New and Novel: Crime Novels

Series versus stand-alone, hard-boiled versus cozy, historical versus contemporary, a carefully planned menu versus potluck? Picking the best crime novels of the year is no easy trick.
~Bill Ott* 


Looking for a few good books full of mystery and suspense?  Here are some of the best-reviewed (and Booklist recommended) reads of the past few months.  Covert operations! Daring escapes! Obsession! Treachery! Psychological character studies! Enigmatic strangers! These books explore all the malevolent forces at work in the world, and their aftermath.

The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer

In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty

Natchez Burning by Greg Iles

An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris

The Orphan Choir by Sophie Hannah

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh

The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale

The Ascendant by Drew Chapman

Decoded by Mai Jia 

Deliverance of Evil by Roberto Costantini

North of Boston by Elisabeth Elo

Precious Thing by Colette McBeth

The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon                

The Fever by Megan Abbott

The Director by David Ignatius

The Bone Seeker by M. J. McGrath

The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh

One Kick by Chelsea Cain

The Son by Jo Nesbø


Links 

The Year's Best Crime Novels: 2014 [Booklist]*