44 of the best crime fiction books

With violence erupting between rival gangs and political tensions rising, for war veterans turned investigators Dreghorn and McDaid, murder on their patch in interwar Glasgow is nothing new. But when a man is left brutally executed on a narrowboat on the city’s Forth and Clyde Canal, the pair quickly realise that this isn’t a run-of-the-mill killing. Capturing the tension and grit of interwar Glasgow in this thrilling historical mystery, Cast a Cold Eye is the second Dreghorn and McDaid novel by Robbie Morrison, winner of Bloody Scotland’s Scottish Crime Debut of the Year. 

Months after failing to solve a brutal double murder that rocked a sleepy town in the Northumbrian countryside, DCI Kate Daniels is still reeling from the case and looking for a new chance to prove her mettle. When she’s called to the scene of a murder in Newcastle’s city centre, her opportunity to make amends is clouded when she realises she knows the victim. Caught in a dilemma of whether to disclose what she knows, Daniels soon finds herself being watched and fearing that she might be the killer’s next target. The Murder Wall is the first novel by Mari Hannah to feature veteran investigator DCI Kate Daniels. 

A brand new standalone thriller from David Baldacci, Simply Lies introduces former New Jersey detective and single mother of two Mickey Gibson. When a routine but hoax call to her private investigation firm leads her to discover a body in the mansion of a notorious arms dealer, Gibson soon realises that all is not what it seems. And when the victim is revealed to be a former mob man in Witness Protection, the case begins to unravel even further. Taught, thrilling and packed with the twists Simply Lies is Baldacci at his best.  

Samson and Delilah come up against their biggest case yet in Date with Evil, the eighth crime novel in this series set in the Yorkshire Dales. Delilah Metcalfe finds herself with more than she can handle when a plethora of mysterious crimes suddenly occur in Bruncliffe. With Samson O’Brien stuck in London trying to clear his name, the Dales Detective agency is down an investigator at the worst time possible. As Metcalfe starts to investigate the strange and seemingly linked crimes, O’Brien makes it back to help in the nick of time, and the detectives find themself in more danger than they could have ever imagined. . . 

Based on a real case from the 1920s, Other Women tells the story of Beatrice, one of the thousands of invisible unmarried women trying to make lives for themselves after the First World War, and Kate, the wife of the man Beatrice has fallen in love with. When fantasy and obsession turns to murder, two women who should never have met are connected forever.

When a young mother vanishes from a bustling spring festival, leaving her young baby alone in her pram, her disappearance casts a long shadow over her small outback town. One year later and no closer to finding out what became of Kim Gillespie, Detective Aaron Falk sets out to unearth the secrets behind her disappearance once and for all. With its gripping plot, evocative Australian setting and haunting tale of a woman who vanishes without a trace, Jane Harper’s new thriller is one of the most anticipated crime fiction books of 2023. 

The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s – a small private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic accident. But the local police cannot rule out foul play and the case prompts the return of high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter to the force.  As staff at the school close ranks, the disappearance of another young pupil and the death of an elderly Classics master provide Jazz with important leads, but as snow covers the landscape and another suspect goes missing, Jazz must also confront her personal demons.

This page-turning psychological thriller is from the pen of Ann Cleeves, author of three outstanding TV series – Shetland, Vera and The Long Call. The body of a teenager has been found, and Detective Peter Porteous is called to Cranwell Lake. After studying the missing persons files, he concludes that the dead man is Michael Grey, a mysterious young man reported missing by his foster parents back in the early 70s. A news report of the crime leaves  prison officer Hannah Morton reeling. Michael had been her boyfriend, and they were together the night he disappeared . . .

The second book in the new cosy crime series featuring Tanz, the accidental medium who, with the help of the dead, has become an unwilling crime-solver. Travelling to Newcastle for an acting job, it's not long before the north-east's dead come calling on Tanz. She is soon haunted by visions of a mysterious Gin Palace guarded by a sinister figure. As the pieces of a terrible tragedy begin to make themselves clear, she learns that there's not much the poltergeist will do to keep his secrets his own.

Set in the fast-paced world of high finance, David Baldacci brings us another heart-racing thriller. As Travis Devine swaps fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda for New York's financial district, he is soon embroiled in the greed, power and jealousy that pervades the cut-throat world of investment banking. Every day, Devine puts on a his suit and boards the 6.20 a.m. commuter train to Manhattan. But his routine is quickly shattered by an anonymous email declaring that Sarah Ewes, his colleague and friend, has been found dead – and she is just the first victim. Soon, Devine must question who he can trust and who he must fight . . .  

Daisy Darker is arriving at her grandmother’s house for her eightieth birthday. It is Halloween, and Seaglass – the crumbling Cornish house perched upon its own tiny private island – is at one with the granite rocks it sits on. The Darker family haven’t all been in the same place for over a decade, and when the tide comes in they’ll be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. When the tide goes back out, nothing will ever be the same again, because one of them is a killer . . .

In the eagerly awaited latest installment in the bestselling Roy Grace series, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace finds himself plunged into an unfamiliar and rarefied world of fine art; but beneath the veneer lurks greed, deception and violence. Harry and Freya are an ordinary couple who dreamed for years of finding an overlooked treasure at a car boot sale, until the day they did. Behind the drab portrait they bought for a few pounds, they find a stunning landscape that might just be a long-lost masterpiece from 1770, and worth millions. One collector is certain it's genuine, and he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants. Soon harry and Freya's dream come true becomes a nightmare.

There are two sides to every story, but only one truth. He came to me for help with his marriage. I was alone and afraid. She was there when I needed to talk. I needed to make him understand that he had to get away. I knew what I needed to do. I just couldn’t do it on my own. I trusted her. Now it has gone too far. And I can’t tell anyone what I have done. Now I have nowhere to turn and I just pray they find me before she does. In The Blame Game, a psychologist becomes involved with a patient and each blame the other for what happens next. This is a dark, entertaining and suspenseful thriller from Sandie Jones. 

Ann Cleeves promises a page-turning thriller in her standalone novel, Burial of Ghosts. Following a troubled upbringing, Lizzie Bartholomew seeks escape on a holiday in Morocco, which fellow tourist Philip Samson certainly offers. Little does she know that this affair will have far-reaching consequences. Upon returning to England, a solicitor's letter informs her of Philip's death, and with it a gift of £15,000, forcing Lizzie to confront terrifying secrets from her past . . .

Essential reading for Richard Osman and S. J. Bennet fans, and all those who love their crime cosy. Follow Lulu Lewis as she seeks to resolve the suspicious death of her mother-in-law, Emily, in L T Shearer's gripping whodunit. As a former police detective fraught with grief following the death of her husband, Lulu's retirement is turned upside-down when Emily dies. However, Lulu's not alone. Amidst her quest for answers is Conrad, a remarkable cat who is with her every step of the way.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Michaels begins her investigation of the disappearance of twelve-year-old Esther Bianchi from her home in the small rural Australian town of Durton. For Esther's mother Constance this is the worst thing that could possibly happen. But as the investigation continues, things get worse still. Esther's best friend Ronnie is doing her own investigation. Who is the strange man Esther was seen with at the creek? And why are witnesses refusing to speak to the police?

The Rising Tide is the latest unmissable installment in the bestselling Vera Stanhope series. Fifty years ago, a group of teenagers spent a weekend on Holy Island and forged a bond that would last a lifetime. Now, they still return every five years to celebrate their friendship and remember a friend they once lost to the rising waters of the causeway. But when one of them is found hanged, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope is called in. Learning that the dead man had recently been fired after misconduct allegations, Vera knows she must discover what the friends are hiding, and whether the events of many years before could have led to murder then, and now . . .

Aloysius Archer, investigator and WWII veteran, returns to tackle a new case in Hollywood in this addictive thriller from bestselling author David Baldacci. The setting is LA in 1952, and PI Aloysius Archer is out dining with a friend and aspiring movie star Liberty Callahan when Eleanor Lamb approaches, looking for protection from an attacker. When Lamb vanishes, the subsequent investigation takes Archer from LA glitz to the sordid underbelly of Las Vegas, as he hunts for the missing woman and her presumed attackers.

DS Saul Anguish, a brilliant detective with a difficult past, must face his own demons as he untangles the painful story behind the sudden disappearance of an entire family. 

The kettle is still warm, all the family’s phones are charging on the worktop, but the house is deserted. In fifteen-year-old Riva Holden’s bedroom, scrawled across the mirror in blood, are three words: Make Them Stop. In a gorgeous Art Deco home looking out to the bay of Midtown-on-Sea, a terrible crime has come to light. An entire family – Piper and Gray and their two teenage children – has vanished. 

It's spring in Florence in 1537, and Cesare Aldo is investigating a report that a convent in the northern quarter has been breached. Soon Aldo finds himself immersed in a bitterly divided community. And when a man's body is found in the convent, it seems as if one of the nuns must be the murderer. Meanwhile, Constable Carlo Strocchi finds human body parts in the Arno, which turn out to be the remains of a much feared officer who went missing in the winter. Aldo and Strocchi search for the truth, in an investigation that is increasingly full of peril.

For fans of Bond and Bourne, don't miss this pulse-racing spy thriller by Andrew Grant, the co-author of the Jack Reacher novels. Obliged to leave New York City in the aftermath of his previous mission, David Trevellyan is summoned to the British Consulate in Chicago where, just a week before, his new handler was attacked and shot by a Royal Navy Intelligence operative gone bad. Assigned the task of finding the rogue agent, and putting an end to his treacherous scheme, Trevellyan soon finds that once again his only hope of saving countless innocent lives lies not within the system, but in his instinctive belief.

It is Friday, 5 p.m. You're being interviewed for the job you always wanted, in an office thirteen floors above the city. There's nobody else around but you and the interviewer, and their questions are getting stranger and more unsettling. Your fear is rising, and the only route out is to answer a seemingly impossible question. This nail-biting novel comes from bestselling mystery and thriller author C. M. Ewan.

In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days. Only one person knows the truth of her disappearance – her husband's mistress. The world of Agatha Christie is glamourous parties full of socialites, and country house weekends. But the world of Nan O'Dea is very different. A tough London upbringing followed by a life in Ireland marred by tragedy, Nan has fought her way back to England – with her sights set on Agatha. Despite their differences, the two women will become the most unlikely of allies. And during the mysterious eleven days that Agatha goes missing, they will unravel a dark secret that only Nan holds the key to . . .

It's an idyllic hot summer in North Devon when Detective Matthew Venn gets the call to come to the home of a group of artists – there has been a murder. Dr Nigel Yeo has been stabbed, and the weapon is one of his glassblower daughter's vases. As Matthew attempts to solve the killing of a good man, someone else in the community is slain in a similar way. The key to murders lies disturbingly close to home, in a web of lies which Matthew must attempt to untangle. The latest in the bestselling series featuring Detective Matthew Venn.

This historical crime fiction novel is the second from Laura Shepherd-Robinson, following her award-winning debut Blood & Sugar. Set in London in 1782, it’s the story of Caroline Corsham, who is determined to seek justice for a string of murders of high-class prostitutes – crimes that the police are all too happy to ignore. As she delves deeper into the darkest, hidden corners of Georgian society, Caroline soon finds that much more than her reputation is at stake. . .

Near the dying English seaside town of Ilmarsh, local police detective Alec Nichols discovers sixteen horses’ heads on a farm, each buried with a single eye facing the low winter sun. After forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen travels to the scene, the investigators uncover evidence of a chain of crimes in the community – disappearances, arson and mutilations – all culminating in the reveal of something deadly lurking in the ground. A story of enduring guilt, trauma and punishment, set in a small seaside community the rest of the world has left behind, Sixteen Horses is the debut literary thriller from an extraordinary talent. 

Christmas in LA, 1967, and a devil has been let loose in the city. Kerry, a young nurse who is desperately looking for her missing brother, is terrified that he has become the victim of a serial killer. Ida Young, a recently retired PI, is dragged unwillingly into a murder investigation in which her own name has been found at the crime scene. Mobster Dante Sanfelippo is doing one last job before he can retire to a Napa winery. But is it ever that easy? As the investigation and killings both escalate, the tangled threads of these various stories begin to bring the protagonists closer and closer together. . .

In the highly anticipated final instalment of Camilleri's bestselling series, Inspector Montalbano receives a strange phone call early in the morning, from a caller by the name of Riccardino who claims to be expecting Montalbano's imminent arrival. But later that day, Montalbano learns of a brutal slaying in broad daylight, and while the assassin is unknown the victim's name is Riccardino – and the Inspector's troubles are only just beginning . . . Exquisitely crafted by one of Europe's greatest crime fiction writers, Riccardino is a series finale that is not to be missed.

A cargo ship has mysteriously run aground in the Orkney Isles, and forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod is sent to discover how and why the three bodies aboard came to be there. Further south in Glasgow, a young woman has been set on fire. Links between the two tragic incidents point to a wider conspiracy, and Orcadian investigative journalist Ava Clouston gets on the case. Meanwhile the Met and Scottish police clash, as dark forces move to protect government interests and the death toll threatens to mount.

Marcia Williams thought she knew her son. She was wrong. Marcia is heading to the Old Bailey. She's going there to do something no mother should ever have to do: to attend the trial of the boy accused of her son's murder. She's not meant to be that woman; Ryan, her son, wasn't that kind of boy. But Tyson Manley is that kind of a boy and, as his trial unfolds, it becomes clear that it's his girlfriend Sweetie who has the answers Marcia so badly needs and offer Marcia some kind of hope for the future. But Sweetie is as scared of Tyson as Ryan should have been and, as Marcia's learned the hard way, nothing's certain.

When a young husband-to-be vanishes three days before his wedding after a prank on his stag night goes awry, his distraught fiancée enlists the task of finding him to Detective Superintendent Roy Grace. As Grace attempts to recreate the timeline from that fateful night, he finds that some of the wedding party are holding onto secrets that may help him crack the case. The first novel in Peter James DS Roy Grace, Dead Simple will leave you guessing until the final page. 

Escape the winter chill and step into the sun-soaked Sicilian setting of Andrea Camilleri’s brilliantly witty Inspector Montalbano series. The Shape of Water introduces Camilleri’s beloved sleuth as he investigates the mysterious death of a respected and brilliant engineer, whose unexpected death his colleagues are all too ready to declare as due to natural causes. With its corrupt politicians, red herrings and the island’s ever-present mobsters, The Shape of Water is escapist crime writing at its page-turning best.

You know Vera Stanhope, now meet Inspector Jimmy Perez. When New Year’s Day brings a fresh blanket of snow to Shetland and the discovery of a shocking murder, panic and distrust quickly spread through the island’s tight-knit community. When the rumour mill points the finger of blame at a lonely outcast who lives near the murder scene, it seems that an arrest is on the horizon. Not ready to close the case, Inspector Jimmy Perez insists on looking beyond the obvious suspects and swiftly unearths long-forgotten secrets the islanders would rather leave in the past. 

Amos Decker returned home eighteen months ago to find the bodies of his wife and daughter. He didn’t think he could go on living, but when his former police partner tells him someone has confessed to the murders he knows he must seek justice for his family. When thirteen teenagers are gunned down at the local school it seems there is a link between the murders, and Amos must use his incredible memory – a remarkable result of a serious brain injury – to solve the case.

A Japanese cult classic, Ayatsuji's murder mystery puzzle will delight fans of classic whodunnits. Tsunojima is a desolate, rocky island known for a series of gruesome and unsolved murders – the perfect choice for the K-University Mystery Club's annual trip. But after a club member turns up dead, the Mystery Club realise they might have taken on more than their amateur sleuthing skills can handle. Will any of the survivors deduce the murderer's horrific plan before it's too late?

Last Bus to Woodstock is the first novel in Colin Dexter's gripping Inspector Morse crime fiction series. The death of Sylvia Kaye figured dramatically in Thursday afternoon's edition of the Oxford Mail. By Friday evening Inspector Morse had informed the nation that the police were looking for a dangerous man – facing charges of wilful murder, sexual assault and rape. But as the obvious leads fade into twilight and darkness, Morse becomes more and more convinced that passion holds the key. 

The Long Call is the first novel in Ann Cleeve’s latest crime fiction series. Detective Matthew Venn has returned to North Devon where he grew up in, and ultimately turned his back on, a strict evangelical community, losing his family in the process. He’s returned, not only because he is mourning the death of his father, but because he is taking on his first case in the Two Rivers region. A man has been found stabbed to death on the beach, and Venn’s investigation will take him straight to the heart of the community he left behind.

Blanche White is middle-aged African-American housekeeper, working in the homes of the decorous rich in North Carolina. But after one employer refuses to pay her, she goes on the lam and begins to work at a summer home for a wealthy family. It's a great plan, until she finds herself as the prime suspect of a murder investigation. Using all of her quick wit and years of experience as a domestic made, she must uncover the truth and clear her name. Revealing the quirks of southern society with a biting irony, Barbara Neely's Blanche White has quickly become one of the most original and well-loved characters to appear in crime fiction.

Hailed as Japan's greatest classic murder mystery, Seishi Yokomizo's story has been translated into English for the first time. In the depths of winter, 1937, excitement grows throughout the rural Japanese village of Okamura as the wedding of a son of the famous Ichiyanagi family approaches, despite the worrying presence of a masked man lurking in the village. But on the night of the wedding, a terrible death upends the Ichiyanagi household – with the only clue being a bloody samurai sword left in the snow outside the house. Can amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi find the killer, and unravel what is appears to be an impossible crime?

Korede has always been a good big sister, stepping in to help her little sibling clean up her messes. Unfortunately, Ayoola’s messes tend to be lethal.  In fact, she’s dispatched her last three boyfriends in ‘self-defence’. Family comes first, until Ayoola starts dating the doctor at the surgery where Korede works . . . 

Ten years ago, Pieta survived a weekend with a serial killer. She never told anyone what happened, but now he’s back – and staying alive might mean revealing her darkest secret. Fifteen years ago, Jody, a policewoman, made a mistake that resulted in the killer going free. When she discovers Pieta’s story, she realises she now has a way to catch him. 

Cover Her Face is the first crime novel in P. D. James’s much-loved crime fiction Adam Dalgliesh series. A parlour maid is found dead at Martingale manor house and Detective Chief-Inspector Adam Dalgliesh is called in to investigate, but he qickly becomes embroiled in the passions that run strong in this seemingly quiet English village. 

After saving a woman from drowning in the Houston bayou, lawyer Jay Porter finds himself entangled in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice – or even his life. But as he attempts to make sense of a dark mystery that threatens the hierarchies of corporate power, while confronting his own banished demons of the past. Shortlisted for the Orange Prize, Black Water Rising was Attica Locke's incredible debut onto the crime fiction scene. 

Hercule Poirot is one of crime fiction's most famous detectives, and Agatha Christie’s hero gets his first outing in this, the first in Agatha Christie’s Poirot crime book series. When Captain Arthur Hastings was invited to the Styles country estate to recuperate from the injuries he sustained in the war, he didn’t expect to stumble across a murder. Luckily, he knows a former detective who has grown bored of retirement . . .