5 Books To Read In Autumn

November is the month of falling leaves, the slow undressing of trees as they brace for winter. It’s the perfect time to dive into stories of detectives and murders, mysterious unsolved cases set in cold, foggy cities, gripping mysteries and page-turning thrillers meant to be read with a warm cup of tea on your softest armchair. Here’s a small selection of books that beautifully pair with the season. Happy reading!

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

A legendary train, an equally legendary detective, and a murder to solve on board. The murderer must be hiding among the passengers…but who is he? From the mastermind of detective fiction, this is the classic you should read at least once in your life. The iconic Hercule Poirot, retired and mildly exasperated, finds himself faced with an apparently impossible case.

While a snowstorm rages outside and time seems to stretch, Poirot tries to unveil the truth behind his most famous investigation. One thing is certain: nobody could have entered or left the train. In one of the most brilliant twists on the locked room mystery, the setting and atmosphere pull you into a suspended space-time that captivates you within a few pages, earning its place as one of the most beloved classics of the genre.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

We all know the premise. The esteemed Dr Jekyll, after a mysterious experiment, develops a double identity, Jekyll by day, Hyde by night. But beyond its gothic and noir elements, this novel is way more philosophical than it seems.

What is evil, and how is it created? Are we inherently flawed, or do we simply confuse evil with the irresistible, dangerous urge toward knowledge — the kind we long for even when we can’t handle the consequences? What is human nature really made of?

These are only some of the questions I found myself pondering after finishing the book. If you’d like a deeper dive into Jekyll and Hyde, I explored it more in this other blog post. It’s a perfect read for the season, set in a fog-soaked, late-19th-century London marked by eerie crimes and shadowy streets.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

You can’t talk about British mysteries without mentioning Conan Doyle and his delightfully eccentric Sherlock Holmes. From The Hound of the Baskervilles to A Study in Scarlet, the investigations of the brilliant consulting detective of Baker Street and his loyal companion Watson are perfect for the season of falling leaves.

You can read them as stand-alone stories or in larger collected editions. Either way, Sherlock’s adventures are a blend of mystery and cozy familiarity. And for the curious, many of Holmes’s most iconic cases can also be experienced in the gripping BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch — highly recommended for rainy autumn days.

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

The Japanese cult classic that predates The Hunger Games, yet far too few people know about it. Every year, a class of students is selected to participate in a deadly game on a deserted island. Each receives a weapon, and the students must kill one another until only one survives. If this sounds familiar, you’re not wrong — it’s strikingly similar to The Hunger Games, except it was written about a decade earlier.

Ancestor of the Squid Game narrative lineage, Battle Royale is a book you devour in one breath. The cast of characters is richer and more complex than Collins’s trilogy, and the plot structure is much more intense. A dystopian thriller that keeps you awake at night, and yes, there’s also a lesser-known (and wonderfully chaotic) film adaptation directed by Kinji Fukasaku.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

Imagine reliving the same day for seven days straight, until you finally uncover the killer. That’s what happens to Aiden, the protagonist of this novel, tasked with solving the mysterious death of Evelyn Hardcastle. For seven attempts, Aiden must discover the truth, while Evelyn dies each evening in the exact same way, in front of everyone. Each day he wakes up in a different character’s body, seeing events through new eyes and piecing together what really happened. A closing twist awaits in this fascinating mystery built on a time loop.

More autumnal recommendations coming soon, but in the meantime…happy reading!