THRILLERS AND CRIME | Daily Mail Online
Resurrection Walk
by Michael Connelly (Orion £22, 416pp)
Retired LAPD cop turned private investigator Harry Bosch teams up with his half-brother, the Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller, to defend a woman imprisoned for killing her ex-husband, a sheriff’s deputy. This is Connelly at his glittering best; full of twists and insights, it grips like a hungry python.
The Watchmaker’s Hand
by Jeffery Deaver (HarperCollins £22, 464pp)
Quadriplegic forensic investigator Lincoln Rhymes and his wife try to track down who is behind a string of collapsing cranes creating panic across Manhattan, while all the time a lone assassin is lurking in the shadows trying to kill him. The master-plotter Deaver cranks up the tension to fever pitch.
Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly (Orion £22, 416pp) and The Watchmaker’s Hand by Jeffery Deaver (HarperCollins £22, 464pp)
Holly
by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton £25, 448pp)
First appearing in King’s Mr Mercedes in 2014, Holly Gibney has matured into one of the storyteller’s most memorable creations — a resourceful private investigator. Here, she confronts married octogenarian academics, who are also serial killers. Horror lurks in plain sight.
The Christmas Jigsaw Murders
by Alexandra Benedict (Simon & Schuster £14.99, 352pp)
When a set of jigsaw pieces are left on her doorstep, renowned crossword creator and puzzle solver Edie O’Sullivan overcomes her loathing of Christmas to piece together a mystery, insisting that she solves the puzzle before more people die. It’s Agatha Christie on acid, deliciously nasty and fun.
Holly by Stephen King (Hodder & Stoughton £25, 448pp) and The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict (Simon & Schuster £14.99, 352pp)
The Square
by Celia Walden (Sphere £20, 320pp)
Computer adviser Colette services the needs of the wealthy residents in a desirable West London square and discovers their secrets — knowledge which helps when a new arrival is killed in the square gardens. Taut, twisty and thrilling, it proves conclusively that journalist Walden has a great future in crime.
Past Lying
by Val McDermid (Sphere £22, 464pp)
Two crime writers, one established the other less so, play chess with one another and often discuss the perfect murder. When the more successful one dies he leaves behind a manuscript that outlines their plan. So begins this elegant story from McDermid, who richly deserves the title of queen of crime.
Eye for an Eye
by M. J. Arlidge (Orion £14.99, 544pp)
What would happen if the true identity of notorious convicted criminals granted ‘lifetime anonymity orders’ were to be leaked to the Press? Would that encourage a lynch mob, or would it be natural justice? Arlidge asks this tense moral question in a story that opens with a sex offender being killed.
The Square by Celia Walden (Sphere £20, 320pp) and Eye for an Eye by M. J. Arlidge (Orion £14.99, 544pp)