The Pinnacle by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill, £16.99)
In the eponymous Mumbai apartment block, the immensely rich and those who serve them exist side by side but worlds apart. Fading American actor George Abercrombie, married to superstar Sweety Sahota, finds himself advertising Indian whiskey while his younger wife’s acting career continues its stellar trajectory. Waking on the sofa with a hangover and only hazy memories of the night before, George discovers Sweety stabbed to death in the marital bed and one of his shirts, blood-stained, in the laundry basket. He knows he will be the prime suspect, but not only have Sweety’s phone and laptop disappeared, so has his assistant, Amit … Told from the points of view of George, Amit and Sweety’s put-upon PA Gemma – with Amit and Gemma both having secrets of their own – and laced with dry humour and social commentary, this is a tense, fast-paced tale of class, power and corruption.

A Violent Masterpiece by Jordan Harper (Faber, £9.99)
Set in LA, award-winning American novelist Harper’s latest novel is a dark and topical tale. Jake, who livestreams crime scenes to an audience hungry for sensation, is currently tapping into the market for serial killer nostalgia with episodes on the LA Ripper, “up to three victims and counting”. Kara works for Sub Rosa, a concierge service that provides the very rich with whatever they desire, legal or otherwise. And Gibson is a public defence lawyer who reluctantly agrees to act for a wealthy predator who threatens to bring down “the pillars of this whole goddamn town”, including Sub Rosa’s clients, before apparently killing himself in his cell. When Kara’s colleague goes missing and she suspects it’s the work of the Ripper, the three protagonists’ worlds converge. Told in apocalyptic language, there are shades of both James Ellroy and Tom Wolfe in this story of greed in all its forms, played out in an intense, chaotic and thoroughly amoral world.

Murder on the Red River by Marcie R Rendon (Viper, £9.99)
Native American playwright and poet Rendon’s debut novel is set in 1970, on the North Dakota/Minnesota border. Cash Blackbear, a 19-year-old Ojibwe woman, is a farm worker, her evenings spent playing pool for beer money. Her world is one of low expectations, limited opportunities, poverty and alcoholism; a hardscrabble childhood with a series of foster families has made her self-reliant, her only real friend being Sheriff Wheaton, who has tried to look out for her since she was “legally kidnapped” from her mother and siblings. When an Ojibwe man is murdered, she helps to gather intelligence for Wheaton’s investigation, putting herself at risk. Beautifully written, with an appealing central character, this is the first novel in a projected series; Rendon prepares the ground well, focusing as much on the larger, systemic crimes committed against the Native American people, such as the forcible removal of children from their families, as on the individual investigation. More, please.

The Devoted by Catherine Cho (4th Estate, £16.99)
There’s more generational trauma and limited choice in Cho’s Hong Kong-set debut novel, this time among the rich and powerful. As the daughter of a key player in the Triad crime syndicate, the narrator Eunha has her life mapped out for her, but her pampered existence as a “tai tai” (wealthy wife) comes to an end when her young son is kidnapped and, despite his safe recovery, she is judged not fit to look after him any more. It is only when she steps away from her safe haven and takes a job as a nightclub hostess that she starts on the long road to understanding the extent to which not only she, but other family members, have been caught up in the machinations of her father’s criminal world. Told in chapters alternating between present and past, this is a moving story of secrets, betrayal and how women are denied agency: The Godfather, seen through a female eye.

The Repentants by Kate Foster (Mantle, £18.99)
Foster’s fourth historical mystery begins in 1790, in St Monans on the east coast of Scotland, where the Rev Mitchell is determined to keep his flock on the straight and narrow. When Florrie Aitken, the underappreciated wife of important local businessman Jonny, is caught with a lover, she is forced into a humiliating public act of repentance; there she encounters Eliza Wood, similarly punished for failing to attend church. Eliza is one of Jonny’s indentured labourers, with no choice but to work for him – first harvesting sea salt then, when Florrie accompanies Jonny to Iceland where he hopes to expand his operation using British prisoners from the hulk in Reykjavík harbour as labour, as their servant. As Jonny plans revenge on his wife, a bond forms between the two women – both, in their different ways, as captive as the men on the prison ship – who begin to plot their escape. Intelligent, atmospheric 18th-century domestic noir.