We a good story
Quick delivery in the UK

Crime & Thriller

If you like crime, suspense or just a well written mystery you have come to the right place. At Tales you find a wide selection of crime novels and thriller books. The crime and thriller genres come in many forms. You can find everything from the most scary and bloddy murder to a mindblowing mystery written by some of the best crime writers. The crime and thriller books are very popular, because of their page-turner elements. Have you first started reading one, it’s hard to put it down again. Are you ready for a thrill?
Show more
Filter
Filter
Sort bySort Popular
  • Save 11%
    by Elizabeth George
    £7.99 - 15.49

  • Save 14%
    by Chris Hadfield
    £9.49 - 15.49

    Internationally bestselling astronaut Chris Hadfield is back with an exceptional Cold War thriller from the dark heart of the Space Race.

  • Save 30%
    by Robert Galbraith
    £38.49

    This beautifully designed box set brings together the first five novels in Robert Galbraith's international blockbuster, the Cormoran Strike series

  • Save 10%
    by Ann Cleeves
    £8.99 - 15.49

    &i>Sunday Times&/i> bestselling author of the Shetland and Vera Stanhope series, Ann Cleeves, returns with the second in a brand new series set in North Devon and featuring Detective Matthew Venn. &i>The Herons Cry &/i>is the second book in the Two Rivers series following on from &i>The Long Call.&/i>

  • Save 11%
    by John Grisham
    £7.99

    The incredible new novel from international bestseller John Grisham.

  • Save 11%
    - The cult classic that inspired Dracula
    by Sheridan Le Fanu
    £7.99 - 9.49

  • Save 24%
    by Barry Windsor-Smith
    £18.99

    35 YEARS IN THE MAKING: THE MOST ANTICIPATED GRAPHIC NOVEL IN RECENT HISTORY *A GUARDIAN 'BOOKS OF 2021' PICK*The year is 1964. Bailey doesn't realize he is about to fulfil his tragic destiny when he walks into a US Army recruitment office. Secretive, damaged, innocent, trying to forget a past and looking for a future, Bobby is the perfect candidate for a secret US government experiment, an unholy continuation of a genetics program that was discovered in Nazi Germany nearly 20 years earlier in the waning days of World War II. Bailey's only ally and protector, Sergeant McFarland, intervenes, which sets off a chain of cascading events that spin out of everyone's control. As the monsters of the title multiply, becoming real and metaphorical, the story reaches a crescendo of moral reckoning. A 360-page tour de force of visual storytelling, Monsters' narrative canvas is copious: part familial drama, part thriller, part metaphysical journey, it is an intimate portrait of individuals struggling to reclaim their lives and an epic political odyssey that plays across two generations of American history. Monsters is rendered in Barry Windsor-Smith's impeccable pen-and-ink technique, the visual storytelling, with its sensitivity to gesture and composition, the most sophisticated of the artist's career. There are passages of heartbreaking tenderness, of excruciating pain, of redemption and sacrifice, and devastating violence. Monsters is surely one of the most intense graphic novels ever drawn.

  • Save 20%
    by Agatha Christie
    £11.99

    An all-new collection of winter-themed mysteries from the master of the genre, just in time for the festive period.

  • Save 11%
    - The Definitive How-To Guide From the My Favorite Murder Podcast
    by Georgia Hardstark & Karen Kilgariff
    £7.99

    The highly anticipated first book by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, the voices behind the #1 hit podcast My Favorite Murder!

  • Save 10%
    by Caroline Kepnes
    £8.99

  • Save 15%
    - The new novel from the author of The Perks Of Being a Wallflower
    by Stephen Chbosky
    £10.99

    An epic literary event twenty years in the making: the new novel from Stephen Chbosky - author of multi-million copy sensation The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

  • Save 10%
    by Seishi Yokomizo
    £8.99 - 11.99

  • Save 11%
    by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
    £7.99

    FBI Special Agent Pendergast faces his most powerful and deadly opponent in the latest instalment in Preston & Child's bestselling series.

  • Save 10%
    - The Brand New Ballard and Bosch Thriller
    by Michael Connelly
    £8.99

    Crime doesn't come better than Connelly: the brand new blockbuster from the crime-thriller powerhouse.

  • Save 10%
    by Lars Kepler
    £8.99

  • Save 23%
    by Neal Stephenson
    £16.99

  • Save 11%
    by DEAN KOONTZ
    £7.99

    She will destroy her enemies once and for all...The explosive conclusion to the Jane Hawk saga, from No. 1 New York Times bestseller Dean Koontz.

  • Save 10%
    by Elly Griffiths
    £8.99

  • Save 10%
    - The New York Times and Sunday Times Number One Bestseller
    by John Grisham
    £8.99

    'The best thriller writer alive' Ken Follett

  • Save 17%
    by Grady Hendrix
    £9.99 - 13.99

    Abby embarks on a quest to save her best friend Gretchen when she realises a demon has taken hold of her

  • Save 10%
    - (Jack Reacher 17)
    by Lee Child
    £8.99

    'A fascinating, swaggeringly confident performance' Sunday TimesWhen you're as big and rough as Jack Reacher - and you have a badly set, freshly busted nose - it isn't easy to hitch a ride in Nebraska.

  • Save 10%
    - (Jack Reacher 16)
    by Lee Child
    £8.99

    Just down the road is a big army base.Is the murderer a local guy - or is he a soldier? If he does what the army wants, will he be able to live with himself? And if he doesn't, will the army be able to live with him?

  • Save 10%
    - (Jack Reacher 15)
    by Lee Child
    £8.99

    'If anyone can put down Worth Dying For after the first few pages, then they shouldn't really be reading thrillers at all' IndependentThere's trouble in the deadly wilds of Nebraska . Reacher - bruised and battered - should have just kept going.

  • Save 10%
    by Robert Harris
    £8.99

    Fatherland is set in an alternative world where Hitler has won the Second World War. And, with the Gestapo just one step behind, March, together with an American journalist, is caught up in a race to discover and reveal the truth - a truth that has already killed, a truth that could topple governments, a truth that will change history.

  • Save 10%
    - (Jack Reacher 10)
    by Lee Child
    £8.99

    Featuring Jack Reacher, hero of the new blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise, as he comes to the UK.Jack Reacher is alone, the way he likes it. Reacher's job is to make sure it all turns out right - money paid, family safely returned.What started on a busy New York street explodes three thousand miles away, in the sleepy English countryside.

  • Save 14%
    by Dan Simmons
    £9.49

    They were part of Sir John Franklin's 1845 expedition - as scientifically advanced an enterprise as had ever set forth - and theirs were the first steam-driven vessels to go in search of the fabled North-West Passage.

  • Save 14%
    by Mark Olshaker & John Douglas
    £9.49

    THE SHOCKING FOLLOW-UP TO MINDHUNTER, NOW A SMASH-HIT NETFLIX DRAMAJohn Douglas is the world's top pioneer and expert on criminal profiling.

  • Save 15%
    by Umberto Eco
    £10.99 - 13.49

    Franciscans in a wealthy Italian abbey are suspected of heresy, and Brother William of Baskerville arrives to investigate.When his delicate mission is suddenly overshadowed by seven bizarre deaths, Brother William turns detective.

  • Save 10%
    - (Jack Reacher 6)
    by Lee Child
    £8.99

    Featuring Jack Reacher, hero of the new blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise. This time, he's in the line of fire, protecting the Vice President of the United States.Jack Reacher walks alone. Now a woman tracks him down. A woman serving at the very heart of US power. A woman who needs Reacher's assistance in her new job.

  • Save 10%
    - (Jack Reacher 7)
    by Lee Child
    £8.99

    Featuring Jack Reacher, hero of the blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise, in his most explosive adventure yet.Never forgive, never forget. But he has a burning desire to right wrongs - and rewrite his own agonizing past. Never explain. Has Reacher lost his sense of right and wrong?

Crime
The crime genre is one of the most popular literary genres among readers around the world. The characteristics of a typical crime novel is first and foremost that a crime is committed. The crime begins the plot and from this point the investigation starts. Here we meet the investigator that will solve the mystery of the crime that was committed. In the investigation process the reader is introduced to a gallery of characters and during the crime book the crime writer gives the reader some clues to who the offender or murder could be. Another crucial factor here is the motive of the crime. Lastly the crime is solved and all the clues are unravelled in the end of the crime novels. 

The Nordic Crime tradition
In Scandinavia we have a proud tradition of writing crime novels especially in the form of nordic noir. What is special about the nordic noir genre is it’s way of mixing the investigation of a crime or murder with socialrealistic problematics often describes through the main characters. Another special feature found in these crime novels is that the main character is mostly female. The female investigator or journalist comes in the form of an anti-hero that is brilliant at solving a crime mystery, but struggles with problems in her personal life. She is often an outsider and socially changed, but good at her work. She has an assistant or helper, that often is her complete contrast.
Another characteristic of the nordic crime books is the weather. The often cold, harsh, and dark autumn weather in Scandinavia creates a gloomy, melancholic and mysterious backdrop of the story. Some of the crime books best sellers are found in Scandinavia.

Classical mysteries 
The crime genre goes a long way back and is said to have started or had its broad appeal with the stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in an english newspaper. The popular stories were later turned into a crime books series, and the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is still some of the most beloved crime stories on the market. The genius main character Sherlock Holmes and his likeable helper Doctor Watson solve some of the most puzzling mysteries in the history of crime novels, and the gallery of characters is really well described. The whole crime book series have been adapted to the screen and the popular crime stories are found in multiple tv-serieses and movies today, but the books are always the best.
You will also find all the classics by the famous and beloved crime writer Agatha Christie in our selection. You can find the whole very popular crime books series with the brilliant Hercule Poirot including the classic The Murder on The Orient Express. You can also find the beloved crime novel character Miss Marple, who is one of the most genius old Ladies in the history of books. You can also find some of Agatha Christies’ plays in our wide selection of crime books.

Thriller
The thriller books are some of the most intense. They are hard to describe, because of their diversity, but they always give you thrill. The plot often deals with a mystery that needs solving, but different from the crime book is the high level of intensity and suspense making it hard for the reader to put the book down again. All the thriller books are page-turners and are highly loved by its readers, because the high level of intensity and excitement makes the reader feel like he is part of the thriller book’s plot. 
In our wide selection of crime and thriller you can find all the thriller books best sellers including the Dan Brown classics The Da Vinci Code and Inferno. If you like a good shiver you should take a look at the nerve wracking thriller books by Stephen King if you dare. 

Join thousands of book lovers

Sign up to our newsletter and receive discounts and inspiration for your next reading experience.