On the Radar — Here are this week’s new releases, starting with the latest from Elly Griffiths. We’ve also got one for fans of Ann Cleeves and the Shetland series, as well as some blackjack, poisoning and two or three doses of domestic noir…
The Woman In Blue by Elly Griffiths
For a woman specialising in the bones of the long dead, archaeologist Ruth Galloway certainly has a knack of becoming involved in more recent deaths. A patient at a rehab clinic in rural Norfolk is found dead near one of Europe’s most sacred spots – the shrine of Walsingham. The father of Ruth’s child happens to be a senior local copper, and they strive to bring a killer to justice, by combining their respective expertise in dark deeds of both the past and the present. The author featured in our Gazetteer of British Crime, East Anglia, and her latest book is published on 4 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Evolution of Fear by Paul E Hardisty
The Abrupt Physics of Dying gained a respectable four star review last year, and it’s main man Claymore Straker is back. He’s a rogue agent wanted by the CIA for an act of terrorism he didn’t commit. Now he has to avenge the death of his best buddy, as well as find out why his lover Rania – beautiful and exotic, naturally – has disappeared. This time he’s up against the Russian mob, Greek extremists and Turkish developers on the divided island of Cyprus. It’s profit and corrupt capitalism versus Claymore Straker’s brand of justice. Published on 5 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Too Good To Be True by Ann Cleeves
Fan of the Shetland series, adapted for television from the books by Ann Cleeves? Here’s a special little read for you featuring the windswept detective Jimmy Perez. It’s 112 pages and DI Perez is away down south doing a favour for his ex-wife Sarah – all the way to the Scottish borders. A young teacher has apparently committed suicide, but there are rumours that she was romantically involved with a local man. The problem is that Tom, the local man in question, is now married to Jimmy Perez’s ex. She needs answers, and who better to provide them than the Shetland cop? Out on 4 February, just £1 for the paperback and 59p on Kindle.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Robert B Parker’s Blackjack by Robert Knott
Robert B Parker’s Spenser and Jesse Stone both live on through the work of other writers. Here two of the author’s lesser known creations find a new lease of life thanks to Robert Knott. They are Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch and they operate in the fictional territory of Appaloosa. Gambling, migrants, drifters and troublesome whores are the daily challenge, with larger than life gunslingers and chancers adding to the colour, and no Wild West cliche is left unturned in this battle between a bounty hunter and an ambitious saloon owner. Available on 2 February. There are some links to the world of Robert B Parker here, and here.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Poison Artist by Jonathan Moore
Caleb Maddox is a San Francisco toxicologist who studies chemical markers in the human bloodstream, and the concept of pain. After his girlfriend leaves him he tries to find solace in absinthe and in a peculiar underworld bar comes across Emmeline. After she disappears into the night, he tries to find her again but lands in the middle of a murder investigation. Men are disappearing and when Caleb investigates the blood in the bodies that have turned up he determines that they died while being tortured. Is this the work of Emmeline, or is someone else using delicate chemicals to erase these men? This psychological thriller is published on 11 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Murdered Banker by Augusto de Angelis
Jill Foulston translates this new version of the first appearance of Italy’s foremost literary detective, Inspector De Vincenzi . The original story was written and televised as long ago as 1974. The setting is Milan and the lifeless body of a prominent banker is found in an apartment belonging to one of Vicenzi’s oldest friends. Prussic acid seems to the method, but what was the motive? De Vicenzi must walk a tight-rope of personal moral issues, as well as bringing a particularly sophisticated killer to justice. Out today as a Kindle, and in paperback 25 February. We have a feature on Italian Noir, and you can read it by clicking the link.
Pre-order now on Amazon
No Longer Safe by AJ Waines
Oh dear, here’s a little marketing mayhem for you. The cover of No Longer Safe proclaims that AJ Waines wrote Girl on a Train, but don’t get that mixed up with the bestseller The Girl on the Train. Nonetheless, this Kindle release sounds like a decent stab at domestic noir with Alice invited by old university friend Helen up to wilds of Scotland. When she arrives she finds two other guests there that she wasn’t all too close to, and also discovers that Helen isn’t quite how she remembers her. Then it starts to snow and, you know, they’re cut off from civilisation and they being to lose their civility in general. We’d hazard a guess that the worst that can happen probably does happen. Published on 4 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Girl You Lost by Kathryn Croft
More domestic noir for Kindle. Helena Porter disappeared at the tender age of six months, and 18 years later her mother Simone is contacted by someone. It’s not Helena, but Grace, and she claims to have information on the missing child. It becomes clear that Grace isn’t all she seems but Simone and Matt are hooked on trying to find out what happened to the girl and soon their own lives are on the line. On the shelves from 5 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
