First Cut by Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell

"First Cut" is the couple's debut thriller, and yet it doesn't read as a debut. Everything is there: the page-turning plot, the character development, the originality. Highly recommended for thriller fans not bothered by detailed descriptions of autopsies.

Blurb:

For San Francisco’s newest medical examiner, Dr. Jessie Teska, it was supposed to be a fresh start. A new job in a new city. A way to escape her own dark past.

Instead she faces a chilling discovery when an opioid-overdose case contains hints of something more sinister. Jessie’s superiors urge her to close the case, but as more bodies land on her autopsy table, she uncovers a constellation of deaths that point to an elaborate plot involving drug dealers and Bitcoin brokers.

Autopsy means “see for yourself,” and Jessie Teska won’t stop until she has seen it all—even if it means that the next corpse on the table could be her own.

"Apples never fall" by Liane Moriarty

 "Apples never fall" by Liane Moriarty starts almost conventionally, but if you're familiar with this author's work, you will soon realise that nothing is quite as it seems. The bored retired couple used to be tennis stars, for starters, and their marriage is far from boring or retired. As the - unpredictable - plot unfolds, flicking between the past and the present, you'll get to know and love the characters. You won't be able to turn the pages fast enough, yet you won't want the book to end.

It's difficult to avoid spoilers. Some of the issues you'll think about include family bonds, the influence and power parents yield over their children, the meaning of success.