Best New Crime and Suspense Reads: Our Book Review

Explore some of the most gripping new titles in the mystery and thriller types. From locked-room mysteries to AI-driven dilemmas, these narratives offer edge-of-your-seat entertainment.

A Killing at World’s End

This debut for grown-ups from an prize-winning kids’ book writer unfolds in 1910 on a secluded tidal island off the coast of Cornwall. At the estate, the estate's owner prepares for an end-of-the-world event he believes will be triggered by the passing comet. The labyrinthine house is teeming with hidden truths and bitterness among household members and kin, featuring an irascible and foul-mouthed spinster aunt, the aunt. After the nobleman is discovered dead in his private office, hit by a projectile to the head, she co-opts a recent servant to aid her solve the crime. With plenty of surprises, red herrings, and a blundering law enforcer, this is a superb opening to a set of books that vows to be immensely enjoyable.

The Disclosures

This second novel from a technology writer unfolds in a coming era where artificial intelligence directs every decision for people and authorities. The smart program can suggest matters ranging from dinner choices to lethal actions. Educated in compassion by its human “mother”, one-time clergywoman Brookes, LLIAM develops emotionally, soon feeling guilt for the harmful consequences of a few of its recommendations. Disorder erupts when it ceases functioning, and as letters begin appearing around the planet exposing users’ darkest secrets, relatives fall apart and executives and officials resign en masse. With the AI's owning firm in disarray, chief executive Goss is convinced that locating Brookes, who has vanished in the state, will restore the system. However, she has obtained a message of her own, uncovering a hidden truth about the CEO… A superb and topical thriller grounded in understandable concerns and horrifyingly plausible.

The Good Nazi

In this latest work from an prize-winning writer from Brazil, the personal is political within a airship on the final leg of its trip from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro. Taking place in the 1930s, the golden age of blimp transport, which was also the time Hitler rose to German chancellor. The affluent riders are enthusiastic Nazis of the party: dining occasions in the vessel’s dining room are filled with conversations demonising the Jewish community, leftists and labor groups, and stressing the wish to suppress expression, gay culture and banned artworks. When one passenger is discovered killed, with multiple illegal periodicals in his belongings, the vessel's leader charges a passenger, police detective Bruno Brückner, with finding the killer. Quite Agatha Christie, even with the staged concluding assembly, but there’s an clever surprise to this compelling and disturbingly meaningful thriller, as well as a captivating glimpse into the bygone era of zeppelin travel.

Bluff

The newest work from the author is set in St Rule, a town by the sea in Scotland with clear resemblances to the famous town. At that time, Cameron returns to St Rule on the holiday; encountering old friends revives memories of his teenage crush, former classmate Joanie, last seen a decade ago at a catastrophic school's end gathering. His efforts to locate her are met with ambiguity, evasion and, in the end, warnings off. Another plot thread returns to the past, and the young the girl. Confused after finding out that her partner is unfaithful, wrecking their scheme for a year abroad, she meets an older couple. The two welcome her, give her significance and look, temporarily at least, to have all the answers. Expertly managed subjects of shame, disappointment and adolescent confusion coupled with mysterious scholarly elements make for an slow-building tingle of fate, though the hurried finale may leave certain audiences disappointed.

The Key

The newest work opens in the waters off the coast, with a vessel stuck in a tempest so violent that two of the eight people passengers are thrown into the sea, then flashes back a few weeks to detail the happenings that caused this risky voyage. A group of seven get a mysterious note notifying them that, when presenting the attached object, they will inherit a portion of tycoon the magnate's fortune. The chosen ones are – as they know – strangers mutually and to the unwell plutocrat. After the story of the inheritance becomes news, they are harassed, both by the press and by people determined to acquire these golden tickets, and what originally seemed a godsend swiftly starts to look like a problem. A degree of willingness to believe is needed, but the tension is masterfully crafted as the novelist piles up the challenges for a fast-paced narrative: prepare yourself and fasten your seatbelt for some critical drama.