Criminally Good Books York

Criminally Good Books York 🕵️‍♀️True crime and crime fiction
🔎Independent bookshop & event space
📚

We've been busy planning a brilliant season of author events, with everything from intimate evenings in-store as well as...
24/06/2026

We've been busy planning a brilliant season of author events, with everything from intimate evenings in-store as well as special gatherings at some of York's most historical and atmospheric venues.

Our upcoming lineup has something for every kind of crime and mystery reader.

Spaces tend to go fast, so if you'd like to secure your spot before it sells out, just click here: https://stan.store/criminallygoodbooksyork

Two global bestselling authors, Katy Brent & Julie Mae Cohen, one spectacular York venue and one evening you will not wa...
22/06/2026

Two global bestselling authors, Katy Brent & Julie Mae Cohen, one spectacular York venue and one evening you will not want to miss.

Katy is the author of four novels and was previously an award-winning journalist. Her debut, How to Kill Men and Get Away With It, was the No.1 Bookseller Heatseeker of 2023 and her second book, The Murder After the Night Before, hit No.11 in the Sunday Times bestseller charts and No.1 in the Heatseeker chart on publication.

Julie Mae Cohen is the darker side of Julie Cohen, an award-winning author whose novels have sold over a million copies worldwide. Her thriller debut, Bad Men, was a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick in 2023 and was shortlisted for the RNA Jackie Collins Award for Romantic Suspense.

📕 To All the Men I've Killed Before by Katy Brent (paperback, 27th August 2026, £9.99)

Kitty Collins is back, and she's sharpening her knives for a grand finale. Whip-smart, darkly funny and utterly gripping, this is the epic conclusion to the Kitty Collins trilogy, following a high-profile social media influencer who also happens to be a serial killer. She's tracked her target to LA, brought her little sister along for the ride, and things are getting very messy indeed. If you haven't met Kitty yet, you are in for a treat.

📕 The Best of Enemies by Julie Mae Cohen (hardback, 20th August 2026, £16.99)

Gwen has a list of enemies. She'd never act on it, of course, but when her childhood bully drowns in sewage, she's quietly satisfied. Then another enemy dies. Then another. Someone is turning her private grudges into a murder spree, and the police think she's involved. Brilliantly funny and genuinely dark, this one has been compared to Bella Mackie and Caroline Kepnes, and we can see exactly why.

📅 Monday 7th September 2026 🕰️ 7pm - 8.30pm
📍 Merchant Taylors' Hall, Aldwark, York YO1 7BX (fully accessible venue)
🎟️ £9.99 — every ticket includes a copy of 'To All the Men I've Killed Before'

The evening will include an author discussion and interview, audience Q&A and a book signing. All of Katy's books will be available to purchase on the night, as will Julie's, and all guests will receive 10% off 'The Best of Enemies' as a special bonus.

£1 from every ticket sale goes to our charity partner .

If you can't make it, you can still order a signed and dedicated copy of either book for collection or delivery, just DM us!

Click here for your ticket: https://stan.store/criminallygoodbooksyork
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19/06/2026

We've got haunting psychological puzzles and lighthearted, cosy mysteries in this curated drop that brings together some of the absolute best of contemporary and classic crime fiction...

🇺🇸 American Mystery Classics
* Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries
* Obelistes En Route
* Blood On The Cat

🧸 Children's Age 5-7
* Tales of the Cobb Street Commandos

🪵 Children's Age 9-11
* Camp Murder

☕ Cosy Crime
* A Killer Plot (Signed / Sprayed)
* Actually, I'm A Co**se (Signed)
* The Fish & Chip Shop Detectives: Campervan Murder
* Death by Noir (Signed)

🧙 Crime Fantasy/Sci-Fi
* Blood Becoming

🥀 Crime Romance
* The Kings Of Kearney

📜 Historical Crime Fiction
* Bookish
* Murder on the Red River
* Flight of the Turner

🦈 Horror Crime
* Saltwater

🌏 In Translation: Asia
* My Grandfather, the Master Detective
* Orange And The Breadknife

🇪🇺 In Translation: Europe
* Twenty Minutes of Silence

🏛️ TC: Historical
* The Revolutionists

🔎 TC: Serial Killers
* Murderland

💣 Thriller
* The Widow
* The Spotlight
* Death Row Club
* Murder on the Upper East Side

🎒 YA 14+
* Our Wicked Gifts
* Darker Water

Pop into the shop to pick up your copies or DM to order online and we’ll post straight to your door!
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⬥We're Criminally Good Books, independent bookshop owned by Isla working alongside phenomenal senior booksellers Cat & Megan
🔍Follow us to keep in the loop for all things true crime & crime fiction
✒Shop online at https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/criminallygoodbooks
✦Partnered with charity
✧14 Colliergate, York, UK
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Yesterday marked the start of Independent Bookshop Week and this year is a particularly special one, as the campaign cel...
14/06/2026

Yesterday marked the start of Independent Bookshop Week and this year is a particularly special one, as the campaign celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Founded in 2006 by the Booksellers Association, Independent Bookshop Week was created to celebrate the vital role that independent bookshops play in their communities, bringing together readers, authors and publishers in celebration of everything that makes local bookselling so distinctive.

Two decades on, the campaign has grown into one of the most beloved dates in the literary calendar, with hundreds of independent bookshops across the UK and Ireland taking part each year.

We are proud to be among them. As a specialist crime and mystery bookshop right here in York, we believe passionately in what independent bookselling stands for: a knowledgeable recommendation over a bestseller chart, a conversation that leads you somewhere unexpected and a shop that feels like it was made for people who really *love* books.

To celebrate, we're giving away a FREE proof copy with every in-store purchase of £20 or more throughout the week.

Proofs are advanced copies of upcoming titles, often unavailable anywhere else, and some of our proofs are for titles already released. It's a lovely way to get a head start on your next read.

Independent Bookshop Week runs from today, Saturday 13th June, through to Saturday 20th June.

Come and find us in York and let's make it a good one!

Pop into the shop to pick up your copies or DM to order online and we’ll post straight to your door!
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⬥We're Criminally Good Books, independent bookshop owned by Isla working alongside phenomenal senior booksellers Cat & Megan
🔍Follow us to keep in the loop for all things true crime & crime fiction
✒Shop online at https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/criminallygoodbooks
✦Partnered with charity
✧14 Colliergate, York, UK
___

An Evening with Oyinkan Braithwaite: Celebrating the launch of Cursed DaughtersJoin us for a brilliant evening with best...
13/06/2026

An Evening with Oyinkan Braithwaite: Celebrating the launch of Cursed Daughters

Join us for a brilliant evening with bestselling author Oyinkan Braithwaite as we celebrate the launch of her brand new novel, Cursed Daughters, where you can expect a gripping conversation about secrets, suspects and scandal, alongside plenty of time for audience questions and an exclusive book signing.

About the Author:
Oyinkan Braithwaite is a Nigerian-British novelist and writer. Her first novel, My Sister, the Serial Killer, was published in 2018 to wide acclaim. It was a New York Times bestseller, longlisted for the Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, and won Crime Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2020.

About the Book:
Following the global bestseller, My Sister, the Serial Killer, Oyinkan's novel is a haunting story of heartbreak, grief and intergenerational trauma....

No man will call your house his home. And if they try, they will not have peace...

So goes the family curse, handed down from generation to generation, ruining families and breaking hearts as it goes. And now it's calm, rational Eniiyi's turn - who, due to her uncanny resemblance to her dead aunt, Monife, and her family's insistence that she must be a reincarnation, has long been used to some strange familial beliefs.

Still, when she falls in love with the handsome boy she saves from drowning, she can no longer run from her family's history.

Is she destined to live out the habitual cycle of love and heartbreak, or can she escape the mysterious fate that befell her aunt?

What to expect:
• Author talk and discussion
• Audience Q&A session
• Book signing opportunity
• Exclusive chance to purchase signed copies on the night

⏰ Date: Wednesday, 15th July, 2026
🗓️ Time: 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
📍 Location: Merchant Adventurers' Hall

Our venue for the evening is a stunning medieval timber-framed building in the heart of York, where historic merchants once gathered, creating one of York’s most treasured heritage settings and providing an unforgettable backdrop for an evening of crime fiction.

Accessibility: The venue is fully accessible, and you can contact [email protected] for any specific requirements.

Save your space here: https://stan.store/criminallygoodbooksyork

12/06/2026

We are counting down the days until our intimate evening with number one New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell, celebrating the launch of IT COULD HAVE BEEN HER on publication day!

📅 Thursday 2nd July 2026
🕖 7pm (doors open 6.30pm)
📍 Citadel, Gillygate, York
♿ Accessible venue

Join us for a live interview with Lisa, followed by audience Q&A and book signing.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

It was the night she almost died.

Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn't know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She's offered a drink, goes in, and then - a scream and the sound of something falling upstairs - Jane senses she's in a bad place. She runs.

Twenty-five years later, Jane finds herself outside the same house, this time to return a small white dog who's been found near her home in the country; a dog whose owner has just been reported missing.

A fleeting glimpse of a haunted-looking woman through the window sends Jane on a mission to uncover the house's secrets - secrets more terrifying than she could have ever imagined, especially when she realises it could have been her ...

A missing woman, a dysfunctional family and dark, dark secrets ... Prepare to be hooked: it's the new Lisa Jewell thriller.

Lisa Jewell's first novel, Ralph's Party, was published in 1999 and was the best-selling debut novel of the year. Since then she has published another twenty-three novels, most lately a number of dark psychological thrillers, including Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs and None of This is True. Lisa is a number one New York Times and Sunday Times author who has sold over ten million books worldwide and been published in more than thirty languages. She lives in north London with her husband, two daughters, Daisy, a Romanian rescue dog and a mad orange cat called Ivy.

Get your tickets here: https://stan.store/criminallygoodbooksyork

12/06/2026

We are counting down the days until our intimate evening with number one New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell, celebrating the launch of IT COULD HAVE BEEN HER on publication day!

📅 Thursday 2nd July 2026
🕖 7pm (doors open 6.30pm)
📍 Citadel, Gillygate, York
♿ Accessible venue

Join us for a live interview with Lisa, followed by audience Q&A and book signing.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

It was the night she almost died.

Jane Trevally, newly divorced and feeling a little lost, agrees to accompany a man she doesn’t know to his house in the darkest corner of Hampstead Heath. She’s offered a drink, goes in, and then - a scream and the sound of something falling upstairs - Jane senses she’s in a bad place. She runs.

Twenty-five years later, Jane finds herself outside the same house, this time to return a small white dog who’s been found near her home in the country; a dog whose owner has just been reported missing.

A fleeting glimpse of a haunted-looking woman through the window sends Jane on a mission to uncover the house’s secrets - secrets more terrifying than she could have ever imagined, especially when she realises it could have been her ...

A missing woman, a dysfunctional family and dark, dark secrets ... Prepare to be hooked: it’s the new Lisa Jewell thriller.

Lisa Jewell’s first novel, Ralph’s Party, was published in 1999 and was the best-selling debut novel of the year. Since then she has published another twenty-three novels, most lately a number of dark psychological thrillers, including Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs and None of This is True. Lisa is a number one New York Times and Sunday Times author who has sold over ten million books worldwide and been published in more than thirty languages. She lives in north London with her husband, two daughters, Daisy, a Romanian rescue dog and a mad orange cat called Ivy.

Comment TICKET below and we’ll send you the booking link.

11/06/2026

We had a wonderful visit from local author and historian Christine Went, who introduced her new short story and the title alone will make our literature-savvy community smile.

"Phone for the Fish Knives Norman..." takes its name from the opening line of "How to Get On in Society", the brilliant satirical poem by former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, published in 1954.

The poem is a lesson in social class anxiety, written from the perspective of a middle-class host desperately trying to sound upper-class and failing at every turn. "Phone" instead of "telephone," fish knives (a Victorian middle-class invention the aristocracy never actually used), "serviette" instead of "napkin", every word is a social trap and Betjeman springs them all with gleeful precision.

It's wickedly clever and Christine's title is a perfect nod to that tradition.

Beyond her writing, Christine is a compulsive acquirer of knitting yarns and fabric, a chaser of family history, an intermittently keen gardener and a watercolour landscape painter, which tells you everything you need to know about the warmth, curiosity and wit she brings to her work.

Copies of Christine's signed short story is available exclusively from us for a £5 cash donation to IDAS, the largest specialist charity in the North supporting people affected by domestic abuse and sexual violence.

IDAS is our charity partner, and we are honoured to support their vital mission of helping people live safe lives, free from abuse and violence.

Every copy you take home is doing something good in the world.

If the short story leaves you wanting more, Christine has just released "Elders Common", the second book in her "Llantathan" series and we have signed copies in store right now.

Set mainly in West Yorkshire, in the suburb of Eldersfield where series character Stephanie grew up, it brings more archaeology, more history, more mystery and more murders, naturally, along with the tangled relationships that make this series so intriguing.

If you haven't yet started with the first book, "Llantathan", now is a very good moment to begin, and we have signed copies of this book too!

Pop in to pick up the short story, grab a signed copy of "Elders Common" and know that your visit is supporting both a brilliant local author and a cause that is so close to our hearts.

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⬥We're Criminally Good Books, independent bookshop owned by Isla working alongside phenomenal senior booksellers Cat & Megan
🔍Follow us to keep in the loop for all things true crime & crime fiction
✒Shop online at https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/criminallygoodbooks
✦Partnered with charity
✧14 Colliergate, York, UK
___

09/06/2026

Jess Kidd joined us at Criminally Good Books on Thursday evening to celebrate the launch of Murder at The Spirit Lounge, the second book in her Nora Breen Investigates series, with Kelly Mullen as her interviewer for the night.

The two authors had a natural rapport and our audience enjoyed the intimate setting.

The signing rounded the evening off, with both authors chatting away with their readers.

📘 About Jess's book: About Murder at The Spirit Lounge

Sharp-eyed former nun Nora Breen is back in Gore-on-Sea, where an invitation to a private séance ends in murder and the attendees begin to find themselves in increasing peril. Atmospheric, witty and wonderfully strange!

📗 About Kelly's book: About A Murder in Eight Cocktails

Set in the sun-drenched seaside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Kelly's novel follows retired interior designer turned influencer Willa Keane, whose glamorous evening at a new cocktail bar takes a dark turn when the owner is found dead on the rocks below.

Thank you to everyone who came along and made it such a brilliant night!

We have signed copies of both authors' books available in the shop now, so pop in and grab one while they last or DM to order online!

___
⬥We're Criminally Good Books, independent bookshop owned by Isla working alongside phenomenal senior booksellers Cat & Megan
🔍Follow us to keep in the loop for all things true crime & crime fiction
✒Shop online at https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/criminallygoodbooks
✦Partnered with charity
✧14 Colliergate, York, UK
___

05/06/2026

Fresh books have landed at Criminally Good Books and we've organised everything by sub-genre so you can find your next read straight away.

Scroll down to see what's new!

🇺🇸 American Mystery Classics
Golden Age Detective Stories
Murder on B Deck
The Fabulous Clipjoint

🧸 Children's
Weather or Not (Children's: 5-7)
The Children Of Wolf Rock (Children's: 9-11) — Signed/Sprayed

☕ Cosy Crime
Mrs Plansky Goes Rogue
Hattie Breaks a Leg

🔮 Crime Fantasy / Sci-Fi
Moderation

💖 Crime Romance
The One Day You Were My Husband — Sprayed

📜 Historical Crime Fiction
The Waterfall

🪵 Horror
Rottenheart — Signed/Sprayed
Life Cycle of a Moth
Hello, Limerence

🌏 In Translation: Asia
The Final Six
Twilight In Musashino
The Man Who Died Seven Times

❄️ In Translation: Nordic Noir
Meet Me in the Darkness
Home Before Dark

🧩 Puzzles
Around The World In 80 Murders

🏳️🌈 Q***r Crime
Shy Trans Banshee

🌤️ Seasonal
Murder In The Midday Sun

🔎 TC (True Crime / Case Studies)
Year Of The Rat
The Scientist Who Wasn't There

🔪 Thriller
Backstabbers
Silent bones
Deadly evidence
You Can Run
Wimmy Road Boyz
The Fathers
A Violent Masterpiece
Next to Heaven
Two Little Liars
The Cut Throat Trial

🎒 YA 14+
Drop Dead Famous

Pop into the shop to pick up your copies or DM to order online and we’ll post straight to your door!
___
⬥We're Criminally Good Books, independent bookshop owned by Isla working alongside phenomenal senior booksellers Cat & Megan
🔍Follow us to keep in the loop for all things true crime & crime fiction
✒Shop online at https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/criminallygoodbooks
✦Partnered with charity
✧14 Colliergate, York, UK
___

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14 Colliergate
York
YO18BP

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Wednesday 10am - 6pm
Thursday 10am - 6pm
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