Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was a phenomenon - it sold over 100 million copies worldwide and has been adapted to screen twice. If this book set the bar for psychological thrillers and murder mysteries for you, you’re not alone, it did the same for many of us, too.
We know the feeling of that after-five-star-read book slump, when almost everything you pick up seems slow-paced and boring, which is why we’ve put together this list of 15 new-to-you books, films, TV shows, audiobooks, and podcasts that will scratch the right itch of a journalist fighting for the (gritty) truth - what more could you want?
5 Gritty Journalist Stories to READ Next
As promised, the first book on our list pulls a journalist into the plot by the throat. Cecily Wong goes to Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world to interview Charles McVeigh, a famous climber, as he completes the last leg of record-breaking series of summits. Cecily leaves her entire life in the dust to make it to
the climb, hopeful that it will turn her career around, but things take a turn when a climber dies. By the time a second dies under even more mysterious circumstances, they can’t turn back, and she’s faced with a fight for survival against a mystery killer and a demanding landscape. This breathtaking thriller will appeal to Larsson fans with its high stakes, vicious killer, and determined journalist willing to fight for her story and the truth. Read here.
If you loved watching the characters uncover a historical mystery in Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you’ll love Windhall. While the setting couldn’t be more different (Windhall is set in sunny Los Angeles), Windhall follows investigative journalist Max Hailey as he tries to uncover the truth behind the murder of a Golden Age
star, found dead in a director’s rose garden. When copy-cat murders start taking place, Hailey must piece together the past and present to find out what’s really going on, before it’s too late. Read here.
If you’re a fan of Steig Larsson, make sure you add this book to your to-read list. The Woman in Cabin 10 follows journalist Lo Blacklock as she embarks on the opportunity of a lifetime - reviewing a cruise with just a handful of luxury cabins. As the ship sets sail across the frigid North Sea, Lo watches as a woman is
thrown overboard. She raises the alarm, but no passengers are missing. So what did she see? If you love psychological thrillers combined with traditional locked door mysteries, The Woman in Cabin 10 will be well worth your time. Read here.
Night Film has many of the same qualities we loved about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; it has a veteran investigative journalist (Scott McGrath), a mysterious family dynasty, and dark undertones. When a young woman is found dead in a Manhattan warehouse, police rule her death a suicide, but McGrath
suspects otherwise. When he starts probing into her history, he learns she’s the daughter of a cult horror film director who hasn’t been seen in over 30 years. Driven by his need to learn the truth, McGrath risks everything to expose the family’s secrets. Just like Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, this book will keep you guessing page after page. You can get your hands on this tome (it’s over 600 pages!) Read here.
Silver is the second book in the Martin Scarsden series, a journalist that finds himself wrapped up in murder investigations while running from his past. You can read this book as a standalone, but it’s the follow-up to the best-selling book Scrublands, so reading book one first won’t disappoint. In Silver, Martin returns
to his hometown and the traumatic memories it holds. His new girlfriend, Mandy, goes on ahead of him, and he arrives to find her in the seaside home she inherited with blood on her hands and the dead body of his high school best friend at her feet. Mandy becomes the prime suspect, and Martin jumps into action trying to prove her innocence in what the police believe to be a cut-and-dry case.
Silver is available exclusively in paperback or hardback, and is set in Australia, which makes a nice change of pace from US and UK-based murder mysteries and thrillers. If you loved following Mikael, you’ll love Martin, too. Read here.
Find Your Next Thrill
Sign up here for exclusive access to giveaways, discounts, and outstanding book recommendations.
5 Gritty Journalist Stories to WATCH Next
Sharp Objects is the screen adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s book of the same name, the famous author of The Girl on the Train. This TV adaptation features Amy Adams in one of her most serious roles as reporter Camilla Preaker, a woman only recently released from a psychiatric hospital, returning to cover the
murder of two young girls. If you’ve yet to see or read this great psychological thriller, watch this HBO adaptation, and then go back and read the book. Watch here.
This gritty Scottish TV series isn’t for anyone looking for something lighthearted to watch before bed, but since you loved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, we can safely assume you’re not afraid of looking at the darker side of life. The Field of Blood is an adaptation of the Denise Mina novel Field of Blood, which follows
rookie journalist Paddy Meehan as she’s given her first big break - following the murder of a three-year-old boy. Things take a turn when her fiance’s cousin, a ten-year-old boy, becomes the prime suspect. Full of family drama and dark revelations, this short TV series (there are only two episodes per season and only two seasons) will keep you gripped from beginning to end. The second series follows the second book in the series, The Dead Hour.. Watch here.
The 2013 film Prisoners follows Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal), as they investigate the disappearance of Dover’s children. Loki is sure he knows who did it, but struggles to find the evidence to arrest the kidnapper. Dover won’t wait as the minutes turn into hours, and sets
out to find his children on his own. While not a true whodunnit, there are certainly locked door elements to this mystery, and like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Prisoners explores some dark themes. Watch here.
The 2003 film Identity sees 11 people stranded in a remote Nevada motel in a dangerous storm when guests start getting killed off one by one. The guests band together, the killer among them. Ex-cop Officer Rhodes organizes everyone to help them try and figure out who the killer is. A twist on the
traditional locked door mystery, Identity sees all victims, suspects, and investigators locked inside one location. If you recently watched Knives Out and are ready for something with some of the grit of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Identity is well worth a watch. Watch here.
If The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo sold you on Nordic-style mysteries, give Broen/Bron a try. They recently remade this series for American audiences, but it’s not as good as the original, so if you can get your hands on it (it has been on Netflix recently) and watch it with subtitles, do. Whichever version you watch, it
centers around the discovery of a body on a bridge on the border of two countries (Denmark and Sweden in the original, and America and Mexico in the remake) - only, it’s two halves of two different people. Watch here.
Find Your Next Thrill
Sign up here for exclusive access to giveaways, discounts, and outstanding book recommendations.
5 Gritty Journalist Stories to LISTEN to Next
Yes, this book is technically Young Adult, but that certainly doesn’t mean this murder mystery won’t keep you guessing. Pip, a high school senior, decides to try and cast doubt on the case of a simple murder-suicide involving two high school students that happened five years ago for her final project. As she starts
to pull at threads, the whole case starts to unravel - and the true killer won’t keep their head down for long. This audiobook is narrated by a full cast. Listen here.
2. Arden
Arden is a gripping fictional podcast you’ll love if you like reopened cold cases, dedicated reporters, and twists and turns. httpsArden follows reporter Bea Casely and PI Brenda Bentley as they reopen the case of heiress and star Julie Capsom, who crashed her car on Christmas Day in 2007, walked away, and
then vanished into thin air, leaving behind an unidentified male torso in her trunk. Arden has a lighter tone at times, but with hours of high-quality free listening on offer, you’d be crazy not to try it. Find their website here, but it’s available on all podcatchers.
From the creators of Serial and This American Life comes S Town, a fictional murder mystery. Reluctant Alabama small-town resident John asks an NPR reporter to investigate the son of a wealthy local family who has, allegedly, been bragging about getting away with the unsolved murder of a local teen. The story
follows reporter Brian, as he realizes the story isn’t quite what it seemed. S Town is available on all podcatchers, or find their website here.
Limetown is a locked door mystery with a twist - instead of finding one person missing or dead, 300 people disappear from a small Tennessee town. A decade later, investigative reporter Lia Haddock interviews the people who were left behind, and as she nears the truth, the danger intensifies.
You can find the podcast here - the show was also adapted as a TV show for Facebook Watch.
Being the book lovers we are, this podcast was enjoyable not just for its great mystery and captivating characters, but also for the weaving in of classic literature. Teen sleuth Tig Torres investigates a series of murders in her hometown she believes her aunt was framed for. Each murder depicted a scene
from a famous novel. As Tig investigates, the killer strikes again, and it’s soon clear that Tig is their next target. You can find the podcast here.
