The Best Crime Fiction For July
The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards
Penguin Michael Joseph, £16.99
The Brief: One shared ambition, a deadly secret, and a whole lot of history.
The Suspects: Six graduates looking to change the world; a charismatic but manipulative professor; and some uninvited guests…
The Setup: In 1999, a group of bright graduates were brought together to help build an ambitious app. If they pulled it off, it would have changed the world of dating – and their fortunes – forever, but something happened that derailed everything. Now, over two decades later, they reunite in the glamorous home of two of the old gang. As the reunion unfolds, tensions spiral and long-buried secrets threaten to destroy everything. One of them is hiding the truth and someone else is willing to risk everything to uncover it.
The Judgement: With a brilliantly compelling cast and twists aplenty, Edwards keeps the tension piano wire-tight and the pages furiously turning. The layered backstory adds depth and intrigue, while the suspense ensures you’ll stay utterly hooked until the final reveal. The perfect sunlounger thriller.
If You Liked This, Try:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt. For more claustrophobic group dynamics
The Retreat by Mark Edwards. Another tense, character-driven thriller
Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight. Dark secrets, fractured friendships, and shocking twists
The Scene Of The Crime by Lynda La Plante
Zaffre, £22
The Brief: The mastermind behind Prime Suspect and Widows is back with another brand-new series.
The Suspects: The Metropolitan Police Serious Crime Analysis Unit, a cutting-edge team made up of experts in DNA, blood spatter, digital forensics, and psychology.
The Setup: When the husband of a ruthless barrister is brutally beaten during a robbery and left in a coma, the unit – led by CSI Jessica Russell – must put every skill and tool at their disposal to work. But the deeper they dig trying to find out the motivation for such a vicious crime, the murkier the case becomes.
The Judgement: La Plante brings all her trademark forensic detail and psychological insight to bear here, crafting another superior procedural that feels both classic and cutting edge.
If You Liked This, Try:
Prime Suspect by Lynda La Plante. The groundbreaking series that started it all
The Burning by Jane Casey. This elevated procedural introduces ambitious detective Maeve Kerrigan
In The Blink Of An Eye by Jo Callaghan. Cutting-edge tech meets very human policing.
Deadline by Steph McGovern
Macmillan, £20
The Brief: A live TV broadcast suddenly becomes a life-or-death assignment.
The Suspects: Rose, a seasoned TV reporter on the brink of the biggest interview of her career; a missing spouse; and a kidnapper with impossible demands.
The Setup: TV reporter Rose is about to do the most important assignment of her career – interviewing a powerful political figure live. To focus, she must push all else from her mind. No wondering why her wife hasn’t been in touch, and no worrying about how her stalker has tracked her down. Then she hears an unfamiliar voice in her earpiece: her family has been taken and she must do everything the kidnapper wants.
The Judgement: Tense, pacy, and brimming with authentic detail, this debut from broadcaster Steph McGovern feels chillingly real. An entertaining, thought‑provoking thriller that plays out like the news bulletin from hell.
If You Liked This, Try:
Hostage by Clare Mackintosh. For the tension of a live crisis unfolding minute by minute
Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney. For a gripping and macabre missing spouse mystery
Close Call by Elise Hart Kipness. For a reporter thrust into the middle of a high-stakes ordeal
The Day I Lost You by Ruth Mancini
Century, £16.99
The Brief: Two mothers. One missing child. A fight for the truth that could destroy them both.
The Suspects: Lauren, raising her toddler son Sam in the quiet Spanish town of Mantilla de Mar, desperate to escape her past. Hope, finally holding the baby she thought she’d never have – until someone takes him away.
The Setup: When police arrive at Lauren’s door claiming Sam isn’t hers, she flees in terror. Back in the UK, Hope will stop at nothing to recover the child she believes is hers. As their stories converge, questions of motherhood, identity, and survival collide in a race against time.
The Judgement: Written with the insight of a criminal lawyer-turned-storyteller, Ruth Mancini crafts a taut, emotionally charged thriller. Themes of loss, love, and moral ambiguity drive a chilling tale that grips to the very last page.
If You Liked This, Try:
Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan. For its emotional depth and questions of motherhood
Found by Erin Kinsley. For a heart‑wrenching story of missing children
The Push by Ashley Audrain. For its dark exploration of maternal identity
The Night Lagoon by Jo Morey
HarperCollins, £16.99
The Brief: A Belizean jungle paradise hides passion, betrayal, and a truth too dangerous to confront.
The Suspects: Laelia, a hearing‑impaired traveller whose dream escape turns into a nightmare; Aid, the partner whose love grows darker with every day; and the secrets of Wittering Lodge, a remote jungle hideaway.
The Setup: In the dead of night at her father’s jungle lodge, Laelia lies awake beside Aid, her mind racing with the past that led her here. The heady romance of their first Caribbean holiday has soured into something sinister and when she uncovers devastating truths hidden in the lodge, Laelia faces an impossible decision: keep silent and protect their fragile paradise or confront lies as deep as the lagoon itself.
The Judgement: Atmospheric and unsettling, Jo Morey’s debut blends raw emotion with lush, dangerous setting. It’s a searing tale of control, love, and survival that will haunt you long after you turn the last page.
If You Liked This, Try:
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. For its lush setting and buried secrets
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. Nature, isolation, and survival
The Beach by Alex Garland. For its intoxicating paradise setting that curdles into danger and betrayal.
The Woman In Suite 11 by Ruth Ware
Simon & Schuster, £16.99
The Brief: A glamorous chateau, a mysterious invitation, and a perilous chase across Europe.
The Suspects: Lo Blacklock, returning to journalism after having a child; elusive billionaire Marcus Leidmann; and the terrified woman in his suite.
The Setup: When Lo is invited to the opening of a luxury hotel on Lake Geneva, it feels like just the chance she needs – if she can score an interview with its reclusive owner Marcus, she will be back in the game. But when she meets a woman claiming to be his mistress – and a captive – events quickly spiral into a deadly cat‑and‑mouse pursuit across Europe. As Lo risks everything to save a stranger, she must decide how far she’s willing to go – and whether she can actually trust the woman she’s racing to protect.
The Judgement: Ruth Ware, queen of modern thrillers, delivers another nail-biting ride. Steeped in atmosphere and laced with high stakes, this follow-up to The Woman In Cabin 10 proves she’s at the top of her game.
If You Liked This, Try:
The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. The breakout thriller soon to be a major Netflix series
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. For claustrophobic suspense and shocking secrets
The New Neighbours by Claire Douglas. For dark domestic tension with a sinister edge
Hope by Linda Calvey
Mountain Leopard Press, £18.99
The Brief: The second novel in a gripping new gangland family saga from one of crime’s most authentic voices.
The Suspects: Hope Wills, a sharp-witted East End brothel boss; her fiercely loyal sisters, Faith and Charity; and the ghosts of enemies past.
The Setup: Hope Wills is used to being in control. She’s built a life of influence and power, with nothing moving in London’s East End without her family’s say-so. But when she’s accused of a murder she didn’t commit, even her well-connected clan can’t shield her from a prison sentence. As she’s packed off to Holloway, the Wills women rally, but they’re not the only ones plotting. Because while Hope is fighting to clear her name, someone from the shadows is tightening the noose.
The Judgement: Brimming with raw authenticity and old-school grit, Hope is classic gangland fiction, full of loyalty, betrayal, and survival at all costs.
If You Liked This, Try:
Faith by Linda Calvey. The first in the Wills family trilogy
The Trap by Kimberley Chambers. For dark family secrets and East End rivalries
The Business by Martina Cole. For queenpin ambition and gangland justice
I Know Where You Buried Your Husband by Marie O’Hare
Bantam, £16.99
The Brief: Five women. One murder. A pact that will test friendship, loyalty, and survival.
The Suspects: A tight-knit group of best friends, bound together not just by years of laughter, but by the need to cover up a killing.
The Setup: Sophia, Safa, Ella, Ajola and Caoimhe have been friends since school, sticking together through thick and thin. But when trouble comes knocking for one, the rest commit an act that both binds them forever and tears them apart. Alone, they navigate all life throws at them, until their secret comes back to haunt them. Then, they must reunite to save themselves – if it isn’t already too late.
The Judgement: Funny, bold, and sharply observed, O’Hare’s debut is a dangerously witty, painfully relatable portrait of modern womanhood under pressure.
If You Liked This, Try:
We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz. For its tense tale of female friendship bound by a deadly secret
How To Kill Your Best Friend by Lexie Elliott. For its darkly witty look at loyalty, jealousy, and betrayal among women
Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth. For its gripping blend of sisterhood and family secrets
Dead As Gold by Bonnie Burke‑Patel
Bedford Square, £16.99
The Brief: A modern gothic murder mystery set on a windswept English shore.
The Suspects: Adam Conlan, a goldsmith who has traded his wild past for a quiet life in the seaside town of Morrow‑on‑Sea, raising his son and running his shop; Ophelia Richards, a writer with an inheritance of jewellery and secrets that could upend everything; DI William Kent, tasked with untangling truth from lies when a body washes up on the coast.
The Setup: Adam’s hard‑won peace shatters when a golden bear figurine vanishes, an animal heart arrives in the post, and Ophelia steps into his shop with jewellery she wants to sell. Soon after, a robbery rocks the town, and Ophelia herself pulls a body from the sea. As suspicion spreads, Kent must decide who is prey and who is the hunter.
The Judgement: Atmospheric and elegantly written, Bonnie Burke‑Patel cements her reputation as a compelling new voice in crime fiction. Combining the intimacy of gothic suspense with the grit of a procedural, this chilling tale lingers long after the last page.
If You Liked This, Try:
I Died At Fallow Hall by Bonnie Burke‑Patel. A haunting country‑house mystery
The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves. For coastal suspense with layered characters
The Red Shore by William Shaw. For chilling seaside thrills
Her Many Faces by Nicci Cloke
Harvill Secker, £16.99
The Brief: When a rich man dies, a waitress becomes the prime suspect.
The Suspects: Katherine, a young woman who finds big trouble; the five men who all tell a different version of her story.
The Setup: When four influential members of London’s most exclusive private club are poisoned, waitress Katherine finds herself accused of the crime. As her trial looms, her story is told by the barrister defending her, the father who no longer recognises her, the childhood friend with regrets, the lover who wants to forget her, and the journalist chasing a headline. But as their narratives circle each other, one voice remains missing – Katherine’s own.
The Judgement: This smart, timely thriller unpicks power, media, and perception with forensic ease. With themes of toxic masculinity and online radicalisation, this should get us talking about the changes we need to see – now.
If You Liked This, Try:
Butter by Asako Yuzuki. For a woman suspected of killing men, and the journo telling her story
A Girl Like Us by Anna Sophia McLoughlin. For power and privilege gone awry
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang. For an unreliable narrator who manipulates truth and perception