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12 Must-Read Books If You Love Murder on the Orient Express

12 Must-Read Books If You Love Murder on the Orient Express

Be sure to get some fresh air after getting through these unnervingly claustrophobic titles

By Sarah Weldon and David Canfield

November 13, 2017 at 10:00 AM EST

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More locked-room mysteries for Murder on the Orient Express fans

Credit: Nicola Dove/Twentieth Century Fox

The star-studded movie adaptation of Agatha Christie's famed railway whodunit novel just hit theaters and is already enthralling moviegoers. But if you're like us and can't get enough of Christie's plush and murderous thrills, then these novels will satisfy your cravings.

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J.G. Ballard, Concrete Island

Credit: Picador

A modern adaptation of Robinson Crusoe, J.G. Ballard's novel tells the story of architect Robert Maitland, who gets trapped on a manmade island after crashing his car off the side of a highway. He soon realizes there's no way out.

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Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None

Credit: Harper Collins

Another one of Agatha Christie's most beloved mysteries, And Then There Were None centers on 10 visitors who are together on an isolated island off the Devon coast. The mysterious murder of one guest sets of a chain reaction of death and deadly secrets.

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Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone

Credit: Random House

A classic detective novel, The Moonstone follows a young English woman as she receives a diamond for her 18th birthday. It's promptly stolen and a wild mystery ensues; an array of interesting suspects come into focus, including a cousin, a housemaid, and a group of mysterious Indian jugglers.

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Elizabeth George, Payment in Blood

Credit: Penguin Ramdom House

The murder of a celebrated playwright kicks off a juicy investigation in the world of the theater. Suspects include a famous British actress and a powerful producer, leaving detectives Lynley and Havers to carefully navigate a web of artistic, professional, and intimate relationships.

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Noah Hawley, Before the Fall

Credit: Grand Central Publishing

In Fargo creator Noah Hawley's sublime thriller, a struggling painter and a four-year-old boy survive a plane crash which killed 10 immensely wealthy and influential people. While the relationship between these two strangers grows, an accusatory and conspiratorial climate unnervingly builds.

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Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

Credit: Viking/Penguin Books

Jackson's terrifying novel explores what happens when four people arrive at Hill House, an 80-year-old mansion. Their stay takes a turn for the worse when they realize that supernatural phenomena is abound; through a stretch of inexplicable events, Hill House begins to possess its inhabitants.

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P.D. James, Shroud for a Nightingale

Credit: Touchstone

This compelling mystery by P.D. James is set in Nightingale House, where young women learn to nurse and aid the suffering. But one student dies in brutal fashion, and then another in similarly unusual and harrowing circumstances, kicking off a frenzy of unmasking.

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Stephen King, The Shining

Credit: Random House

Perhaps the most infamous title on this list, The Shining details Jack Torrance's spiral into madness while staying at the Overlook Hotel. Stephen King's masterpiece continues to haunt new readers to this day, leaving them on the edge of their seats.

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Maj Sjöwall, The Locked Room

Credit: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

You can’t get more of a rich, claustrophobic closed-door mystery than this underrated classic. The Locked Room takes two seemingly unrelated events — a young woman’s murder after a bank robbery; the discovery of a corpse in a locker room — and brings them together with intrigue to spare.

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Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night

Credit: Harper Paperbacks

One of the great detective novelists, Dorothy Sayers is in fine form with Gaudy Night. Taking place at Oxford University, the page-turner finds a couple chumming it up at their reunion only to be mysteriously targeted with threats that edge toward murder.

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Ruth Ware, The Woman in Cabin 10

Credit: Simon & Schuster

Set at sea, this novel follows travel writer Lo Blacklock, who's been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a small luxury cruise. Things quickly change, however, when frigid winds arrive and Lo witnesses a woman being thrown overboard — even though all passengers are accounted for.

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Otto Penzler (ed.), Black Lizard Big Book of Locked Room Mysteries

Credit: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

What’s that? This list still hasn’t fixed your craving? May we introduce The Black Lizard Big Book, a volume featuring works by nearly a dozen authors including some of the most popular and well-regarded. Just be sure to get some fresh air when you’re through with these.

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By Sarah Weldon
By David Canfield @davidcanfield97

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12 Must-Read Books If You Love Murder on the Orient Express

1 of 13

More locked-room mysteries for Murder on the Orient Express fans

1 of 13

2 of 13

J.G. Ballard, Concrete Island

2 of 13

3 of 13

Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None

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Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone

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Elizabeth George, Payment in Blood

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Noah Hawley, Before the Fall

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Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House

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P.D. James, Shroud for a Nightingale

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Stephen King, The Shining

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Maj Sjöwall, The Locked Room

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Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night

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Ruth Ware, The Woman in Cabin 10

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Otto Penzler (ed.), Black Lizard Big Book of Locked Room Mysteries

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