The Best Crime Fiction For May
The Divorce by Freida McFadden
The Brief: A woman’s perfect life implodes after a bitter divorce, sending her down a dangerous path of obsession, revenge and survival.
The Suspects: Naomi, refusing to let go of the life she built; her ex-husband, whose betrayal sets everything in motion; the much younger woman who has stepped into Naomi’s place.
The Setup: Naomi thought she had the storybook ending: marriage, a beautiful home and a family she adored. Then her husband tears it all apart. He hires top divorce lawyers, drains their accounts and moves on with a younger woman. Most people would accept defeat and start over, but Naomi has other ideas. As her fascination with her ex-husband’s new girlfriend grows, curiosity turns into fixation. But the closer she gets to uncovering the secrets surrounding the woman who replaced her, the more she realises the situation is far more dangerous than she imagined.
The Judgement: McFadden once again taps into everyday fears and worst-case scenarios, delivering a compulsive psychological thriller that explores how quickly heartbreak can curdle into obsession.
The Good Listener by Holly Watt
The Brief: A volunteer helpline worker receives a call that could solve her daughter’s murder – if she can find the anonymous woman on the other end of the line.
The Suspects: Clara, desperate for answers about her daughter's death; the unnamed caller who claims her husband killed a little girl; the husband at the centre of a confession that may finally unlock a cold case.
The Setup: As a volunteer with The Good Listeners, Clara is used to hearing people's darkest fears and deepest secrets. Every call is different, and every caller is anonymous. Then one conversation changes everything. A woman tells Clara her husband killed a little girl. For most people, it would be a shocking confession. For Clara, it feels personal. Two years earlier, her own daughter was murdered, and the killer never identified. Convinced the call could be connected, Clara becomes determined to track down the woman behind the voice. But with no way of contacting her again, finding the truth may prove almost impossible.
The Judgement: Watt takes a brilliantly simple premise and turns it into a gripping psychological mystery, combining emotional stakes with a relentless search for the truth.
Five by Ilona Bannister
The Brief: Five strangers wait for a commuter train, unaware that within minutes one of them will be dead.
The Suspects: Sonny, the gambler on the brink of self-destruction; Emma, a mother struggling with a deeply unsettling son; Mrs Worth, an elderly woman carrying the scars of a troubled past; Liam, a successful businessman whose life is not as polished as it appears.
The Setup: It is 7.01am at a suburban railway station. By the time the 7.06 train arrives, someone on the platform will have died. As the countdown begins, the lives of five strangers unfold in parallel: a child, a mother, an ageing woman, a businessman and a gambler. Each arrives at the station carrying private burdens, regrets and hopes, unaware that their stories are about to collide. As the minutes tick away, assumptions are challenged and sympathies shift. The question is not simply who will die, but how these seemingly ordinary lives connect and whether fate can ever be escaped.
The Judgement: Bannister blends suspense with an emotionally astute exploration of family, sacrifice and the split-second moments that can change everything.
Quite Ugly One Evening by Chris Brookmyre
The Brief: A locked-room mystery at sea sees journalist Jack Parlabane trapped between a decades-old secret, a fresh murder and a crime scene that points directly at him.
The Suspects: Jack Parlabane, the reporter who wakes up in the worst possible position; the feuding media dynasty gathered aboard a nostalgic cruise; the killer willing to murder again to keep the past buried.
The Setup: Hoping to revive his fortunes, veteran journalist Jack Parlabane boards a cruise ship hosting a fan convention dedicated to a controversial 1960s television series. The event is dominated by a media family eager to cash in on the show’s renewed popularity, but Jack is more interested in a decades-old mystery lurking beneath the nostalgia. Then things take a deadly turn. Someone on board has already killed once to protect a secret, and before Jack can get close to the truth, he finds himself locked in a cabin with a corpse covered in his blood. Stranded in the middle of the Atlantic, he must solve not one murder but two if he wants to leave the ship as a free man.
The Judgement: Brookmyre brings back one of crime fiction’s great trouble magnets for a witty, fast-moving mystery that combines classic locked-room intrigue with sharp satire, family dysfunction and plenty of twists along the way.
The Darkest Tide by Peter Hanington
The Brief: A home nurse investigating a body on Brighton beach uncovers dangerous secrets from her father's forgotten past.
The Suspects: Susan Cotton, drawn reluctantly into the mystery; Arthur Cotton, the former mob bookkeeper whose fading memory may hold the key; the ageing Brighton criminals determined to keep old secrets buried.
The Setup: Susan Cotton's life revolves around caring for other people. She looks after elderly patients as a home nurse, supports her adult daughter and helps her father Arthur as he struggles with the early stages of dementia. What she doesn't know is that Arthur once worked for Brighton's criminal underworld, keeping the books and safeguarding its secrets. As his memory begins to fracture, fragments of the past start resurfacing, drawing the attention of people who would rather those stories remained forgotten. When a body washes up on Brighton beach, Susan is pulled into an investigation that forces her to confront a side of her father she never knew existed. The deeper she digs, the more she realises some secrets have survived for decades for a reason.
The Judgement: Combining a compelling mystery with a thoughtful exploration of memory, family and ageing, Hanington delivers an atmospheric crime novel that uses Brighton's criminal past to powerful effect.
Night Watcher by Daphne Woolsoncroft
The Brief: A late-night radio host is forced to confront her darkest childhood fear when she becomes convinced a notorious serial killer has returned.
The Suspects: Nola Strate, haunted by a traumatic encounter she can never forget; the mysterious neighbour lurking in the shadows next door; Nola’s father, whose connection to the case raises disturbing questions.
The Setup: Nola Strate spends her nights listening to callers share stories of strange encounters, fears and unexplained events on Night Watch, the radio show once hosted by her semi-famous father. But when one caller describes a mysterious intruder, old nightmares come rushing back. As a child, Nola narrowly escaped a murderer known as The Hiding Man, a figure she has spent years trying to forget. Now, convinced he has resurfaced, she begins to see threats everywhere. With the police dismissing her concerns, more people being harmed and unsettling evidence pointing towards those closest to her, Nola decides to investigate for herself before the killer reaches her first.
The Judgement: Blending true-crime obsession with classic serial-killer suspense, Woolsoncroft delivers a tense, atmospheric thriller that taps into the fear of being watched – and the terror of discovering your worst nightmare may never have ended.
138 Main Street by Gavin Bell
The Brief: A serial killer launches a nationwide campaign of terror by targeting one of the most common addresses in America.
The Suspects: FBI Special Agent Ben Walker, leading the hunt; rookie officer Zoe Hill, thrown into a case unlike any other; the elusive ‘Main Street Killer’, whose demands grow more dangerous by the day.
The Setup: Panic spreads across the US when a killer begins targeting residents living at 138 Main Street. The challenge for investigators is stark – there are thousands of Main Streets across the country and no way of predicting the next attack. As fear grips communities and residents take matters into their own hands, FBI Special Agent Ben Walker and rookie officer Zoe Hill are tasked with stopping the murderer before more lives are lost. But the case takes an even darker turn when a manifesto arrives at the New York Times. Claiming responsibility for the killings, the writer demands sweeping social and economic changes, threatening bombings if their ultimatum is ignored. With the entire nation watching, Ben and Zoe find themselves chasing a killer who always seems one step ahead.
The Judgement: Bell takes a brilliantly high-concept premise and runs with it, delivering a fast-paced thriller that combines serial-killer suspense with the escalating pressure of a national crisis.
Truth To Tell by Aline Templeton
The Brief: A routine night of theft goes disastrously wrong when a petty criminal stumbles into a murder in rural Scotland.
The Suspects: Callan, the lorry thief who finds himself entangled in a killing; DCI Kelso Strang, leading the investigation through a maze of secrets; the unknown murderer lurking behind an apparently simple crime.
The Setup: For months, Callan has been making a living by stealing valuable cargo from lorries parked overnight in remote Scottish depots. It is risky but profitable – until a routine theft places him at the centre of a murder investigation, drawing unwanted attention from DCI Kelso Strang and the Serious Rural Crimes Squad. As Strang digs deeper into the case, he uncovers a network of lies and hidden motives stretching through seemingly peaceful corners of Scotland, forcing him to untangle truth from deception before the killer strikes again.
The Judgement: Templeton once again combines atmospheric Scottish settings with character-driven detective work, delivering a procedural that finds menace beneath the surface of rural life.
Hurricane Room by Kim Sherwood
The Brief: James Bond is back – but with MI6 fractured, loyalties in doubt and a terrorist plot reaching its endgame, saving the world may be more dangerous than ever.
The Suspects: James Bond, returning from years in the wilderness; Agent 003 Joanna Harwood, determined to bring him home; Mora, the ruthless leader of a terrorist organisation
The Setup: After years of searching, Agent 003 Joanna Harwood has finally located James Bond. The problem is that he is stranded in Russia, trusts nobody and is consumed by a desire for revenge against Mora, the enigmatic figure behind Rattenfänger, a terrorist network with deep roots and far-reaching ambitions. Meanwhile, MI6 is in disarray. Moneypenny has been captured, agents have turned against one another and the organisation's enemies are closer than ever to seizing control of the West's cyber-intelligence infrastructure. With the fate of the intelligence world hanging in the balance, Bond and the surviving Double O agents must unite for one final mission – while working out which of their allies can still be trusted.
The Judgement: Sherwood brings her ambitious expansion of the Bond universe to a high-stakes conclusion, blending classic espionage thrills with shifting allegiances, modern threats and plenty of globe-trotting action.
The Final Chapter by C. B. Everett
The Brief: A missing author's final manuscript may contain the key to his disappearance in this playful, metafictional literary mystery.
The Suspects: Jonathan Durward, the vanished novelist whose secrets may be hidden in plain sight; C. B. Everett, the author tasked with deciphering the manuscript; the publishers, friends and real-life figures who begin appearing within its pages.
The Setup: Ten years ago, acclaimed novelist Jonathan Durward disappeared without explanation, leaving behind questions that were never answered and a final book that was never found. Now, that missing manuscript has surfaced. But instead of the literary masterpiece everyone anticipated, it is a pulpy espionage thriller filled with familiar spy-fiction tropes. Asked to annotate the text, Durward’s best friend and fellow author C. B. Everett begins reading through the manuscript, only to discover unsettling references to real people and events from their own lives. As fiction and reality begin to overlap, Everett starts to suspect the novel may be a coded account of what happened to Durward. And the deeper he digs, the more dangerous the mystery becomes.
The Judgement: Clever, self-aware and packed with literary intrigue, this is a mystery that plays inventive games with authorship, storytelling and identity while delivering a genuinely compelling puzzle at its heart.
The Talk Of The Party by Foluso Agbaje
The Brief: A lavish Lagos birthday celebration becomes the backdrop for scandal, secrets and family tensions that threaten to explode in public.
The Suspects: Bukola Obanile, the formidable matriarch determined to maintain her family's flawless image; her four adult children, each battling a scandal of their own; the guests eager to witness the cracks beneath the glamour.
The Setup: Bukola Obanile's sixtieth birthday party is set to be one of the most talked-about events in Lagos society. With five hundred guests, limitless luxury and her entire family gathered under one roof, the evening is intended to celebrate everything she has built. But behind the polished façade, trouble is brewing. As the party approaches, each of Bukola's four children becomes entangled in personal crises that threaten to expose long-buried secrets and undermine the reputation she has spent a lifetime protecting. As tensions rise and appearances become harder to maintain, the glittering celebration begins to look less like a triumph and more like a reckoning.
The Judgement: Agbaje combines family drama with social satire in this stylish Lagos-set thriller, using one unforgettable night to explore reputation, identity and the fragile bonds that hold powerful families together.
Marked For Death by R. O. Thorp
The Brief: A suspicious death, a missing play and a shark-obsessed scientist collide in this quirky academic murder mystery.
The Suspects: Finn Blanchard, the reluctant amateur sleuth; Nina Hussar, the university administrator whose fatal fall may not have been an accident; the professors, staff and students with secrets hidden among the university’s halls.
The Setup: Scientist Finn Blanchard would much rather spend his time investigating rumours of a shark in the local lake than worrying about murder. But when university administrator Nina dies after falling down a staircase, questions begin to swirl around her death. Matters become even stranger when the sudden death of a professor uncovers clues connected to a long-lost Shakespeare play. Drawn reluctantly into the mystery – and nudged along by his detective ex-boyfriend – Finn finds himself navigating academic rivalries, hidden agendas and a growing list of suspects. With danger closing in, solving the case becomes more than an intellectual exercise.
The Judgement: Blending classic whodunnit ingredients with offbeat humour and literary intrigue, Thorp delivers a lively campus mystery packed with eccentric characters, clever clues and plenty of charm.