New Releases - April 2025

I'm still behind so this is what I have for April 2025 (102 titles) and I will make a start on May and now June! 

This is still the case - things have been a bit up in the air as my OH was knocked off his bike in early February. He is ok but not back at work yet and may need an operation. So our routines have been changed and I've not been reading as much etc. 

Please note that, unless specifically mentioned, when a book has differing print and ebook release date, I use the print release date. Translators' names are included where known.

Further to my post about writers of colour and the 2024 Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, I have identified the writers of colour (that I know of) with a ***.

 

Allen, Jo - Death on the Small Screen #12 DCI Jude Satterthwaite, Lake District
Amsinck, Heidi - Out of the Dark #4 Jensen
Ashkanani, Tariq - The Midnight King ***
Bailey, Anna - Our Last Wild Days
Baker, J A - The Good Daughter
Barnes, Kerry - Mercy Denied #4 Carrie Verne
Bettany, Jane - Murder on Bluebell Hill #4 Violet Brewster
Blackhurst, Jenny - The Final Wife
Brett, Simon - Death in the Dressing Room #22 Carole and Jude, Fethering, Southern coast of England
Brett, Simon - Major Bricket and the Circus Corpse #1 Major Bricket
Browne, Sheryl - My Loving Husband
Callaghan, Jo - Human Remains #3 Kat and Lock
Carson, John - Always the Quiet Ones #6 DCI James Craig
Cartmel, Andrew - Underscore #8 Vinyl Detective Mysteries
Cartwright, Jack - The Devil Inside Her #4 Deadly Wolds Murder Mystery
Casey, Jane - The Secret Room #12 DC Maeve Kerrigan
Cercas, Javier - Fortress of Evil tr. Anne McLean #3 A Terra Alta Investigation
Chester, Fliss - Death in an English Village #7 Cressida Fawcett, 1920s
Child, Andrew - You Shook Me All Night Long (ebook only) - Jack Reacher short story
Clarke, Georgina - Viper in the Nest #3 Lizzie Hardwicke
Comley, M A - Shadows of Deception #27 DI Sara Ramsey
Conroy, Vivian - Death on the Rhine #5 Miss Ashford
Coombs, Alex - Death of a Mystery Guest #4 Old Forge Cafe Mystery
Cry, Morgan - The Cost #1 Blake Glover
Cummins, Fiona - A Boy Called Saul (Quick Reads)
Dapunt, Veronika - Death and Other Occupational Hazards
Davis, Lindsey - There Will Be Bodies #13 Flavia Albia, the adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco
Dean, Abigail - The Death of Us
Dennison, Hannah - A Fatal Feast at Honeychurch Hall #11 Kat Stanford
Dixon, Helena - The Seaside Murders #2 Miss Jane Treen, London, 1940s
Dodd, Christina - What Dreams May Come (ebook only) - Daughter of Montague - Novella
Douglas, Stuart - Death at the Playhouses #2 Lowe and Le Breton, 1970s
Dylan, Rhys - One Less Snake #16 DCI Evan Warlow
Eldridge, Jim - Murder at St Paul's Cathedral #7 Detective Chief Inspector Coburg & Sergeant Lampson
Elliott, Anna & Veley, Charles - The Judas Monk Murders #4 The Homefront Sleuths
Flynn, Sophie - The Other Miss Jones
Galloway, K T - The Ghost Portrait #12 O'Malley & Swift
Gatland, Jack - Stand and Deliver #22 DI Declan Walsh
Giles, Stewart - Fury on the Island #15 DI Liam O'Reilly, Guernsey
Gold, Robert - Nine Hidden Lives #4 Ben Harper
Greene, Morgan - The First Snow of Winter #12 DI Jamie Johansson
Hall, Emylia - The Arts Trail Killer #5 Shell House Detectives, Cornwall
Harman, Sarah - All the Other Mothers Hate Me
Harper, Bradley - The Exchange Principle (ebook only) - Margaret Harkness and Arthur Conan Doyle - Novella
Harris, C S - Who Will Remember #20 Sebastian St. Cyr, Regency England
Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia - Easeful Death #25 Bill Slider, Shepherd's Bush CID
Hayes, Samantha - The Marriage Rules
Hegarty, Louise - Fair Play
Hicks, Andrea - The Diplomat Who Vanished #1 Ottilie Divine
Hooton, Richard - The Margaret Code
Horowitz, Anthony - Marble Hall Murders #3 Susan Ryland
Hunt, Rosie - Murder by the Thames #8 Lady Felicity Quick, 1920s
Hunter, Evie - Dirty Business
Hurst, Daniel - My Secret Ex
Hussey, William - Burying Jericho #3 Killing Jericho
Jensen, Louise - The Liar
Jones, Conrad - Cuckoos on the Mersey 4 #4 Cuckoos on the Mersey
Kirk, JD - My Daughter Is Missing
Koff, Clea - Deadly Evidence #2 Jayne and Steelie, Forensic Anthropologists, USA
La Plante, Lynda - Crucified #5 DC Jack Warr
Lackberg, Camilla & Fexeus, Henrik - Mirage tr. Ian Giles #3 Detective Mina Dabiri & Mentalist Vincent Walter
Lewis, Susan - Don't Believe a Word #2 Cristy Ward
Louth, Nick - The Dark Edge #3 DI Jan Talantire, Devon
McCleave, Simon - Deadly Care #3 Frank Marshal
McLean, Rachel & Ravensworth, Millie - The Dorset Cream Tea Mystery - The Lyme Regis Women's Swimming Club - Novella
McLean, Rachel & Ravensworth, Millie - The Lyme Regis Women's Swimming Club #1 The Lyme Regis Women's Swimming Club
McLean, Rachel & Ravensworth, Millie - Murderous Mystery Tours - Short Stories
McPherson, Catriona - The Edinburgh Murders #17 Dandy Gilver, Society Sleuth, 1920s Scotland
Mariani, Scott - The Pilgrim's Revenge #1 Will Bowman, 12C
Marlowe, Deb - Betrayal from Beyond #6 Kier and Levett, Victorian Era
Maslen, Andy - The Lying Man #4 Detective Kat Ballantyne
Miller, Zoe - The Girls' Trip
Mitchell, Dreda and Carter, Ryan - Gone ***
Morgan, Anna-Marie - The Scaffold Murders #5 DI Grant McKenzie
Nadal, Jay - A Matter of Justice #14 DI Karen Heath
Nicholl, John - The Boyfriend
Nickson, Chris - No Precious Truth #1 Sergeant Cathy Marsden, Leeds, 1940s
Nixon, Keith - What the Dead Know #15 Solomon Gray
Nore, Aslak - The Heirs of the Arctic tr. Sean Kinsella #2 The Falck Saga
O'Sullivan, Darren - Win or Die
Paton, Maureen - The Mystery at Rake Hall #1 C S Lewis Investigates
Rawlins, CM - Death in a Classroom #1 Maeve Morgan, Scotland, 1920s
Riches, Marnie - The Gardeners' Club #1 Gill Swanley
Russell, Michael - The Dead City #9 Garda Detective Stefan Gillespie
Rutherford, Robert - The Missing Hour
Samuel, Peter - The Blood-Red Fountain #2 Inspector Rupert
Sarginson, Saskia - One Dark Summer
Scarrow, Alex - The Fool #12 DCI Boyd
Seymour, Gerald - A Duty of Care #5 Jonas Merrick
Skelly, April J - A Lethal Engagement #1 Cora Beaumont, 1890s
Smith, Fiona Veitch - The Penford Manor Murders #4 Miss Clara Vale, 1929
Smith, Miranda - Did You See Evie?
Sullivan, Emily - A Death on Corfu #1 Minnie Harper
Sutherland, John - The Castle
Thomas, Will - Season of Death #16 Barker and Llewelyn, Victorian London
Trow, M J - Maxwell's Reality #22 Peter Maxwell, Teacher
Vine, Jeremy - Murder on Line One
Watkin, Sean - Black Water Rising #1 DCI de Silva
Wood, Michael - The Devil's Code #2 Dr Olivia Winter
Zander-Howell, Peter - Death in Piccadilly #3 David Adair
Zander-Howell, Peter - The Devon Murders #14 Chief Inspector Bryce Murder, 1950s

Words in Titles

Doing the monthly lists of new releases I'm struck by how many have a family member in the title, however it's not as prevalent as I thought. Looking at 2024 and 2023, I did a search of approximately 1050 titles per year with some common words and this is what I found:

Name - 2024 (2023)

Daughter - 1 (5)

Father - 1 (1)

Husband - 6 (5)

Mother - 8 (7)

Sister - 3 (5)

Wife - 8 (9)

and the still popular but decreasingly so I think with only 3 so far in 2025:

Girl/Girls - 18 (23)

Do let me know in the comments if you want any other words checking...

New Releases - March 2025

I'm still behind so this is what I have for March 2025 and will make a start on April and May! 

Things have been a bit up in the air as my OH was knocked off his bike in early February. He is ok but not back at work yet and may need an operation. So our routines have been changed and I've not been reading as much etc. 

Please note that, unless specifically mentioned, when a book has differing print and ebook release date, I use the print release date. Translators' names are included where known.

Further to my post about writers of colour and the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, I have identified the writers of colour (that I know of) with a *** (none this time).

 

Abell, Stig - The Burial Place #3 Jake Jackson
Adams, Will - The Hallowed Grail #3 Warne and Elias
Bannalec, Jean-Luc - An Island of Suspects tr. Jamie Lee Searle #10 Commissioner Dupin 
Barrettt, Andrew - Cutting Ties #3 DS Regan Carter
Beaumont, Charles - A Spy at War #2 Oxford Spy Ring
Black, Pat - To Pay the Ferryman #1 D.I. Lomond
Boland, Peter - Death of a Wild Swimmer #5 Charity Shop Detective Agency
Briggs, J C - The Secrets of Treasonfield House #3 Gothic House Mystery
Bright, Verity - A Recipe for Murder #21 Lady Eleanor Swift, 1920s
Bruen, Ken - Galway's Edge #18 Jack Taylor
Bull, Jessica - A Fortune Most Fatal #2 Miss Austen Investigates
Carter, Andrea - There Came A-Tapping
Chapman, Julia - Date with Destiny #10 The Dales Detective Series
Chibnall, Chris - Death at the White Hart
Cockburn, Tormod - The Torn Isle #9 Mysterious Scotland
Coles, Catherine - Murder at Kelleven Castle (ebook only) #10 Tommy & Evelyn Christie
Croft, Kathryn - The Last One to See Him
Cullen, R M - Harlequin Is Dead #1 Richard Brinsley Sheridan, C18
Dalgliesh, J M - A Dead Man on Staffin Beach #5 DI Duncan McAdam, Isle of Skye
Dawson, Mark - The Haunting of Hallows House (ebook only) #3 The Casebook of Atticus Priest
Devlin, Cara - Method of Revenge #2 Spencer & Reid
Dixon, Helena - The Secret Detective Agency #1 Miss Jane Treen, London, 1940s
Ellis, Emmy - Raton #38 Cardigan Estate
Ellis, Emmy - Regal #39 Cardigan Estate
Frankland, Maria - I Don't Like Mondays
Gatward David J - Stone Cold #20 DCI Harry Grimm
Gayle, Katie - A Village Theatre Murder #7 Julia Bird, Cotswolds
Gomez-Jurado, Juan - White King tr. Nick Caistor & Lorenza Garcia #3 Antonia Scott 
Gustawsson, Johana & Enger, Thomas - Son trs. Thomas Enger & Johana Gustawsson and Mr Enger Snr #1 Kari Voss 
Hannah, Mari - Her Sister's Killer #5 Stone and Oliver
Hays, Katy - The Vipers
Hendy, Hannah - An Extremely Unlikely Death #6 The Dinner Lady Detectives
Hood, D K - Fear for Her Life #25 Detectives Kane and Alton
Hornsley, Sarah - Bad Blood
Hunter, M A - The Woman on Platform 8
James, Ed - Fear of Any Kind #7 DI Rob Marshall
Jones, Sandie - I Would Die for You
Jordan, G R - Drop Like Flies #42 Highlands and Islands
Kidd, Jess - Murder at Gulls Nest #1 Nora Breen, 1950s
Lancaster, Neil - When Shadows Fall #6 DS Max Craigie, Scotland
Limoncelli, Rosanne - The Four Queens of Crime
McCleave, Simon - False Witness #2 Frank Marshal
McDine, A J - The Husband Before You
McEwan, Lynne - A Troubled Tide #5 DI Shona Oliver, Dumfries
McNamee, Eoin - The Bureau
Mackay, N J - The Vanished #3 DI Sebastian Locke

Mason, Kelly - Death by Diamond #5 Lady Ellen Investigates, 1920s    
Morrison, Lynn & Radcliffe, Anne - Brilliance and Betrayal #1 Diamond of the Ton
Oswald, James - The Rest is Death #14 Detective Inspector McLean, Edinburgh
Perks, Heidi - Someone is Lying
Perrin, Kristen - How To Seal Your Own Fate #2 Castle Knoll Files
Petit, Chris - Come In and Shut the Door
Rhodes, Tyler - Death Slides and Cheese Pies #13 Max's Campervan Case Files
Roth, Lucy - When Sally Killed Harry
Salter, Michelle - A Murder at Mill Ponds #6 Iris Woodmore, 1920s
Smith, Dandy - The Wedding Vow
White, S R - Pacific Heights
Whyte, Nicola - 10 Marchfield Square
Williams, Lana - The Gravesend Murder #3 Field & Greystone

Snowblind - Anniversary Edition

I'm very pleased to share the official news of a tenth anniversary edition of Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson. Snowblind was first published by Orenda Books in 2015 with a translation by Quentin Bates and was the first of Ragnar's crime novels to be translated into English. I reviewed it on the blog

Ten years on, not only do we have this gorgeous sprayed edge hardback edition, but it also contains a newly translated prequel novella, Fadeout (tr. Larissa Kyzer). It's published on 10 October 2025 and you can pre-order a copy here.

And without further ado...the cover:

You can watch a teaser video on Instagram

 

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A post shared by Orenda Books (@orendabooks)

And here's the blurb:

Snowblind – 10th Anniversary edition, including NEW Dark Iceland series prequel, Fadeout.

Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors – accessible only via a small mountain tunnel. Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik – with a past that he's unable to leave behind. When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in the local theatre, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life.

An avalanche and unremitting snowstorms close the mountain pass, and the 24-hour darkness threatens to push Ari over the edge, as curtains begin to twitch, and his investigation becomes increasingly complex, chilling and personal. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness – blinded by snow, and with a killer on the loose.

Taut and terrifying, Snowblind is a startling debut from an extraordinary new talent, taking Nordic Noir to soaring new heights.

CWA Dagger: Crime Fiction in Translation - Longlist

The longlists for the CWA Daggers were announced on Wednesday and the following have made the longlist for the 'In Translation' Dagger:

CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER

Claire Berest: Artifice (Mountain Leopard) tr. Sophie Lewis

Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini: The Lover of No Fixed Abode (Bitter Lemon Press) tr. Gregory Dowling

Anne Mette Hancock: Ruthless (Swift Press) tr. Tara Chase

Kotaro Isaka: Hotel Lucky Seven (Harvill Secker) tr. Brian Bergstrom

Andrey Kurkov: The Silver Bone (Maclehose Press) tr. Boris Dralyuk

Hervé Le Corre: Dogs and Wolves (Europa Editions UK) tr. Howard Curtis

Pierre Lemaitre: Going to the Dogs (Maclehose Press) tr. Frank Wynne

Patrícia Melo: The Simple Art of Killing a Woman (The Indigo Press) tr. Sophie Lewis

Akira Otani: The Night of Baby Yaga (Faber & Faber) tr. Sam Bett

Satu Rämö: The Clues in the Fjord (Zaffre) tr.  Kristian London 

Asako Yuziki: Butter (4th Estate) tr. Polly Barton

Alia Trabucco Zerán: Clean (4th Estate) tr. Sophie Hughes

A list of eligible titles (in translation) published in 2024 can be found on the Euro Crime website.

New Releases - February 2025

Here's a snapshot of what I think was published for the first time in February 2025 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). 103 titles this month. If I've missed anything or got the date wrong, do please leave a comment. 

Please note that, unless specifically mentioned, when a book has differing print and ebook release date, I use the print release date. Translators' names are included where known.

Further to my post about writers of colour and the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, I have identified the writers of colour (that I know of) with a ***.

NB. I have updated the new/previous releases pages on the website eg by month or translated in 2025

 

• Allan, Claire - The Perfect Mother
• Amphlett, Rachel - A Fatal Silence #14 Detective Kay Hunter
• Ashby, Amanda - The Widows' Guide to Backstabbing #2 Widows' Detective Club
• Ashby, Amanda - The Widows' Guide to Murder #1 Widows' Detective Club
• Askew, Claire - Line of Sight #6 DI Helen Birch
• Bauer, Belinda - The Impossible Thing
• Beaton, M C (with R W Green) - Death of a Smuggler #36 PC Hamish Macbeth, Lochdubh, Scotland
• Benedict, Marie - The Queens of Crime
• Benedict, A K -  Little Red Death
• Benson, Clara A - Case of Intrigue in Islington #8 Freddy Pilkington-Soames
• Binet, Laurent - Perspectives tr. Sam Taylor
• Blake, David - The Bastwick Testament #13 DCI Tanner, Norfolk
• Blake, Robin - Spoiler's Prey #9 Titus Cragg, Coroner & Luke Fidelis, Doctor, 1740 Lancashire
• Brianne, Natalie - In the Silence of the Catacombs (ebook only) - Novella
• Burnett, R S - Whiteout
• Carson, John - Evil Lives Here #5 DCI James Craig
• Cartwright, Jack - Run From Evil #15 Wild Fens Murder Mystery
• Chandler, Natalie - The Voices
• Child, Lee - Eleven Numbers (ebook only) - Short Story
• Clarke, Lucy - The Surf House
• Cole, Carol - Straw in the Wind #2 DI Callum MacLean, New Forest
• Comley, M A - To Deceive Them #16 DI Sam Cobbs
• Connolly, Rebecca - The Crime Brulee Bake Off #1 Claire Walker
• Cowan-Erskine, Beth - Only Murders in the Abbey #2 Mrs MacBain
• Craig, James - Declared Dead #19 Inspector John Carlyle
• Dahl, Arne - Within the Circle tr. ???
• Davies, Martin - Mrs Hudson and the Capricorn Incident #7 Mrs Hudson and Sherlock Holmes
• Dawson, Mark - Collateral (ebook only) #7 Charlie Cooper
• Dixon, Helena - Murder on the Cornish Coast #19 Miss Underhay
• Dounaeva, Lorna - The Perfect Daughter
• Down, Holly - Everyone is Lying
• Elliott, Anna & Veley, Charles - The Spitfire Murders #3 The Homefront Sleuths
• Ellis, Emmy - Rebuff #37 Cardigan Estate
• England, Caroline - The Return Of Frankie Whittle
• Enright, Robert - No Judge, No Jury (ebook only) #3 DS Jack Townsend
• Evans, Matthew J  - The Dead Night Sky #3 Chichester Crime
• Evans, Maz  - That'll Teach Her
• Flynn, J K - Pentacle #3 Detective Esther Penman
• Forder, Tony J - The Honourable Rogue #13 DI Jimmy Bliss
• Gatland, Jack - Sniper Alley #8 Tom Marlowe
• Goodwin, Sarah - The Private Jet
• Griffiths, Elly - The Frozen People #1 Ali Dawson
• Hall, Lisa - Eight Years of Lies
• Hardy, Kate - The Body at the Roman Baths #5 Georgina Drake, Norfolk
• Harper, Izzie - Murder at Badger Brook #8 The Wootton Windmill Mysteries
• Harrington, Carmel - The Stolen Child
• Hunter, Cara - Making a Killing #7 DI Adam Fawley, Oxford
• Hurst, Daniel - The Baby Swap
• James, Jane E - The Honeymoon
• James, Syrie - The Mysteries of Pendowar Hall #1 Audacious Sisterhood of Smoke & Fire
• Johnson, E L - Winter's Poison #1 Winter Murders, Lincoln, 12C
• Jordan, Adele - The Body in the Chamber #3 Shadow Cutpurses Tudor Thrillers
• Jordan, G R - The Wrong Man #41 Highlands and Islands
• Kazumi, Callie - Claire, Darling (apa Cuckoo)
• Keane, Jessie - Gangland
• Kildare, Kitty - Death at the Jolly Cricketer #7 Veronica Vale, 1920s
• Kimber, Gomery - Man Number Seven (ebook only) #2 The Wyvern Series
• Koomson, Dorothy - Give Him to Me ***
• Kurkov, Andrey - The Stolen Heart  tr. Boris Dralyuk #2 The Kyiv Mysteries
• Leadbeater, David  - The Hellhound Scrolls #36 Matt Drake
• Lee, M J  - The Salford Sioux (ebook only) #11 Jayne Sinclair Genealogical Mysteries
• Lloyd, Frances  - The Coat of Arms Killer #12 Detective Inspector Jack Dawes
• Logan, TM - The Daughter
• McCracken, Robert - The Giant's Causeway Murders #2 Northern Irish crime investigations
• McDonough, Patrice - A Slash of Emerald #2 Dr Julia Lewis, Victorian Era

• McGowan, Claire  - The First Girl   
• McCluskey, Laura - The Wolf Tree #1 DI Georgina Lennox and DI Richard Stewart, Scotland
• Mackintosh, Clare - Other People's Houses #3 DC Morgan
• Magson, Adrian  - A Convenient Traitor (ebook only) #1 Isaac Jackson
• Malliet, G M Victory Garden (ebook only) Short Story
• Maxwell, Alyssa - Two Weddings and a Murder #9 Lady and Lady's Maid Mystery
• Miller, C L - Death on the Red Sea #2 Antique Hunters
• Montclair, Allison  - An Excellent Thing in a Woman #7 Sparks and Bainbridge, London, Post WW2
• Morgan, Anna-Marie - The Latch Murders #24 DI Yvonne Giles
• Nadel, Barbara - The East Ham Golem #9 PI Lee Arnold and his assistant, Mumtaz Hakim. East End London
• Nixon, Keith - Death's Cold Hand #14 Solomon Gray
• O'Connor, Carlene - Murder in an Irish Garden #11 Siobhan O'Sullivan, Kilbane, County Cork
• O'Keeffe, Bernard - The Masked Band #4 DI Garibaldi, Barnes, London
• Oliver, Kelly - The Case of the Christie Conspiracy #1 Detection Club
• Pattison, C L - First to Fall
• Petersen, Christoffer - Fight Like Hell (ebook only) #1 Guerrilla Greenland Extra
• Philby, Charlotte - Dirty Money #1 Farrow & Chang
• Quantrill, Nick - Cast No Shadow
• Rämö, Satu  - The Grave in the Ice tr. Kristian London #2 Detective Hildur Rúnarsdottir, West Coast of Iceland
• Rhodes, GS - All That Remains (ebook only) #12 DI Benjamin Kidd
• Ross, L J - Belsay #25 DCI Ryan
• Saxon, Diane - The Quiet Wife
• Scarr, Louisa - Memorial Park #2 PC Lucy Halliday
• Sellers, Daniel - The Lollipop Man #1 Yorkshire Murders
• Sennen, Mark - Three
• Shapiro, Irina - Murder at the Orpheus Theatre #4 Tate and Bell
• Shaw, Alex - Wolf Six
• Sherratt, Mel - Family Matters (ebook only) #7 DS Allie Shenton
• Simmonds, Natali - While My Baby Sleeps
• Sinclair, Rob - The Enemy Within - Ryker Returns
• Smith, Anna - In The Shadows #4 Billie Carlson, Glasgow
• Speechley, Ruby - The Uninvited Guest
• Turner, M K  - A Fatal Assumption #17 Meredith & Hodge
• Walters, Alex - The Low Road #7 DI Alec McKay, Scottish Black Isle
• Whitelaw, Jonathan  - The Garden Club Murders
• Whitwell, Tracy - The Hidden Dead #4 Accidental Medium
• Williams, T A - Murder in the Tuscan Hills #10 Armstrong and Oscar
• Wyllie, Rob - The Argyll Murders #13 Maggie Bainbridge

Even more Agatha Christie-related crime fiction

Agatha Christie in crime novels is a topic I've mentioned a couple of times before but not for a while. You can read my posts here and here. At least three crime novels featuring Agatha are due to be published in the next few months.

In date order (blurbs from amazon):

Just released is Kelly Oliver's The Case of the Christie Conspiracy which is the first in a new Detection Club series.

Agatha Christie is about to embark on a new, gripping murder case. But this time, she’s not the author – she’s a suspect…

1926 – Christie is a darling of the literary circuit and the most desired guest in London’s glittering social scene. She can often be found at meetings of the Detection Club – where mystery writers come together to share ideas, swap secrets and drink copiously. But then a fellow author's initiation ceremony takes a gruesome turn, and one of the group ends up dead. Now, Agatha is no longer just the creator of great mystery plots – she’s a player in one.

And when Agatha disappears the day after the murder, she’s widely assumed to be guilty. Only Eliza Baker, assistant to the Club’s enigmatic secretary, Dorothy Sayers, is interested in investigating the case. But in a world where murder is the ultimate plot device, can Eliza piece together the evidence and find the killer before it’s too late?

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict (out 18 Mar) features not only Agatha but a whole host of Golden Age authors:

The New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie returns with a thrilling story of Christie’s legendary rival Dorothy Sayers, the race to solve a murder, and the power of friendship among women. London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment. May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing? If, as the police believe, the cause of death is manual strangulation, why is there is an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter seeming to implicate an unnamed paramour? Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation, discovering they’re stronger together. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers herself, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden. Inspired by a true story in Sayers’ own life, New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.

And in August, Amanda Chapman's Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library is released.

Book conservator Tory Van Dyne and a woman claiming to be Agatha Christie on holiday from the Great Beyond join forces to catch a killer in this spirited mystery from Amanda Chapman.

Tory Van Dyne is the most down-to-earth member of a decidedly eccentric old-money New York family. For one thing, as book conservator at Manhattan's Mystery Guild Library, she actually has a job. Plus, she's left up-town society behind for a quiet life downtown. So she's not thrilled when she discovers a woman in the library's Christie Room who calmly introduces herself as Agatha Christie, politely requests a cocktail, and announces she's there to help solve a murder-- that has not yet happened.

But as soon as Tory determines that this is just a fairly nutty Christie fangirl, her socialite/actress cousin Nicola gets caught up in the suspicious death of her less-than-lovable talent agent. Nic, as always, looks to Tory for help. Tory, in turn, looks to Mrs. Christie. The woman, whoever or whatever she is, clearly knows her stuff when it comes to crime.

Aided by a found family of unlikely sleuths--including a snarky librarian, an eleven-year-old computer whiz, and an NYPD detective with terrible taste in suits--Tory and the woman claiming to be her very much deceased literary idol begin to unravel the twists and turns of a murderer's devious mind. Because, in the immortal words of Miss Jane Marple, "murder is never simple."

New Releases - January 2025

Thank you for your comments and messages regarding the New Releases list. It's inspired me to keep on with them. I'm still a tad behind but I feel I've picked up most of January's titles. As ever, do let me know the ones I've missed! 

Here's a snapshot of what I think was published for the first time in January 2025 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). 118 titles this month.

Please note that, unless specifically mentioned, when a book has differing print and ebook release date, I use the print release date. Translators' names are included where known.

Further to my post about writers of colour and the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, I have identified the writers of colour (that I know of) with a *** .

Alexander, Magda - Murder in the Mistletoe Shoppe #11 Kitty Worthington
Arlidge, M J - Your Child Next (with Andy Maslen)
Barnett, Tam - How to Get Away with Murder
Baylis, Edie - The Last Promise #5 Scarred
Berry, Peter - Revenge of the Deadly Dozen #2 Deadly Dozen
Bhadreshwar, Nina - The Day of the Roaring ***
Blake, Sam - The Killing Sense
Boyd, Damien - Deceived By the Light #1 DI Bob Willis
Boydell, Natasha - The Doll's House
Brent, Katy - I Bet You'd Look Good in a Coffin #2 Kitty Collins
Burnell, Sam - A Queen's Rebel (ebook only) #9 Mercenary For Hire
Burrowes, Grace - A Gentleman of Sinister Schemes #8 The Lord Julian Mysteries
Butler, D S - In Plain Sight #10 DS Karen Hart, Lincolnshire
Cameron, Iain - Looking for Abigail #2 Sharma and Jackson, Norfolk
Carter, A J - The Mother-in-Law
Carter, A J - The Summer Cottage (ebook only)
Cartwright, Jack - The Harder They Fall #2 Deadly Wolds Murder Mystery
Cartwright, Jack - Until Death Do Us Part #3 Deadly Wolds Murder Mystery
Castillo, Javier - The Soul Game tr. Kevin Jerry Dunn #2 Miren Triggs
Chase, Clare - The Antique Store Detective and the May Day Murder #2 Bella Winter
Clarke, Karen - The Mother's Secret
Clements, Rory - A Cold Wind From Moscow #8 Thomas Wilde, 1930s
Comley, M A - Vanished #26 DI Sara Ramsey
Cookman, Lesley - The Singer in the Snow (with Miles Cookman) (ebook only) #1 Sheena and the Coldharbours
Cutler, Judith - In at the Death #6 Matthew Rowsley, Steward & Mrs Faulkner, Housekeeper, Victorian Era
Dawson, Mark - Pretty Face #6 Isabella Rose
Dean, John - The Meek Shall Inherit #12 Detective Chief Inspector John Blizzard
Delvey, Robyn - The Seven #1 Eve Wren
Devlin, Cara - Shadow at the Morgue #1 Spencer & Reid
Driscoll, Teresa - Close Your Eyes
Dunlap, A. Rae - The Resurrectionist
Dusse, Karsten - Murder Mindfully tr. Florian Duijsens
Dylan, Rhys - The Bowman #15 DCI Evan Warlow
Edwards, Mark - The Psychopath Next Door
Feeney, Alice - Beautiful Ugly
Field, David - Death By Gunpowder #6 Bailiff Mountsorrel Tudor Mysteries
Frankland, Maria - The Valentine
French, Nicci - The Last Days of Kira Mullan
George, Nicholas - A Lethal Walk in Lakeland #2 A Walk Through England Mystery
Giles, Stewart - The Workshop #31 DS Jason Smith
Gray, Philip - The House with Nine Locks
Grayson, C J - The Little Girl in the Wardrobe #4 Detectives Orion Tanzy and Max Byrd, Darlington
Greig, Andrew James - The Graveyard Bell #3 Private Investigator Tearlach Paterson, Scotland
Halsall, Rona - The Soulmate
Hay, Alex - The Queen of Fives
Healey, Emma - Sweat
Hindle, Tom - Death in the Arctic
Hodges, David - Shadows On the Levels #14 DC Kate Hamblin
Hurst, Daniel - The Husband
James, Evelyn - The Mystery of the Brewer's Suicide #13 Colonel Bainbridge and his niece, Victoria Bovington
Jecks, Michael - Death Comes in Threes #9 Jack Blackjack, Tudor Era
Jenkins, Victoria - The Mother's Phone Call
Jensen, Oskar - Helle's Hound #2 Helle and Death
Jesmond, Jane - Gone to Earth #3 Jen Shaw
Johnston, Anthony - The Dog Sitter Detective Plays Dead #3 Gwinny Tuffel, Dog sitter
Jordan, Amy - The Dark Hours
Jordan, G R - Wild Swimming #40 Highlands and Islands
Karlsson, Ørjan N - Into Thin Air tr. Ian Giles #1 Jakob Weber, Chief Investigator of Nordland Police
Kavanagh, Emma - The Time of the Fire
Kelleher, Casey - The Perfect Guest
Leadbeater, David - The Angel Deception #6 Joe Mason
Leigh, Judy - The Cream Tea Killer #3 Morwenna Mutton, Librarian, Cornwall
Linskey, Howard - A Serpent in the Garden #1 William Shakespeare
Lynes, S E - The Perfect Boyfriend
Lynn, H M - The Student
McAllister, Gillian - Famous Last Words
MacBird, Bonnie - The Serpent Under #6 Sherlock Holmes Adventure
MacKay, Asia - A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage
McKenzie, Sophie - Anything For You
McLean, Rachel - The Lake (with Joel Hames) #5 Cumbria Crime
Malliet, G M - Bookworm: Revenge is Sweet (ebook only) - Short Story
Malliet, G M - Vanished (ebook only) - Novella
Marsh, Katie - Murder on the Menu #3 Bad Girls Detective Agency
Marston, Edward - Mystery at the Station Hotel #23 Det. Insp Colbeck, Scotland Yard, mid 19th Century
Martin, Faith - The Last Word Is Death #2 Val & Arbie
Mason, Simon - A Voice in the Night #4 DI Ray Wilkins, Oxford
Masters, Priscilla - Bloodline #16 Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy, Leek, Staffordshire
Mayo, Simon - The Grab List
Meyer, Nicholas - Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell - From the Memoirs of John H Watson
Morris, Jenny - An Ethical Guide to Murder
Morris, M S - The Foaming Deep #8 DCI Tom Raven
Mosse, Greg - Murder at Sunny View #5 Maisie Cooper
Murphy, Catie - Death of an Irish Druid #7 Megan Malone, Limo Driver, Dublin
Nadal, Jay - The Bones of Deceit #12 DI Karen Heath
New, Jacqueline - Sins of the Fathers (ebook only) #4 DCI McNeill, Edinburgh
North, Ely - Murder Mystery #9 DCI Finnegan, Yorkshire
Nurse, Angela C - A Killer Conversation #1 DI Ravenscroft & Professor Laing
Parker, Rob - The Troubled Deep #1 Cam Killick, Norfolk
Parsons, Tony - Murder for Busy People #7 Detective Max Wolfe of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, London
Peck, Heather - Buried in the Past #7 DCI Greg Geldard, Norfolk
Penketh, Anne - The Baguette Murders #3 The Brittany Murders
Phifer, Helen - Their Dying Embrace #14 Detective Morgan Brookes
Probyn, Jack - Death's Breath #8 DS Tomek Bowen
Quinn, Cate - The Bridesmaid
Rees-Price, Cheryl - Buried Deep Within #10 DI Winter Meadows, Wales
Reeves, S A - A Murder at the Church #2 The Bookshop Mysteries
Richards, JJ - The Dunes #4 DCI Walker, Lancashire
Richards, S J - Beacon of Blight #7 Ex-DCI Luke Sackville
Rimington, Stella - The Hidden Hand #2 Manon Tyler
Rose, Jacqui - The Good Wife
Ryan, Sadie - The Witness
Sandler, Rosie - Murder in Bloom #3 The Gardener Mysteries
Shapiro, Irina - Murder of a Medium #15 Redmond and Haze
Sharpe, Anna - Notes on a Drowning
Simpson, Carla - Deadly Curse #11 Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe, Victorian London
Steel, Stephanie - The Train from Platform 2
Sullivan, Tim - The Bookseller #7 DS Cross, Bristol
Tait, Victoria - Tartan, Treasures and Murder #12 Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery, Cotswolds
Thorogood, Robert - Murder on the Marlow Belle #4 The Marlow Murder Club
Todd, Marion - Dead Man's Shoes #9 DI Clare Mackay
Veste, Luca - The Stranger in the Room
Watson, Sue - Wife, Mother, Liar
Watt, Holly - The Last Truths We Told
Weatherley, Anna-Lou - What Kind of Mother
Wells, Kate - Death in the Hills #4 Jude Gray
Westerson, Jeri - Rebellious Grace #3 King's Fool
Woods, Karen - The Trade
Wright, Adam J - The Detective Game #1 Dark Peak Detectives

Names in Titles?

Compiling the new releases and working in a library it feels like I keep tripping over titles with women's names in them. Maybe it's not so much British crime fiction as I've just had a look-over last year's releases (1000+) and found only 9, excluding those that included the protagonist's name eg Agatha Raisin and... 

This trend possibly started with Stuart Turton's The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. 

Matthew Blake - Anna O 

Rachael English - Whatever Happened to Birdy Troy? 

Nicci French - Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? (and in 2025: The Last Days of Kira Mullan)

Ellery Lloyd - The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby 

Nick Louth - The Two Deaths of Ruth Lyle 

Dervla McTiernan - What Happened to Nina? 

Imran Mahmood - Finding Sophie 

M A Purcell - Finding Hannah 

C S Robertson - The Trials of Marjorie Crowe

I haven't spotted any titles with men's names in them.

New Releases - October-December 2024

I'm still behind so I've decided to draw a line under 2024 and list what I've got on my database for October to December, and start afresh with January 2025. 

Please note that, unless specifically mentioned, when a book has differing print and ebook release date, I use the print release date. Translators' names are included where known.

Further to my post about writers of colour and the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, I have identified the writers of colour (that I know of) with a *** 

 
Adler-Olsen, Jussi - Locked In tr. Caroline Waight #10 Carl Morck and his assistant Assad, Department Q, Copenhagen
Alexander, Magda - The Stolen Sparkler - Lady Rosalynd and Wynterbourne
Alexander, Tasha - Death by Misadventure #18 Lady Emily
Atkinson, Heather - Guardian (ebook only) #4 Raven
Bartlett, James Y - The Organ Job #1 Johann Sebastian Bach
Bartlett, James Y - The Coffee Garden #2 Johann Sebastian Bach
Beaton, M C - Agatha Raisin: Killing Time (with R W Green) #35 Agatha Raisin, Retired PR person, Cotswolds
Beevis, Keri - The Cottage by the Sea
Belshaw, T A - Ten Years After #5 Amy Rowlings, 1939
Bickford, David - Arctic Betrayal #3 Katya
Bjork, Samuel - Dead Island tr. Charlotte Barslund # 5 Holger Munch & Mia Kruger, Oslo Police
Boland, Peter - The Vanilla Killer #4 Charity Shop Detective Agency
Briggs, J C - The Inheritors of Moonlyght Tower #2 Gothic House Mystery
Burke, Darcy - A Whisper at Midnight #2 Raven & Wren
Cambridge, Colleen - Murder Takes the Stage #4 Phyllida Bright, housekeeper to Agatha Christie.
Cartwright, Jack - When the Storm Dies #1 Deadly Wolds Murder Mystery
Child, Lee - In Too Deep (with Andrew Child) #29 Jack Reacher, ex MP, USA
Clare, Alys - The Chrysanthemum Tiger #6 Gabriel Taverner, Former ship's surgeon, C17 Devon
Cole, Martina - Guilty (with Jacqui Rose)
Coles, Richard - Murder Under the Mistletoe #1 Canon Daniel Clement Novella
Connelly, Lucy - Death by the Book #2 Mercy McCarthy, Ireland
Connelly, Lucy - Death at a Scottish Christmas #3 Dr Emilia McRoy
Craven, M W - Nobody's Hero #2 Ben Koenig
Croft, Adam - No Way Out #6 Rutland crime series
Curtis, Emma - The Commuter
Dalgliesh, J M - Family Doctor
Dawson, Mark - The Mystery of the Missing Pages (ebook only) #1 The Casebook of Atticus Priest
Dawson, Mark - The Case of the Bolted Door (ebook only) #2 The Casebook of Atticus Priest
Dawson, Mark - Code Blue (ebook only) #5 Charlie Cooper
Dawson, Mark - North Star (ebook only) #6 Charlie Cooper
Denzil, Sarah A - The Woman in Coach D
Dylan, Rhys - Dragon's Breath #14 DCI Evan Warlow
Ellis, Emmy - Rebury #35 Cardigan Estate
Ellis, Joy - Echoes on the Fens #15 DI Nikki Galena & DS Joe Easter, Greenborough
Finch, Paul - Killer Instinct #2 Detective Mark 'Heck' Heckenberg Novella
Finch, Paul - Rogue 8 - Detective Mark 'Heck' Heckenberg
Flood, Helene - The Widow tr. Alison McCullough
Frankland, Maria - Last One Standing
Gardner, Ashley - A Matter at New Year's (ebook only) - Robert Archer
Gatward, David J - Hatchet Hill #2 DI Gordy Haig
Gatward, David J - Blood Fountain #19 DCI Harry Grimm
Giuliani, C P - A Matter of Blood #6 Tom Walsingham
Granger, Ann - Death on the Prowl #8 Inspector Jess Campbell & Superintendent Ian Carter, Cotswolds
Hawkins, Paula - The Blue Hour
Hollow, Mike - The Soho Murder #9 Blitz Detective
Horst, Jorn Lier - The Traitor tr. Anne Bruce #17 Chief Inspector William Wisting, Larvik
Horst & Enger - Victim tr. Megan E Turney #5 Alexander Blix
Hunt, Rosie - Murder at a Flower Show #7 Lady Felicity Quick, 1920s
Hurst, Mark - Your Secret
Johnsen, Kjersti Herland - Christmas at Glitter Peak Lodge tr. Olivia Lasky
Jordan, G R - Cinderella's Carriage #39 Highlands and Islands
Kashiwai, Hisashi - The Restaurant of Lost Recipes Jesse Kirkwood #2 The Kamogawa Food Detectives
Lee, M J - Death on the Dee #2 DI Emma Christie
Lemaitre, Pierre - Going to the Dogs tr. Frank Wynne
Lindsay, Douglas - The Vikstrom Papers: Shadow Tide #3 Sam Vikström, PI, New England
Marsons, Angela - 36 Hours #21 DI Kim Stone
McCleave, Simon - Marshal of Snowdonia #1 Frank Marshal
McLean, Rachel - The Barn (with Joel Hames) #4 Cumbria Crime
Menuhin, Karen Baugh - Saint Valentine's Day Murder #13 Heathcliff Lennox Investigates
Middleton, Jo - Happy Bloody Christmas
Miller, Fenella-Jane - Danger at Pemberley #4 At Pemberley
Morgan, Anna-Marie - Murder in an Edinburgh Park #4 DI Grant McKenzie
Murray, Jack - A Time for Peace #5 Nick Jellicoe
Nattrass, Leonora - The Bells of Westminster
Rämö, Satu - The Clues in the Fjord tr. Kristian London #1 Detective Hildur Rúnarsdottir, West Coast of Iceland
Rankin, Ian -Midnight and Blue #25 Inspector Rebus, Edinburgh
Ross, L J - Amnesia #6 Alexander Gregory
Ross, L J - Poison Garden #22 DCI Ryan
Scarrow, Alex - The Vanishing #11 DCI Boyd
Scarrow, Simon - Revenge of Rome #22 Macro and Cato, Roman soldiers
Seeck, Max - Ghost Island tr. Kristian London #4 Jessica Niemi
Sigurdardottir, Lilja - Dark as Night tr. Lorenza Garcia #4 Arora
Sigurdardottir, Yrsa - Can't Run, Can't Hide tr. Victoria Cribb #1 Policeman Týr and forensic pathologist Iðunn
Sinclair, Doug - A Deadly Flame #3 DS Malkie McCulloch
Smith, Alex - Red Line #17 DCI Robert Kett, Norfolk
Solana, Teresa - Black Storms tr. Peter Bush
Stevenson, Charlotte - The Family Next Door
Tuomainen, Antti - The Burning Stones tr. David Hackston
Ward, Sarah - Death Rites #1 Professor Carla James, New England
Wilkinson, Diana - The Girl in the Window
Wood, Michael - Last One Left Alive #12 DCI Matilda Darke
Wood, Tom - Firefight #12 Victor, Assassin