Over the past few years, crime fiction has become the biggest-selling fiction genre, boosted by the glut of television detective dramas and an ever-increasing range of high-quality novels.
“Everywhere you turn these days, it seems like there’s a new - and wildly successful - book, podcast, or show devoted to a crime,” says Mental Floss.
Here are the best and most anticipated crime fiction titles of 2019:
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The Secret of Cold Hill, by Peter James
From Brighton-based author Peter James comes The Secret of Cold Hill, a riveting sequel to The House on Cold Hill, which now has its very own hit stage adaptation.
This follow-up has already received rave reviews since its release in early October, with many noting the shift in James’s style toward chilly, murder-mystery lore.
Fringe Review describes it as an “axe-clean chiller, more in the tradition of M. R. James in its disquiet and leftover ire”.
My Lovely Wife, by Samantha Downing
“There’s been a recent trend of mysteries emphasizing the culpability of the enabler: those who know and do nothing, no matter what sounds they hear in the attic or coming from the basement,” says Crime Reads. “And there’s another new trend that looks at those who do more than just enable their partner’s violence: they participate in it, harming others integral to their relationships.”
Samantha Downing’s debut novel is undoubtedly the latter - a twisted web of a tale delving into the darkest recesses of secrecy and relationships. A first-class novel not to miss out on.
A Shadow on the Lens, by Sam Hurcom
Sam Hurcom’s debut novel “employs the folk-horror staple of the rational outsider who arrives in a superstitious backwater to solve a mystery”, according to The Guardian.
A Shadow on the Lens is a bleak novel that tells the story of Thomas Bexley, an early forensic photographer who in 1904 travels to a remote village in Wales to investigate the gruesome murder of a young girl.
The Guardian says it is a “promising debut – gothic, claustrophobic and wonderfully dark”.
Worst Case Scenario, by Helen FitzGerald
As if a new novel by a bestselling crime author wasn’t enticing enough, copies of Helen Fitzgerald’s black comedy Worst Case Scenario come with an intriguing four-sentence premise on the front cover: “One alcoholic parole officer. One month to go. One last client. What could possibly go wrong?”
The book follows Mary Shields, a 52-year-old criminal social worker in Glasgow who begins suffering from increasingly debilitating mental health issues, before her most hated client - a wife-murdering men’s rights activist - derails her career entirely.
In a rave, five-star review from The Telegraph, Helen Fitzgerald’s Worst Case Scenario is described as “a novel driven by feminist anger and a celebration of the unsung, ill-rewarded heroism of social workers” and “a scandalously rude comic masterpiece”.
Never Have I Ever, by Joshilyn Jackson
Roux is a newcomer to a suburban community in Florida who quickly causes trouble for one of the local residents - Amy Whey - after starting a game of “Never Have I Ever” at a book club. Despite not knowing each other, the seductive Roux appears to be aware of Amy’s troubled criminal past, which she attempts to weedle out through the game.
The book has received significant praise from critics and fellow authors, with I Let You Go author Clare Mackintosh calling it “a smart, original thriller with real, compelling characters and a chilling reveal. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough”.
The Long Call, by Ann Cleves
“Crime fiction has been good to Ann Cleeves, and Cleeves has been great for crime fiction,” says Debra Craine at The Times. The veteran writer has sold more than five million books, two of which have been adapted for TV - Shetland and Vera - and two years ago she was awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing.
Her latest book, the first in a series, is The Long Call, a Devon-set tale about Detective Matthew Venn and his attempts to solve a mysterious murder case which evolves into a far-reaching conspiracy involving the most unlikely participants.
“The plot moves at a healthy pace, and there is at least one surprise in store”, says Craine - adding that it makes “a promising beginning to another fine chapter in the Ann Cleeves story”.
Seven Days, by Alex Lake
This highly anticipated, topsy-turvy new psychological crime thriller from bestselling author Alex Lake looks set to be a brutally dark addition to the novelist’s back catalogue, telling the story of a 27-year-old woman named Maggie who has been kidnapped and held in a basement by a predator for 12 years.
Since her capture at age 15, Maggie has given birth to three sons, two of whom were taken away by her captor on their third birthdays. Now, with her third child approaching the age of three, she has to think of a plan to save him.
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