Nine crime and thriller books I couldn’t wait to read

Serenity Falls presents itself as an idyllic, virtually crime-free American community—until a body is discovered in a swimming pool and its promises of safety begin to unravel. C. J. Tudor is an autobuy author for me, so this was always going to make the list. The combination of rigid rules, community secrets and creeping unease sounded exactly right for autumn.

A detective investigates the murder of a Japanese immigrant and the disappearance of her teenage daughter, only to discover that the victim had been living under a false identity. The case promises both a present-day search and a buried personal history, with questions about reinvention, family and what somebody may have been escaping.

The discovery of a baby’s skeleton draws Detective Elma Jónsdóttir into secrets that a small Icelandic community has kept buried. The cold setting, close-knit population and long-hidden crime immediately appealed to the part of me that loves atmospheric investigations where place matters as much as the evidence.

Harry Bosch investigates the unsolved death of a boy he knew from the orphanage where he grew up. A cold case is already enough to attract me, but the personal connection gives the investigation an additional emotional weight. Bosch must look back into a shared childhood while applying everything his later career taught him about murder.

During the Great Depression, a woman sets out to find and kill the wanted father of her son so that she can claim the bounty. The historical setting and morally complicated pursuit made this stand apart from the contemporary police investigations elsewhere on the list. It sounds part crime novel, part survival story and part reckoning.

A honeymoon in Paris goes horribly wrong and transforms a romantic trip into a nightmare. The contrast between a celebratory beginning and rapidly escalating danger gives this a more international, fast-moving flavour than the quieter investigations on the list. It was the promise of an ordinary couple being pulled into something far larger that caught my attention.

Susan Turner needs Jack Reacher after one of her team is murdered while working undercover and she realises she cannot be certain who to trust. Bringing Turner back into Reacher’s world creates both a personal reason to become involved and an investigation shaped by betrayal within the system.

Two husbands are brutally murdered by their wives, leading two Metropolitan Police detectives towards a conspiracy far larger than either killing first suggests. The opening appears to offer two clear perpetrators, which makes the question of what connects them—and who may be directing events—even more intriguing.

In 1970s Mississippi, a detective investigating a murder becomes drawn into something much stranger and possibly paranormal. The historical setting, Southern atmosphere and suggestion that a conventional crime may not have a conventional explanation make this the most genre-bending book on the list.