Midsummer Mysteries for the Longest Day of the Year

Don’t worry if you haven’t read any of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London books yet (though you should, they’re great!), you can easily jump into Foxglove Summer as your first book.

While the previous books in the series are set in the urban setting of London, Foxglove Summer sees series protagonist Peter Grant taken out of his comfort zone to a sleepy village in Herefordshire at high summer.

Local police are loath to admit there might be a supernatural element to the recent disappearance of a group of local children, and that’s where the intrepid Grant comes in, suffering from culture shock after walking the streets of London – where the city barely sleeps – to a quiet country village where all the shops are closed by 4pm.

Like all the books in the Rivers of London series, an essential read.

A collection of Agatha Christie mysteries featuring her favourite characters, all set in summer, and re-released in 2023! A perfect introduction to Christie if you’ve never read her before, and a wonderful choice of book to read by the pool.

Midsummer Mysteries is your perfect summer escape… with a murderous twist. Whether you're lounging outside or hiding from the heat indoors, this collection of short stories by Agatha Christie will have you hooked from page one. She really is the master of mystery and this collection has it all. Think lazy afternoons gone deadly, country house charm with a body in the library, and elegant suspects with something to hide.

Featuring beloved sleuths like Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, this is Christie at her clever, devilish best. Every story is a sun-drenched puzzle box packed with red herrings, sharp wit, and gasp-out-loud reveals. Don’t let the warm weather fool you, danger is lurking behind every garden party and picnic blanket.

So pour yourself a cold drink, get comfy, and dive into a world where the only thing hotter than the sun… is the mystery.

Think your family has secrets? Try spending a few days in the Endlands.

Devil’s Day by Andrew Michael Hurley is one of those books that sneaks up on you, coils around your spine, and whispers, “Something’s not right here…” while the hair stands up on your neck… But you can’t stop reading!

Set in a remote farming village where the landscape is bleak, the sheep are nervous, and tradition runs deeper than the river, this book is dripping with atmosphere and ancient unease. You’ll meet a tight-knit community that doesn’t quite welcome outsiders, and a narrator who’s come home for a funeral, only to get tangled up in old stories, strange rituals, and the creeping feeling that the past hasn’t let go.

It’s folk horror with plenty of brains. It’s slow-burn suspense with a sinister heartbeat. It’s Wuthering Heights meets The Wicker Man, but with way more mud, family tension, unspoken dread and a modern voice.

If you love mysteries wrapped in folklore, and stories that make you double-check your door locks, then look no further. This one’s calling you home.

Before The Wicker Man shocked your senses… there was Ritual.

If you like your mysteries laced with pagan rites, eerie villagers, and a slow, skin-prickling descent into madness then Ritual by David Pinner is your next dark delight. This cult classic is the original seed that grew into the legendary film The Wicker Man, and trust me, it’s just as weird, wild, and wonderfully unsettling.

Set just before the summer solstice, the story follows a stiff-upper-lip police officer sent to a sleepy English village to investigate a child's death. But instead of answers, he finds whispers of ancient rituals, seductive locals who seem to know too much, and a town that’s just a little too welcoming. The line between reality and superstition blurs fast, and Pinner does a wonderful job at making us feel unsure if our protagonist is solving a crime or being dragged into something much older... and much darker.

It’s 60s folk horror at its absolute finest. Claustrophobic, stylish, and simmering with midsummer madness. If you’re into sun-soaked creepiness, cult vibes, and slow-burning suspense that leaves a mark, light a bonfire and dive in.

Just… maybe don’t read it alone.

A murdered priest, a sun-drenched village, and secrets as old as the midnight sun.

If The Wicker Man (yes, that again. It’s very influential!) met Scandi noir in the land of eternal daylight, you’d get The Blood Spilt, a chilling, twisty summer thriller that feels like midsummer filtered through a bloodstained lens. Åsa Larsson serves up icy mystery and simmering tension in equal measure, as big-city lawyer Rebecka Martinsson is pulled back to a small northern town where a beloved feminist priest has been brutally killed… just as midsummer approaches.

The locals are tight-lipped, the church hides more than prayers, and there's a creeping, ritualistic undercurrent that’ll have you side-eyeing every bonfire and floral crown. Rebecka’s not just solving a murder, she’s unraveling the whole rotten tangle of faith, folklore, and female rage buried beneath the surface.

With an atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a sacrificial knife, this is folk horror meets crime thriller, soaked in sun that never sets… and darkness that never left.

Come for the murder. Stay for the haunting.

A crumbling castle. A secretive cult. A girl with a knife and something to prove.

If you love your mysteries soaked in sea mist, ancient rites, and deeply unsettling family dinners, then Little Eve is about to crawl under your skin in the best way. Set on a remote Scottish island between World War I and World War II, this gothic stunner from Catriona Ward (queen of the literary mindbending-thriller) gives major gothic folklore meets Shirley Jackson energy… but twistier, weirder, and even more emotionally devastating.

The story opens with a dead body with an eye missing. A cheerful start! From there, Ward pulls the reader into the decaying world of a clan who believe the end of the world is coming… and that they might be the ones to survive it. Add in solstice rituals, prophecy, betrayal, and girls raised to be monsters or martyrs (depending on the day), and you’ve got a story that simmers with dread until it explodes.

Midsummer never looked so messed up.

Filled with cults that feel too real, a gothic atmosphere so thick you could spread it on toast, sharp prose, sharp women, and sharper secrets. Little Eve comes highly recommended.

Just don’t say I didn’t warn you…