The Best Crime Fiction For April

The Secret Lives Of Murderers’ Wives by Elizabeth Arnott

The Brief: Set in sun-soaked 1960s California, this stylish thriller follows three women bound by a shocking truth: their husbands were all serial killers.

The Suspects: Beverley, raising her children in the shadow of her husband’s crimes; Elsie, an ambitious journalist determined to step out of that shadow; Margot, the glamorous ex-wife hiding her shame behind Hollywood excess.

The Setup: In a wealthy Californian suburb during the heat of the 1960s, Beverley, Elsie and Margot appear to lead enviable lives of pools, parties and polished smiles. But their friendship is built on something far darker: each of their husbands has been exposed as a serial killer. While the world watches them with suspicion and fascination, the women are trying to rebuild their lives on their own terms. Beverley focuses on protecting her children, Elsie fights to establish herself in a male-dominated newsroom, and Margot numbs her past with glamour and distraction. When a new string of local killings begins to surface, the three women find themselves drawn into the investigation – determined to prove they are more than the men they once loved.

The Judgement: This dazzling blend of period glamour with a sharply feminist edge delivers a fresh take on the serial killer genre, which focuses as much on resilience and reinvention as it does on the hunt for the truth. Absolutely unmissable.

The Keeper by Tana French

The Brief: In a remote Irish village, a young woman’s death exposes old feuds and buried loyalties that threaten to tear the community apart.

The Suspects: Rachel Holohan, whose death in the river hides more than it reveals; Cal Hooper, the retired detective drawn into a case that isn’t his; the powerful local families whose rivalries run deep.

The Setup: In the tight-knit village of Ardnakelty, the death of Rachel Holohan sends shockwaves through the community. Just days before her expected engagement into one of the area’s most influential families, Rachel is found dead in the river – a tragedy that quickly fractures the town along old lines of loyalty and resentment. Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper, now settled in the village, finds himself pulled into the fallout, balancing his growing ties to the community against the instinct to uncover the truth. As tensions escalate and long-standing grudges resurface, Cal and his fiancée Lena uncover a scheme that casts Rachel’s death in a far darker light, placing them both in increasing danger.

The Judgement: A slow-burning, character-driven mystery that layers atmosphere and emotional tension over its central crime, this builds a quietly devastating portrait of a community under strain.

Dear Darling by Ella King

The Brief: Years after a forbidden teenage relationship, a woman is forced to face the man who once held power over her.

The Suspects: Lauren, revisiting a past she has tried to bury; Daniel Prior, the mentor whose relationship with her crossed a line; the version of events each of them is prepared to defend.

The Setup: Lauren has spent years building a life that feels stable and safe, far removed from the relationship she had at fourteen with Daniel Prior – a man she once loved and has since tried to forget. Now a wife and mother, she is pulled back into that past when Daniel, newly released from prison, writes to her and asks to meet. But the world has changed, conversations about power and consent have shifted, and Lauren is no longer the girl she was. As she prepares to confront him, she must untangle memory from truth and decide what justice looks like when a story has been buried for so long.

The Judgement: Unflinching and emotionally complex, this tense, thought-provoking novel explores how narratives are shaped – and who gets to reclaim them when the past resurfaces.

Welcome To The Family by Kate Gray

The Brief: A sun-drenched family holiday in Tuscany turns toxic when buried tensions erupt and someone ends up dead.

The Suspects: Rosie Riley, the newcomer desperate to impress her boyfriend’s family; Fenna Fraser, the long-standing insider under growing strain; the formidable Fraser matriarch, whose approval comes at a cost.

The Setup: Rosie Riley is thrilled – and quietly terrified – to be spending two weeks in a luxurious Tuscan villa with her boyfriend Theo’s family. It feels like a turning point in their relationship, a chance to prove she belongs. But the Frasers are not an easy family to win over. Fenna, already part of the inner circle, is struggling with exhaustion, a new baby and the relentless scrutiny of a mother-in-law who seems impossible to please. What begins as an idyllic getaway of sun, wine and curated perfection soon gives way to simmering resentments and unspoken rivalries. By the end of the holiday, one of the women will be arrested for murder, leaving the question of what really happened hanging over the fractured family.

The Judgement: Revelling in the claustrophobia of family dynamics, this is a sharply observed domestic thriller where shifting loyalties and social pressures turn a dream holiday into something far more dangerous.

I Did A Bad Thing by Louise Jensen

The Brief: When a mother’s online rise collides with a devastating family tragedy, the truth behind her carefully curated life begins to unravel.

The Suspects: Mia Finch, the influencer at the centre of the storm; her family, whose story becomes public property; the version of events exposed by a true crime documentary digging into what really happened.

The Setup: When Mia Finch starts documenting her daughter’s struggle with a rare blood disorder, she never expects to build a following online – or for that attention to spiral into something darker. A year later, the Finch family tragedy becomes the subject of a true crime documentary, and as it begins to air, public fascination turns into scrutiny. Piece by piece, the film uncovers details Mia would rather keep hidden, reframing the story she has shared with the world. As the pressure builds and the truth edges closer to the surface, the question becomes not just what happened, but how far Mia went to protect her version of events.

The Judgement: A tense, addictive thriller about perception and control, this really taps into the uneasy intersection of social media and true crime, examining the consequences of a lie that grows too big to contain.

The Model Patient by Lucy Ashe

The Brief: In 1960s London, a woman’s therapy sessions spiral into something far more dangerous as the line between care and control begins to blur.

The Suspects: Evelyn Westbrook, the patient questioning her own reality; Dr Daley, the enigmatic therapist whose methods grow increasingly unsettling; Henry, the husband whose expectations have shaped the life she’s trying to escape.

The Setup: Evelyn Westbrook has given up her modelling career to become the perfect wife, but the role sits uneasily. Her days feel hollow, her mother-in-law is pressing for a child she doesn’t want, and her nights are haunted by a disturbing recurring dream. Seeking clarity, she turns to therapy with the charismatic Dr Daley. But what begins as a search for understanding soon becomes something more complicated. As Evelyn opens up, the sessions raise as many questions as they answer, and her growing fascination with her therapist begins to edge into obsession. With her marriage under strain and her sense of self slipping, Evelyn must confront whether she is being helped or manipulated.

The Judgement: This psychologically rich novel explores identity, power and the dangerous intimacy between those who claim to heal and those who seek it.

Kiss Marry Kill by Yemi Dipeolu

The Brief: A wedding day arrest turns a love story into a tense investigation when a bride is forced to question everything she thought she knew.

The Suspects: Ife, the bride caught between loyalty and doubt; Ade, the groom accused of murdering his ex; Cynthia, the former partner whose death raises more questions than answers.

The Setup: What should have been the happiest day of Ife’s life collapses in an instant when her new husband Ade is arrested at their wedding for murder. His ex-girlfriend Cynthia has been found dead on the Dorset coast, and the case against him appears straightforward. But as the shock begins to settle, Ife is left grappling with a far more complicated reality. The man she has just married insists on his innocence, yet the evidence points in a different direction. As the investigation unfolds, Ife must navigate conflicting truths, hidden relationships and the unsettling possibility that she never really knew Ade at all.

The Judgement: This sharp, character-driven debut leans into the emotional fallout of suspicion, building a tense, addictive thriller around love, trust and the stories we choose to believe.

Strangers In The Villa by Robyn Harding

The Brief: A troubled marriage retreat on Spain’s Costa Brava takes a sinister turn when an unexpected pair of guests refuse to leave.

The Suspects: Sydney Lowe, trying to rebuild trust after betrayal; Curtis, the husband whose affair fractured their relationship; the mysterious young couple who arrive at their villa with their own hidden agenda.

The Setup: After discovering her husband Curtis has had an affair, Sydney Lowe agrees to a fresh start far from New York, retreating with him to a remote hilltop villa overlooking Spain’s Costa Brava. The isolation is meant to help them repair their marriage, but instead it amplifies the cracks between them. When two Australian travellers appear at their door in need of help, Sydney and Curtis make a fateful decision to let them stay. What begins as a welcome distraction soon shifts into something far more unsettling. As tensions rise and secrets begin to surface on all sides, the fragile balance inside the villa collapses, turning the idyllic setting into a pressure cooker of suspicion and shifting loyalties.

The Judgement: Rich with atmosphere and psychological tension, intimacy, betrayal and hidden motives collide in a tightly wound, increasingly dangerous game.

A Degree Of Murder by Maz Evans

The Brief: A 25-year college reunion turns deadly as long-buried secrets from graduation day resurface.

The Suspects: The Class of 2000, returning to Bathory College with old rivalries intact; the twelve witnesses recounting events across past and present; the person now standing trial for a murder rooted in the past.

The Setup: When alumni gather at Bathory College for their 25-year reunion, it should be a night of nostalgia and celebration. Instead, it becomes the scene of a murder, one that appears to be tied directly to events from graduation day a quarter of a century earlier. As the story unfolds through the voices of former students and staff, timelines blur between 2000 and 2025, revealing a web of secrets, betrayals and unresolved tensions. With the case playing out alongside a trial, the narrative constantly shifts perspective, raising questions not only about who committed the crime, but whether the right person is even being accused.

The Judgement: This clever, multi-layered whodunnit brings a playful structure to the classic murder mystery, delivering a smart, character-driven puzzle that balances humour with darker emotional undercurrents.