12 BADASS FEMALE DETECTIVE 📕 THRILLERS
Looking for a few good summer reads?
Are you seeking a juicy thriller that will make your spine tingle and your pulse pound?
Are you yearning for a well-written mystery that will keep you at the edge of your seat all night?
Last year was a reading slump for me. Nothing I picked up was satisfying. So this year, I carefully curated my reading list.
I read several dozens of murder mysteries, psychological suspense novels, detective thrillers, FBI K9 thrillers, and even several cozy mysteries. All before I discovered new (to me) authors whose writing I truly enjoyed and whose lead female characters I wanted to root for.
These were the gems I was seeking.
And I found some good ones!
Murder Mystery Thrillers with Strong Female Detectives
Through this reading journey, I learned something about myself.
What I say next is going to be controversial. Some of you may get very angry with me. I realise everyone is different. We all have our individual preferences.
These are mine.
Unreliable narrators, who lie to the reader, irk me. These plot twists aren’t satisfying because they’re based on blatant deception. It’s a cheap ploy that can be spotted a mile away.
Impulsive detectives who make poor decisions or can’t negotiate their way out of a paper bag bother me.
Then, there are the female characters who make terrible life choices, to only play the victim role. Adult females who act like clueless teenagers are the worst.
I spent fifteen years in the defence and intelligence work environments, collaborating with colleagues from law enforcement agencies, governments, and large corporations, and I can say this. There aren’t many professional women who bumble mindlessly and make ridiculously dumb decisions repeatedly, like I read too often in some thrillers.
Many folks love these stories for various reasons of their own. These books may be your cup of tea. And that’s perfectly fine.
We each get our reading kicks in different ways, don’t we?
I don’t pretend these characters don’t exist.
I just apply them differently.
Sometimes, I give these attributes to my primary or secondary antagonists. Most of the time, it’s my side characters who demonstrate these behaviours.
They all have a role to play in my stories, but never as my lead.
I prefer the female protagonist of a mystery thriller to be strong. And to show some smarts.
Yes, they can have flaws and terrible pasts. Yes, they can make mistakes, get hit, and fall down.
But they must always get up.
They need to learn from their mistakes, push forward, and never give up on their quest to find justice for the victims.
I do my best to give the lead characters in my books agency. My detectives overcome adversity and succeed despite their hardships and fears.
They are professionals who ask the tough questions, hunt the criminals, take on the villains, and move heaven and earth to bring justice to the victims.
Whether they are mothers, sisters, daughters, teachers, doctors, or the corner store cashier, my lead female characters are heroines to me.
Heroines I can stand behind.
Heroines I can cheer on.
Murder Mystery Thrillers with Strong Female Detectives
The books I love the most are action-filled, fast-paced, and have a spine-tingling mystery I get to unravel as I read the story.
Good authors leave trails of bread crumbs for the reader to play with. As a reader, I may miss these clues and red herrings at the beginning, but I can always connect the dots back to make logical sense at the end.
Isn’t this what makes a detective thriller or a psychological suspense novel so much fun to read?
If your reading preferences are similar to mine, I want to share the novels I truly enjoyed this year.
These books are in the murder mystery thrillers, detective thrillers, FBI thrillers, and psychological suspense genres that feature with strong female leads.
Some of these books are the beginning of a series or a part of an interconnected series. I’ve already finished a few of these series and had fun reading the adventures.
One of the books on this list is mine. I took a deep breath and read the many thousands of reviews left by my readers from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and beyond, to make sure I could include this book in the list.
I like to think I write the kind of books I like to read.
Let me know if you agree or disagree.
This list is in alphabetical order of the book title.
None of these books have graphic violence, heavy cursing, or explicit sex. The romance, if there is any, is light, and doesn’t distract you from the fast-paced thrill and intrigue of a best-selling mystery thriller novel.
I don’t believe unrelated romance side plots, shocking gore or sex makes a book great. A solid story with a likeable and strong character fighting a devious villain is, to me, what makes a good read.
So, tell me. Have you read these books? Which did you love the most? Least?
Do you have any good recommendations for me?
All Rights Reserved. Copyright ©Tikiri Herath
NOTE: Canadian / British spelling is used here as the author is Canadian. The final completed book in bookstores will have American spelling.
Click here to read more stories from the award-winning Canadian mystery thriller author, Tikiri Herath.