| HARLONCOBEN | A lone branch working for US thriller and mystery writer (6,5) |
| REDCRESCENT | Charitable branch working in Muslim countries |
| EDGARALLANPOE | ... American poet and mystery writer (5,5,3) |
| ELLERY | ____ Queen, fictional detective and mystery writer in New York City (6) |
| OFFICEHOURS | Time spent working for us, chief gathered, under nought! |
| ATIMETOKILL | Debut novel of US thriller writer John Grisham, released in 1988 (1,4,2,4) |
| JOHNGRISHAM | *Writer of the 2023 legal thriller "The Exchange" |
| AEOLIANHARP | A lone pariah playing instrument (7,4) |
| PRINCETON | Principals of colleges evident in photo, working for US university (9) |
| MADISON | Mega-publicity is working for US president |
| CARSON | Vehicle's working for US talk-show host Johnny (6) |
| WORDOFHONOUR | Promise, without way of hard working for us endlessly (4,2,6) |
| LEONARD | Elmore ___ , US thriller writer, d. 2013 (7) |
| BLINDSPOT | Jaimie Alexander and Sullivan Stapleton starred in this US thriller |
| SECRETS | The _ We Keep, 2020 US thriller film starring Noomi Rapace and Joel Kinnaman (7) |
| ALTEREDSTATES | 1980 sci-fi thriller, and a hint to this puzzle's circles |
| AVA | 2020 thriller and title role for Jessica Chastain |
| HELLBOY | Supernatural thriller - and its eponymous hero - from 2004 and 2019 (7) |
| JACKSON | Michael ___, US music star whose hits include Thriller and Bad (7) |
| HIDE | Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning's thriller, - and Seek (4) |
