There’s nothing like curling up with a good mystery on a chilly autumn day. Here, some of our recent favourites.

 

 

A LEGACY OF SPIES (Viking) by John Le Carre

The master is back with this tale of retired spy Peter Guillam, disciple of George Smiley, who is forced to reckon with the long shadows of his Cold War past. The book harks back to its distinguished predecessors, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

 

 

ORIGIN (Doubleday) by Dan Brown

The bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code brings back Robert Langdon, Harvard Professor of symbology and religious iconology, for another hair-raising adventure that involves a shocking discovery about the origin of human existence that could change the “face of science forever”.

 

ODD CHILD OUT (William Morrow) by Gilly Macmillan

A prank between two school friends, one British, the other a Somali refugee, turns tragic when an accident leaves one in a coma fighting for his life and the other unable, or unwilling, to talk about what happened. Set in Bristol, a city beset by social and racial tensions, two families fight for their sons and for the truth.

 

 

THE ONLY CAFÉ (Random House Canada) by Linden Macintyre

A free-spirited pub on Toronto’s east end seems an unlikely place to unearth clues about the circumstances surrounding one of the worst war crimes in modern history, but this is exactly what happens in the latest from Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Linden Macintyre. The Only Café tells the story a young Toronto journalist who tries to solve the mystery of his father’s death on a boat in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, a task that will take him from modern day Canada back to the Lebanese civil war and the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila camps in September 1982.

 

SLEEP NO MORE: SIX MURDEROUS TALES (Random House) by P.D. James

Fans of the late, great P.D. James would agree that no one could get inside the head of a murderer better than the widely acknowledged “Queen of Crime”. Sleep No More is a gripping, suspenseful gathering of previously uncollected stories from the author of Death Comes to Pemberley and The Private Patient.

 

 

THE GIRL WHO TAKES AN EYE FOR AN EYE (Viking Canada) by David Lagercrantz

In the latest installment of the series that began with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, the brilliant hacker Lisbeth Salander is back with a vengeance, teaming up with journalist Mikael Blomkvist to uncover the dark secrets of her childhood – and, in the end, to seek justice for herself.

 

DINNER AT THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (Knopf) by Nathan Englander

From the Pulitzer finalist and best-selling author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, comes this political thriller, spy novel and love story that unfolds in the highly charged territory and moral ambiguities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 

GLASS HOUSES (Minotaur) by Louise Penny

In the 13th novel of the popular series from Canadian author Louise Penny, Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec Armand Gamache testifies in the trial of an accused murderer, even he as he struggles with his own conscience for actions he set in motion surrounding the case.

 

SLEEPING BEAUTIES (Scribner) by Stephen and Owen King

In Stephen King’s first joint project with his younger son Owen, Sleeping Beauties is a supernatural thriller set in a remote Appalachian town where women lie down to go to sleep and never awaken, their bodies shrouded in mysterious gossamer webs.

 

THE CUBAN AFFAIR (Simon & Schuster) by Nelson DeMille

In DeMille’s latest thriller, a former Army officer and charter boat captain in Key West, is lured into a dangerous scheme to recover a $60 million fortune hidden away in Cuba.