JUDGEMENT IN JUNE: CRIME NOVELS THAT I AM LOOKING TO READING IN JUNE 2025
There are some real treats coming out for crime and thriller aficionados in June, including new books by leading figures in the genre such as Michael Robotham, Mark Billingham, S. A. Crosby and Riley Sager, and a couple of thrilling reads by some lesser known authors. There is also a new blockbuster by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Bad Lands, which I have already reviewed: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/recent-reading-may-2025-new-books-by-john-connolly-alex-north-john-mcmahon-and-preston-child/
I am also planning on highlighting a couple of Australian June crime releases in a separate post latter this week.
Without further ado, here is my pick of the books that I am most keen on reading.
I have already read Michael Robotham’s The White Crow, (Sphere), and it is a terrific thriller. It is due out towards the end of June and is certainly one to look out for.
It is the follow-up to his When You Are Mine (2021), and I think it is close to being the best book that Michael has written, and it is definitely his most exciting novel to date. I will be doing a review in the next few days.
Here is the summary provided by the publisher:
“As the daughter of a London crime boss, PC Philomena McCarthy walks a thin blue line keeping the two sides of her complicated life apart.
On patrol one night she discovers a child in pyjamas, wandering alone. Taking Daisy home, Phil uncovers the aftermath of a deadly home invasion, as three miles away a prominent jeweller is found strapped to an explosive in his ransacked store.
The crimes are linked, and all the evidence points to Phil’s father as the mastermind.
Phil’s two worlds are colliding, trapping her in the middle of a vicious gang war that will threaten her career and everyone she loves.
Who can she trust – the badge or her own blood?”
The White Crow is released in Australia and the United Kingdom on 25 June 2025 and in the United States on 1 July 2025.
I have also nearly finished Mark Billingham’s What The Night Brings, (Sphere, 24 June 2025), and it too is a good read.
The publisher has provided the following details:
“Three dead coppers, Tom, maybe four by lunchtime.”
The targeted murder of four officers is only the first in a series of attacks that leaves police scared, angry and, most disturbingly of all, vengeful.
As Tom Thorne and Nicola Tanner dig into the reasons for the violence, a deeper darkness begins to emerge: the possibility that these murders are payback. The price paid for an unspeakable betrayal.
To uncover the truth, Thorne will be forced to question everything he stands for. He can trust nobody, and the shocking secrets revealed by one terrible night will fracture his entire world.”
What The Night Brings is the nineteenth book in Billingham’s series about detective Tom Thorne and is probably one of his most emotionally charged books. I am about halfway through and will be posting a review shortly.
What The Night Brings is released in Australia on 24 June 2025 and in the United Kingdom on 19 June 2025.
Robert Bryndza’s Chasing Shadows, (Raven Street, 5 June 2025), is the ninth book in his series about London detective Erika Foster and takes the reader back into Erika’s past.
“In a deadly game of cat and mouse, Detective Erika Foster confronts her greatest nemesis – where the lines of justice blur and secrets unravel.
A collapsed ceiling. A dead body. What starts as a routine 999 call takes an unexpected twist when Detective Chief Inspector Erika Foster arrives on the scene and discovers the body of a woman in an empty flat, with all DNA evidence scrubbed away. When forensics find cocaine residue coating every surface of the ceiling, Erika calls in the drug dogs, who lead her to a mysterious parcel locker on the outside wall of the property. Chasing down the locker’s owner leads Erika back where she never expected to be – staring into the eyes of Jerome Goodman, the drug dealer who murdered her husband, Mark, ten years ago.
She arrests him on the spot, but there’s just one problem. His passport and his solicitor say his name is Kieron Bagshaw, and his record is squeaky clean.
With top brass demanding she take leave to deal with her PTSD and even her closest colleagues questioning her sanity, Erika decides to use the time off to do some digging of her own. Trawling for clues through old newspapers, encrypted messages, and secret underground passageways, Erika makes a series of shocking discoveries that move Mark’s murder from cold case to active investigation, all while flying under the Met’s radar.
The revelations will push Erika to the brink, forcing her to confront the trauma of her past and the truth about what happened the day Mark died – and who among her friends was involved from the shadows.”
I have followed Robert’s career with interest over the years, and I think that he has really grown and improved as an author over that time. His Kate Marshall series is particularly good, but I have also liked watching the development of Erika Foster over the last couple of books. I am very keen to start reading Chasing Shadows in the next few days.
Chasing Shadows is released in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2025.
Bringing an historical perspective to the British detective novel is Death Of An Officer, (Headline, 29 May 2025), by Mark Ellis.
Set in 1943, Death Of An Officer, sees the welcomed return of Mark’s wartime detective, DCI Frank Merlin:
“London. Spring 1943. While Europe continues to suffer under the iron fist of Nazi occupation, Britain remains battered but unbowed.
DCI Frank Merlin, already contending with a booming wartime crime wave in the capital, is confronted with a baffling case: the brutal murder of a respected doctor.
Following a puzzling trail that leads him into the hidden corners of clubland – and which appears to be linked to the disappearance of both British and American officers – Merlin must untangle a dark web of shocking secrets.”
Released in the United Kingdom on 29 May 2025, Death Of An Officer is an enjoyable read and certainly one to watch out for. I will be reviewing it shortly.
C. L. Taylor has established herself as an adept writer of the crime and domestic suspense cross-over. Her Sleep and The Last Holiday both made effective use of the old plot device of isolating a bunch of strangers in a remote location with secrets and murder, while Strangers was a good twisty tale.
Her latest, It’s Always The Husband (Avon, 5 June 2025), seems to be more in the domestic suspense/suspicious partner category:
“When newly divorced Jude arrives in the small town of Lowbridge, she is soon drawn to widower Will, the father of her young daughter’s best friend.
But Will’s past is shrouded in tragedy, with questions that no one knows the answer to – and after two tragedies tore his life apart in just a few short years, gossip and rumours abound about what really happened to the women he loved.
As whispers of murder surround Will, Jude becomes determined to uncover the truth – and with her own father’s tragic fate haunting her, she refuses to let another innocent man suffer.
Yet in Lowbridge the darkness runs deep, and nothing is as it seems. Can Jude protect Will from a community out for blood? Or will she become the next victim in this web of deceit?
Because whilst one dead wife is tragic, two starts to look like murder.”
It’s Always The Husband is released in the United Kingdom on 5 June 2025.
Leading the releases from the United States is S. A. Cosby’s King Of Ashes, (Headline, 10 June 2025).
Cosby has made a spectacular entry into the crime fiction field with a string of highly acclaimed novels, including Blacktop Wasteland and Razor Blade Tears. He seems set to further reinforce his reputation as one of the best new crime writers around with latest novel:
“Roman Carruthers left the smoke and fire of his family’s crematory business behind in his hometown of Jefferson Run, Virginia. He is enjoying a life of shallow excess as a financial adviser in Atlanta until he gets a call from his sister, Neveah, telling him their father is in a coma after a hit-and-run accident. When Roman goes home, he learns the accident may not be what it seems. His brother, Dante, is deeply in debt to dangerous, ruthless criminals. And Roman is willing to do anything to protect his family. Anything.
A financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, Roman must use all his skills to try to save his family while dealing with a shadow that has haunted them all for twenty years: the disappearance of their mother when Roman and his siblings were teenagers. It’s a mystery that Neveah, who has sacrificed so much of her life to hold her family together, is determined to solve once and for all. As fate and chance and heartache ignite their lives, the Carruthers family must pull together to survive or see their lives turn to ash. Because, as their father counseled them from birth, nothing lasts forever. Everything burns.”
King Of Ashes is released in Australia and elsewhere on 10 June 2025.
I really enjoyed Julie Clark’s The Flight from a few years back and her latest one, The Ghostwriter (Zaffre, 10 June 2025), also looks very good.
The publishers have provided the following description:
“June, 1975.
The Taylor family shatters in a single night when two teenage siblings are found dead in their own home. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never shakes the whispers and accusations that he was the one who killed them. Decades later, the legend only grows as his career as a horror writer skyrockets.
Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she’s offered a job to ghostwrite her father’s last book. What she doesn’t know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it’s not another horror novel he wants her to write.
After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975. But is he ready to tell the truth?”
The Ghostwriter is released in hardback in the United States by Sourcebooks Landmark on 3 June 2025. It is released in Australia on Kindle on 6 June 2025 with the paperback to follow in September.
Finally, American thriller/horror writer Riley Sager seems to be trying something a little different with his new novel, With A Vengeance (Hodder & Stoughton, 10 June 2025). Best known for his crime stories with a touch, or more, of the supernatural about them, Sager is moving further into the thriller camp with his latest book.
The publishers have provided the following description:
“In 1942, six people destroyed Anna Matheson’s family. Twelve years later, she’s ready for retribution. Under false pretenses, Anna has lured those responsible for her family’s downfall onto a luxury train from Philadelphia to Chicago, an overnight journey of fourteen hours. Her goal? Confront the people who’ve wronged her, get them to confess their crimes, and deliver them into the hands of authorities waiting at the end of the line. Justice will at last be served. But Anna’s plan is quickly derailed by the murder of one of the passengers. As the train barrels through the night, it becomes clear that someone else on board is enacting their own form of revenge-and that they won’t stop until everyone else is dead. With time running out before the train reaches its destination, Anna is forced to hunt the killer in their midst while protecting the people she hates the most. In order to destroy her enemies, she must first save them-even though it means putting her own life at risk.”
Sounds very intriguing and it is high on my ‘to read’ list.
With A Vengeance is released in Australia and the United States on 10 June 2025, and in the United Kingdom on 12 June 2025.
So those are my picks of next month’s releases. Which ones appeal to you.