We may be only a few months into 2021, but there have already been some cracking crime and thriller novels published. Here are a handful of goodies selected by reviewers from Times and Sunday Times,
The Appeal by Janice Hallett
Janice Hallett’s dazzlingly clever novel is a murder mystery told via a series of emails exchanged between members of an amateur theatre company. It may be a thoroughly modern format, but at its heart this is a crime novel told in the tradition of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers.
The Killing Choice by Will Shindler
The set-up of this riveting novel sees protagonist Karl Suleman faced with a choice no parent should ever have to make: should he save his own life, or that of his daughter? His decision has catastrophic consequences.
The Butterfly House by Katrine Engberg
Katrine Engberg might not be well known in this country, but her books are bestsellers in her native Denmark. This latest novel, about a serial killer who leaves corpses displayed in public locations in Copenhagen, is original and absorbing. She’s a name to look out for.
Exit by Belinda Bauer
Booker-longlisted Belinda Bauer’s new novel is a captivating whodunnit centring on an elderly member of a secret group of bedside companions for suicides. Beady-eyed yet tender and funny.
Untraceable by Sergei Lebedev
This superb literary thriller is about a Salisbury-style poison attack and the investigation that follows. The spy-novel plot acts as a framework for psychological studies and a complex parable about Russia.
Slough House by Mick Herron
The misfits of MI5’s discard pile return as Russian killers run rampant in the wake of the novichok attacks. Top heavy with political satire, maybe, but still funnier and fartier than the rest of the Jackson Lamb series.