The new year is upon us and our team is already chomping at the bit for the tidal wave of new releases 2017 will bring. Without doubt, there will be big releases for lovers of all the main crime fiction genres. Will 2017 be the year that action thrillers return to glory, or is it going to be the year that psychological tension takes us to the wire. And, how will crime writers respond to the whirlwind of political change that 2016 brought us?
Here’s our most wanted list of upcoming crime releases, in chronological order…
The Long Drop by Denise Mina
Available from 2 March and based on true events, The Long Drop is set in the 1950s Glasgow and is a standalone psychological thriller. William Watt is the prime suspect in the murder of his family, but is determined to show that he is not to blame. He makes it publically known that he is willing to pay anyone for information concern the killings and in steps serial killer Peter Manuel. Watt and Manuel spend a wild 12 hours together. The next time they meet is in the High Court where Manuel questions Watt about their night together. The book is a fictionalisation of a real case and there is a buzz about the atmosphere and descriptions Denise Mina generates. Pre-order now on Amazon
Quieter Than Killing by Sarah Hilary
The fourth book of the Marnie Rome series arrives on 9 March and there is talk that the series is being developed for TV. Quieter Than Killing starts out in a cold London winter with DI Marnie Rome and DS Noah Jake dealing with a series of assaults that are popping up all over the city. When Marine’s home is broken into, there are signs that it’s a job committed by someone she knows. She travels to a prison to visit her murderous foster Brother, Stephen, for help. Marnie must face her own troubled past to figure out the case. It will be interesting to see how Marnie confronts Stephen, who murdered her parents when she was 14. This one lands 9 March. Buy now on Amazon
Ed’s Dead by Russel D McLean
Russel D McLean is back and Ed’s Dead follows Jen, a failed fiction writer who accidentally kills her boyfriend Ed one night. Ed’s death brings about a few questions for Jen: what will she do with his body, his pile of drugs, and a stack of cash? The more nagging question becomes what will she do about the hitman who has been sent to recover the drugs? The fun of McLean is his cracking pace. Ed’s Dead should stand up tall in the Tartan noir subgernre for 2017. The book will be published by the Contraband imprint of the independent publisher Saraband. It’s a company to watch following the 2016 Booker Prize-nominated My Bloody Project. Put 16 March in your diary. Pre-order now on Amazon
The Shadow District by Arnaldur Indridason
Nobody knows whether Detective Erlendur will ever return other than Arnaldur Indridason himself, but fans don’t need to fret because Iceland’s top crime author has started a new series and book one arrives 13 April. The Shadow District is set in Reykjavik, early during World War II. The title refers to a rough area behind the National Theatre where a young woman’s body is found. She had been strangled. An Icelandic detective pairs with an American military police to find the killer. There is a second plot weaved into the tale, set in current day. A 90-year-old man has been smothered in bed. But in the dead man’s house a former detective, Konrad, comes across some newspaper clippings dating back to the World War II that report on a crime Konrad remembers, one that took place in the shadow district. The double plot line should make this a gripping page-turner, and it will be exciting to see what Indridason does in a new realm. Pre-order now on Amazon
Want You Gone by Chris Brookmyre
Sam Morpeth is a kid who is growing up too fast. She is left to take care of a younger sister who has learning disabilities when their mother goes to prison. A stranger begins to blackmail Sam online, and she is drawn into a trap she might not be able to escape from. She turns to Jack Parlabane for help. The eighth book in the Jack Parlabane book series finds the hard partying, wisecracking investigative reporter with his career finally back on track. The series is a hit in the UK and is picking up steam in America. Brookmyre will be an honoured guest later in the year at Bouchercon in Toronto, but Want You Gone is available on 20 April. Pre-order now on Amazon
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
How will Paula Hawkins follow the massive success of her debut novel, The Girl on the Train? We’ll find out on 2 May with Into the Water. Two women, a single mother and a teenage girl, are found dead at the bottom of an English river two weeks apart. The book will contain the same layered and psychological elements that made The Girl on the Train so captivating. Into the Water interrogates how memory tricks us and the dangerous ways that the past can reach into and grab hold of the present and the future. Be prepared to see this book everywhere. Pre-order now on Amazon
The Thirst by Jo Nesbo
After The Son, and two darkly poetic novels set in 1970s Norway, Jo Nesbo returns to writing his detective character Harry Hole.
We repeat, Harry Hole is back!
In the last novel in the series, Police, officers were being killed off and each crime scene mirrored a previous murder that they’d failed to satisfactorily solve. Harry Hole has fought for his sanity and sobriety since leaving the murder squad, but is about to be drawn back into the Oslo police force… again! A serial murderer is targeting Tinder daters, and as Harry grapples with the case he’ll find himself on course to face a past nemesis. The book is available on 4 May and its release is a clever marketing move, with the film version of the earlier Harry Hole novel The Snowman due to premier on 13 October. You can catch up with the Harry Hole series by reading our guide. Pre-order now on Amazon
Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
Since We Fell might just be Dennis Lehane’s first novel where he writes a female protagonist. Rachel Childs is a journalist who has suffered an on-air mental breakdown. She is now a recluse. But after a chance encounter, Rachel’s life takes a new turn. Sucked into a world full of deception, violence, and maybe madness, Rachel is pushed to find her strength and to overcome her fears. The book is said to be heartbreaking, romantic, suspenseful and sophisticated. Lehane is one of America’s great crime writers, capable of Hitchcock-like thrillers such as Shutter Island, and hardboiled noir like The Drop. Since We Fell promises something fresh again. It’s out 16 May. Pre-order now on Amazon
A Twisted Vengeance by Candace Robb
Will 6 June go down in history for lovers of historical crime? Book two of the Kate Clifford series comes out just in time for summer and in it Candace Robb promises to take you back to 14th century York. The city is on the brink of civil war and the young widow Kate Clifford is trying to keep her business afloat. Kate’s mother, Eleanor, harbours a secret and Kate is trying to keep her distance. But the brutal murder of one of our heroine’s servants forces the young widow to draw her mother out of her silence before mayhem strikes the household a second time. Pre-order now on Amazon
White Bodies by Jane Robins
A unique, attention-grabbing debut novel by journalist and author of three non-fiction books Jane Robins. Cleverly reworking Alfred Hitchcock’s version of Strangers on a Train for the internet age, White Bodies follows the story of an abusive relationship that tests the unique relationship shared by twin sisters. Bookseller Callie watches as her beautiful, talented sister Tilda is diminished by the domineering love of her new boyfriend, Felix. Tilda has stopped working and pretty much stopped eating. Her flat is freakishly clean and tidy, with mugs wrapped in cling film and ominous syringes in the bathroom bin. So worried is Callie that she joins an internet support group for the victims and families of women enduring domestic abuse. But when one of Callie’s new internet friends is murdered by their partner, both Tilda and Callie’s lives spiral out of control. Then, Felix is killed! Released 25 July. Pre-order now on Amazon
The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy
Benjamin Percy has produced three wonderful novels that are all worth reading. His fourth, The Dark Net, focuses on that notorious corner of the internet, the dark web, where there are no rules or boundaries. The cyberplace his title refers to is know for all sorts of illegal and suspect activity. But now an ancient darkness is gathering there and it could spread virally into the real world unless it can be stopped. An odd crew is assembled to fight it including a 12-year-old girl, a tech journalist, a one-time child evangelist, and a hacker for social justice named Derek. It doesn’t quite sound like crime fiction, but we shall see as this cyber thriller promises a wild ride steered along by a writer whose previous books have mashed together multiple genres into something exciting and new. Out 3 August. Pre-order now on Amazon
Origin by Dan Brown
It has been nearly four years since we last saw Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon. But next autumn he his back… 26 September to be precise. Origin is the fifth book in the series that began with Angels and Demons. More respectable authors are always ready to critique Brown’s prose but readers seem to steam ahead on his storytelling, and Origin is expected to be huge. It will have all the Dan Brown trademarks woven into the plot: secret codes to unlock, science, religion, history, art and architecture. Big questions of humanity will be on the table this time, and who better to uncover them than Langdon. Get ready for Dan Brown fever to strike again. Pre-order now on Amazon
Which crime book are you most looking forward to in 2017? Tell us in the comments below.
