Mysteries & Thrillers for Black History Month

It’s no secret that genre fiction still has a ways to go in terms of representation. But the many talented Black authors working in the mystery and thriller space make this a rich area to explore every month of the year, not just this one. From prize-winning contemporary authors to standard bearers of African American legacy, see who made our list of outstanding Black crime writers.
Product List
  • A Rage in Harlem Audiobook By Chester Himes cover art

    • A Rage in Harlem

    • A Grave Digger & Coffin Ed Novel
    • By: Chester Himes
    • Narrated by: Samuel L. Jackson
    • Series: Grave Digger and Coffin Ed, Book 0.5
    • Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
    • Release date: 03-08-12
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,293 ratings
    • Who brings the rage better than Samuel L. Jackson?
    • Chester Himes displays masterful storytelling in one of his novels that helped pave the way and inspire other Black mystery writers. Brought to life by the powerful narration of Samuel L. Jackson, the story follows Jackson, who after being scammed by his girlfriend and her notorious husband, solicits the help of his twin brother to get revenge against the crooks who played him. The Harlem setting makes this an especially perfect listen for Black History Month.

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  • The Good House Audiobook By Tananarive Due cover art

    • The Good House

    • By: Tananarive Due
    • Narrated by: Robin Miles
    • Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins
    • Release date: 07-09-04
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 4,877 ratings
    • This story goes deeper than a haunted house.
    • Tananarive Due’s The Good House is a terror-driven tale punctuated by a master of narration, Robin Miles, that goes beyond your average ghost story. Due’s ability to dive into Black identity issues is exemplified by the struggle of protagonist Angela Touissant, who as a Haitian American struggles to understand how her dual backgrounds can intersect. While battling the evil that plagues her house, Angela also battles her own demons that limit her from defeating her enemy.

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  • Down the River unto the Sea Audiobook By Walter Mosley cover art

    • Down the River unto the Sea

    • By: Walter Mosley
    • Narrated by: Dion Graham
    • Series: King Oliver, Book 1
    • Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
    • Release date: 02-20-18
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 3,302 ratings
    • What do you do when you’re Black and blue?
    • Joe King Oliver dedicated his life to being the best NYPD officer he could be, but that doesn’t stop him from being framed for a crime he didn’t commit by people he once worked with. Once he finds out the truth, he must save his reputation and prevent it from happening again to another. Walter Mosley brings his pen, and Dion Graham his powerful narration, to societal issues such as police brutality and abuse of power.

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  • The Unkind Hours Audiobook By Dwayne Alexander Smith cover art

    • The Unkind Hours

    • By: Dwayne Alexander Smith
    • Narrated by: Tom Jordan
    • Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
    • Release date: 08-13-18
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 140 ratings
    • Revenge is a rocky road.
    • NAACP Image Award winner Dwayne Alexander Smith weaves the thrilling tale of one man’s path to getting the justice he feels he deserves. Steve Burns, a former player of the MLB, is distraught and dismayed over the unsolved murder case of his daughter, when he gets the opportunity to exact his own revenge. Sometimes forgiveness is not an option.

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  • The Ancient Nine Audiobook By Ian K. Smith cover art

    • The Ancient Nine

    • A Novel
    • By: Ian K. Smith
    • Narrated by: Brad Sanders
    • Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins
    • Release date: 09-18-18
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 478 ratings
    • Harvard is the new Da Vinci Code.
    • Ian Smith suspends belief as he unearths the mysteries swirling within the oldest college in the US, Harvard. Spencer Collins, one of the very few Black students attending, has received his calling to be inducted into one of the elite clubs. However, with his best friend, he discovers that beneath the secret lies another secret: The Ancient Nine. Spencer must decide how much this secret means to him before he is swept under it.

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  • The Emperor of Ocean Park Audiobook By Stephen L. Carter cover art

    • The Emperor of Ocean Park

    • By: Stephen L. Carter
    • Narrated by: Richard Allen
    • Series: Elm Harbor, Book 1
    • Length: 26 hrs and 5 mins
    • Release date: 04-15-04
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 222 ratings
    • A stylish legal thriller with literary chops.
    • Stephen L. Carter invites us into the rarified East Coast legal community, a world he knows well (in addition to being an author, he teaches law at Yale), where professor Talcott Garland is investigating the death of his father, Judge Oliver Garland. The elder Garland had been humiliated late in life by a scandal that arose during his Supreme Court nomination, and now his son must avert an even greater crisis before it's too late.

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  • Blanche on the Lam Audiobook By Barbara Neely cover art

    • Blanche on the Lam

    • Blanche White Series, Book 1
    • By: Barbara Neely
    • Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts
    • Series: Blanche White Series, Book 1
    • Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
    • Release date: 09-20-17
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 434 ratings
    • A Southern mystery with humor to spare.
    • Meet Blanche White: mother, Black housekeeper to the wealthy in North Carolina, and amateur sleuth. When Blanche ends up the prime suspect in a murder investigation, she relies on her wits—and a network of other domestic workers—in this first adventure of a classic series. The narration by Lisa Reneé Pitts is superb.

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  • Trick Baby Audiobook By Iceberg Slim cover art

    • Trick Baby

    • The Story of a White Negro
    • By: Iceberg Slim
    • Narrated by: Cary Hite
    • Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
    • Release date: 08-13-14
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 857 ratings
    • Can’t knock the hustle.
    • While not technically in the thriller genre, this classic Iceberg Slim novel is too gritty, suspenseful and downright entertaining to pass up. The writer otherwise known as Robert Beck introduced the world to the hustle of South Side Chicago, a style that went on to inform blaxploitation films and gangsta rap. In Trick Baby, a con artist named White Folks (whose pale skin is light enough to let him pass as white) spins an unbelievable tale, perfectly read by Cary Hite.

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  • The Strivers' Row Spy Audiobook By Jason Overstreet cover art

    • The Strivers' Row Spy

    • By: Jason Overstreet
    • Narrated by: Avery Glymph
    • Length: 11 hrs and 23 mins
    • Release date: 08-30-16
    • Language: English
    • 4.5 out of 5 stars 34 ratings
    • Black history with a side of espionage.
    • Jason Overstreet’s Renaissance Series is almost tailor made for Black History Month: Its primary objective is to reveal the more obscure elements of African American history. His spy protagonist, Sidney Temple, is driven by activist W. E. B. Du Bois’s dream of integration, a marked contrast to the “back to Africa” movement of his rival, Marcus Garvey. The then-burgeoning Harlem Renaissance serves as backdrop to the high-stakes espionage.

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  • Bluebird, Bluebird Audiobook By Attica Locke cover art

    • Bluebird, Bluebird

    • By: Attica Locke
    • Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
    • Series: A Highway 59 Novel, Book 1
    • Length: 9 hrs and 25 mins
    • Release date: 09-13-17
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 2,834 ratings
    • A gold standard in crime.
    • Though she moonlights as a television writer (Empire), Attica Locke is a crime author to us first and foremost. It's hard to pick a favorite, but her novel Bluebird, Bluebird took home one of the industry's most coveted prizes, the Edgar Award for Best Novel, in 2018. Texas Ranger Darren Matthews is looking for the murderer of a Black man and white woman who were fished out of a bayou outside the small town of Lark, Texas. Locke’s lyrical prose, read by JD Jackson, enlivens the racial tension and driving plot of this atmospheric rural noir.

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