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The 2024 International Thriller Writers Award nominees have been announced! The winners will be decided on 1 June 2024. The ITW Thriller Awards celebrate the best thriller writers from around the world.
In this post we’ll break down a few of the fiction categories to see what’s on offer.
How many on this list have you read? We’re always looking for new thrillers to read, so what better place to find them than on a nominee list!
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Therefore, this post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means, if you click on the link and purchase the book from that link, I get a few dollars at no extra cost to you! This way we can both stock up on more mysterious reads! 😀
Happy Reading, Friends!
A black sheriff. A serial killer. A small town ready to combust. After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface. Titus investigates the shooting of a school teacher, and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight. This is a stand-alone novel. Also nominated for ‘Best Novel’ in the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards!
Keera Duggan was building a solid reputation as a Seattle prosecutor, until her romantic relationship with a senior colleague ended badly. Keera’s chance to play in the big leagues comes when she’s retained by Vince LaRussa, an investment adviser accused of murdering his wealthy wife. There’s little hard evidence against him, but considering the couple’s impending and potentially nasty divorce, LaRussa faces life in prison. The prosecutor is equally challenging: Miller Ambrose, Keera’s former lover, who’s eager to destroy her in court on her first homicide defense. As Keera and her team follow the evidence, they uncover a complicated and deadly game that’s more than Keera bargained for. This is Book One in the Keera Duggan series.
Olivia Bender desperately wants to be a mother. Fertility treatments and IVF keep failing. And just when she feels she’s at her lowest point, the police deliver shocking news to Olivia and her husband, Park. DNA results show that the prime suspect in a murder investigation is Park’s son. Olivia is relieved, knowing this is a mistake. Despite their desire, the Benders don’t have any children. Then comes the confession. As the murder investigation goes deeper, more terrible truths come to light. With every revelation, Olivia must face the unthinkable. This is a stand-alone novel.
Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any hint of misconduct by any MI5 officer—and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, unfettered access to any and all confidential information in the Service archives in order to do so. But MI5’s formidable First Desk did not become Britain’s top spy by accident, and she has successfully thwarted the inquiry at every turn. Now the administration that created Monochrome has been ousted, the investigation is a total bust—and Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away by the pounding London rain. Until the eve of Monochrome’s shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlin—an operation that ended in tragedy and scandal, whose cover-up has rewritten thirty years of Service history. This is a stand-alone novel.
Relentless, hard-bitten PI, Isaiah Quintabe, is faced with a nightmarish scenario when the love of his life is kidnapped by a maniacal hitman who bears a grudge against him. Danger has always followed IQ, a reality he’s keenly aware of as he’s laid up in a hospital bed, recovering from injuries sustained in his last case. As IQ recovers, five hundred miles from East Long Beach, he’s unaware that Grace has been abducted by his sworn enemy, the professional hitman Skip Hanson. Skip is savage and psychotic, determined to punish Isaiah for sending him to prison and destroying his life. Now, Isaiah and his sometimes partner, ex-hustler Juanell Dodson, must track scant clues through L.A.’s perilous landscape as Grace’s predicament grows more uncertain. This is Book 6 in the ‘IQ’ Series. Check out Book One – ‘IQ’.
Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. During a hasty escape from a secluded boarding school, her coach careened over a hillside road during one of the year’s heaviest snowstorms, trapping her inside with a handful of survivors, a brewing virus, and no way to call for help. If she and the remaining few want to make it out alive, with their sanity–and secrets–intact, they’ll need to work together or they’ll be buried alive with the rest of the dead. A former detective, Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She is in a cable car suspended far above a snowstorm and surrounded by strangers in the same uniform as her, with no memory of how they got there. They are heading to a mysterious place known to them only as “The Retreat,” but when they discover a dead man among their ranks and Meg spies a familiar face, she realizes that there is something far more insidious going on. Carter and his ragtag compatriots manage a precarious survival, manufacturing vaccines against a deadly virus in exchange for life’s essentials. But as their generator begins to waver, the threat of something lurking in the chalet’s depths looms larger, and their fragile bonds will be tested when the power finally fails–for good. The imminent dangers faced by Hannah, Meg, and Carter are each one part of the puzzle. Lurking in their shadows is an even greater threat–one that threatens to consume all of humanity. This is a stand-alone novel.
Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. When his trusted informant becomes embroiled in a murder however, Collins finds himself drawn deep into the conflict. Drawing on all his skills as a spymaster, he sets out to learn the truth behind the Arab Spring, win Almaisa’s love, and uncover the murky border where Bahrain’s secrets end and America’s begin. This is a stand-alone novel. Also nominated for ‘Best First Novel by an American Author’ in the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards!
As a child, Evan Smoak was plucked out of a group home, raised and trained as an off-the-books assassin for the government as part of the Orphan program. When he broke with the program and went deep underground, he left with a lot of secrets in his head that the government would do anything to make sure never got out. When he remade himself as The Nowhere Man, dedicated to helping the most desperate in their times of trouble, Evan found himself slowly back on the government’s radar. Having eliminated most of the Orphans in the program, the government will stop at nothing to eliminate the threat they see in Evan. But Orphan X has always been several steps ahead of his pursuers. Until he makes one little mistake. This is Book 8 in the ‘Orphan X’ Series. Check out Book One – ‘Orphan X’.
It’s hard to find an employer who doesn’t ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, stay quiet until I get what I want. It’s almost perfect. But I still haven’t met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom. I’m sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I’m doing laundry. And one day I can’t help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything. That’s when I make a promise. After all, I’ve done this before. I can protect Mrs. Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe. Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It’s simply a question of how far I’m willing to go. This is Book 2 in ‘The Housemaid’ Series. Check out Book One – ‘The Housemaid’.
Joe Wolf applies a cutthroat determination to his life’s work, from to building a California business empire to parenting three sons and a daughter. Kill or be killed. So when the patriarch takes a deadly cruise on San Francisco Bay, Joe Wolf’s bloodline becomes SFPD’s lifeline. Detective Ben Cantor trails the “pack of wolves” as the siblings vie for control of their legacy of power and assets. All four have the means and the motive to commit murder, but only one of them is most like Joe Wolf. Only one of them earned their father’s love. Lurking in the shadows is the real alpha wolf. That creature survives on instinct. And desire. To kill all the wolves dead. This is Book One in the ‘House of Wolves’ Series.
Jen Weinstein and Lauren Parker rule the town of Salcombe, Fire Island every summer. They hold sway on the beach and the tennis court, and are adept at manipulating people to get what they want. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered together on the island since childhood, despite lifelong grudges and numerous secrets. Their one single friend, Rachel Woolf, is looking to meet her match, whether he’s the tennis pro-or someone else’s husband. But even with plenty to gossip about, this season starts out as quietly as any other. Until a body is discovered, face down off the side of the boardwalk. This is a stand-alone novel.
Shane Collins, a world-weary CIA spy, is ready to come in from the cold. When his trusted informant becomes embroiled in a murder however, Collins finds himself drawn deep into the conflict. Drawing on all his skills as a spymaster, he sets out to learn the truth behind the Arab Spring, win Almaisa’s love, and uncover the murky border where Bahrain’s secrets end and America’s begin. This is a stand-alone novel. Also nominated for ‘Best First Novel by an American Author’ in the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards!
In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the 3 remaining Bainbridge heiresses. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth, Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion. This is a stand-alone novel. Also nominated for ‘Best First Novel by an American Author’ in the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards!
When Saint Sebastian’s School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding community are thrust into chaos. Unsatisfied with the officials’ response, sardonic and headstrong Sister Holiday becomes determined to unveil the mysterious attacker herself and return her home and sanctuary to its former peace. Her investigation leads down a twisty path of suspicion and secrets in the sticky, oppressive New Orleans heat, turning her against colleagues, students, and even fellow Sisters along the way. Sister Holiday is more faithful than most, but she’s no saint. To piece together the clues of this high-stakes mystery, she must first reckon with the sins of her checkered past-and neither task will be easy. This is Book One in the ‘Sister Holiday Mystery‘ Series.
Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life. She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns 36 copies of ‘The Hobbit’ (currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friends reruns. And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this. Until a letter from the parole board arrives in the mail—and when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel. As long-buried memories come to the surface, Lenny’s careful routines fall apart. For the first time, she finds herself forced to connect with the community around her, and unexpected new relationships begin to bloom. Lenny Marks may finally get a life—but what if her past catches up to her first? This is a stand-alone novel.
A mystery featuring hard-boiled Chicago Detective Harriet Foster, who’s on the hunt for a serial killer with a deadly affinity for redheads. As a black woman in a male-dominated department, Foster anticipates a rocky road ahead acclimating to a new team—and building trust with her new partner isn’t coming easily. When multiple victims turn up with the same lipstick markings, Foster suspects she’s looking for a serial killer. In her desperate race to catch the murderer before they strike again, Foster will have to confront the darkest of secrets—including her own. This is Book One in the ‘Detective Harriet Foster Series‘. Also nominated for ‘Best Paperback Original’ in the 2024 Edgar Allan Poe Awards!
Curator of paleontology Dr. Simon Nealy never expected to return to his Pennsylvania hometown, let alone the Hawthorne Museum of Natural History. He was just a boy when his six-year-old sister, Morgan, was abducted from the museum under his watch, and the guilt has haunted Simon ever since. After a recent break-up and the death of the aunt who raised him, Simon feels drawn back to the place where Morgan vanished, in search of the bones they never found. But from the moment he arrives, things aren’t what he expected. The Hawthorne is a crumbling ruin, still closed amid the ongoing pandemic, and plummeting toward financial catastrophe. Worse, Simon begins seeing and hearing things he can’t explain. Strange animal sounds. Bloody footprints that no living creature could have left. A prehistoric killer looming in the shadows of the museum. Terrified he’s losing his grasp on reality, Simon turns to the handwritten research diaries of his predecessor and uncovers a blood-soaked mystery 150 million years in the making that could be the answer to everything. This is a stand-alone novel.
Former spy Maggie Bird came to the seaside village of Purity, Maine, eager to put the past behind her after a mission went tragically wrong. These days, she’s living quietly on her chicken farm, still wary of blowback from the events that forced her early retirement. But when a body turns up in Maggie’s driveway, she knows it’s a message from former foes who haven’t forgotten her. Maggie turns to her local circle of old friends—all retirees from the CIA—to help uncover the truth about who is trying to kill her, and why. This “Martini Club” of former spies may be retired, but they still have a few useful skills that they’re eager to use again, if only to spice up their rather sedate new lives. This is Book One in ‘The Martini Club’ Series.
In the elite world of luxury real estate, it is often kill or be killed, something agent Andi Hart knows all too well—and after recent events, she’s ready to set her own rules. So when her boss challenges the team to find a buyer for a glitzy Malibu beach house, with a prize commission of a cool $1 million, she knows it’s her ticket to a new life. But she’s not the only one who not only wants but needs the money. Each of her four colleagues has secrets they’re eager to hide—secrets $1 million would go a long way in concealing. And soon, it becomes clear all five would do just about anything to get their hands on it. When a dead body is found at the open house, the dream home becomes a nightmarish crime scene. Has the contest reached a deadly new level, or is there something more sinister at work? This is a stand-alone novel.
Joe Ledger and Rogue Team International plunge into mortal peril as this new and deadly arms race threatens to ignite new wars throughout the Middle East. After years of searching, a new cave filled with Dead Sea Scrolls is found, and among them are bizarre books of actual magic. Terrorist groups and multinational corporations scramble to acquire these treasures in the hopes that magic is the true WMD of the 21st Century. But everyone who goes near those scrolls goes insane. The fabric of reality is shredding. Is this the result of ancient magic, or is it a new bioweapon that fractures the mind of anyone exposed? Cave 13 pits Joe Ledger against warring factions of ideological terrorism, corporate greed, and massive international crime syndicates in what might well become a new Age of Miracles. This is Book 3 in the ‘Rogue Team International’ Series. Check out Book One – ‘Rage’.
A small white plane hurtles from the sky, vanishing into the wilderness. Hiker Maggie Roby watches its final descent, certain that no one could have survived. But to her shock, a fifteen-year-old girl emerges from the wreckage, wounded but miraculously, impossibly alive. Maggie approaches with trepidation; she has secrets of her own, a past she can’t escape. Saving the girl means risking her future, but she can’t just abandon her, can she? With the young survivor, Maggie embarks on a dangerous trek through the remote Appalachian backcountry, joining up with two veterans from the local sheriff’s department who know the land better than anyone. But even as Maggie charts their course through the mountains, she can sense someone—or something—else watching and waiting. This is a stand-alone novel.
When Penny Zale vanishes from the psychiatric hospital where she’s being held against her will, only her chopped-off braid and cryptic letters remain. If her friends—Raven, Aarya, Dawn, and Elle—have any chance of finding Penny, they must enter a world where money and power mean everything, and life is expendable. The lies that built Everbeach run deep, and someone is willing to do anything to keep them hidden. The girls believe Penny’s letters point to her ex, big sugar heir Logan Steele. When Raven tries to get close to Logan to gather information, she finds herself fighting a dangerous attraction to the magnetic billionaire. Everything begins to unravel when Aarya discovers Raven has been keeping secrets. Raven’s painful past of anxiety and addiction causes her to spiral, and everyone, including Raven herself, starts to question her version of reality. As threats and attacks ramp up against the friends, they must decipher what happened to Penny before they’re the next to disappear. This is Book One in the ‘Everbeach’ Series.
Abby Ward lives in a town haunted by disappearances. People vanish, and when they’re found, their bodies have been dismembered and sewn back together in unnatural ways. But is it the work of a human killer, or something far darker? She and her younger sister live by a strict set of rules designed to keep them safe―which is why it’s such a shock when Hope is taken. Desperate to get her back, Abby tells the police everything she knows, but they claim their hands are tied. With every hour precious, Abby and her friends are caught in a desperate game of cat and mouse. They have to get Hope back. Quickly. Before too much of her is cut away. And before everything they care about is swallowed up by the darkness waiting in the tunnels beneath the home they thought they knew. This is a stand-alone novel.
Beck Birsching has been adrift since the death of her mother, a brilliant but troubled investigative reporter. She finds herself unable to stop herself from slipping into memories of happier days, clamouring for a time when things were normal. So when a mysterious letter in her mother’s handwriting arrives in the mail with the words Come and find me, pointing to a town called Backravel, Beck hopes that it may hold the answers. But when Beck and her sister Riley arrive in Backravel, Arizona it’s clear that there’s something off about the town. There are no cars, no cemeteries, no churches. The town is a mix of dilapidated military structures and new, shiny buildings, all overseen by the town’s gleaming treatment centre high on a plateau. No one seems to remember when they got there, and the only people who seem to know more than they’re letting on is the town’s enigmatic leader and his daughter, Avery. This is a stand-alone novel.
The town of Bishop is known for exactly two recurring windstorms and an endless field of sunflowers that stretches farther than the eye can see. And women―missing women. So when three more women disappear one stormy night, no one in Bishop is surprised. The case is closed and their daughters are left in their dusty shared house with the shattered pieces of their lives. Until the wind kicks up a terrible secret at their mothers’ much-delayed memorial. With secrets come the lies each of the girls is forced to confront. After caring for the other girls, Delilah would like to move on with her boyfriend, Bennett, but she can’t bear his touch. Whitney has already lost both her mother and her girlfriend, Eleanor, and now her only solace is an old weathervane that seems to whisper to her. Jude, Whitney’s twin sister, would rather ignore it all, but the wind kicks up her secret the summer fling she had with Delilah’s boyfriend. And more than anything, Bo wants answers and she wants them now. Something happened to their mothers and the townsfolk know what it was. She’s sure of it. Bishop has always been a strange town. But what the girls don’t know is that Bishop was founded on blood―and now it craves theirs. This is a stand-alone novel.
When Stella North is chosen to represent Britain in Europe’s first air race for young people, she knows all too well how high the stakes are. As the only participating female pilot, it’ll be a constant challenge to prove she’s a worthy competitor. But promoting peace in Europe feels empty to Stella when civil war is raging in Spain and the Nazis are gaining power—and when, right from the start, someone resorts to cutthroat sabotage to get ahead of the competition. The world is looking for inspiration in what’s meant to be a friendly sporting event. But each of the racers is hiding a turbulent and violent past, and any one of them might be capable of murder, including Stella herself. This is a stand-alone novel.
I know I want to marry Sam the moment I meet him. After I lost my beloved mother so suddenly, this charming, softly spoken architect with his deep-brown eyes is just the fresh start I’ve been searching for. I’m delighted to be expecting our first child before we’ve even had a chance to plan a honeymoon. I want our family to work so I try to ignore his long work trips. I turn a blind eye to the private calls he takes and I listen to his excuses about why the money keeps disappearing from my bank account. After all, he has no idea what I’ve been doing in our house whilst he’s away or how I really made that money. Then I find out Sam’s got more to hide than I ever imagined was possible. Because my husband is leading a double life. He’s already married to someone else. But what Sam doesn’t know is that he’s not the only person keeping secrets. And he has no idea how far I’ll go to protect myself. This is a stand-alone novel.
Creeley Nash has been running her entire life. That includes running drugs for a wannabe kingpin. On a drug run to Palm Springs—the town where Creeley escaped her no-good mother as a teen—she’ll encounter a sun-drenched facade beneath which lurks a web of dark secrets. This is a stand-alone novel.
A body lies beside Kettlewell Creek, the waters rushing and churning next to her broken form. When Detective Josie Quinn arrives at the scene, she finds few clues and a victim with no enemies. Nineteen-year-old Sharon Eddy was cherished by her beloved grandmother, who raised her, and her death shocks the Denton community where she worked at the local animal hospital. When Josie is called to the morgue to hear the results of Sharon’s autopsy, the case takes a sinister turn. She is horrified to see that a mark has been burned on to Sharon’s left hip with a cattle brand: a horseshoe shot through with an arrow. Shaken and terrified, the usually cool and collected Medical Examiner Anya Feist lifts her own top to show Josie an identical mark. Ten years ago, Anya fled her hometown after her marriage to her high school sweetheart ended in terror. Then another body is found. A young woman in a red coat, lying in her final resting place, her hip bearing the same tell-tale horseshoe mark. As Josie gets closer to finding the truth, the killer creeps ever closer to home, threatening the lives of those Josie loves the most. This is Book 17 in the ‘Detective Josie Quinn’ Series. Check out Book One – ‘Vanishing Girls’.
While on vacation in Las Vegas, a businessman wakes up in a strange hotel room to find a dead woman in the bathtub. Panicked, he runs. But before he can get far, a pair of detectives stop him. Desperate, he tells them that he’s innocent. That there’s no way he killed the woman. That he’ll do anything not to go to prison. That’s when they offer him a way out. But there is no way out — as the detectives will soon learn. This is Book One in the ‘Killing Room‘ Series.
I peered over the ledge with my heart in my throat. A pop of color caught my eye – I would recognize that jacket anywhere. The body I knew so well lay still, torso twisted one way, head facing the other. I’d planned this trip to the gorgeous, remote Michigan woodlands as a last-ditch attempt to help Pete and our families’ bond before the wedding of our dreams. Instead, it has turned into a nightmare that I can’t seem to wake up from. Anger, resentment, and heated arguments weren’t at all what Pete and I had imagined, even less so the horror of discovering a dead body. Looking around the campsite at my terrified family and future in-laws, I realise that someone on this trip has been keeping secrets from me. What could be dangerous enough to kill for? But then again, I also have secrets of my own, something that if known, could be deadly. The only thing I know for certain is that the murderer is ruthless enough to do anything to keep their story hidden. Who will be next to pay the ultimate price? This is a stand-alone novel.
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