(D)rowning in Mysteries and Thrillers Set on the Water #SummerAtoZ

A reoccurring water theme has cropped up in my mystery reading lately. Maybe I’m drawn to these stories, I don’t know, but I wanted to highlight four of my most recent mystery reads involving water…

Stillhouse Lake, Rachel Cain

The premise for this story was completely fascinating to me. There is no way in hell I wouldn’t know if my spouse was murdering people in our garage! I couldn’t put this one down.

Gina Royal is the definition of average—a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband’s secret life as a serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor—the ultimate warrior mom. With her ex now in prison, Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on remote Stillhouse Lake…until a body turns up in the lake.

The River At Night, Erica Ferencik

Hmmm… a rafting trip gone terribly wrong? Some really, really bad luck combined with random things like weird and most definitely insane mountain hermits put this story a little out there. Still, it was a page turner.

A high-stakes drama set against the harsh beauty of the Maine wilderness, charting the journey of four friends as they fight to survive the aftermath of a white water rafting accident, The River at Night is a nonstop and unforgettable thriller.

Into The Water, Paula Hawkins

Probably my favorite of this list, I listened to this one on audio. There are some unexpected details revealed throughout the story and some varied and interesting characters arcs. It’s kind of a multidimensional story that will really get you hooked.

In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind. But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped. And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool . . .

The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware

This is a psychological thriller. Set on a cruise ship in open water gives the story another interesting element. An ending twist that was a little unbelievable but still good, nonetheless.

Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo s stay is nothing but pleasant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong.

Have you read any of these books? Have you read any mysteries and thrillers set on the water?