This week on Publisher’s Picks, let Hodder & Stoughton take you on a journey through some of the most criminally great books of the last year. If you’re looking for ideas for your Christmas list, or perhaps a Christmas gift for that dedicated crime fan, then read on!

You can have your say on the chosen books by leaving your comments below the feature. Maybe you’ve read one of Hodder’s hot picks? In which case let us know what you thought in our Reader Review section.

So without further ado, here’s the six stellar titles Hodder have chosen…

Lasting Damage by Sophie Hannah

It’s 1.15am Connie Bowskill’s logged on to a property website in search of a particular house in Cambridge. She knows it’s for sale … Soon Connie is clicking on the ‘Virtual Tour’ button, keen to see the inside and put her mind to rest.   She finds herself looking at a scene from a nightmare: in the living room, in the middle of the carpet, lies a woman, face down in a huge pool of blood.   In shock she runs to wake her husband; but when he reaches the computer, there is no dead body – just a perfectly ordinary room with an unstained carpet…

Faithful Place by Tana French

The course of Frank Mackey’s life was set by one defining moment when he was nineteen. The moment his girlfriend, Rosie Daly, failed to turn up for their rendezvous in Faithful Place, failed to run away with him to London as they had planned. Frank never heard from her again. Twenty years on, Frank is still in Dublin, working as an undercover cop. He’s cut all ties with his dysfunctional family. Until his sister calls to say that Rosie’s suitcase has been found. Frank embarks on a journey into his past that demands he reevaluate everything he believes to be true.

Trackers by Deon Meyer

Three people, with three different stories, all pulled together by a master South African storyteller … Milla, on the run from a bad marriage, finds a job that develops into the heart of an anti-terrorist operation; Lemmer, a bodyguard, finds himself guarding white rhinos being smuggled in from Zimbabwe; Mat Joubert has left the police force to try and make it as a private detective, but he finds the rules don’t sit well with him.   From metropolitan Cape Town to the Zimbabwean bush, from luxury to ganglands, this is the finest novel yet from the award-winning Meyer.

The Burning Soul by John Connolly

Randall Haight did his time for killing a 14 year old girl.  He has built a new life in the small Maine town of Pastor’s Bay and thought he was anonymous.   He is being tormented, however, by someone who has discovered his past and he asks Charlie Parker to make it go away.   The problem is that another 14 year old girl has just gone missing from the town and it seems everyone has secrets.   Now Parker must unravel a web of deceit involving the police, the FBI, a doomed mobster and Randall Haight himself.     Someone, if not everyone, is telling lies …

Before The Poison by Peter Robinson

Chris Lowndes is back in the Dales after years of success in Hollywood composing music for the movies.    The isolated house he buys sight unseen should give him the space to come to terms with the grief of losing his wife – but Kilnsgate House turns out to be rather more than he expected.  A man died there, sixty years ago.  His wife was convicted of murder and now something is pulling Chris deeper and deeper into the story of Grace Fox, who was hanged by the neck until she was dead.

This is a chilling drama from the author of the DCI Alan Banks series, now dramatized on ITV.

Midwinter Sacrifice by Mons Kallentoft

No one knows the identity of the dead man, found handing naked on a tree outside the town.  Can Malin Fors, the talented and ambitious detective leading the case, relying only on herself and her instincts, bring it to a close.  As she follows in the frigid wake of a killer, Malin begins to discover just how far the people in this small town are willing to go to keep their secrets buried.

‘An investigation consists of a mass of voices, the sort you can hear, and the sort you can’t.  You have to listen to the soundless voices, Malin.  That’s where the truth is hidden.’