Crime Fiction Author Guides

The best crime novels set in Plymouth understand that this city — with its naval heritage, battered waterfront, and working-class grit — is one of Britain’s most criminally underused backdrops for serious crime fiction. Plymouth deserves better from crime fiction than it has historically received....

Few cities in England wear murder as naturally as York — and the best crime novels set in York prove that behind every medieval wall and cobbled alleyway, something darker has always been at work. York is one of Britain’s most atmospheric cities, a place where Roman foundations sit beneath Viking...

The best crime novels set in Nottingham do something London noir rarely manages — they root their darkness in a city that already carries the weight of legend, outlaw mythology, and post-industrial grit, and they make it feel utterly, uncomfortably real. Nottingham is one of Britain’s most criminally...

Sheffield has long deserved its own literary dark side — and the best crime novels set in Sheffield deliver exactly the kind of steely, atmospheric fiction that this post-industrial city demands. Crime fiction thrives on place, and few British cities carry as much narrative weight as Sheffield. The best...

The Best Crime Novels Set in Bath prove that behind every honey-coloured facade and crescent of Georgian perfection, there lurks something far more sinister than anyone taking the waters would care to admit. Bath is one of those rare cities that carries its own mythology — a place so visually composed,...

Brighton has always worn two faces — the glittering seafront for the tourists, and something far darker behind it — and the best crime novels set in Brighton know exactly which one to exploit. No British city lends itself to crime fiction quite like Brighton. Its collision of Regency grandeur, seaside...

The best crime novels set in the Rocky Mountains understand something most thrillers don’t: that wilderness isn’t just a backdrop — it’s an accomplice, a suspect, and sometimes the most dangerous character in the room. Few landscapes on earth do more work in crime fiction than the Rocky...

The Best Crime Novels Set in Appalachia aren’t just mysteries with a mountain backdrop — they are unflinching portraits of a region where old wounds run deep, justice is complicated, and the land itself becomes a character with something to say. Appalachia has always attracted writers willing to...

The Best Crime Novels Set in the Pacific Northwest don’t just use the region as a backdrop — they treat its perpetual grey skies, fractured communities, and brooding wilderness as a character in their own right, one that shapes every suspect, every motive, and every act of violence. Few settings...

The Best Crime Novels Set in the American South don’t merely use the region as backdrop — they treat its heat, its history, and its unresolved grief as the very engine of murder and consequence. No other region of the United States generates crime fiction with quite the same mixture of literary...

The Best Crime Novels Set in the American Midwest prove that wide open spaces and small forgotten towns can harbour darkness every bit as consuming as any city noir. There is a persistent myth that crime fiction belongs to the city — to rain-slicked alleyways, corrupt precincts, and the anonymous cruelty...

The best crime novels set in New England don’t merely use the region as backdrop — they let its granite coastlines, insular communities, and long institutional memories become co-conspirators in the crime itself. Ask a serious crime reader where America hides its darkest secrets, and the answer...