Meet the author: Heidi Field
We know you love to discover new crime authors, and Heidi Field is one to watch out for if you enjoy a good serial killer mystery. On 25 June 2025, her first novel – The Other Boy – comes out via Tule Publishing, and it…
More than Murder by Jayne Chard
Julia Fortnam has been retired for 92 days, two hours and 35 minutes, and boredom has started to set in. In fact, it’s getting so bad that she might have to actually start writing the book she has been talking about for so long. That’s…
The Grapevine by Kate Kemp
It’s coming up to Christmas in Canberra, and young Tammy is not looking forward to the long summer holidays. She’s certain the time will drag, and even begs her teacher for a vacation project but instead is told to go and enjoy herself for a…
Black Water Rising by Sean Watkin
It has been a popular crime fiction setting for years, thanks to the likes of Luca Veste and Kevin Sampson, and Liverpool has seen something of a renaissance lately, helped by The Responder and This City is Ours on the BBC. Time to add another…
The Department by Jacqueline Faber
Jacqueline Faber’s debut novel is a dark academic thriller perfect for readers who enjoyed Joanne Harris’s St Oswald trilogy or Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House and Hellbent. The story centres around the disappearance of a college student at an unnamed university in America’s South, and the…
An Ethical Guide to Murder by Jenny Morris
Last year I read and reviewed Here One Minute by Liane Moriarty, and it changed my attitude to flying. The book’s central character is an elderly woman who stands up on a flight between Hobart, Tasmania and Sydney, Australia and proceeds to tell each of…
Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney
In a world populated by off-kilter characters, it takes a certain something to make a protagonist memorable for a crime fiction reader. For me there are just a handful that stick out – Elizabeth in Emma Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing, for example; Liz Nugent’s Strange…
Best debut crime novel of 2024 shortlist
It’s always a pleasure to welcome new crime writers into the fold, and 2024 has been a vintage year for first class debuts. CFL readers are a discerning lot, and this super sextet they have nominated offer an eclectic mix, to say the least. Let’s…