10 Mysteries and Thrillers to Read in July

Give me a free afternoon and a good ol’ mystery or thriller, and I’ll be happy camper. I like them all, from light cozies to gritty police procedurals and from domestic thrillers to dark psychological suspense. July is a good month for crime friction lovers: not only are there a slew of good new books but you can find plenty of reading time by the pool, on the deck, or sitting in front of the air conditioner. Here are 10 such novels on my list; all will be released this month.

• Hangman by Danial Cole (Ecco) is a police procedural that takes place in New York and involves a copycat murder. The law-enforcement team consists of a woman DCI from Scotland Yard, and two American men from the CIA and FBI. Can be read as a standalone.
• Somebody’s Daughter by David Bell (Berkley) is a psychological thriller set in a fictional Kentucky town and involves a secret past, a possible kidnapping, and a rocky marriage. A standalone.
• Whistle in the Dark by Emma Healy (Harper) only loosely fits in this list: Set in England, it involves a mother’s investigation into the circumstances surrounding her troubled daughter’s four-day disappearance. Includes mental illness and is a standalone.
• Paradox by Catherine Coulter (Gallery) is an FBI murder investigation set in Maryland and involves a serial killer and an escaped psychopath. The investigation team includes husband–wife federal agents and a local female police chief. Part of a series.
• Safe Houses by Dan Fesperman (Knopf) is a dual-time-period mystery involving a female CIA agent operating in Europe during the cold war and a modern-day murder in America. The protagonist of this novel is an investigator hired by the daughter of the murder victim. Standalone.

• The Night Visitor by Lucy Atkins (Quercus) is a creepy psychological thriller set in England and France involving a historian who has secrets and a housekeeper who has the power to expose them. Two very different women, each with her own agenda. Standalone.
• The Price You Pay by Aidan Truhen (Knopf) is a different kind of cat-and-mouse thriller set in London and starring a jaded drug dealer who becomes caught up in the colder, deadlier side of his profession after his neighbor is murdered. Standalone.
• After the Monsoon by Robert Karjel (Harper) is a combination murder mystery and kidnapping investigation set in the Horn of Africa involving international politics and modern-day pirates. Our protagonist is a male Swedish security police officer. Part of a series.
• Half Moon Bay by Alice LaPlante (Scribner) is psychological suspense set in California and involving a grieving woman who relocates in hopes of a fresh start. Her arrival in town coincides with the murder of a number of teenage girls. Standalone.
• Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage (St. Martin’s Press) tense domestic thriller (can’t find the setting) involving a modern-day woman coping with her increasingly scary and unmanageable young daughter. Told from alternating mother–daughter viewpoints. Standalone.