Chilling reads: 10 winter thriller books for long nights

Gloomy weather is the perfect backdrop for moodier reads – and what moodier place to find them than the library’s thriller section?  

If you’re looking for dark, atmospheric books that feel like winter, you’ve come to the right place. Subgenres like mystery, crime and horror hold endless potential for winter escapism. Hide yourself away with these thriller book suggestions that’ll keep your mind racing all winter.

1. Carved in blood by Michael Bennett

The third book in this bestselling New Zealand crime trilogy unfolds during a chilly Auckland winter, as Matariki approaches – a time of celebration and new beginnings. Hana Westerman’s family is thriving, and life finally feels peaceful. But when Hana’s ex-husband Jaye is shot in what seems like a random crime, she’s drawn back into the world of police work. Her investigation leads to a suspect with links to a Chinese crime syndicate. That’s until a call warns they’ve got the wrong man. Could the shooting be tied to Jaye’s past?

Borrowing formats: Book.

2. City under one roof by Iris Yamashita

When a severed hand and foot wash up on the shore of Point Mettier, Alaska, Detective Cara Kennedy is on the case. The isolated town – where all 205 residents live in the same high-rise – is only accessible by tunnel. After an avalanche closes it off, Cara is stranded among a community as cold and guarded as the weather. As she investigates, joined by local officer Joe Barkowski, a snowstorm brings in a gang from a nearby reservation. Everyone in town is hiding something, and answers are as hard to come by as a way out.

Borrowing formats: Book, eBook, eAudiobook, large print book. 

3. The overnight guest by Heather Gudenkauf

True crime writer Wylie Lark is happy to be snowed in at a quiet farmhouse – a crackling fire, total solitude and time to write. But decades ago, in this same house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl vanished without a trace. Wylie finds herself trapped by weather and haunted by secrets. Then she discovers a small child in the snow just outside. She’s not as alone as she thought.

Borrowing formats: Book, eBook, eAudiobook.

4. Midwinter murder: fireside mysteries from the queen of crime by Agatha Christie

Settle in with these classic puzzle-box mysteries from Agatha Christie, the undisputed master of Golden Age crime. Snowy settings, poisoned meals and mysterious guests await in this chilling collection of short stories featuring iconic detectives like Poirot and Miss Marple.

Borrowing formats: Book, eBook.

5. Helle and Death by Oskar Cox Jensen

Structured in the classic style of Agatha Christie’s cosy-but-deadly mysteries, this sharp, snowbound whodunnit brings a modern edge to the Golden Age of crime fiction. 

Art historian and Danish expat Torben Helle is dragged to a snowbound Northumbrian mansion for a ten-year reunion. But when their host, an irritating tech entrepreneur, drops shocking revelations and is later found dead, the group is forced to confront old secrets. Snowed in with a strange will, suspicious guests and rising tension, Torben must channel his inner detective to solve a classic locked-room mystery. 

Borrowing formats: Book.

6. The frozen river by Ariel Lawhon

Inspired by the real diary of 18th-century midwife Martha Ballard, this gripping historical mystery follows her search for justice after a man accused of rape is found dead in Maine’s frozen Kennebec River. As whispers and prejudices mount, Martha’s diary becomes central to the investigation. Over one long, harsh winter, she fights to uncover the truth and seek justice for those no one else will protect.

Borrowing formats: Book, large print book, eAudiobook

7. Rock paper scissors by Alice Feeney

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they’ll never forget. When they win a weekend away to a remote Scottish retreat, it might be exactly what their troubled marriage needs.

Adam, a screenwriter with face blindness, can’t even recognise his own wife. Each anniversary, she’s written him a letter he’s never been allowed to read – until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Borrowing formats: Book, large print book, eBook.

8. The terror by Dan Simmons

This fictionalised retelling of the doomed 1845 Franklin Expedition will make you see your cosy reading spot in a whole new light. Aboard HMS Terror, 126 men expect triumph as they set out to find the Northwest Passage. But after a second summer passes without a thaw, they’re trapped in ice and darkness, with poisonous food, buckling ships and a dwindling supply of coal. And something else stalks them in the frigid dark – an unseen predator clawing to get in.

Borrowing formats: Book, eBook, eAudiobook.

9. Death at the sanatorium by Ragnar Jónasson

In this Scandi Noir bestseller, a grisly 1983 murder at a remote sanatorium-turned-hospital ward in northern Iceland resurfaces decades later. The case began when an elderly nurse was found murdered, followed days later by the chief physician’s suspicious death, ruled a suicide. Writing his thesis on those chilling murders, Helgi seeks out the original suspects, only to be met with silence and suspicion at every turn. As he navigates the shadows of the past, it becomes clear that some secrets refuse to die.

Borrowing formats: Book, eBook, eAudiobook, audio CD.

10. The Spite House by Johnny Compton

Dark, tense and full of gothic atmosphere, this one will make you shiver. Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Paranoid and desperate for money, he takes a job at the infamous Masson House in Degener, Texas, rumoured to be one of the most haunted places in the state. Hired to record signs of the paranormal, Eric hopes the house’s lingering presence might explain the uncanny force that’s trailed his family for years. Provided the house's horrors don't drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.

Borrowing formats: Book, eBook, eAudiobook.

Find these titles and more with our full recommended reading list: Winter thrillers and chillers  

Now you’ve got your seasonal reading list sorted, don’t forget you can borrow these books entirely for free with your Auckland Council library card.