Secondhand Crime Fiction & Thriller Bargain Book Box SP2746

A well-stocked crime and thriller box with strong international range. Ruth Rendell, Jo Nesbø, Peter May, Jack Higgins, and Gerald Seymour anchor the box, alongside Robert Wilson twice — once in West Africa, once in a contemporary kidnapping thriller — John Harvey’s Frank Elder, James Thompson’s Finnish noir, and a solid run of debut crime writers from Scotland, Australia, and the US.

1. The Crocodile Bird — Ruth Rendell — A psychological thriller from one of Britain’s greatest crime writers; a teenage girl raised in total isolation by her controlling mother must face the outside world after a violent event forces them to flee their remote gatehouse.
2. Shark City — James Murray — An Australian crime thriller.
3. Bleedout — Joan Brady — A thriller from the Whitbread Prize-winning author; a paroled prisoner sets out to expose the deadly corruption at the heart of America’s prison and medical systems, with dangerous consequences.
4. 21 Bones — Jonathan Nasaw — A psychological thriller from the American author; a taut, claustrophobic story with the dark ingenuity that characterises Nasaw’s best work.
5. A Darkening Stain — Robert Wilson — Third in the Bruce Medway series; the fixer and investigator navigates the corrupt and violent world of West African commerce in a thriller steeped in the heat and moral ambiguity of Benin and Nigeria.
6. Night of the Fox — Jack Higgins — A WWII thriller set on German-occupied Jersey; when an American officer with knowledge of the D-Day landings washes ashore, both Allied and German agents race to find him first.
7. The Kingdom — Jo Nesbø — A standalone thriller from the Harry Hole author; two brothers reunited in rural Norway, a dark shared past, and a story that builds to a devastating revelation.
8. Gone to Ground — John Harvey — A Frank Elder novel from the British crime writer; a cold case reopens with fresh violence and Elder must return to a world he thought he had left behind.
9. Coffin Road — Peter May — A standalone thriller from the Lewis Trilogy author; a man wakes on the Isle of Lewis with no memory of who he is, and the identity he pieces together may be more dangerous than none at all.
10. Snow Angels — James Thompson — The first Inspector Kari Vaara novel, set in the perpetual darkness of Finnish Lapland; a brutal murder investigation that established Thompson as a major voice in Scandinavian-style noir.
11. Stealing People — Robert Wilson — A contemporary thriller about a ruthless kidnapping syndicate that targets children; Wilson’s tightly constructed plotting at its most relentless.
12. The Dealer and the Dead — Gerald Seymour — A Croatian village, a weapons shipment that never arrived, and a dealer whose identity has finally been uncovered; Seymour’s trademark moral complexity in full force.
13. Zone 22 — Tig Hague — A true crime memoir; a British man jailed in a brutal Russian penal colony recounts the harrowing experience of surviving a system designed to break its inmates.
14. A Field of Darkness — Cornelia Read — A debut crime novel set in upstate New York; Madeline Dare investigates a decades-old double murder that implicates her own extended family in something monstrous.
15. Dragon Bones — Lisa See — A mystery set in China during the construction of the Three Gorges Dam; Inspector Liu Hulan and her husband investigate a series of murders entangled with ancient artefacts and political pressure.
16. Thorn — Vena Cork — A debut London thriller; artist Anna Morris becomes caught up in a sinister conspiracy after the death of her husband in what is presented as an accident.
17. Day of the Dead — Lisa Brackman — A thriller set in Mexico against the backdrop of the Day of the Dead festival; a woman on the run from dangerous forces on both sides of a murky conflict.
18. Truth Lies Bleeding — Tony Black — The first Detective Inspector Rob Brennan novel, set in Edinburgh; a brutal murder case draws Brennan into the darkest corners of the city he thought he knew.