Mystery/Thrillers in Unique Settings

by Iris Yamashita
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6 books
The backdrop that a story is set in can almost be considered another character, transporting you to a different time or place, providing extra color and atmosphere or providing the right logistical elements for a mystery or thriller. Who can forget the elegant luxury train and its locked room elements in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express or the fascinating setting of a 14th-century Benedictine abbey in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose? While there are many books to choose from, the following is a list of more recent mysteries and thrillers with unique settings. A few also bring sociopolitical issues to light and all have successfully mined details of authenticity on top of crafting an exciting tale.
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The Peacock and the Sparrow

I S Berry, 2024
I.S. Berry’s debut novel, The Peacock and the Sparrow, which came out in 2023, has racked up seemingly every possible thriller award that exists and deservingly so. In this book, we are dropped into Bahrain during the Arab Spring, where we follow the travails of an anti-hero CIA officer on his final spy mission. The author herself spent six years as an operations officer for the CIA and had lived for two years in Bahrain, adding to the authenticity and richness of details of the setting. More than anything else, it’s the quality of Berry’s writing that stands out in this espionage thriller.

The Hunger

Alma Katsu, 2023
As someone who has always been fascinated by the true story of the Donner Party, The Hunger was an engaging read. Set in 1846-47 on the Oregon Trail, when the Donner Party attempted to cross the unforgiving Sierra Nevada Mountains, it’s a spine-tingling horror with supernatural elements. Despite being a fictional account, the author managed to provide realistic details of the infamous journey so that the path of horror was palpable to the reader.

Sisters of the Lost Nation

Nick Medina, 2024
Nick Medina’s Sisters of the Lost Nation brings to light the crisis of the number of Native Women who have disappeared through this mystery set on a native reservation landmarked by a casino/resort. Although the place and tribe are fictional, the plight of Indigenous women and the situations they face are all very real. The author notes that the story was inspired by an incident of a missing Blackfeet Reservation woman and the author is a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Nation. Despite the heavy subject matter, Medina manages to keep the story engaging and riveting as a murder mystery full of lore, mythology and suspense. You won’t want to put it down.

Clark and Division

Naomi Hirahara, 2021
Clark and Division takes you to the titled street intersection of Chicago in 1944, where a Japanese-American community has settled after being imprisoned as a reaction to Pearl Harbor and then released as the war was drawing to a close. Many families who had lost their land and homes came to settle in this Chicago neighborhood. The atypical setting for a murder mystery is what makes it so interesting and the authors knowledge of Japanese-American history and her past as a journalist were major assets in the attention to detail and bringing to life this time in history. But what drives the story is the suspense of finding out what happened to the protagonist’s sister, making for a quick read.

The Shadow of the Wind

Carlos Ruiz Zafon, 2005
Although not so recent and already a classic, I thought I’d add The Shadow of the Wind to the list, as it’s a book that still resonates with its memorable and exotic settings. From the opening in 1940s Spain and descriptions of a secret library called the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, I was hooked. A book within a book. A love story. A haunting mystery. A sweeping setting. Lyrical writing. It has something for everyone.

City Under One Roof

Iris Yamashita, 2024
I humbly add my own book City Under One Roof to the list, as the unique setting was the first piece of the puzzle I had when drafting the story. It is set in the fictional town of Point Mettier but is inspired by the real city of Whittier, Alaska. Originally built as a secret military base, this isolated place can only be accessed through a single-lane tunnel carved through a mountain and most of the residents live in the town’s single high-rise building. The frigid and claustrophobic town full of tunnels seemed like the perfect location for a murder mystery. In my fictional version of the town, of course, all of the residents live in the high-rise and all of its quirky characters are suspects.