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Fable Mystery

Every mystery novel offers a puzzle for the reader to solve: a murder, a missing person, a stolen treasure, or a complicated conspiracy. The main characters try to solve that puzzle along with the reader and they reach the solution together.

The solution of a mystery is the bringing of order to the world of chaos.
- Erik Hoel

Skip to Mystery book selections
What is the Mystery Genre?
Mystery stories have been around for centuries, because human beings have always been fascinated by the quest to uncover the truth.
Every mystery book offers a puzzle for the reader to solve: a murder, a missing person, a stolen treasure, or a complicated conspiracy. The main characters try to solve that puzzle along with the reader and they reach the solution together.
“Your brain is constantly trying to minimize any discrepancy between its expectations and what’s actually going on. It’s why one of the more stressful things in the world is a fly buzzing about randomly,” wrote mystery novelist and neuroscientist Erik Hoel. 
In his essay, “Why Murder Mysteries Are A Lot Like Science,” Hoel shows us how mystery novels help ease that stressful feeling for your brain and create a measure of control in the uncertainty of day-to-day life.
“The solution of a mystery is the bringing of order to the world of chaos.” 
The mystery genre has many sub-genres and related categories, including favorites like murder mysteries, detective fiction, historical mysteries, and police procedurals.
What are the Best Mystery Books on Fable?
Even though mysteries can feature an endless variety of settings and situations, all these books are united by the mystery at the heart of the story. 
The Fable team grew up reading mysteries, and we’ve rounded up some favorite murder mysteries, detective stories, and historical mysteries.
Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line  by Deepa Anappara digital book - Fable

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

By Deepa Anappara

In a sprawling Indian city, a boy ventures into its most dangerous corners to find his missing classmate through market lanes crammed with too many people, dogs, and rickshaws, past stalls that smell of cardamom and sizzling oil, below a smoggy sky.

And Then There Were None  by Agatha Christie  digital book - Fable

And Then There Were None

By Agatha Christie

Ten people, each with something to hide and something to fear, are invited to an isolated mansion on an island by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear. One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets. And one by one, they die . . .

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle digital book - Fable

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The legendary adventures of Sherlock Holmes are considered milestones in the field of crime fiction, inspiring generations of adaptations.

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji  digital book - Fable

The Decagon House Murders

By Yukito Ayatsuji

A hugely enjoyable, page-turning murder mystery with one of the best and most-satisfying conclusions you'll ever read: clever enough that you're unlikely to guess it, but simple enough that you'll kick yourself when it's revealed.

Charcoal Joe  by Walter Mosley  digital book - Fable

Charcoal Joe

By Walter Mosley

Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins finds his life in transition. He’s ready—finally—to propose to his girlfriend, Bonnie Shay, and start a life together. Together with two partners, he has started a new detective agency.

A Spy in the Struggle  by Aya De León digital book - Fable

A Spy in the Struggle

By Aya De León

A thrilling and timely story of feminism, climate, and corporate justice—as one successful lawyer must decide whether to put everything on the line to right the deep inequities faced in one under-served Bay Area, California community.

The Unquiet Dead  by Ausma Zehanat Khan digital book - Fable

The Unquiet Dead

By Ausma Zehanat Khan

Despite their many differences, Detective Rachel Getty trusts her boss, Esa Khattak, implicitly. But she's still uneasy at Khattak's tight-lipped secrecy when he asks her to look into Christopher Drayton's death.

Winter Counts  by David Heska Wanbli Weiden digital book - Fable

Winter Counts

By David Heska Wanbli Weiden

A groundbreaking thriller about a vigilante on a Native American reservation who embarks on a dangerous mission to track down the source of a heroin influx.

Blacktop Wasteland  by S. A. Cosby digital book - Fable

Blacktop Wasteland

By S. A. Cosby

Like Ocean’s Eleven meets Drive, with a Southern noir twist, S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of a man pushed to his limits by poverty, race, and his own former life of crime.

The Forest of Stolen Girls  by June Hur digital book - Fable

The Forest of Stolen Girls

By June Hur

A haunting historical mystery sure to keep readers guessing until the last page.

The Shadow of the Wind  by Carlos Ruiz Zafon digital book - Fable

The Shadow of the Wind

By Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson digital book - Fable

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

By Stieg Larsson

Murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue combine into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel, the first in Stieg Larsson's thrilling Millenium series featuring Lisbeth Salander.

Read more with our mystery book clubs and Folios on Fable
In this exclusive Fable book club, you can dive into a compulsive page-turner with Pulitzer Prize-finalist Elif Batuman. 
Still got a hunch that something fishy is afoot? Solve more mysteries with our suspenseful classic and contemporary mind-bending novels that’ll have you asking, “Whodunnit?”
Each of these novels features exclusive book club discussion guides for Fable readers.
Read our free version of a popular nineteenth century gothic horror and mystery.
Check out the thrilling second installment to Thomas Harris’s famed series chronicling the notorious literary cannibal, Dr Hannibal Lecter.
Read an epic “noir” about three lawmen caught in a deadly spiral, a nightmare that tests loyalty and courage, and offers no mercy. 
Follow San Francisco detective Anna Hart as she attempts to solve the case of a missing teenager that uncovers even more mysteries.
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