Sunday, June 07, 2026

Stocking the Shelves for Summer



Well, after severe time pressures this last spring compelled me to limit my list of forthcoming crime, mystery, and thriller works to U.S.-published titles alone, I’m finally back with a fresh assortment of both American and British works due out over the next three months. And what a seasonal selection it is: more than 400 books long!

I’ve tried to include something to satisfy most reading tastes within this genre. Everything from James Ellroy’s Red Sheet, his latest criminal roller-coaster ride for corrupt Los Angeles private investigator Freddy Otash, to Jess Kidd’s Murder at the Spirit Lodge, which brings back feisty former nun Nora Breen (introduced in last year’s Murder at Gull’s Nest); from Jurica Pavičić’s Mother of Sorrows, a striking story of war, murder, and their respective consequences in Croatia, to Karen Odden’s An Artful Dodge, about a notorious all-female gang of thieves in 1870s London, one member of which hopes to foil the machinations of her vengeful ringleader; and from Abir Mukherjee’s new standalone thriller, The Pinnacle, giving us a past-his-prime American actor struggling to escape blame for the slaying of his Bollywood-star spouse, to Hilary Davidson’s Every Lie I Told, the head-spinning tale of a public-relations fixer determined to protect her sister from blame in the deaths of sexually abusive men. Gary Phillips makes this rundown with a heist thriller, The Haul, said to be his homage to Donald E. Westlake’s Parker series. UK actress and author Catherine Steadman shows up with her psychological suspense novel Nine Lives (that title acknowledging how a Persian cat kicks off her plot). Donna Moore makes the cut with Knit One, Heist One, just the first of several compelling stories here that involve gray-haired protagonists. And Linwood Barclay delivers a “chilling” yarn, Not a Word, built around a guy who discovers his aged parents dead in their bed, possible murder-suicide victims … but probably not.

Oh, and I should not forget to highlight a Cold War-era nail-biter, Skring Water, begun by Louis L-Amour (yes, that Louis L’Amour) in the late 1950s and completed more recently by his son, Beau.

Literary Hub predicts that horror fiction will make the biggest publishing splash this summer, but crime has at least as much to offer. Clare Mackintosh, Martin Edwards, Isabella Maldonado, Freida McFadden, Lee Goldberg, and John Connolly all have novels appearing between now and September 1, as do Daniel Silva, Jennifer Hillier, Steve Cavanagh, Lindsey Davis, Chris Chibnall, Sophie Hannah, Rory Clements, and Shari Lapena. Keep an eye peeled as well for the debut of Charles Cumming’s Icarus 7, the fourth installment in his Box 88 series; George Pelecanos’ The Blue Flame, the long-awaited sixth case for Washington, D.C., gumshoe Derek Strange; Asia Mackay’s “rollicking” Self-Help for Serial Killers; Ron Currie’s We Will See You Bleed, his sequel to 2025’s The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne; Dervla McTiernan’s Three Reasons for Revenge, focusing on ostensibly unrelated people endangered by someone possessing secrets from their pasts; Killer Art, a whodunit featuring academics determined to solve a fellow professor’s murder, penned by “Jon St. Denis” (aka J. Sydney Jones); and The Tailor, Tim Sullivan’s eighth outing for that brilliant but autistic Bristol police detective, George Cross. Even several wordsmiths not commonly associated with this field have mysteries in the offing, notably Emily St. John Mandel, Richard Russo, and Amy Bloom.

In addition to its deluge of brand-new tales, the list below mentions a variety of reprints worth your time by authors such as Phoebe Atwood Taylor, Carter Dickson, and the forgotten French writer Hélène Bessette. Plus, I’ve included some works of crime non-fiction (identified with asterisks), one of them a biography of 20th-century “mob accountant” Meyer Lansky, put together in part by his grandson.

JUNE (U.S.):
The Abduction of Rosalind Thorne, by Darcie Wilde (Kensington)
The Adventures of Juan Planchard, by Jonathan Jakubowicz
(Grand Central)
An Artful Dodge, by Karen Odden (Soho Crime)
The Au Pair, by Teddy Wayne (Harper)
Backstabbers, by Eliza Jabore (Bantam)
Based on a True Story, by Sarah Vaughan (Harper)
Beach Thriller, by Jamie Day (St. Martin’s Press)
Big Money, Small Town, by Thomas E. Ricks (Pegasus Crime)
Birds of Prey: New Crime Stories, edited by Harlan Coben and C.J. Box (Mysterious Press)
A Bitter Cut, by Anna Lee Huber (Berkley)
Blood on Old Stones, by Alex Gray (Sphere)
Blood River Witch, by T.J. Martinson (Counterpoint)
Blunt Instrument, by Amy Blood (Mysterious Press)
The Bone Stalker, by Victor Methos (Thomas & Mercer)
The Bookseller, by Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)
A Botanist’s Guide to Tradition and Treachery, by Kate Khavari (Crooked Lane)
The Break-Up Retreat, by Camilla Sten (Minotaur)
The Butler, by Clare Mackintosh (Podium)
But Not Foreclosed, by BJ Bourg (Death Shadow Press)
Cause of Death: Rock and Roll, by Big Boy Pete (Stark House Press)
Choke Point, by Brad Thor (Atria/Emily Bestler)
The Clock House Murders, by Yukito Ayatsuji (Pushkin Vertigo)
The Confession Artist, by Christine Carbo (Thomas & Mercer)
The Dangerous Stranger, by Simon Mason (Hachette Mobius)
Death at the Castle Gates, by Nick Oldham (Severn House)
Death Do Us, by Ruthy Mason (Union Square)
Death on the Lanai, by Rachel Ekstrom Courage (Hyperion Avenue)
Death Was Not on the Guest List, by Jenni L. Walsh
(Thomas & Mercer)
Declan, by Anne Emery (ECW Press)
The Disaster Gay Detective Agency, by Lev AC Rosen
(Poisoned Pen Press)
The Dogwalkers’ Detective Agency, by Michael Hogan (Pegasus Crime)
The Driftwood Bones, by Peter Colt (Thomas & Mercer)
An Ending on Elliott Bay, by D.D. Black (Independently published)
Every Lie I Told, by Hilary Davidson (Blackstone)
Exit Wound, by Isabella Maldonado (Thomas & Mercer)
The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield, by Claudia Gray (Vintage)
Fear the Reaper, by David Housewright (Minotaur)
Feast, by Catherine Kurtz (Berkley)
The Fervent Whites, by De’Shawn Charles Winslow (One World)
The Fire Agent, by David Baerwald (Spiegel & Grau)
The Forty-Year Grudge, by Liza Tully (Berkley)
The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Debutante Detective, by
Bruce Rule (Titan)
The Further Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes III, by Caiden Cooper Myles (MX)
The Girl on the Beach, by Carol Snow (Crooked Lane)
Great White, by Richard Helms
(Barbadoes Hall)
Heather, by Caitlin Mullen (Celadon)
Hemlock Bay, by Martin Edwards
(Poisoned Pen Press)
It’s About Time, by Carol J. Perry (Kensington Cozies)
The Last Boundary, by Dave Stanton (Vinci)
Her Last Breath, by M.J. Arlidge and Alex Khan (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
The Housemaid’s Wedding, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press)
The Housewife, by Natalie Barelli (Poisoned Pen Press)
Hysteria, by LJ Ross (Poisoned Pen Press)
I Did a Bad Thing, by Louise Jensen (HQ)
The Inconvenient Corpse / Murder in Haste, by Elizabeth Fenwick (Stark House Press)
It Could Have Been Her, by Lisa Jewell (Atria)
Keep Them Close, by David Ellis (Putnam)
Kingdom of Devils: A Tale of Murder in the Shadow of the American Revolution, by Katherine Grandjean (Random House)*
The Last Time We Drowned, by Saratoga Schaefer (Cosmo Reads)
The Last Time We Saw Her, by Jaclyn Goldis (Atria/Emily Bestler)
The Long Con, by Jenna Voris (Dial Press)
Lovers XXX, by Allie Rowbottom (Soho Press)
Man of My Dreams, by Olivia Worley (Minotaur)
The Man Who Led a Dream Life, by David Handler (Mysterious Press)
The Man Who Stole the Gods: A True Story of War, Obsession, and a Global Art Conspiracy, by Matthew Campbell (Portfolio)*
Marion, by Leah Rowan (St. Martin’s Press)
Midnight Patriots, by Paul Levine (Herald Square)
Midnight Ridge, by Rita Herron (Bookouture)
Missing in Soho, by Holly Stars (Berkley)
A Morbid Passion, by Robert Holtom (Titan)
Murder and Mayheim, by Ronica Black and Toni Logan (Bold Strokes)
Murder and the Missing Treasure, by C.J. Archer (C.J. Archer)
Murder at the Spirit Lounge, by Jess Kidd (Atria)
Murder by Design, by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer)
A Murder in Springtime, by Martin Walker (Knopf)
Names Have Been Changed, by Yu-Mei Balasingamchow
(Tiny Reparations)
Nasty Little Secrets, by Gabbie Hanks (Zando)
The Neighbors Are Watching, by Aggie Blum Thompson (Minotaur)
Nine Lives, by Catherine Steadman (Bantam)
No Solace for the Wicked, by Nancy Herriman (Beyond the Page)
Obstetrix, by Naomi Kritzer (Tordotcom)
138 Main, by Gavin Bell (Gallery/Scout Press)
Our Marriage Is Murder, by Carol Goodman (Morrow Paperbacks)
The Pact, by Lisa Walker (HQ Digital)
A Pair of Aces, by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher
Murray (Berkley)
The Pinnacle, by Abir Mukherjee (Little, Brown)
Played to Death, by Mike Ripley (Severn House)
Poppy Montgomery Gets Even, by Gordon Jack (Mysterious Press)
Pour Choices, by Adrian Andover (Chestnut Avenue Press)
The Probability of Murder, by J.D. Barker and Patrick Logan (Hampton Creek Press)
A Rage of Desire, by Clayton Matthews (Stark House Press)
Reaper, by Vanda Symon (Orenda)
Red Sheet, by James Ellroy (Knopf)
Rescue Me, by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Swallow Press)
Restless Bones, by Gillian French (Minotaur)
A River Red With Blood, by John Connolly (Atria/Emily Bestler)
Road Longer Than Memory, by Melanie McCabe (Oceanview)
Rocket’s Red Glare, by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann (Little, Brown)
Rules for Aging and Larceny, by Julia London (Kensington)
Sandbar Sinister, by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (Penzler/American Mystery Classics)
Scandalize My Name, by Fiona Sinclair (Poisoned Pen Press)
The Secret Attic, by Chelsea Conradt (Poisoned Pen Press)
The Secret Thread, by Eve Chase (Ballantine)
Self-Help for Serial Killers, by Asia Mackay (Bantam)
Sex on Murder Island, by Jo Firestone (Bantam)
The Shark, by Emma Styles (Pegasus Crime)
She Walks at Night, by Seishi Yokomizo (Pushkin Vertigo)
Skyring Water, by Louis L'Amour and Beau L'Amour (Bantam)
Somebody Worth Killing, by Jessica Payne (Berkley)
Someone Else’s Husband, by Kimberly McCreight (Knopf)
Some Sort of Justice, by Peter Grainger (Union Square)
The Spin, by Faith Gardner (Mirror House Press)
Staged, by Caitlin Rother (Thomas & Mercer)
Storm Tide, by Paul Doiron (Minotaur)
Strangers Behind Closed Doors, by Catherine Adel West (Park Row)
Stuart Woods’ Deep Water, by Brett Battles (Putnam)
Sweet Spot, by Kemper Donovan (John Scognamiglio)
Teach the Torches to Burn, by Christina Dodd (John Scognamiglio)
Tell Your Friends, by Lauren Wilson (Pine & Cedar)
There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood, by Rasheed Newson (Flatiron)
Three Hitmen and a Baby, by Rob Hart (Putnam)
A Twist in the River, by Stig Abell (Harper Perennial)
Two Missing Girls, by Kerry Wilkinson (Bookouture)
Vale of Tears, by David Mark (Severn House)
Valley of the Moms, by Hannah Selinger (Little, Brown)
Wait and See, by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen (Grand Central)
What Goes Around, by Debra Webb (Thomas & Mercer)
What the World Needs Now: Mystery Stories Inspired by the Music of Burt Bacharach, edited by Martin Edwards (Level Short)
While We Were Silent, by Alex Myers (Severn House)
Whisper Creek, by Allison Brennan (Minotaur)
Wish Upon a Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Fairy Tales, edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson (Level Short)
The Writers Retreat, by Victoria Brownlee (Affirm Press)
You First, by Caroline Kepnes (Random House)
You Girls Play Nice, by K.D. Aldyn (Poisoned Pen Press)

JUNE (UK):
Actually, I’m a Corpse, by Terry Deary (Constable)
Against the Tide, by G.D. Wright (Avon)
All of Them Lied, by Gill Perdue (Sandycove)
Bad Deeds, by Andrew Hunter Murray (Hutchinson Heinemann)
Bad Influence, by Will Carver (Orenda)
Blood Root, by Jill Johnson (Black & White)
The Case of the Christie Wedding Affair, by Kelly Oliver (Boldwood)
A Dangerous Justice, by John Pilkington (Boldwood)
Darling Bud, by C.J. Skuse (HQ Digital)
Death and Déjà Vu, by Ian Moore (Farrago)
Death by Noir, by Olly Smith (Baskerville)
Death on the Pearl River, by A.E. Goldin (Pushkin Vertigo)
The Death Row Club, by V.A. Vazquez (Simon & Schuster UK)
Deception, by Jack Jordan (Simon & Schuster UK)
The Defence, by Rob Rinder (Century)
Dirt Road Dead, by TG Reid (Glass Work Press)
Fake Out Make Out, by Kate Williams (Ink Road)
Fellow Creatures, by Emma Lowther (Quercus)
The Gardens, by Emma Babbington (HQ Digital)
The Girl on Floor 29, by D.E. White (Boldwood)
A Girl’s Girl, by Emma Robertson (Zaffre)
Grave Intent, by Sarah Ward (Canelo Crime)
Keep You Safe, by Rona Halsall (Boldwood)
A Killer Plot, by E.C. Nevin (Zaffre)
The Kill Switch, by Robert Peston (Zaffre)
Liar Liar, by Luca Veste (Avon)
The Long Isle, by Andrew Raymond (Vinci)
The Mayan Betrayal, by Lex Faulkner (Boldwood)
Mother of Sorrows, by Jurica Pavičić (Bitter Lemon Press)
Murder at Canterbury Cathedral, by Jim Eldridge (Allison & Busby)
Murder at St. Alfred’s, by Julie Wassmer (Constable)
Murder on the Upper East Side, by Gigi Waldorf (Simon & Schuster UK)
My Sister’s Secret, by Jane Corry (Penguin)
No Way Out, by Max Connor (HQ Digital)
One of the Family, by Mark Edwards (Michael Joseph)
The Pinnacle, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill)
Puzzles of the Parish: Short Tales of Ministers, Murder and Mystery, edited by Martin Edwards (Britsh Library)
Relatively Guilty, by William McIntyre (Vinci)
Rich Little Liars, by A.J. Carter (Boldwood)
Run for Your Life, by Jackie Kabler (One More Chapter)
Sherlock Holmes and the Aeronauts, by Linda Stratmann (Sapere)
Solitary Agents, by David Goodman (Headline)
The Teacher’s Pet, by M.A. Hunter (Boldwood)
The Tembusu Tree Mystery, by Ovidia Yu (Constable)
Two Little Liars, by Michelle Harrison (No Exit Press)
Veil of Secrets, by Rachel McLean (Ackroyd)
We Know What You Did, by Kirsty Lockwood (Orion)

JULY (U.S.):
Agatha Christie: The Mother of the Cozy Mystery, by Nancy West (Adams Media)*
All Aboard for Murder, by Ellen Byron (Kensington Cozies)
Backtrack, by Marc Cameron (Kensington)
Beach Blonde Betrayal, by Elaine Viets (Severn House)
The Beginning of Everything, by Charles Salzberg (Regalo Press)
Buyer Beware, by Catherine Ryan Howard (Simon & Schuster)
Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast, by Pamela Colloff (Knopf)*
City of Promises, by Victoria Thompson (Berkley)
The Cloak and Dagger Club, by Jackie McMahon (Berkley)
Cloudthief, by Nathaniel Rich (MCD)
Cool Machine, by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Country Christie: Country Tales from the Queen of Mystery, by Agatha Christie (Morrow Paperbacks)
The Country Road Murders, by James Patterson and Mike
Lupica (Little, Brown)
Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die, by Mallory Arnold (Poisoned
Pen Press)
Cyanide in the Sun: And Other Stories of Summertime Crime, edited by Martin Edwards (Poisoned Pen Press)
A Dark Path and Other Kate Burkholder Short Stories, by Linda Castillo (Minotaur)
The Date, by T.H. Murdock (Thomas & Mercer)
Deadly Does It, by Abbi Waxman (Berkley)
Dead Men Don’t Play Fetch, by David Rosenfelt (Minotaur)
Death at King’s Cross, by Rosanne Limoncelli (Crooked Lane)
A Death in the Deluge, by Brian Thiem (Severn River)
The Death Row Club, by V.A. Vazquez (Gallery/Scout Press)
The Delivery, by Gregg Hurwitz (Thomas & Mercer)
Desert Heist, by Alex Dekker (Atria/Emily Bestler)
Exit Party, by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf)
Furious Violet, by Sarai Walker (Harper)
Get Lost, by Justin Halpern (Cardinal)
Getting Away with Murder, by Shari Lapena (Pamela Dorman)
Golden Age Suspense Stories, edited by Otto Penzler (Penzler/American Mystery Classics)
The Haul, by Gary Phillips (Soho Crime)
Helpless, by Jessica Knoll (Scribner)
Hidden Strangers, by Minka Kent (Thomas & Mercer)
Hot Girl Murder Club, by Ashley Winstead (Minotaur)
How to Kill a Crime Writer, by Sarah Lotz (Berkley)
Icarus 17, by Charles Cumming (Mysterious Press)
If Books Could Kill, by Kate Eberle (Penguin)
The Intrigue, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
The Intruder, by Adriane Leigh (Podium)
January and July, by Jeff Abbott (Blackstone)
Killer Vibes, by Jack Friday (Minotaur)
Lady X, by Molly Fader (Ballantine)
The Lansky Legacy: The Life and Letters of Meyer Lansky, by Meyer Lansky II and S.J. Peddie (Citadel)*
Last Night Was Killer, by Mary Pauline Lowry (Morrow)
The Last to Drown, by Noelle Ihli (Dynamite)
The Man, by Laura Sims (Putnam)
The Masala Chai Mystery Club, by MJ Soni (Crooked Lane)
McKenna’s Guy, by Mike Lawson (Blackstone)
The Mortal Enemy Murder Club, by Gloria Chao (Park Row)
The Mortons, by Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld (Pamela Dorman)
Murder in Purple and Gold, by Lindsey Davis (Severn House)
Murder in the Crooked House, by Soji Shimada (Pushkin Vertigo)
Murder on Devil’s Ridge, by Irina
Shapiro (Storm)
The Mysterious Affair of Judith Potts, by Robert Thorogood (Poisoned Pen Press)
A Neighbor’s Guide to Murder, by Louise Candlish (Grand Central)
The Next Lie, by Camden Baird (Thomas & Mercer)
The Night Hunter, by Natalie Moss (Berkley)
The Novel Detective, by Teresa Dovalpage (Soho Crime)
One Bad Deed, by T.M. Payne (Thomas & Mercer)
The Paris Chase, by David Lewis (John Scognamiglio)
The Parisian Heist, by Jo Piazza (Dutton)
Perfect Life, by Meredith Lavender and Kendall Shores (Bantam)
A Quiet Place, by Seichō Matsumoto (Modern Library)
Ransom, by Daniel Silva (Harper)
Savvy Summers and the Po’boy Perils, by Sandra Jackson-
Opoku (Minotaur)
The Season of Sinking, by Daphne Woolsoncroft (Grand Central)
The Shadow Step, by Mark Billingham (Atlantic Crime)
Shrink Solves Murder, by Philippa Perry (Crown)
The Spy and the Snake, by M.J. Robotham (Aria)
Street of the Lost, by David Goodis (Stark House Press)
Sweet and Deadly, by Verne Chute (Stark House Press)
Sycamore Gap, by LJ Ross (Poisoned Pen Press)
The Talking Bone, by Rene Denfeld (Harper)
Tenderness, by Rowan Beaird (Flatiron)
This Changes Everything, by Lisa Scottoline (Grand Central)
Three Crime Novels by Anthony Bourdain: Bone in the Throat, Gone Bamboo, and The Bobby Gold Stories, by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury)
Three Reasons for Revenge, by Dervla McTiernan (Morrow)
Traitors, by Robert B. McCaw (Norton)
Twenty Minutes of Silence, by Hélène Bessette (New Directions)
Unreliable Narrator, by Araminta Hall (Putnam)
A Voice in the Dark, by Barbara Nickless (Thomas & Mercer)
We Will See You Bleed, by Ron Currie (Putnam)
What Happens in the Dark, by Kia Abdullah (HQ)
Wisdom Corner, by David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Ecco)

JULY (UK):
All Killers Aboard, by David Fennell (Orion)
Better the Devil, by JD Kirk (Canelo Crime)
Blood Caste, by Shylashri Shankar (Canelo Crime)
Blood Enemy, by Douglas Jackson (Canelo)
Broken Ranks, by Andrew Raymond (Vinci)
The Burning Tide, by William Shaw (Hemlock Press)
The Child, by Mandasue Heller (Orion)
The Cornish Honeymoon Murder, by Fiona Leitch (One More Chapter)
Death on a Lively Sea, by Katy Watson (Constable)
Deception, by Alan Parks (Baskerville)
The Depths, by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (Hodder & Stoughton)
Eden Falls, by Ajay Chowdhury (Harvill)
Everything She Didn’t Say, by Jane Casey (Hemlock Press)
The Eyewitness, by Naomi Williams (Headline)
The Family Break, by Ruth Irons (Zaffre)
A Fatal Legacy, by Charlotte Vassell
(Faber & Faber)
From Murder with Love, by M.R.G.
Davies (One More Chapter)
From the Shadows, by G.R. Halliday
(Point Blank)
Hide and Seek, by Chris Carter (Simon & Schuster UK)
The Hotel Manager’s Guide to Murder, by Erlendur Arason (Blekverk)
The Kingpin, by A.A. Dhand (HQ)
The Llanelli Town Murders, by Stephen Puleston
(Independently published)
Mad Mabel, by Sally Hepworth (Macmillan)
The Madman, by Henning Mankell (Mountain Leopard Press)
The Magic-Lantern Murders, by Carter Dickson (British Library)
The Mermaid’s Cry, by Kate Rhodes (Orenda)
Miss Hortense and the Last Rites, by Mel Pennant (Baskerville)
The Missing Dead, by J.M. Dalgliesh (Penguin)
Never to Be Found, by Jo Spain (Zaffre)
The Night Stairs, by Erin Kelly (Harvill)
One Dark Summer, by Sarah Hornsley (Hodder & Stoughton)
One of Us Is Guilty, by Steve Cavanagh (Headline)
Out of the Ashes, by M.J. Arlidge (Orion)
The Outsider, by Valerie Keogh (Boldwood)
The Parkwood Murders, by Chris Chibnall (Michael Joseph)
Shadow of Madness, by D.V. Bishop (Macmillan)
The Summer We Lied, by Rebecca Hardy (Raven)
Then She Lied, by Alice Leigh (Canelo Crime)
A Tiny Speck of Black and Then Nothing, by Emily Midorikawa (Manilla Press)
Vanished, by Ruby Speechley (Boldwood)
The Venetian Redemption, by Philip Gwynne Jones (Constable)
A Very French Corpse, by Ian Moore (Duckworth)
The Violent Hour, by James Oswald (Wildfire)
What the Dying See, by MJ Lee (Canelo Crime)
When You Looked Away, by S.M. Govett (Michael Joseph)
The Woman Who Wasn’t There, by William Hussey (Zaffre)

AUGUST (U.S.):
All We Hide, by Robyn Gigl (Soho Crime)
The Amateur, by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday)
And Then There Were Bun, by Vivien Chien (Minotaur)
Bad Intentions, by Iliana Xander (Poisoned Pen Press)
The Black Shield: An American Memoir of Family and Power, by Wilbert L. Cooper (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)*
Blood, Rust, and Steel, by Stuart MacBride (Macmillan UK)
The Blue Flame, by George Pelecanos (Cardinal)
The Bravest Hour, by Anna Lee Huber (Kensington)
Brimstone Hollow, by Archer Sullivan (Minotaur)
The Butcher Legacy, by Alaina Urquhart (Zando)
The Castle in the Glen, by Rhys Bowen (Lake Union)
The Camino, by Anya Niewierra
(Simon & Schuster)
Cat and Mouse: A Mystery in Wales, by Christianna Brand (Poisoned Pen Press)
Children of Wolves, by Lawrence Osborne (S&S/Summit)
Crescendo, by Robert J. Harris
(Pegasus Crime)
The Crying Killer, by Jess Lourey
(Thomas & Mercer)
Dark Harbor, by Bruce Robert Coffin (Severn River)
Death at a Scottish Halloween, by Lucy Connelly (Crooked Lane)
Deceptions, by Jeffery Deaver (Putnam)
Delusional, by James Patterson and James O. Born (Little, Brown)
The Enigma Challenge, by S.C. Godfrey (Pamela Dorman)
The Five of Us, by Sian Gilbert (Blackstone)
For Services Rendered, by Will Thomas (Minotaur)
Freight, by Ryan Lowell (Little, Brown)
Fruit Fly, by Josh Silver (Crooked Lane)
God’s Country, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
Heart of Glass, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur)
Illicit Still, by William McIntyre (Vinci)
The Interpreter’s Secret, by Andrew Rosenheim (No Exit Press)
Killer Art, by Jon St. Denis (Crooked Lane)
Kill Zone, by Dan Ames (Independently published)
Miss Morton Takes the Waters, by Catherine Lloyd (Kensington)
Murder at Rosecliff, by Alyssa Maxwell (Kensington)
Murder in Blackfriars, by Jennifer Ashley (Berkley)
My Inner Child Wants to Kill, by Karsten Dusse (Soho Crime)
My Sister Is Going to Kill Me, by Nina Simon (Morrow)
Nearshore, by Steve Hawk (Viking)
No Higher Ground, by Nicole Brooks (Blackstone)
No Rest for the Wicked, by Kat Anderson (Koehler)
Not a Word, by Linwood Barclay (Morrow)
One Good Eye, by Kevin Wade (Celadon)
The One Who Walked Away, by Karen Rose (Berkley)
The Opposite of Murder, by Sophie Hannah (Poisoned Pen Press)
Probable Caws, by Donna Andrews (Minotaur)
The Queen of Florida, by Jeff Bercuson (ECW Press)
The Secret Dinner, by Raphael Montes (Celadon)
The Secrets We Hide, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow)
The Shadow Friends, by Tess Gerritsen (Thomas & Mercer)
The Silent Appeal, by Janice Hallett (Atria)
Sisters at an Exhibition, by Claudia Hagadus Long (Sibylline Press)
A Stranger in Corfu, by Alex Preston (Pegasus Crime)
The Strangers, by Ryan David Jahn (Blackstone)
Strip Rules, by Martin Limón (Soho Crime)
Surviving the Lie, by James Queally (Counterpoint)
The Tailor, by Tim Sullivan (Atlantic Crime)
A Taste for Murder, by Matt Baker (Crooked Lane)
They Say a Girl Died Here, by Sarah Pinborough (Pine & Cedar)
A Thief’s Folly, by Jeanne M. Dams (Severn House)
Time to Burn, by Ellery Lloyd (Harper)
To All the Men I’ve Killed Before, by Katy Brent (HQ Digital)
Toulouse Noir, edited by Charles-Henri Lavielle (Akashic)
The Tragedy of Y, by Ellery Queen (Penzler/American
Mystery Classics)
Under the Falls, by Richard Russo (Knopf)
The Unknown, by Riley Sager (Dutton)
Virgin Islands Noir, edited by Tiphanie Yanique and Richard
Georges (Akashic)
The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die Quietly, by Katarina Bivald
(Poisoned Pen Press)
The Women in White, by Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin’s Press)
You Know Why, by J.T. Ellison (Thomas & Mercer)
You’ll Be Sorry, by Lisa Gardner (Grand Central)

AUGUST (UK):
Agrippa, by Robert Harris (Hutchinson Heinemann)
The Best of Enemies, by Julie Mae Cohen (Zaffre)
Bookish, Volume II, by Matthew Sweet (Quercus)
The British Agent, by Simon Conway (Michael Joseph)
The Chapel of Bones, by Kate Ellis (Constable)
City of Traitors, by Alex Gerlis (Canelo)
Claws Out! by Bella Mackie (Borough Press)
Codename: 61, by Alex Shaw (Boldwood)
Death Writ Large, by Susie Dent (Zaffre)
Eyes on You, by Adele Parks (HQ)
The Farmhouse Killings, by Wes Markin (Boldwood)
A Fatal Love, by Louisa Treger (Bloomsbury)
Freyja, by Margrét Ann Thors (Zaffre)
Ghost Notes, by Doug Johnstone (Orenda)
I Know What I Saw, by Kathryn
Croft (Headline)
Invitation from a Dictator, by Rory Clements (Viking)
The Killer’s Mark, by M.W. Craven (Constable)
Knit One, Heist One, by Donna Moore (No Exit Press)
Maybe Tomorrow, by Michael Wood (One More Chapter)
The Millionaire Waltz, by Anthony Quinn (Abacus)
Murder at Clover Farm, by Jane Bettany (HQ Digital)
The New Wife, by Gemma Rogers (Boldwood)
The Party at No. 5, by Shelley Smith (British Library)
Robert B. Parker’s Big Shot, by Christopher Farnsworth
(No Exit Press)
The Samurai Detectives: The Man in the Mist, by Shotaro
Ikenami (Penguin)
A Shroud of Snow, by Sarah Hawkswood (Allison & Busby)
We Tell Lies, by K.L. Slater (Michael Joseph)

I should note, as I traditionally do with these lists, that this is not a comprehensive collection of crime, mystery, and thriller works reaching print this season. It is representative of what will become available on both sides of the Atlantic. If you know of other superior releases I have missed, I encourage you to mention them in this post’s Comments section. It’s hardly unheard of for me to lengthen these compilations, if I learn later about other books of interest.

Troubles in “Paradise”

Brilliant but bungling Humphrey Goodman is back, and not a moment too soon! Viewers in the States haven’t seen him or the rest of the Beyond Paradise cast since that lighthearted TV mystery series aired its latest Christmas special here in early 2026. But the show, spun off in 2023 from BBC One’s Death in Paradise, returns to Britbox with its fourth-season opener this coming Tuesday, June 9.

As we rejoin Detective Inspector Goodman (played by Kris Marshall) and his extraordinarily patient restaurateur wife, Martha (Sally Bretton), we find that problems with their houseboat are driving them to locate fresh digs in Shipton Abbott, their small fictional town on England’s Devon coast. Meanwhile, Goodman’s police colleague, Detective Sergeant Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi), faces shifts in her own domestic situation, which may finally overcome her tendency to push people away, and lead her to reunite with local vineyard owner Archie Hughes (Jamie Bamber). And Goodman’s new boss, Chief Superintendent James Smith (Vincent Franklin), is demanding budget cuts be made in the Shipton Abbott squad room that might only be satisfied by cutting someone from the team—an eventuality over which Goodman is destined to agonize throughout the season.

Amidst it all, Goodman, Williams, and the other members of their team (Dylan Llewellyn’s earnest Constable Kelby Hartford and Felicity Montagu’s habitually cranky Margo Martins) must contend with unusual cases involving mermaids, a missing treasure map, and more. Goodman’s mother in law, Anne Lloyd (Barbara Flynn), even gets to demonstrate her amateur sleuthing skills along the way.

There will be half a dozen weekly episodes in Season 4, which ran on British TV earlier this spring. Click here to watch a preview.

Wednesday, June 03, 2026

Yap Seizes the Bland Prize

A cozy, Manila-set young-adult mystery titled “Isabelle Gomez Is Innocent, She Swears!” has won the 2026 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color award. Its author is Jackie Yap, who calls herself a “neurodivergent Australian-born, Malaysian-Chinese-Filipina emerging writer on Gadigal Country (Sydney), Australia.”

Administered by the worldwide organization Sisters in Crime, this annual commendation is intended to promote “an emerging female or male writer of color.” It was established in 2014 and named for Eleanor Taylor Bland, the much-acclaimed Black author of the police detective Marti McAllister series. In addition to any psychological boost it can give an aspiring fictionist, this prize includes a $2,000 grant to further the recipient’s writing career.

Yap’s victorious tale is described as “part-murder mystery, part-fish-out-of-water, part coming-of-age—with universal themes of humor, heart, and belonging.” In a press release, she goes on to say it’s a “love letter to diaspora kids everywhere—to those who live in the liminal space between worlds, still discovering who they are, where they fit, and what ‘home’ truly means. I hope for Izzy Gomez to become a fresh, modern-day Filipina-Aussie Nancy Drew for readers everywhere, offering a protagonist who reflects their experiences against the backdrop of a (cozy) YA murder mystery.”

In addition to Yap, Sisters in Crime named five other would-be crime writers as runners-up in this contest. They are Uju Asika of London, England; Billie Hanson-Dupree of Oakland, California; Nina Michiko Tam of Houston, Texas; D.S. Mori of Orange County, California; and DeAnna Yvette of Chicago, Illinois.

Congratulations to all participants in this year’s competition!

Friday, May 29, 2026

Prevailing Canucks

We now know which authors and books have won the 2026 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing.

Peter Robinson Award for Best Crime Novel:
The Black Wolf, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Also nominated: The Retirement Plan, by Sue Hincenbergs (HarperCollins); The Hunger We Pass Down, by Jen Sookfong Lee (McClelland & Stewart); Into the Fall, by Tamara L. Miller (Thomas & Mercer); and The Tiger and the Cosmonaut, by Eddy Boudel Tan (Viking Canada)

Best Crime First Novel:
The Beltane Massacre, by Ray Critch (Breakwater)

Also nominated: Yesterday’s Lies, by Jan Field (La Cloche); The Broken Detective, by Joel Nedecky (Run Amok Crime); A Painting to Die For, by David L. Tucker (Otter & Osprey Press); and Too Dark for the Light, by A.L. Wahdel (Butterfly 80)

Best Crime Novel Set in Canada:
Salt on Her Tongue, by C.S. Porter (Vagrant Press)

Also nominated: That Other Family, by Lis Angus (Next Chapter); Every Fall, by Angela Douglas (Rising Action); Detective Aunty, by Uzma Jalaluddin (HarperCollins); and The Hitchhikers, by Chevy Stevens (St. Martin’s Press)

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery:
The Cost of a Hostage, by Iona Whishaw (TouchWood Editions)

Also nominated: The Engineer’s Nemesis, by Shelley Adina (Moonshell); Stella Ryman and the Search for Thelma Hu, by Mel Anastasiou (Pulp Literature Press); A Dark Death, by Alice Fitzpatrick (Stonehouse); and Some Justice, by Laury Silvers (Independently published)

Best Crime Short Story:
“Polly Wants a Freakin’ Cracker,” by Sylvia Maultash Warsh (from Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Humorous, edited by John Betancourt, Michael Bracken, and Carla Coupe; Wildside Press)

Also nominated: “Under the Circumstances,” by Lis Angus (from A Capital Mystery Anthology, edited by Bernadette Cox and Mike Martin (Ottawa Press); “The Lost Diner,” by Madeleine Harris Callway (Pulp Literature, Summer 2025); “Cold Shock,” by Barbara Fradkin (from A Capital Mystery Anthology); and “The Headache,” by Billie Livingstone (Dark Yonder, November 2025)

Best French Language Crime Book:
Une nuit d’été à Littlebrook, by Maureen Martineau (Héliotrope)

Also nominated: Le regard des autres, by Chrystine Brouillet (Druide); Jeux d’ombres, by André Jacques (Druide); La mémoire du labyrinthe, by Steve Laflamme (Libre Expression); and Delta Zéro, by Martin Michaud (Libre Expression)

Best Juvenile/YA Crime Book:
The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall, by Charis Cotter (Tundra)

Also nominated: Death by Whoopee Cushion, by Vicki Grant (Tundra); A Skeleton in the Closet, by Claire Hatcher-Smith (Tundra); The City of Lost Cats, by Tanya Lloyd Kyi (Tundra); and Bark Twice for Murder, by John Lekich (Orca)

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Non-fiction Crime Book: Hitman: The Untold Story of Canada’s Deadliest Assassin, by Julian Sher and Lisa Fitterman (HarperCollins)

Also nominated: The Many Names of Robert Cree: How a First Nations Chief, Brought Ancient Wisdom to Big Business and Prosperity to His People, by Robert Cree with Therese Greenwood (ECW Press); Acts of Darkness: Notorious Criminals, Their Defenders, Prosecutors, and Jailers, by John L. Hill (Durvile & UpRoute); Arctic Predator: The Crimes of Edward Horne Against Children in Canada’s North, by Kathleen Lippa (Dundurn Press); and On the Lam: Great (and Not So Great) Escapes from Prison, by Lorna Poplak (Dundurn Press)

Best Unpublished Crime Novel (manuscript written by an unpublished author): Val’s Story, by Anne Burlakoff

Also nominated: The Less You Know, by William Hall; Lens Flare, by Francis K. Lalumière; Death Scent, by Barbara Stokes; and Blistered, by Isabelle Zimmermann

In addition, Ontario-born crime and thriller author Rick Mofina has been given this year’s Grand Master Award. “This prestigious biennial honor,” says the CWC, “recognizes a Canadian crime writer with a substantial body of work who has garnered significant national and international acclaim while demonstrating a steadfast commitment to the crime-writing community. CWC selected Mofina for this distinction based on his prolific output, professional integrity, and years of dedicated service to both the organization and the genre.”

Thursday, May 28, 2026

Cutting Down the Daggers



Six weeks after releasing its longlists of nominees for the 2026 Dagger Awards, in 12 categories, Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association has announced its shortlisted contenders.

KAA Gold Dagger:
King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
The Death of Us, by Abigail Dean (Hemlock Press)
Not Quite Dead Yet, by Holly Jackson (Michael Joseph)
The Girl in Cell A, by Vaseem Khan (Hodder Fiction)
The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon (River Swift Press)
The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)

Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:
The Midnight King, by Tariq Ashkanani (Viper)
King of Ashes, by S.A. Cosby (Headline)
The Big Empty, by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster UK)
A Sting in Her Tale, by Mark Ezra (No Exit Press)
Such Quiet Girls, by Noelle Ihli (Pan)
The Good Father, by Liam McIlvanney (Zaffre)
We Are All Guilty Here, by Karin Slaughter (HarperCollins)

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-fiction:
Shadow of the Bridge: The Delphi Murders and the Dark Side of the American Heartland, by Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee (Pegasus Crime)
The Spy in the Archive: How One Man Tried to Kill the KGB, by Gordon Corera (William Collins)
The Murder Game, by John Curran (HarperCollins/Collins Crime Club)
Murderland, by Caroline Fraser (Fleet)
That Dark Spring, by Susannah Stapleton (Picador)
The Illegals, by Shaun Walker (Profile)

Historical Dagger:
A Granite Silence, by Nina Allan (Riverrun)
Barvick Falls, by Rob McInroy (Tippermuir)
The Devil’s Draper, by Donna Moor (Fly on the Wall Press)
Gunner, by Alan Parks (Baskerville)
The Art of a Lie, by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Mantle)
A Case of Life and Limb, by Sally Smith (Raven)

Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger:
Murder Mindfully, by Karsten Dusse,
translated by Florian Duijsens (Faber & Faber)
The Lake, by Jørn Lier Horst,
translated by Anne Bruce (Penguin Random House)
Red Water, by Jurica Pavičić,
translated by Matt Robinson (Bitter Lemon Press)
Big Bad Wool, by Leonie Swann,
translated by Amy Bojang (Allison & Busby)
The Winter Job, by Antti Tuomainen,
translated by David Hackston (Orenda)
Strange Pictures, by Uketsu,
translated by Jim Rion (Pushkin Press)

Whodunnit Dagger (for “cosy crime, traditional mysteries, and Golden Age crime” stories):
The Christmas Cracker Killer, by Alexandra Benedict (Simon & Schuster UK)
Little Secrets, by Victoria Goldman (Three Crowns Publishing UK)
Etiquette for Lovers and Killers, by Anna Fitzgerald Healy (Fleet)
A Queer Case, by Robert Holtom (Titan)
A Murder for Miss Hortense, by Mel Pennant (Baskerville)
Bad Influence, by C.J. Wray (Orion)

Twisted Dagger (for “psychological and suspense thrillers”):
What Happens in the Dark, by Kia Abdullah (HQ Fiction)
Her Many Faces, by Nicci Cloke (Harvill Secker)
Some of Us Are Liars, by Fiona Cummins (Macmillan)
Scenes from a Tragedy, by Carole Hailey (Corvus)
The Bodies, by Sam Lloyd (Bantam)
We Live Here Now, by Sarah Pinborough (Orion)

ILP John Creasey (First Novel) Dagger:
The Peak, by Sam Guthrie (HarperCollins)
The Lost Detective, by Elspeth Latimer (Story Machine)
The Wolf Tree, by Laura McCluskey (Hemlock Press)
The Vanishing Place, by Zoë Rankin (Viper)
Coram House, by Bailey Seybolt (Raven)
Holy City, by Henry Wise (No Exit Press)

Short Story Dagger:
“Split Your Silver Tongue,” by S.A. Cosby (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos: New Stories Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, edited by Maxim Jakubowski; No Exit Press)
“The Karpman Drama Triangle,” by Denise Mina (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos)
“Full Circle,” by Abir Mukherjee (from Playing Dead: Short Stories in Honour of Simon Brett by Members of the Detection Club, edited by Martin Edwards; Severn House)
“The Apple Falls Not Far,” by Ambrose Perry (Canongate)
“Strangers on a School Bus,” by Peter Swanson (from Birds, Strangers and Psychos)
“Waiting,” by Michael Wood (from Criminal Pursuits: This Is Me, edited by Samantha Lee Howe; Telos)

Emerging Author (for unpublished novels):
Ill Met by Murder, by Rod Cookson
The Man Who Fit the Case, by Sophia Georghiou
Just a Simple Wedding, by Kate Koester
The Fixer, by Lorna Mathew
The Madam of Morningside, by Rebecca McFarland
Blind Side of the Sun, by Michael Nikitin
The Pattern of Absence, by Melisssa Tonkin

Dagger in the Library (“for a body of work by an established crime writer that has long been popular with borrowers from libraries”):
Paula Hawkins
J.D. Kirk
Clare Mackintosh
Freida McFadden
Abir Mukherjee
Tim Sullivan

Publishers’ Dagger (“awarded annually to the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year”):
Bitter Lemon Press
Faber & Faber
No Exit Press (Bedford Square)
Pan Macmillan
Simon & Schuster
Viper (Profile)

All of the winners will be declared during a CWA gala dinner n July.

Sunday, May 24, 2026

Revue of Reviewers: 5-24-26

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.















Saturday, May 23, 2026

Particularly Promising Premieres

I spent the better part of this week entertaining a friend who’d flown in from Minneapolis, so I wasn’t exactly on top of the crime-fiction news. That meant I missed alerting readers to the half-dozen nominees for the 2026 McDermid Debut Award. They are:

A Bad, Bad Place, by Frances Crawford (Penguin Random House)
The Exes, by Leodora Darlington (Michael Joseph)
Innocent Guilt, by Remi Kone (Quercus)
The Quiet, by Barnaby Martin (Pan Macmillan)
A Murder for Miss Hortense, by Mel Pennant (John Murray)
How to Get Away With Murder, by Rebecca Philipson (Penguin Random House)

According to a news release, “The shortlist for this year’s McDermid Debut Award, named in recognition of world-famous crime writer Val McDermid, showcases ‘original and assured’ new voices writing across a broad range of subgenres … Now in its third year, the award has established a successful track record for discovering emerging talent, with the two previous winning books, Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney (2024) and A Reluctant Spy by David Goodman (2025), going on to become bestsellers.”

The latest prize recipient is set to be announced on Thursday, July 23, which is opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, England.

Friday, May 22, 2026

The Blog in Young Adulthood

Today marks two decades—a full 20 years, folks!—since I began posting here in The Rap Sheet. If we consider this (generously) as a job, then it’s the longest one I’ve ever held down. It’s also the one that has brought me the smallest amount of remuneration. But of course I didn’t set out to become rich by blogging about crime, mystery, and thriller fiction. My intention was to celebrate the depth and breadth of this genre, and to express my enduring appreciation for its growth and evolution. I hope I have accomplished that so far.

On the blog’s 10th birthday, I traced my history as a book critic and how it led me to launch The Rap Sheet. So I won’t readdress all of that today. I had once imagined making a big deal of this anniversary (with T-shirts and special postings and more), but decided in the end that, all I really wanted to do was send out my appreciation to the blog’s readers for sticking with it for so long and saying such nice things about it along the way. This journey has presented occasional difficulties, yet it has been predominately rewarding, and I hope to continue writing and editing The Rap Sheet for many years to come.

Thank you, one and all!

Thursday, May 14, 2026

How Nice for “Mice”

The 2026 British Book Awards—aka the “Nibbies”—were handed out this week in 17 categories. Sally Smith’s A Case of Mice and Murder (Raven, 2024) took top honors in the Crime & Thriller division, with judges calling it “exquisitely written” and labeling its protagonist, Edwardian barrister Gabriel Ward KC, a “memorable sleuth.”

Smith’s novel beat out four others to claim that prize. They were: Death at the White Hart, by Chris Chibnall (Michael Joseph); The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore (Borough Press); The Impossible Fortune, by Richard Osman (Viking); The Secret of Secrets, by Dan Brown (Bantam); and The Tenant, by Freida McFadden (Poisoned Pen Press).

The British Book Awards are administered by The Bookseller.