Forthcoming books from HarperCollins (Including Hemlock Press)

July 2026

Icarus 17 is by Charles Cumming. A new thriller set in the ingenious world of Box 88, the covert intelligence service operating without government oversight. A young couple on the run. Max Radinsky thought he was living the perfect life in Athens. But when his girlfriend, Yasmine, is forced to flee the city, Max joins her on a desperate journey across Greece. What begins as an escape becomes a fight for survival as the young couple become the targets of an international manhunt. Untrained and living off their wits, they know their luck won’t last forever… The spy hunting them down. Lachlan Kite, head of covert intelligence service BOX 88, hasn’t seen his former lover, Martha Raine, for more than twenty years. But when Martha begs his help in finding her missing son, Kite has no choice but to act. What they uncover is worse than either could have imagined. Yasmine is carrying a secret which could destabilise the Middle East for a generation – and a team of merciless Israeli intelligence agents have been given orders to kill her on sight. To save Max – and stop a global crisis – Kite and Martha must reach the young couple before their pursuers close in.

Art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon searches for the missing wife of a British

billionaire in the electrifying new tale of greed, corruption, and betrayal. Alice Winter, one of Britain’s most dazzling socialites, seemingly has the perfect life – a lavish home in posh Knightsbridge, a grand estate in Devon, millions of followers on social media who eagerly await her next post. But when she disappears without a trace while on holiday with three old friends from Cambridge, her desperate husband, the real estate baron Edward Knight, turns to none other than Gabriel Allon to find her. He soon discovers that Alice Winter is not the woman she appears to be, that she has a reckless side, that she has secrets. But Edward Knight has a secret too, a secret so dangerous that Gabriel will have no choice but to return to the life he thought he had left behind. An old enemy lurks there, waiting for him to make one misstep, waiting for the perfect moment to exact vengeance. From its irresistible opening chapters to its heart-pounding climax and shocking final twist, Ransom is by Daniel Silva and is a riveting, page-turning tour de force that proves yet again why Daniel Silva is the reigning master of international intrigue and suspense.

A scorching summer. Down in the seaside town of Teignmouth, ex-Met detective Eden Driscoll grows restless after a long summer caring for his nine-year-old nephew. A desperate plea. When a man knocks at Eden’s door desperate for help, claiming someone is trying to kill him, Eden jumps at the chance to solve a mystery. But before he can ask more questions, the stranger disappears. A deadly fire. The cry for help came too late – that same night a house along the coast is burnt to the ground, and a man’s remains are discovered among the rubble. In the days after, Eden’s curiosity only grows. He soon finds himself investigating, and begins to uncover a web of deception, jealousy and corruption. The Burning Tide is by William Shaw.

The Saffron Thief is by T L Mogford. In 1666, England's saffron

industry is booming, with the spice fetching a staggering £4 per pound—rivalling gold. Fabian Smith, the sensible second son of a Holborn poulterer, has sacrificed his dreams of adventure for family duty. But when the Great Fire claims his father and his reckless brother plunges them into debt with a ruthless conman, their home—and freedom—hang in the balance. Desperate to save his family, Fabian hatches a daring plan: steal the fortune they need. His target? The wealthiest saffron grower in Saffron Walden. Disguised and determined, he arrives just in time for the harvest, only to discover that the townsfolk are far more cunning than he expected. As danger closes in, Fabian must navigate treachery and his own heart, racing against time to save everything he holds dear.

Beware of the Trains is a collection of 16 short stories from Edmund Crispin featuring his beloved amateur detective, Gervase Fen. Crime fiction at its quirkiest and best. Who burglarised the train heading for Victoria Station, and whatever became of its conductor? Did the village idiot or Mrs Foley murder the mean-spirited Edgar Foley, or could the constable be responsible for the devious deed? Who on Earth will be able to untangle the affair of the disappearing car, the black necktie, and the abortive theft? Enter Gervase Fen, Oxford professor and sometime super-sleuth, an expert at solving cases that baffle even the most astute policemen. These sixteen short classics by a master of the modern detective story will test your crime solving abilities as well; Edmund Crispin has provided all the clues you need to detect the solution, using logic and common sense.

Fen Country is by Edmund Crispin. Dandelions and hearing aids, a bloodstained cat, a Leonardo drawing, a corpse with an alibi, a truly poisonous letter … These are just some of the unusual clues that Oxford don/detective Gervase Fen and his friend Inspector Humbleby are confronted with in this sparkling collection of short mystery stories by one of the great masters of detective fiction.

August 2026

A witty and sly thriller, as social-climber Diana Leyland aims to pick off another husband unless his daughter can thwart her scheme. “You know Diana Leyland… she climbed the ladder by marrying a man on each rung! I think she gets rid of them when she’s got what she needs. I think she poisons them… I wonder who’s next.” To lose one husband is unlucky. To lose two is careless. But three? Three must be murder… Diana Leyland has her sights set on a new target, David Farrand. His daughter Cat has other ideas… Claws Out is by Bella Mackie

September 2026

Gravity Let Me Go is by Trent Dalton. It's the story of a murder. It's the story of a marriage. It's

the story of a lifetime. It's the story of a murder. It's the story of a marriage. It's the story of a lifetime. Noah and Rita. Rita and Noah. They’ve survived a lot: marriage, money troubles, two children and a hurricane that should have killed them. But can their relationship survive Noah’s obsession with a cold case murder? Noah, a true crime journalist, has just published his first book – the subject for which landed in his lap when the as-yet-unidentified killer of a local woman left a clue addressed to him in his home mailbox. Everything should be coming up roses for him and his family – but the local police hate him, he’s having creepy hallucinations, someone just tried to run him over, his beloved wife Rita has been writing him cryptic messages in the steam on the bathroom mirror – and another apocalyptic storm is heading to Brisbane… As Noah hurtles headfirst into his own swirling storm of secrets, can he cling for dear life to the only story that really matters – his love story with Rita?

Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel is by Lucy Foley. High in the Swiss Alps, with glorious

mountain views and exclusive access to powdery slopes, the Grand Alpine Hotel draws guests from far and wide. The notorious actress. The high-flying politician. The reserved political wife. The reckless friend. The shrewd doctor. But when a guest enters a gondola alive, only to be found dead at the top of the mountain, it’s clear there’s a killer in their midst. As dark histories simmer, and old grudges emerge like cracks in the ice, someone watches on from the shadows. An unassuming woman with an extraordinary mind: Miss Marple. She suspects everyone in the hotel, and she’s right to. For it isn’t just a question of who has a motive, but who’s next…

October 2026

Roger Ackroyd, Betty Barnard, Amyas Crale, Linnet Doyle… Agatha Christie's most famous victims are celebrated in this illustrated alphabet, parodying some of her most fiendish murders in this perfect gift book for Christie fans. ‘In the midst of tragedy we start the comedy.’ Agatha Christie, The ABC Murders. Agatha Christie was crowned ‘Queen of Crime’ by book reviewers when her sensational The Murder of Roger Ackroyd exploded onto bookshelves exactly 100 years ago. She published new books every year for half a century and became the world’s bestselling novelist, creating more than 2,000 characters – and killing more than 250 of them. Poisoned, stabbed, electrocuted, shot, strangled, bludgeoned, injected, pushed off heights, drowned, smothered, incinerated, trampled to death … a litany of carnage lurks beneath the surface of Agatha’s books, and yet many of her fans still insist on calling them ‘cozy’. Tom Racine’s The A B C of Murder wholesome existence as an illustrator, video producer and voice artist took a dark twist when he was commissioned to design and write two ABC books in the style of Edward Gorey about death in Tolkien and Shakespeare. But, as he soon discovered, those two paled in comparison to the Queen of Crime in the gentle art of infamy…

Exhumation is by Nicholas Binge. Arlo's having troubl e sleeping. Private Investigator Arlo Abbas wakes up to discover £10,000 suspiciously deposited into his account. Except he’s not been approached with a case and he doesn’t know the sender. Then, he finds a scrap of paper stuffed through his mailbox. Find Sophie Banik. His investigation leads him to a mysterious cult and the grave of a murdered girl. But there is no body buried there. Instead, Arlo unearths a coffin full of journals belonging to Liz, a girl who claims to have been underground for sixty-three days and to no longer sleep. Each answer seems to bring new questions: Who is Liz? Can she be telling the truth? What happened to Sophie? And who hired him? Arlo begins to wonder if he even wants to solve this case, but he doesn't have a choice – it’s been keeping him up at night.

You Are Mine is by Alex Lake. Mary Jordan is walking along the street when she spots a sign. If you are reading this, I am watching you. You are now part of my collection. You will be mine, and your life will never be the same again. Mary is horrified. Her skin crawls at the idea of being watched. She searches the buildings, looking for a face at a window. But only for a moment. There’s nothing to fear. It’s obviously just a harmless prank. She could not be more wrong…

November 2026

The Collateral Heart is by Jeffery Deaver. A terrible arson in Manhattan burns an old building to the ground. Amelia Sachs—criminalist Lincoln Rhyme’s wife and crime scene investigator extraordinaire–manages to save a victim from a fiery death. And in doing so she makes an eerie discovery. The arsonist has left a package of clues that might hint as to their motive and where they will strike next. As the perp prepares for another attack, and Rhyme and Sachs work feverishly to unravel the mystery, they cross paths with a detective from Long Island. Desdemona Vale is a sharp and unstoppable officer—balancing her fervent search for the killer of a young woman from her neighbourhood, with the arduous task of caring for her two young granddaughters. The searches for their respective villains lead Rhyme, Sachs and Vale improbably to another member of the cast: James Harper, a famed historian and the host of one of the most popular history podcasts in the country, a man who may, or may not, be able to shed light on the perp’s motive and identity. As always in a Jeffery Deaver novel, the multiple, interweaving plots race along nonstop adhering to the template of a one-sitting read; nothing is quite what it seems to be; and the novel features three surprise endings! More shockingly yet, as the layers of the plots are pulled back, Lincoln Rhyme learns to his dismay that he has a new nemesis—a worthy and terrifying successor to the Watchmaker. Can he stop the carnage in time? 

The Midwinter Martyr is by S J Parris. Venice, 1576. Giordano Bruno, heretic, philosopher and spy, is on the run from the Inquisition. He flees to Venice, but the beautiful city proves no safe haven. The killing of an aristocrat and the arrest of his wife and secretary for murder are causing unrest. When an anonymous letter, written in code, proclaims the woman’s innocence, the city’s chief of intelligence employs Bruno to find the writer.But the death is mired in a tangle of dangerous secrets, and Bruno soon learns there are some very powerful people who will stop at nothing to suppress the truth…

Shortlist Announced for Final 2025 CrimeFest Awards

 

CrimeFest, one of Europe’s leading crime writing conventions, has announced the shortlists for its final annual awards.

The awards began 17 years ago when CrimeFest launched in 2008; they honour the best crime fiction and non-fiction books released in the UK in the last year.

2025 will be the final awards as organisers announced this year CrimeFest will come to an end.

The awards feature the hotly-contended Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award, which offers a £1,000 cash prize. 

Authors in contention for the £1k prize are Tom Baragwanath for his New Zealand small-town mystery Paper Cage, Cosmo’s Thriller of the Year Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell, and the cosy crime caper The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder, by C.L. Miller.

Also making the Specsavers shortlist are Akira Otani with the gripping Japanese cult thriller The Night of Baba Yaga, Tracey Sierra’s Richard and Judy Book Club pick, Nightwatching, and Scotland’s Claire Wilson with her debut, Five by Five. 

Adrian Muller, Co-host of CrimeFest, said: “The Specsavers Debut Novel Award has become one of the most highly anticipated awards of the genre over the years, and we’d like to thank Specsavers for their on-going support in celebrating new talent.”

The shortlist for the CrimeFest H.R.F. Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book features icon of the genre Lynda La Plante with her memoir, Getting Away with Murder. 

The category also includes an exploration of Agatha Christie, with Mark Aldridge’s Agatha Christie’s Marple: Expert on Wickedness, Female Detectives in Early Crime Fiction 1841-1920 by Ashley Bowden, and Sara Lodge’s The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Detective. Jem Bloomfield is also in contention for Allusion in Detective Fiction, as are Dan Coxon and Richard V Hirst for Writing the Murder: Essays on Crafting Crime Fiction.

CrimeFest’s Last Laugh Award for best humorous crime novel sees returning favourites authors Mike Ripley, Orlando Murrin, and Antti Tuomainen. It also welcomes Cathy Ace with The Case of the Secretive Secretary, Bella Mackie for What a Way to Go, and DG Coutinho for The Light and Shade of Ellen Swithin.

DG Coutinho received the 2025 bursary for a crime fiction writer of colour to attend and feature on a panel at the final CrimeFest for their first novel, a darkly comic thriller set in a toxic office culture.

Bella Mackie is also nominated for the best crime fiction e-book published in 2024; What a Way to Go is shortlisted for the E-Dunnit Award. She’s up against stalwart of the genre Martin Edwards with Hemlock Bay, Laurie R. King for The Lantern's Dance, the American novelist and playwright Jean Hanff Korelitz with The Sequel, Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods and Peter Swanson’s A Talent for Murder.

The nominees for the CrimeFest Best Crime Novel for Children (aged 8 - 12) include Sufiya Ahmed for her World War Two adventure set in Cairo, Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker, M. G. Leonard for Feather (The Twitchers) from the bestselling birdwatching detective series, and the magical murder mystery, The Floating Witch Mystery by Nicki Thornton. They’re joined by fellow children’s authors Natasha Farrant, A.M. Howell, and Beth Lincoln.

Adrian Muller said: “We are proud to be one of the few genre awards that recognise and celebrate children, and young adult crime fiction. This category has really boomed in recent years. It’s a fitting legacy that over the years we’ve gifted thousands of free children’s and young adult books to inner city schools in Bristol as part of our outreach and charitable work. The genre is a fantastic gateway into reading, so the hope these books have inspired new generations of readers and writers.”

Leading British crime fiction reviewers and reviewers of fiction for children and young adults, alongside the members of the School Library Association (SLA), form the CrimeFest judging panels.

The Best Crime Fiction for Young Adults (aged 12-16) features H.F Askwith’s A Cruel Twist of Fate, Denise Brown’s It All Started with A Lie, and A.J Clack’s dark reality-TV based Young Adult thriller, Lie or Die.

Also in contention are the razor-sharp romantasy All The Hidden Monsters by Annie Jordan, the sequel to the Waterstone’s prize winning Thieves’ Gambit, Heist Royale by Kayvion Lewis and Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus. 

This year also features the Thalia Proctor Memorial Award for Best Adapted TV Crime Drama, which celebrate dramas based on a book screened in 2024. 

Eligible titles were collated from the Radio Times and CrimeFest readers established the shortlist and the winning title. The award is named in honour of Thalia, who worked with many crime writers in publishing and was a much-loved and valued member of the CrimeFest team.

Shortlisted shows include Apple TV’s Bad Monkey, based on the book by Carl Hiaasen, P.D. James Dalgliesh (Channel 5, series 3), Laura Lippman’s Lady in the Lake adapted by Apple TV, Moonflower Murders on the BBC based on the books by Anthony Horowitz, Apple TV’s Slow Horses (series 4) from Mick Herron’s Slough House books and the BBC’s The Turkish Detective based on the Inspector Ikmen books by Barbara Nadel.

The winners of the 2025 CrimeFest Awards will be announced at a gala dinner hosted during CrimeFest on Saturday 17 May at the Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, compered by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) chair and author, Vaseem Khan.

Hosted in Bristol, CrimeFest is the biggest crime fiction convention in the UK, and one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar, with circa 60 panel events and 150 authors attending over four days, from 15-18 May. 

2025’s CrimeFest promises to be bigger than ever as long-standing friends of the event gather for a celebratory finale, including blockbuster author, Lee Child who will be attending with his brother and co-Reacher author, Andrew Child.

CrimeFest was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. Established in 2008, it follows the egalitarian format of most US conventions, making it open to all commercially published authors and readers alike.

All category winners will receive a Bristol Blue Glass commemorative award. Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers voted to establish the shortlist and the winning title.

The 2025 CrimeFest Award Shortlists in full:

SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARD

Tom Baragwanath for Paper Cage (Baskerville)

Tasha Coryell for Love Letters to a Serial Killer (Orion Fiction)

C. L. Miller for The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder (Pan Macmillan)

Akira Otani (and translator Sam Bett) for The Night of Baba Yaga (Faber & Faber)

Tracy Sierra for Nightwatching (Viking)

Claire Wilson for Five by Five (Michael Joseph)

eDUNNIT AWARD 

Martin Edwards for Hemlock Bay (Head of Zeus)

Laurie R. King for The Lantern's Dance (Allison & Busby)

Jean Hanff Korelitz for The Sequel (Faber & Faber)

Bella Mackie for What A Way To Go (The Borough Press)

 Liz Moore for The God of the Woods (The Borough Press)

Peter Swanson for A Talent for Murder (Faber)

H.R.F. KEATING AWARD

Mark Aldridge for Agatha Christie's Marple: Expert on Wickedness (HarperCollins)

Jem Bloomfield for Allusion in Detective Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan)

Ashley Bowden for Female Detectives in Early Crime Fiction 1841-1920 (Fabula Mysterium Press)

Dan Coxon & Richard V. Hirst for Writing the Murder: Essays on Crafting Crime Fiction (Dead Ink)

Sara Lodge for The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Detective (Yale University Press)

Lynda La Plante for Getting Away With Murder: My Unexpected Life on Page, Stage and Screen (Zaffre)

LAST LAUGH AWARD

Cathy Ace for The Case of the Secretive Secretary (Four Tails Publishing Ltd.)

DG Coutinho for The Light and Shade of Ellen Swithin (Harvill Secker)

Bella Mackie for What A Way To Go (The Borough Press)

Orlando Murrin for Knife Skills for Beginners (Transworld)

Mike Ripley for Mr Campion's Christmas (Severn House)

Antti Tuomainen (and translator David Hackston) for The Burning Stones (Orenda Books)

BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR CHILDREN (aged 8-12)

Sufiya Ahmed for Rosie Raja: Undercover Codebreaker (Bloomsbury Education)

Natasha Farrant for The Secret of Golden Island (Faber & Faber)

A.M. Howell for Mysteries at Sea: The Hollywood Kidnap Case (Usborne Publishing)

M. G. Leonard for The Twitchers: Feather (Walker Books)

Beth Lincoln for The Swifts: A Gallery of Rogues (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

Nicki Thornton for The Floating Witch Mystery (Faber & Faber)

BEST CRIME FICTION AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULTS (aged 12-16)

H.F. Askwith for A Cruel Twist of Fate (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

Denise Brown for It All Started With a Lie (Hashtag Press)

A.J. Clack for Lie or Die (Firefly Press)

Amie Jordan for All the Hidden Monsters (Chicken House)

Kayvion Lewis for Heist Royale (Simon & Schuster Children's Books)

Karen M. McManus for Such Charming Liars (Penguin Random House Children's UK)

THALIA PROCTOR MEMORIAL AWARD FOR BEST ADAPTED TV CRIME DRAMA

Bad Monkey, based on the book by Carl Hiaasen (Apple TV+)

Dalgliesh (series 3), based on the Inspector Dalgliesh books by P.D. James (Channel 5)

Lady in the Lake based on the book by Laura Lippman (Apple TV+)

Moonflower Murders based on the book by Anthony Horowitz (BBC)

Slow Horses (series 4), based on the Slough House books by Mick Herron (Apple TV+)

The Turkish Detective, based on the Inspector Ikmen books by Barbara Nadel (BBC)