The Rap Sheet

“I Was Just Enthusiastic. They Should Have Had a Thing Like ‘Most Enthusiastic Actress,’ and I Would Have Won That Thing Every Year”

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:21:00 +0000

Although there will certainly be many readers of this blog who knew Susan Saint James best for her co-starring role (with Jane Curtin) in the 1980s sitcom Kate & Allie, my memories of the California-born actress—who died from pancreatic cancer earlier this week at age 80—center primarily on two older crime dramas: The Name of the Game (1968-1971) and McMillan & Wife (1971-1976).

Entertainment Tonight aired the video remembrance embedded above, which recaps Saint James’ performance career, her volunteer work with Special Olympics, and her tragic loss of a son.

READ MORE: “But Really, Sally McMillan Is Ageless” and “Long Overdue,” by J. Kingston Pierce (The Rap Sheet).

A Canadian Slant on Things

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 23:57:00 +0000

We previously drew notice to Barnes & Noble’s choices of “the best mystery and thriller books” of 2026, so let us now highlight that same category of picks from Canadian retail chain Indigo Books & Music. There are 10 English-language titles on its list (some of which are really more “horror” than “mystery”), plus an equal number of works in French (half of those also being available also in English).

• Hide and Seek, by Søren Sveistrup (HarperCollins)
• The Children, by Melissa Albert (HarperCollins)
• Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, by Lucy Foley (HarperCollins)
• Japanese Gothic, by Kylie Lee Baker (Hanover Square Press)
• The Witch, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• This Story Might Save Your Life, by Tiffany Crum (Flatiron)
• The Unknown, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
• The Caretaker, by Marcus Kliewer
(Atria/Emily Bestler)
• Heart of Glass, by Jennifer
Hillier (Minotaur)
• Not a Word, by Linwood Barclay (Morrow)

• Ne jamais trembler (Never Flinch), by Stephen King (Albin Michel Littérature)
• L’escalier dans les bois (The Staircase in the Woods), by Chuck Wendig (Sonatine)
• Près de moi pour toujours (Gone Before Goodbye), by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon (Belfond)
• La Route du diable, by Franck Thilliez (Fleuve Editions)
• Les Ravisseuses, by Charles Dionne (Le Quartanier)
• Une unique lueur, by Fred Vargas (Flammarion Québec)
• Chère Debbie (Dear Debbie), by Freida McFadden (City Éditions)
• Les derniers mandarins (The Last Mandarin), by Louise Penny and Mellisa Fung (Flammarion Québec)
• Touche pas à mon cadavre, by André Marois (Éditions Héliotrope)
• De bon droit, by Chrystine Brouillet (Éditions Druide)

PW’s Premier Picks

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 22:25:00 +0000

Publishers Weekly now weighs in with its own dozen nominations for the best mystery and thriller novels of 2026:

• The Amateur, by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday)
• Backwater, by James Sallis (Soho Crime)
• Die Famous, by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
• The Fervent Whites, by De’Shawn Charles Winslow (One World)
• Fruit Fly, by Josh Silver (Crooked Lane)
• Furious Violet, by Sarai Walker (Harper)
• The Midnight Taxi, by Yosha Gunasekera (Berkley)
• My Name Was Gerry Sass, by Tiffany Hanssen (Atlantic Crime)
• Paper Cut, by Rachel Taff (Morrow)
• A Past Without Pictures, by Jonathan Ames (Mysterious Press)
• A Violent Masterpiece, by Jordan Harper (Mulholland)
• The Window Man, by Christopher Goffard (Crooked Lane)

These are interesting selections, though they barely overlap with the works appearing among my preliminary choices of this year’s “bests.” I won’t be surprised to see Backwater (Sallis’ final novel?), A Past Without Pictures, and A Violent Masterpiece featured on more lists of this kind over the next few weeks.

The Anthonys Are Out

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Sun, 25 Oct 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Six out of the seven Anthony Awards presented last evening at Bouchercon 2026 in Calgary, Alberta, went to women authors, including Louise Penny, Laurie L. Dove, and Mia P. Manansala. The lone male winner was Curtis Ippolito, who edited this year’s prize for Best Anthology/Collection. Below is the full roster of recipients.

Best Hardcover Novel:
The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated: All This Could Be Yours, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur); Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow); Death of an Ex, by Delia Pitts (Minotaur); and King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Pine and Cedar)

Best First Novel:
Mask of the Deer Woman, by Laurie L. Dove (Berkley)

Also nominated: History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Crime); Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria); The Retirement Plan, by Sue Hincenbergs (Morrow); Voices of the Elysian Fields, by Michael Rigg (Level Best); and Whiskey Business, by Adrian Andover (Chestnut Avenue Press)

Best Paperback Original/E-Book/Audiobook Original Novel:
Edge, by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)

Also nominated: Crimson Thaw, by Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River); River of Lies, by James L'Etoile (Oceanview); This Violent Heart, by Heather Levy (Montlake); and Tricks of Fortune, by Lina Chern (Bantam)

Best Short Story:
“AITA for Using My Husband’s Hobby to Teach Him a Lesson,” by Mindy Carlson (from Myopic Duplicity: Do the Ends Ever Justify the Means? edited by Jeff Circle; Kindle/Audible)

Also nominated: “Brotherly Love,” by Cheryl A. Head (from Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim, edited by Josh Pachter; Level Short); “Finding Jimmy Baldwin,” by Cheryl A. Head (from Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West; Bywater); “Hollywood Prometheus,” by Christa Faust (from Crime Ink: Iconic); “Six-Armed Robbery,” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (from Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe; Wildside Press); and “The Skies Are Red,” by Richie Narvaez (from On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito; Rock and a Hard Place Press)

Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel:
Death in the Cards, by Mia P. Manansala (Delacorte Press)

Also nominated: Miles in Time, by Lee Matthew Goldberg (Wise Wolf); Risky Pursuit, by Nancy G. West, (Fire & Ice Young Adult Books); The Scammer, by Tiffany D. Jackson (Quill Tree); and Well-Behaved Children Seldom Make History, by Chris Chan (Level Best)

Best Critical or Non-fiction Work:
Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to New England, by Dawn M. Barclay, Level Tru)

Also nominated: Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida, by Gilbert King (Flatiron); L.A. Coroner: Thomas Noguchi and Death in Hollywood, by Anne Soon Choi (Third State); Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press); and The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story, by Pagan Kennedy (Vintage)

Best Anthology or Collection:
On Fire and Under Water: A Climate Change Crime Fiction Anthology, edited by Curtis Ippolito (Rock and a Hard Place Press)

Also nominated: Blood on the Bayou: Case Closed: Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Don Bruns (Down & Out); Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West (Bywater); Hollywood Kills: An Anthology, edited by Adam Meyer and Alan Orloff (Level Short); and Whatever Kills the Pain, by C.W. Blackwell (Rock and a Hard Place Press)

Congratulations to all of the 2026 Anthony Award nominees!

Bouchercon Bounty

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 13:46:00 +0000

During last night’s opening ceremonies at Bouchercon 2026 in Calgary, Alberta, Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine revealed the winners of its latest Barry Awards for excellence in mystery and thriller fiction.

Best Mystery: King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)

Also nominated: The Impossible Thing, by Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly); Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow); The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur); The White Crow, by Michael Robotham (Scribner); and Presumed Guilty, by Scott Turow (Grand Central)

Best First Mystery: The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Berkley)

Also nominated: Leverage, by Amran Gowani (Atria); All the Other Mothers Hate Me, by Sarah Harman (Putnam); Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr (Bantam); Stillwater, by Tanya Scott (Atlantic Monthly); and Julie Chan Is Dead, by Liann Zhang (Atria)

Best Paperback Original Mystery: The Dentist, by Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)

Also nominated: Crimson Thaw, by Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River); Splintered Justice, by Kim Hays (Seventh Street); Making a Killing, by Cara Hunter (Morrow); If Two Are Dead, by Rick Mofina (Mira); and Wolf Six, by Alex Shaw (Boldwood)

Best Thriller: Midnight Black, by Mark Greaney (Berkley)

Also nominated: Witness 8, by Steve Cavanagh (Atria); The Oligarch’s Daughter, by Joseph Finder (Harper); Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime); Head Cases, by John McMahon (Minotaur); and The Mailman, by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Mysterious Press)

The Barry Awards, established in 1997, are named in honor of Barry Gardner, a longtime DP “fan reviewer.”

* * *

Those same ceremonies brought news of which works have won the 2026 Shamus Awards, presented by the Private Eye Writers of America.

Best P.I. Hardcover: The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Putnam)

Also nominated: Photograph, by Brian Freeman (Blackstone); Hatchet Girls, by Joe R. Lansdale (Little, Brown); Gray Dawn, by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown); and Mirage City, by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur)

Best First P.I. Novel: Where the Bones Lie, by Nick Kolakowski (Datura)

Also nominated: Chase Harlem, by Elise Burke Brown (Rising Action); Miles in Time, by Lee Matthew Goldberg (Wise Wolf); Shadow of the Eternal Watcher, by Josh Mendoza (Inkshares); and The Witch’s Orchard, by Archer Sullivan (Minotaur)

Best Original Paperback P.I. Novel: Midnight Streets, by Phil Lecomber (Titan)

Also nominated: The Hook and the Eye, by Raymond Benson (Ian Fleming); Sunday or the Highway, by Cindy Fazzi (Thomas & Mercer); City Lights, by Claire M. Johnson (Level Best); and Catch Me on a Blue Day, by M.E. Proctor (Shotgun Honey)

Best P.I. Short Story: “The Roosevelt Affair,” by Adam Meyer (from Crimeucopia: The Not So Frail Detective Agency; Murderous Ink Press)

Also nominated: “The One Cry,” by F.H. Batacan (from Accidents Happen, by F.H. Batacan; Soho Crime); “Dr. Bones,” by Libby Cudmore (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], May/June); “Hours on the Phone,” by Gregory Fallis (EQMM, July/August); and “The Shadows,” by Charles John Harper (EQMM, May/June)

(Hat tip to The Gumshoe Site.)

* * *

Meanwhile, the shortlists have been announced for this year’s Irish Book Awards. There are 19 categories of contenders, but below are the novels vying to be named as Crime Fiction Book of the Year.

• The Truth About Ruby Cooper, by Liz Nugent (Sandycove)
• Everything She Didn’t Say, by Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)
• One of Us Is Guilty, by Steve Cavanagh (Headline)
• Such a Nice Girl, by Andrea Mara (Bantam)
• In Glass Houses, by Edel Coffey (Sphere)
• The Keeper, by Tana French (Viking)
• Never to Be Found, by Jo Spain (Zaffre)
• If These Walls Could Talk, by Michelle McDonagh (Hachette
Books Ireland)

All of the 2026 Irish Book Award recipients are to be declared during a ceremony in the Convention Centre Dublin on Tuesday, December 1.

(Hat tip to In Reference to Murder.)

Arctic Stunner Earns the Petrona

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:34:00 +0000

Norwegian author Ørjan Karlsson’s Into Thin Air (Orenda) has won the 2026 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year.

“Ørjan Karlsson puts a spotlight on the stunning beauty of the Lofoten Islands in the Norwegian Arctic Circle while discovering devastating secrets hidden beneath the calm surface,” reads the judges’ statement released alongside this news. “With empathy and deep understanding he introduces a fascinating investigative duo dealing with personal challenges, and explores relationships within the tight-knit community. Told from several perspectives, Into Thin Air has a contemporary feel and nuanced narration. This taut and tense thriller has a strong sense of location and utterly engaging characters, with nature as one of them. Perfect pacing and atmospheric storytelling add to the compelling story, which moves seamlessly between recent European political history and dramatic local events from the past, all of them having impact on everyone in the area.”

Both Karlsson and his translator, Ian Giles, will receive trophies.

In addition, today’s award announcement says judges “highly commend” another shortlisted nominee for this prize, Broken, “the dark and compulsive police procedural by Jón Atli Jónasson, which is translated by Quentin Bates and published by Corylus Books.”

Five other novels were also in contention for this year’s Petrona: One True Word, by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson, translated by Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland); Murder Tide, by Stella Blómkvist, translated by Quentin Bates (Corylus, Iceland); The Writing in the Water, by John Ajvide Lindqvist, translated by Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden); The Grave in the Ice, by Satu Rämö, translated by Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland); and The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston (Orenda, Finland).

The Petrona Award memorializes Maxine Clarke, the British editor, crime-fiction blogger, and “champion of Scandinavian crime fiction” who passed away in December 2012 (Petrona was the name of her long-running blog). Previous recipients include Satu Rämö’s The Clues in the Fjord (2025), Jógvan Isaksen’s Dead Men Dancing (2024), Pascal Engman’s Femicide (2023), and Maria Adolfsson’s Fatal Isles (2022), and Mikael Niemi’s To Cook a Bear (2021).

Tribute Plans for Peter May

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 17:10:00 +0000

The late author Peter May’s wife, Janice Hally, has announced on Facebook a series of events designed to honor her husband, who died on September 25 at age 74. She writes:

At 2pm on 27th October, the day of our 36th wedding anniversary, his ashes will be interred in the cemetery at Bétaille [in southwestern France].

Family and friends are welcome.

At 3pm, we will gather in the village hall at Bétaille, where family, friends and neighbours can come together to remember him.

There will be an exhibition celebrating his life and works, a book of condolences, and two of his closest colleagues will speak of him and propose a toast to him in French and English.

In the days that follow, the exhibition will transfer to Bétaille library, where members of the public can visit it.

In January 2027, when Peter’s new book, The Island of the Dead, comes out in the UK, Peter’s publisher, Riverrun, are planning to organise events in London, Glasgow and Stornoway.

These will provide an opportunity for friends, family and readers in the UK to get together to celebrate his life and works.

I’m very sorry I cannot attend the Bétaille memorial. But know that my best wishes are with Janice and all of those who come to celebrate Peter May this once final time.

Revue of Reviewers: 10-17-26

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 23:53:00 +0000

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

Down & Out Is Back for More

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 20:28:00 +0000

Wonder of wonders, it appears that independent crime-fiction publisher Down & Out Books—which went out of business a year ago due to crippling sales declines—is making a comeback. Now owned and operated by former D&O author Joe Ricker (Walkin’ After Midnight, Some Awful Cunning, etc.), who acquired the press from Eric Campbell, it recently announced a short list of upcoming releases.

The first new title from this imprint is supposed to be Manhattan Tension, by 89-year-old Cleveland, Ohio, author Les Roberts, which is scheduled for release on November 3 (though I don’t see notice of that on either the publisher’s Web site or in Amazon). Ricker told author-blogger Dana King recently that “our target right now is ten books a year.” Works slated for publication in 2027 include two fresh ones from veteran D&O writers, Chris Orlet’s Sun Gone Down and Brandon Daily’s Crop Burn Stories, and another couple from fictionists who’ve not previously worked with this publisher, Mark Thomas’ World in Fluxe and Scott Kauffman’s Death Row Absolution.

We wish Ricker and company the best of luck with this revival.

Timely Tributes

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 21:49:00 +0000

There was a time when the Macavity Awards, sponsored by Mystery Readers International and Mystery Readers Journal, were handed out each year at Bouchercon. But that giant gathering isn’t set to take place until next week, in Calgary, Canada, so today’s announcement of the 2026 Macavity winners (see below) is a mite early.

Best Mystery Novel: Crooks, by Lou Berney (Morrow)

Also nominated: King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron); Clown Town, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime); River of Lies, by James L’Etoile (Oceanview); The White Crow, by Michael Robotham (Scribner); and All This Could Be Yours, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur)

Best First Mystery: History Lessons, by Zoe B. Wallbrook (Soho Press)

Also nominated: Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, by Sandra Jackson-Opoku (Minotaur); Dead Money, by Jakob Kerr (Bantam); Voices of the Elysian Fields, by Michael Rigg (Level Best); and Stillwater, by Tanya Scott (Grove Atlantic)

Best Mystery Non-fiction: Vacations Can Be Murder: A True Crime Lover’s Travel Guide to New England, by Dawn M. Barclay (Level Best)

Also nominated: Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer
Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation, by Michael Cannell (Minotaur); Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers, by Caroline Fraser (Penguin Press); V Is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death, by Kathryn Harkup (Bloomsbury Sigma); Edgar Allan Poe: A Life, by Richard Kopley (University of Virginia Press); Cooler Than Cool: The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard, by C.M. Kushins (Mariner)

Best Mystery Short Story: “Six-Armed Robbery,” by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier (from Donna Andrews Presents Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Carla Coupe, and Michael Bracken; Wildside Press)

Also noiminated: “Hollywood Prometheus,” by Christa Faust (from Crime Ink: Iconic: An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Queer Icons, edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West; Bywater); “Finding Jimmy Baldwin,” by Cheryl Head (from Crime Ink: Iconic); “The Devil Himself,” by Vaseem Khan (from Double Crossing Van Dine, edited by Donna Andrews, Greg Herren, and Art Taylor; Crippen & Landru); and “Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush,” by Dave Zeltserman (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, September/October 2025)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery: Bye Bye Blackbird, by Elizabeth Crowens (Level Best)

Also nominated: A Daughter’s Guide to Mothers and Murder, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington); City Lights, by Claire M. Johnson (Level Best); The Case of the Christie Conspiracy, by Kelly Oliver (Boldwood); The Case of the Missing Maid, by Rob Osler (Kensington); and No. 10 Doyers Street, by Radha Vatsal (Level Best)

The Macavity Awards take their name from Macavity the Mystery Cat, a character in T.S. Eliot’s 1939 poetry book, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Ballots for this year’s prize were cast by a members of MRI, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and “friends of MRI.”

Congratulations to all of this year’s contenders!

Oh No, Not Again

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 19:32:00 +0000

Editor Gerald So made the announcement this morning that he’s “probably” going to shutter his fine crime poetry blog, The Fifty-Two, as a result of policy changes by his online management system:

Blogger is updating its content policy effective December 16, 2026. Updates include prohibition of criminal acts and, while I don’t think poetry about crime equals crime, The Five-Two’s goal is to look unflinchingly at crime. The only way to do that is to mention crime fairly directly, perhaps too directly for a Blogger blog.

As editor, I’ve always tried to keep the poetry on the figurative, non-explicit side, but Blogger’s content reviewers may disagree with my standards. In fourteen years, I’ve received one notice of a post being put behind a sensitive-content warning, but I was unable to determine which post. I don’t want to run into this problem with future posts.

I’m not seeking a less restrictive platform. I’ve had my editorial say on all manner of crimes, and I don’t feel the need to continue for my own gratification. That’s why Blogger’s policy change may be the best time to end.

Thanks to everyone who’s contributed to the site in any way. I need to accept five new submissions to make it to Monday, December 14. Send ’em. Let's go out with a bang.

In the fall of 2023, So first discontinued updating The Fifty-Two, only to reverse course about a year and a half later. Let’s hope he has a similar change of heart about this latest termination of effort.

Another Death in the Family

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 20:01:00 +0000

Mark Pryor, best known for penning the Hugo Marston and Henri Lefort mystery novels, “passed away unexpectedly in his sleep on October 8, 2026,” according to an online obituary. He was only 59 years old.

The same remembrance explains that Pryor was born in Welwyn Garden City, England, in May 1967; that he studied journalism at Strad Broke College in Sheffield, England, as well as at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill; and that he subsequently attended Duke University School of Law, before moving on to serve as an assistant district attorney in Travis County, Texas, for 14 years. He subsequently went into private practice as a criminal defense lawyer.

Pryor produced 16 novels over the course of his career, including The Bookseller (2012), his first yarn starring Marston, an ex-FBI agent from Texas, now heading up security at the U.S. Embassy in Paris; 2022’s Die Around Sundown, which introduced World War II-era Paris police inspector Lefort; and a pair of tales featuring “Dominic, a charming Englishman, prosecutor, and musician in Austin, Texas, [who] is also a psychopath.” Most recently, he returned to Hugo Marston in 2026’s The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris (2026), which imagined his protagonist having become a crime-solving book retailer. A second entry in that revival series, A Vintage Murder in Paris, is due out from Kensington Publishing in March 2027.

“A private celebration of life will be held to honor Mark's life and legacy,” says his obituary. “In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests patronizing and supporting your local bookstore, in memory of Mark’s passion for literature and his unwavering support for the written word.” A fitting tribute, if there ever was one.

READ MORE: “Mark Pryor, May His Memory Be a Blessing,” by James W. Ziskin (Criminal Minds).

CFL Is Back in the Game

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Tue, 13 Oct 2026 22:47:00 +0000

We’re moving swiftly into that hectic season when newspapers, magazines, and book-oriented Web sites weigh in with their idiosyncratic lists of favorite crime, mystery, and thriller fiction from the year past. Crime Fiction Lover is taking part in that exercise once more, after sitting out 2025 due to a staffer’s “serious health issues.”

Starting today, the blog is inviting readers to submit their top choices for the 2026 Crime Fiction Lover Awards in six categories: Book of the Year, Best Debut, Best in Translation, Best Indie Novel, Best Author, and Best Crime TV Show. “Nominated books need to have been published in English between 1 November 2025 and 31 October 2026,” the site explains. “In the Best Author category, the author needs to have published crime fiction during this period.” Participants don’t have to submit picks in all of the divisions for their votes to count.

This stage of the process will close on Wednesday, November 4. From the many submissions they receive, CFL editors will then develop a shortlist of books and TV series, and ask readers once more to let their opinions be known. Winners should be announced in December.

Click here to find the official nominating form.

B&N Takes the Lead

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 21:15:00 +0000

Well, it was inevitable that this would happen sometime.

American bookseller Barnes & Noble is first out of the gate with its choices of the “best mystery and thriller books” released in the United States over the last 12 months. Among those 32 works you will find a collection of novellas, modern and historical yarns, one true-crime stunner, and half a dozen titles that aren’t yet available.

• All the Secrets, by May Cobb
(Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Bad Company, by Sara Paretsky (Minotaur)
• Big Little Truths, by Liane Moriarty (Crown)
• The Ending Writes Itself, by Evelyn Clarke (HarperCollins)
• The Final Problem, by Arturo Perez-
Reverte (Little, Brown)
• The Final Score, by Don Winslow (HarperCollins)
• Five, by Ilona Bannister (Crown)
• The French Illusion, by John Grisham (Doubleday)
• God’s Country, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
• Heart of Glass, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur)
• Heather, by Caitlin Mullen (Celadon)
• Helpless, by Jessica Knoll (Scribner)
• How to Cheat Your Own Death, by Kristen Perrin (Dutton)
• It Could Have Been Her, by Lisa Jewell (Atria)
• The Keeper, by Tana French (Viking)
• London Station, by David McCloskey (Norton)
• Look What the Cat Dragged In, by Jason Rekulak (Flatiron)
• Mad Mabel, by Sally Hepworth (St. Martin’s Press)
• Miss Wolcott’s Ghost, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, by Lucy Foley (Morrow)
• The Murder at World’s End, by Ross Montgomery (HarperCollins)
• My Husband’s Wife, by Alice Feeney (Flatiron)
• Revenge Plot, by Stephanie Wrobel (Berkley)
• The Secret Dinner, by Raphael Montes (Celadon)
• This Changes Everything, by Lisa Scottoline (Grand Central)
• The Unknown, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
• Valley of the Moms, by Hannah Selinger (Little, Brown)
• A Violent Masterpiece, by Jordan Harper (Little, Brown)
• We Chase Shadows, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• Wolf Point, by Lisa Howells
(Grand Central)
• You’ll Be Sorry, by Lisa Gardner
(Grand Central)
• London Falling, by Patrick Radden
Keefe (Doubleday)

I’ve read only a few of these titles. There aren’t many surprise picks, which is no doubt due to the fact that Barnes & Noble is in the business of selling books, especially those from major publishers with substantial promotional budgets. Still, the works here that I have read stand a real shot at making my own list of 2026 favorites.

(Hat tip to Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine.)

Even More End-of-Year Enticements

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 18:36:00 +0000

I wasn’t in my office at the beginning of October, so failed to draw your attention to The Rap Sheet’s expanded fall-winter books list. More than two dozen additional titles have now found their way onto that roster, including Michael J. Malone’s The Cutting; Libby Fischer Hellmann’s Capital Partners; David Liss’ The Death and Birth of Iliana Marek; Ty Landers’ Baby Queen; Dan Jones’ new James Bond adventure, All In; Neil Albert’s 12th (perhaps final?) Dave Garrett private-eye novel, Last December; and Merry Murders on Bedford Square, a brand-new collection of Christmas-oriented short stories from editor Maxim Jakubowski.

To learn about those and many more works of crime, mystery, and thriller fiction to get you through this last quarter of 2026, click here.

A Life of Victories and Dishonor

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 03:24:00 +0000

First it was Peter May, now it’s Jeffrey Archer. I just returned to my office after a few days away to discover this news. From The Guardian:

Jeffrey Archer, the bestselling author and former MP whose political career ended in disgrace when he was imprisoned for perjury, has died at the age of 86.

Archer, who was a Conservative MP for five years before serving as the party’s deputy chair, died “suddenly and peacefully” at his home “between writing sessions” on Monday, his publisher HarperCollins said.

The newspaper goes on to quote Archer’s editor, Kate Elton, as saying:

“He was the master storyteller and an editor’s dream—phenomenally hard-working, utterly committed to completing draft after draft to get every word as perfect as possible, and a true champion of the team nature of great publishing.”

Archer’s death came just one day before the publication of his new novel, Adam and Eve, on Tuesday 6 October.

His first novel, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, was published in 1976, two years after bankruptcy marked the end of his time as a sitting MP. This marked the beginning of an enviable writing career. Archer spent a total of 14 years and five months on the Sunday Times bestseller lists and over five years on the New York Times bestseller lists, selling 300 million books in 119 countries in 49 languages.

But as noted above, the London-born thriller writer did not live a high life of successes without scandal.

During a run to become mayor of London for the Conservatives in 1999, his political career was in effect ended when it emerged he had lied in court over a decade earlier when a newspaper accused him of paying money to a sex worker. He was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice and imprisoned for four years.

An Old Bailey jury found that he had lied in a libel action he had brought against the Star newspaper in 1987 in which he had been awarded £500,000 in damages.

He was released early in 2003 and returned to the House of Lords until he retired in 2024.

I admit, I haven’t cracked open a Jeffrey Archer novel in many years. However, he clearly didn’t require my attention to prosper greatly. As The New York Times recalls in its own Archer obituary, the author “described himself as a storyteller, a qualification which he depicted as both unusual and the object of resentment.

“Storytellers are very rare, but they create a lot of envy,” Mr. Archer said in an interview with fellow author Anthony Horowitz for The Sunday Telegraph Magazine in 2011. “The people who survive are storytellers.”

The interview evoked some of the ambiguities and passions surrounding Mr. Archer’s work, which drew on themes such as power, rivalry, ambition and greed.

“I’m painfully aware that of the two writers in the room only one has an original Monet on the wall,” Mr. Horowitz wrote, referring to the location of the interview in his subject’s apartment. He noted that Mr. Archer’s 1979 novel, Kane & Abel, which sold more than 50 million copies since its publication in 1979, helped fund his art collection.

The Guardian adds that Archer’s demise, from causes not yet reported, “came less than 24 hours after [he] had met and signed books for hundreds of fans at a sold-out event with broadcaster Gyles Brandreth at the Leicester Square Theatre in central London on Sunday.”

READ MORE: “My Last Lunch with Jeffrey Archer and How He Changed My Life,” by Fraser Nelson (The Times); “Jeffrey Archer Firmly Believed His Final Novel Was His Best,” by Scott Heller (The New York Times); “Jeffrey Archer Dies: Bestselling Kane & Abel Author & Politician Was 86,” by Jake Kantner (Deadline).

Peter May Is Suddenly No More

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 17:44:16 +0000

I can hardly believe this to be true! Scottish playwright and screenwriter Janice Hally, the wife of award-winning novelist Peter May, posted word this morning on Facebook that May died on September 25 at age 74. She added this tribute from “his long-term [British] publisher and dear friend, Jon Riley”:

Riverrun, an imprint of the John Murray Group, has announced the sad news of the death of the Sunday Times bestselling Scottish crime writer Peter May, on Friday night at his holiday home in the south of France.

Peter May was one of the most popular, and loved writers of crime fiction of his generation, and his books have sold around 15 million copies around the world. The novel which he had announced would be his last, Island of the Dead, is to be published in January 2027.

May began his career as a journalist in Scotland, winning Young Journalist of the Year aged twenty-one, and published his first novel, The Reporter, in 1976, at the age of twenty-six. After it was adapted as a BBC drama series, he quit journalism for television, and in the fifteen years that followed he became a successful scriptwriter and producer on two seminal series, Take the High Road and the Gaelic-language, Isle of Lewis-set Machair. It was while working on location on Machair, that his love for the Hebrides, which informed and influenced so much of his writing, was formed.

He returned to fiction with a series of China-set thrillers, which was followed by the French-set Enzo Files, both of which featured characters who reflected his growing interest in forensic science. However, it was the publication of the Lewis-set thriller The Blackhouse in 2011, that brought international fame, and bestselling success, and resulted in The Lewis Trilogy. He published a bestseller almost every year between The Blackhouse and his last book, The Black Loch, in 2024. His writing will always be associated with the Isle of Lewis, and the Hebrides.

Peter published twenty-six books with Quercus, and his work was hugely successful in his adopted homeland of France, where his work garlanded many prestigious literary awards.

Peter was a talented musician, and in 2025 he released a CD,‘Towards the Light’, which reflected in song many of his interests as a novelist.

Although he had announced his retirement, which he was looking forward to sharing with his beloved wife, the writer Janice Hally, May found there was one more novel in him, and he delivered Island of the Dead in July this year. He was preparing for a farewell tour of Scotland and Lewis to coincide with publication in January 2027.

Peter May was not only one of the best writers of crime fiction we had, but he inspired enormous affection in his readers and in those lucky enough to work with him. His kindness, generosity and largeness of spirit, loyalty, engagement with life, and the world, made him a much-loved, as well as much-admired figure. He is irreplaceable.

I was fortunate enough to share dinner with May and his wife during a couple of his publicity tours to the States. He was delightful—funny, brilliant, and a real wine aficionado—and an evening spent in his company was guaranteed to be memorable. Like so many others, my discovery of Peter May’s novels began with The Blackhouse, and I kept reading them from then on. Between myself and Rap Sheet correspondent Ali Karim, we interviewed him twice, with the results posted here, here, and here. And May contributed a couple of essays to this page, one relating the background of his 2015 novel, Entry Island, and the other telling us about his work on 2016’s Runaway.

Peter May will be sorely missed, indeed.

FOLLOW-UP: May’s cause of death was not immediately reported. But according to Britain’s Daily Express newspaper, he “suffered a heart attack” after taking his dog, Daftie, out for an evening walk.

READ MORE: “‘Irreplaceable’ Crime Author Peter May Dies in South of France,” by Jane Bradley (The Scotsman); “Peter May Obituary,” by Brian Wilson (The Guardian).

Paring Down the Petronas

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 19:51:01 +0000

Just shy of a month since announcing their longlist of nominees for the 2026 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year, organizers have released a shortlist of only seven contenders:

• One True Word, by Snæbjörn Arngrímsson,
translated by Larissa Kyzer (Pushkin Vertigo, Iceland)
• Murder Tide, by Stella Blómkvist,
translated by Quentin Bates (Corylus, Iceland)
• Broken, by Jón Atli Jónasson,
translated by Quentin Bates (Corylus, Iceland)
• Into Thin Air, by Ørjan Karlsson,
translated by Ian Giles (Orenda, Norway)
• The Writing in the Water, by John Ajvide Lindqvist,
translated by Michael Meigs (Amazon Crossing, Sweden)
• The Grave in the Ice, by Satu Rämö,
translated by Kristian London (Zaffre, Finland)
• The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen,
translated by David Hackston (Orenda, Finland)

The winning work is set to be revealed on October 22.

Revue of Reviewers: 9-22-26

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 22:03:00 +0000

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

“We All Have a Dark Side”

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 20:48:00 +0000

Yeah, I’d pay good money to see this. From Mashable:

Helen Mirren stars as legendary novelist Patricia Highsmith in A Talent for Murder, and we’re dangerously seduced by the trailer ... Directed by Anton Corbijn and written by Joanna Murray-Smith, the film sees Alden Ehrenreich (Weapons, Solo) as Edward Ridgeway, a man sent by his New York publisher to Switzerland to convince the Talented Mr. Ripley author to pen one last masterpiece in her all-important Ripley series. The thing is, someone from the publisher has already been sent on the mission and nobody’s heard from him since. And there are an awful lot of guns and knives around Highsmith's home ...

But Highsmith intends to give Ridgeway one night to show her he can “inhabit the mind of a killer,” before she puts anything down in print. And so, the pair play Highsmith-style crime writing 101. First up? They’ll need to find their mark, a dazzling female lead with a dazzling female name—Clementine Harriet Balfour (House of the Dragon’s Olivia Cooke)—who’s “destined for money” from her great aunt.

But the longer Ridgeway plays the Ripley game with Highsmith, the darkness of her literature threatens to get very real.

A Talent for Murder is set to debut in U.S. theaters on Friday, October 23. Mashable has the trailer here.

A Master of Small-Town Procedurals

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 14:19:00 +0000

Steven F. Havill, best known for his long-running series of mysteries set in fictional Posadas County, New Mexico, died on August 27 “after a bout with bone cancer.” He was 81 years old.

An online obituary—colorful and detailed enough that some suspect he wrote it himself—recounts his growing up in New York, his education and early employment, his marriage and move to New Mexico, his career as a teacher of biology and English, his step into writing fiction (both westerns and police procedurals), and his willingness to be bribed with chocolate-chip cookies. It says that Havill enjoyed “a life defined by curiosity, ‘people watching,’ hard work paid and volunteered, with a deep commitment to helping young people.”

I wasn’t aware of Havill’s passing until yesterday, when critic and blogger Lesa Holstine alerted me via e-mail. Her fine blog, Lesa’s Book Critiques, features many reviews of his work over the years. She added in her note, “I know I’m going to miss those books.”

Crawford’s on a Winning Streak

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 00:32:00 +0000

Two awards were presented this evening during the 2026 Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, but there was only a single recipient. That’s because A Bad, Bad Place (Bantam), Glasgow first-novelist Frances Crawford’s “gritty and poignant” story of a 12-year-old working-class girl who stumbles across the corpse of a murdered woman, picked up not only the 2026 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, but also the latest McIlvanney Prize for “best Scottish Crime book of the year.” Crawford thereby becomes the first double winner in the history of these annual commendations.

The Scotsman quotes author Denise Mina, who served as this year’s Bloody Scotland guest programmer, as calling A Bad, Bad Place “a novel of profound depth and scope. Insightful, harrowing and very funny, it deals with the reality of violent crime and its impact on many victims. This is a spectacular debut from a wonderful new voice.”

In addition to Crawford’s novel, four others were shortlisted for the 2026 McIlvanney Prize, which honors Scottish fictionist William McIlvanney: The Hollow Boys, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper); 138 Main Street, by Gavin Bell (Simon & Schuster UK); The Diary of Lies, by Philip Miller (Polygon); and The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper).

Meanwhile, A Bad, Bad Place competed for the Debut Prize with a quartet of works, all of them also penned by women: Original Sins, by Linda Duncan McLaughlin (Into Books); We Know What You Did, by Kirsty Lockwood (Orion); The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper); and Liar Thief, by May Rinaldi (Black Spring Crime).

I could kick myself for not having yet read Crawford’s novel, especially as it previously captured the McDermid Debut Award at July’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England. Well, time to go dig up the book post haste ...

Criminal Comforts for the Closing Months

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 16:21:00 +0000

Christmas arrives awfully early in the world of books. It’s only September, with Halloween and Thanksgiving still far off; yet for this latest list of seasonal crime and mystery releases, I have already collected the titles of numerous holiday-related works due out over the final four months of 2026. Those include offerings such as Elly Griffiths’ new novella, The Case of the Christmas Card, Andreina Cordani’s The Murders of Christmas Past (her second Ebenezer Scrooge mystery), Denzil Meyrick and Ian Moore’s The Mistletoe Wedding Murders (completed by Moore after Meyrick’s demise in early 2025), Alexandra Benedict’s The Advent of Death, and Otto Penzler’s Christmas Mysteries at The Mysterious Bookshop, together with reprinted older novels on the order of Susan Gilruth’s Death in Ambush, Jonathan Stagge’s Call a Hearse, and Mavis Doriel Hay’s The Santa Klaus Murder.

You might not be surprised to learn that all this looking ahead has had one benefit: It’s made me begin my holiday gift-buying early!

Of course, most of the crime fiction expected to reach the market between now and New Year’s Day isn’t directly associated with end-of-the-year celebrations. Among the roughly 400 selections to be discovered below are fresh works by the late James Sallis, Clare Mackintosh, S.A. Cosby, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, Chris Hammer, Lyndsay Faye, Walter Mosley, Laura Joh Rowland, Richard Osman, Sara Paretsky, Jørn Lier Horst, Simon Kernick, Tara Laskowski, and Peter Swanson (whose Do You See What I See? novella actually boasts a Yuletide peg, too). Michael Koryta has a historical gangster thriller rolling out later this month titled Die Famous. Ann Cleeves’ fourth Matthew Venn outing, Dying Light, goes on sale in the States a week after that (with a UK edition slated for publication in early October). Japanese author Keigo Higashino may have perished from colorectal cancer in July, but his fans can anticipate seeing two new books from his pen over the next couple of months: a science-fiction mystery titled Laplace’s Witch, and a standalone puzzler, The Dark Magician. Joe R. Lansdale will make yet another Hap and Leonard tale, Petrified Dreams, available, while his daughter, Kasey, debuts with the gripping First Chance. Fall From Grace launches a London-set private-eye series from Nigerian-born fictionist Leye Adenle (Easy Motion Tourist). And Mariah Fredericks follows up 2025’s The Girl in the Green Dress with another delightful whodunit set in early 20th-century New York, Murder on 34th Street (which, now that I think about it, also uses Christmas as a backdrop!).

Keep your eyes peeled for the forthcoming appearance of Michael Connelly’s The Hollow, the latest of his Harry Bosch novels, due out in late October (or early November, if you live in Great Britain). Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, Lucy Foley’s opening installment in her continuation of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple mysteries, should reach shops on both sides of “the pond” about a week after that—around the same time Charlie Higson’s second James Bond adventure for adults, King Zero, hits shops. Ian Rankin has his first standalone thriller in 20 years, The Heights, set to reach British readers in October (and American fans a month later). Donna Freitas follows up last year’s feminist thriller, Her One Regret, with the traumatic tale of a missing girl, Wolves of Summer. Edward Marston, most recently renowned for his stories about Victorian-era “Railway Detective” Robert Colbeck, brings that line to a halt with the 25th, The Corpse on the Bristol Train. This is the season, as well, to welcome the late Australian author Kerry Underwood’s 23rd and final Phryne Fisher historical mystery, Murder in the Cathedral. Max Allan Collins celebrates 50 years (!) of producing yarns about Quarry, his mononymous killer-for-hire, with Quarry’s Reunion. From Amanda Flower comes The First Ladies’ Guide to Murder, the opening chapter in a succession of investigations starring White House wives, this one at least featuring Frances Folsom Cleveland and Julia Dent Grant. The Odessa Assassin, a second addition to Frederick Forsyth’s Odessa series—published more than a year after his passing—was completed by criminal barrister-turned-writer Tony Kent. And speaking of posthumous releases, Canadian Alan Bradley (who perished in May) tees up a 12th case for Flavia de Luce in Numb Were the Beadsman’s Fingers.

Beyond such new novels, we can look forward to original short-story collections (Sherlock, for instance, which comprises 10 Holmes cases by Anthony Horowitz, Kate Mosse, Abir Mukherjee, Sarah Perry, and others), plus crime-related works of non-fiction. Among those are three memoirs: one by the daughter of The Avengers siren Diana Rigg; another by prolific actor James Hong (familiar for his roles in The New Adventures of Charlie Chan, Jigsaw John, and Chinatown); and the third from the desk of ex-Twin Peaks G-man Kyle MacLachlan. Soon to be obtainable, too, are Sleuth-Hound, a biography of surgeon Joseph Bell, Arthur Conan Doyle’s model for Sherlock Holmes; and Spies on Screen, Paul Burke’s guide to espionage films of the modern era.

Despite the following selection of fall-winter debuts running to more than 400 titles, there are doubtless others I have neglected to highlight. Certainly the December categories are lacking. But don’t worry, I shall add to and update this catalogue over the next three and a half months. Non-fiction works are identified here with asterisks (*); the rest are novels or short-story compilations.

SEPTEMBER (U.S.):
• Against the Tide, by G.D. Wright (Avon)
• The Alchemist of All Hallows Eve, by Gigi Pandian (Gargoyle Girl)
• Angel, by LJ Ross (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Backwater, by James Sallis (Soho Crime)
• A Beautiful Lie, by Tanya Grant (Berkley)
• Before You Were Anne, by Emiko Jean (Simon & Schuster)
• The Bestseller, by Jenny Knightsby (Mountain Leopard Press)
• Beyond Honor, by K.B. Brodsky (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• The Big Cats Dance Party, by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon)
• Blood on the Wind, by Peter Tremayne (Severn House)
• Buried in the Woods Below, by Daniel G. Miller (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Christmas at the Convent, by A.M. Stuart (Oportet)
• A Christmas Guide to Family and Murder, by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)
• Christmas Mysteries at The Mysterious Bookshop, edited by Otto Penzler (Mysterious Press)
• Children of the Wolf, by Abby
Geni (Ballantine)
• The Confession at Friday Harbor, by D.D. Black (Darkness and Light)
• The Crime Machine: The Jack Ritchie Stories from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (1957-61), edited by
Jeff Vorzimmer (Stark House Press)
• Dance in a Madhouse, by Jess Wright (Montague)
• Darkness Becomes Bright: On the Brief Life and Immortal Art of Edgar Allan Poe, by Emily Ogden (Viking)*
• The Dating Game, by Ally Zetterberg (Berkley)
• A Deadly Entanglement, by Cathy Pegau (Minotaur)
• Deadly Secrets, by Peter O’Mahoney (Thomas & Mercer)
• Death on a Lively Sea, by Katy Watson (Constable)
• Deception, by Alan Parks (Pegasus Crime)
• Detective Duff Unravels It, by Harvey O’Higgins (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Die Famous, by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
• A Double Life: The Anatomy of a Premeditated Murder, by Mikita Brottman (Citadel)*
• Driven, by Mason Coile (Putnam)
• The Dying Light, by Ann Cleeves (Minotaur)
• Exit Party, by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf)
• The Eye of Goliath, by Diego Muzzio (Pushkin Press)
• Faculty of Liars, by R.L. Heber (Point Blank)
• The Fallen Angel, by Andy Maslen (Thomas & Mercer)
• Fast Company, by Marco Page (Penzler/American Mystery Classics)
• Fictional Selves: A Memoir, by Kyle MacLachlan (Crown)*
• A Field Guide to Death and Deceit, by Michelle L. Cullen
(Crooked Lane)
• Fighting Edge, by Margaret Mizushima (Crooked Lane)
• First Chance, by Kasey Lansdale (Blackstone)
• The French Illusion, by John Grisham (Doubleday)
• The Garden of Sin, by M.G. Phillips (Pulp Thrills Press)
• The Getaway, by Kieran Scott (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Ghost and the Dead Librarian, by Cleo Coyle (Kensington Cozies)
• Ghost Barn, by John Verdon (Counterpoint)
• The Girl With Seven Lives, by Vikas Swarup (Pegasus)
• The Grand Canyon Black Widower, by Vincent Manileve (Crime Ink)*
• Guns Across the River, by Sam Wiebe (Harbour)
• Hidden Currents, by Claire Booth (Severn House)
• How to Write a Murder, by Jessica Brody (Bantam)
• I’ll Be Watching You, by Allison Brennan (Hanover Square Press)
• I Should Have Stayed Home, by Horace McCoy (Stark House Press)
• I Think We Should Kill Other People, by L.M. Chilton (Gallery/
Scout Press)
• It’s Not What You Think, by Clare Mackintosh (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• The Judas Window, by Carter Dickson (Poisoned Pen Press)
• A Killer for Christmas, by Kim Harrington (Crooked Lane)
• The Killing Yards, by Jason Allison (Crooked Lane)
• The Lady Was a Tramp: The Pat Raffigan Stories, by Harry Whittington (Stark House Press)
• Laplace’s Witch, by Keigo Higashino (Avocado House)
• Last December, by Neil Albert (Independently published)
• Laws of Solomon, by Eriq La Salle (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Lie to Me, by D.S. Butler (Thomas & Mercer)
• London Station, by David McCloskey (Norton)
• Main Street Fringe, by Matthew Lavoie (Level Best)
• A Map to Murder, by Michelle Chouinard (Minotaur)
• The Midnight Guests, by Alex Hay (Hanover Square Press)
• The Most Dangerous Games, by MrBeast and James Patterson (Morrow)
• Mother Daughter Sister Stranger, by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Minotaur)
• Mother May I, by Harry Hunsicker (Oceanview)
• The Munich Affair, by James Patterson and David Ellis (Little, Brown)
• Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel, by Lucy Foley (Morrow)
• Murder in St. James’s Park, by Vanessa Riley (Severn House)
• Murder in Surety, by Anne Cleeland (Anne Cleeland)
• Murder on the Cornish Train, by J.M. Hall (Hodder Paperbacks)
• Murder on the Sacred River, by Tasha Alexander (Minotaur)
• Murder on the Upper East Side, by Gigi Waldorf (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• Murder on Threadneedle Street, by Andrea Penrose (Kensington)
• A Murmuration of Starlings, by Steve Burrows (Dundurn Press)
• The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2026, edited by Tess Gerritsen (Mysterious Press)
• The Mystic and the Missing Girl, by Vikki VanSickle (Minotaur)
• Nancy Drew Collection, by Carolyn Keene (Canterbury Classics)
• Night Calls, by Joe Hart (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Ninth Circle, by James R. Benn (Soho Crime)
• No Song for the Dead, by Jussi Adler-Olsen, Stine Bolther, and Line Holm (Dutton)
• One Split Second, by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer)
• Only the River Knows, by Linda Norlander (Severn River)
• An Ordinary House, by Rae Starling (Hera)
• Our Noble Selves, by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday)
• The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies, by Kate Westbury (Minotaur)
• A Past Without Pictures, by Jonathan Ames (Mysterious Press)
• Peg and Rose Deck the Halls, by Laurien Berenson (Kensington Cozies)
• Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft: A Memoir on Writing, by Harlan Coben (Grand Central)*
• Pound Foolish, by Christopher Harris (Cumulative Press)
• Promised Land, by Henry Wise (Atlantic Crime)
• Quant, by Anthony Bidulka (Bon Vivant)
• Redwood: The Untold Story of the Cold War’s Most Extraordinary Spy, by Ben Macintyre (Crown)*
• The Refuge, by Carly Hillman (Crooked Lane)
• Sanctuary, by Garry Disher (Mysterious Press)
• Second Nature, by Joyce Carol Oates (Hard Case Crime)
• She’ll Be Dead by Morning / The Blonde Died First, by Dana Chambers (Stark House Press)
• Siblings, Love, & Murder, by David E. Feldman (EFace Media)
• Sideshow, by Dana King (Independently published)
• The Silent Appeal, by Janice Hallett (Atria)
• Songs of Saigon, by Ed Teja (Float Street Press)
• Stop Dead, by Katrin Júlíusdóttir (Orenda)
• Target Down, by Ryan Steck (Tyndale Fiction)
• Tear the City Down, by Andre Hardy (Grand Central)
• Tell Two Friends, by Ann Garvin (Lake Union)
• The Tembusu Tree Mystery, by Ovidia Yu (Constable & Robinson)
• Ten Perfect Guests, by Jonathan Santlofer (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Those Who Are Gone, by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
• Three Days Gone, by Charly Cox (Hera)
• Threefold Death, by Victoria Dowd (Datura)
• Untamed Coast, by Kevin C. Morris (Ballantine)
• Until She Dies, by Kendra Elliot (Montlake)
• The Vanished Sister, by Sherry Thomas (Berkley)
• We Chase Shadows, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman)
• Where the Truth Lies, by Rupert Holmes (Avid Reader Press)
• You Let Me In, by Lucy Clarke (Atlantic Crime)
• You’ve Seen Me Before: Over 700 roles and 70 Years in Hollywood (And Counting), by James Hong and Jeff Yang (Atria)*

SEPTEMBER (UK):
• Afternoon Hours of a Hermit, by Patrick Cottrel (And Other Stories)
• The Agatha Christie Cure: What Reading the Queen of Crime Taught Me About Life, by Cathy Rentzenbrink (Canongate)*
• All About My Mother, by Rachael Stirling (John Murray)*
• Bad Intentions, by Iliana Xander (Penguin)
• The Boy, by Mark Gyves (No Exit Press)
• The Chase, by Felix Francis (Zaffre)
• The Classic Crime Companion, by Martin Edwards (British Library)*
• Code Brown: Police Custody, Medicine and Violent Outbursts, by R.J. Emery (Pegasus)*
• A Cold Harbour, by Lynne McEwan
(Canelo Crime)
• Cold Sunset, by William Boyd (Viking)
• The Cornish Halloween Murder, by Fiona Leitch (One More Chapter)
• Crash and Burn, by Alison Bruce (Constable)
• A Curious Ending, by Sally Page (HarperFiction)
• The Cutting, by Michael J. Malone (Orenda)
• Deadly Vintage, by Lyle Nicholson (Vinci)
• Eat, Drink and Be Murdered: A Feast of Fatal Fare, edited by Martin Edwards (British Library Crime Classics)
• The Enforcer, by Carol Hellier (Boldwood)
• Fall From Grace, by Leye Adenle (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Full Circle, by Chris Hammer (Wildfire)
• Galway’s Edge, by Ken Bruen (Head of Zeus/Aries)
• A Game of Cat and Killer, by Jiro Akagawa (MacLehose Press)
• Hail Mary, by Elizabeth Urso (Rising Action)
• The House Swap, by Keri Beevis (Boldwood)
• The Jealous Girl, by Alex Stone (Boldwood)
• King Zero, by Charlie Higson (Michael Joseph)
• The Langdale Legacy, by Rebecca Tope (Allison & Busby)
• The Last Gifts to the Dead, by Allan Gaw (Polygon)
• The Last Tenant, by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir (Orenda)
• Listen to Me, by Alison Stockham (Boldwood)
• The Liverpool Killings, by Simon McCleave (Canelo Crime)
• Music to Die For at the Seaview Hotel, by Glenda Young (Headline)
• No One Is Safe, by Simon Kernick (Headline)
• No Place Left, by Sean Watkin (Canelo Crime)
• Officer Shimada and the Disappearing Girl, by Will Ferguson
(Goose Lane Editions)
• One Berlin Day, by Chris Humphreys (Allison & Busby)
• Pride, Prejudice and Peril, by Jessica Bull (Michael Joseph)
• The Restless Bones, by Kerry Watts (Embla)
• The Riptide, by Gareth Rubin (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Robert B. Parker’s Booked, by Alison Gaylin (No Exit Press)
• Seething Lane, by Jack Jewers (Moonflower)
• Serenity Falls, by C.J. Tudor (Michael Joseph)
• Skin and Bones, by Tom Bale (Boldwood)
• Someone Just Followed You, by Liane Child (HQ Digital)
• Surface, by Olivier Norek (Open Borders Press)
• Tell Me Something True, by Michael Robotham (Sphere)
• The Vineyard Murder, by Greg Mosse (Hodder Paperbacks)
• The Wellness Retreat, by Dawn Kurtagich (Hanover Square Press)

OCTOBER (U.S.):
• Adam & Eve, by Jeffrey Archer (HarperCollins)
• Agatha Christie: A World of Mystery, edited by Lucy Rowland and Martin Edwards (Rizzoli Electa)*
• Antiques Web, by Barbara Allan (Severn House)
• Bark Humbug, by David Rosenfelt (Minotaur)
• The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2026, edited by Megan Abbott (Mariner)
• The Best True Crime Stories of the Year 2026, edited by Jim Clemente (Crime Ink)*
• The Betrayal of Cora Wexford, by Bethany Joy Lenz (Simon & Schuster)
• Blood on the Snow, by Alex Pine (Avon)
• The Bone Woman, by Paige Shelton (Crooked Lane)
• Bury the Wren, by Carlene O’Connor (Kensington)
• Capital Partners, by Libby Fischer Hellmann (Elizabeth F. Hellmann)
• The Case of the Constant Suicides, by John Dickson Carr (Penzler/American
Mystery Classics)
• Chain Reaction, by Lee Child and Andrew Child (Bantam)
• The Chapel of Bones, by Kate Ellis (Piatkus)
• The Christmas Stocking Murders, by Denzil Meyrick
(Poisoned Pen Press)
• The Claus Conspiracy, by Tamara Berry (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Count to Ten, by Raúl Quintana Selleras (Wicked Ink)
• Dark Country, by Adam Plantinga (Grand Central)
• Dead Before Tea Time, by M.C. Beaton with R.W. Green (Minotaur)
• The Death and Birth of Iliana Marek, by David Liss (Tachyon)
• Death by Misadventure, by Jane Bitomsky (Lake Union)
• Death Down the Aisle, by Colleen Cambridge (Kensington)
• Death in Ambush: A Lost Christmas Murder Mystery, by Susan Gilruth (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Death on the Pearl River, by A.E Goldin (Pushkin Vertigo)
• D: Heavy Water, by Neal Stephenson (Morrow)
• Do You See What I See? by Peter Swanson (Morrow)
• Dramatic Murder: A Lost Christmas Murder Mystery, by Elizabeth Anthony (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost Hunter, by J.S. Barnes (Titan)
• The Family Cross, by James Patterson (Little, Brown)
• The Ferryman’s Daughter, by Yasmin Angoe (Thomas & Mercer)
• Final Copy, by Robert Douglas Friedman (Stark House Press)
• Find Me Nowhere, by Andrew Klavan (Mysterious Press)
• The Foreign Correspondent’s Wife, by Jenna Helwig (Crooked Lane)
• Framing the Clue-Puzzle: The Paratextual Voice in Golden Age Detective Fiction, by Zi-Ling Yan (Anthem Press)*
• A Girl from Ohio, by Peter Golden (Lake Union)
• The Girl in the Lake, by James Patterson and Brian Sitts
(Little, Brown)
• A Good, Hard Slap, by Catherine Bator (BookBaby)
• Hanging and Burning, by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown)
• The Hollow, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
• Holmes Away From Home, by Samantha Larsen (Severn House)
• Home for the Homicides, by Elle Cosimano and Hannah Morrissey (Minotaur)
• Jay to the World, by Donna Andrews (Minotaur)
• Joy to the Bones, by Carolyn Haines (Minotaur)
• The Key to a Killer, by Olivia Blacke (Minotaur)
• Knit One, Heist One, by Donna Moore (No Exit Press)
• Last Looks, by Cate Holahan (Thomas & Mercer)
• Look What the Cat Dragged In, by Jason Rekulak (Flatiron)
• Loose Arrows, by Lynn Horton (GFB)
• Miss Wolcott’s Ghost, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
• Murder at Pellhurst Pond, by Clara McKenna (Kensington)
• Murder on 34th Street, by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur)
• Murdle Heist: 56 Clever Capers to Crack with Logic, by G.T. Karber (St. Martin’s Griffin)
• My Darling Girls, by Marina Scott (Lake Union)
• The Nurse at Baker Hospital, by Jocelyn Cullity (Regal House)
• The Occidental Book of the Dead, by T. Geronimo Johnson (Morrow)
• The Paris Files, by Eva Jurczyk (Pamela Dorman)
• Petrified Dreams, by Joe R. Lansdale (Little, Brown)
• The Phantom: The Untold Story of the American Marine the Nazis Could Not Kill, by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (St. Martin’s Press)*
• Please Enjoy Your Stay, by Tara Goedjen (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• The Pope’s Hitman, by J.M. Berger (Crooked Lane)
• Queen of Lombard Street, by Lisa Kleypas (Avon)
• Raven, by Lyndsay Faye (Mysterious Press)
• A Reunion to Die For, by KJ Whittle (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Resurrection Kill, by Laura Joh Rowland (Crooked Lane)
• Return to Breakneck Island, by Tom Ryan (Atlantic Crime)
• The River Runs Black, by Tessa Wegert (Severn House)
• Second Responder, by Tod Goldberg
(Brash Books)
• The Secret Garden Murders, by J.R. Ellis (Thomas & Mercer)
• Serial Killer Wanted, by Nika Grace (Crooked Lane)
• A Serving of Hope, by Hisashi Kashiwai (Putnam)
• A Shadow of Jaguars, by D.C. Frost (Canis Major)
• She Dies in the End, by Elle Marr (Thomas & Mercer)
• Sleepers in the Snow, by Joanne Harris (Pegasus Crime)
• Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes, by Lindsey Fitzharris (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)*
• The Spiral, by Rosanne Limoncelli (Crooked Lane)
• Split Screen, by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer)
• Taxi Dancer, by Marivi Soliven (Red Hen Press)
• The 10:12, by Anna Maloney (Harper Perennial)
• This Wild Desire / The Sex Pros, by Orrie Hitt (Stark House Press)
• Through Many Dangers, by Thomas Goodman (Mainsail Media)
• Trust No One, by Mary Burton (Montlake)
• Truth to Power, by S.A. Cosby (Hyperion Avenue)
• ’Twas the Night, by Kevin Johnson (Morrow)
• Twenty Plus Two, by Frank Gruber (Stark House Press)
• An Unlikely Visitor, by Joanna Cannon (Scribner)
• Unspeakable Things, by Elizabeth Hand (Little, Brown)
• Walking on White, by Jennifer Graeser Dornbush (Blackstone)
• The Way You Say My Name, by M.E. Proctor (Shotgun Honey)
• Where the Road Ends, by Brian Freeman (Blackstone)
• Where There’s Smoke, by Rachel Louise Adams (Minotaur)
• The Witch, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• Wolf Season, by Wesley King (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• You Let Me In, by Lucy Clarke (Atlantic Crime)

OCTOBER (UK):
• The ABC of Murders: An A-Z of Death in Agatha Christie, by Tom Racine (HarperCollins)*
• Call a Hearse: A Lost Christmas Murder Mystery, by Jonathan Stagge (British Library Crime Classics)
• A Carol and a Killing, by Reverend Richard Coles (W&N)
• The Case of the Christmas Card, by Elly Griffiths (Quercus)
• The Christmas Carol Killer, by Chris Frost (HarperNorth)
• The Cold Shore, by Rachel Amphlett (Saxon)
• The Corpse on the Bristol Train, by Edward Marston (Allison & Busby)
• A Dartmoor Christmas Card Murder, by Stephanie Austin
(Allison & Busby)
• Dead in Three Two One, by Peter James (Macmillan)
• The Deadly Inheritance of Everest Macdonald, by A.J. West (Orenda)
• Death at the Elephant House, by Paul Waters (No Exit Press)
• Death on Holly Island, by F.L. Everett (Penguin)
• Death on the Royal Yacht, by Sophia Bennett (Zaffre)
• Dublin Rebel, by Stephanie Harte (Boldwood)
• The Fifteenth Man, by William Cook (Viper)
• The First Mistake, by Sarah Ward (Canelo Crime)
• The Frozen Carriage, by Rachel McLean (Ackroyd)
• The Glowing Man, by Andrew Raymond (Vinci)
• The Golden Age of Classic Crime Quiz Book: Over 500 Questions, Puzzles and Mysteries Inspired by the Best of Detective Fiction, by Kate Jackson (British Library)
• Gravity Let Me Go, by Trent Dalton (Borough Press)
• The Head Collector, by Mark Griffin (Boldwood)
• The Heights, by Ian Rankin (Orion)
• Honour, by Heather Atkinson (Boldwood)
• Keep No Secrets, by J.M. Dalgliesh (Penguin)
• Leicester Square, by Louisa Scarr (Canelo Crime)
• The Lightning Girl, by Sam Ripley (Simon & Schuster UK)
• The Man with the Golden Compass, by Vaseem Khan (Zaffre)
• Mayhem, by Keith Moray (Boldwood)
• Merry Murders on Bedford Square, edited by Maxim Jakubowski (Bedford Square)
• The Midmorning Murders, by Julian Clary (Orion)
• The Murders of Christmas Past, by Andreina Cordani (Zaffre)
• Murder on the Haunted Express, by Emma Mason (Bantam)
• The Murder Planner, by L.C. Tyler
(Allison & Busby)
• The Museum Detectives’ Christmas Mystery, by Jim Eldridge (Allison & Busby)
• The Nancys and the Secret of Tulip Farm, by R.W.R McDonald (Orenda)
• Operation Vienna, by Michael Ridpath (Boldwood)
• The Reckoning, by Vikki Petraitis (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Rogue Agency, by L.D. Sharpe (Constable)
• The Santa Klaus Murder: A Christmas Crime Story, by Mavis Doriel Hay (British Library Crime Classics)
• The Secret Thread, by Eve Chase (Penguin)
• The Shadows of Kensington Gore, by Ross Montgomery (Viking)
• Silent Embers, by John Carson (Boldwood)
• Spies on Screen: From Silent to Streaming, by Paul Burke (Oldcastle)*
• The Stretch, by Martina Cole (Headline)
• Suffer in Silence, by Graham Masterton (Head of Zeus/Aries)
• There Are No Happy Endings, by Bryan J. Mason (Black Comedy
Crime Press)
• The Thicket, by Noelle W. Ihli (Pan)
• The Thief and the Labyrinth, by Alys Clare (Severn House)
• Watch the Quiet Snow, by Mick Herron (Baskerville)
• You Are Mine, by Alex Lake (HarperCollins)

NOVEMBER (U.S.):
• All In, by David Baldacci (Grand Central)
• All the Little Secrets, by May Cobb (Sourcebooks Landmark)
• Baby Queen, by Ty Landers (Harper Perennial)
• Bad Company, by Sara Paretsky (Minotaur)
• Bear Brawl, by Jon Finkel (Blackstone)
• The Body in the Bath, by Ragnar Jónasson (Minotaur)
• The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito, by Erle Stanley Gardner (Penzler/American Mystery Classics)
• Cold Blade, by Matt Goldman (Severn House)
• The Cold Read, by Tara Laskowski (Park Row)
• Cold Sunset, by William Boyd (Atlantic Crime)
• The Collateral Heart, by Jeffery Deaver (Putnam)
• Conspiracy Theory, by Phillip Margolin (Minotaur)
• The Dark Magician, by Keigo Higashino (Tuttle)
• The Favorite Girl, by Monica Arya (Simon Maverick)
• The First Ladies’ Guide to Murder, by Amanda Flower (Kensington)
• Gideon’s Ring, by Carin Gerhardsen (Mysterious Press)
• The Gift, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
• A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Living Twice, by Maxie Dara (Berkley)
• Have Courage: Longmire Stories, by Craig Johnson (Viking)
• The Heist Before Christmas, by Lucy Score (Bloom)
• Home Truths, by Paul Gitsham (Straw Hat Crime)
• Killer Abyss, by Sara Driscoll (Kensington)
• The Killing Time, by Elly Griffiths (Pamela Dorman)
• King Zero, by Charlie Higson (Blackstone)
• The Lost Souls of Saint Oda’s, by Jess Armstrong (Minotaur)
• The Marked Son, by Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck (Thomas & Mercer)
• The Mark of Moriarty, by Jack Anderson (Crooked Lane)
• Midnight in the House of Commons, by Charles Finch (Minotaur)
• Mirror Image, by Lauren E. Rico (Thomas & Mercer)
• Murder in the Cathedral, by Kerry Greenwood (Poisoned Pen Press)
• A Murder in Belgravia, by Irina
Shapiro (Storm)
• The Murder Trial, by James Patterson and Nancy Allen (Little, Brown)
• Numb Were the Beadsman’s Fingers, by Alan Bradley (Bantam)
• On the Killer’s Trail, by Alice Openshaw (Crooked Lane)
• The Party in the Woods, by Fiona McPhillips (Flatiron/Pine & Cedar)
• Quarry’s Reunion, by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime)
• Revenge Plot, by Stephanie Wrobel (Berkley)
• The Riddle Maker, by Bruce Borgos (Minotaur)
• Robert B. Parker’s Framed, by Mike Lupica (Putnam)
• The Runner, by Scarlett Thomas (Simon & Schuster)
• A Scrooge Mystery, by Andreina Cordani (Pegasus Crime)
• The Session, by Andrew Mayne (Thomas & Mercer)
• Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Murders, by Stuart
Douglas (Titan)
• Some Day I’ll Kill You / Too Like the Lightning, by Dana Chambers (Stark House Press)
• Split Second: Thirty-Two Switcheroo, by Janet Evanovich (Atria)
• The Sunday Woman, by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini
(NYRB Classics)
• The Taken Ones, by J.A. Jance (Morrow)
• The Taper Man, by Nick Harkaway (Viking)
• Thunderbird Ranch, by Laura Griffin (Berkley)
• To Crown It All, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)
• The Trusted, by Marisa de los Santos (Blackstone)
• The Voices of the Dead, by Nicola Upson (Crooked Lane)
• A Warning to the Curious, by John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan
(Soho Crime)
• Wolves of Summer, by Donna Freitas (Soho Crime)

NOVEMBER (UK):
• The Advent of Death, by Alexandra Benedict (Simon & Schuster UK)
• Alfa, by Lilja Sigurðardóttir (Orenda)
• All In, by Dan Jones (Ian Fleming Publications)
• The Bells of Fortune, by Leonora Nattrass (Viper)
• Blood on the Thames: Murder, Money and the Making of the Modern Detective, by Thomas Morris (Harvill Secker)*
• Brut, by Sam Tallent (White Rabbit)
• Burning Season, by Martin Griffin (Sphere)
• The Burry Port Murders, by Stephen Puleston (Independently published)
• The Christmas Tree Murders, by Katie Lumsden (Michael Joseph)
• CrimeBits 3: 100 Opening Gambits for Great Thrillers & Linked Mystery Puzzles, edited by by Mick Herron and Luca Veste (Eyewear)
• Death of a Renegade, by John Pilkington (Boldwood)
• Faithful, by Roberta Kray (Sphere)
• First One to Die, by Michael Wood (Cliffhanger)
• The Forest, by Mark Dawson (Unputdownable)
• Ian Fleming: The Notes (Ian Fleming Publications)*
• Kill List, by Quintin Jardine (Headline)
• Kill Shot, Jo Nesbø (Harvill)
• A Knock at the Door, by Louise Candlish (HQ)
• The Last Handmaid, by Clare Whitfield (Head of Zeus/Aries)
• The Last Holiday, by Valerie Keogh (Boldwood)
• Last Whisper, by Angela Marsons (Bookouture)
• The Late Lord Thorpe, by Peter Grainger (Penguin)
• The Last Case, by Jørn Lier Horst (Michael Joseph)
• The Lying Dead, by Nick Louth (Canelo Crime)
• The Madman, by Henning Mankell (Mountain Leopard Press)
• The Midwinter Martyr, by S.J. Parris (Hemlock Press)
• The Mistletoe Wedding Murders, by Denzil Meyrick and Ian Moore (Bantam)
• The Mortician, by Sharon Bolton (Orion)
• The Murdered Husband Returns, by Mina Sakurai (Zaffre)
• Murder on the Mistletoe Express, by Katy Watson (Constable)
• No Good Deed, by Tom Wood (Sphere)
• No One Is Safe, by Simon Kernick (Headline)
• The Odessa Assassin, by Frederick Forsyth and Tony Kent (Bantam)
• The Patriot, by Ajay Chowdhury (Harvill)
• The Sands of Atlantis, by Lex Faulkner (Boldwood)
• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John le Carré
(Penguin Classics)
• The Stranger from the Mountains, by Satu Rämö (Zaffre)
• Sudden Death, by Lynda La Plante (Zaffre)
• Sweet Revenge, by Susan Gilruth (British Library Crime Classics)
• The Traitor’s Code, by Stephen Ronson (Hodder Paperbacks)
• The Wives, by Alex Khan (Hera)
• Wrap Party, by J.A. Wallace (Zaffre)

DECEMBER (U.S.):
• The Fly on the Wall, by Tony Hillerman (Harper Perennial)
• Golden Age Masters of Mystery, edited by Otto Penzler (Penzler/American Mystery Classics)
• The Invisible Host, by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning
(Poisoned Pen Press)
• The Longest Death, by Kevin Jagernauth (Soho Crime)
• Murder on the Graf Zeppelin, by Samir Machado de Machado (Pushkin Vertigo)
• Murder Returns to Gravigna, by Camilla Trinchieri (Soho Crime)
• Murder Unabridged, by P.J. Nelson (Minotaur)
• Murder Under the Mistletoe, by C.J. Archer (C.J. Archer)
• No Good Deed, by Nekesa Afia (Berkley)
• The Parkwood Murders, by Chris Chibnall (Pamela Dorman)
• Pressure Point, by A.J. Landau (Minotaur)
• The Rust Forest, by Anders de la Motte (Atria/Emily Bestler)
• Sherlock, edited by the Conan Doyle Estate (Atria)
• The Sinner Saint, by Brian Shea (Severn River)
• The Statuary Gardens, by Jacques Abeille (NYRB Classics)
• The Swiss Agent, by Anna Pitoniak (Simon & Schuster)
• When the Birds Don’t Sing, by Imran Mahmood (Bantam)
• Wolf Point, by Lisa Howells (Grand Central)

DECEMBER (UK):
• The Lazarus Protocol, by Rob Sinclair (Boldwood)
• Obsession, by LJ Ross (Penguin)
• The Sleeping Car Murders, by Sébastien Japrisot (Pushkin Vertigo)
• Toxic, by Jón Atli Jónasson (Corylus)
• Until Death, by Alex Smith (Canelo)
• When the Devil Was Sick, by Carol Carnac (British Library
Crime Classics)

Remember, this is one critic’s deliberately diverse selection of promising new works in the crime, mystery, and thriller field (with a few horror yarns thrown in), not a comprehensive compilation of what to expect on shelves between now and the start of 2027. For more information, note that both CrimeReads and Crime Fiction Lover post weekly updates of books from this genre entering the market.

Not Your Average Joes

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 12:57:00 +0000

Crime Fiction Lover reminds us that Season 6 of Slow Horses is set to premiere today on Apple TV+. Here’s its plot synopsis:

The Slough House team have seemingly been cut from MI5’s database, no longer on the payroll or system. Is it a glitch in the mainframe or something more sinister? Of course, this being the world of Mick Herron there is hijinks afoot. This comes as former members of Slough House meet a series of sticky ends—are these accidents or is a bad actor out for revenge? The first episode largely sees the Slow Horses trying to piece together what’s happened to their pay and why they’ve been airbrushed from existence. [Supervisor Jackson] Lamb also plays detective trying to piece together what’s happened to his ex Joes, as always one step ahead of the supposedly smarter members of MI5, the ‘dogs’ from Regent’s Park.

These latest six episodes are adapted, with some noticeable changes, from author Herron’s novels Joe Country (2019) and Slough House (2020). They’ll be presented on Wednesdays through October 21.

Making the McIlvanney Grade

noreply@blogger.com (J. Kingston Pierce) — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:05:00 +0000

If you were wondering when organizers of the annual Bloody Scotland international crime-writing festival would release their shortlist of nominees for the 2026 McIlvanney Prize, well, the answer was apparently yesterday. Here are the five fortunate finalists:

• The Hollow Boys, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
• 138 Main Street, by Gavin Bell (Simon & Schuster UK)
• A Bad, Bad Place, by Frances Crawford (Bantam)
• The Diary of Lies, by Philip Miller (Polygon)
• The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper)

The winner of this award, as well as the 2026 Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, are set to be revealed at the festival on Friday, September 18.

READ MORE: “What I’m Looking Forward to at Bloody Scotland 2026—Murder, Mayhem & Impossible Choices!” by Noelle Holten (CrimeBookJunkie).