The Best Crime Fiction For November
The Burning Grounds
Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker, £22)
The Brief: In 1920s Calcutta, amid the smoke and splendour of the Burning Ghats, a beloved patron of the arts is found with his throat cut. Soon, detectives Sam Wyndham and Surendranath Banerjee are pulled into a case that burns with history, betrayal, and change.
The Suspects: Sam Wyndham, back from disgrace and treading the fault lines of empire; Suren Banerjee, freshly returned from Europe and shadowed by guilt; the dazzling new world of Indian cinema, where art, politics, and power intertwine; and the missing woman whose photographs may expose everything.
The Setup: When a philanthropist is found murdered at the sacred Burning Grounds, Wyndham’s reluctant reinstatement to the Imperial Police collides with Banerjee’s private search for a vanished female photographer. As the two men uncover connections between the victim and India’s burgeoning film industry, they are drawn into a labyrinth of colonial intrigue, rebellion, and forbidden love. With Calcutta poised on the edge of change, both detectives must confront not just the killer, but their own divided loyalties.
The Judgement: Abir Mukherjee continues his acclaimed Wyndham & Banerjee series with breathtaking scope and emotion. The Burning Grounds is richly cinematic, morally complex, and deeply human – a searing portrait of friendship, justice, and empire’s dying light. Historical fiction at its most thrilling and profound.
If You Liked This, Try:
The Shadows Of Men by Abir Mukherjee. Another gripping case for Wyndham and Banerjee, steeped in politics and peril.
The Glutton by A.K. Blakemore. A lush, immersive historical novel exploring desire, power, and punishment.
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James. A sweeping, violent, and redemptive tale that blurs myth and history.
The Token
Sharon Bolton (Orion, £22)
The Brief: Seven strangers. One doomed cruise. A fortune that could change their lives – or end them.
The Suspects: The seven handpicked beneficiaries of billionaire Logan Quick’s will, each holding a mysterious token and a secret of their own; the elusive Quick himself, whose death may not be the end of his game; and the storm-lashed ship where greed, paranoia, and guilt collide.
The Setup: When seven strangers receive an invitation promising them a share of a billionaire’s estate, they board a luxury cruise ship bound for the Caribbean, but none of them knows why they were chosen. As the voyage progresses, alliances fracture, old sins surface, and things go very wrong. Someone on board is determined to claim the fortune for themselves, and the others must unmask them before the waves close over them all.
The Judgement: Sharon Bolton proves once again that no one writes high-concept, high-tension thrillers quite like her. The Token is wickedly clever and claustrophobic – a mystery on open seas, packed with moral twists and chilling revelations. A perfect winter read for fans of Knives Out and And Then There Were None.
If You Liked This, Try:
The Fury by Alex Michaelides. A locked-room thriller on a Greek island where wealth and betrayal turn deadly.
One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware. A sun-soaked, cutthroat survival mystery set against reality TV mayhem.
The House Hunt by C. M. Ewan. A relentless, high-stakes thriller where greed, danger, and confinement collide.
The Bookbinder’s Secret
A.D. Bell (HQ, £20)
The Brief: An atmospheric mystery set amid the ink-stained pages of Edwardian Oxford, where one young woman uncovers a hidden trail of love, murder, and obsession bound inside the pages of forgotten books.
The Suspects: Lilian Delaney, apprentice bookbinder and reluctant daughter; the mysterious lovers whose long-buried letters whisper of betrayal; collectors and scholars guarding their own secrets; and the books themselves – vessels of passion, power, and danger.
The Setup: Oxford, 1901. When Lily Delaney finds a scorched volume concealing a letter written 50 years earlier, she’s pulled into a labyrinth of hidden stories. Each book she restores yields another fragment of a forbidden romance and a long-ago murder. As her search leads from London’s rare book dealers to shadowed libraries and aristocratic drawing rooms, Lily realises she’s not the only one hunting the truth and knowledge can be deadly.
The Judgement: Rich with literary intrigue and gothic atmosphere, The Bookbinder’s Secret celebrates the beauty and peril of words themselves. Weaving together love, danger, and historical detail, this feels both timeless and thrillingly original.
If You Liked This, Try:
The Binding by Bridget Collins. A lyrical mystery where secrets are literally sewn into pages.
The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola. Historical suspense laced with obsession, science, and shadowed ambition.
The Glassmaker by Tracy Chevalier. A sweeping tale of craft, love, and danger from one of the masters of historical fiction.
Hitwoman
Elsie Marks (HQ, £9.99)
The Brief: A fast, funny, and fiercely original debut that blends espionage, romcom, and action-thriller energy. Think Killing Eve meets Bridget Jones, with bullets and banter in equal measure.
The Suspects: Maisie Baxter, London’s top assassin with a weakness for late-night cocktails and bad dating apps; Will, the annoyingly charming rival agent who keeps turning up mid-mission; the agencies pulling their strings; and a conspiracy that could bring them both down.
The Setup: Maisie Baxter takes pride in her precision both in her professional kills and her manicure. But when Will, a mysterious fellow assassin, crashes one of her jobs claiming to have vital intel, her tidy life of contracts and cover stories unravels. As sparks fly and bullets follow, the pair are forced into an uneasy alliance to expose a web of corruption stretching to the top of the industry. Romance, rivalry, and revenge all collide in a story that fires on every cylinder.
The Judgement: Smart, sexy, and explosively funny, Hitwoman is a gleeful reinvention of the spy thriller. Elsie Marks delivers whip-smart dialogue, high-octane chemistry, and a heroine who kills as stylishly as she flirts.
If You Liked This, Try:
The List by Yomi Adegoke. A sharp, witty look at reputation, ambition, and modern chaos.
The Maid by Nita Prose. A clever, character-driven mystery with heart and humour.
The Undiscovered Deaths Of Grace McGill by C.S. Robertson. A darkly funny, poignant thriller about life, death, and cleaning up other people’s messes.
The Crime Shelf is regularly updated so drop back soon fro more crime crackers for November