Some people like their thrillers cosy. A vicar, a village fete, a poisoned scone. You are not those people.
You want East End families who settle things themselves. Women who run the manor while the men are doing a stretch. Pubs where everybody knows exactly what happened and nobody’s saying a word. If you’ve worked your way through Kimberley Chambers’ Butlers, you’re counting down to Roberta Kray’s new one, and you need something to fill the gap, these gangland books are for you. Every one is set in London, and all but one are out now on Kindle. (The other is a pre-order. Get it in before the gangs do.)
What makes a great gangland thriller?
Family. Always family. The best gangland books aren’t really about guns or money. They’re about who sits at the head of the table, who’s been lying for thirty years, and what happens when someone finally talks. The violence is the weather. The family is the story.
The best gangland books like Kimberley Chambers
01If you loved Queenie
I Am Queenie Gunn
Before they feared her, they underestimated her.
Kimberley Chambers showed us how an East End girl becomes a legend. Meet another one. Same streets, same steel, very different family.
Long before the money, the big house and the reputation, Queenie was a sharp-tongued girl from Chapel Market with nothing to lose. This is the story of how she met Lenny Gunn, and how she became the woman nobody in London was stupid enough to cross.
Perfect if you love: East End matriarchsrise-to-power storiesold London
Side effects: you’ll start calling everyone “darlin’”, and meaning it as a threat.
02If you loved the Butlers
Who Killed Lenny Gunn?
Whoever finds her husband’s killer inherits the Gunn empire.
If you finished Backstabber and felt bereaved, here’s your new favourite crime family. Bigger secrets, a dying matriarch, and an empire up for grabs.
Queenie Gunn has called the whole family together to tell them she is dying. The Gunns have run their corner of Islington and Hackney for decades, and every one of them has an opinion about what happens next. Lenny Gunn, Queenie’s husband, was murdered in 1996. Somebody sitting in that room knows a great deal more about it than they have ever let on.
Then carry on with I Am Queenie Gunn and Carol Gunn Returns.
Perfect if you love: crime family sagasa whodunnit with every suspect at the tableIslington and Hackney
Side effects: you’ll never trust a family Sunday dinner again.
03If you loved Essex Wives
Little Apples Grow
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
“Don’t get mad, get even” is a great motto. Rosie Hart has taken it a step further. She’s moved in.
Rosie Hart takes a live-in job caring for Vi Driscoll, the dying matriarch of a feared East End family, in a crumbling house in Highgate that backs onto the cemetery. Rosie has her own reasons for being there, and they have nothing to do with kindness. The Driscolls have buried a great many things over the years. Rosie has come to find out where.
Perfect if you love: East End crime familiescold-blooded revengedark, gothic London
Side effects: you’ll never look at an apple the same way again.
04If you loved The Feud
Dead by 06:00
They All Knew He Was Innocent.
Old loyalties. Older debts. Two Islington boys who were once inseparable, and one of them went to prison for something he didn’t do. Thirty-two years later, payback starts at 2am.
Two in the morning, and one phone call. Danny grew up on the Packington estate. Theo grew up in a big house on Thornhill Square. They were best friends until Danny went to prison for something he didn’t do. Thirty-two years later they have four hours to settle it, and by six this morning somebody is going to pay.
Perfect if you love: betrayalold scores settledticking-clock thrillers
Side effects: you won’t sleep before 6am. That’s sort of the point.
Your questions answered
What books are like Kimberley Chambers?
If you loved Queenie, try I Am Queenie Gunn. If you loved the Butlers, start the Gunn Family Trilogy with Who Killed Lenny Gunn?
When is Roberta Kray’s Faithful out?
Faithful is out on 12 November 2026.
Who else writes gangland books like Martina Cole?
Readers often pair Martina Cole with Kimberley Chambers, Roberta Kray and Jessie Keane. If that’s your shelf, the Gunn Family Trilogy belongs on it.
Are these books on Kindle?
Yes. Every book on this list is out now on Kindle apart from Little Apples Grow, which is out on 1 December 2026 and available to pre-order now.