These are the 10 Most Popular Mystery Books On TikTok

When it comes to BookTok popularity, YA mysteries are really where it’s at. You’re going to see a lot of YA mysteries on this list. But at the top of this list? A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. This is another one that’s the first book in a series. Pippa Fitz-Amobi grew up in a small town that was consumed by the case of schoolgirl Andie Bell, who was allegedly murdered by Sal Singh. The case is closed. Everyone knows Sal did it. But Pippa isn’t so sure, and she’ll stop at nothing to get to the truth.

Sadie has been a huge fave of readers everywhere since its release in 2018, and BookTok is still loving on this one. When Sadie’s sister Mattie is found dead, Sadie leaves her small town behind and goes on a journey to hunt down whoever did this to her sister and bring that person to justice. Meanwhile, radio personality West McCray catches word of Sadie’s story while at a gas station. Now, he’s started his own podcast where he’s tracking Sadie’s journey, hoping to find the young girl before it’s too late.

Yeah, there’s now a TV show of One of Us is Lying, which probably got more people to pick up the book, but BookTok has also been singing its praises. On one Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walked into detention. One of them will not make it out alive. No one knows what happened in that room and how the one student died except for the four students in that room: Bronwyn, the brain; Addy, the beauty; Cooper, the athlete; and Nate, the criminal. One of them is lying. Is one of them a murderer?

Mexican Gothic is a fun mix of mystery, horror, suspense, and historical fiction. And BookTok is just eating it up. Most BookTok users agree that the best way to read Mexican Gothic is to go into it knowing as little as possible. But here’s the basic idea. After receiving a distressing letter from her newlywed cousin, Noemí Taboada leaves her life as a socialite in Mexico City to find out what has happened. But when she arrives at her cousin’s new home — High Place, a dark and remote mansion in the country — she finds unsettling mysteries around every corner. 

Here’s another fun YA mystery series that BookTok just loves. Avery Grambs is a high school student whose life changes forever when she mysteriously receives an inheritance from Tobias Hawthorne, a puzzle-loving billionaire she’s never met. But in order to win her inheritance, she’ll have to move into the secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where danger waits around every turn. The third book in this trilogy, The Final Gambit, just came out earlier this year, so BookTok is probably going to be talking about this one for a while.

Stacey Abrams has made a huge name for herself in politics, romance novels, legal thriller/mysteries, and yes, even on BookTok. In While Justice Sleeps, Avery is a brilliant young law clerk who has just become the legal guardian and power of attorney of Supreme Court Justice Howard Wynn who has slipped into a coma. Suddenly, Avery finds herself thrown into a world of political conspiracies and attempts on Wynn’s life.

When a mystery gets picked up by Book of the Month, it’s almost guaranteed to get a lot of mentions on Bookstagram, Booktube, and yes, BookTok. But this debut mystery in particular has picked up a lot of traction on social media. This book follows Claudia Lin, who has just been recruited by Veracity, a referral-only online dating detective agency. But when one of the agency’s clients goes missing, Claudia finds herself breaking the rules to dive deep into the secret world of people’s online lives and corporate deceit.

Looking for jaw-dropping twists and turns? BookTok is a big fan of this one. Laurel is a mother of three children when Ellie, her youngest child, disappears. Years after Ellie’s disappearance, Laurel and her family are still struggling with the loss of a beloved family member, and their relationships with one another suffer. Laurel tries to move on. She starts dating a man, and things are going well. Until she meets his 9 year old daughter Poppy. Poppy who looks exactly like Ellie did when she was that age.

Let’s go ahead and crown Colleen Hoover the queen of BookTok. Verity lies somewhere between mystery and suspense, but this list would be absolutely incomplete without acknowledging just what a huge hold this book has on the BookTok community. Writer Lowen Ashley is on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts what seems at first like a dream job. Jeremy Crawford, the husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete Verity’s remaining books that she is unable to finish herself. But when Lowen digs into Verity’s manuscripts, she uncovers a shocking autobiography that no one was meant to read. And horrifying secrets are revealed.