Crime
Here you can see all the novels within the Crime genre which have been reviewed on SFBook.
Books Reviewed
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![Kill Me GoodbyeA K Reynolds]()
General FictionThere is an internet meme of Will Ferrel playing a dishevelled looking Anchorman and stating, “well that escalated quickly.” I have read many crime thrillers in my time, and they often pick up pace and rattle along, but none have taken this meme to heart as much as A K Reynolds’ Kill Me Goodbye , i...
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![EsperanceAdam Oyebanji]()
Science FictionWhat would you do if you had technology that no one else in the world had. Would you use it to better your life, make some money? Perhaps you would share it with others to develop society as a whole? Or maybe you would use it for revenge. A series of impossible murders is stumping Detective Ethan Kr...
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![The Real-Town MurdersAdam Roberts]()
Science FictionOne of the (many) things I like about Adam Robert's stories is that they are always full of big ideas and The Real-Town Murders is no exception. This time the author has written a future-noir crime story which revolves around the "locked room mystery". A popular subgenre in it's own right, "locked r...
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![The Death of Sir Martin MalprelateAdam Roberts]()
There are two ways of writing fiction set in the Victorian era; set a fictional book in the real era or write within the Victorian multiverse. This is a playground that I have read many books in, a world where Sherlock Holmes can investigate new cases, but also one in which he can work alongside Mr...
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![The Generation KillerAdam Simcox]()
FantasyThe supernatural has always worked well with noir as they are both genres of the night. It is only an undead hop and skip between a detective finding a corpse in the alley and that corpse waking up. Conan Doyle walked the line between the supernatural and the super-real, Holmes always discovered tha...
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![Police at the Station and They Don't Look FriendlyAdrian McKinty]()
General FictionThere are times in history that don’t seem very funny and if you lived through them you would find it hard to laugh. The 1970/80s in Northern Ireland may just be one such era as sectarian violence means that you are always wary of your surroundings. This is exemplified for Detective Inspector Sean D...
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![Spells for ForgettingAdrienne Young]()
FantasyHaving grown up in a village, life there had its pros and its cons. There is a real sense of community, and everyone knows each other. Great, but also not so great. Any small incident can become gossip, no matter how benign, so I can only imagine what would happen should a fire break out and a body...
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![A Sea of Unspoken ThingsAdrienne Young]()
FantasyI have not lived in the village I grew up in over twenty years, but I still talk about going home when I am visiting. Where I live now has been my home for longer, but there is something about those formative years that make a place always feel like home. I return to see family, but for some people,...
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![The DetectiveAjay Chowdhury]()
General FictionIt is never nice to be the new person at work, getting to know your new workmates and the procedures, whilst trying to look like you know what you are doing. It is even harder if you are joining the police with a reputation and the support of upper management. You will have to add to petty jealousie...
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![The Glass WomanAlice Mcilroy]()
Science FictionIt can feel at times like the entire world is out to get you, but who is the person you must watch out for the most? Your family, spouse, work colleagues? Nope, the biggest saboteur is often yourself. Your own thoughts and deeds coming back to haunt you. Iris Henderson has it worse than most as she...
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![Low ActionAndrew Cartmel]()
General FictionPunk was a short-lived musical genre and if you have listened to some of it you can probably tell why. It was raw, edgy and loud, but most of the songs were not that great and it was more about attitude than being able to sing. The songs that you may lik e from that genre may be post- P unk or N...
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![The Word is MurderAnthony Horowitz]()
General FictionI have read a lot of crime fiction and even as a fan you can be critical of how similar they can be. The formats and storylines can bog down into only a few basic formulas . In a less accomplished author this can lead to a bland book that fad es quickly in the memory, but this still leaves room...
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![Bang Bang BodhisattvaAubrey Wood]()
Science FictionWhat is the near future going to be like, utopian, dystopian, a bit of both. Chances are that it will be just as messed up as the past and the present. The future may be a little grim, but that does not mean it cannot be fun. Aubrey Wood’s future is as bright as neon, but also as dark as pitch. Bang...
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![SpiderAzma Dar]()
General FictionThere are at least two sides to every truth and somewhere in the middle is what happened. All relationships contain lies, they oil the machinery of compromise, but for a better relationship you want to keep them to little white lies. Things can quickly spiral out of control if you start to hide the...
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![Amongst Our WeaponsBen Aaronovitch]()
FantasyA long running series is a mixed blessing. You can return to the same characters over the books, but too often a series becomes stale quickly and the characters seem to live in statis were they never change. This can never be said of the excellent Rivers of London novels by Ben Aaronovitch and the n...
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![The Case of the Scandalous TicketBenoit Dahan]()
General FictionThe term Graphic Novel is a grandiose one, but well deserved in some cases. A collection of comics in one place helps to reveal the arc, but often I read Graphic Novels that were too short and did not contain enough to be seen as a novel, a short story or novelette perhaps. Inside the Mind of Sherlo...
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![Cheddar Luck Next TimeBeth Cato]()
General FictionI find most comfy crime novels an oxymoron as they usually deal with a hideous murder. The cosiness comes in the telling and the setting. I blame Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple books with that inquisitive pensioner solving crimes that were hideous, gruesome, committed for money, revenge, or passion....
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![A Perfect HarvestBill Fitzhugh]()
General FictionIf you don’t laugh, you will cry. One way that people cope with bleakness is to try and find the funny things in life. Recent lockdowns would have been a lot harder for me without my family to keep me smiling. Diagnoses of terminal illness is no laughing matter, but you still find people who will ke...
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![UpgradeBlake Crouch]()
Science FictionIt starts off sensibly with tweaking a DNA strand here or there to prevent a hereditary illness. Who could argue against that? However, it is not long before people realise that they can use the same tools to make sure that a child has their father’s eye colour and Mother’s hair. Why even bother pic...
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![Pretty Girls Get Away with MurderBrandi Bradley]()
General FictionMurder is in the eye of the beholder and Brandi Bradley’s Pretty Girls Get Away with Murder is the perfect example of how different people can see the same events. The police are always suspicious, open to any leads, until they find the person they think is the prime suspect. This suspect has their...
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![Are Snakes NecessaryBrian De Palma]()
General FictionThe noir genre has an inherent problem, it has the feel of the 1940s and 1950s. You imagine black and white films, men in fedoras and women with cascading red locks. The lack of technology forced the central gumshoe to walk the streets and knock together heads to gather the intel required to sol...
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![HeartstoneC J Sansom]()
General FictionOffer me a time machine and I would travel no further back than the 1980s. This would allow me to place loads of bets on sporting events I know the results to and invest in Apple Computers. You would not see me travelling hundreds of years into the future or the past, are you mad? The 1980s were saf...
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![The Drowned SirenCallisto Lodwick]()
General FictionTo work in a novel, you need to be the right amount of crazy. Too little and you just come across as a little odd and moany, too much and your book has just become a horror novel. In Callisto Lodwick’s The Drowned Siren , Eleanor is a student in Scotland who is introverted and clingy, but not really...
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![Squeaky CleanCallum Mcsorley]()
General FictionThe crime genre comes in many flavours from the cosy murder mystery set in a picturesque English village to a crime noir of 50s Chicago. The setting can be near or far, the tone light or dark, but they all have one thing in common – crime and that crime is often a murder. Callum McSorley has decided...
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![Bad MonkeyCarl Hiaasen]()
General FictionOn occasion I see adverts on TV encouraging me to visit America. A collection of Hollywood and TV stars will speak the sights, sounds, tastes and smells that are distinctly American. It seems glamourous, it seems fun. However, when I read crime books set in America or sit down to watch the latest Tr...
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![Squeeze MeCarl Hiaasen]()
General FictionMurder, kidnapping, shootings, stabbings; not an amusing set of words, but in the hands of a great author, crime can be funny. In fact, crime can be hilarious. The crime comedy when done well is one of my favourite genres and Carl Hiaasen has being doing it well for years. He has combined wit and vi...
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![Death Wasnt InvitedCarlene O'connor]()
General FictionI love to play hidden object games; I find them a nice way to relax after a busy day. I also love to read for the same reason, even a crime story can be comforting in its own way. Death Wasn’t Invited by Carlene O’Connor combines the two as it is a ‘cosy’ crime caper based on the June’s Journey game...
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![Death Comes Too LateCharles Ardai]()
General FictionThere is an art to the short story. They should not try to emulate their longer cousins, or even the novelette format. A short story should pop up, throws a few punches then head off again without a backwards glance, but the best of them with leave an impression, a lingering sense of something in a...
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![The Get OffChrista Faust]()
General FictionA good life is a life well lived full of new adventures, meeting new people, and experiencing new things. On this criteria Angel Dare has had one of the best lives, she is always meeting new people and finding herself in new places, but not for the reasons she would want. From adult film star to vic...
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![Sherlock Holmes and Mr HydeChristian Klaver]()
HorrorSherlock Holmes is such an iconic figure that it is easy to believe that he was real. A great detective walking the streets of Late Victorian London solving crimes that conventional police could not hope to solve. But he was not real, neither was Watson and they are both out of copyright which means...
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![Dust and DesireConrad Williams]()
General FictionI don't often get the chancce to read a crime novel and so when Titan Books let slip that the third novel in the Joel Sorrell series was about to be released I couldn't resist giving the series a try. Dust and Desire is the first book featuring the PI and sets the scene prefectly. The prologue descr...
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![The Butcher's DaughterCorinne Leigh Clark]()
HorrorI enjoy a retelling of a classic tale from an unfamiliar perspective. I have read about Sherlock Holmes from the point of view of almost everyone he ever met. I have read about Beowulf written by his niece. King Authur, Robin Hood, many others, but never a character as dark as Sweeny Todd. The Demon...
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![Into the NightCornell Woolrich]()
General FictionWhat makes a good noir story? Is it the setting, the characters, a murder? All these things, but also none of them. I have read many ‘classic’ noir stories about a grizzled PI investigating a femme fatale set some time in the 40/50s, but I have also read them set in alternative universes where super...
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![The UndetectablesCourtney Smyth]()
FantasyAdvances in forensic science can feel like magic from the discovery that we all had unique fingerprints to the use of DNA to catch criminals, but what would you do in a world were magic exists? Can science be used to solve crimes committed by magic? The Undetectables believe so, they use their scien...
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![Silver QueendomDan Koboldt]()
FantasyFantasy does not have to be massive epics set over several books that see dynasties rise and fall. Some of the best modern fantasy books concentrate on the characters that may have hidden in the background of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings. The humble conman for instance and their crew. I cann...
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![The Loose EndDave Dwonch]()
General FictionNoir comes in many flavours, not just 1940s black and white detective. There have been classic noir novels that have reflected the decades they were written. The 90s noir I enjoyed had a bright Hollywood gleam to it; that was only shone to hide the grime set shallow below the surface. The Loose End...
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![Rhyming RingsDavid Gemmell]()
General FictionDavid Gemmell died eleven years ago, he was one of the most popular fantasy authors in the UK, a regular Sunday Times bestseller. His legacy lives on not just in the annual David Gemmel Legend Award but more importantly in the influence his writing had on the fantasy genre. I first encountered his b...
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![EquinoxDavid Towsey]()
FantasyAre you a night person or a day person? Do you like to wake up at 5am and then go to the gym before a full day at work and an early night? Perhaps you like to wake up in time for Bargain Hunt and work from home into the late hours? Either way, you are you. The night owl and the early bird, same pers...
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![ScorchedDon Silver]()
General FictionComing-of-age stories are perennial favorites because most of us get the chance to come-of-age at some point. You may know a few immature adults, but when it comes down to it, they are not walking around in short trousers and attending school. The reason that we do not all write about our own story...
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![Brothers KeeperDonald E Westlake]()
General FictionThe world of crime is riddled with the worst vices known to man; murder, kidnapping, estate acquisition. It is also full of the most ruthless people; bank robbers, killers, monks. You may have noticed that a couple of elements snuck in there that are not always synonymous with crime fiction, but you...
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![Double FeatureDonald E Westlake]()
General FictionThe movie industry is seen as all glitz and glamour, but just beneath the surface Donald E. Westlake suggests that it is made up of lies and even murder. What type of person is drawn to an industry where you pretend to be fake – fake people. In Double Feature, two of Westlake’s novellas have been br...
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![This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of UsEdgar Cantero]()
General FictionThe crime genre is very well established and has many shortcuts and tropes that you can use. This allows genre authors to drape their own unique ideas over familiar territory. Want to write a book about a Dinosaur PI – go ahead. Sherlock Holmes actually a Warlock – sorted. You can throw in crazy ide...
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![Finding Katarina MElizabeth Elo]()
General FictionI have read a few novels recently that have protagonists that seemingly have little control over their destiny, instead stepping into the stream of the narrative and being carried along. On occasion this is a flood and the character flails around with no impact on the wider story, but there is anoth...
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![Death on the CalderaEmily Paxman]()
FantasyI read a lot of genre fiction that has been mixed with a crime drama as it is an excellent way of giving a story a solid throughline. A murder mystery can concentrate the narrative when exploring a high concept Science Fiction world. It is also a great way of giving grit to an Urban Fantasy story, g...
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![After AtlasEmma Newman]()
Science FictionAfter Atlas is Newman’s follow up to her science fiction debut, Planetfall . This story is not a sequel, instead it focuses on our future Earth, that has been left behind by the colonists on the Atlas mission. This aftermath is the setting for a murder mystery plot involving a selection of those lef...
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![At Dark I Become LoathsomeEric Larocca]()
HorrorLike every genre, there are several aspects to Horror that you can focus on. My preference is the supernatural, something big and scary, preferably not overexplained. There is another subgenre, one that is arguably far scarier. I call it the horror of the mundane. Those killers that live among us, t...
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![HellSansEver Dundas]()
Science FictionTypography has a larger role in your life than you may think. It is important to get the right font in the right place. No one wants to have Beware of the Cliff written in Comic Sans. Advertisers spend millions on typefaces to make a brand instantly recognisable. All these things are noble pursuits,...
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![A Marvellous LightFreya Marske]()
FantasySecrets are powerful. They can make or break someone. In the alternative Edwardian England of Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light there is a magical society of people who hide their powers. This is a big secret to keep, but there are others. Both Robin Blyth and Edwin Courcey have another secret, th...
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![The Sign of NineG. S. Denning]()
FantasyWarlock Holmes is back. No, not Sherlock, Warlock. If you think about it, what makes more sense; a man who can somehow divine everything from a few clues, or a Warlock who just uses magic to do the same? The Sign of Nine continues the premise that Sir Conan Doyle’s original stories were actually edi...
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![Dark InkGary Kemble]()
HorrorPeople have power over on another. Someone who is charismatic may be able to manipulate others to do their bidding even against their own best interests. The opposite sex can also have power. What would you do to be with the partner you love/lust for ? Mistress Hel is a Dominatrix who speciali s e...
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![HallowdeneGeorge Mann]()
FantasyHallowdene is the second book in the Wychwood series, a crime thriller that weaves into the story supernatural elements. Elspeth Reeves is making a new life for herself in a quiet, sleepy village near Oxford, having escaped the hectic life of London. As a journalist for the local paper, she is often...
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![The Memory ChamberHolly Cave]()
Science FictionWith the premise of Holly Cave's new novel, you could be forgiven for thinking it's a literary version of The Good Place. But Heaven Architect Isobel is no omnipotent Ted Danson, and The Memory Chamber no comedy. Cave's idea here is an interesting one. After you die, your consciousness is transferre...
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![Nobody's AngelJack Clark]()
General FictionI am of a certain age, and I recall that the 1990s was a good decade, a time of societal development and change for the better. I used to look down on those who rated the 70s as a fun decade as it seemed grim to me, but as I get older the 90s was as grim as the 70s and I am sure that the 2010s will...
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![Smoke KingsJahmal Mayfield]()
General FictionThere is a reason that criminal gangs fall apart. As an individual you can take responsibility for your own action, plan ever detail and keep your mouth shut when the job is done, but what about the others? They may be getting cold feet or have a loudmouth. The Smoke Kings are a group that started o...
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![Blood RivalJake Arnott]()
General FictionIn fiction you can blur the real world with the fictional to give your story a sense of authenticity. This is something that Jake Arnott has done in the past taking a splash of truth, a soupcon of reality, and then blending in some fictional high-octane action. In the case of Blood Rival , there was...
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![Five DecembersJames Kestrel]()
General FictionNoir is not always an easy genre to write, there is a timeless tone to it. You can pick up a book that was written 70 years ago and it still has all the effortless style to make it incredibly readable. If you are going to write a new noir set during the classic noir period you are not only competing...
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![Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas DemonJames Lovegrove]()
General FictionSherlock Holmes is long dead, but this has not stopped the character’s legacy from living on. Sherlock was incredibly popular in his Victorian heyday, but the number of TV shows, films and books still being made today suggests that this popularity is still the case. Taking the concept of Sherlock an...
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![The Manifestations of Sherlock HolmesJames Lovegrove]()
General FictionWhen you think of a Sherlock Holmes do you imagine a novel or a short story? The reality is that many tales that we know from Arthur Conan Doyle are from his short stories and it is more the modern reimagining of the character that have taken the longer form. James Lovegrove is a leading modern Sher...
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![The ContestJeff Macfee]()
General FictionPuzzle me this. Whilst other kids were outside climbing trees or knocking a football around, you would often find me indoors or under a tree reading a book or doing puzzles. That has led to two lifelong consequences; a love of puzzles and a problem with weight. Puzzler was always my favourite, and I...
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![Hummingbird SalamanderJeff Vandermeer]()
General FictionFollowing the news, it feels like the world is going to hell in a handcart. Put aside any politics and there is enough going on environmentally to worry most people. The idea of the oceans rising, smog filling the skies and animals dying out whilst the infrastructure of countries collapse, all have...
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![Captain America: The Shield of Sam WilsonJesse J. Holland]()
Science FictionGraphic Novels have an advantage over prose in terms of kinetic visuals. You can show in a panel the action taking place and all the colours, in a book you need to describe this. This advantage can be too tempting for some and the book becomes all action and not enough depth. The best comics are alw...
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![WhitesandsJohann Thorsson]()
HorrorThe fictional detective always seems to have some flaw that follows them through life preventing them from being happy or doing their best work. This could be drink, gambling, or drugs. In the case of Johann Thorsson’s Detective John Dark it is far worse, a missing daughter. For two years he has abu...
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![The KindnessJohn Ajvide Lindqvist]()
HorrorI like to think that the world is built upon small acts of kindness. Whilst nation states and some individuals may be doing their best to destroy the world, the rest of us are just trying to get by. This can be helped with a please or a thank you. If you see someone drop their credit card, you would...
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![Golden PreyJohn Sandford]()
General FictionThe long running series is a dream for an author as it means that your characters and world are successful enough that people are buying them, and you can keep writing. John Sandford's Lucas Davenport books must be a success when you realise that Golden Prey is the 27th book centred on the chara...
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![Starter VillainJohn Scalzi]()
Science FictionInheritance should never be something that you look forward to, but when you receive some, it can make a huge change to your life. I may be enough to pay a deposit on a house or pay for a child to go to university. It can also be a real pain in the bureaucracy. Think of the taxes that need paying, t...
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![The Murder of Mr Ma PaperbackJohn Shen Yen Nee]()
General FictionComparing a detective series to Sherlock Holmes is not always helpful as that is such an iconic character who has gone off to be in a thousand different spin offs, but on occasion it is apropos. If a series is about a super intelligent detective with a penchant for opium who works with a baffled, bu...
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![The Wheel of DollJonathan Ames]()
General FictionThe humble Private Investigator is a put-upon character, often lonely, whenever they find love, that love seems to end up dead. No wonder so many of them have a problem with drink, gambling, or drugs – perhaps a mix of all three. Few PIs can hold a candle to Happy Doll, he is not even a PI anymore h...
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![The Triumph of the Spider MonkeyJoyce Carol Oates]()
General FictionA lot of crime fiction is told from the prospective of an investigator. We follow them as they stumble across clues and finally get their suspect. This method provides structure and cohesion as even amateur sleuths follow some sort of logical pattern. Authors such as John Sandford and his Prey serie...
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![The AccidentJulia Stone]()
General FictionDo you trust this reviewer? Am I all that I appear? I claim to work for one of the longest running review sites on the internet, but is any of it true? You cannot always trust a protagonist; we may have an ulterior motive that you are unaware of. Perhaps I am a fantasist who latches themselves on to...
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![Black WolfKathleen Kent]()
General FictionWith the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War did not stop immediately. Perestroika was a messy business with elements of the former Soviet Union flaking away at separate times. The fracturing of a once great Superpower brought with it opportunities. Opportunities for the West to invest in new mark...
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![Coffin MoonKeith Rosson]()
HorrorVampire lore is well documented, the rules and regulations differ from book to book, but in most cases if you are a vampire, you cannot do much during the day. In modern life not being able to escape during the daylight hours after leaving a few emptied bodies would be a problem. Cameras would catch...
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![SupermaxKen Bruen]()
General FictionThe pulp crime genre is one of my favourite because it pushes the envelope of what is acceptable in crime. It can be a little too gory, a little too silly, a little too much, but that is what makes it so fun to read. There is a delicate balance between writing a thrilling action crime story that is...
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![Double or NothingKim Sherwood]()
General FictionJames Bond has evolved through the decades from the original Ian Fleming books to a world-famous series of films and even classic computer games, but at their heart the best Bonds all hark back to Fleming’s style. Double or Nothing by Kim Sherwood is a surprise then as it is a Bond book without Bond...
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![Death of a Dancing QueenKimberly G Giarratano]()
General FictionIt would appear that to be a fictional Private Investigator you must have something that you are addicted to be it booze, drugs, women, glue. The options seem endless, but Kimberly G. Giarratano’s Death of a Dancing Queen is the first time I have come across a PI addicted to life. Billie Levine live...
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![The CaptiveKit Burgoyne]()
HorrorI enjoy genre books of all kinds. I love a good kidnapping story as a well-oiled plan starts to unravel. I also like a horror story about the Old Gods, of human sacrifices and bloody gore. What you don’t normally get is a story that is both. The kidnapping crew in Kit Burgoyne’s The Captive have tak...
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![The ButcherLaura Kat Young]()
HorrorI find sometimes find myself wondering how a dystopian world became so bad. What happened in a society that they thought making children battle to the death was a good idea? Or how a world forced woman to bear children? Sometimes it is better not to know how a society got there, but just embrace the...
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![Silent KeyLaurel Hightower]()
HorrorListen to your kids. It can be hard sometimes as they can speak absolute nonsense, but they also speak the truth, and they may need you to listen. Perhaps they wake at night and tell you that things are not right in the house, you can dismiss this as childish fantasies, but their fears could be base...
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![A Wanted ManLee Child]()
General FictionA good thriller should grab you from the very first page. In the past decades Lee Child has become a master of this and the majority of his Jack Reacher books open at a canter. What would you do if when hitchhiking you got into a car with wrong people? Keep your head down and try to find a way out o...
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![The Curious Affair of the Missing MummiesLisa Tuttle]()
One of the many lessons that I have learned in life is that you do not mess with Mummies. Either kind. Annoying a new mother who is trying to get their child onto the bus if dangerous and only equalled by an antient Egyptian Mummy rising from the dead. The Mummies in Lisa Tuttle’s The Curious Case o...
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![RoseannaMaj Sjowall]()
General FictionThis review is written for the Killer Reads website, a fantastic resource for anything crime and thriller related. Originally written in the 1960's by the Swedish author Maj Sjowall and her partner Per Wahlöö, Roseanna is a defining point in the genre of crime fiction, not only founding the award wi...
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![The Graveyard ShiftMaria Lewis]()
HorrorI love listening to the radio, but even I struggle when it gets late at night. Suddenly the airwaves are packed with novelty DJs using all their shtick to ‘entertain’ the few remaining listeners. It is even worse if you live in London, when the light fades the pirate radios stations come out to play...
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![Death Comes at ChristmasMarie O'regan]()
General FictionChristmas has many traditions from trees to strange men sneaking down the chimney in the dead of night. One tradition I like is the different genres that tackle the season. There is something spooky about the dark nights and folk traditions that make Christmas Ghost Stories so good, but it is also a...
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![PenitentMark Leggatt]()
General FictionTelling a story in the first person means that you are going to want a protagonist that the reader can connect with, but what if that character struggles with relationships? In Mark Leggatt’s Penitent , Hector is a brilliant lawyer, but has far more interest in the process than the people. He has ne...
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![Coded to KillMarschall Runge]()
General FictionArtificial Intelligence is currently the big hope across most industries as a way of increasing productivity on the cheap. It is being used already in the field of medicine as it is ideal at coping with enormous amounts of data and highlighting anomalies. It aids in finding cancers early, but what a...
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![Confessions of an AntichristMarta Skadi]()
General FictionJoining a band is a rite of passage that everyone should try at least once. I got as far as forming a fake band with my mates at university, but then we had no commitment. To really make it you will need to buckle down and learn an instrument and write some songs – or just be a punk band. If you wan...
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![Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle RockMaud Woolf]()
Science FictionWouldn’t it be great to be in more than one place at once? Rather than having to do all those boring jobs you could make a version of yourself to do it for you, leaving time for you to do what you really want, like playing too many computer games or reading too many books. Before you know it, you ma...
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![Quarry's ReturnMax Allan Collins]()
General FictionWhat do you do with an aging character? Some authors choose to pretend that their characters are immortal and never age. This is great for churning out the content, but it does hamstring you into writing the same type of story as you can never move on in fear of making the protagonist too old. Max A...
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![The Last QuarryMax Allan Collins]()
General FictionNever say never when it comes to being a hired hitman. You may not want to kill for money anymore, but if you are anything like Quarry in The Last Quarry by Max Allan Collins you may just end up getting in a situation that relies on your old skills and if you get paid for it all the better. This may...
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![The 22 Murders Of Madison MayMax Barry]()
Science FictionObsession can be a powerful emotion and lead you down a dark path. Being stalked causes the victim so much fear, not only because they are having to deal with the reality, but also what might happen. In the case of Madison May, she does not know she is being stalked until it is too late. A strange m...
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![Masquerade for MurderMickey Spillane]()
General FictionMy partner and I went through a stage of watching only noir films. Many of them felt the same, but some stood out. The F rench films had an effortless style, Barbara Stanwyck was always amazing, and one film was just a little bit insane. That film was Kiss Me Deadly , a Mike Hammer film b...
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![Killing ItMike Bockoven]()
HorrorPeople have used the insanity plea in defence of some heinous crimes. Was it months of planning that made you act or next door’s Labrador? When buying a property, it may be a clever idea to heed the warning of the stranger who tells you not to listen the voice when it appears. The last owner went on...
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![The Fan Who Knew Too MuchNev Fountain]()
General FictionCozy crime comes in all sizes, but it still has an odd name. The characters may be eccentric, the setting twee, but when it comes down to it, there is still a dead person lying on the carpet. Marple had her village with its higher crime rate than Gotham, Poirot had various summer vacation spots, Jes...
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![Lies and DollsNev Fountain]()
General FictionI try not to collect too much stuff, choosing to live in the now. If I kept every book that I ever read, every toy that I ever played with, or birthday card I received, I would have no room in my house. I certainly do not keep things “mint in box.” You could have an attic full of collectables worth...
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![The Dead of WinterNicola Upson]()
General FictionThere are two types of Christmases: merry or blue. Whether you are more Slade or Elvis will depend on the experiences you have had in the past on December 25 th . Have your winters been full of family fun and presents? Do you get a sense of wellbeing and good tidings to all? Great. However, perhaps...
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![A Master of DjinnP. Djèlí Clark]()
FantasyUrban Fantasy is its own distinct genre from Fantasy as it takes the essence of swords, orcs and elves and brings them into an urban setting. Having read a lot of this sub-genre, it has increasingly become a victim of its own tropes. A lot of Urban Fantasy feels the same. P. Djeli Clark has created...
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![Midnight StreetsPhil Lecomber]()
General FictionAgatha Christie would have us believe that inter-War murder was cosy, taking place in a picturesque village or on a mode of transport whilst taking in the sites of the Grand Tour. Whilst Marple was eating muffins and Poirot was drinking Prosecco, most of us would have been thrown into the daily grin...
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![How Like a GodRex Stout]()
General FictionWhen you enter midlife, you must watch out that you do not get lost in the past. Past glories that may have been, lovers that were or could have been. There is a reason that some people drift into a crisis, seeing the grass could have been greener had they picked a different path. When you are going...
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![CulpritsRichard Brewer]()
General FictionYour average heist movie ends in one of two ways; a cliffhanger or the job complete. You rarely get to see what happens to the criminals as they make it off with their ill-gotten gains, or when they are thrown into the slammer. Unless you are Oceans 11 , then you just get a couple more heists a few...
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![The NurseryRoark Arnett]()
Science FictionScience Fiction writers love a dystopia, there are so many ways that it could all go wrong. Overpopulation is one. It not a pleasant thing to think about, but we already use too many of the world’s finite resources and as the population grows, this is going to get even worse. In The Nursery by Roark...
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![The CrashRobert Peston]()
General FictionThe crime genre is huge, and a protagonist can become involved in solving a murder in numerous ways. Being a police officer or PI makes sense, being an elderly lady or vicar less so, but authors still manage somehow – to remarkable success. Another easy option is a journalist. Their job is already t...
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![Anatomy of a KillerRomy Hausmann]()
General FictionHaving watched plenty of True Crime documentaries I am often struck how loyal some friends and family are to the criminal. They have been convicted of the crime, but sometimes family just will not accept the outcome. Injustice is one reason, people do get sent down for something they never did, but...
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![The Stage Mother's ClubRon Capshaw]()
HorrorIt is amazing what can inspire a writer. A little thought worm can drill itself into their head and the only peace to be found is to write the thing out. Ron Capshaw’s inspiration for The Stage Mother’s Club seems to be the author’s fascination with all the failed stage Mums who could not get their...
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![Black MouthRonald Malfi]()
HorrorA group of adults tormented by their past when a carnival worker changed their lives forever. Sound familiar? No not It , but Ronald Malfi’s Black Mouth , the author’s own take on how the memories of youth haunt the present. This is dark horror with glimpses of the supernatural, but also plenty of t...
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![Small Town HorrorRonald Malfi]()
HorrorThe horror genre has taught me how to deal with events that happened in my childhood. If you and a bunch of friends accidently run over a homeless person or set fire to a witch, the best thing is just to admit it without delay and take your lumps. You see, no matter how many years pass, they always...
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![Seven Recipes for RevolutionRyan Rose]()
FantasyThe fantasy genre is a form of comfort reading for me. The genre often follows similar tropes, and you can get into the rhythm of the story quickly. However, increasingly often in modern fantasy, authors are creating new and challenging ideas to shake up the genre. Magical systems are an area you ca...
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![Magic for LiarsSarah Gailey]()
FantasyThere are books that ruin it for anyone else. Harry Potter has basically made it impossible to make a book set in a magical school without someone saying, “rip off”. Just don’t mention to those people that The Worst Witch has been around a lot longer. Still, it takes a brave soul to set their book i...
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![Doctor AphraSarah Kuhn]()
Science FictionWhen an intellectual property becomes huge it can go one of two ways, a homogeneous blob of the same stories on repeat, or a vibrant universe full of different adventures. Star Wars was already massive, but recently has branched out even wider. This included a reset of the tie in novels and rath...
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![Missing PersonSarah Lotz]()
General FictionThe crime genre is a well-trodden one, so much so that anyone who reads the genre exclusively may find themselves jaded by similar storylines occurring over and over again. One way to excite both author and reader is to try and find new approaches. How about a crime novel told entirely from the pris...
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![Crucible of ChaosSebastien De Castell]()
FantasyThe locked room scenario is a classic of the crime genre and does not have to mean just a locked room but the idea of a contained place that holds all the victims, suspects, and clues within. A monastery perched atop a remote island only passable when the tide is low would be a perfect place for thi...
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![The Killing SpellShay Kauwe]()
FantasySticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me, but in Shay Kauwe’s The Killing Spell , words will very much hurt you. In fact, words can be fashioned into spells to kill. Not the best in an everyday family situation where words can fly thick and fast, nor in a society where a fe...
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![Velvet Was the NightSilvia Moreno-Garcia]()
General FictionI love to read as books transport me to places and worlds that I have never been and can never go. In most cases these are fantasy or science fiction worlds, but there are a lot of places in our own history that seem just as exciting and different. 1970s Mexico is nothing like the country I grew up...
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![Untamed ShoreSilvia Moreno-Garcia]()
General FictionOne of the wonderful things about reading is finding that next great author that you love. You read one of their books and instantly spend the next few days hunting down their back catalogue. Experience has taught me not to read too many of these in a row as you start to see parallels in the books –...
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![The BewitchingSilvia Moreno-Garcia]()
HorrorI enjoy reading about the occult in contrasting times in history. If someone came up to a modern person and said there was a witch in the woods stealing children, they would raise an eyebrow and swiftly walk in the opposite direction. A couple of hundred years earlier around the same woods the react...
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![King ConStephen J. Cannell]()
General FictionThere is nothing quite like a caper movie. A bunch of loveable rogues essentially breaking the law, but it is ok as they are up against even worse rogues. It is not a genre that I have found in a book format too often, can you capture the humour and pace required to make the ride an exciting one? Wh...
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![The Colorado KidStephen King]()
General FictionThere are few names in modern writing more evocative than Stephen King . This horror maestro is one of the most successful authors of the past 40 years, but there has always been more to him than killer clowns and sentient cars. King has dabbled in a multitude of other genres; science fiction, fanta...
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![Finders KeepersStephen King]()
General FictionStephen King is rightly one of the bestselling genre writers of all time as he is not only prolific, but also the writer of some classics. Like many fans of horror, I read his back catalogue as a teenager and read terrific book after terrific book . Eventually I hit King fatigue, not...
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![Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder T A WillbergT A Willberg]()
General FictionMystery is a powerful tool. You can exude a sense of power from the shadows that may not be true if a light was shined on you. The premise of T.S. Willberg’s Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder begins thus, with a mysterious detective agency, but we soon delve deep under the streets of London to d...
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![The Escher ManT R Napper]()
Science FictionCalling your book The Escher Man is a bold move, but a move that T. R. Napper made. The name conjures up imagery from the artist of staircases to nowhere that lead back to the start. How does that effect the man eternally made to walk these steps? Throw in some Cyberpunk future and memory manipulati...
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![The War WidowTara Moss]()
General FictionAccording to esteemed author Robert Rankin there are only ever three locations in a Private Investigator novel. A bar, the alley behind the bar and a rooftop to have the final showdown on. Billie Walker is no normal PI, she is not an investigator, but an Inquirer. She goes as far as to say that her...
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![Vampires of AvonmouthTim Kindberg]()
HorrorThere are seminal books aplenty in genre fiction. These books are giants and other fiction stands on their shoulders to reach greater heights. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one of the biggest influences on the horror genre bringing with it a folklore and character that still resonates today. With Dracula...
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![Call Him MineTim MacGabhann]()
General FictionThe politicians in Mexico seriously need to have a word with whoever is in charge with promoting their country. This vast and gorgeous nation is increasingly being known more for its hideous crimes. With drug cartels running rife and corrupt police it seems that a fresh murder happens every few minu...
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![Jekyll & Hyde: Winter RetreatTim Major]()
FantasyIf you could invite anyone to a winter retreat, who would it be? Family, friends, someone famous. What you should never do is invite a detective, anytime you do, someone always seems to end up dead. In the case of Jekyll & Hyde: Winter Retreat by Tim Major, you get two private detectives for the p...
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![The Missing FamilyTim Weaver]()
General FictionEvery summer is the same, inexperienced people think it would be a clever idea to do some wild swimming unaware that under the first foot of warm reservoir water, there are metres of icy water ready to send you into shock. When three members of the Fowler family disappear when out swimming, the wors...
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![Womb CityTlotlo Tsamaase]()
Science FictionAt its best science fiction can be a prism to view the current world’s ills in a more palatable manner. Reading about the destruction of our world in a dystopian future feels one step removed from simply looking out of the window. Like environmental catastrophe, some themes are too powerful to go un...
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![The Gone WorldTom Sweterlitsch]()
Science FictionThis Christmas a member of the family introduced me to NCIS. For those who have yet to discover this long-running US-based TV show it's a police-procedural series that follows the Naval Criminal Investigation Service. Until this time I hadn't even known such an organisation existed, not to mention t...
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![The Ninja DaughterTori Eldridge]()
General FictionThere are many reasons that an investigator in fiction gets involved in a case. Perhaps they are a Detective, and it is their job, or they are a Private Investigator getting paid. You may stumble across a body and suddenly find yourself drawn into a mystery. All these paths lead to a different motiv...
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![Death in the AviaryVictoria Dowd]()
General FictionThere is something deeply pleasant about reading a classic whodunnit from the Golden Age of crime writing. Back in the day it felt that there was a proper set of rules to a crime and solving it. Set so long ago that people call these cases cozy but is there anything cozy about murder? I may have rea...
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![The Babel ApocalypseVyvyan Evans]()
Science FictionMost of us have a subject at school that we struggled with more than others and for me that was languages. Maths, English, Science, I was fine, but my brain does not feel designed for languages. So, if someone offered me a chip that would allow me to instantly understand all languages on Earth, I wo...
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![Gun MachineWarren Ellis]()
General FictionI've been trying to expand my range of reading for a while now, crime fiction especially. I hadn't realised that the talented Warren Ellis had written a crime novel. For those who haven't heard of Ellis he's a renown British writer best known for his comic book writing. He's won seven Eagle awards a...
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![Fleet LandingWendy Gee]()
General FictionThere are so many angles and directions that you can tackle the crime genre in. Being a police officer is obvious, but you also get Private Investigators, or even the local busybody or vicar solving a crime. I enjoy all these approaches, but if you are drawn to particularly thoughtful and informed c...
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![Side HustleWendy Gee]()
General FictionJournalist have somewhat of a chequered reputation, for every Watergate, there is ten celebrities caught in the act. In recent times, the profession has cleaned up its act a little, but it still relies heavily on eyes on the page or viewing figures. This leads to a competitive market and some journa...
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