Mystery / Suspense / Thriller
June 2026
Recent Releases
Cat on a Hot Tin Woof: A Chet & Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn
Cat on a Hot Tin Woof: A Chet & Bernie Mystery
by Spencer Quinn

Chet the dog is less than enthusiastic about the Little Detective Agency's next case. Chet and his human partner, PI Bernie Little, have been hired to find a missing person--only the missing person is a cat. Miss Kitty, an internet sensation, has disappeared, and Chet and Bernie have been hired to find her before her many followers realize something is wrong. Miss Kitty belongs to Bitty, a sweet teenage girl who lives with her mom. Bitty and her mother are struggling financially, but the arrival of Miss Kitty and the chance discovery of her social media appeal has changed everything. Bitty now has sponsors, a high-powered agent, and all the tools needed to thrive online, and real money is flowing in. At least, it was. With Miss Kitty gone, the family's income is on the line. The case presents a slew of challenges for Chet and Bernie. For one thing, a potential witness is a pig named Senor Piggy who may be in possession of an important piece of evidence. For another, it seems like a possible perp has been killed twice--and there's evidence implicating Bernie in the crime.
The Counting Game by Sinéad Nolan
The Counting Game
by Sinéad Nolan

Into the woods. Count to ten. Only one of us comes home again. When a teenager disappears from her small Irish town and a therapist is brought in to break the silence of the only witness, old wounds are opened in a search that becomes a race against time--perfect for fans of God of the Woods and The Witch Elm. Southwest Ireland, 1995: Two children go into the woods. Only one comes out. When thirteen-year-old Saoirse Kellough goes missing, panic grips a rural Irish community. Saoirse is not the first girl to disappear in the forest, rumored by locals to be haunted, and the only witness--her troubled younger brother, Jack--refuses to speak. Saoirse went missing when they were playing the Counting Game, a ritual believed to ward off evil, and Jack has sworn to protect the forest's secrets. Freya Hemmings, a psychotherapist still healing from a loss of her own, is brought in to help investigators break Jack's silence. As the race to find Saoirse alive accelerates, the search threatens to unravel a family facing the unthinkable. Everyone is a suspect, and the closer Freya and Jack become, the more danger they find themselves in. Haunting and emotional, The Counting Game is a suspenseful debut from an unmissable new voice in crime fiction.
Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line by Elle Cosimano
Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line
by Elle Cosimano

In development to be a major TV series on Peacock, adapted by Tina Fey and Lang Fisher From New York Times bestseller Elle Cosimano comes Finlay Donovan Crosses the Line--the highly anticipated next installment in the beloved Finlay Donovan series. Motherhood is messy. So is covering for your partner in crime. Life hasn't been easy for Finlay Donovan lately, but it just got a whole lot harder. Her nanny and partner-in-crime, Vero, has been extradited from Virginia to Maryland, where she's facing criminal charges for a theft she swears she didn't commit. A prisoner to an ankle bracelet as she awaits her trial, Vero is forced to live with her overbearing mother and nosy aunt. Threatening messages keep arriving on her mother's door, demanding Vero turn over the money . . . or else. And if she doesn't figure out who really stole her former sorority's treasury funds, her next home might be a prison cell. But proving her innocence might be an impossible feat. Vero was the treasurer of her sorority when the money went missing--one of the only people who had access to the cash. And her alibi is a date who ghosted her. With her court date quickly approaching, and her mysterious stalker on her tail, Vero needs to clear her name fast. Finlay decides a trip to Maryland is in order. After all, Vero stood by her through her darkest moments, and Finlay will be damned if she lets her best friend and children's nanny be convicted for something she didn't do. She sets off on a mission to suss out the real thief and bring Vero home.
The Keeper by Tana French
The Keeper
by Tana French

From the iconic crime writer comes the third and final book in the million-copy-bestselling Cal Hooper trilogy. On a cold night in the remote Irish village of Ardnakelty, a girl goes missing. Sweet, loving Rachel Holohan was about to be engaged to the son of the local big shot. Instead, she's dead in the river. In a close-knit small town, a death like this isn't simple. It comes wrapped in generations-old grudges and power struggles, and it splits the townland in two. Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper has friends here now, and he owes them loyalty, but his fiance Lena wants nothing to do with Ardnakelty's tangles. As the feud becomes more vicious, their settled peace starts to crack apart. And when they uncover a scheme that casts a new light on Rachel's death and threatens the whole village, they find themselves in the firing line. 
Last One Out by Jane Harper
Last One Out
by Jane Harper

Carralon Ridge, a once vibrant village in rural New South Wales, has become a shell of itself, its houses and buildings bought up and left to rot by the mining company operating at its borders. A decade into its slow death, surrounded by industrial noise and swathed in thick layers of dust, the skeletal town is all but abandoned, with just a handful of residents clinging onto what remains. After years of scorning those who left the Ridge behind as it fell into ruin, Ro never imagined she'd become one of them. But everything changed when she lost her son. Five years ago, Sam vanished while visiting during a break from college, leaving behind a rental car with his belongings inside. Sam had loved Carralon Ridge, and had been working on an oral history of the town to preserve its legacy before it vanished altogether. It wasn't long after his disappearance that the rest of the family began to crumble away too. But when Ro returns to Carralon Ridge to be with her husband and daughter on the anniversary of Sam's disappearance, she begins to suspect that something important was overlooked in his case. Because while nothing can stop Carralon Ridge from dying, someone seems to want to make sure that its secrets die with it.
Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
Mad Mabel
by Sally Hepworth

From New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth comes a twisty tale of justice, redemption, and one irrepressible woman who's not done breaking the rules just yet. Meet Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick: eighty-one years old, gloriously grumpy, fiercely independent, and never without a hot cup of tea--or a cutting remark. She minds her own business in her quiet Melbourne suburb, until a neighbor turns up dead and the whispers start flying. Because Elsie hasn't always been Elsie. Once upon a headline, she was Mad Mabel Waller--Australia's youngest convicted murderer. But was she really mad, or just misunderstood? Either way, she's kept her secret buried for decades. Enter seven-year-old Persephone, a relentless little chatterbox who has just moved in across the road (armed with stickers, questions, and no sense of personal boundaries); Joan, who appears to have it in for Elsie; and a healthy dose of public interest--the cops are sniffing around, and the media is circling like seagulls at a picnic. So Mabel does what she's always done best--she takes matters into her own hands. Is she a cantankerous old lady with a shady past? A cold-blooded killer with arthritis? Or just someone who's finally ready to tell her side of the story? Sharp, surprising, and wickedly funny, this is the unforgettable story of a woman who's spent a lifetime being underestimated--and is about to prove everyone wrong. Again.
Revenge Prey by John Sandford
Revenge Prey
by John Sandford

Lucas Davenport must track down a ruthless Russian hit team, in this latest thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford. Leonard Summers--not his real name--is on the run. A former high-ranking Russian intelligence officer who defected to the U.S. after providing critical information about Russian spies in U.S. government service, Leonard, his wife Martha, and son Bernard have spent the past year holed up in a CIA facility near Washington. After the CIA makes a deal with the U.S. Marshal Service's Witness Protection Program (WPP), Leonard's family is transported to Minneapolis. The plan is to hide them in a wooded Minneapolis suburb that resembles their former home and dacha near Moscow. The Summers are received at their destination by Lucas Davenport and fellow marshal Shelly White. Unbeknownst to them, the WPP group has been tracked by a Russian hit team. And while nobody in the WPP has ever been attacked...Leonard might be the first victim. As shots are fired and enemies dodged, Lucas must move quickly to uncover where the leak is coming from, before the hit team can strike again.
Served Him Right: A Twisted Thriller of Betrayal, Vengeful Murder, and Long-Buried Secrets by Lisa Unger
Served Him Right
by Lisa Unger

Ana Blacksmith has gathered her closest friends and sister Vera for a brunch to celebrate her recent breakup from her boyfriend Paul. But when shocking news about Paul arrives, all eyes are on Ana, the angry ex with a bad reputation. Suspicions only intensify when Ana's best friend falls deathly ill after the brunch. But Ana is not the only one who had a score to settle with Paul. As the investigation unfolds, rumors of a secret network that uses ancient methods to obtain justice begin to emerge. Vengeance is sweet, but it can also be deadly. Ana and Vera are determined to find the truth before Ana takes the fall and their own long-buried history comes to light. 
Two Kinds of Stranger by Steve Cavanagh
Two Kinds of Stranger
by Steve Cavanagh

Elly Parker helped a perfect stranger. She didn't know he was the perfect killer...in another unguessable and unputdownable (Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author) psychological thriller from the author of Witness 8.  Social media influencer, Elly Parker, had the perfect life, that is until she discovered her husband had been having an affair with her best friend. But as hurt, betrayed, unmoored as Elly is, she has made it her mission to help others in need. Even strangers. When Elly meets a man on the steps to the subway platform, crutches in one hand and a yellow suitcase by his feet, she can't help but feel sorry for him. Just as he planned. This small act of kindness sets off a chain of events more terrifying than anything she ever could imagine. To survive, Elly will need to convince the world what happened to her was real. She needs a lawyer who can bend the rules to find the truth. Eddie Flynn and his team must find the stranger with the yellow suitcase. But little do they know this cunning killer is a master manipulator and is always one step ahead.
What Happened Next by Edwin Hill
What Happened Next
by Edwin Hill

A young man investigating his father's crimes is determined to uncover the truth in a gripping novel of suspense about family secrets, betrayal, and the weight of the past. What do I remember about the murder on the lake? Charlie Kilgore was too young to remember anything, really, about how events on the lake unfolded twenty-five years ago. He just knows what he's been told: that his father stabbed a man to death, left Charlie's mother critically wounded, and then disappeared, never to be seen again. Now Charlie believes there must be more to what happened. Using the shards of the story he's uncovered so far as the heart of a true crime podcast, Charlie returns to his hometown in the foothills of New Hampshire's White Mountains. Old friends, family, authorities, and even collateral victims have moved on, and no one wants to dredge up what's long forgotten. Except Charlie. He wants to know what could have transformed a quiet man into a monster. And what happened next. But when Charlie starts asking questions of people with so much to hide, getting to the truth becomes dangerous. Because on this lake--in this family--the past isn't dead and buried at all. In fact, it's back with a vengeance.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Hampstead Public Library
9 Mary E Clark Dr.
Hampstead, New Hampshire 03841
603-329-6411

https://www.hampsteadlibrary.org/