"Crime fiction is an extraordinary genre. It's one that doesn't know its place, and never really has... There is a reason why crime fiction is still so loved, and why the writers featured in the following pages are telling the stories we want to hear. The human appetite for the grisly is an entirely natural one. Blood, cruelty and deception lie behind the oldest stories we've been told... There's nothing beats a stunning good murder, after all."

- William Shaw

"Crime writing is a broad church. Far from being just about cops and robbers, violence, action and entertainment, at its best it holds a mirror up to our world, urging us to examine the line between right and wrong, and what leads people to cross it. The best crime fiction leans into the darkest and the noblest parts of humanity, and can take us into all areas of society - from inner city council estate to remote Greek island, from outwardly innocent English suburbia to raw, Australian outback. You'll find all of that in here, and more."

- Julia Crouch

Foreword by: William Shaw
Introduction by: Julia Crouch
Designed by: Emily Benton
Consultant editor: Nathan Hamilton
Managing editor: Jasmin Kirkbride
Editorial coordination by: Shannon Clinton-Copeland