Trend Desk · Mystery
Mystery & thriller this week: one author, short stories and long cozy series
One author holds 13 of the top 50 mystery and thriller spots. Short stories and cozy series 15 to 29 books deep are charting too.
What's on the chart
We read the Kindle Mystery, Thriller & Suspense top 50 for Sunday, November 8. The first thing you notice is one name: Freida McFadden has 13 of the 50 spots, including #1 (The Witch). Her domestic psychological thrillers lead the category. Hers, plus Verity, The Silent Patient and On a Quiet Street, put the "twisty psychological thriller" at the centre of the chart.
Short fiction is charting. Laura Dave's Certainty, sold as a short story, is #6. McFadden's Christmas short story The Gift is #30 after two days. Her short collection Death Row is #14. Readers are paying for short, cheap reads from authors they already know, and the holiday one went up fast.
Long cozy series still find room. The Long Witch Goodnight, book 29 of the Wicked Witches of the Midwest, is #23 with 338 reviews. Talk Witchy to Me, book 15 of a witchy cozy series, is #49 after two days with 66 reviews. A cozy series that keeps going keeps selling, even without big review counts.
Dark romance is charting in mystery too. Haunting Adeline (#28), a dark mafia cowboy romance (#33) and a dark college romance (#45) all sit on this chart. Their authors put them in suspense categories as well as romance, and it's paying off.
Some books are falling. The Coworker dropped 25 places over the week, and Kate Quinn's The Huntress fell 19 places in a day. Only two books are new this week: Louise Penny's State of Terror (#4) and Nevada Barr's What Rose Forgot (#44).
The China watch
Fanqie, China's largest free-reading platform, says suspense is one of its steady genres. The suspense novel Shiri Zhongyan (Ten Days to the End) has sold more than 4 million print copies. Guishe (The Eerie Lodge) has trended again and again on social media. Fanqie also said readers abandon books whose opening chapters are slow.
What this means for your next book
- Write a holiday short story now. A Christmas thriller short is at #30 after two days. A short, cheap read for readers who already know you sells, and it sends them to your full-length books.
- Long cozy series are worth continuing. Book 15 and book 29 of witchy cozies are in the top 50. If you have a cozy series, the next book still has buyers.
- If your romance has suspense, add the suspense categories. Dark romances are taking mystery and thriller spots this week.
- Domestic psychological suspense is still where readers are. A twisty story about one household, a marriage or a job still fits what this chart is buying.