NOVEMBER 2025 CRIME ROUND-UP: NEW BOOKS BY MATTHEW BLAKE, CHRISTOPHER REICH, CHARLIE DONLEA and LISA UNGER
The end of the year is rapidly approaching and I have been trying to catch up on some books that I missed earlier in the year, plus a seasonal short story by the talented Lisa Unger.
Matthew Blake wrote three very good spy novels under the name of Matthew Richardson, including the 2023 tour de force The Scarlett Papers, before penning the stand alone novel Anna O under the Blake nom de plume. Now Blake has returned with a new novel, A Murder In Paris (Harper Collins, 2 July 2025).
At first glance, A Murder In Paris looks like a contemporary psychological suspense novel, but it is in fact a quite good thriller with links back to the French Resistance at the end of the Second World War. The story is told through alternating timelines. In the present, Olivia Finn, a London psychotherapist and single mother, is suddenly pulled into a chilling mystery when the French police inform her that her elderly grandmother, Josephine, is making a scene at the iconic Lutetia Hotel in Paris. Her grandmother has confessed to a murder that allegedly took place eighty years ago in the hotel. Claiming to be someone named Sophie Leclerc, Josephine insists she committed the crime in Room 11 at the end of World War II. Olivia dismisses it as a symptom of her grandmother’s dementia but when police records confirm that a death did occur in that very room in 1945, Olivia travels to Paris, determined to uncover the truth.
In the past, a second storyline plays out in 1945 in Paris against the backdrop of holocaust survivors returning to the city. The survivors are housed at the Lutetia Hotel to be interviewed, assessed and then freed to go on to live their lives, unless they are really Nazis collaborators. One of new occupants of the hotel is the POW survivor and renowned artist, Josephine Benoit.
Added to the story mix are modern crimes and murder, a mysterious assassin, and a rogue British policeman out for revenge.
This is a very enjoyable thriller. Blake maintains a good sense of mystery and suspense from the opening pages and smoothly unfolds his intricate plot with considerable skill. Blake’s experience as a spy novelist is evident in his subplot about French Resistance agents and double agents, and in the introduction of an assassin hunting the main characters. The background information about memory manipulation is also interesting and adds an extra dimension to the story. The plot falters a little towards the end, but not enough to detract from what is an entertaining story,
Despite being packaged as a contemporary suspense novel, with no reference on the cover to the World War II backdrop, A Murder In Paris is actually a good old-style thriller with an interesting French Resistance angle. Warmly recommended.
Also set partially in Paris is Christopher Reich’s The Tourists, (Thomas & Mercer, 15 October 2025), the second book in his series about former CIA agent Mac Dekker
After the dramatic events in Matterhorn, Dekker is trying to live a quiet life with his girlfriend, Ava Attal, a former Mossad agent recovering from a near fatal gunshot wound. They are in Paris for the weekend, and Dekker is on the verge of proposing when Ava vanishes without a trace. Dekker launches a frantic search, but soon finds himself caught up in the violence that he had thought he had left behind. As the bodies and the lies mount up, Dekker finds himself on a frenetic race across Europe and the Middle East as he tries to find Ava, uncover a terrorist plot, and keep himself alive.
The narrative moves along at a brisk pace, with just the right amounts of violence and reflection. Reich ably weaves in enough backstory, through flashbacks, to give the action some meaning, and the characters are simply, but effectively sketched. Reich is a master of the international thriller, and he quickly brings the various locations alive with interesting snippets of convincing local detail, and peppers the story with sufficient insider spycraft and geopolitical machinations to satisfy action thriller fans.
In all, a good, undemanding combination of spies and action that is ideal for a lazy weekend read, or as a diversion from the demands of the festive season.
Charlie Donlea has established himself as a master of the ‘cold case’ genre and Guess Again, (Kensington, 12 August 2025), is sure to further cement his standing as a leading figure in American crime writing.
Donlea excels in this sort of multiple viewpoint investigation of an old crime and, despite starting a little slowly, Guess Again steadily draws the reader in and keeps them keenly turning the pages until the end. The various twists and turns are nicely staged and Donlea keeps the reader on edge as the book goes in some surprising directions.
The plot about the re-opening of an investigation into the unsolved disappearance of a 17 year old girl ten years before is reasonably standard, but Donlea embellishes it with extra complications around an imprisoned serial killer who knows more than he should about the disappearance, and an investigator seeking revenge for the killing of his policeman father several years before. The characters are nicely sketched, and for most part avoid the usual caricatures.
Donlea is a master of the sleight of hand twist, and towards the end Guess Again delivers a couple of stunning revelations that really took me by surprise. The climax also provides enough bloodshed, death and moments of high tension to satisfy the most jaded crime thriller reader. Highly recommended.
Those after some seasonal entertainment will appreciate Lisa Unger’s short tale about a hired killer who finds herself caught between her conscience and her contract over the holiday season.
The Kill Clause, (Amazon, 1 December 2025), opens with Paige risking the wrath of the secret organisation that she works for when she fails to complete a killing because of the unexpected presence of the victim’s young daughter on the premises. When she returns on Christmas Eve to finish the job, the girl is still there, along with someone even more startling. As the ghosts of her past gather – to haunt or to help, it’s unclear – Paige must confront old traumas and outwit her superiors to make it to Christmas morning alive.
This is a fun short story to read over the Christmas period. Lisa always delivers a slightly quirky, unsentimental tale, and The Kill Clause is very enjoyable story that builds to a good, unexpected finale. The characters are an interesting collection, and Lisa expertly fleshes Paige out with some simple flashbacks and appropriate seasonal reflections on career choices and lost loves. A fun read.
The Kill Clause is available for Kindle readers from 1 December 2025 for a couple of dollars.
I have now finished my reading of 2025 books, and over the next few weeks will be posting on my favourite reads of the year and highlighting some forthcoming books for 2026!