On the Radar — Scotland’s queen of crime Val McDermid releases her 30th crime novel this month and we’ll have a review for you in due course, but below you’ll find a taster of what’s to come… America’s Michael Koryta and Canadian Louise Penny also have new books on the way, and we’ve got two fascinating debuts to tell you about as well.
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid
Scottish writer Val McDermid is celebrating the arrival of her 30th crime novel this year, and it’s a standalone story about the strange link between a teenage joyrider who’s lying in hospital in a coma, and an unsolved murder 22 years earlier. DNA connects the cases and the double helix of confusion is added to as Kate Pirie is drawn to another mystery, relating to another cold case – a terrorist bombing. If you’re a fan, it would be a good idea to grab the hardback of this book which comes with a beautiful gold foil emboss on the cover and a bonus short story inside called The Wagon Mound. Out 25 August.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Rise the Dark by Michael Koryta
This American author’s previous novel was called Last Words, but fortunately that title was not to be taken literally. This time, the suspense writer has come up with a private detective story featuring Mark Novak who, though relentless in professional life, cannot bring himself to investigate his own wife’s death. Until now. Though he’s based in Florida, the PI’s search takes him back to his own troubled youth way up in Montana and when he arrives there, he finds a Southern gothic feel all the way up in the Northwest. Out 25 August. Read this interview with the author.
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A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
Quebecois detective Gamache returns, and now he is no longer hunting killers out in the woods. Instead, as head of the Sûreté du Québec’s Academy, he’s going to be hunting corrupt colleagues within the force. When a member of the Academy is found murdered, holding a map of Three Pines, the place where Gamache is based, suspicion falls on our hero himself. Yet again, secrets will be revealed in what must be one of Canada’s most dangerous woodland villages. Out 1 September.
Pre-order now on Amazon
All These Perfect Strangers by Aoife Clifford
Australian author Aoife Clifford’s debut novel has been unveiled and it’s being likened to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History as well as Tana French’s The Secret Place. That’s not a bad start. Here Penelope Sheppard goes off to university to find a wonderland of sex and drugs, leaving behind a sorry past of scandal and tragedy. There are deaths – murders, possibly – and as it all unfolds it’ll be hard for Penelope to tell what’s real and what isn’t. And even harder for you… Out 25 August.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Undertow by Elizabeth Heathcote
We had a good look at this book, which came with a message in a glass bottle to promote it, a month or two ago. This debut is a psychological thriller in which a young woman named Carmen discovers that her new husband’s former lover might not have died in an accident… but could have been murdered. Zena had stolen Mark away from his first wife before Carmen was on the scene, but a late night swim proved to be her last. Or so it seemed, and Carmen suspects Mark of the killing. The author is a journalist and now works on Psychologies magazine. Out 1 September.
Pre-order now on Amazon
