72 of the Most Popular Mysteries and Thrillers of the Past Three Years

""All my books come to me, first of all, as a character in my mind and as a story that I want to tell. But how you tell that story, there are definitely some deliberate decisions involved."

That's British author Ruth Ware, one of the planet's most accomplished contemporary mystery writers. In a Goodreads interview from a few books back, Ware talked about the "how" of the mystery/thriller novel—the way authors deploy careful narrative choices and techniques to tell all kinds of different stories.

We've gathered below 72 of the most popular mystery and thriller books of the past three years, as determined by Goodreads members' Want to Read lists. The "what" of these books is interesting enough—stories about island weddings, small-town hotels, and obsessed academics. But pay attention to the "how" as well, the specific setups and particular premises that make mystery stories so compelling."