15 Suspenseful Books Like The Inheritance Games

Last Updated on November 11, 2023 by Louisa

So you finished The Inheritance Games, and you’re looking for other gripping mystery books to get lost in. I finished the book in one sitting.

It completely sucked me in from the first page. I fell in love with the story and the mystery Tobias Hawthorne left behind.

The Inheritance Games is an engrossing young adult mystery with compelling romance and leaves the reader craving more like it. It’s like the film Knives Out if it was a book!

The Inheritance Games is a masterfully written young adult mystery that kept me turning the page to unravel the mystery. If you’re hunting for books like The Inheritance Games, you’ll love these similar books…

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Summary of The Inheritance Games
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Before I go into the top similar books to The Inheritance Games, let’s quickly recap the storyline.

Avery Kylie Grambs lives with her sister, Libby, after her mother’s untimely death. She’s intelligent and ambitious, with dreams of attending the University of Connecticut with a full scholarship.

One day, she discovers that a billionaire she doesn’t remember meeting left her his entire estate. The only stipulation: she must live in The Hawthorne House for one year before claiming it.

Avery agrees and moves in and discovers she’s living there with his family, who are irate that he left his fortune to her.

With the help of Hawthorne’s grandsons, she tries to solve the mystery of why she is in his will. While doing so they uncover old Hawthorne family secrets that leave Avery worried about her survival.

Books Like The Inheritance Games

Now that you have been reminded of the story, it’s time to look at the top similar books to The Inheritance Games…

1. Hotel Magnifique – Emily J. Taylor

Jani and Zosa are barely scraping by with Jani’s tannery job in the town of Durc.

Then one day, The Hotel Magnifique arrives in town. The legendary hotel is shrouded in mystery and magic as it arrives in a new location every morning.

Since they can’t afford to stay the night, Jani and Zosa interview to become staff at the hotel.

They’re accepted and quickly learn that the contract they sign is unbreakable. Jani does whatever she can to break her and Zosa’s contracts by uncovering the hotel’s secrets.

Hotel Magnifique is an enchanting read perfect for those who love worldbuilding and attention to detail.

2. Truly Devious – Maureen Johnson

Ellingham Academy is a world-class boarding school for students eager to challenge themselves with whimsical games, puzzles, riddles, and academic freedom.

Stevie Bell is invited to attend and is determined to put her true crime-obsessed brain to good use by solving a cold case tied to the school.

In 1936 the Academy’s founder Albert Ellingham’s wife and daughter were kidnapped and held for ransom. The ransom note is signed by “Truly Devious.”

With the help of her fellow students, Stevie explores the school and looks for clues. However, the investigation turns deadly when “Truly Devious” makes a surprise return.

Truly Devious is an excellent next read after finishing The Inheritance Games for the readers who enjoyed the puzzles and riddles deep inside Hawthorne House.

3. The Gilded Wolves – Roshani Chokshi

Set at the end of the 19th century in Paris, France, as the World Fair is about to be held, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie is offered a chance to reclaim his birthright.

An Ancient Order offers him a chance to rejoin the ruling elite of France if he can bring them a fragment from The Tower of Babel.

Séverin assembles an unlikely team to pull off the heist of the millennium to recover the artifact and regain his inheritance.

Together the team explores Paris and uncovers secrets that might change history as they know it.

The Gilded Wolves is an epic fantasy by Roshani Chokshi that’s shrouded in mystery, perfect for readers who want to fall in love with the characters of a story.

4. We Were Liars – E. Lockhart

We Were Liars is one of my favorite books like The Inheritance Games because it also has themes of family drama and secrecy.

The story follows Cadence Sinclair, a member of the wealthy Sinclair family who spends their summers vacationing on a private island.

When Cadance was 15 years old, she was part of a group known as The Liars, comprised of children from other wealthy families vacationing.

That summer, she suffered a terrible swimming accident and a serious brain injury. Two years later, she returns to the island to share what happened.

Written in a way that highlights the narrator’s struggles to understand the truth, We Were Liars would engross you in Cadance’s story and shock you with what you discover along the way.

Related Reading: Books Like We Were Liars

5. They Wish They Were Us – Jessica Goodman

During freshman year of high school, Shaila Arnold was murdered by her boyfriend, Graham. He confessed to the crime, and Shaila’s best friend, Jill, carried on without her.

Three years later, Jill is determined to have the perfect senior year. She’s been inducted into the school’s secret society known as The Players, where she knows she’ll attend the best parties and her grades will be perfect.

The year starts as everything Jill wanted it to be until she receives a mysterious text proclaiming Graham’s innocence. She digs deeper to discover the truth about her best friend’s murder.

They Wish They Were Us is a blend of Gossip Girl and One of Us is Lying. It’s a great mystery to dive into after finishing The Inheritance Games.

6. Not a Happy Family – Shari Lapena

The Merton family is about as wealthy as any family can be. They appear to be a happy family with three loving children, but behind the facade are vindictive and negligent parents and children who despise them.

Holiday dinners are mandatory for the three siblings to attend, so they all arrive at their upstate New York mansion for Easter Sunday dinner. On Tuesday, Fred and Sheila Merton are found dead in their home. 

Who could have killed them when it seems everyone there had a motive?

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena is a riveting crime mystery that twists and makes you question what could have happened.

7. Little White Lies – Jennifer Lynn Barnes

If you want to read something like The Inheritance Games, why not check out another upper-class mystery by the same author?

Little White Lies is about 18-year-old Sawyer Taft, an auto mechanic estranged from her family. Her grandmother shows up at her door and offers her a generous sum of money to participate in the debutante season.

Sawyer agrees, hoping she can uncover information about who her father is.

She makes unexpected friends with some of the debutantes and uncovers secrets about them and their families that they would do anything to keep hidden.

8. Dark and Shallow Lies – Ginny Myers Sain

When 17-year-old Grey returns to her hometown of La Cachette, Louisiana – the “psychic capital of the world,” according to the residents – she begins investigating the disappearance of her best friend, Elora.

Grey and Elora are two of the ten “Summer Children,” a group of babies born in a single summer. While most others have developed their psychic abilities, Grey had none.

That is until she returned to La Cachette the summer after Elora’s disappearance. She begins seeing visions that uncover old secrets in the community.

Dark and Shallow Lies is a paranormal mystery/thriller set in the captivating town of La Cachette, where the southern gothic themes in the book take on a new life.

This is a great option if you’re looking for another mystery to hook you, as The Inheritance Games did.

9. Thirteen – Steve Cavanaugh

Bobby Solomon is a movie star and half of an infamous Hollywood power couple. The news that Bobby killed his wife shocked the nation.

Former conman turned lawyer agrees to defend Bobby as he believes he is innocent of the crime what he doesn’t know is that the real killer is on the jury.

The story is told from Eddie and Kane’s perspectives as Eddie unravels the mystery, and Kane stays at least one step ahead of him the entire time.

The mystery is intricately woven together and makes for a puzzling read. Thirteen is a perfect book to read after The Inheritance Games. 

10. The Counselors – Jessica Goodman

Another book on the list written by Jessica Goodman is The Counselors.

The book follows Goldie, a wealthy teenager who attends Camp Alpine Lake every summer. This year, she comes back as a camp counselor and can’t wait to talk to her friends Ava and Imogen. Goldie has a dark secret she wants to share.

One night while driving drunk with her crush, Heller, they hit someone and accidentally killed them. Heller asks Goldie to take the blame so that he won’t lose his Princeton scholarship, and she agrees. The town then shunned Goldie.

But when Heller is found dead in the lake, and his death is ruled an accidental drowning, Goldie knows something is wrong. She digs deeper into his death, risking breaking lifelong friendships.

11. One of Us is Lying – Karen M. McManus

Five students, all 1980s teen movie cliches, are sent to detention for using their phones during class. The brain, the beauty, the athlete, the criminal, and the outcast.

Only four students left detention alive.

Simon, the outcast, runs a popular gossip app and has dirt on all four of his classmates in detention with him.

He was planning on releasing it to the rest of the school soon. All four students are considered suspects in his murder investigation after police find the information about them.

The four students are advised to keep their distance while their lawyers try to prove their innocence, but they’re forced to come together if they want to find out the truth.

Related Reading: Books Like One Of Us Is Lying

12. A Good Girls Guide to Murder – Holly Jackson

The murder of Andie Bell has haunted the town of Fairview.

Police are confident that her boyfriend, Sal Singh, killed her before taking his own life, and so is the rest of the town. Pippa doesn’t believe that story.

For her senior project, Pippa reinvestigates the murder to cast doubt on the original investigation. She quickly discovers clues and secrets that might prove Sal is innocent.

But someone in town didn’t want anyone to discover that, and Pippa is in danger.

A Good Girls Guide to Murder is a gripping mystery that will keep you turning the pages and thinking about the crime long after you finish.

Related Reading: Books Like A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

13. Nothing More to Tell – Karen M. McManus

Following the unexpected murder of her favorite teacher, Brynne leaves St. Ambrose school behind and moves to Chicago with her father.

The circumstances around Mr. Larkin’s death always vexed her, and when she moves back to Massachusetts and earns an internship at a popular true crime show, she suggests investigating the case.

Three eighth-grade students found Mr. Larkin dead in the woods, one of which was Brynn’s best friend Tripp.

She investigates them and uncovers secrets that change everything she thought she knew about the case.

14. The Naturals – Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Cassie is a gifted people reader, which is something she never thought would be important.

Until the FBI invited her to join a group of other gifted teenagers called “The Naturals.” She joins the team to solve old cold cases with her fellow members.

They all learn that there is much more to the group than what they’ve been told.

A serial killer is on the loose, and when The Naturals are asked to help with the case, Cassie realizes it might be linked to her mother’s murder five years before.

She is determined to find the killer and bring them to justice.

15. Lightlark – Alex Aster

The six realms have been plagued with curses for centuries, and every one hundred years, the rulers are given a chance to break their curse.

The island of Lightlark appears every one hundred years to host a deadly game called The Centennial.

Isla Crown is the ruler of Wildling, a realm full of beautiful temptresses who are cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with.

One of the other rulers must die to break her realm’s curse. Isla will have to betray, lie, and cheat to ensure her survival on the island.

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Final Words on Best Books Like The Inheritance Games

I hope you enjoyed reading these descriptions. There are a lot of great books like The Inheritance Games out there to choose from.

These are some of the best young adult mystery books on the market today!

If you can think of any more books that should be on my list, let me know in the comments.