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Discover some of the most gripping new books in the mystery and suspense genres. From locked-room mysteries to near-future suspense, these narratives offer edge-of-your-seat entertainment.

A Killing at World’s End

The first adult novel from an acclaimed young readers’ writer unfolds in the 1910s on a secluded tidal island off the coast of Cornwall. At Tithe Hall, the lord of the manor makes arrangements for an apocalyptic disaster he believes will be caused by the passing comet. The maze-like mansion is teeming with secrets and grudges among both staff and family, including an bad-tempered and vulgar unmarried aunt, the aunt. When Lord Conrad is found killed in his private office, hit by a projectile to the head, she recruits a new footman to help her find the culprit. Featuring plenty of twists, red herrings, and a inept law enforcer, this is a superb beginning to a sequence that pledges to be immensely enjoyable.

The Confessions

This second novel from a technology writer unfolds in a not-so-distant time where machine intelligence guides all choices for persons and authorities. The smart program can advise matters ranging from dinner choices to whether to commit murder. Taught in understanding by its guardian, ex-religious sister Brookes, the AI develops in feelings, rapidly experiencing guilt for the disastrous outcomes of certain of its decisions. Disorder ensues when it ceases functioning, and as letters are delivered worldwide revealing clients’ hidden truths, households collapse and CEOs and officials quit in droves. As the AI's owning firm in meltdown, CEO the leader is convinced that finding Brookes, who has disappeared in California, will bring back the AI. Yet, she has received a message of her own, revealing a secret about her… An excellent and topical mystery based on understandable themes and frighteningly credible.

The Noble Nazi

Within this newest novel from an prize-winning Brazilian author, private lives reflect public issues within a zeppelin on the concluding part of its journey from Berlin to the Brazilian city. Set in that year, the golden age of airship travel, and it was also the year the leader rose to the nation's leader. The affluent riders are devotees of the regime: meal services in the airship's eatery are including discussions condemning Jews, communists and trade unions, and stressing the wish to curb expression, homosexual lifestyles and banned artworks. When a traveler is discovered killed, with several prohibited publications in his ownership, the vessel's leader assigns a passenger, investigator the detective, with solving the mystery. Quite whodunit, even with the set-piece concluding assembly, but there’s an ingenious surprise to this compelling and queasily resonant mystery, as well as a fascinating look into the forgotten time of zeppelin travel.

The Bluff

The latest book from the novelist is set in the town, a town by the sea in Scotland with clear parallels to St Andrews. In 2023, the main character comes back to St Rule on the holiday; seeing old friends rekindles recollections of his youthful infatuation, former classmate the girl, who disappeared previously at a disastrous end-of-schooldays gathering. His trials to track her down are met with uncertainty, dodging and, in the end, threats. A second plot thread takes us back to 2013, and the 18-year-old the girl. Adrift after learning that her partner is cheating on her, ruining their plan for a foreign travel, she encounters an more mature pair. The couple accept her, make her feel important and seem, temporarily at least, to have the right advice. Skilfully handled themes of remorse, disappointment and youthful bewilderment coupled with dark academia make for an slow-building tingle of fate, even if the rushed ending may leave certain audiences feeling shortchanged.

The Key

The newest novel starts in the sea off the shoreline, with a yacht stuck in a storm so intense that two of the eight people travellers are swept overboard, then flashes back a couple of weeks to reveal the happenings that led up to this unwise voyage. A group of seven get a unknown letter notifying them that, by showing the enclosed token, they will get a share of wealthy man Quick's fortune. The people are – so far as they are aware – strangers both to each other and to the unwell plutocrat. After the tale of the bequest goes public, they are hounded, both by the press and by individuals set to acquire these golden tickets, and what at first seemed a blessing quickly starts to look like a liability. Some suspension of disbelief is necessary, but the suspense is skillfully built as the novelist piles up the problems for a propulsive plot: prepare yourself and buckle up for some intense excitement.