The Best Crime Fiction For July 2026
It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell
The Brief: A chance encounter in Hampstead Heath comes back to haunt a woman decades later when a missing person case forces her to confront the life she narrowly escaped.
The Suspects: Jane Trevally, whose past connection to a sinister house refuses to stay buried; the missing owner of the small white dog that leads her back there; the haunted woman glimpsed through the window, who may hold the key to everything.
The Setup: Twenty-five years ago, newly divorced and adrift, Jane Trevally followed a stranger to a house on the edge of Hampstead Heath. The decision almost ended in tragedy. A scream from upstairs and the sound of something falling sent her running, leaving behind questions she never dared ask. Now, decades later, Jane unexpectedly finds herself back at the same address after discovering a lost dog whose owner has recently vanished. But it is a fleeting glimpse of a frightened-looking woman in the window that truly unsettles her. Unable to walk away, Jane begins digging into the house's history, uncovering secrets that stretch across generations and realising just how different her own life might have been had she not escaped all those years before.
The Judgement: Jewell returns with another addictive blend of family dysfunction and creeping menace, building a slow-burning mystery around memory, coincidence and the terrifying thought that fate could so easily have taken a different turn. Unmissable.
From the Shadows by G. R. Halliday
The Brief: A brutal murder in the Scottish Highlands marks the beginning of a terrifying week as a serial killer emerges from the shadows.
The Suspects: DI Monica Kennedy, whose own past threatens to cloud her judgement; Michael Bach, the social worker worried about a missing teenager; and the unknown killer hiding in plain sight within a close-knit Highland community.
The Setup: Sixteen-year-old Robert comes home late one night, heads straight to his room and is never seen alive again. When his body is later discovered on the Highland coast, DI Monica Kennedy is called to investigate what initially appears to be a single, tragic murder. But it soon becomes clear that something far darker is unfolding. As more deaths follow and fear spreads through the community, locals are forced to confront the possibility that a serial killer is operating in their midst. At the same time, 17-year-old Nichol Morgan has vanished, leaving behind only a cryptic message to his social worker, Michael Bach, who fears the worst. With the body count rising and her own personal history resurfacing, Monica must trust her instincts before the killer claims another victim.
The Judgement: With a brooding Highland setting and a tense, fast-moving investigation, this dark procedural balances serial-killer suspense with a strong sense of place and character.
The Last Place You Look by Nikki Smith
The Brief: A luxury safari lodge becomes the scene of a chilling mystery when a wealthy man's missing wife vanishes – and he discovers that someone is looking for him too.
The Suspects: Leo Kennedy, the husband desperate to find his missing wife; Addison, whose disappearance shatters the illusion of a perfect marriage; the unknown person who has plastered the lodge with a missing poster bearing Leo’s own face.
The Setup: Leo Kennedy appears to have the perfect life: money, success, beautiful homes in Britain and South Africa, and a marriage that others envy. But everything unravels when his wife, Addison, disappears without a trace. Racing to their exclusive safari lodge to piece together her final movements, Leo expects answers. Instead, he finds blood, chaos and a deeply unsettling discovery: a missing-person poster featuring his own photograph and details. And as secrets within their seemingly flawless relationship begin to surface, the truth becomes harder to distinguish from carefully constructed lies.
The Judgement: Smith makes brilliant use of an exotic setting, delivering a tense, twist-laden thriller that melds marital deception with a growing sense of menace beneath the African sun.
The Summer We Lied by Rebecca Hardy
The Brief: A decades-old murder case is thrown into doubt when new evidence suggests three teenagers may have helped convict the wrong man.
The Suspects: Alex, the former witness now forced to question her own testimony; Jonathan and Rachel, her estranged childhood friends who shared that fateful summer; the real killer, who may have remained hidden for years.
The Setup: Eighteen years ago, Alex and her two closest friends overheard the brutal murder of a mother and child. Although only Alex testified in court, their evidence helped send a local man to prison. Yet rumours always lingered that justice had not been served – that the man convicted was deeply troubled, but innocent of murder. Alex has spent years believing she did the right thing, until fresh DNA evidence overturns the conviction and places her back under an unforgiving spotlight. As old friendships are reopened and long-buried memories resurface, Alex, Jonathan and Rachel are forced to revisit a summer that shaped all of their lives and confront the uncomfortable possibility that each of them remembers the truth differently.
The Judgement: Hardy combines emotional depth with an irresistible central mystery, using shifting perspectives and dual timelines to explore memory, guilt and the devastating consequences of getting justice wrong.
Please Help Me by Gytha Lodge
The Brief: A dream holiday in Greece turns into a desperate race against time when a teenager receives a message from a girl claiming she has been kidnapped.
The Suspects: Detective Amanda Coton, unexpectedly drawn into the search while on holiday; the anonymous girl sending pleas for help from somewhere inside the resort; the family who may not be who they claim to be.
The Setup: What should be a carefree break at a sprawling Greek holiday resort takes a sinister turn when a teenager receives an anonymous message from a girl claiming she has been abducted and forced to live with a family pretending to be her own. By chance, Detective Amanda Coton is staying at the same resort and quickly becomes involved in the search. But with thousands of guests, no way to identify the sender and no possibility of locking down the complex without alerting the kidnappers, every decision carries enormous risk. One mistake could mean losing the victim forever – and whoever is responsible is unlikely to let anyone stand in their way.
The Judgement: Lodge takes an irresistible high-concept premise and wrings every ounce of tension from it, delivering a fast-paced psychological thriller that transforms a sun-soaked holiday setting into a place of mounting fear and suspicion.