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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.
The latest to feature the young amateur sleuth Fran Varady, now in a heap of gangland trouble.Comparison: Martina Cole, Lynda La Plante, Sheila Quigley.Similar this month: Paul Adam, Sarah Strohmeyer.
Joanne Harris, Whitbread shortlisted but better known for her French & Food novels, takes a radical and thrilling departure with her latest. Revenge, mystery and very clever plotting makes this one of her most accomplished to date.Comparison: Patrick Redmond, Barbara Trapido, Michele Roberts.Similar this month: Tom Wolfe, Diana Appleyard.
Internet role playing lies at the heart of this stunning novel, one of his best. The Rosslyn Chapel makes a brief appearance, the falls being close by, and Rankin’s consummate plotting is used to its full. This is wonderful stuff, interestingly without the large development of Rebus’ personal problems that more of the other books include.
In this collection of twelve Inspector Rebus mysteries he investigates the hanging of a student actor during the Festival, an arson attack on a bird watcher and the witnessing of an apparent miracle...
She’s great and this is one of her best. Easy to read, fast-paced, full of suspense with interesting characters and, although a little predictable, it is nail-biting in its ability to grip. With a Reuters correspondent in Iraq recognising a mercenary she had previously seen in both the Congo and Sierra Leone at the crux of the tale, we are eventually re-allocated to a remote house in Dorset and some fascinating strings in a terrific read.Comparison: Nicci French, Sarah Rayne.
This compulsive author brings Alex Cross to London as global terrorism escalates and the city is under threat. Patterson’s short chapters all seem to end in cliff hangers so it’s nigh near impossible to put him down. Comparison: Lee Child, Jeffrey Deaver, Michael Connelly. Similar this month: William Landay.
They are a bit up and down, these racing thrillers. He is obviously chasing Dick Francis, not quite catching him but he’s good fun, although this one is a little convoluted.Comparison: Dick Francis, Lyndon Stacey, Richard Pitman.Similar this month: None but if you’re a crime fan try Christopher Fowler for something a bit different.
I am an enormous fan of these West Country detective yarns that intriguingly always weave a past mystery with the present, often through some archaeological dig or other and star the lovely black DI Wesley Peterson. Sadly, in this tale, he develops a roving eye and his subsequent guilt and angst made him a less likeable character, but the plot is as fascinating as ever, and I do highly recommend the whole series. This is the eighth.Comparison: Hilary Bonner, Stephen Booth, Robert Goddard. Similar this month: Christopher Fowler.
A real page-turner, an easy read with a fascinating plot which takes you into the past and a suspicious death and the present where our unwary heroine, rushing where angels fear to tread, gets herself into some very real danger. Funny and exciting, you arrived at the end exhausted but with a sigh of relief as … but that’s for you to find out. Really most enjoyable.Comparison: Lauren Henderson, James Patterson, Carl Hiaasen.Similar this month: Tami Hoag, Janet Evanovich.
If you want something a little different, beautifully written and full of surprises, then this new crime series (this is the second) is for you. Starring a couple of wonderfully cantankerous old school detectives, Bryant and May, stumbling around in a fast-moving, modern world, they are the Met’s Peculiar Crime Unit which really says it all. I think he is great.Comparison: Colin Dexter, Robert Goddard, John Harvey.Similar this month: None but try Kate Ellis.
Every now and again a new crime novel comes along and you know it’s something special. This won the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey award for Best First Crime Novel. It’s first rate. A tale of corruption with an ending you really can’t guess; it’s mesmerising stuff.Comparison: Scott Turow, Richard North Patterson, Dennis Lehane.Similar this month: None but try Lisa Scottoline or James Patterson.
If you want something a little different, beautifully written and full of surprises, then this crime series is for you. We featured the paperback of The Water Room earlier this month. They feature a couple of wonderfully cantankerous old school detectives, Bryant and May, stumbling around in a fast-moving, modern world, they are the Met’s Peculiar Crime Unit which really says it all. I think he is great.Comparison: Colin Dexter, Robert Goddard, John Harvey
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.