7 Snowbound Mysteries Where No One Can Leave

A snowdrift stops the Orient Express. A blizzard knocks out the lights at a Catskills inn. An avalanche cuts off a chalet in the French Alps. In these seven snowbound mysteries, the weather makes it harder to leave, call for help, or get away from the person you suspect. The best choice depends on whom you’d least like to be stranded with: strangers, old friends, coworkers, or family.

Start with Murder on the Orient Express for a classic detective puzzle, An Unwanted Guest for a snowed-in inn full of strangers, or The Hunting Party for a reunion where everyone remembers an old grievance. All seven recommendations are spoiler-free.

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1. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

A snowdrift stops the Orient Express, and a passenger is found murdered in his compartment. With the train stranded, Hercule Poirot can interview the people on board while their accounts of the night are still fresh.

Pick this one if you like testing each new clue against what someone said three chapters ago. A train corridor gives Christie a wonderfully simple way to do that. If someone moved through it during the night, who was in a position to see or hear them?

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2. An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

A winter weekend at Mitchell’s Inn in the Catskills takes a turn when a blizzard cuts the power and leaves the guests out of contact with the outside world. One death might be an accident. A second gives everyone a reason to reconsider what happened the first time.

This is the pick if you want the familiar pleasure of a hotel full of suspects. The guests have only just met, so a reassuring first impression carries more weight than it should. Lapena makes it easy to understand why someone might trust the wrong person simply because they seem calm in the dark.

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3. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Old university friends spend New Year’s at a remote estate in the Scottish Highlands. A blizzard seals off the lodge, and by New Year’s Day someone is dead. The reunion has already given everyone plenty of time to remember why they get on one another’s nerves.

Choose this if you like mysteries where the relationships are evidence. The same remark can sound affectionate to a newcomer and vicious to someone who knows the group’s history. Foley lets the reader learn those differences as the reunion comes apart.

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4. One by One by Ruth Ware

The team behind a music app heads to a French Alpine chalet, where a potential buyout divides the group. Then an avalanche cuts them off from help and one guest is missing. A retreat that was supposed to settle the company’s future suddenly has more immediate problems.

Ware makes good use of the awkwardness of a work trip. The people who were calculating what they stood to gain from a deal now have to decide who should make decisions for the group. Read this one if you want the cold outside to feel as dangerous as the company inside.

Find One by One on Amazon

5. 1222 by Anne Holt

A train derails in the Norwegian mountains, sending its passengers to a nearby hotel for shelter. A severe snowstorm keeps them there. When people start turning up dead, former police inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen has an investigation on her hands even though she would prefer to be left alone.

Pair this with Christie if you’re intrigued by how differently two detectives handle a railway emergency. Poirot can work through the confines of a train. Hanne has to get a read on a crowd of displaced travelers who have already been through one disaster. This is the eighth Hanne Wilhelmsen novel, so earlier books give more context for her history.

See the Scribner edition of 1222

6. The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

Detective Elin Warner travels to a hotel in the Swiss Alps for her estranged brother’s engagement celebration. The building used to be a sanatorium, and Elin is uneasy there even before her brother’s fiancée vanishes. A worsening storm cuts the hotel off and makes the disappearance much harder to investigate.

Go here for the most Gothic setting on the list. The building’s former life gives you another line of inquiry alongside Elin’s family tensions. The hotel has been redesigned for paying guests, and part of the suspense comes from wondering what its new owners would prefer those guests never ask about.

Find The Sanatorium on Amazon

7. An English Murder by Cyril Hare

A Christmas gathering at Warbeck Hall turns into a murder investigation. Deep snow isolates the house, and the telephone line goes down. The relatives, guests, and staff are stuck together while they try to make sense of the death.

This is the pick if you enjoy reading a room as much as following a clue. Pay attention to who feels entitled to speak, who gets listened to, and what the guests assume about one another. For more short mysteries with a seasonal setting, see our review of Agatha Christie’s Midwinter Murder.

Look up An English Murder for your winter reading list

Which snowbound mystery should you read first?

For a first snowbound mystery, I’d pick Murder on the Orient Express. The stopped train puts a useful limit on where people could have gone, so you can make your own deductions alongside Poirot. If you’d prefer to spend the evening wondering how well you know your friends, try The Hunting Party. Save One by One for a night when you want the prospect of going outside to feel almost as bad as staying in.

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