13 must-read mystery books like The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Cover of The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

The Frozen River

By: Ariel Lawhon

4.43

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-cen…

If you liked the mystery plot in The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon , here is a list of 13 books like this:

Cover of The Women by Kristin Hannah

1. The Women

By: Kristin Hannah

4.64

Format: 471 pages, Hardcover

Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these wor… read more

Similar categories in Kristin Hannah's The Women book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
"Words were creators of worlds; you had to be careful with them."

-Kristin Hannah, The Women

"Love mattered in this ruined world, but so did honor. What was one without the other?"

-Kristin Hannah, The Women

"Love. A thing to be shouted from the rooftops, celebrated, not cultivated in secret and clipped into shape in the dark."

-Kristin Hannah, The Women

Cover of After Annie by Anna Quindlen

2. After Annie

By: Anna Quindlen

4.03

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover

When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her four young children and her closest friend are lef… read more

Similar categories in Anna Quindlen's After Annie book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • adult
  • fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The Berry Pickers by Amanda    Peters

3. The Berry Pickers

By: Amanda Peters

4.14

Format: 307 pages, Hardcover

A four-year-old Mi’kmaq girl goes missing from the blueberry fields of Maine, sparking a tragic mys… read more

Similar categories in Amanda Peters's The Berry Pickers book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

4. First Lie Wins

By: Ashley Elston

4.05

Format: 340 pages, Hardcover

Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern girl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house w… read more

Similar categories in Ashley Elston's First Lie Wins book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • book club
  • audiobook
"Blunt honesty has more value than blind worship"

-Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins

"It’s because you’re not ready to tell me the truth and I’d rather you not lie to me."

-Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins

"There’s an old saying: The first lie wins. It’s not referring to the little white kind that tumble out with no thought; it refers to the big one. The one that changes the game. The one that is delibe…"

-Ashley Elston, First Lie Wins

Cover of Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

5. Listen for the Lie

By: Amy Tintera

4.13

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if… read more

Similar categories in Amy Tintera's Listen for the Lie book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"Men say shit,"

-Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

"What are you doing here?"

-Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

"We were all so repressed in our twenties,"

-Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

"Lucy, didn’t you want to be a writer once?"

-Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

Cover of The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

6. The Frozen River

By: Ariel Lawhon

4.43

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-cen… read more

Similar categories in Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • historical
  • adult
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of Go as a River by Shelley Read

7. Go as a River

By: Shelley Read

4.28

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

A sweeping, heart-stopping epic of a young woman's journey to becoming, set against the harsh beaut… read more

Similar categories in Shelley Read's Go as a River book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
"Women endure. That’s what we do."

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

"Loss has nothing to do with what you do deserve and don’t deserve."

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

"I learned from their subtle relations... that love is a private matter, to be nurtured, and even mourned, between two beings alone. It belongs to them, and no one else, like a secret treasure, like a…"

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

"Try as we might to convince ourselves otherwise, the moments of our becoming cannot be carefully plucked like the ripest and most satisfying peach from the bough. In the endless stumble toward oursel…"

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

Cover of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See

8. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

By: Lisa See

4.36

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

* NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!* An immersive historical novel inspired by the true story of a woma… read more

Similar categories in Lisa See's Lady Tan’s Circle of Women book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

9. The River We Remember

By: William Kent Krueger

4.29

Format: 421 pages, Hardcover

In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh… read more

Similar categories in William Kent Krueger's The River We Remember book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"Finally, she wrote: The most frightening thing we do in our lives is to love."

-William Kent Krueger, The River We Remember

"People who make other people happy are generally pretty unhappy themselves," she said."

-William Kent Krueger, The River We Remember

"Bluestone said, " Hihanni waste ." "He honnay washtay?" Sam gave him a bewildered half smile. "I'm afraid I don't understand." "Exactly my point," Bluestone said. "I've lived in a white man's world a…"

-William Kent Krueger, The River We Remember

"[Scott] heard the clock on the living room mantel strike midnight, and he could no longer lie there suffering. He slipped from his bed, dressed, and so quietly that he might not even have existed--an…"

-William Kent Krueger, The River We Remember

Cover of James by Percival Everett

10. James

By: Percival Everett

4.54

Format: 303 pages, Hardcover

A brilliant, action-packed reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , both harrowing and f… read more

Similar categories in Percival Everett's James book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • audiobook
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
Cover of The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

11. The Little Liar

By: Mitch Albom

4.59

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

Beloved bestselling author Mitch Albom returns with a powerful novel that moves from a coastal Gree… read more

Similar categories in Mitch Albom's The Little Liar book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Dead men tell no lies, but their truths must be unearthed."

-Mitch Albom, The Little Liar

"But the lies you tell by daylight leave you lonesome in the dark."

-Mitch Albom, The Little Liar

"The sad thing is, by the time you share what a loved one wants to hear, they no longer want to hear it."

-Mitch Albom, The Little Liar

"...a lie told once is easy to expose, but a lie told a thousand times can look like the truth. And destroy the world."

-Mitch Albom, The Little Liar

Cover of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James   McBride

12. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

By: James McBride

4.00

Format: 385 pages, Hardcover

In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new housing de… read more

Similar categories in James McBride's The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • book club
  • audiobook
Cover of Real Americans by Rachel Khong

13. Real Americans

By: Rachel Khong

4.04

Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

From the award-winning author of Goodbye, Vitamin: How far would you go to shape your own destiny?… read more

Similar categories in Rachel Khong's Real Americans book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
"She wasn't normal and so I wasn't either. I resented that part the most."

-Rachel Khong, Real Americans

"It was a habit, with my parents: omitting information, not wanting to worry them unnecessarily. Though they’d raised me so American, I could never manage the sorts of American relationships my friend…"

-Rachel Khong, Real Americans

"With each other they spoke loudly: Their voices periodically rose to excited shouts, and they laughed raucously. In English they were milder mannered, polite. My mother had always spoken English to m…"

-Rachel Khong, Real Americans

Cover of The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

14. The Heiress

By: Rachel Hawkins

3.87

Format: 294 pages, Hardcover

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest w… read more

Similar categories in Rachel Hawkins's The Heiress book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
"One rarely finds salvation in Florida."

-Rachel Hawkins, The Heiress

"Sometimes it's fun to give people enough rope with which to hang themselves."

-Rachel Hawkins, The Heiress

Cover of Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3) by Abby Jimenez

15. Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3)

By: Abby Jimenez

4.40

Format: 432 pages, Paperback

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he d… read more

Similar categories in Abby Jimenez's Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3) book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • adult
  • book club
  • fiction
  • audiobook
"I'm going to let that tall drink of water slam me like a door."

-Abby Jimenez, Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3)

"I swear to God this guy is the epitome of If He Wanted To He Would."

-Abby Jimenez, Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3)

"The best kind of love doesn't happen on moonlit walks and romantic vacations. It happens in between the folds of everyday life."

-Abby Jimenez, Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3)

"I’ve been waiting my whole life to feel like this and I thought it was a curse that nobody else ever worked out. But it wasn’t. It’s just that they weren’t you."

-Abby Jimenez, Just for the Summer (Part of Your World, #3)

Cover of Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

16. Darling Girls

By: Sally Hepworth

4.04

Format: 359 pages, Hardcover

SISTERS, SECRETS, LOVE, AND MURDER... Sally Hepworth’s new novel has it all. For as long as they… read more

Similar categories in Sally Hepworth's Darling Girls book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
"She didn’t do well out of her routine."

-Sally Hepworth, Darling Girls

"[…] the dogs burst out into the night in search of nocturnal animals to torment."

-Sally Hepworth, Darling Girls

"She had a very specific routine that she had to follow if she was to have the slightest hope of drifting off."

-Sally Hepworth, Darling Girls

"Today had involved far too much talking. Norah appreciated the great wonder of communication as much as the next person, but she despised it in excess."

-Sally Hepworth, Darling Girls

Cover of The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn

17. The Phoenix Crown

By: Kate Quinn

3.82

Format: 384 pages, Paperback

From bestselling authors Janie Chang and Kate Quinn, a thrilling and unforgettable narrative about … read more

Similar categories in Kate Quinn's The Phoenix Crown book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of Shelterwood by Lisa Wingate

18. Shelterwood

By: Lisa Wingate

3.88

Format: 368 pages, Hardcover

A sweeping novel inspired by the untold history of women pioneers who fought to protect children ca… read more

Similar categories in Lisa Wingate's Shelterwood book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • audiobook
"What lucky people we readers are that we live not just one life, but many, and diving into yet another is as easy as opening a book."

-Lisa Wingate, Shelterwood

"That was a perilous area. . .Graves could be anywhere and undoubtedly are. We walk over history, unaware, every day in all places. We sleep atop it. When we rest our heads at night, we've no way of k…"

-Lisa Wingate, Shelterwood

"The light between them outshines the November day. My heartstrings tug, and I want to call my mother and my grandmother, the women who built me - who implanted the idea that whatever path I chose for…"

-Lisa Wingate, Shelterwood

"I take a deep breath, lose myself in the healing power of feeling the world breathe, water over stones, wind against trees, last year's dry leaves tumbling along expanses of rock, in the play of clou…"

-Lisa Wingate, Shelterwood

Cover of All the Colors of the Dark by Chris  Whitaker

19. All the Colors of the Dark

By: Chris Whitaker

4.44

Format: 608 pages, Hardcover

From the New York Times bestselling author of We Begin at the End comes a soaring thriller and an e… read more

Similar categories in Chris Whitaker's All the Colors of the Dark book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • adult
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • crime
  • audiobook
Cover of The God of the Woods by Liz    Moore

20. The God of the Woods

By: Liz Moore

4.27

Format: 490 pages, Kindle Edition

When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide Early morning, Augu… read more

Similar categories in Liz Moore's The God of the Woods book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

21. The Briar Club

By: Kate Quinn

4.35

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

A haunting and powerful story of female friendships and secrets in a Washington, D.C. boardinghouse… read more

Similar categories in Kate Quinn's The Briar Club book and Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River

  • mystery thriller
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • thriller
  • adult
  • audiobook
"You can't call yourself a proper home without the regular smell of good food..."

-Kate Quinn, The Briar Club

"And guilt roiled in his stomach because he wanted to love his mother, and sometimes what pulsed through him came horribly close to hate."

-Kate Quinn, The Briar Club

"Be selfish, stick to the plan Claire had clung to since she was 16. Look out for herself and no one else, because love was for suckers and happiness meant a well-stocked bank account and a house you …"

-Kate Quinn, The Briar Club

"Happiness is a choice as much as anything. Or you could choose to be angry, and if you stay angry long enough, it will become comfortable, like an old robe. But eventually you’ll realize that old rob…"

-Kate Quinn, The Briar Club

21 Top fiction books like The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

Transform Your Habits

The Women

Kristin Hannah

4.64

Transform Your Habits

After Annie

Anna Quindlen

4.03

Transform Your Habits

The Berry Pickers

Amanda Peters

4.14

Transform Your Habits

First Lie Wins

Ashley Elston

4.05

View all the books

21 best-selling fiction books like The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Transform Your Habits

Listen for the Lie

Amy Tintera

4.13

Transform Your Habits

Margo's Got Money Troubles

Rufi Thorpe

3.97

Transform Your Habits

Real Americans

Rachel Khong

4.04

Transform Your Habits

Here One Moment

Liane Moriarty

4.15

View all the books

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