Next year, Mulholland Books are due to publish From the Dust — the next novel from David Swinson, the author of the excellent Frank Marr novels (which I highly recommend). A “soulful, rural noir story about belief”, here’s the synopsis:
When a murder occurs in a small town in Upstate New York, retired police detective Graham Sanderson, is drawn back into a vortex of violence, deception, and a series of murders which get dangerously personal.
Graham Sanderson thought he’d left it all behind. His years as a Washington, DC, homicide detective, his tragically dead wife, pain, violence. Taking over his father’s house in the remote Finger Lakes region of rural New York, and looking after his shut-in brother, Tommy, seemed like a respite. That is, until the first body is found.
The chief of the town’s small police jurisdiction, who is also a family friend, asks for Graham’s assistance. Graham’s instincts immediately kick in and he soon discovers there’s more to the area — the people, its brutally quiet, sophisticated hierarchies — than he or his family ever knew.
David Swinson’s From the Dust is due to be published by Mulholland Books in North America and in the UK, on March 31st, 2026.
Also on CR: Reviews of The Second Girl, Crime Song, and Trigger; Excerpt from Sweet Thing
Next year, 
I’ve long been a fan of Abir Mukherjee‘s Wyndham & Banerjee series of historical crime novels, set in early 20th Century India. I was relatively late to this series, but it fast became one of my must-read crime series. I finished the fifth novel in the series, The Shadows of Man, a couple of days ago, and it ended with one of the main character’s situations in limbo, so I am particularly eager to read this next volume.
Meanwhile, Surendranath Banerjee, recently returned from Europe after three years spent running from the fallout of his last case, is searching for a missing photographer; a trailblazing woman at the forefront of the profession. When Suren discovers that the vanished woman is linked to Sam’s murder investigation, the two men find themselves working together once again – but will Wyndham and Banerjee be able to put their differences aside to solve the case?
Later this year, readers will get a new book from Don Winslow! The Final Score is a collection of six never-before-published, all-new short novels. Learning about this book was a very nice surprise, because I had been under the impression that Winslow had retired from writing, after the publication of his 
Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers join forces to track down a ruthless killer who will do whatever it takes to keep the past buried…
Today, we have an excerpt from the recently-published Pagans, by James Alistair Henry. It certainly has an intriguing premise, as it is a crime/mystery novel set in an alternative 21st Century Britain where a number of key events never happened (including the arrival of Christianity, the Norman Conquest and the Industrial Revolution). My interest in the novel grew after I learned that the author had written for Smack the Pony and Green Wing. The novel is out now, published by 
Next summer, 
A fantastic tale of identity, crime, and the long tail of violence
The excellent second novel in the Martini Club series
A missing actress, the uncaring world of Hollywood, and the peculiarity of fame in America
Civilian Reader 