Friday Reads

  If you like crime fiction, you really should know the name M. W. Craven by now. His Washington Poe novels have gathered fans far and wide since The Puppet Show published in 2018, he’s been praised by the biggest names in thriller writing from Peter James to Martina Cole, and at the end of […]

Is there anything better than when one of your favourite authors starts writing a new series? When Robert Bryndza, internationally bestselling author of the Detective Erika Foster series, announced a new project I knew it was going to be good. Damn good. But then Nine Elms blew my expectations out of the water. It’s his […]

  Well, if Mrs Hinch wrote crime books, this is what she would do! Liz Mundy’s Hungarian protagonist Lena (rhymes with ‘trainer’) is a cleaner whose services the houses of the rich and famous in Islington. This is her third outing for Constable, and here she is thrown into the world of reality TV when […]

It’s time to start making a crime book pile for Christmas – and if you like psychological thrillers mixed with toxic friendships and overseas settings, you should add Someone Else’s House to that pile. This gripping thriller is the follow up to the excellent Trust Her, and entirely worth a look if you want to […]

What a year Mike Craven has had!  From Cumbria Life Author of the Year at the start of 2019 to winner of the CWA Gold Dagger a few weeks ago for The Puppet Show, he’s had quite a journey. You may have caught him at CrimeFest, Harrogate, Bloody Scotland . . . or at a […]

  Second novels are notoriously tricky to write. Especially when your debut novel received critical acclaim and glowing reviews from your peers in crime fiction, with Peter James describing you as ‘a thrilling new talent’. Mark Griffin has done the rare thing of writing a second novel that is EVEN BETTER than his first book […]

    When it’s cold and dark outside, I personally can’t think of anything better than snuggling up on the sofa with a great detective novel. Alex Gray’s DSI William Lorimer series has long been a favourite of mine (and I’m not alone, it has sold more than a million copies worldwide!), but her latest, […]

  What is the perfect antidote to miserable November weather? A crime novel that transports you to the sunnier climes of Italy, to a city full of beautiful piazzas and delicious tagliatelle al ragu: Bologna. A Quiet Death in Italy is the debut novel from Tom Benjamin and the start of a new crime series […]

  This week I’m recommending our reissues of the first ten books in the Bill Slider series, which were written in the nineties by prolific author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. Slider is a Detective Inspector in Shepherd’s Bush, London, and he has a great, realistic police team round him as they solve some pretty bizarre murders. The […]

If you’re feeling deflated by a lack of Halloween spirit yesterday, we’ve got a book that will not only quench your thirst for spookiness, but spellbind you with its eloquence, wit and form: The Bleak Midwinter by Len Tyler. This page-turner has it all: a witch who concocts mysterious herbal medicine and lives alone with a toad […]

If you’re sick of the miserable weather and the miserable politics, there is nothing better than Simon Brett’s hilarious crime capers to lift your mood. Simon Brett is the author of over ninety books and an OBE-awarded crime writing treasure. His Blotto and Twinks series follows a brother and sister sleuthing duo on wacky crime-solving […]

  Nelson DeMille has decades of amazing thriller novels under his belt, all filled with dry, sometimes cheeky wit, compassion and fantastic set pieces. The Deserter is no different – but it is the first novel he has co-written since 1998’s Mayday, and this time it’s significant: his co-author is his son, Alex, whose screenwriting credentials bring […]