I love mysteries and thrillers! In honor of Black History Month (and to forward my ongoing goal of diversifying my thriller reading to include more women writers of color) I’ve made a list of Mysteries and Thrillers by Black Women Authors. Some I’ve read, some I’m going to read soon!
Written and edited by Jen Ryland. Last updated on:
Mysteries and Thrillers by Black Women Authors
All of these I’ve tried have been great, and I found a few new titles I’m excited to try. If you have any suggestions for my list, please tell me in comments!
This list contains affiliate links.
Police Procedurals/PI Books by Black Women Authors
And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall
A private investigator looks into the disappearance of a woman.
Isabel Lincoln is gone.
But is she missing?
It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman’s secrets and the truth she’s hidden from her friends and family.
I LOVED this and my review is here.
Land of Shadows (Book 1 of the Detective Elouise Norton series) by Rachel Howzell Hall
Along the ever-changing border of gentrifying Los Angeles, 17-year-old Monique Darson is found at a condominium construction site, hanging in the closet of an unfinished unit. Homicide Detective Elouise “Lou” Norton’s new partner, Colin Taggert, fresh from the comparatively bucolic Colorado Springs police department, assumes it’s a teenager taken her now life. Lou isn’t buying the easy explanation.
For one thing, the condo site is owned by Napoleon Crase, a self-made millionaire…and the man who may be responsible for the disappearance of Lou’s sister, Tori, 30 years ago. As Lou investigates the death of Monique Darson, she uncovers undeniable links between the two cases. But her department is skeptical.
Lou is convinced that when she solves Monique’s case she will finally bring her lost sister home.
When Death Comes Stealing (Tamara Hayles mystery series) by Valerie Wilson Wesley
A cop turned PI solves crimes in Newark.
Struggling as a single mother to make ends meet on the mean streets of Newark, New Jersey, ex-cop-turned-PI Tamara Hayle races against time to find a murderer when someone begins killing her ex-husband’s sons–and her own son might be next.
Inner City Blues by Paula L. Woods.
Charlotte Justice is a black woman in the LAPD in this 1990s set mystery.
Meet Detective Charlotte Justice, a black woman in the very white, very male, and sometimes very racist LAPD. It is 48 hours into the LA riots, and she and her fellow officers are exhausted.
She saves curfew-breaking black doctor Lance Mitchell from a potentially lethal beating from some white officers — only to discover nearby the body of one-time radical Cinque Lewis, the thug who years before had murdered her husband and young daughter.
Was it a random shooting or was Mitchell responsible? And what brought Lewis back to a city he’d long since fled?
Amateur Detective Stories by Black Women Authors
Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett.
When a hip hop mogul’s daughter is found dead, her half sister vows to get to the truth.
On the morning after her twenty-fifth birthday party, reality TV star Desiree Pierce is found dead on a playground in the Bronx. The police and the media announce she died by overdose. A tragedy, certainly, but not a crime.
Desiree’s half-sister Lena knows that can’t be the case. Something is very wrong. Lena becomes determined to find justice for Desiree. Even if that means untangling her family’s darkest secrets—or ending up dead herself.
I read this and really enjoyed it. With a snarky main character I could relate to and a lot of twists, this was a really fun read!
Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett (2024)
This new suspense novel by Kellye Garrett is a gripping story of a young woman who heads off on a romantic weekend with a new boyfriend. One morning, she wakes up to find him gone and a dead woman in the living room of their Airbnb.
If she doesn’t solve this crime herself, she’s the prime suspect.
Here’s my Review of Missing White Woman
These Toxic Things by Rachel Howzell Hall.
A scrapbook curator investigates the death of one of her clients.
Mickie Lambert creates “digital scrapbooks. ” When Nadie, her latest client, dies, Mickie begins curating her peculiar objects. Mickie then receives threatening messages to leave Nadia’s past alone. Discovering the truth means crossing paths with a long-dormant serial killer and navigating the secrets of a sinister past. One that might, Mickie fears, be inescapably entwined with her own.
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (also check out The Cutting Season).
A lawyer who participated in the Black Power movement in the 1960s and 70s gets caught up in a murder.
Jay Porter’s most promising client is a low-rent call girl, and he runs his fledgling law practice out of a strip mall. One night he impulsively saves a drowning woman’s life, and her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in an investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life.
As the Wicked Watch by Tamron Hall.
A Chicago crime reporter wants to draw more attention to a case involving a young Black girl.
When crime reporter Jordan Manning leaves her Texas hometown to take a job in Chicago, she’s one step closer to an anchor chair on a national network. But Jordan keeps getting called to cover the deaths of Black women, all of them quickly forgotten.
All until Masey James—the story that Jordan just can’t shake. Jordan does everything she can to give the story the coverage it desperately requires, and that a missing Black child would so rarely get.There’s a serial killer on the loose, Jordan believes, and he’s hiding in plain sight.
All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris.
A corporate attorney in Atlanta struggles to balance her career, her family secrets, and the death of her boss.
Ellice Littlejohn seemingly has it all: an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job as a corporate attorney in midtown Atlanta, and a “for fun” relationship with a rich, charming executive, who just happens to be her white boss. But everything changes one cold January morning when Ellice arrives in the executive suite and finds him there, a gunshot to his head.
And then she walks away like nothing has happened. Why? Ellice has been keeping a cache of dark secrets, including a small-town past and a kid brother who’s spent time on the other side of the law. She can’t be thrust into the spotlight—again.
When she uncovers shady dealings inside the company, Ellice is trapped in an impossible ethical and moral dilemma. Suddenly, Ellice’s past and present lives collide as she launches into a pulse-pounding race to protect the brother she tried to save years ago and stop a conspiracy far more sinister than she could have ever imagined…
I loved this one, which was as much a family story and a narrative of the difficulties of being a black woman in the corporate world!
A Darker Shade of Crimson by Pamela Thomas-Graham
When Harvard’s Dean of Students is murdered, an economics professor tries to solve the crime.
This is part of an Ivy League mystery series, and given my interest in Dark Academia, I tried the first book immediately. This was published in the 90s and has some outdated elements, but also a really fun gossipy tone.
Cozy Mysteries by Black Women Authors
This is a great list written by Black cozy mystery writer Esme Addison – find it her on her author website. Here is her series plus a few of her recommendations.
A Spell for Trouble (Enchanted Bay series) by Esme Addison
A woman solves mysteries in a seaside North Carolina town.
Aleksandra Daniels hasn’t set foot in the quiet seaside town of Bellamy Bay, North Carolina in over twenty years. Ever since her mother’s tragic death, her father has mysteriously forbidden her from visiting her aunt and cousins. But on a whim, Alex accepts an invitation to visit her estranged relatives and to help them in their family business: an herbal apothecary known for its remarkably potent teas, salves, and folk remedies.
Bellamy Bay doesn’t look like trouble, but this is a town that harbors dark secrets. Alex discovers that her own family is at the center of salacious town gossip, and that they are rumored to be magical healers descended from mermaids. She brushes this off as nonsense until a local is poisoned and her aunt Lidia is arrested for the crime. Alex is certain Lidia is being framed, and she resolves to find out why.
Alex’s investigation unearths stories that some have gone to desperate lengths to conceal: forbidden affairs, family rivalries, and the truth about Alex’s own ancestry. And when the case turns deadly, Alex learns that not only are these secrets worth hiding, but they may even be worth killing for.
Sex Murder, and a Double Latte by Kyra Davis
A mystery writer tries to solve her friend’s murder.
Thriller scribe Sophie Katz is as hard-boiled as a woman who drinks Grande Caramel Brownie Frappuccinos can be.
So Sophie knows it’s not paranoia or post-divorce, living-alone-again jitters, when she becomes convinced that a crazed reader is sneaking into her apartment to reenact scenes from her books. The police, however, can’t tell a good plot from an unmarked grave.
When a filmmaker friend dies in the manner of a scene in one of his movies, Sophie becomes convinced that a copycat killer is on the loose —and that she’s the next target.
Cursing her grisly imagination (why, oh, why did she have to pick the ax?), Sophie engages in some real-life gumshoe tactics. The man who swoops in to save her in dark alleys is mysterious new love interest Anatoly Darinsky. Of course, if this were fiction, Anatoly would be her prime suspect.…
Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett
A “semi-famous, mega-broke Black actress” gets embroiled in a murder.
Actress Dayna Anderson’s Deadly New Role: Private Detective
Dayna Anderson doesn’t set out to solve a murder. All the semifamous, mega-broke actress wants is to help her parents keep their house.
So after witnessing a deadly hit-and-run, she pursues the fifteen grand reward. But Dayna soon finds herself doing a full-on investigation, wanting more than just money―she wants justice for the victim.
She chases down leads at paparazzi hot spots, celeb homes, and movie premieres, loving every second of it―until someone tries to kill her. And there are no second takes in real life.
Psychological Thrillers by Black Women Authors
What Never Happened by Rachel Howzell Hall
Colette “Coco” Weber has relocated to her Catalina Island home, where, twenty years before, she was the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion. All Coco wants is to see her aunt Gwen, get as far away from her ex as possible, and get back to her craft—writing obituaries.
But as Coco learns more about the number of elderly residents dying on the island, she quickly realizes that the circumstances surrounding them are remarkably similar…and not natural. Then Coco receives a sinister threat in the mail: her own obituary.
As Coco begins to draw connections between a serial killer’s crimes and her own family tragedy, she fears that the secrets on Catalina Island might be too deep to survive.
Horror by Black Women Authors
I don’t read much horror, but wanted to include a few titles, as Horror Noire is becoming more mainstream in the last few years (after Get Out.)
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole.
Gentrification in Brooklyn takes a truly sinister turn in this cozy-turned-horror book.
Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block—her neighbor Theo.
But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not have moved to the suburbs after all, and the push to revitalize the community may be more deadly than advertised.
When does coincidence become conspiracy? Where do people go when gentrification pushes them out? Can Sydney and Theo trust each other—or themselves—long enough to find out before they too disappear?
Jackal by Erin E. Adams.
Part “evil in a small town” book, part horror, this one was a fantastic read with an ending that had me going… what??!!
Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn’t exactly have fond memories of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. But her best friend is getting married, so she braces herself for a weekend of awkward, passive-aggressive reunions.
But on the night of the wedding, somewhere between dancing and dessert, the newlyweds’ daughter, Caroline, disappears—and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood.
As a frantic search begins, Liz is the only one who notices a pattern: A summer night. A missing girl. A party in the woods. She’s seen this before. Keisha Woodson, the only other Black girl in Liz’s high school, walked into the woods with a mysterious man and was later found with her heart removed.
Liz shudders at the thought that it could have been her, and now, with Caroline missing, it can’t be a coincidence. As Liz starts to dig through the town’s history, she uncovers a horrifying secret about the place she once called home. Children have been going missing in these woods for years. All of them Black. All of them girls.
With the evil in the forest creeping closer, Liz knows what she must do: find Caroline, or be entirely consumed by the darkness.
Check out my review of Jackal!
Legal Thrillers by Black Women Authors
While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams
First in a series, this book follows Supreme Court law clerk Avery Keene. When the justice she clerks for (a regular swing vote on the court) slips into a coma, Avery needs to get to the bottom of what’s happening. Book two in the series, Rogue Justice, is also out.
Every Reasonable Doubt by Pamela Samuels Young
When attorneys Vernetta Henderson and Neddy McClain are tapped to take on the biggest case of their careers, they are less than thrilled about working together.
Their strained relationship, however, is the least of their problems. Their socialite client—charged with the brutal murder of her husband—is demanding an immediate dismissal of the case.
But a ruthless prosecutor is determined to make sure that doesn’t happen. Forced to fight a common enemy, the two women close ranks and, in the process, develop a bond that sees them through the uncertainties of trial, the pain of betrayal and pressures neither could have imagined.
Young Adult Mysteries by Black Women Authors
I’m always excited to find good YA mysteries, and here are my favorite picks written by Black women authors.
Everyone’s Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni
At Wodebury Hall, an elite boarding school in the English countryside, aspiring photographer Iyanu is more comfortable observing things safely from behind her camera.
For Iyanu’s estranged cousin, Kitan, life seems perfect. She has money, beauty, and friends like queen bee Heather. But as a Nigerian girl in a school as white and insular as Wodebury, Kitan struggles with the personal sacrifices needed to keep her place within the exclusive popular crowd.
When photos from Iyanu’s camera are stolen and splashed across the school with secrets written on the back of each one, the school explodes in chaos. Whispered gossip accuses Iyanu of being the one behind it all.
Each girl is desperate to unravel the mystery of who stole the photos and why. But exposing the truth will change them all forever.
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.
This thrilling mystery is set at an elite private school where an anonymous tester named Aces is unearthing dark secrets.
When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too.
Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures.
As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?
Read my review of Ace of Spades!
The Black Queen by Jumata Emill.
When the homecoming queen at Lovett High turns up dead, her best friend is determined to bring the killer to justice.
Nova Albright, the first Black homecoming queen at Lovett High, is dead. Her body was found in the old slave cemetery she spent her weekends rehabilitating.
Tinsley McArthur was supposed to be queen. Not only is she beautiful, wealthy, and white, it’s her legacy—her grandmother, her mother, and even her sister wore the crown before her. Everyone in Lovett knows Tinsley would do anything to carry on the McArthur tradition.
No one is more certain of that than Duchess Simmons, Nova’s best friend. Duchess’s father is the first Black police captain in Lovett. For Duchess, Nova’s crown was more than just a win for Nova. It was a win for all the Black kids.
Now her best friend is dead, and her father won’t face the fact that the main suspect is right in front of him. Duchess is convinced that Tinsley killed Nova—and that Tinsley is privileged enough to think she can get away with it. But Duchess’s father seems to be doing what he always does: fall behind the blue line. Which means that the white girl is going to walk.
Duchess is determined to prove Tinsley’s guilt. And to do that, she’ll have to get close to her.
But Tinsley has an agenda, too. Everyone loved Nova. And sometimes, love is exactly what gets you killed.
Read my review of The Black Queen on my YA site, YA All Day!
Tell me what you thought of any of these Mysteries and Thrillers by Black Women Authors and give me your suggestions for my list in the comments!
Some of those books look interesting.
Oooh, these all look so good! I hadn’t of A Darker Shade Of Crimson before, now I definitely want to read it. Thanks for the great list!
I am super excited about that series as I love Dark Academia-style stuff. If you haven’t checked out my Dark Academia Book List, I linked it. Haven’t added this series yet; but I hope to read the first book first!
Try One Drop by Alice Fried. Takes place during Katrina in New Orleans… Great read.
Thanks so much for the recommendation!
Thank you for putting this together.
If you have suggestions of books to add please let me know!