THE BEST NEW CRIME RELEASES: SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023
September is always the month that publishers start to ramp up their releases for the lead up to Christmas.
This year is no exception, and there are a stack of good new books coming out in September and early October.
I have set out the main ones that I am looking forward to below and highlighted some Australian ones at the end. The release dates are for Australia.
SEPTEMBER
Richard Osman – The Last Devil To Die (Viking, 12 September 2023). This is the fourth entry in his Thursday Murder Club series and is sure to be a smash it like the previous three.
Robert Galbraith – The Running Grave (Sphere, 26 September 2023). The seventh book in the Corman Strike series! This is sure to be another massive seller, although at 960 pages it might be a struggle for nighttime reading!
Ann Cleeves – The Raging Storm (Macmillan, 29 August 2023). Ann Cleeves can always be relied upon for a good traditional styled mystery and her third book in the The Two Rivers series dishes up her usual mixture of murder, local colour, clever plotting and a troubled a sleuth.
Peter James – Stop Them Dead (Macmillan, 26 September). Another British author with a strong following, and a successful television series, is Peter James. Stop Them Dead is the 19th book in his Detective Superintendent Roy Grace series and pits the detective against some brutal criminals involved in the illegal dog trade.
Richard Armitage – Geneva (Faber & Faber, 12 October 2023). This intriguing crime debut has already been attracting plenty of attention as an Audible original production. It will be released in Hardcover/Trade Paper in October and sounds interesting:
Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sarah Collier has started to show the same tell-tale signs of Alzheimer’s disease as her father: memory loss, even blackouts. So she is reluctant to accept the invitation to be the guest of honour at a prestigious biotech conference – until her husband Daniel, a neuroscientist, persuades her that the publicity storm will be worth it. The technology being unveiled at this conference could revolutionise medicine forever. More than that, it could save Sarah’s life.
In Geneva, the couple are feted as stars – at least, Sarah is. But behind the five-star luxury, investors are circling, controversial blogger Terri Landau is all over the story, and Sarah’s symptoms are getting worse. As events begin to spiral out of control, Sarah can’t be sure who to trust – including herself.
Luca Veste – Trust In Me (Hodder & Stoughton, 14 September 2023 – UK). Also sounding very interesting is Luca Veste’s Trust In Me: My patient has just confessed to the murder I committed! Sara seems to have it all – a thriving practice as a trauma counsellor, a comfortable home, a loving husband and two children. A world away from her troubled past. She’s the only one who knows that her entire life is built on a lie. Until a new patient confesses to a crime that hits too close to home. Sara is thrown into a quest to hide the truth: from her family, her co-workers, and most importantly, the police. How can this person know about Sara’s past? And how can Sara silence her before it’s too late?
John Connolly– The Land Of Lost Things (Hodder & Stoughton, 12 September 2023). Mixing horror, fantasy and crime The Land Of Lost Things is the long anticipated follow-up to The Book Of Lost Things by one of my favourite authors John Connolly.
Stephen King– Holly (Hodder & Stoughton, 5 September 2023). Also mixing horror and crime (and a great protagonist) is Stephen King’s Holly, which continues the adventures of Holly Gibney from King’s masterpieces – Mr Mercedes, Finders Keepers andThe Outsider.
Chris Hammer – The Seven (Allen & Unwin, 3 October 2023). Leading off the Australian crime releases is the latest epic novel by Chris Hammer, author of Scrublands:
Yuwonderie’s seven founding families have lorded it over their district for a century, growing ever more rich and powerful. But now-in startling circumstances-one of their own is found dead in a ditch and homicide detectives Ivan Lucic and Nell Buchanan are sent to investigate. Could the murder be connected to the execution of the victim’s friend thirty years ago-another member of The Seven-or even to the long-forgotten story of a servant girl on the brink of the Great War? What are the secrets The Seven are so desperate to keep hidden? With the killer still on the loose and events spiralling out of control, the closer Ivan and Nell get to discovering the truth, the more dangerous their investigation becomes. Can they crack the case before more people die? Note: it will be released in the United Kingdom under the title of: Cover The Bones
David Whish-Wilson – I Am Already Dead (Fremantle Press, 3 October 2023). David Whish-Wilson does not receive the attention he deserves. His latest novel, I Am Already Dead, seems to be another tough as nails crime tale: “Trainee private investigator Lee Southern finds himself drawn into a web of danger and deceit as he investigates a series of bribery attempts targeting a wealthy entrepreneur. Under the expert tutelage of retiring PI Frank Swann, Lee uses all of his developing skills, instincts and cunning to get to the heart of a sordid mystery. As Lee delves deeper into the case and questions the intentions of those he’ s working for, he finds himself the target of increasingly ominous threats and several attempts on his life.”
Benjamin Stevenson – Everyone On This Train Is a Suspect (Penguin, 17 October 2023). Without doubt this is the book I am most looking forward to. Stevenson’s Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone was the wittiest and most original crime novel I read in 2022. It was a clever and very funny novel, that played enjoyable homage to the classic British murder mystery in a very unique way. The central character, Ernest Cunningham now returns in a new novel.
Cunningham has been invited by the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society to join a crime festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide. He was hoping for some inspiration for his second book, and a break from real people killing each other, but when a locked room (train) murder occurs he finds himself turning detective again. Only this time the suspects are all bestselling crime authors who know very well how to get away with murder. It sounds like a lot of fun.
I already have a copy and will be reading it while I am away.
Shelley Burr – Ripper (Hachette, 30 August 2023). Another strong follow-up to a 2022 release is Shelley Burr’s sequel to Wake. I have read Ripper already, and it is a great mixture of cold case crime and present day murder mystery. Quite different to Wake, it is a very good read with a good twisty plot and well etched characters.
Dave Warner – Summer Of Blood (Fremantle Press, 3 October 2023). I like how Dave Warner mixes his outback noir novels with other styles of crime fiction and Summer Of Blood sounds great: Two Australian police officers travel to San Francisco and Los Angeles in the summer of 1967 in search of a missing young man, only to find themselves fully immersed in the world of music, free love, drugs and hippie counterculture. They soon realise this isn’t just any ordinary missing person investigation. A big gig is the perfect place to get away with murder, and their search becomes a thrilling journey through the seamy side of the 1960s counterculture.
So plenty of good reading coming up and that is only scratching the surface! Happy reading.
