The most recommended crime books

A master thriller writer, his characters are invariably fascinating – the ‘good’ ones complex with frailties yet often quietly heroic, the ‘bad’ ones, not just villains but people. His plots take you on a page-turning journey in credible geo-contemporary theatres, combining gripping tensions and insights. I first met him in 1969-70 when he was a television reporter covering the anti-apartheid struggle in Britain.

I love this book because it’s the best fictional example I’ve ever seen of a character’s disability being eclipsed by his talent. Lincoln Rhyme is paralyzed, but his talent as a criminologist is far more important—and Deaver showcases Rhyme’s genius and passion as often as he details the difficulties of disability.

I find the book’s mystery compelling and the characters well-written, and I couldn’t get enough of the relationship between Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs. I’ve never seen a better portrayal of a partnership based solidly on mutual respect and admiration. I’m so grateful for how this story demonstrates that disability doesn’t need to stop you from making a real impact through the gifts and talents you’ve been given.

It is a believable storyline.

I almost didn’t include this Newbery Medal winner book by Louis Sachar on my list of magical middle-grade books set in the real world. Is it really magical? Is it set in the real world? With a fourteen-year-old protagonist, Stanley Yelnats, is it even middle-grade?

Here’s why my love for this book won out. Sachar weaves together a quirky, complex story, just interconnected enough to qualify as “magical.” The setting, a juvenile prison camp with a sadistic warden, is “real-world” enough. And Stanley, though emotionally young for fourteen, is a kind, thoughtful kid well worth rooting for.

About halfway through reading, its darkness almost prompted me to lay this book aside. I’m so glad I didn’t. In the end, its themes of perseverance, hope, and redemption shone through.

A good book can never be too thick, and Elisabeth George's books are always nice and thick.

After just a few hundred pages it seemed like the mystery was solved, but then there was a plot turn and it was in fact not solved after all. I really couldn’t put the book down because I was so curious about what would happen on the next page.

The solution wasn’t obvious and I had many different suspicions on the way. I really like books that doesn’t just take the straight, pre-determined way to the finish line but things happen along the way and the characters have many different sides, both good and bad ones, and I think that this book really had that.

This is a new book in what I hope will become a series for John Sandford. Lettie Davenport, adopted daughter of Lucas Davenport has become a police officer. While Lucas had hoped she would change her mind about law enforcement, Lettie has embraced it. She finds herself entangled in her first case. Schooled in martial arts and the best shot in her graduating class, she is prepared for most situations. The book is fast paced and keeps you turning the pages. I finished this one well into the wee hours of the morning. I am looking to see Lettie appear in many more books.

I have loved this novel since first reading it in college—probably when I should have been studying for exams! 

Double Indemnity is one of the first and best American noir novels and served as the basis for the 1944 film by the same name. The novel taught me about the classic noir trap: a basically good but flawed man helps a basically bad but attractive woman in an effort to murder her husband, the good/flawed man hoping to end up with both the woman and the money.

But things seem fated to go wrong, and what starts out as a bleak tale ends up even bleaker—at the dark end of a one-way street. Since reading this powerful novel—and seeing the equally powerful film with its crackling dialogue by famed hardboiled crime writer Raymond Chandler—I have never looked at life quite the same way again.

My absolute favorite read of 2024 would have to be “Perfume” by Patrick Süskind. I can’t state enough how innovative and original this novel felt, from every perspective. The story follows Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a man born with a remarkable sense of smell, who grows obsessed with capturing “the perfect fragrance”. Jean-Baptiste aims to acquire this perfect scent by way of murder, especially the murder of young women. I found Süskind’s portrayal of his protagonist both chilling and fascinating, somewhere between morbid and grotesque.

Despite the story’s dark premise, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the writing. Süskind’s writing style is evocative, almost poetic, bringing the settings of 18th century France to life in a beautiful tapestry of scent, color and texture. As an author born with synesthesia – a condition that makes my brain mix signals between the five senses – I was blown away by Süskind’s multi-sensory language… show more.

The Getaway by Jim Thompson and the film directed by Sam Peckinpah is a gritty slice of noir and the classic story of a bank heist gone wrong. It’s a beautifully pulpy showcase for the twisted marriage of Doc and Carol, played by Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw with perfection in the film. It plunges you into the very core of moral ambiguity and the ending of the book is unexpected, sublime, and a sledgehammer to the head. A great first book and film to introduce a reader to noir styles.

I loved this book because it reads like a thriller but contains little-known wine history. Dinkelspiel follows the history of one of California’s early wine families, the Hellmans, when the California wine industry was located around Los Angeles.

She also documents a wild scandal of wine fraud and arson in the early twenty-first century by following a precious bottle of nineteenth-century wine from their legendary but forgotten Rancho Cucamonga vineyard. I really admire this book because it balances passion and delight in wine with a frank description of the abuses that have dogged the wine industry for centuries.