Crime thriller set in AMSTERDAM
Ten Great Books set in NORTHUMBERLAND
4th October 2025
Northumberland is England’s northernmost and most sparsely populated county, bordering Scotland and the North Sea. It’s renowned for its rugged, unspoiled landscapes, rich history, and dramatic coastline. Ten great books set in Northumberland.
Historically, its position as a border county meant centuries of conflict, evidenced by it having more castles than any other English county. The county is dominated by the Northumberland National Park and is home to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall, a vast Roman frontier stretching 73 miles.
The interior features the Cheviot Hills and Kielder Water. Its cultural heritage includes the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Today, tourism, agriculture, and forestry are key to its economy, offering visitors a wild, tranquil escape.
Many great books have been set in the county. Here are ten of our favourites:
Borderlands by L J Ross
When the gods made man, they made a weapon…
After uncovering a fresh wave of corruption within the ranks of Northumbria CID, Detective Chief Inspector Ryan was looking forward to an uneventful summer. But, when a young woman is shot dead on the remote army ranges of the Northumberland National Park, Ryan is called in to investigate.
Meanwhile, violent crimes are being committed across sites of historic importance in the North East, the perpetrator leaving only a graffitied symbol as their calling card. As the body count rises, Ryan and his team must unravel the mystery behind its meaning – before it’s too late…
Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set amidst the spectacular Northumbrian landscape.
Cousins by Salley Vickers
Brilliant and mercurial Will Tye suffers a life changing accident. The terrible event ripples through three generations of the complex and eccentric Tye family, bringing to light old tragedies and dangerous secrets. Each member of the family holds some clue to the chain of events which may have led to the accident and each holds themselves to blame. Most closely affected is Will’s cousin Cecelia, whose affinity with Will leaves her most vulnerable to his suffering and whose own life is for ever changed by how she will respond to it.
Told through the eyes of three women close to Will, his sister, his grandmother and his aunt, Cousins is a novel weaving darkness and light which takes us from the outbreak of World War Two to the present day, exploring the recurrence of tragedy, the nature of trangression, and the limits of morality and love
Her Sister’s Killer by Mari Hannah
What brings people together often throws them apart, especially when it involves family. Newly promoted Inspector Frankie Oliver has been consumed by rooting out her sister’s killer and bringing them to justice. But when new evidence comes to light, and her former boss DCI David Stone embarks on an investigation into the tragic unsolved murder without her knowledge, the ties that bind them begin to fray.
After decades without answers, who knows where the trail might lead? And will knowing the answers be the very thing that breaks Frankie irreparably?
Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves
A hot summer on the Northumberland coast and Julie Armstrong arrives home from a night out to find her son strangled, laid out in a bath of water and covered with wild flowers.
This stylized murder scene has Inspector Vera Stanhope intrigued. But then another body is discovered in a rock pool, the corpse again strewn with flowers. Vera must work quickly to find this killer who is making art out of death.
As local residents are forced to share their deepest, darkest secrets, the killer watches, waits and plans to prepare another beautiful, watery grave . .
.
In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
Nora hasn’t seen Clare for ten years. Not since the day Nora walked out of her old life and never looked back.
Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare’s hen party arrives. A weekend in a remote cottage – the perfect opportunity for Nora to reconnect with her best friend, to put the past behind her.
But something goes wrong.
Very wrong.
And as secrets and lies unravel, out in the dark, dark wood the past will finally catch up with Nora.
Jackdaw Summer by David Almond
A long hot summer – A wild boy – An abandoned baby – An act of violence
Every summer Liam and Max roam the wild countryside of Northumberland – but this year things are different. One hot summer’s day a jackdaw leads the two boys into an ancient farm house where they find a baby, wrapped in a blanket, with a scribbled note pinned to it: PLESE LOOK AFTER HER RITE. THIS IS A CHILDE OF GOD.
And so begins Jackdaw Summer. A summer when friendships are tested. A summer when lines between good and bad are blurred. A summer that Liam will never forget …
A stunning novel from the author of the modern children’s classic Skellig – winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children’s Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.
Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski
1997. Scarclaw Fell. The body of teenager Tom Jeffries is found at an outward bound centre. Verdict? Misadventure. But not everyone is convinced. And the truth of what happened in the beautiful but eerie fell is locked in the memories of the tight-knit group of friends who took that fateful trip, and the flimsy testimony of those living nearby.
2017. Enter elusive investigative journalist Scott King, whose podcast examinations of complicated cases have rivalled the success of Serial, with his concealed identity making him a cult internet figure.
In a series of six interviews, King attempts to work out how the dynamics of a group of idle teenagers conspired with the sinister legends surrounding the fell to result in Jeffries’ mysterious death. And who’s to blame… As every interview unveils a new revelation, you’ll be forced to work out for yourself how Tom Jeffries died, and who is telling the truth. A chilling, unpredictable and startling thriller, Six Stories is also a classic murder mystery with a modern twist, and a devastating ending.
The First Time I Saw Your Face by Hazel Osmond
Jennifer had it all. Until a terrible accident took almost everything. When she moves back home, with her interfering ex right on the doorstep, the future doesn’t look that bright. Until she meets Mack. Sexy, dishevelled and just a little clumsy, he starts to make her believe that she can move on from the past and embrace life all over again. But he has a secret he’d do anything to protect, and he’s about to betray her to keep it. Will he realise what she means to him in time? And if he does, will she be able to love the real Mack?
The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn by Sue Reed
It’s spring 2020 and fifteen-year-old Molly McFlynn is uprooted from town life by her mam to live with her
bohemian grandparents in rural Northumberland. Molly is furious – her friends abandon her, the food is
inedible and her grandmother is doing strange things in the garden at night.
Life takes a new direction when she meets a girl in the woods who appears to be on the run. Martha is from the
seventeenth century, and a life lived on the edge of society. She is fleeing from the witchfinder and the men
who have hurled her mother, Ann Watson, into the dungeons in Newcastle. As Molly’s friendship with Martha
grows, Molly reconciles with her true self, develops a love of nature and moves away from her consumerist
lifestyle.
However, as Covid strikes and a local witch hunt takes place, Martha’s is not the only life that is in danger.
Molly must stand up for what is right, help heal family rifts and come to the rescue in a moment of peril.
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help.
Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind.
But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped.
And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool . . .
Enjoy our selection of great books set in Northumberland!
Tony for theTripFiction Team
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