Crime books to read this winter

When it is cold and unwelcoming outside, but our minds still crave activity, it is time to get immersed in a good crime novel.

I am not a fan of this genre, for I quickly get bored by the plot repeating from book to book. So, when I pick up a crime/thriller story, it has to have more than a ‘whodunit’ plotline to catch my interest.

The four books I have listed below all have more to them than a murder investigation. One is even told from the perspective of the killer.

Choose your winter crime read.

“When Darkness Falls” by Kathleen Harryman

Every artist draws something special from their work. This something is unsurpassed by anything else in the artist’s life, be it a day job, relationships, joy from food or any other basic pleasure that, for non-artists, is the highest point in their lives.

For a killer, the most fulfilling thing is murder. Obliterating another person’s life, watching a victim take the last breath, witnessing the moment when life leaves a body and death takes over – that is the ultimate fulfilment a killer craves. Without it, a killer doesn’t have a reason to live. I find a certain irony in it.

The Yorkshire Slasher doesn’t consider themselves a killer. They think of themselves as an artist. Death, in their eyes, is beautiful and magnetic. A murder scene is a piece of art – an exquisite painting. And their knife is a brush.

“When Darkness Falls” isn’t for the faint-hearted. It doesn’t paint a slightly disturbing picture of a romanticised murderer with a noble heart and a principle code. The story is a harsh account of how a psychopath sees life and acts in it.

Read my full review of “When Darkness Falls” by Kathleen Harryman here

“Walking on Thin Ice” by Robert Burns

Rachel is young, smart, and ambitious. She is determined to make a career in journalism, and when she comes upon a story that promises the breakthrough she has been waiting for, she dives straight in, discarding possible danger and unpleasant consequences.

Julia Brown disappeared twenty years ago. Who kidnapped her? Is she dead? Where is the body? Two decades later, these questions remained unanswered.

“Walking on Thin Ice” by Robert Burns is a great mix of crime fiction and psychological drama that provides readers with both the excitement of a complicated investigation and delving into the personal struggles of the main character.

Read my full review of “Walking on Thin Ice” by Robert Burns here

“The Bloody Shoe Affair” by Joy York

“The Bloody Shoe Affair” by Joy York introduces to the reader Lily and Christi, two fourteen-year-old cousins who couldn’t be more different. Lily is ‘I-get-what-I-want-from-everyone’ person. She pulls shy Christi into her misdemeanours, and usually gets away with them while Christi often ends up in an awkward situation. And yet, when Lily spills out the mysterious event she has just witnessed the moment Christi arrives for a visit, not letting her cousin have even a glass of water, let alone a proper lunch, Christi can’t resist the allure of unravelling the grim secret.

In this book, the fleur of the American South is mixed with the county jail’s routine, but the girls’ coming-of-age angst about love and boys with a murder investigation. I was totally captivated.

Read my full review of “The Bloody Shoe Affair” by Joy York here

“Just Jonathan” by Donna Scuvotti

“Dreams shattered by just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Jonathan loses his mother at the vulnerable age of thirteen. In one moment, his perfect life crumbles and turns into a nightmare. After his mother gets killed in a car accident, he finds himself thrown out of the warm cocoon of a loving family

The story makes an unexpected turn when Jonathan meets Luke. Their first meeting already felt like a life-changer but in a way completely different from what Jonathan could imagine. And from there, a rollercoaster of events and revelations starts.

This book that will surprise you, for it will lead you to the paths you don’t expect you’ll be treading when you start reading.

Read my full review of “Just Jonathan” by Donna Scuvotti here