Crime Picks - Christmas/Winter 2025

Here are our crime picks for Christmas/winter 2025! Have a browse through to help focus your gift buying for this season, and beyond!

Murder at Christmas (G.B. Rubin)

Sharpen your sleuthing skills and have your magnifying glass at the ready for this interactive festive mystery that casts YOU in the role of the detective – perfect for fans of Murdle looking for their next clever crime fix! The year is 1932. You are Dr Kinn Tenor, a Scotland Yard pathologist with a sideline in private detection when the boys in blue are stumped. You’re celebrated in the newspapers, but you tend to get the official police’s backs up – they don’t take kindly to being upstaged.

Two days before Christmas, you attend the opening of your friend Johnny McAlister’s ritzy new nightclub, the Golden Star. There you meet his cousin, Melissa Thresh – she is being followed and would like you to identify the culprit. But you have also promised your friend Algy Hurley to visit his family seat in Kent, where some poison-pen letters have been causing unrest.

If you travel to Yorkshire with Melissa, you’re caught up in a locked-room murder mystery featuring a cast of dubious friends, relatives and business associates! If it’s Hurley Court, you’re embroiled in a country house whodunnit involving an old family ritual and generations of hidden secrets!

This is just the first of many choices you must make: will you pursue this thread? Chase the mysterious stranger? Lay a trap for the guilty party? The decisions you make will take you on your own path to the final unmasking of the villain – or failure. What will you choose? And can you unravel the mystery without losing your festive spirit, your reputation… or your life? MAKE YOUR CHOICE, TURN THE PAGE, SOLVE THE CRIME!

The Christmas Eve Murders (Noelle Albright)

An hilarious and gripping festive whodunnit, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Agatha ChristieIt's Christmas Eve at the Merry Monarch. Nestled amongst the Yorkshire Dales, the pub is preparing to host its annual scavenger hunt for its rabble of regulars. There's the landlord, Mickey, his wife Sofia and their wayward son, James; local policeman Alex and his supernaturally minded deputy Don; as well as Sita, Mrs Fazarkaley, the Kapoors and Curtis, who's never far from his beloved dog Barkley.

Quite the crowd. And this year, they are interrupted by a knock at the door from Maddie Marlowe, a journalist who was homeward bound to Edinburgh for Christmas - only to be stranded by car failure, and by the snow storm that's closing in on the village. But Maddie's arrival won't be the only surprise of the night.

When the power is cut off and darkness descends, the hunt turns deadly. Maddie and her unexpected Christmas companions must try to find the murderer amongst them, as it seems one of the group would kill to win . . .

The Killing Stones (Ann Cleeves)

For the first time since the beloved Shetland series, Detective Jimmy Perez is back.

He's traded the stark beauty of Shetland for the wild isolation of Orkney, but the darkness of human nature follows him everywhere. When a ferocious storm rages across the islands, it leaves behind more than just damage: it uncovers the body of Archie Stout, a popular, larger-than-life member of the community. The murder weapon? A Neolithic stone, bearing cryptic, ancient inscriptions.

Now living in Orkney with his partner, Willow, and their young son, Perez is drawn into a case that is chillingly personal – Archie was a friend from his own childhood. And the island is full of familiar faces, all of whom are potential suspects in the killing. Perez must immerse himself in the lives of the islanders, separating truth from local legend before a desperate killer can strike again . . . and threaten the new life he's desperately trying to build.

The Christmas Cracker Killer (Alexandra Benedict)

IT'S THE MOST MURDEROUS TIME OF THE YEAR…Puzzle compiler and former Christmas sceptic Edie O’Sullivan returns in the newest seasonal mystery from bestselling author and ‘Queen of the Christmas Mystery’ Alexandra Benedict. When Edie O’Sullivan wins a two-day Christmas break in a hotel on a remote Scottish island, she’s looking forward to a picture-perfect Christmas full of winter walks, roaring fires, good books and even better whisky. But when a guest dies under mysterious circumstances, Edie realises that there is a killer amongst them.

As more guests begin to die, it's up to her to solve the strange riddles found in the victims’ Christmas crackers and stop the killing spree. But as she gets closer to the truth, she puts herself in the way of a devious and clever murderer. Can Edie solve these Christmas killings before she becomes the next victim?

The Predicament (William Boyd)

Gabriel Dax, travel writer and accidental spy, is back in the shadows. Unable to resist the allure of his MI6 handler, Faith Green, he has returned to a life of secrets and subterfuge. Dax is sent to Guatemala under the guise of covering a tinderbox presidential election, where the ruthless decisions of the Mafia provoke pitch-black warfare in collusion with the CIA.

As political turmoil erupts, Gabriel's reluctant involvement deepens. His escape plan leads him to West Berlin, where he uncovers a chilling realisation: there is a plot to assassinate magnetic young President John F. Kennedy.

In a race against time, Gabriel must navigate deceit and danger, knowing that the stakes have never been higher . . .

In The Predicament, the second novel starring accidental spy Gabriel Dax, William Boyd weaves yet another masterful tale of suspense, loyalty, love and the dark temptations of spy craft.

A Body at the Christmas Book Fair (Helen Cox)

While making merry at the York Christmas Book Fair, Kitt Hartley finds herself drawn into a murder mystery with a festive twist. The victim is Leonard Bell, a festival volunteer who suddenly drops dead during his performance of A Christmas Carol. The next day, police identify the cause of death as an unknown toxin.

Fearing for his own life, Bell's lab partner Kevin Ripley enlists Kitt's help to track down the killer - before it's too late. As Kitt and her team begin to investigate the poisoning, they uncover a twisting web of long-held grudges and stolen antidotes. But even with surprise help from some very old friends, can Kitt unravel the truth? Or will the invisible assassin escape unpunished? Cosy up to enjoy this new Kitt Hartley murder mystery starring some surprise bookish guests, set at the most wonderful time of the year.