The Indie Mystery/Thriller Bestseller List

The American Booksellers Association’s specialty bestseller lists provide a current snapshot of what’s selling in indie bookstores nationwide. Here is the Indie Mystery/Thriller Bestseller List, based on sales for the eight-week period ending August 2, 2026. It's interesting to me how many of these were actually published last year or even much earlier, as is the case with 2021's The Silent Patient, although the New York Times' recent list of the "Fifty Best Thrillers of the 21st Century" might have something to do with that.

1. Angel Down by Daniel Kraus, Atria Books

2. The Divorce by Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen Press

3. Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth, St. Martin's Press

4. It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell, Atria Books

5. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

6. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

7. Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen Press

8. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, Celadon Books

9. Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson, Bantam

10. Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology by Shane Hawk (Ed.), Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (Ed.), Vintage

11. Heather by Caitlin Mullen, Celadon Books

12. The Keeper by Tana French, Viking

13. Strange Houses by Uketsu, Jim Rion (Transl.), HarperVia

14. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Penguin

15. Gone Before Goodbye by Harlan Coben, Reese Witherspoon, Grand Central Publishing,

16. Death on the Lanai (Golden Girls Cozy Mystery Series) by Rachel Ekstrom Courage, Hyperion Avenue

17. Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell, Atria Books

18. Strange Buildings by Uketsu, HarperVia

19. Never Flinch by Stephen King, Scribner

20. My Husband's Wife by Alice Feeney, Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar

21. Strange Pictures by Uketsu, HarperVia

22. Want to Know a Secret? by Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen Press

23. Ironwood by Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company

24. The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke, Harper

25. The Housemaid's Wedding by Freida McFadden