Recommendations based on "A Drop of Corruption The Gripping Biopunk Murder Mystery Sequel to the Tainted Cup"

WINNER OF THE THEAKSTON OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2023'Mesmerising, macabre and murderously funny. The Botanist is M.W. Craven at his sinister best. I couldn't love this series more' Chris Whitaker'Another classy thriller from the king of Cumbrian crime' Paul Finch'I swear I'm one bad mood away from calling it black magic and going home . . .'Detective Sergeant Washington Poe can count on one hand the number of friends he has. And he'd still have his thumb left. There's the insanely brilliant, guilelessly innocent civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw of course. He's known his beleaguered boss, Detective Inspector Stephanie Flynn for years as he has his nearest neighbour, full-time shepherd/part-time dog sitter, Victoria.And then there's Estelle Doyle. It's true the caustic pathologist has never walked down the sunny side of the street but this time has she gone too far? Shot twice in the head, her father's murder appears to be an open and shut case. Estelle has firearms discharge residue on her hands, and, in a house surrounded by fresh snow, hers are the only footprints going in. Since her arrest she's only said three words: 'Tell Washington Poe.'Meanwhile, a poisoner the press have dubbed the Botanist is sending high profile celebrities poems and pressed flowers. The killer seems to be able to walk through walls and, despite the advance notice he gives his victims, and regardless of the security measures the police take, he seems to be able to kill with impunity.For a man who hates locked room mysteries, this is going to be the longest week of Washington Poe's life . . .Praise for The Botanist:'Unputdownable, gripping, clever and with a rich seam of trademark Craven humour running through it' Imran Mahmood'A sinful treat' Vaseem Khan'Fast, furious, and utterly enjoyable.' Keith NixonPraise for M W Craven:'Heart-pounding, hilarious, sharp and shocking, Dead Ground is further proof that M.W. Craven never disappoints. Miss this series at your peril.' Chris Whitaker'Dark and entertaining, this is top rank crime fiction.' Vaseem Khan, Author of the Malabar House series and the Baby Ganesh Agency series'M. W. Craven is one of the best crime writers working today. Dead Ground is a cracking puzzle, beautifully written, with characters you'll be behind every step of the way. It's his best yet.' Stuart Turton'Fantastic' Martina Cole'Dark, sharp and compelling' Peter James'I've been following M.W. Craven's Poe/Tilly series from the very beginning, and it just gets better and better. Dead Ground is a fast-paced crime novel with as many twists and turns as a country lane. I can't wait for the next one.' Peter Robinson'Dead Ground is both entertaining and engaging with great characters and storyline. I loved this first dip into the world of Tilly and Poe!' BA Paris'A brutal and thrilling page turner' Natasha Harding, The Sun'A thrilling curtain raiser for what looks set to be a great new series' Mick Herron'A powerful thriller from an explosive new talent. Tightly plotted, and not for the faint hearted!'David Mark'A gripping start to a much anticipated new series' Vaseem Khan'Satisfyingly twisty and clever and the flashes of humour work well to offer the reader respite from the thrill of the read.' Michael J. Malone'Nothing you've ever read will prepare you for the utterly unique Washington Poe' Keith Nixon

Finalist -- GoodReads Choice Award -- Mystery/ThrillerHarry Hole returns--or does he?--in a terrifyingly paced, vertiginous new roller coaster of a thriller by the internationally best-selling author of The Snowman and The Redeemer, "the king of Scandinavian crime fiction" (Kirkus).The police urgently need Harry Hole . . . A killer is stalking Oslo's streets. Police officers are being slain at the scenes of crimes they once investigated but failed to solve. The murders are brutal, the media reaction hysterical.But this time, Harry can't help . . . For years, detective Harry Hole has been at the center of every major criminal investigation in Oslo. His dedication to his job and his brilliant insights have saved the lives of countless people. But now, with those he loves most facing terrible danger, Harry is not in a position to protect anyone.Least of all himself . . .

The next thrilling installment in the Harry Hole series.The night the first snow falls a young boy wakes to find his mother gone. He walks through the silent house, but finds only wet footprints on the stairs. In the garden looms a solitary figure: a snowman bathed in cold moonlight, its black eyes glaring up at the bedroom windows. Round its neck is his mother's pink scarf. Inspector Harry Hole is convinced there is a link between the disappearance and a menacing letter he received some months earlier. As Harry and his team delve into unsolved case files, they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years. When a second woman disappears Harry's suspicions are confirmed: he is a pawn in a deadly game. For the first time in his career Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his turf, a killer who will drive him to the brink of insanity. A brilliant thriller with a pace that never lets up, The Snowman confirms Jo Nesbø's position as an international star of crime fiction.

A Sunday Times top ten bestseller perfect for fans of John le Carré, from the winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year and 'the master of the modern spy thriller' (Mail on Sunday). Thomas Kell thought he was done with spying. A former MI6 officer, he devoted his life to the Service, but all it has left him with is grief and a simmering anger against the Kremlin. Then Kell is offered an unexpected chance at revenge. Taking the law into his own hands, he embarks on a mission to recruit the Russian spy he blames for the murder of his girlfriend. Kell tracks his nemesis from Kiev to London, but soon finds himself in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse in which it becomes increasingly difficult to know who is playing whom. As the mission reaches boiling point, the threat of a catastrophic terrorist attack looms over Britain. Kell is faced with an impossible choice. Loyalty to MI6 - or to his own conscience?

Daniel Silva delivers another spectacular thriller starring Gabriel Allon, The English Girl. When a beautiful young British woman vanishes on the island of Corsica, a prime minister’s career is threatened with destruction. Allon, the wayward son of Israeli intelligence, is thrust into a game of shadows where nothing is what it seems...and where the only thing more dangerous than his enemies might be the truth… Silva’s work has captured the imagination of millions worldwide; his #1 New York Times bestselling series which chronicles the adventures of art-restorer and master spy Gabriel Allon has earned the praise of readers and reviewers everywhere. This captivating new page-turner from the undisputed master of spy fiction is sure to thrill new and old fans alike.

Award-winning and international bestselling author Lynda La Plante brings back her popular series character, London Detective Chief Inspector Anna Travis of the Murder Squad, to work a seventh case in Blood Line. La Plante, who bestselling crime fiction author Karin Slaughter (Blindsided) says “practically invented the thriller,” is best known for her Prime Suspect novels, the basis for the wildly popular BBC series starring Helen Mirren and a recent U.S. incarnation featuring Maria Bello. In Blood Line, Anna takes on a high profile missing person investigation which might well develop into the hunt for a murderer, especially when a pool of blood is discovered but no body. Crime fiction fans who appreciate a good cop and a good murder—especially Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth George, Peter Robinson, and Val McDermid readers—will be eagerly following the trail of evidence every step of the way.

The bestselling book that inspired the Bafta-winning BBC dramaCorruption. Blackmail. Conspiracy to murder. A Very English Scandal has all the hallmarks of a classic thriller with one difference. It's all true.In the late 1960s Jeremy Thorp, the charismatic leader of the Liberal Party, was at the height of his political career. But homosexuality had only just been legalized, and a former relationship with a younger man named Norman Scott threatened to destroy Thorp's carefully curated facade. Helped by fellow politicians, Thorpe schemed, deceived and embezzled until he saw only one way to silence his ex-lover for good.Meticulously researched and endlessly extraordinary, Thorp's trial captured the moment that British society discovered the truth about its political class - and learned just how far the Establishment will go to protect its own.'Gripping. A story of cack-handed assassins, buffoonish policemen, dodgy Home Secretaries' Daily Telegraph'I loved it; eccentric, dark, humane and English in the very best sense' Alain de Botton'Retold with masterful skill . . . It grips like a detective story' Daily Mail, Book of the WeekJOHN PRESTON'S NEXT BOOK, FALL: THE MYSTERY OF ROBERT MAXWELL, IS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW

From the dark mind behind the DCI Matilda Darke series, comes the new Dr Olivia Winter novel in a twisty and gripping new series. *Available to pre-order now* The Dr Olivia Winter series: The Mind of a Murderer The Devil’s Code Have you dared read a Michael Wood thriller yet? 'It's beautiful, dark but gripping and a real page turner.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Clever, heartbreaking and – in parts – very gruesome!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'The Devil's Code is not for the faint hearted and is devilishly clever.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'The pace is relentless, fuelled by unexpected twists and dark revelations.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'An extremely chilling read with a twist that will blow your socks off!’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'As you are reading it, you think you have it solved but you couldn’t be more wrong.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Once again, Michael Wood, the master of horror and suspense, has written a book that put me through the wringer with its taut, horrifying, dark and devious storyline.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'I didn’t think he could better the Matilda Darke series which I love but I think Michael Wood might have hit the jackpot again with this one.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

*PRE-ORDER NOW! THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE CHESTNUT MAN IS BACK WITH A BLOCKBUSTER NEW THRILLER, SOON TO BE A MAJOR NETFLIX ADAPTATION* 'A full-throttle thriller in the tradition of classic Stieg Larsson, drenched in atmosphere and charged with adrenaline. I loved this book' A. J. Finn 'A cracking ending that left me STUNNED' 5***** Reader Review ---- Count to one, count to two... A strange voice from inside the woods, repeating a child's counting rhyme. Count to four, count to five... A body discovered in the water. You're trying to go home. Will you make it alive? Thirty years later, a woman is haunted by a string of anonymous text messages, repeating that same counting rhyme. Counting down. Found you. Detectives Naia Thulin and Mark Hess are charged with finding the missing woman. But when they uncover links to a decades-old cold case, their investigation takes a terrifying turn. A twisted killer is on the loose. Can they catch them, before they strike again? ---- Praise for Søren Sveistrup 'The Stieg Larsson comparisons seem unfair - on Sveistrup. He is quite simply in another league' Metro 'If you're pining for a dose of Jo Nesbo-style Scandi noir, The Chestnut Man should hit the spot' The Times 'Has success written all over it' Daily Express 'Creepy, clever and packed with tension' Sun

'I've fallen in love with the characters in this series' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Her books are like magnets: one page turns into five, turns into fifty, and suddenly it's 2 a.m.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ He's tracking people down one by one And you're next on the list... A MAN MURDERED, LIVE ON CAMERA When a DVD is delivered in the dead of night, DCI Cara Elliott hits play on a horrifying showreel of violence... This is death, on demand. A KILLER COUNTING DOWN Avid viewers are paying for the killings, with twisted specifications. A request, an abduction, a murder. And always in a forty-eight-hour pattern. A MISSING DETECTIVE But when the killer finds out they're being investigated, they reveal their next target. In forty-eight hours, a police officer will be the one in front of the camera. The hunters have become the hunted, and the clock is ticking... Praise for Sam Holland's thrillers 'Smart and brooding, icepick-sharp and shadow-dark; best of all, though, it's scary as hell. Think you're tough? Pick up this novel and prove it' A. J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window 'Really disturbing and gripping but with a trademark sexy cop at the heart to offset the serial killer gore. Lots of fun in a very nightmarish way' Harriet Tyce, author of Blood Orange 'Fierce, frightening, twisted and addictive.' Chris Whitaker, author of We Begin at the End 'Fast and furious, Sam Holland doesn't take her foot off the pedal for a second' Victoria Selman, author of Truly Darkly Deeply 'If you like crime that's dark, twisted, and keeps you up all night, Holland is the author for you' Jack Jordan, author of Do No Harm 'I raced through this page-turner and slept with the light on after finishing it!' Elle Croft, author of The Guilty Wife 'Fascinating, complex characters, whose relationships are every bit as humanly messy as the crime scenes they face' Dominic Nolan, author of Vine Street Readers love The Countdown Killer... 'I've fallen in love with the characters in this series' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Her books are like magnets: one page turns into five, turns into fifty, and suddenly it's 2 a.m.' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'An unputdownable read and I read most of it in 24 hours' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Captured me from the first page and didn't let go' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Gripping, disturbing, and timely' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Honestly, my favourite so far - which says a lot as I was obsessed with The Echo Man!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'One of my most anticipated reads, and it did not disappoint!' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A must-read for fans of gritty police procedurals and serial killer fiction' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A compelling crime thriller with interestingly flawed characters you hope come out the other side intact' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'The pacing is electric, with tension that never lets up and twists that genuinely surprised me' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'More than just a police procedural thriller' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'The writing is immersive and addictive - I completely binged the second half in one sitting' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'This series is one of my all-time favourite thrillers, and The Countdown Killer totally lived up to the hype. Actually, scratch that--it might be my favourite one yet' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Words cannot explain how much I loved this book' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐