The Best Crime Fiction For October

Silent Bones by Val McDermid
Sphere, £22

The Brief: A motorway landslide uncovers a long-buried body, drawing DCI Karen Pirie and her team into a web of secrets, power, and betrayal.

The Suspects: Karen Pirie, relentless head of the Historic Cases Unit, navigating personal and professional stakes; Sam Nimmo, journalist and vanished prime suspect in his fiancée’s murder; Tom Jamieson, the hotel manager whose suspicious death hides darker truths; and Edinburgh’s elite, whose clubs and boardrooms conceal dangerous connections.

The Setup: Torrential rain exposes a body hidden in tarmac more than a decade earlier. The victim is Sam Nimmo, once accused of killing his fiancée. Pirie must unpick a case where memory, lies, and influence run deep. Meanwhile, in Edinburgh, Jamieson’s so-called accident starts to look like murder — and his book club may know more than they claim. As Pirie follows the threads, both cases begin to knot together, pointing toward Scotland’s rich and powerful, and a conspiracy that refuses to stay buried.

The Judgement: With wit, warmth, and razor-sharp plotting, McDermid proves again why she is the queen of Scottish crime. Silent Bones is powerful, layered, and fiercely human, a Pirie novel that balances humour with heartbreak, and justice with devastating cost.

If You Liked This, Try:

The Distant Echo by Val McDermid. The first Karen Pirie novel is a haunting cold-case mystery.
The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney & Ian Rankin. A gritty, evocative prequel to the Laidlaw series from two giants of Scottish noir.
May God Forgive by Alan Parks. A tense, darkly atmospheric Glasgow-set thriller steeped in corruption and violence.

Sharp Force by Patricia Cornwell
Little, Brown, £22

The Brief: Kay Scarpetta returns in her 29th case, facing a serial killer who turns cutting-edge surveillance into a weapon of terror.

The Suspects: Dr Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner, caught between duty and personal danger; the Phantom Slasher, a predator who can infiltrate homes; Marino, Benton and Lucy, allies who may not be beyond the killer’s reach; and Mercy Island, the infamous psychiatric hospital where past shadows refuse to stay buried.

The Setup: It begins on Christmas morning, when Scarpetta is called to yet another victim – the Phantom Slasher has struck again. His victims wake to spectral apparitions, ghost-like holograms, before being murdered in their beds. The trail leads her to Mercy Island, a place soaked in history and violence, and when someone from her past is found among the dead, Scarpetta realises the killer is closing in.

The Judgement: Cornwell proves once more why she remains the queen of forensic thrillers. With a chilling blend of modern technology and old-school menace, Sharp Force is relentless, atmospheric, and scalpel-sharp. This Scarpetta novel cuts deep and lingers long after the final page.

If You Liked This, Try:
Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell. The ground-breaking first Scarpetta thriller that redefined forensic crime.
We Live Here Now by Sarah Pinborough. A haunting, gothic thriller where secrets fester behind closed doors
The Last Murder At The End Of The World by Stuart Turton. A dazzling, high-concept mystery where nothing is as it seems.

The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves
Pan Macmillan, £22

The Brief: Detective Jimmy Perez returns to Orkney, where an ancient stone, a violent storm, and a brutal murder entwine past and present.

The Suspects: Jimmy Perez, weathered by experience but tethered to his island roots; Archie Stout, the larger-than-life victim whose popularity hid deeper tensions; Willow and their young son, Perez’s anchor in the storm; and the islanders themselves, bound by history, secrets, and grudges as old as the stones.

The Setup: After a storm lashes Orkney, Archie Stout’s body is discovered beside a discarded Neolithic stone carved with ancient inscriptions. Perez knew him as a childhood friend, making this case painfully personal. As he digs into Archie’s final days, Perez uncovers a community rife with resentments, rivalries, and half-buried truths. To solve the murder, he must navigate a landscape where legend bleeds into reality, and where the killer may not be finished.

The Judgement: Ann Cleeves weaves elemental weather, ancient history, and human frailty into another masterful mystery. The Killing Stones is atmospheric, moving, and deeply rooted in place. It’s also a reminder of why Perez remains one of crime fiction’s most compelling detectives.

If You Liked This, Try:
The Long Call by Ann Cleeves. The first Matthew Venn mystery, rich in atmosphere and character.
The Blackhouse by Peter May. A brooding Hebridean thriller where landscape and secrets shape every page.
Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths. A darkly layered police procedural steeped in history and hidden connections.

The Widow by John Grisham
Hodder & Stoughton, £22

The Brief: A desperate lawyer, a wealthy widow, and a fortune no one was meant to know about — until the story unravels into murder.

The Suspects: Simon Latch, small-town lawyer drowning in debt and temptation; Eleanor Barnett, the elderly widow who claims to be worth $20 million; rival lawyers circling like vultures; and a justice system all too ready to put Simon on trial.

The Setup: When Eleanor Barnett walks into Simon’s office with a fortune to her name and no heirs in sight, Simon sees salvation from his crumbling life. But as he manoeuvres to keep her wealth secret, the story begins to fracture. After a car accident lands Eleanor in hospital, questions multiply — and before long, Simon finds himself accused of a crime he swears he didn’t commit: murder.

The Judgement: With The Widow, Grisham delivers a taut, classic courtroom drama that doubles as a twist-laden murder mystery. It’s sharp, compulsive, and irresistible — proof that no one blends legal intrigue with page-turning suspense quite like him.

If You Liked This, Try:
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. A legal thriller icon at his best, mixing courtroom tension with moral ambiguity.
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane. A dark, propulsive thriller where morality, justice, and survival collide.
The Appeal by Janice Hallett. An inventive, razor-sharp mystery told through the voices of a community hiding secrets.

The Crime Shelf is updated regularly. Come back soon for more fresh October releases from heavy hitters including Peter James