1.
Everybody Knows, by Jordan Harper
This gifted practitioner of contemporary Hollywood noir writes with staccato vividness about “the Beast,” the group of corrupt entities that cleans up celebrity messes, and what happens when two of its number decide that doing “ugly things for ugly people” isn’t the rush it used to be.
2.
The Twyford Code, by Janice Hallett
Told in the form of voice memos from a semi-literate former London gangster, this is ostensibly about his efforts to learn the fate of a favorite teacher who disappeared years ago. But nothing about this charming rascal is straightforward, as multiple inventive plot twists reveal.
3.
The Last Devil to Die, by Richard Osman
It’s impossible to resist Osman’s quartet of septuagenarian crime solvers, so go ahead and give in to the Thursday Murder Club. But start at the beginning and work your way to this one; it’s the best and most fully realized of the series’s four books.
4.
Dark Ride, by Lou Berney
Stoner “Hardly” Reed is perfectly content with his zero-ambition existence until he spots signs of abuse on two children and vows to rescue them at any cost. Berney’s pitch-perfect portrait of this mellowest of dudes on a hero’s journey is both hilarious and terrifying.
5.
All the Sinners Bleed, by S. A. Cosby
A Black sheriff is pushed to the limit as he tries to catch a serial killer and keep racial tensions from boiling over in a Virginia town with a shameful past. Cosby delivers a powerful message in this knockout of a thriller.
6.
The Secret Hours, by Mick Herron
In which we learn the origins of the Slough House universe when information about disastrous events in post-Cold War Berlin is finally revealed. Herron writes with his customary cynicism, humor, and meticulousness about the bewildering state of modern espionage.
7.
Symphony of Secrets, by Brendan Slocumb
A young music scholar discovers that a great 20th-century composer’s revered body of work is built on a shocking act of appropriation. Slocumb examines the nature of creativity and its vulnerability to exploitation in this heartbreaking, century-spanning tale.
8.
Small Mercies, by Dennis Lehane
Lehane’s first book in six years is a modern Greek tragedy, setting the disappearance of a teenage Irish-American girl from South Boston against the desegregation demonstrations of 1974. Her badass mom’s furious hunt for answers is a path to both enlightenment and disaster.
9.
The Lock-up, by John Banville
Dublin pathologist Quirke and his unofficial police-detective partner team up in their shambolic way to look into the death of a young Jewish woman. You can always count on Banville for superior prose, but here he takes this series to new heights of richness and complexity.
10.
The Quiet Tenant, by Clémence Michallon
Debut novelist Michallon shows unusual restraint in this mesmerizing account of a young woman kept prisoner for five years by a killer who leads a double life. The dynamic between the jailer and his captive is chilling, as are the voices of his unlucky victims.
11.
The Devil’s Playground, by Craig Russell
Russell’s immersion in three different time periods yields a fascinating tale of decadent 20s Hollywood backgrounded by a secret history in Louisiana and later, its resolution in the California desert. The through line is a mysterious screen goddess, who may or may not be immortal.
12.
Past Lying, by Val McDermid
Even into her seventh decade, McDermid could never be accused of coasting. Her new Karen Pirie cold-case novel, set during the pandemic, is sharper than ever, as Karen investigates a dead writer’s manuscript that looks like a blueprint for murder. Even the book-within-a-book ploy works!
Lisa Henricksson writes a column about mystery books for AIR MAIL
