The Family Remains, which came out in 2022.
Please tell me about your favorite Evil Family Mysteries and Thrillers in comments and I will add them to the post!
I haven’t read any of these but dang, some of those plots are dark. lol