I’ve always been a reader of classic crime fiction, but it was only when I became an author that I fell in love with the “locked room” premise. There’s just something so sinister about a closed setting where a small group of suspects and potential victims are bound by the facets of an “impossible murder”. Whether it be a snowed-in cabin, a sinister manor house, a grand hotel, a ship, a train, or in the case of my own book — Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder — an underground labyrinth, I always feel that the atmosphere of claustrophobia adds to the suspense and mystery of these brilliant tales.
Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder plunges readers into the heart of London, to the secret tunnels that exist far beneath the city streets. There, a mysterious group of detectives recruited for Miss Brickett’s Investigations & Inquiries use their cunning and gadgets to solve crimes that have stumped Scotland Yard.
Late one night in April 1958, a filing assistant for Miss Brickett’s named Michelle White receives a letter warning her that a heinous act is about to occur. She goes to investigate but finds the room empty. At the stroke of midnight, she is murdered by a killer she can’t see—her death is the only sign she wasn’t alone. It becomes chillingly clear that the person responsible must also work for Miss Brickett’s, making everyone a suspect.
Like any good “locked room” murder mystery, the tone of The Hunting Party is insular and claustrophobic. It begins with a group of old friends snowed in at a cabin in the woods in the Scottish Highlands. Not long into the story, one of the friends dies under suspicious circumstances and it’s up to you, the reader, to figure out who among the group is the murderer. I was hooked from beginning to end by this fast-paced, tense tale and, as always, was enthralled by Foley’s sharp prose.
EVERYONE'S INVITED.
EVERYONE'S A SUSPECT.
AND EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT IT.
'Ripping, riveting' A. J. Finn 'Clever, twisty and sleek' Daily Mail 'Unputdownable' John Boyne 'Foley is superb' The Times 'Chilling' Adele Parks 'Terrific, riveting' Dinah Jefferies
In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather for New Year.
The beautiful one The golden couple The volatile one The new parents The quiet one The city boy The outsider
The Maid has all the building blocks of a classic “locked room” mystery: a closed setting (a grand hotel), a small group of suspects, and a tense atmosphere. It is also, however, lighthearted and quirky with a unique protagonist (Molly the maid), who sees the world very differently from everyone else. While The Maid fits neatly into the “cosy mystery” sub-genre, I believe it will appeal to a broad spectrum of crime lovers.
*THE NO.1 NEW YORK TIMES & SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER *WINNER OF THE NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL CRIME FICTION *A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK AT BEDTIME PICK
'An escapist pleasure' SUNDAY TIMES 'Delightful' GUARDIAN 'An instantly gripping and delightful whodunnit' STYLIST 'Smart, riveting, and deliciously refreshing ' LISA JEWELL
Ruth Ware needs no introduction and The Woman in Cabin 10 is — in my humble opinion — her best book yet. In this story, our protagonist, Lo, is offered a dream assignment aboard a luxury cruise (the “locked room”) on the North Sea. It’s all smooth sailing until Lo sees a body being thrown overboard. But when she reports the incident to officials, they claim that all passengers are accounted for and insist she must be mistaken. The book takes a dark turn rather quickly, and each page is more intense than the next. A true gem!
All you have to know about Stuart Turton is that he is a genius. This book is a mind-bending, time-travelling masterpiece that I don’t think anyone else could have written. The "locked room” in this case is Blackheath Manor, where the very unfortunate Evelyn Hardcastle is doomed to die every day until our protagonist, Aiden, can break the cycle. If you’re into crime fiction with a touch of something peculiar, then Seven Deaths is definitely for you. Be warned, though, you might need to read it several times before it makes sense.
WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD WINNER OF THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG NOVEL AWARD A WATERSTONES THRILLER OF THE MONTH SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPECSAVERS NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRITISH BOOK AWARDS DEBUT OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR
Gosford Park meets Groundhog Day by way of Agatha Christie and Black Mirror - the most inventive story you'll read
Tonight, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed ... Again
It is meant to be a celebration but it ends in tragedy. As fireworks…
Agatha Christie is the undisputed queen of the “locked room mystery” and Murder on the Orient Express is quite frankly one of the best crime novels of all time. As the title suggests, the “locked room” in this novel is a luxurious train filled with a motley crew of suspects and, of course, detective extraordinaire Hercule Poirot. I can’t recommend this book enough.
THE MOST WIDELY READ MYSTERY OF ALL TIME—NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY KENNETH BRANAGH AND PRODUCED BY RIDLEY SCOTT!
“The murderer is with us—on the train now . . .”
Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. Without a shred of doubt, one of his fellow passengers is the murderer.
Isolated by the storm, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer among a dozen of the dead man’s…
Neuroscience PhD student Frankie Conner has finally gotten her life together—she’s determined to discover the cause of her depression and find a cure for herself and everyone like her. But the first day of her program, she meets a group of talking animals who have an urgent message they refuse to share. And while the animals may not have Frankie’s exalted human brain, they know things she doesn’t, like what happened before she was adopted.
To prove she’s sane, Frankie investigates her forgotten past and conducts clandestine experiments. But just when she uncovers the truth, she has to make an impossible choice: betray the animals she’s fallen in love with—or give up her last chance at success and everything she thought she knew.
Frankie Conner, first-year graduate student at UC Berkeley, is finally getting her life together. After multiple failures and several false starts, she's found her calling: become a neuroscientist, discover the cause of her depression and anxiety, and hopefully find a cure for herself and everyone like her.
But her first day of the program, Frankie meets a mysterious group of talking animals who claim to have an urgent message for her. The problem is, they're not willing to share it. Not yet. Not until she's ready.
While Frankie's new friends may not have her highly evolved, state-of-the-art, exalted human brain,…
