12 New Crime Fiction Books Written by Women

There's something about long winter nights that say crime fiction to me. Maybe it's because these books tend to draw me in completely and beg to be read in one long go, testing my solving abilities and sometimes making me get up to double-check that the doors are locked. This week I'm featuring 12 mysteries and thrillers, all written by women and published this month, to get you through snowy evenings. You'll recognize some of the titles, but I hope you find a few new books too.

• Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan (Atria/Emily Bestler Books): When a high-profile British politician and family man is accused of rape, the ensuing trial pits two women lawyers, each determined to win the case. This very timely story, told from three view points, will have you adding up the evidence to make your own guilty or not guilty declaration.
• Best Friends Forever by Margot Hunt (MIRA): When two Florida women, Kat and Alice, meet by chance while flying home, they form a tight, trusting friendship, despite their lifestyle differences. But when Kat's husband dies under questionable circumstances, Alice is forced to reassess what she really knows about her friend, especially when Kat stops answering her texts.
• Blood Sisters by Jane Corry (Pamela Dorman Books): Alison, an art teacher, still suffers from survivor's guilt after a childhood car accident left her sister brain damaged and institutionalized and their young friend dead. The women's lives are good as can be expected, until Alison starts to find notes implicating she had a role in the tragedy and someone is out for vengeance. Secrets and twists.

• The Burial Society by Nina Sadowsky (Ballantine): An American businessman is murdered in Paris, setting off a chain of events that threatens to expose his grown children's secrets. When the siblings meet a mysterious woman who heads a dark net organization that helps people disappear, they discover their family may be the target of a dangerous killer.
• In a Cottage in a Wood by Cass Green (HarperCollins): An escape to the country is just what Neve needs to set her life back on course. But the little country cottage she unexpectedly inherited isn't at all what she had envisioned. Is the house haunted or is someone playing mind games and watching her every move? What exactly drove the previous owner to suicide? A creepy psychological thriller.
• Need to Know by Karen Cleveland (Ballantine): A CIA analyst is hot on the trail of a Russian sleeper cell embedded firmly on American soil. She's about to celebrate her successful mission when she discovers one of the enemy agents is someone she knows very well: her husband. Now she must weigh family, country, and loyalties and decide on her next move without tipping her hand to anyone.

• The Other Side of Everything by Lauren Doyle Owens (Touchstone): A serial killer is targeting elderly women in a small Florida town, bringing three generations of townspeople together in unexpected ways. For the survivors, the past doesn't seem to want to stay in the past, and the prime suspect begins to worm his way into the heart of a local lonely teenager. Kirkus calls this a slow-burning thriller.
• Scones and Scoundrels by Molly MacRae (Pegasus): A killer is afoot in the small Scottish town of Inversgail, and the owners of the bookstore / tea room are among the prime suspects because the victims were patrons of their establishments. Janet and her partners must find the villain before he (or she) strikes again. This is the second installment in a twisty cozy mystery series.
• Sunday Silence by Nicci French (William Morrow): London psychologist Frieda is no stranger to crime, as she often works with the police, but this time murder and danger are hitting too close to home. While she works to keep herself and her loved ones safe, she must also try to figure out if the killer is a nemesis returned from a faked suicide or a copycat killer--or maybe there're are two men out to get her.

• The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey (Soho Crime): Set in 1920s Bombay, this first in series introduces Perveen Mistry, one of the first woman lawyers in India. While doing the paperwork for three Muslim widows who are donating their shared inheritance to charity, Perveen smells a rat. Why would the women give up their future security and who is encouraging them to do so? Great period details.
• The Wife by Alafair Burke (Harper): This domestic thriller set in New York City has all the elements of a great read: a whirlwind romance, a wife with secrets, a husband with even more secrets, a crime, and a possible coverup. Can Angela trust her new husband and just how much is she willing to risk to insist on his innocence after one of his female interns goes missing? Solid plotting and plenty of twists.
• The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen (St. Martin's Press): Newly divorced from her controlling husband, Vanessa is out to prevent his remarriage to a much younger preschool teacher. Meanwhile Nellie might be having second thoughts on giving up her freewheeling party life to settle down as the perfect businessman's wife. Everyone has secrets, everyone has a story, but who is telling the truth? Read this thriller all in one go.