It’s been, well, let’s just say a testing year for my family. My dad and my husband have both had serious health challenges and it’s taken a toll on us all, along with my writing and my body (currently sporting a moon boot for my extra efforts). But this isn’t a pity party, there have also been many great things about these past months, including some good crime reads! These are my standouts from March until June, along with my current read. As always, I will post this to my Facebook page and would love you to jump on and comment with your recommended crime fiction reads.
Disclaimer:
Being a crime fiction addict and lover of series books, expect lots of my reading to fall into these categories. You can also expect to only hear about the books I have enjoyed – but as I have honed my selections to my tastes over the years, I am rarely disappointed, and I get that reading enjoyment is subjective anyway. I love to jump over to Goodreads and share the books I’ve enjoyed with the reading community, and this led me to posting my standouts in a “Good Reads” column every two months or so.
She Had Enough (standalone) Stacie Grey 4.0 stars
She Had Enough opens with a fun night out with old college friends. Among the six women, Caitlin is even more withdrawn than her usual self. She slips something into Mallory’s bag before the friends part ways. Only hours later, a massive earthquake strikes San Francisco. Amid this disaster, with essential services cut, buildings destroyed or too unsafe for habitation, the friends go separate ways. Six months passes and Mallory returns to discover Caitlin is missing. Some other creepy stuff has been happening – is it connected with Caitlin or coincidental? Nobody else seems concerned, which makes question how well she really knows her friends, who she can trust… is one of them a murderer? What happens when she won’t let it go…?
Advance review copy received with thanks from the publisher and NetGalley. She Had Enough is expected to publish 21 July 2026.
A slow burn with murder and mystery with the point of difference of the fallout of a massive San Francisco earthquake, She Had Enough is a recommended read.
Room 706 (standalone) Ellie Levenson 4.0 stars
Kate is in Room 706 in a London hotel. She shouldn’t be there instead of at work. She most definitely shouldn’t be there with her lover instead of her husband and children. When the hotel is taken over by terrorists, they are cooped up together. They must stay quiet and hope the terrorists don’t find them before authorities can execute a rescue. Kate spends that time – which feels like an eternity – reflecting on her choices, her marriage and family, loved ones lost, what will happen if today is her last day, and what will happen if she survives this situation and her husband learns of her affair. She also realises that she basically knows nothing about her lover except his body and what they enjoy sexually. The premise of a terror situation implies what will be a heightened life-and-death drama, but that aspect is dimly in the background, overshadowed by Kate’s introspection and flashbacks. The ending is ambiguous, letting the reader decide the outcome, but this may frustrate some.
Room 706 is out now.
Not a thriller, which was disappointing, as that’s what I expected. But Room 706 is a thoughtful read and exploration of life and love and regrets, so I will recommend as literary or women’s fiction.
Fret (standalone) Nadia Bozak 3.5-4.0 stars
I picked up a review copy of Fret, which was categorised as mystery and thrillers (psychological thrillers) and women’s fiction. It wasn’t a thriller of any sort, but was an enjoyable women’s fiction read. Basically, a coming-of-age story but rather than centred around a youth, the star is Kate, a past indie rock star and current day middle-aged single mother with anger management issues exacerbated by a relentless heat wave and judgemental attitudes. When her car is stolen with her infant child inside it sets off a chain of events that might ultimately help Kate correct past mistakes.
Advance review copy received with thanks from the publisher and NetGalley. Fret is expected to publish 25 August 2026.
I felt letdown by Fret being misshelved by the publisher – it is not a mystery or thriller. But do recommend this one to women’s fiction/domestic fiction/mothers and children fiction fans.
The Bestseller (standalone) Jenny Knightsby 4.0 stars
The Bestseller is a dual timeline and point-of-view psychological thriller that explores friendships, betrayal, coercive relationships, abuse of power and privilege. Therapist Helena Salve is bound by professional ethics and legal rules. She knows it’s imperative to maintain client confidentiality, professional boundaries, be objective and neutral, and to manage her own wellbeing. It’s over her client Belle and Belle’s apparently dangerous husband that Helena crosses every line. Helena shares everything with her best friend Tala believing it will go no further. Months go by and Tala has transformed from a luckless thriller writer to excited for her upcoming release, what’s being touted as her biggest book ever. Helena recognises Tala’s premise as Belle’s story and suddenly it’s not just Belle in jeopardy. Helena is too. So, how will this end?
Advance review copy received with thanks from the publisher and NetGalley. The Bestseller published on 18 June 2026.
The Bestseller is a psych thriller delivers lots of twists and turns. I saw where it was heading but was still compelled to read on. Recommended.
Missing Molly (standalone) Natalie Barelli 5.0 stars
Missing Molly is a page-turning thriller by Australian author Natalie Barelli. Rachel Holloway works as a bookkeeper for a small, struggling newspaper. Along with the small team of her boss and colleagues, she embraces a new podcast diving into a cold case as what will hopefully save the paper from folding. Then she discovers the topic: finding Molly Forster, who disappeared after the gruesome mass murder of her family. And suddenly, Rachel has everything to lose, not least her partner and their three-year-old daughter. Because none of them will be safe if her secret is uncovered… Rachel is Molly Forster and somebody will do anything to stop her sharing what she knows about the murders.
Advance review copy received with thanks from the publisher and NetGalley. First published in 2018, Missing Molly is due for re-release on 20 October 2026.
I loved the author’s style and the subject of Missing Molly. Highly recommend this compulsive thriller.
The Stepmother (standalone) Sheila Bugler 4.0 stars
The Stepmother is a psychological/domestic thriller with shifts and twists, high emotional stakes, loads of tension and empathetic characters (along with unreliable ones). Drawing the reader in with an enticing prologue, the story then switches to Sarah. On an ordinary day, like any other, she arrives at the school to collect her stepchildren Izzy and Patrick. But the twins aren’t there. In fact, Mike (their father, Sarah’s partner) picked them up earlier that day and he’s ignoring Sarah’s calls. When she turns to police for help, she’s told that as she and Mike are not legally married, and he is the children’s father, nothing can be done. Sarah’s nightmare spirals with a text from Mike warning her not to go home. What is Mike hiding? Who can she trust? Where are their children, and how can she get her family back safely?
Advance review copy received with thanks from the publisher and NetGalley. The Stepmother is due out 24 September 2026.
Engaging, twisty and centred around loving stepmother and wife Sarah. Recommend The Stepmother to lovers of psychological/domestic thrillers
Mad Mabel (standalone) Sally Hepworth 4.0 stars
Eighty-one-year-old Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick lives a quiet life in a quiet street. Smart and rather grouchy, she is doing her best not to allow youngster Persephone to get under her skin. Even more importantly, Elsie wants to keep her past buried. But then, among her handful of neighbours, the very one Elsie has a prickly relationship with dies, she finds his body and becomes a suspect in his death. Under this spotlight, her identity as “Mad Mabel” – Australia’s youngest convicted murderer – is revealed. This leads her to share her tragic story with two young podcasters. Meanwhile, life for Elsie and her neighbours becomes complicated. Past and current day is interwoven through a story of crimes, injustices, redemption… and, most of all, friendships.
Mad Mabel is out now.
Disappointing as a thriller/murder mystery, which is how it’s categorised. But, interweaving past and present, I enjoyed Mad Mabel as a moving story about unexpected friendships and life drama. Recommended for fans of general/domestic fiction and Sally Hepworth.
The Ledge (standalone) Christian White 4.0 stars
Trigger warnings: suicidal ideation and child sexual abuse.
The Ledge is a dual-timeline story told via a sixteen-year-old boy’s (very detailed) journal dating back to 1999 and an adult narrator in current-day. When a body is discovered in the bush outside a small town in Victoria, it rakes up the past. Amid a police investigation and the locals’ intense curiosity and rumours, a group of old friends reunite. But they aren’t back together to share fond memories – their ghastly secret is about to be revealed. Just be careful who you trust as you start this ride…
The Ledge is out now.
Christian White is known for leading you down a path and revealing his misdirection late in the piece and he delivers this again in The Ledge, a suspenseful, coming-of-age murder mystery. Recommended..
When They Find Me (standalone) Carter Wilson 4.5 stars
Strap in for a pacey, action-packed thriller with lots of great elements, including empathetic female characters, grief and emotion, pretty scary survivalists and cruel manipulation in When They Find Me. Annie Wolfe and her daughter Coral are hiding in the remote town of Expanse, Colorado. It’s a place where people know not to ask deep questions and leave secrets alone. The mother and daughter live in a cabin out of the way and Annie has prepared them for the worst. When – rather than if – the people hunting her track them down. Riven, her brother and her father are survivalists, basically animals living off the land, with the simple mission to take revenge on the man who their father blames for destroying their family. It’s Riven’s turn to take the lead, to do what “needs” to be done. But she knocks on the wrong door: Annie’s. And… well, you need to read the book to discover how it turns out.
Advance review copy received with thanks from the publisher and NetGalley. When They Find Me is expected to publish 10 November 2026.
Fast-paced, compulsive, atmospheric and rather brutal thriller When They Find Me is a perfect winter read (unless it scares the pants off you). Highly recommended.
My current read is – surprisingly – not crime fiction, but a romcom called The Boyfriend Clause by Bridie Blake. I’m reading this in preparation for my upcoming author panel at Phillip Island Festival of Stories on 23 August 2026: “Olivia Tolich, Bridie Blake and Sandi Wallace – Crime? Romance? Fantasy? Thriller? What is a book genre anyway? Two new romance writers and a crime writer talk about what they write and why.” The Boyfriend Clause is Bridie’s debut novel and lots of fun. Olivia’s debut romcom Side Character Energy is next on my to-read pile.
I’ll share more good crime reads in my next post.
Until then, happy reading!
Cheers,
Sandi
