Forthcoming Books from Harvill Secker

March 2026

The Other You is by Carys Green. ‘It will be all right,’ Nellie assured her with startling confidence. ‘I’m here to make things better. You’ll see.’ Elena and Stu are barely holding it together. Their newborn screams through the night, their nerves are frayed, and their marriage is hanging by a thread. Then comes More You: a company offering an impossible solution — a clone. For a price, they can have another Elena. One who is fresh. Alert. At first, it feels like salvation. The clone is calm, capable, perfect. But soon she starts to pick up Elena’s habits. Her voice. Her smile. And in the quiet hours of the night, something in the house begins to shift. When the cracks finally split wide open, Elena is forced to confront a terrifying question: if someone takes your place, what happens to you?

April 2026

Set in a town steeped in history and horror, the series follows DS Joseph Ashe, a young man haunted by the ghosts of his past and struggling with survivor’s guilt, and DI Laurie Bower, an outsider fighting to fit in.Every place has its ghosts. Edenscar, a town in the Peak District, has more than most. 17 years ago, its inhabitants were hit by tragedy when a school bus veered off the road and everyone on board drowned. Everyone, that is, except Joseph Ashe. His miraculous survival has haunted him and the town ever since. Now a Detective Sergeant in the local police, Joe is called to the scene of a brutal and apparently inexplicable crime. The whole town is spooked, but Joe’s new boss, DI Laurie Bower, more used to inner-city police work, has no time for superstition. She just wants to find the very real killer who has left no trace and apparently had no motive. Joining forces, Joe and Laurie work to uncover the secrets of Edenscar, both past and present. But when you dig up the dead, expect to get your hands dirty. The Drowning Place is by Sarah Hilary.

May 2026

Transference is by Robin Brookes. Leo and Viv's Friday night starts out like any other. A bottle of wine, a takeaway from their favourite Chinese restaurant, a movie, then an early night. But when Leo wakes up, he finds he's not in London anymore; he's naked and alone in an unfamiliar bed, in an anonymous hotel, on the other side of the world. Viv wakes up to a ringing phone. It's Leo - he claims that he's in Australia, despite the impossibility of it. An emergency passport is arranged. A return flight to London is booked, but before Leo can make it onto the plane, there's a flicker in the corner of his vision, and he wakes up in another bed, in another hotel room, in another country. Disoriented, Leo soon discovers he's not alone. Someone with access to a groundbreaking technology and an axe to grind is beaming a group of individuals around the globe - and hunting them down, one by one, committing perfect, untraceable murders. As Leo fights for his life, back in London, Viv is struggling to understand what's happening. But as her investigation deepens she starts to unearth secrets from Leo's past. Dark secrets. Secrets that might be enough to make someone want to kill him. And the more she learns about Leo, the less she seems to know - and the less certain she is that her husband is a man worth saving.

In a world of lies, proof is power. John Dyer is living a quiet life when he receives a call that changes everything: an old university friend, Lia, has been killed. Decades have passed since his last heartbreaking conversation with her, but Dyer finds himself driven to investigate. What Dyer uncovers puts him in the path of a political conspiracy with one man at its heart. A man who forty years ago committed a crime witnessed by just four people. When another of the witnesses dies in suspicious circumstances, Dyer finds himself in danger of his life. To combat the forces arrayed against him, he needs incontrovertible proof – but will he find it in time? As Dyer chases his leads from Tasmania to Argentina and finally to Michigan, where it all began, he unwittingly pits himself against an adversary more powerful than he could have imagined, in a race as heart stopping as tomorrow’s headlines. Frame 37 is by Nicholas Shakespeare.

June 2026

Pinnacle is by Abir Mukherjee. James Abercrombie is a Hollywood actor who’s past his prime. Ten years ago, he was box office. These days he’s more boxed wine and coffee adverts. But they still love him in Asia. On the set of a whisky commercial, he meets the beautiful Sweety Sahota, India’s queen of Bollywood, beloved by billions. Marrying her might revive his fortunes. They move to Mumbai and into The Pinnacle. Sweety’s career continues to sky-rocket. James’s not so much. He hates India – it’s hot and dirty and crowded and the food upsets his stomach. Soon the marriage is in trouble. Is she cheating on him? The papers seem to think so. They have a clandestine photo of her with her ex-boyfriend, Bollywood heart-throb Chunky. James hits the bottle, and after one particularly drunken session, wakes in the apartment to find Sweety dead in their bed, her throat slit. Did he kill her? He’s sure he didn’t, but who the hell’s going to believe him? He needs to find out who killed his wife and why, and he needs to do it fast; before the crime is pinned on him, because, let’s face it, he’s not going to get a fair trial. If he doesn’t work it out, he's as good as dead.

July 2026

When schoolgirls start fainting one after the other at a convent boarding school, old legends twist into new scandals. Centuries of tradition are coming to an end at St Cordula's school. Deputy Head, Fiona Fox, is about to preside over a controversial move to save it from ruin. But it’s not easy to change things at a school this old. Legend has it that the ghost of fifteenth-century nun, Sister Matilda, will keep St Cordula’s safe. But only as long as the words ‘GOD FORGIVE ME’, scrawled by Matilda on a chapel staircase wall before she fell to her death, are repainted every year. The words have only been allowed to fade once, in 2002. But then, fits of vertigo spread through the pupils, and a second girl fell to her death on the night stairs. Only three people know the truth of what happened on the night of the tragedy. Now the vertigo is back, and Fiona must stem the outbreak before it threatens St Cordula’s future, or worse, another girl loses her life. But when one of her pupils begins a dangerous investigation into the past, old secrets start to twist into new scandals… The Night Stairs is by Erin Kelly.

Eden Falls is by Ajay Chowdhury. Newlyweds Adam and Aisha are in an airport lounge in Delhi, their honeymoon abruptly cut short by the murder of Adam’s best friend. While Aisha waits, Adam disappears, leaving only a cryptic message: 'I’m sorry'. Stranded in India without documents, Aisha is interrogated by RAW, India’s intelligence agency, and the FBI – both of whom seem to know more about her husband’s disappearance than she does. At the same time Adam’s ex-lover, Sara, receives an urgent message from him: 'Help her'. Thrown together by circumstance and suspicion, Aisha and Sara decode Adam’s clues, which lead them across the US in a hunt to find Adam before it’s too late.

Forthcoming books from Cannongate

January 2026

The Cut Up is By Louise Welsh. It's hard to be good when living is expensive. And times are tough on the streets these days. Luckily for Rilke at Bowery Auctions the demand for no-questions-asked cash is at an all-time high, and business is booming. When Rilke hears his old acquaintance Les is fresh out of prison, his inclination is to stay well out of his way. Letting sleeping dogs lie is one thing - but when one of Bowery's customers winds up dead on their tarmac, Rilke needs a bit of help from his friends to tidy things up. If only his friends didn't have such a habit of making things worse.

February 2026

On the Greek island of Vidos the past lingers like salt in the air. The inhabitants - former members of MI6 - are sent here to be forgotten. Exiled. Either too damaged or too compromised to be allowed to live freely. For years, residents make the best of their fate - old enemies reconcile, long-lost friends swim together in the warm sea and estranged lovers share a bed once more. But secrets bind tightly. And when one of their own washes up dead, alliances fracture and a tide of suspicion begins to rise. A Stranger in Corfu is by Alex Preston.

June 2026

The Death of Shame is by Ambrose Parry. When you are a prisoner of your secrets, the death of shame is the only path to liberty. Annabel Banks was promised work as a maid with a prestigious Edinburgh family. But on her first day, she's nowhere to be found. Concerned relatives contact Sarah Fisher to help. Sarah might know her way around the city - its light sides and dark - but soon she'll discover the plight of dozens of girls ensnared in its many brothels: lured, abused and left ruined in the eyes of the world. Meanwhile, a prominent society figure throws himself from the Scott Monument. Will Raven is asked to establish whether the death was suicide or if someone else was involved. Drawing upon real historical events, The Death of Shame takes the Raven and Fisher series into a treacherous labyrinth of shame and the pitfalls of a culture obsessed with moral purity.

Forthcoming Books from Faber and Faber

January 2026

My Inner Child Wants to Murder Mindfully is by Karsten Dusse. Lawyer turned murderer Björn wants to stop killing. Unfortunately, the prisoner in his basement is getting restless, the parents' committee at his daughter's preschool is clamouring for his attention, and to cap it all, he's also being blackmailed. To manage all this stress, he turns to a mindfulness coach to learn about the unmet needs of his inner child. As he begins listening to this inner child, he finds it doesn't just have needs, but solutions: creative ways he can solve his problems. All of them. The trouble is, they involve murder.

Two patients are fighting for their lives. Nina, the hospital nurse, reads their notes: Leroy: stab wound, gang member, police escort. Dev: stomach pain, artist, distraught mother. Nina is meant to treat all her patients equally: not to pick favourites, and not to judge. Except tonight, understaffed and overstretched, both patients need her. She makes a split-second choice - and leaves one man to die. And that's when she realises that on this busy hospital ward, no-one is exactly what they seem. The Good Patient is by Nilesha Chauvet.

February 2026

Sounds Like Trouble is by Pamela Samuels Young and Dwayne Alexander Smith Three mobsters. Two detectives. A deadly race against time. Jackson Jones and Mackenzie Cunningham - two of the best private investigators in the business - are presented with a case they aren't allowed to refuse. The heads of L.A.'s three major crime families have tasked them with finding sensitive information hidden by a man in critical condition before he flatlines. Or else. The pair can't agree on how to furnish the office of their new joint venture, Safe and Sound Investigations, let alone the nature of their feelings for each other. But with a masked man on their tail, they are going to have to stick together if they are going to have any chance of solving the case.

March 2026

Your baby is perfect. She sleeps through the night, even in this heat. You'll keep her cool. Open the window. Anything she needs. Anything. But when you wake up in the morning, Bella is gone. Recently-promoted DI Martha Allen is furious. Her career hinges on this missing baby case, and her boss and the circling media both want a quick solve - but her key witness is lying. Allen needs the truth. She's not going to stop until she gets it. No matter how long it takes. That detective is watching you. What have you done? What happened to your baby? Missing is by E A Jackson.

Murder at the Spirit Lounge is by Jess Kidd. Sharp-eyed former nun Nora Breen is back, as the latest attraction in Gore-on-Sea turns deadly . . . On a brilliant December morning, Nora finds her customary seaside walk rudely interrupted: she's been summoned, with Detective Inspector Rideout, to the home of Doreen Chimes, Gore-on-Sea's resident medium. Chimes would like to report a robbery - and to personally invite Rideout to that evening's private séance. It's an invitation he will regret accepting: the evening ends in a suspiciously spooky murder. And in the coming days, more of the attendees will find themselves in peril. Can Nora figure out who - or what - is behind these spectral killings before it's too late?

June 2026

Marked for Death is by R O Thorp. Scientist Finn Blanchard is trying not to think about murder. The university administrator Nina Hussar may have fallen to her death down stairs she'd used for years, but the only mystery Finn wants to investigate is whether there's a shark in the local lake. But when a professor's sudden death unearths cryptic clues to a missing Shakespeare play, Finn is forced to admit his research isn't the fishiest part of university life. After all, as his detective ex-boyfriend says, there's nothing more suspicious than a fall down some stairs. And if Finn can't figure out who the killer is soon, the next blood in the water might be his own . . .

It's Ife's dream wedding - until her new husband Ade is arrested for murder. His missing ex, Cynthia, has been found dead on the Dorset coast. Case closed: it's always the ex, right? But did Ade kiss, marry - and kill? One person hopes the truth never comes out. Kiss, Marry Kill is by Yemi Dipeolu.

 

Forthcoming books from Harper Collins

 January 2026

A special new edition of Agatha Christie's Endless Night. Gipsy’s Acre was a truly beautiful upland site with views out to sea – and in Michael Rogers it stirred a child-like fantasy. There, amongst the dark fir trees, he planned to build a house, find a girl and live happily ever after. Yet, as he left the village, a shadow of menace hung over the land. For this was the place where accidents happened. Perhaps Michael should have heeded the locals’ warnings: ‘There’s no luck for them as meddles with Gipsy’s Acre.’ Michael Rogers is a man who is about to learn the true meaning of the old saying ‘In my end is my beginning…’

The Final Score is by Don Winslow. In six all-new short novels written with the trademark literary style, trenchant wit, and incisive characterization that have made Don Winslow “America’s greatest living crime writer” (Providence Journal), this repeat New York Times bestselling author serves up a collection of tales sure to delight Winslow’s most devoted fans and first-time readers. The multi-million-dollar casino heist is impossible—it can’t be done. That’s what makes it irresistible to a legendary robber facing the rest of his life in prison for his “Final Score.” An ambitious, hard-working college-bound teenager has a side job delivering illegal booze to “The Sunday List” until a crooked cop, a seductive customer, and a fake guru threaten to end his dreams. Two wise guys tell each other a “True Story” over breakfast at a diner. It’s all bullshit and laughs until someone else has to pick up the check. An otherwise honest patrolman has to make an excruciating choice between his loyalty to the job and his love for a ne’er-do-well cousin in “The North Wing.” The entitled, substance-addicted movie star that surfer/PI Boone Daniels and his crew are hired to babysit in “The Lunch Break” is a problem. She also has a problem—someone wants her dead. Finally, the one terrible, momentary mistake that a devoted family man makes sends him to prison and on a “Collision” course between the man he wants to be and the killer he’s forced to become to survive.

February 2026

Mrs Sidhu's Just Desserts is by Suk Pannu. It's the most glamorous event of the year. When Mrs Sidhu is hired as the caterer for the opening of Berkshire’s swankiest new art gallery, she can't believe her luck. It's the biggest pay cheque of her career, a glitzy evening, and a chance to take her cooking to the next level in front of the local crème de la crème. But there's trouble on the menu. Then the gallery's star painting is stolen. And worse than that, Mrs Sidhu's best and sweetest waitress – with her whole life ahead of her – is found dead. Mrs Sidhu wants answers. As she casts her eye over Berkshire's art scene – the murderously competitive collectors, critics and creatives – she uncovers a dastardly knot of greed and deception, obsession and revenge. Can she crack the strangest case of her career and unmask the murderer, so they can meet their just desserts?

Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage. There’s a dead body in my living room. I’ve not called the police because it was I who stabbed him. Seven times in all. The truth is, it’s surprisingly difficult to dispatch someone with a vegetable knife. In case you’re wondering, the dead man is not my husband. I do resent our pitiful sex life and his woeful lack of ambition, but I wouldn’t murder him for it. Not yet, anyway. Right now, I have far more pressing concerns: scheming to get my daughter into the perfect school; buying my dream home in Hampstead; and disposing of a corpse. A woman’s work is never done. I’ve created the perfect life – and I’ll kill to keep it.

A priest’s death leads to sinister goings on in an old country pub… To understand the strange goings on at The Pale Horse Inn, Mark Easterbrook knew he had to begin at the beginning. But where exactly was the beginning? Was it the savage blow to the back of Father Gorman’s head? Or was it when the priest’s assailant searched him so roughly he tore the clergyman’s cassock? Or could it have been the priest’s visit, just minutes before, to a woman on her death bed? Or was there a deeper significance to the violent squabble which Mark Easterbrook had himself witnessed earlier? Wherever the beginning lies, Mark and his sidekick, Ginger Corrigan, may soon have cause to wish they’d never found it… The Pale Horse is by Agatha Christie and is a new edition of the classic novel.

How to Kill a Crime Writer is by Sarah Lotz. She wrote for a living.But who wanted her dead? When bestselling author Annie Morrissey is found dead, her daughter Niamh knows in her gut it’s no accident – even if the case needs a good edit. The village is strangely uneventful. The suspects are suspiciously normal. The leads quickly turn into dead ends… But when Annie’s final manuscript lands on the doormat, the pages humming with mystery and suspense, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.This can’t be a coincidence. Because if Niamh learnt anything from her mother’s crime fiction, it’s that there’s no such thing. And that village secrets never stay buried for long…

An atmospheric crime mystery featuring DI Georgina Lennox and DI Richard Stewart, set in the Scottish highlands. Deep in the Scottish Highlands, the body of a young woman is found on the cursed road, a narrow track with a bloody history. It initially looks like an accident, but a name scratched on the dead woman’s arm links to an unsolved case from years ago. Glaswegian detectives Georgina Lennox and Richard Stewart are sent north to investigate, and they discover a community riven by a centuries’ old blood feud and modern rivalries. As George and Richie attempt to get to the truth behind the dark rumours, a killer is waiting, determined that some secrets are never uncovered. The Cursed Road is by Laura McCluskey.

Deception Island is by R S Burnett. When a rescue team arrives at Deception Island to evacuate scientists from an erupting volcano, they discover everyone has vanished without a trace. Cut off from the outside world and trapped on an island with deadly secrets, Abbie must uncover the truth before the volcano – or something far more sinister – claims her life. Deception Island, a sunken volcano, is about to blow – and the scientists studying it need evacuating. It’s a race against time, and nature. But when they land on the island they find it completely deserted. As they search for signs of life other strange things start to happen: the radio is cut-off and then their boat disappears…Deception Island holds many secrets, but Abbie is worried about just one question: Will she make it off it alive?

You want answers. The house won't give them up. An unexplained death. In stormy West Cornwall, a woman lies dead at the bottom of a waterfall. A year later, her children are possessed by strange visions. A house full of secrets. Forensic psychologist Karenza Bray arrives to work with the children. She discovers a grand ancestral home, full of details that don’t quite make sense. The children sleepwalk into the sea, and claim to speak with dark spectres. An centuries-old mirror shows them impossible things. A family with everything to hide. Someone knows the truth about what happened to Natalie Tyack. Her husband. The housekeeper. The neighbours. But the more Karenza tries to help, the deeper she steps into a mystery, into a haunting. This house has a history that has not been put to rest. Will any of them escape sane, and unscathed? The Wrecker's Girl is by SK Tremayne.

Make You Mine is by Claire Kendall. You can run. You can hide. But you belong to me. It was the case of the decade. A 15-year-old girl on her way to school, vanished without a trace. The world feared the worst – but then, after months, she was discovered in a church crypt, lying alive beside the dead body of her kidnapper. Now, 26 years later, Esmeralda Avelar has worked hard to leave her traumatic past behind. She has forged a new identity, and a new career as a police detective. But the past refuses to stay buried. Because notorious serial killer Jason Thorne has escaped from his secure psychiatric hospital, and he has a new obsession… to find Esmeralda, the girl who got away, and make her his.

March 2026

Essex Wives is by Kimberley Chambers. Don’t get mad, get even… 1999, Essex. Sharon, Jolene, and Evie have one thing in common – they’ve all been burned by one of the Bond boys. Sharon’s seeking retribution after her husband’s affair. Jolene yearns to get her own back on the man that destroyed her life. And Evie is fighting to protect her family from the bad boy her daughter married. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned … As the turn of the millennium rounds the corner, this is one year that will go out with a bang. The Essex wives are back, and they’re out for revenge.

A woman convinced of her partner's infidelity discovers that the situation is even more murky when he turns up dead. He has a secret. She knows he’s lying… You think you know the people you love. Nadeeka is certain Jamie is having an affair. She knows the tell-tale signs. She’s been here before. You think you know who you can trust. When Jamie claims to be at work late, she knows he’s lying. He’s with another woman, and she’s determined to catch him in the act. You think you know how the story ends. But when Nadeeka arrives home to confront him, Jamie can't explain himself. The house has become a crime scene… Jamie is dead. It's Not What You Think is by Clare Mackintosh.

A Burnt Moor is by Nina Bhadreshwar. A brutal murder. The charred remains of a man are discovered, showing signs of torture. The body was abandoned on the wild moors of the peak district, but he wasn’t killed there. A life gone up in flames. An arson fire in Sheffield reveals the site of another murder, this time of a young woman, and DI Diana Walker finds herself investigating two murders. A dark truth. When the victim’s identities are revealed, Diana begins to dig into Sheffield’s criminal underworld where she uncovers webs of corruption at the city’s heart.

April 2026

Who Can You Trust is by Susan Lewis. A terrible crime. A shocking confession. Do you believe her? Twenty years ago, Nicole’s twins disappeared without a trace. No bodies. No witnesses. Despite her pleas of innocence, Nicole was convicted. Now she’s out. And she’s finally confessed. But for true crime podcast host Cristy Ward, the story doesn’t add up. Having worked on the case as a young reporter, Cristy can’t help but wonder whether Nicole is the villain everyone believes her to be. Why did Nicole confess after so many years … and is the truth still out there, waiting…?

A beautiful summer day. When young nurse Claire Davidson goes missing on the riverbank, the only clues left behind are her phone and shoes. A mystery that sweeps the nation. People disappear all the time, but this case sparks an online frenzy. Amateur investigators descend on the rural idyll. Is Claire Davidson just the story of a swim that went wrong, or could there be truth to the conspiracies? A killer growing bolder. Then another woman is discovered dead in the river. Jake Jackson, a former detective who came to the countryside searching for peace, must investigate before more lives are lost. A Twist in the River is by Stig Abell.

Turn The Dial for Death is by Jeremy Vine. An impossible death. A seaside town on the brink. Stay tuned for murder… Sidmouth is gearing up for summer – but murder is all year round… When a doctor is found dead in the woods, shot through the heart with a crossbow, his wife is the prime suspect, despite an ironclad alibi. Desperate to clear her name, she appeals to radio presenter Edward Temmis for help. But Edward has troubles of his own. With his beloved radio station in crisis and a mysterious motorbike crash on the seafront, the doctor’s death isn’t the only problem he has to face. Edward, Kim and Stevie must reunite on a treacherous path to uncover the truth. Can they solve the case before everything tumbles down?

Honey is by Imani Thompson. The first time, Yrsa doesn’t intend to kill. But the Cambridge professor sitting opposite has manipulated her friend, stolen her research. When she flicks the bee into his Sanpellegrino, she thinks he’ll get a nasty sting. Then he’s dead. And Yrsa, who – let’s face it – has been bored for a while, is alive. It’s a sweet feeling, finally having some control.

Faye's ex-husband is dead, but she is threatened by her father who is still on the run from prison. The man who should be her safety net is her greatest fear. But it's not just Faye that's in danger. Faye also has to protect her loved ones and her life's work, the Revenge company. Faye gathers her circle of women and enlists the help of the only man she trusts to plan the final revenge. But will she succeed, now that her father seems to be working with a criminal network and is more dangerous than ever? Dreams of Bronze is by Camilla Läckberg

You Are Mine is by Alex Lane. Mary Jordan is walking along the street when she spots a sign on a lamppost. If you’re reading this, I’m watching you. You’re now part of my collection. If you’re unlucky, that is what you will remain. But if you’re lucky, you will be chosen, and your life will never be the same again. Mary is shocked. Her skin crawls at the idea she is being watched. She searches the buildings, looking, perhaps, for a face at a window. She is terrified.But only for a moment. There’s nothing to fear. It’s obviously just a harmless prank. She is wrong…

May 2026 

Rebel's Gambit is by S J Parris. England, 1601.Treason threatens the realm. When the body of a Scottish envoy washes up on the banks of the Thames, the Queen’s most powerful spymaster, Robert Cecil, is accused of arranging the murder. Cecil turns to his covert intelligencer Sophia de Wolfe to discreetly discover what the dead man was doing in London, and why he was killed. But this murder is borne of treacherous political currents. As loyalties shift and rebellion foments, as the Earl of Essex makes a dangerous play for power, Sophia is fast drawn into perilous waters. Everyone wants the Queen’s hard-won favour, even as tensions rise and the country begins to look for new answers. And Sophia has her own secrets to hide…

Adventure can be a deadly business. It began in the manner of all the very best adventures: in a coffee house. When one Richard Hannay—intrepid, inquisitive, and on the hunt for intrigue—encounters an old acquaintance in Constantinople, he has an inkling that something thrilling is afoot. Charged with an item of great mystery and import—a washbag, no less!—he soon finds himself in a very dangerous pursuit: from the luxurious confines of the Orient Express to the decks of the Titanic herself, all with the very fate of Europe in his care. Can he slip the net of Count Schwabing, whose long arm stretches from Berlin to the Bosphorus? And what of Madame Zara, the cabaret enchantress—does she play at affection, deception, or something far more deadly? In over his head, often a step—or thirty-nine—behind, but absolutely, resolutely determined to save the day, Hannay is about to embark on an escapade that will test his wits, his courage, and his ability to keep hold of a blasted washbag. A Very Dangerous Pursuit is by Ben Miller.

The return of 007. Agent 003, Joanna Harwood, has finally found James Bond after nearly two years of searching. All she has to do is get him out of Russia alive and convince him he can trust her again. A mission for revenge. But Bond trusts no one. And he wants revenge on Mora, the monstrous figure at the head of Rattenfänger – a terrorist organisation with links to the past. The final showdown MI6’s Double O section is in pieces. Moneypenny is captured. 000 has switched sides. And all of Rattenfänger’s plans for hijacking the cyber-intelligence of the West are finally about to be realised. The remaining Double Os must work together – and figure out which of them are still loyal… Hurricane Room is by Kim Sherwood.

The Killer in Room Five is by Sam Holland. A terrible confession. In an isolated room in Hollowpines, an infamous psychiatric hospital, Joe Sinclair is confessing to a violent murder. An impossible crime. Locked away, Joe couldn't possibly have killed the man, so how does he know so many of the horrifying details? A detective at her limits. Suspended after a colleague was stabbed on her watch, DC Abby Fox has only just returned to work. But at Hollowpines, she must find out what really happened and how exactly Joe is involved. Is he to blame, or the only one who can stop the killer?

June 2026

Three Reasons For Revenge is by Dervla McTiernan. Someone’s been watching. Someone’s been waiting.  Alexis Turner walks into the police station to report an assault. By the end of the day, she is nowhere to be found. Soon after she disappears, three identical packages arrive at three very different doors: a respected psychologist's home, a socialite's mansion, and a struggling single father's run-down apartment. Inside, each gift is perfectly tailored to its recipient — and each will tear apart the life of its intended victim. Detective Sergeant Judith Lee is smart and experienced, but this is no ordinary case. Someone with intimate knowledge of their targets is orchestrating these attacks. Someone who knows exactly how to hurt each victim where they're most vulnerable. And she’s convinced that somehow, it connects back to Alexis Turner. As she races to uncover the connection between four seemingly unrelated people, Judith discovers she's no longer just investigating the game – she's being forced to play.

Everything She Didn't Say is by Jane Casey. Victim? Witness? Killer? A woman is found in bloodstained clothes on the lonely coast of County Mayo. At first, she won’t speak. Then a name comes: Ruth. And a story about her missing friend: Maura. Ruth says she and Maura were staying in a clifftop house together.But there’s no trace of her there. Nothing but a pool of blood. Ruth says Maura was paranoid before she disappeared. But the locals say they only ever saw one woman. Ruth says all she wants is to make sure Maura is safe. But someone is dead, someone is a killer, someone is lying. Ruth says she’s being honest, but are the answers in everything she didn’t say?

Welcome back to North Falls―a small town with big secrets. Sheriff Emmy Clifton and her sister, ex-federal agent Jude Archer, investigate a brutal attack that shatters their town's fragile peace. But the deeper Emmy digs, the more dangerous it gets… The Secrets We Hide is by Karin Slaughter.

Ace Atkins talks to Shots Magazine

 

I was finalising my ‘Favourites of 2025’ crime and mystery fiction for Jeff Peirce’s The Rap Sheet, when like an unexpected incoming ICBM, Ace Atkins’ EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD landed on my desk from Little Brown UK [via an Advanced Readers Copy from William Morrow Imprint of HarperCollins US].

This changed everything –

Sometimes black humour is the only way to cope with the horrors of a possible nuclear war. Ace Atkins delivers laughs aplenty that overlay a terrifying cold war thriller. Readers who grew up in the 1980s will smirk at many of the popular culture references that Atkins peppers in this page-turner.

The novel elegantly traverses the American cities of Atlanta and Washington. The year is 1985 where the Cold-War will reach its icy conclusion in Geneva. America and Russia’s Nuclear Arms Race pivots on a meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. The veracity of the so-called American ‘Star Wars’ program [S.D.I.] will be determined at that meeting. The conclusion will be an escalation or a de-escalation of the nuclear stockpile as each side will decide if ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ is likely or does America’s Strategic Defence Initiative give Washington the upper-hand?

A deadly game of cat-and-mouse is in play as the Geneva Meeting looms heavily on both the Russian and American secret services.

Atkins peppers his hefty thriller with an oddball assortment of players.

The complexity and darkness of the narrative are balanced by equal doses of gentle humour and farce that striate the novel, making it very moving and at times tragically sad. But it is thought-provoking at all times.

Not unlike the recent Travis Kennedy comedic thriller [The Whyte Python World Tour], Atkin’s latest is equally life affirming.

A wonderful book filled with weird insights into the machinations of an absurd reality that masks the dangers of existence.

Read More HERE

So, Ace Atkins’ extraordinary novel sat high up on my top crime / mystery thrillers of 2025 – at The Rap Sheet 

To be totally honest, it was Ace Atkins continuation of Robert B Parker’s Spencer novels many years ago that brought his work to my eye. I had been a reader of Parker’s Spencer novels for many years, and paid my dues to him and his wife Joan at Bouchercon Albany in 2013, when I moderated a panel discussion about his work, and the shadow he cast over the genre. It culminated with me reading a letter I received from Joan Parker – which is archived at Jeff Peirce’s The Rap Sheet 

After putting Ace Atkin’s EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD down, I had a few questions. Despite being ultra-busy, on a promotional tour, he kindly agreed to a chat for his British Readers – which we present here -

Ali: Welcome to Great Britain’s Shot Magazine. Before we talk about your EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD can you tell us a little about your youth, and were your family ‘bookish’ people?

Ace: Not very bookish at all! My father was a professional (American) football coach, and we moved around quite a lot. He mainly had books about football strategy, but my mother kept a decent book collection that followed us around from city to city. I recall one house – in Buffalo, New York – where the previous owner left us a sizable library. Some good stuff that I have still with me today. Later on, I became a used bookstore regular. My sons will inherit a massive book collection whether they want them or not.

I was very involved in sports. But I would have much rather been reading. I started collecting books at a very early age.

AK: ……..and what lead you into journalism?

AA: I always knew I wanted to be a novelist and being a journalist seemed like the best training ground. I was very fortunate that I got into the last days of solid print journalism in the States. I started at the very bottom and worked my way up the beat I always wanted – crime. I learned most of what I know about cops and investigations during those years. I also had some terrific editors who helped shaped my voice and style. Mainly I learned how to get to the point and tell a decent story.

AK: And so what led you to start your own writing? And what books influenced you to pursue writing as a career?

AA: I blame it all on Ian Fleming! I had always liked books, and I read all that was required by school. But nothing captured my attention like Fleming. I recall being in middle school and a kid in my class was reading Goldfinger. He said if you like the Bond movies, the books are one hundred times better. And he was he right! Once I finished with Fleming, I read John Gardner, John le Carré, Len Deighton, Clive Cussler, and Frederick Forsyth.

Spy novels led the way to classic crime, and I later got into Robert B. Parker, Elmore Leonard and George V. Higgins. And of course, Chandler and Hammett.

AK: Tell us a little about Devil’s Garden and your interest in Dashiell Hammett?

AA: I had a college professor who introduced me to the Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle scandal of 1921. I was absolutely fascinated by the early days of the film business and old San Francisco (my family also lived in San Francisco when I was very young). But it was years later when I heard that Hammett had been a Pinkerton detective assigned to the Fatty Arbuckle case. There wasn’t much to go on. A bit here and there from Hammett and a rare interview with his detective partner. But I’m a huge Hammett fan and found him to not only be a brilliant writer but a wonderful character.

I was very lucky to have become friends with a man named David Fechheimer. David was a real-life private eye in San Francisco and the very first to do serious research on Hammett. He knew Hammett’s wife Jose and interviewed Hammett’s partner at the Pinkerton’s. He was a huge help to me while working on the novel.

AK: …and what led you into continuing the Spenser novels by the late Robert B. Parker?

AA: I give all the credit to my longtime editor at Putnam, Neil Nyren. For whatever reason, Neil tossed my hat into the ring when it was known the Parker family wanted the Spenser books to continue. Even though I was from the South and not Boston, Neil saw something in my work that reminded him of Parker. Or just knew how much I loved – and knew – those books.

When Parker’s editor reached out about me working on sample chapters, she offered to send me several of his books to get more familiar. I told her I had all of them, even first editions wrapped in Mylar. And I didn’t need any prep! I started into the first fifty pages and that became Lullaby.

AK: While penning the Robert B. Parker Spenser novels – in what appears to be your most prolific period, you also penned the Quinn Colson novels – can you tell us about that time.

AA: Whew. It’s all a bit of a blur. My children were very young and I welcomed the work and the challenge of writing two novels a year. I had a lot of fun switching up rural Tibbehah County, Mississippi, and gritty Boston. I would write half the year about my own backyard and then fly up to Boston to switch gears.

The location and characters were never an issue. But it was important for me to write Spenser in Parker’s voice. If I didn’t do that, I felt the series wouldn’t last. But it adds another level of difficulty to write a story in another person’s voice and style. So I had to make decisions based on what Parker would do. Not always how I might have told the story.

I had fun. But it was a lot of work. A book a year is much more manageable schedule for me right now.

AK: So coming back to today, tell us what made you embark on such a complex narrative as EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD? Was it an initial idea - and you followed the muse; or did you plot extensively?

AA: When I started to make a list of novels I wanted to write after the series, EWTRTW was at the very top. It’s set in a time and a place I knew very well: 1980s Atlanta. I was exactly the age of one of the main characters, Peter Bennett, who was deeply fascinated by spy fiction. Once I had the key premise of a boy who believes his mom is dating a KGB assassin, the narrative started to roll.

AK: How did you manage to keep track of the vast array of characters that populate the narrative? Ensuring they remain distinct in the reader’s mind?

AA: Before I dug into writing, I figured out who all would be telling this story. Peter was the start because, essentially, he was me as a young teen. And then Dennis X. Hotchner, the disenchanted pulp writer. Hotch is heavily based on the late, great Ralph Dennis, who wrote wonderful crime novels set in 1970s Atlanta. And then came Vitaly Yurchenko, the real-life KGB defector who was big news in 1985. I found his true story extremely interesting.. He defected to the U.S. and then escaped his CIA handlers and went back to the Soviet Union. It’s always been a mystery of what he was really doing.

Each of these characters were sharply defined in my mind from the start and ended up dictating how the story would flow.

AK: There is humour in your work, sometimes it’s deftly placed but in EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD, there is broad farce, can you tell us a little about striating humour in a thriller narrative?

AA: I’ve always liked writers who find can balance comedy with drama. I’m a big fan of Kate Atkinson. She’s a brilliant comedic writer who can also tear your guts out. I also was greatly inspired by my late friend Elmore Leonard who never gave much credit to writers who “couldn’t write funny.”

I think humor is always around us. Even in dark or desperate times. For me finding the balance is key. And I think a great deal of it comes from my newsroom background. Newspaper writers could often find comedy in the darkest situations.

AK: You have a cynical eye with the multi-faceted ‘people’ that populate EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD, would that cynicism stem from your journalistic background?

AA: Ah, this led right into this question. Yes! Absolutely. For most of my journalism career I worked the crime beat for The Tampa Tribune. I wrote stories about grifters and thieves, morally compromised public officials. One of my stories was about the district attorney in Tampa who was addicted to betting on dog races. His spokesperson later became the current U.S. Attorney General! Our government is so endlessly corrupt and morally twisted these days, you have to laugh. If not, as someone who looks for truth, it will drive you insane.

AK: What books and films have you recently enjoyed?

AA: The Big Empty by Robert Crais. Hatchet Girls by Joe Lansdale. I read the new Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook, earlier this year. Also Saint of the Narrows Street by William Boyle and King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby. As far as film, I loved One Battle After Another, another story that balances comedy and social commentary. I also really enjoyed Blue Moon with Ethan Hawke about songwriter Lorenz Hart. A very smart, very sharp film. And of course, Sinners. A brilliant film set right here in Mississippi.

 

Above: 25 Minute Video interview at Square Books 2nd December 2025

AK: And what’s next for Ace Atkins?

AA: That is the big question! I’m simultaneously working on a nonfiction true crime project based in Tennessee and Mississippi and a new novel set in Florida. I think Florida is the epicentre of modern American corruption and insanity. It’s a place that constantly calls me back as a writer.

AK: Thank you for your time and insight – we loved EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD.

AA: Thank you very much! So glad you enjoyed the book. So much fun to return to the ‘80s.

Shots Magazine would like to thank Amy Richardson of Little Brown UK for organising this interview, and Ace Atkins for his time and insight.

If you haven’t finalised your Christmas Gift buying. I’d urge you to pass Ace Atkins’ EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD to your friends.

More information on the work of Ace Atkins is available HERE and an excellent [and detailed] interview by the legendary Texan Bibliophile and Writer Scott Montgomery is available HERE it delves deep into the background to Ace Atkins’ latest novel. It is well worth your time.