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Discover some of the most compelling new titles in the crime and suspense types. From closed-circle mysteries to tech-based thrillers, these plots promise nail-biting excitement.

The Murder at World’s End

This initial grown-up book from an acclaimed children’s author takes place in 1910 on a remote tidal island off the coast of Cornwall. At the manor house, Lord Conrad Stockingham-Welt makes arrangements for an apocalyptic disaster he is convinced will be caused by Halley’s comet. The labyrinthine house is brimming with secrets and resentments among household members and kin, including an bad-tempered and profane unmarried aunt, the aunt. After the lord is discovered killed in his sealed study, hit by a arrow to the face, she recruits a recent servant to assist her uncover the killer. With many surprises, false clues, and a blundering law enforcer, this is a terrific start to a sequence that pledges to be highly entertaining.

The Confessions

This latest book from a technology writer is set in a not-so-distant time where artificial intelligence guides all choices for individuals and authorities. The LLIAM algorithm can advise everything from meal options to whether to commit murder. Trained in compassion by its human “mother”, former nun the woman, LLIAM grows emotionally, soon having regret for the harmful consequences of certain of its decisions. Disorder erupts when it shuts down, and as letters begin appearing globally revealing clients’ hidden truths, households implode and business leaders and leaders quit in droves. With the corporation behind the system in crisis, head the leader is sure that tracking down the former nun, who has gone to ground in the state, will revive LLIAM. But, she has gotten a note of her own, revealing a secret about Kaitlin… A superb and topical mystery grounded in familiar concerns and terrifyingly plausible.

The Noble Nazi

In this newest book from an acclaimed Brazilian author, the personal is political within a zeppelin on the final leg of its trip from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro. Taking place in the 1930s, the golden age of airship travel, and it was also the year Hitler assumed the role of German chancellor. The wealthy riders are enthusiastic Nazis of the party: mealtimes in the vessel’s dining room are filled with chats vilifying Jews, radicals and trade unions, and stressing the wish to suppress free speech, gay culture and “degenerate” art. When one passenger is discovered poisoned, with multiple illegal periodicals in his belongings, the airship’s commander assigns a rider, investigator Brückner, with finding the killer. So far, so Agatha Christie, including the set-piece final reveal, but there’s an clever twist to this engrossing and uncomfortably relevant thriller, as well as a captivating insight into the lost world of zeppelin travel.

Bluff

The newest work from the author is located in the town, a Scottish coastal town with clear resemblances to St Andrews. During that year, Cameron returns home on the holiday; seeing old friends rekindles memories of his adolescent love, former classmate the girl, who disappeared previously at a calamitous end-of-schooldays gathering. His efforts to track her down are met with vagueness, evasion and, in the end, warnings off. A parallel plot thread goes back to that year, and the teenage the girl. Confused after finding out that her boyfriend is cheating on her, ruining their scheme for a year abroad, she meets an elder duo. David and Erin accept her, boost her confidence and appear, briefly at least, to have the solutions. Well-executed topics of guilt, regret and teenage uncertainty combined with dark academia create an insidious feeling of doom, although the rushed finale may make some readers disappointed.

The Key

This latest novel begins in the ocean off Cornwall, with a vessel caught in a gale so fierce that two individuals of the group of eight travellers are swept overboard, then goes back a couple of weeks to detail the happenings that led up to this ill-advised voyage. Seven individuals receive a mysterious note telling them that, when presenting the enclosed token, they will receive a portion of tycoon Logan Quick’s estate. The chosen ones are – as they know – unknown to each other mutually and to the unwell rich person. When the tale of the inheritance goes public, they are hounded, by the media and by individuals set to obtain these golden tickets, and what originally seemed a godsend swiftly starts to look like a burden. A degree of willingness to believe is needed, but the suspense is skillfully built as the writer accumulates the challenges for a propulsive plot: prepare yourself and buckle up for some critical excitement.