Book, TV, and Podcast Recommendations

the searcher – tana french

the searcher – tana french

The Searcher is as dense, rich and beautifully written as Tana French’s novels always are. But don’t expect fireworks or rollercoaster twists – this one is a long slow burn like a Galway peat fire.

your neighbour’s wife – tony parsons

your neighbour’s wife – tony parsons

What happens on a business trip, stays on a business trip. Or does it… ? It’s a story that’s been told many times before, but rarely as powerfully and classily as this.

lie beside me – gytha lodge

lie beside me – gytha lodge

Imagine waking up after a heavy night out finding a complete stranger lying next to you. A complete stranger who’s also well and truly dead…

a dark-adapted eye – ruth rendell

a dark-adapted eye – ruth rendell

This is another from my all-time top ten crime books. I’ve always loved Ruth Rendell (and discovered recently we share the same birthday). This is a classic of her Barbara Vine oeuvre – a masterly slow burn of secrets and deception and preconceptions (in every sense).

the pact – sharon bolton

the pact – sharon bolton

I love Sharon Bolton’s work, and she never fails to deliver a compelling suspenseful read. A terrible mistake reunites six friends twenty years later, when a long-ago promise has to be kept. The Pact is a dark exploration of responsibility, retribution, and friendship tested to destruction.

the perfect wife – jp delaney

the perfect wife – jp delaney

A chilling and uniquely disturbing 21st-century twist on the unreliable narrator makes for a compulsive and deeply thought-provoking psychological thriller.

false witness – karin slaughter

false witness – karin slaughter

Karin Slaughter is a true legend of crime, and this is as sharp and incisive as any of her best. A successful lawyer suddenly finds herself forced to defend a ghost from her past – a past she’s done everything possible to leave behind. Heart-stopping one minute, heart-breaking the next.

the push – audrey audain

the push – audrey audain

An impressive debut by Audrey Audain, exploring the darker side of motherhood. Similar in many ways to Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin (one of the most terrifying books I’ve ever read) but no less compelling for that.

true crime story – joseph knox

true crime story – joseph knox

I loved Joseph’s Aidan Waits trilogy and he brings the same gritty realism to this standalone, including the sort of documents and emails you’ll be familiar with from Fawley! Very cleverly done, and definitely keeps you guessing.

the murder box – olivia kiernan

the murder box – olivia kiernan

Liv Kiernan is an Oxford crime writer friend of mine, though she was born in Ireland and sets her crime series in Dublin. On her birthday, feisty DCS Frankie Sheehan receives a box containing what she assumes is a murder mystery game. But what starts as a bit of harmless fun soon turns very deadly indeed…

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