The Best Books of 2020: Crime & Thriller

by |December 10, 2020
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We’re rounding up The Best Books of 2020! Fiction Category Manager Ben Hunter is on the blog today to share his favourites of the year in crime and thriller. Read on!


2020 really delivered when it came to new crime and thriller releases, particularly from Australian authors. We loved propulsive thrillers from Michael Robotham and Candice Fox, as well a new standalone mystery from the #1 bestseller Jane Harper, whose new book The Survivors lives up to her own very high standard. We were also delighted by the return of some of our favourite heroes in Chris Hammer’s Trust and Dervla McTiernan’s The Good Turn.


The Good Turn

by Dervla McTiernan

The Good Turn

Read our review here and listen to our podcast with Dervla McTiernan here.

While Detective Cormac Reilly faces enemies at work and trouble in his personal life, Garda Peter Fisher is relocated out of Galway with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head. But even that is not as terrible as having to work for his overbearing father, the local copper for the pretty seaside town of Roundstone …

Buy it here


Trust

by Chris Hammer

9781760877415

Listen to our podcast with Chris Hammer here.

Martin Scarsden’s new life seems perfect, right up until the moment it’s shattered by a voicemail: a single scream, abruptly cut off, from his partner Mandalay Blonde. Racing home, he finds an unconscious man sprawled on the floor and Mandy gone. Someone has abducted her. But who, and why?

Buy it here


The Survivors

by Jane Harper

9781760783945

Read our review here and listen to our podcast with Jane Harper here.

Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences. The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home. When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away…

Buy it here


Death in Daylesford

by Kerry Greenwood

9781743310342

When a mysterious invitation arrives for Miss Phryne Fisher from an unknown Captain Herbert Spencer, Phryne’s curiosity is excited. Spencer runs a retreat in Victoria’s spa country for shell-shocked soldiers of the First World War. It’s a cause after Phryne’s own heart but what could Spencer want from her? Disappearances, murder, bombs, booby-traps and strange goings-on land Miss Phryne Fisher right in the middle of her most exciting adventure.

Buy it here


Gathering Dark

by Candice Fox

9780143789178

Read our review here and listen to our podcast with Candice Fox here.

A convicted killer. A gifted thief. A vicious crime boss. A disillusioned cop. Together they’re a missing girl’s only hope. It’s been ten years since Detective Jessica Sanchez arrested surgeon Blair Harbour for the cold-blooded murder of her neighbour. So when Jessica opens the door to the disgraced doctor and her friends early one morning she expects abuse, maybe even violence. What comes instead is a plea for help …

Buy it here


The Law of Innocence

by Michael Connelly

9781760878917

Defense attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, who find the body of a client in the trunk of his Lincoln. Haller is charged with murder and can’t make the exorbitant $5 million bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge. Mickey knows he’s been framed. Now, with the help of his trusted team, he has to figure out who has plotted to destroy his life and why. Then he has to go before a judge and jury and prove his innocence.

Buy it here


The Bluffs

by Kyle Perry

9781760895679

When a school group of teenage girls goes missing in the remote wilderness of Tasmania’s Great Western Tiers, the people of Limestone Creek are immediately on alert. Three decades ago, five young girls disappeared in the area of those dangerous bluffs, and the legend of ‘the Hungry Man’ still haunts locals to this day. But Detective Con Badenhorst knows that in a town this size – with corrupt cops, small-town politics, and a teenage YouTube sensation – everyone is hiding something, and bluffing is second nature.

Buy it here


A Song for the Dark Times

by Ian Rankin

9781409176985

When his daughter Samantha calls in the dead of night, John Rebus knows it’s not good news. Her husband has been missing for two days. Rebus fears the worst – and knows from his lifetime in the police that his daughter will be the prime suspect. He wasn’t the best father – the job always came first – but now his daughter needs him more than ever. But is he going as a father or a detective?

Buy it here


Vanishing Falls

by Poppy Gee

9781925995343

Read a guest blog from Poppy Gee here.

Deep within the lush Tasmanian rainforest is the remote town of Vanishing Falls, a place with a storied past. The town’s showpiece, built in the 1800s, is its Calendar House – currently occupied by Jack Lily, a prominent art collector and landowner; his wife, Celia; and their four daughters. The elaborate, eccentrically designed mansion houses one masterpiece and 52 rooms – and Celia Lily isn’t in any of them. She has vanished without a trace….

Buy it here


When She Was Good

by Michael Robotham

9780733644849

Read our review here and listen to our podcast with Michael here.

Six years ago, Evie Cormac was found hiding in a secret room in the aftermath of a brutal murder. But nobody has ever discovered her real name or where she came from, because everybody who tries ends up dead. Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven believes the truth will set Evie free. Ignoring her warnings, he begins to dig into her past, only to disturb a hornet’s nest of corrupt and powerful people, who have been waiting to find Evie …

Buy it here


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About the Contributor

Ben is Booktopia's dedicated fiction and children's book specialist. He spends his days painstakingly piecing together beautiful catalogue pages and gift guides for the website. At any opportunity, he loves to write warmly of the books that inspire him. If you want to talk books, find him tweeting at @itsbenhunter

Comments

  • Norman Godden

    December 10, 2020 at 12:56 pm

    Thanks and have read many of them. However, what about Garry Disher and his latest “Consolation”. I am a fan and have read all of his books many of which have won significant awards.
    Hammer, Rankin and Connelly are all tops as well.

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