The Latest Police Procedurals for You to Devour

Faye Kellerman is back with a new thrilling entry in her bestselling Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series: The Lost Boys. The story begins when Bertram Telleman, a 35-year-old man with special needs, goes missing from a local diner in upstate New York. Following his disappearance, the entire community goes out in search of the man, but no one can find him. Detectives Peter Decker and Tyler McAdams are soon assigned to the case, but the deeper they get into their investigation, the more it seems like Bertram left the diner with someone he knew. And the case only gets more puzzling from there, especially after Elsie Schulung—a nurse who had known Bertram well—goes missing.

The Lincoln Lawyer Mickey Haller returns for a sixth mystery, The Law of Innocence, and it might just be the most thrilling and high stakes one yet. When police find the body of a client in the trunk of Mickey Haller’s Lincoln, Mickey is charged with murder. Mickey knows he’s been framed. But who is plotting to destroy his life? And why? Determined to prove his innocence, Mickey decides to defend himself, building his case and strategizing within the walls of his jail cell.

The Russian is the latest police procedural thriller from James Patterson’s Michael Bennett series. Michael Bennett is alarmed when he notices that a series of gruesome murders in New York City bear a shocking resemblance to multiple cold cases across the country—from Atlanta to San Francisco. But before Bennett has time to connect the dots in all of the cases, the killer strikes again. And all of this just weeks before Bennett, the city’s top crime investigator, is set to marry the love of his life.

Related: Read the Excerpt: The Russian by James Patterson and James O. Born

The Shadow Box is a standalone crime thriller from author Luanne Rice. Claire Beaudry Chase is an artist who is attacked in her home and left for dead. Now Claire feels like she can trust no one, least of all her husband Griffin. Right before the attack, Claire was preparing for an art exhibit that would put some of her husband’s darkest secrets on display, secrets that could ruin his political career. With Griffin’s connections and his thirst for power, Claire believes he would do anything to keep his past a secret. As the investigation gets underway, Claire wonders how much she’s willing to risk to take down her husband and the other corrupt people in his elite inner circle.

Related: When Murder Is In The Family

Bestselling thriller author J.D. Robb has a new In Death series police thriller that will keep you guessing. Faithless in Death starts with a crime case that at first glance seems like a typical crime of passion. A young sculptor named Ariel Byrd is found in her West Village studio apartment with her head bashed in. Next to her are two glasses of wine, and music playing. But for Lieutenant Eve Dallas, the details of the case are not adding up. For instance, why is Gwen Huffman, the woman who called 911, lying about details of the crime? Is this case really just a domestic disagreement gone too far, or is there something more sinister hiding beneath the surface here?

Lovers of detective thrillers won’t want to miss out on James Patterson’s latest: The Red Book. This is the second book in the Black Book series, written with David Ellis. In this second installment, Detective Billy Harney returns to solve what might be his toughest case ever. A drive by shooting on Chicago’s west side has turned political, and people are so hungry for justice that there are threats of riots. Detective Billy Harney is feeling the pressure to get a quick solve on this case, but his instincts tell him there’s more to this case than meets the eye. And the more he looks into the shooting, the more the easy answers seem to be the wrong ones. But Harney is having trouble getting to the truth behind the shooting when there’s so much pressure on him from the outside. And when his investigation leads him back to his own troubled past, the case becomes so much more complicated than anyone could have predicted.

Related: New Year, New Reads: 5 James Patterson Books to Devour in 2021