In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
With a tagline reading ‘Someone’s getting married, someone’s getting murdered’ on its cover, this debut novel by Ruth Ware is one of Harvill Secker’s big releases this summer. It’s a story of broken friendships, tense reunions and the sheer silliness of that social construct called…
London Rain by Nicola Upton
If you like your detective fiction with a pin-sharp historical setting, then Nicola Upson is the author for you. Her series of novels features real-life Golden Age writer Josephine Tey as a detective, and Upson’s attention to detail is jaw-dropping in its thoroughness. Suffolk-born Upson read…
A Book of Scars by William Shaw
You have to feel sorry for Detective Sergeant Cathal Breen, the battered, bruised and emotionally confused cop in William Shaw’s series set in the late 60s. In A Book of Scars, he’s recovering from a bullet wound to the shoulder following the events of the…
Those We Left Behind by Stuart Neville
When the police burst their way into the neat Belfast suburban house, after an alarm call from neighbours, they walk straight into a scene from hell. Two children, brothers, clutch each other on the bed, while on the floor is the ruined body of their…
Jack of Spades by Joyce Carol Oates
This rather short (200-page) psychological thriller is told as a first-person narrative by successful mystery author Andrew J Rush. Rush thinks of himself with quote marks around his name, perhaps because he’s beginning to realise identity is more ephemeral than he’s heretofore believed. We soon learn he’s…
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker
Harry D’Amour is an occult detective created by horror author Clive Barker three decades ago. He’s appeared in short stories, novels and film adaptations (1995’s Lord of Illusions), and now D’Amour takes on one of Barker’s most hellish characters. The Scarlet Gospels pits the detective…
Half the World Away by Cath Staincliffe
Gap years have become such a rite of passage for university students in the UK, that parents hardly dare to admit their dismay when their children set off to face the dangers of travelling around the world by themselves. After all, in an age of…