Yes, it’s that time of year again. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, the shops are teeming with Christmas decorations, Father Christmas impersonators sweating in their suits, and Boney M blaring through the speakers, while most of the South African population heads off to the beach in 35-degree heat. I do sometimes wish I was born in Iceland, if only to partake in the Christmas Jólabókaflóð tradition. But, despite the weather, we’ll find great crime novels wherever we are in the world.
5 – White King by Juan Gómez-Jurado
Last year, Black Wolf, the second book in the series, earned the top spot on my list. Its sequel, White King, lands at number five – a demotion that reflects the strength of this year’s competition rather than a decline in quality. White King picks up where the previous book left off and we’re thrown headfirst into the action. Members of the secret Red Queen police unit, led by an anonymous man called Mentor, are killed off one by one. Fearing for her family’s safety, Antonia Scott ships her charismatic grandmother and young son off to South America. Unfortunately her partner, Jon Gutiérrez, doesn’t come off scot-free (pun intended). He is kidnapped and a bomb is attached to his spinal column. A literal race against time ensues. The only true downside is that this marks our final rendezvous with Antonia Scott and Jon Gutiérrez. We can only hope that Gómez-Jurado’s next series delivers as much unbridled fun. Read the full review
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4 – Summerhouse by Yigit Karaahmet
I do love novels that are outliers and unexpected gems and this Turkish import fits the bill perfectly. Karaahmet uses some familiar tropes, adds a hint of Hitchcock and Highsmith and the result is a suspenseful, twisty gay thriller with a fresh slant on the domestic thriller. Fehmi and Şener are celebrating their 40th anniversary. They’re living an idyllic life on Büyükada, an island just off Istanbul, even though the locals prefer to believe they’re just two retired friends, not lovers. Their peace and quiet is disturbed when new tenants move into the house next door, including a young teenage boy who likes to push the boundaries. Read the full review.
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3 – The Shadow of the Northern Lights by Satu Rämö
Finnish author Satu Rämö transports us to Northwest Iceland where police detective Hildur and her trainee assistant, Jakob, have to investigate a series of violent attacks without any clear common motive. Each attack links to the Yule Lads, folkloric tricksters who came down from the mountains during Christmas to harass the locals. Rämö has quickly become a major force in Nordic noir. While Iceland and Finland have long celebrated her success, the English-speaking world is now catching up. In less than two years, three of her novels have been translated, with a fourth due early next year. Her debut novel won the 2025 Petrona Award for best Scandinavian novel and is currently being adapted into a TV series. Do you need any more convincing? Read the full review.
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2 – Red Tide by Irma Venter
A promising young artist is found murdered in the desolate Great Karoo a week before her wedding. Her father discovers her body meticulously arranged in her weddingdress alongside a red bicycle on a dried-up floodplain on the family farm. The killer is never found and three years later Jaap Reynecke, her godfather and an ex-policeman, returns to the farm to try and close the case with the assistance of Sarah Fourie, a convicted hacker with few social skills. Irma Venter is one of South Africa’s most underrated crime writers, largely because her novels have only been available locally until now. Fortunately, Catalyst Press, an independent publisher, recognised the value of distributing her work internationally. Consequently, readers in the UK and US can now also experience Venter’s unique stories and authentic South African voice. Read the full review.
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1 – Saint of the Narrows Street by William Boyle
During the summer of 1986, Risa defended herself and her son against her drunken husband, Sav, fatally injuring him when she hit him over the head with a cast-iron pan. Desperate, Risa and her sister, Gulia, turned to their neighbour, Christopher ‘Chooch’ Gardini, to dispose of the body. The remainder of the story follows the aftermath of their actions over the next few years. Boyle excels at depicting real, flawed people in an authentic way. He masterfully sets these characters within a community undergoing transformation, a process that places further strain on their relationships and futures. For those who enjoy Dennis Lehane, George Pelecanos and Don Winslow, Boyle’s novels are essential reading. Read the full review.
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Special mentions to crime novels I enjoyed but reviewed elsewhere: Broken by Jon Atli Jonasson; Within the Circle by Arne Dahl and Lying in Wait by Michel Bussi.
