Four crime novels that follow the people who hunt the guilty, from Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiques unit to the spies of Slough House. Here are detectives with a score to settle and an old spy who knows too much; stolen masterpieces, revenge on the road and a puzzle that stretches back to Victorian London. Every one of them is a cracking read.

Jeffrey Archer, Nothing Ventured - William Warwick turns down a career in law to join Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiques unit. His first big case is the theft of a Rembrandt, which pulls him into a cat-and-mouse game with a collector and his formidable QC.

Elly Griffiths, The Frozen People - Griffiths trades her usual patch for a time-travel mystery that won the 2026 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Ali Dawson’s investigation takes her back to 1850, where she must clear the name of the ancestor of a prominent MP.

Peter James, Dead Man’s Grip - Ten days after a fatal traffic accident involving three drivers that kills a student, Carly Chase learns the other two drivers have been found tortured and murdered. Roy Grace fears Carly is next, and that the victim’s family wants revenge.

Mick Herron, Spook Street - David Cartwright is twenty years retired from the Intelligence Service and still knows where the bones are buried. When he forgets that secrets should stay hidden, his grandson River and the cantankerous Jackson Lamb are drawn in.

Some crimes refuse to stay buried. A missing politician, a reporter chasing his brother's killer, a cold case with a watertight alibi and an old arrest that may never have been justified. Each investigator here refuses to let go, and you will find it hard to put these down either. Made for long winter evenings.

Peter May, Cast Iron - In 1989, a weeping killer submerges nineteen-year-old Lucie Martin in a serene lake in France. A decade later, a fisherman discovers a skeleton in the parched mud. October 2011 sees forensic expert Enzo Macleod examining the scant evidence, a task that places everything he cherishes in danger.

Alex Gray, Questions for a Dead Man - A Scottish MSP vanishes during a campaign to legalise drugs, and DSI William Lorimer finds himself with a long list of suspects. Then, a car bomb leaves a charred body and the investigation becomes a murder hunt, deep into Glasgow's criminal underworld.

Michael Connelly, The Poet - Shaken by the suicide of his detective brother, Jack McEvoy throws himself into his work as a crime reporter, only to discover a trail that chills him to the bone. A serial killer is targeting police officers and leaving cryptic poetic clues.

David Baldacci, Redemption - Disgraced ex-Secret Service agent Amos Decker returns to his hometown to seek redemption for a past mistake. With his partner's help, he confronts his demons and aims to set things right.