Author Alex Gray introduces her choice of the year’s best debuts as she showcases four authors with glittering futures in crime fiction. A thirteen-year-old girl with an obsession for roadkill is the beguiling and unusual protagonist in Marie Tierney’s remarkably accomplished Deadly Animals. A deadly treasure hunt is the intriguing premise for CL Miller’s hugely enjoyable debut, The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder. Tom Baragwanath’s mesmerising Paper Cage is a beautifully written thriller exploring racial tensions in small town New Zealand. Fatal fires and hidden secrets make for a pulsating thrill ride in Deadly Spark, the first novel from Roxie Key. 

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