Top list: Crime

"A murderous android discovers itself in All Systems Red, a tense science fiction adventure by Martha Wells that interrogates the roots of consciousness through Artificial Intelligence.

""As a heartless killing machine, I was a complete failure.""

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

Performed by David Cui Cui, Khaya Fraites, Zeke Alton, Alejandro Ruiz, Aure Nash, Bradley Foster Smith, Holly Adams, Megan Dorminy, Natalie Van Sistine, Michael John Casey, Rayner Gabriel, Shanta Parasuraman, Tanja Milojevic and Wyn Delano."

The New York Times No.1 bestselling and multi award-winning YA crime thriller and TikTok sensation that everyone is talking about. Now a major BBC series!

‘A taut, compulsively readable, elegantly plotted thriller', GUARDIAN

'Prepare to be murdered by this book. Dark, dangerous – my heart literally pounded', LAURA STEVEN, author of bestselling Infinite Fates

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth … ?

I hate finding corpses. For some reason, my enemies think dead bodies work as a communication method. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer a letter.

When I find a pulverized gargoyle on my lawn, I can’t help but think things are about to get rocky. The gargoyles don’t expect me to look into the death, but who can ignore murder on their doorstep? Ex-soldier Greg Manners knows all about violence and he thinks that the ogres are involved. Deadly or not, I’ll go toe-to-toe with their lethal king if I need to. I’m determined to find justice–but just when I start investigating, one of the pack’s children is snatched.

I’m in a race against time to find him when it turns out that Bobby isn’t the first stolen child. I’ll have to navigate Other world politics to work out what the purloined children have in common. Maybe if I know why they’ve been taken, I’ll discover who took them. Because the clock is ticking and I am all out of suspects.

Esme and I have to work together to find the kids, before it’s too late….

Don't miss all the books set in the Other Realm!

The Glimmer Series

Glimmer of the Other

Glimmer of Hope

Glimmer of Death

Glimmer of Deception

The Other Wolf Series

Protection of the Pack

Guardians of the Pack

Saviour of the Pack

The Court Series

Challenge of the Court

Betrayal of the Court

Revival of the Court

The Other Witch Series

Rune of the Witch

Hex of the Witch

Coven of the Witch

Familiar of the Witch

Destiny of the Witch

From New York Times Bestseller and BookTok sensation Rina Kent comes a captivating age-gap billionaire romance filled with power, desire, and betrayal.

Nothing is fair in war.

Jonathan King is every bit his last name.

Powerful. Untouchable. Corrupted.

He’s also my dead sister’s husband and way older than me.

When I first met him as a clueless child, I thought he was a god.

Now, I have to confront that god to protect my business from his ruthless grip.

Little did I know that declaring a war on the king will cost me everything.

When Jonathan covets something, he doesn’t only win, he conquers.

Now, he has his sights on me.

He wants to consume not only my body, but also my heart and my soul.

I fight, but there’s no escaping the king in his kingdom…

Reign of a King is the first part of a duet.

©2020 Rina Kent (P)2020 Rina Kent

This stunning blend of historical romance and time-traveling adventure has captured the hearts of millions of readers around the world and catapulted author Diana Gabaldon to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Outlander

introduces an exhilarating world of heroism and breathtaking thrills—as one woman is torn between past and present, passion and love.

In 1945, former combat nurse Claire Randall returns from World War II and joins her husband for a second honeymoon. Their blissful reunion is shattered when she touches a boulder in an ancient stone ruin and is instantly transported to 1743

Scotland, a place torn by war and raiding border clans. Will Claire find her way back to her own time, or is her destiny forever linked with Clan MacKenzie and the gallant Jamie Fraser?

For fans of The Silent Patient and Gone Girl, a razor-sharp and Hitchcock-inspired psychological thriller about two ordinary women who make a dangerous pact to take revenge for each other after being pushed to the brink.

One dark evening on New York City’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect plan: if you kill for me, I’ll kill for you.

In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when the beautiful brownstone she shares with her husband, Scott, is invaded. She’s attacked by a man with piercing blue eyes, who disappears into the night. Will she ever be able to feel safe again while the blue-eyed stranger is out there?

Intricate, heart-racing, and from an author who “is the real deal” (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Kill for Me, Kill for You will keep you breathless until the final page.

I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time.

I’m Jinx. As a private investigator, being a walking, talking lie detector is a useful skill - but let’s face it, it’s not normal. You’d think it would make my job way too easy, but even with my weird skills, I still haven’t been able to track down my parents' killers.

When I’m hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar - yet my gut tells me there’s more to this case than a party girl gone wild. Firstly, she’s a bookish soul who’s as likely to go off the rails as Mother Theresa. Secondly, I’m not the only one on her trail; she’s also being tracked by the implacable and oh-so-sexy Inspector Stone.

Stone and I team up, and he shoves me into a realm where magic is real – a place where there are vampires and werewolves, dragons and trolls. And where my skills are more than just detecting lies…

Oh, and my dog? He’s a freaking hellhound who can manipulate the magical realms themselves.

I need to find the girl. I need to discover who killed my parents. And I need to find out more about the attractive but mysterious Zachary Stone…

THE SUNDAY TIMES bestseller, as seen on BBC 2's BETWEEN THE COVERS

A WATERSTONES THRILLER BOOK OF THE MONTH

*WINNER* OF THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2024

*WINNER* OF THE CRIME WRITERS' ASSOCIATION ILP JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER 2024

AND NOMINATED FOR TWO OTHER MAJOR AWARDS

Capital Crime Book of the Year 2023

Crimefest Specsavers Best Debut Crime Novel

‘I devoured this in one sitting’ Rob Rinder, as featured on BBC 2’s Between the Covers

‘Terrifyingly timely and provocative' Val McDermid

'The most original crime novel you'll read this year' Clare Mackintosh

In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds.

Just gone. Vanished. In the blink of an eye.

DCS Kat Frank knows all about loss. A widowed single mother, Kat is a cop who trusts her instincts. Picked to lead a pilot programme that has her paired with AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) Lock, Kat's instincts come up against Lock's logic. But when the two missing person's cold cases they are reviewing suddenly become active, Lock is the only one who can help Kat when the case gets personal.

AI versus human experience.

Logic versus instinct.

With lives on the line can the pair work together before someone else becomes another statistic?

In the Blink of an Eye is a dazzling debut from an exciting new voice and asks us what we think it means to be human.

'Just brilliant!' Lisa Jewell

'Has to be a strong contender for crime debut of the year - sharp, perceptive writing and a brilliant new take on the detective duo' T. M. Logan

'Everything you could hope for in a thriller: heartbreaking, intelligent, deftly plotted and so original' Fiona Cummins

'Jo Callaghan makes her entry into the crowded police procedural genre with a fresh take on the buddy-buddy cop trope . . . Provocative and compelling' Vaseem Khan

'The kind of fresh and fearless debut I just adore. Wildly original, heartfelt, funny, and properly thrilling. Take a bow, Jo Callaghan' Chris Whitaker

A haunting and heartbreaking novel narrated from heaven as a young girl watches over her family and killer.

My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.

In heaven, Susie Salmon can have whatever she wishes for – except what she most wants, which is to be back with the people she loved on earth.

In the wake of her murder, Susie watches as her happy suburban family is torn apart by grief; as her friends grow up, fall in love, and do all the things she never had the chance to do herself. But as Susie will come to realize, even in death, life is not quite out of reach . . .

An astonishing novel about life and death, memory and forgetting, and finding light in the darkest places.

Alice Sebold's book inspired the Peter Jackson film, starring Susan Sarandon and Saoirse Ronan.

'Moving and compelling . . . I sat down in the morning to read the first couple of pages; five hours later, I was still there, book in hand, transfixed' – Maggie O'Farrell (author of The Marriage Portrait), Sunday Telegraph

My mum told me I could be anything I wanted to be–and it turns out that I want to be an alpha werewolf. I’m finally starting to get a hang of this alpha malarkey when destiny sticks her oar in once again.

There’s a prophecy about me, and it’s time for me to find out what it says. So when my best friend Jess cooks up a hare-brained scheme to get hold of the prophecy through fair means or foul, I’m along for the ride before you can say "bail money".

Getting my wolfy paws on the prophecy is only the beginning, though, because I’m not the only one aware of its existence. Some of my enemies will stop at nothing to prevent the prophecy from coming true. I’ve a battle on my hands, so it’s lucky that I have super soldier Greg Manners by my side.I’m a pretty chilled-out alpha, but when unknown wolves slink onto my land and attack my unicorn, all bets are off. No one attacks my murderous little Ares and gets away with it.

Beckett Frost is coming my way with vengeance in mind; the black witch is still free, ready to steal powers and destroy lives; I have enemies piling up around me–so I do what any girl would do and call in my family, my weirdly Other birth family. I need allies, and fast, because war is coming to Home Counties Pack whether we’re ready or not.

Luckily, Esme was born ready.

Bring it on.

Don't miss all the books set in the Other Realm!

The Glimmer Series

Glimmer of the Other

Glimmer of Hope

Glimmer of Death

Glimmer of Deception

The Other Wolf Series

Protection of the Pack

Guardians of the Pack

Saviour of the Pack

The Court Series

Challenge of the Court

Betrayal of the Court

Revival of the Court

The Other Witch - An Amber DeLea grimoire

Rune of the Witch

Hex of the Witch

Coven of the Witch

Familiar of the Witch

Destiny of the Witch

***Don't miss the second book in the series, Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), out now!***

Put the kettle on, there’s a mystery brewing…

'Vera Wong is my new favourite sleuth' Elle Cosimano

Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective?

Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).

But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.

Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth.

USA Today Bestseller and Edgar Award Winner

Readers LOVE Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice For Murderers

'This is the perfect book for fans of found family, humour and mystery – full of warmth, heart, good food and well-meaning meddling' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'Fans of The Thursday Murder Club and other cosy mysteries with great characterisation will love this book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'This was ABSOLUTELY my cup of tea' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'I need a Vera (and her cooking) in my life! This book is potentially my favourite read of the year' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Artificial Condition is the follow-up to Martha Wells's Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Award-winning, New York Times bestselling All Systems Red.

It has a dark past—one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks…

Performed by David Cui Cui, Elena Anderson, Alejandro Ruiz, Bradley Foster Smith, Carolyn Kashner, Eric Messner, Jeri Marshall, Ken Jackson, Marni Penning, Michael John Casey, Rayner Gabriel, Scott McCormick, Shanta Parasuraman and Yasmin Tuazon."

‘DARK AND TWISTY’ Riley Sager

‘LOVED EVERY MINUTE’ Joshilyn Jackson

You’ll never find her. Don’t even try.

When a local mother and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, suddenly vanish, their close-knit suburban community is rocked by fear and suspicion. How could such a terrible thing have happened in their small town?

Then, eleven years later, Delilah shockingly reappears. Everyone wants to know what really happened to her. But there are secrets hidden deep in the past – and when the truth about those missing years begins to surface, no one is prepared for what they’re about to find out.

Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Claire Douglas and Freida McFadden

‘Strap in tight as this is one hell of a ride’ NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘A taut, twisty thriller that kept me turning the pages’ NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Highly recommended’ NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

‘Had me hooked’ NetGalley reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

____

Praise for Mary Kubica

‘Kubica’s salacious, thoroughly mysterious characters bear the qualities we all crave in a thriller’

Karin Slaughter

‘A page-turning whodunit’

Ruth Ware

‘Brilliantly propulsive and engrossing, with twists you won’t see coming’

JP Delaney

The New York Times best-selling, brilliantly crafted crime-thriller sequel to the no.1 debut of 2019, A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER.

A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER IS

THE WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS' CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 AND

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WATERSTONES CHILDREN'S BOOK PRIZE 2020

“Nail-biting, taut and pacy. Jackson [is] a homegrown thriller writer to watch.… – Guardian

Pip Fitz-Amobi is not a detective anymore.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared but the police won’t do anything about it. And if they won’t look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town’s dark secrets along the way& and this time EVERYONE is listening.

But will she find him before it’s too late?

Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying, Eva Dolan, C L Taylor, We Were Liars and Riverdale

Praise for A Good Girl's Guide to Murder:

'A taut, compulsively readable, elegantly plotted thriller' – Guardian

'A fiendishly-plotted mystery that kept me guessing until the very end.' – Laura Purcell, bestselling author of The Silent Companions

'There is a lot to really enjoy in this story and there is great energy to the writing, as well as some fine characterization' – Peter James, award-winning and no.1 bestselling crime thriller author of Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series

'Twisty, compulsive and so, so clever' – Savannah Brown, author of The Truth About Keeping Secrets

'That ending! Pure genius' - Yasmin Rahman, author of All the Things We Never Said

'This book was a delight from start to finish. I laughed. I cried. And I very much enjoyed attempting to solve the case with Pip (who I now want to be my best friend). I didn't guess the twist, and I don't think many people will. Holly Jackson has absolutely killed it with her debut!' – Aisha Busby, author of A Pocketful of Stars and contributor to the award-winning A Change is Gonna Come

'Prepare to be murdered by this book. Dark, dangerous and intricately plotted – my heart literally pounded. I haven't been this addicted to anything since Serial. Holly Jackson is the next big thing, I promise' – Laura Stevens, author of The Exact Opposite of Okay

'Twisty and compelling' – Fiona Noble, Bookseller

I’m Jinx, a private investigator, a truth seeker and an empath. Even with all that magic at my fingertips, I don’t know if I can save my best friend.

And she’s not the only ill one. The magical creatures of the Other Realm are falling sick – even the supposedly immortal ones. The illness is striking two by two like a plague filled Noah’s Ark. The mermen asked for help first, but it turns out they’re just the tip of the iceberg.

Gato and I need to find the source of the sickness, to stop it spreading and to find the antidote. Emory’s adoptive parents are two of the ones that have fallen sick and I can’t watch him lose his pseudo parents when I’ve already lost mine. I’ll do anything to save the stricken victims - even if it means working with my parents’ own killer…

I know this much, the illness isn’t natural, and whoever is behind this has nothing but sinister intentions.

I need to find the perpetrator.

I need to find the cure.

And I need to work out how I feel about Emory. I don’t know which task will be harder…

This is the third book in the internationally best-selling Other Realm series. Check it out if you like humour, heart, a strong heroine and a slow burn fade-to-black romance.

Written in British English.

‘Joe Goldberg is my guilty pleasure, my strange addiction. If loving him is wrong, I don’t want to be right’ Erin Kelly

JOE GOLDBERG IS BACK, AND THIS TIME HE'S WRITING HIS OWN HAPPILY EVER AFTER . . .

Joe Goldberg is ready for a change. Instead of selling books, he’s writing them. And he’s off to a good start.

Invited to join a tight-knit writing fellowship at Harvard, Joe thinks he’s finally found a place where talent matters more than pedigree. Where anything is possible, even happy endings. At least until he meets his uber-privileged, already-published, already-distinguished peers.

Thankfully, Wonder enters the picture. They have so much in common: no college degrees, no pretensions, just a love for literature. They could be those rare literary soulmates who never fall prey to their demons. If only Wonder could just commit herself to the writing life.

But Joe has faith in Wonder. He will sacrifice his art for hers. And, if he must, he will kill her darlings for her.

With her trademark biting wit, Caroline Kepnes explores why vulnerable people bring out the worst in others as Joe sets out to make this small, elite world a fairer place. And if a little crimson runs in the streets of Cambridge, who can blame him? Love doesn’t conquer all. Often, it needs a little push.

PRAISE FOR CAROLINE KEPNES AND THE YOU SERIES:

‘Crazy, sexy, cool: Caroline Kepnes gets better – and Joe Goldberg gets worse – with every book’ ERIN KELLY

‘Caroline Kepnes writes with such malevolent energy, such dark grace and such ink-black humour. An utterly unique character and an utterly unique writer, in a marriage made somewhere between heaven and hell’ RICHARD OSMAN

‘Fiendish, fast-paced, and very funny’ PAULA HAWKINS

‘Another dark, thrilling, and blackly hilarious adventure from everyone's favourite murderer’ CLAIRE MCGOWAN

‘My new favourite writer’ COLLEEN HOOVER

Read by the author, Tracy Whitwell.

The Accidental Medium is the first audiobook in a hilarious series from Tracy Whitwell featuring Tanz, the accidental medium who, with the help of the dead, is about to become an unwilling crime-solver.

'Spooky and hilarious and brimming with oddball characters, I love this book!' – Mandasue Heller

Tanz is a wine-loving, straight-talking, once-successful TV actress from Gateshead, whose career has shrivelled like an antique walnut. She is still grieving for her friend Frank, who died in a car crash three years ago, and she has to find a normal job in London to fund her cocktail habit. When she starts work in a ‘new age’ shop, Tanz suddenly discovers that the voices she’s hearing in her head are real, not the first signs of madness, and that she can give people ‘messages’ from beyond the grave. Alarmed, she confronts her little mam and discovers she is from a long line of psychic mediums.

Despite an exciting new avenue of life opening up to Tanz, darkness isn’t far away and all too soon there’s murder in the air . . .

Continue the Adventures of an Accidental Medium series with Gin Palace.

Tantor Audio presents Books 1–3 in USA Today bestselling author Nancy Warren's Vampire Knitting Club series.

Lucy inherits an Oxford knitting shop . . . And so much more . . .

Like the vampires who live downstairs and pop up to the shop when they run out of wool, or for their late night knitting club. They've even offered to help Lucy learn how to knit. She discovers she's a witch and has some quirky relatives she never knew about. Her grandmother's supposed to be dead, but keeps showing up. It's enough to send Lucy screaming back to Boston, except there's a mystery to solve and Oxford and her new vampire friends are kind of growing on her . . .

A mystery novelist with writer’s block, a lavish party to ring in the new year, and a film star with three bullets through his head…

December 1927. Mystery-writer Marius Quin has one previous bestseller, endless looming mortgage payments, and no idea how to write his next book. When his childhood friend Lady Isabella Montague invites him to an intimate New Year’s Eve party hosted by a narcissistic actor, Marius seizes upon the distraction. With his perpetually glum Basset hound along for the ride, he navigates the snowy lanes to the opulent estate of Everham Hall. As the celebrations begin, fireworks light up the sky, champagne corks pop, and then the host is murdered…

Snowed-in and with the police unable to reach them, Marius is the closest thing the panicked party has to a detective and he is swiftly nominated to find the killer. But when two more guests are attacked, Marius soon realises that solving mysteries is even harder than writing them. With Bella at his side, and a clutch of conniving suspects to choose from, can Marius find the culprit before the killer targets him?

A completely charming and witty golden-age cozy mystery, perfect for the Christmas season. Fans of Agatha Christie, T E Kinsey and Lee Strauss won’t be able to put down the Marius Quin Mysteries!

Readers love Benedict Brown:

‘Deserves 10 stars!… Not since Agatha Christie’s Bertram’s Hotel have I felt I was right there watching from the sidelines.’ Reader review, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘I couldn’t put this book down, and I didn’t even come close to guessing “whodunit”! I wish it hadn’t ended so soon.’ Reader review, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘WOW Benedict Brown has done it once again… the ending was completely astounding, the perfect climactic twist.’ Reader review, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘One of the best Christmas murder mysteries I’ve ever read.’ Reader review, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘Kept me totally hooked until the last page… lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing.’ Reader review, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘A fresh, fun, atmospheric, joy ride… Stoke up the fire, get your hot toddy, and get cozy with this treat!’ Reader review, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘Deserves more than 5 stars. I really loved this book.’ Reader review, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘What a great read this was!… Murder, mayhem, evildoers doing evil deeds, a clever twist that I never saw coming.’ Reader review, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book.’ Reader review, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gabriel is a former undercover cop haunted by the things he's seen and done. He returns to his small hometown of Prophet, taking on the role of sheriff, hoping to mend his fractured relationship with his estranged brother and rebuild his life. But when a chilling murder occurs at Sentinel Rocks, a sacred Makah site on Lake Prophet, Gabriel's dreams of peace and reconciliation are shattered.

Gabriel navigates a web of intrigue, where suspects abound; from local tribal elders to fervent Solstice worshippers and even those hunting the elusive Big Foot. When the brutal murder leaves Duke, a loyal Labrador retriever, as the sole witness, Gabriel stumbles upon an unexpected ally—a local animal behaviorist named Tiber.

Tiber, a newcomer to Prophet, seeks refuge in this remote haven. Armed with his extraordinary ability to communicate with animals, he offers his expertise through video consultations. While he attributes his skill to his academic background, his intuition and flashes of insight owe as much to his Navajo heritage as to science.

With the relentless rain washing away sins and good intentions alike, Gabriel and Tiber must begin to confront their vulnerabilities and unravel the truth.