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Find out moreEnter the criminal underworld and solve a complex case all from the comfort of your favourite reading nook. Have a look at our Crime/Mystery selection to get your hands on the latest and greatest case and get mystery solving! You might also be interested in our Thriller and Suspense categories.
Red Bones is the third book in Ann Cleeves' Shetland series - which is now the major BBC1 drama starring Douglas Henshall, Shetland. When an elderly woman is shot in what appears to be a tragic accident, Shetland detective Jimmy Perez is called to investigate the mystery. The Shetland series:1. Raven Black2. White Nights3. Red Bones4. Blue Lightning5. Dead Water6. Thin Air
Shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger 2011. In this stunning new novel DS Alex Morrow discovers that nothing is sacred, even human life...The End of the Wasp Season is an accomplished, compelling and multi-layered novel, which traces the damaging consequences of one man's selfish actions in a world ravaged by recession and questioning everything it previously held sacred. CWA Judges’ comments: 'A complex exploration of the economic motives which link a murder in Glasgow and a suicide in suburban England; Mina’s pregnant police detective’s own complicated personal background and career history give her a rare depth of character and understanding as she leads her team’s investigation into the disturbing undercurrents and repercussions of economic recession.'
The sequel to Night Sins is equally as compelling as it’s predecessor. We have a new heroine in Ellen North, the Assistant County Attorney, but all the suspense and intrigue of the first thriller. The plot line is great with new characters being brought in at each new twist and turn, cleverly interwoven in to the lives of each other. Something to really get your teeth in to.
Like James Lee Burke; read John Connolly. Few crime writers flirt with the supernatural, as its essence basically denies some of the major rules of mystery writing, but both Burke and Connolly do so and you never feel cheated. Burke’s Louisiana investigator Dave Robicheaux talks with the dead, while Connolly’s mourning cop Charlie Parker lives with the ghosts of his past. But their solid plots and gripping adventures prove hypnotically atmospheric, and the America they unveil in their books is different from any one else’s: lush, mysterious and compelling.Recommended:James Lee Burke - IN THE ELECTRIC MIST WITH CONFEDERATE DEAD. The body of a black man in a bayou leads Robicheaux through a maze of intrigue with roots in the past and contemporary corruption. Exquisitely written to the extent that landscape and mood become as important as actual plot.John Connolly - THE LOVERS. Charlie Parker is down on his luck, stripped of his investigator’s license and working in a bar when the past rushes back with a vengeance, and the death of an innocent young couple uncovers layers of deception.
One of Peter Snow's favourite books. Stephanie Plum is down on her luck. She's lost her job, her car's on the brink of repossession, and her apartment is fast becoming furniture-free. Enter Cousin Vinnie, a low-life who runs a bail-bond company. If Stephanie can bring in vice cop turned outlaw Joe Morelli, she stands to pick up $10,000. But tracking down a cop wanted for murder isn't easy...And when Benito Ramirez, a prize-fighter with more menace than mentality, wants to be her friend Stephanie soon knows what it's like to be pursued. Unfortunately the best person to protect her just happens to be on the run...
October 2013 Guest Editor Linwood Barclay on Judgement in Stone by Ruth Rendell... This might just be the most daring crime novel ever written. In the first thirteen words, Rendell tells you who was murdered, who did it, and why. Well, why continue? Because those thirteen words set out a scenario so incredible, so hard to comprehend, you simply have to read on. Sheer genius.
Like Raymond Chandler; read Michael Connelly. Both these American master storytellers principally write about Los Angeles and its boulevards of broken dreams and toil in the so-called hardboiled streets. Their respective heroes, Philip Marlowe and Harry Bosch act as avenging knights decades apart but the sense of anger at corruption and the spread of evil is the same, alongside carefully-tuned plots and galleries of wonderful characters, full of colour and pathos. Chandler created the model for modern crime fiction, Connelly takes over the relay and brought it into the 21st century.Recommended:Raymond Chandler - THE LITTLE SISTER. Not his most known, but a fascinating and tender glimpse into the intricate webs of deception that bring people together and then destroy them.Michael Connelly - THE POET. A stand-alone novel that does not feature Harry Bosch, but follows a group of FBI agents on the trail of a terribly devious serial killer. A breathless masterpiece.
The twelfth book in Dorothy L Sayers' classic Lord Peter Wimsey series, introduced by actress Dame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE - a must-read for fans of Agatha Christie's Poirot and Margery Allingham's Campion Mysteries. Harriet Vane has never dared to return to her old Oxford college. Now, despite her scandalous life, she has been summoned back . . . At first she thinks her worst fears have been fulfilled, as she encounters obscene graffiti, poison pen letters and a disgusting effigy when she arrives at sedate Shrewsbury College for the 'Gaudy' celebrations. But soon, Harriet realises that she is not the only target of this murderous malice - and asks Lord Peter Wimsey to help.
Amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey makes his first outing in Whose Body? with Sayers creating a character that can grow and develop through future stories. A great murder mystery with wonderful characters and a plot to keep you guessing. January 2010 Guest Editor Diana Gabaldon on DOROTHY L. SAYERS Mistress of dialogue, character, humor and social nuance. From her, I learned that dialogue is the single most defining trait of character, and just how much you can do with accent, idiom, and dialect. Also, that a character is embedded in his or her social matrix, and that matrix is as important as the individual's personal characteristics.
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils...Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations? A big novel about a small town, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults. It is the work of a storyteller like no other.
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From the suave to the sleazy, the saint to the sinner; from the sensitive to the sanguine, the sexy to the squalid, we just can’t resist a good sleuth. Here you’ll find immersive crime stories to feed your fascination for conspiracy, your love for psychological sorcery, to make your hairs stand up on the back of your neck, to make your blood run cold and adrenaline fill your nervous system. Whether you’re after a classic like; Poirot (Agatha Christie), Rebus (Rankin) or Morse (Colin Dexter); or a more contemporary crime confrontation from the likes of, Michael Connelly, Gillian Flynn or J.A Lance, there’s something here to float the most demanding of boats. Have a look at our Books of the Month from this and previous months for a head start to a great next read.