There is a long tradition of brilliant English mystery novelists: Agatha Christie, Author Conan Doyle, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, Anthony Horowitz, Lee Child, Val McDermid, Wilkie Collins, and so many other greats. We are lucky that quite a few of these amazing English authors have books that just came out or are coming out soon. We are also lucky because even dead authors continue to have new books coming out for instance notice on this list a new Hercule Poirot novel. While these were originally written by Agatha Christie, Sophie Hannah has picked up the series and continues to bring Hercule to life.

 

Reading right now:

Sally Spencer’s “Daughters of Darkness” is the third book in her Jennie Redhead mystery series.  Jennie Redhead is a Private Investigator who is hired to investigate the brutal death of anthropologist Grace Stockton who died in Oxford. With no leads to follow, the police investigation is at a standstill so Stockton’s daughter gets Redhead involved and that involvement becomes an exploration of Stockton’s past.

 

On hold right now:

It somehow seems unfair that J. K. Rowling not only managed to write one of the greatest children’s series of all times, but is now writing a truly great mystery series for adults under the name Robert Galbraith. The fifth book in the series arrives in mid-September and is called “Troubled Blood.” The first book in the series was “The Cuckoo’s Calling” and introduced Private Detective Cormoran Strike to the world. In the latest book, Strike is visiting family in Cornwall when he is hired to solve a cold case that involves finding a woman who went missing in 1974. The cold case heats up quickly and brings Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott into the sights of a serial killer.

There is no doubt that Ann Cleeves is a major force in the world of English mystery novelists and her latest comes out tomorrow. “The Darkest Evening” is the ninth book in her Vera Stanhope series. Detective Chief Inspector Stanhope stumbles on a toddler strapped in an abandoned car during a blizzard and is forced to take shelter in a stately country manor where there is a party going on and a woman dead in the snow. There is no doubt that this has all the hallmarks of a great English mystery.

It is possible that you may not have yet discovered M. L. Huie’s historical mystery series because the first in the series only came out in January and the second in the series is coming out tomorrow (“Spitfire”). The main character in this historical mystery series is Livy Nash, a British spy in World War II. Unfortunately for Livy, the start of the second novel finds that the war has ended and she is bored to death writing an advice column for ladies. In a sanity saving piece of luck, Livy meets Ian Fleming who supports her trip to France to find the person who killed the man she loved. Livy finds many changes in France’s alliances and finds she may not be able to trust her old contacts.

Anthony Horowitz has a new mystery coming out in November. If you haven’t read the first book in the Magpie Murders series start with “Magpie” and hang on until you can get “Moonflower Murders.” This series centers around Susan Ryeland who started out in “Magpie” as a publisher/editor finding clues in a mystery author’s novel to a real-life mystery. In the second novel, she has retired to a Greek Island with her boyfriend only to find retirement not what she expected. When she runs into an English couple, they tell her that their daughter went missing right after reading a crime novel that Susan edited. She quickly returns to England to explore the connection. Horowitz writes amazing and unusual mysteries so I cannot wait to get my hands on this one.

Speaking of great mystery authors, Lee Child’s 25^th Jack Reacher novel comes out in October. I never get tired of Reacher I imagine because you never know what kind of trouble he is going to get involved with on the road. Lee Child is writing this novel with his brother Andrew Child who has written mystery books under the name Andrew Grant. In “The Sentinel,” Reacher gets off the bus in a small town outside Nashville, Tennessee only to find the town under a cyber attack (looks like they need a hero).

Other Mysterious Things:

“The Killings at Kingfisher Hill” by Sophie Hannah is the fourth book in her continuation of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot series. Proof once more that great mystery author’s never die, nor do their greatest characters. Probably the most prolific example of this involves Sherlock Holmes and the multitude of novels written in and around this character. Even this year Laurie R. King’s latest in her Mary Russel and Holmes series came out. James Lovegrove’s latest book in his Sherlock Holmes series comes out in October and is called “Sherlock Holmes and the Beast of the Stapletons.” Even Anthony Horowitz has written Sherlock Holmes books. With Agatha Christie as the bestselling fiction novelist of all time and so much interest in past and present British authors, it looks like English mystery authors will continue to be a dominate force in the industry.