2021 懸疑推理小說書單

Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.

Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.

我想我會成為一個非常優秀的太空人。

要成為一個優秀的太空人必須要很聰明，而我很聰明。此外還必須瞭解機械的作用，這方面我也很在行。並且還必須能夠獨自待在一間很小的太空艙內，遠 離地球表面數十萬哩，不會驚慌，不會有幽閉恐懼症，不會想家，也不會精神錯亂。我一向喜歡小小的空間，只要沒有別人在場就沒問題。

克里斯多弗，十五歲，患有自閉症的數學天才。他的偶像是福爾摩斯，最擅長的科目是數學，喜歡質數、邏輯與事實，討厭黃色和棕色，無法忍受被人碰觸。他獨自去過最遠的地方是住家附近的小店，最想去外太空，因為方圓數十萬哩都不會有人。

他原本孤獨而安全的世界一夕之間被一樁命案改變：深夜裡，隔壁鄰居家的小狗被鐵叉刺死。克里斯多弗決定自己來當偵探，然後將調查結果寫成一本書。所以這是本涉及謀殺案的偵探小說—-只是偵探、兇手、受害者、真相，以及所有的一切都出乎人意料之外。

神經質的文字，異質的書寫，少年克里斯多弗誠實到讓人不安。他意圖解開謀殺案，卻意外發現自己家裡隱藏的真相。克里斯多弗令人好心疼，只是他的心靈就像他最想去的外太空，遙遠，難以觸及。

真實的人生有時跟數字一樣，複雜，而且一點也不明確。

Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel a mystery.

Prudence Smith, one of Jane’s former servants, is dead of an apparent suicide. But Lenox suspects something far more sinister: murder, by a rare and deadly poison. The grand house where the girl worked is full of suspects, and though Prue had dabbled with the hearts of more than a few men, Lenox is baffled by the motive for the girl’s death.

It’s winter in the Catskills and Mitchell’s Inn, nestled deep in the woods, is the perfect setting for a relaxing–maybe even romantic–weekend away. So when the weather takes a turn for the worse, and a blizzard cuts off the electricity–and all contact with the outside world–the guests settle in and try to make the best of it.

Soon, though, one of the guests turns up dead–it looks like an accident. But when a second guest dies, they start to panic.

Within the snowed-in paradise, something–or someone–is picking off the guests one by one. And there’s nothing they can do but hunker down and hope they can survive the storm–and one another.

臥房前一個肅煞殺的身影，使白羅在寤寐之中幡然驚醒，此不速之客全身泥濘，欲言又止，凝視良久後便倒地不起，只留下白羅一陣愕然，然而那令人生懼的面孔已深深烙印在白羅腦海中。

此人是何方神聖？他是受驚過度還是筋疲力竭而已？在昏迷之中，他只知喚著白羅的名字，手中並緊抓著一張寫滿數目〝四〞的紙張。

白羅的好奇心被撩起，卻也引來殺身之禍，竟讓惡徒登堂入室，在他的家中公然殺人。白羅深知事態嚴重，戰鬥之心驟起，因而展開他與一個龐大國際犯罪組織的精采對抗！

警探彼特好一陣子沒聽人提起這名字了，現在聽見，心頭應該一震才對，但這名字只把他心底那股毛骨悚然感勾上檯面而已。法蘭克．卡特。二十年前在羽陵村，他綁架殺害五名小男童，最後由彼特偵破。單單這名字，就能在他心中引發莫大的驚駭，因此他總覺得這名字永遠不適合明講，深怕這名字如同詛咒，一喊就能喚來妖魔鬼怪。更恐怖的是報章雜誌為他取的綽號：耳語人。綽號的由來是，法蘭克專挑疏於照養、無防備的幼童下手，接近他們，然後拐走他們。他的怪招是趁夜躲在他們窗外，對他們竊竊私語。彼特始終不准自己以這綽號稱呼他。

「不過，現在，小尼爾失蹤了。線索之一是有妖怪講悄悄話。另外更有他媽的法蘭克·卡特，坐在監獄裡卻知道這線索。」

她等著。

「而我想不出對策，」彼特說。「法蘭克的口風很緊。我們調查過他的關係人物不下一百次，全都沒涉案的嫌疑。」

亞曼達思索著。「會不會是模仿犯案？」

「不排除。不過，法蘭克接受訪談時講的那句話不是瞎猜的。悄悄話的線索一直沒被走漏給媒體，他竟然知道。除了我之外，沒有別人探監。他的通信也全被調查過了。問題是，他到底怎麼知道這線索？」

由伊斯坦堡開往歐洲的辛普倫快車上發生了一宗命案，富商雷契特被發現陳屍在臥鋪包廂內。大名鼎鼎的偵探白羅正巧也搭乘這輛列車，他受任職於鐵路公司的老友所託，開始了曲折離奇的破案過程。

命案現場留下的線索詭異難辨，兇手看似既是男人又是女人，既慣用右手又是左撇子，既強壯有力又軟弱無力。白羅一一與同車的十二位旅客談話，但所得的結果就和命案現場的線索一樣，矛盾處處。

經過白羅一番抽絲剝繭，令人無法置信的事實終於公佈在眾人面前，然而正義應如何伸張，則考驗著每個讀者的智慧。

Charlie Harris is busy enjoying his new grandson when a mysterious man with a connection to Charlie’s family starts visiting the library, bringing with him troubling questions about an unsolved murder…

Charlie may be a proud new grandfather, but he and Diesel still have work to do at Athena College and the small Mississippi town’s public library. He’s too busy to deal with true-crime writer Jack Pemberton, who wants Charlie as the subject of his latest book–and who won’t take no for an answer.

A more appealing proposition for Charlie is spending time helping a kind, elderly man navigate the library’s genealogical database. But he’s shocked when he learns that the visitor’s search is focused on a member of his own family: his late aunt’s husband.

Charlie befriends the man and considers inviting him to stay in his home, but he’s soon given reason to question that notion. Jack is certain that Charlie’s new houseguest was involved in a shocking homicide that took place years ago in a small town near Athena. As this cold case heats up, Charlie and Diesel have to uncover a killer who may already be too close to home…

「媽，如果妳看到這封簡訊，那表示我出事了。我現在被困在一個休息站過夜，這裡的某個人可能就是兇手……」

暴風雪。休息站。狗籠內的女孩。釘槍。
這個夜晚到底發生了什麼事？今晚誰會死呢？

陌生人的後車廂裡有一個被綁住的小女孩。周圍數十公里內杳無人煙，無人可伸出援手。如果是你，你會怎麼做？

聖誕節將至，大學生達碧急著趕回家去探望生病的媽媽，卻被暴雪困在公路上的一處休息站──和她一同被困在暴雪密室中的，還有另外四個陌生人。
最令她不安的是，她在停車場的某輛車內發現一個被綁架的小女孩，但她不知道這輛車是誰的⋯⋯

手機不通，沒有電話，大雪掩埋了一切，他們無處可去。誰是兇手？那個女孩又是誰？達碧是否有辦法全身而退？

「沒有人要來救我們。這裡只有我們！」

作者巧妙運用古希臘戲劇「三一律」的特點——從夜晚到清晨短短十二小時內，在與世隔絕的休息站，主角如何運用智慧和勇氣拯救人質和自己的性命——創造出一場緊湊、刺激、讓人忘記呼吸的生存對決。流暢的敘事就像在看一場充滿張力的驚悚電影，將讀者拉到座椅邊緣，戰戰兢兢地期待結局揭曉的那一刻。

愛莉．麥克，一名住在北倫敦的十五歲少女，在去圖書館的路上失蹤，至今已經十年了，沒有證據顯示她被綁架。

愛莉是個人緣很好的孩子，同學都很喜歡她，跟男朋友交往了八個月，關係融洽，也是他們家的掌上明珠。根據她的師長說，她決心要每科成績都拿Α，也將在那個月舉行的中等教育會考中名列前茅。似乎沒有什麼理由讓這個愛笑迷人的少女在週日早晨離家卻一去不回。

十年來，愛莉的母親蘿柔始終沒有放棄找到愛莉的希望。這段期間她認識了一位魅力十足的陌生男子，迷得她神魂顛倒。

但是直到看到了他九歲的女兒才真正讓蘿柔幾乎窒息──因為他的女兒長相就像是愛莉的翻版。

這也讓一直糾纏著蘿柔那些得不到答案的問題如海嘯般襲來……

愛莉究竟發生了什麼事？是誰藏著秘密？

Finlay Donovan is killing it . . . except, she’s really not. She’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors.

When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet . . . Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

「我把你的書單完成了一半。《火車怪客》──搞定。《ＡＢＣ謀殺案》──終於完成。《雙重保險》──完全征服。《死亡陷阱》──看了電影。等我完成整個書單（不會很久），我就會跟你聯絡。還是你已經知道我是誰？」

「妳認為有人看到我列出的書單，決定模仿裡頭的手法？而且凶手想確保殺害對象被殺了也是活該？」

幾年前，熱愛推理小說的書店老板馬爾康‧克蕭一時興起，在部落格列出心目中最難破解的犯罪手法，標題取為「八起完美謀殺案」，其中包括阿嘉莎．克莉絲蒂《ＡＢＣ謀殺案》、派翠西亞‧海史密斯《火車怪客》等共八本經典作品……

然而二月某個下雪的日子，當馬爾康待在店裡，一位聯邦調查局探員赫然找上門，令他大感訝異。對方在調查一連串未解的案件，這些案子跟馬爾康列的書單手法莫名神似。同時對這位幾乎夜夜窩在家讀書的書店老板感興趣的，可不只調查局探員而已──一則詭異的留言出現在他的部落格，凶手似乎潛伏周遭，還對馬爾康的過往人生瞭若指掌，包括他從沒跟任何人說過的祕密。為了保護自己，馬爾康開始展開調查……這八起完美謀殺案與凶手究竟隱藏著甚麼樣的關連？

斯德哥爾摩。六月二日中午，偵查員剛瓦德・拉森草草打發掉一通打進警局抱怨的莫名電話，繼續調查昨晚發生的搶案。這已是兩週內第八起的公園搶案。

六月九日，大雨暫歇，瓦納第斯公園再過半小時才會點燈。男子在這裡已蟄伏了兩個鐘頭，尋覓下手對象。一名身材五短的中年婦人走進公園，準備回家。他尾隨在後，踏在濕草地上的腳步幾近無聲。婦人驚覺尖叫。男子聽到某種碎裂聲，手上的銅質手指虎這時已打碎了她的鼻和嘴……

這起搶案的隔天，陽光普照。就在這公園陡坡頂上那片半塌的紅籬笆旁，兩個憔悴的酒鬼意外撞見駭人景象——樹叢底下是一具屍體，她是伊娃，年紀不過九歲。不到五十四個小時後，另一座公園內又發現第二名受害者。十歲小女孩安妮卡遭人以跳繩勒斃，陳屍露天劇場旁。六月二十日，這座城市再現第三具公園女屍，受害者是十一歲的蘇薇格，而發現遺體的是女童母親。

讓馬丁・貝克、柯柏、米蘭德和剛瓦德・拉森等警察疲於奔命的這幾起連續殺童案，與先前多起公園搶案有何關聯？引發人心惶惶的兇手可能藏身何處？警方為何毫無頭緒？

最關鍵的線索往往出現在最不經意的時刻，最微小的證據有時可能帶有最重要的訊息。這群飽受裡外壓力的偵查刑警，能否從蛛絲馬跡中推論出他的犯案動機，拼湊出殺童兇手的樣貌？

On average, 23 people a year disappear from the world’s cruise ships. They are written off as accidents or suicides. But what if they’re not?

Five years ago Martin Schwarz, a police psychologist, lost his wife and son. They were holidaying on a cruise ship when they simply vanished. A lackluster investigation was unable to shed any light on what happened—murder-suicide being the coroner’s verdict. It is a verdict that has haunted Martin ever since, blighting his life. But then he is contacted by an elderly woman, a writer, who claims to have information regarding their fate and wants him to come on board The Sultan of the Seas immediately.

She explains that his wife and son are not the only mother and child pair to have disappeared. Only a few months ago another mother and daughter also vanished. She believes there may be a serial killer on board.

But when the missing daughter reappears—carrying the teddy bear of Martin’s missing son—it becomes apparent that the truth could be much, much worse.

Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she’s always wanted. But is it? She’s exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she’s beginning to miss London.

And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married—a picturesque inn on the Suffolk coast named Farlingaye Hall—fascinates Susan and piques her editor’s instincts. 

One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Cake, on that very crime. 

The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened.

Harry Bloch is a struggling writer who pumps out pulpy serial novels—from vampire books to detective stories—under various pseudonyms. But his life begins to imitate his fiction when he agrees to ghostwrite the memoir of Darian Clay, New York City’s infamous Photo Killer. Soon, three young women turn up dead, each one murdered in the Photo Killer’s gruesome signature style, and Harry must play detective in a real-life murder plot as he struggles to avoid becoming the killer’s next victim.