On the radar – Welcome to our first look this week at what’s new and coming soon. After a glorious few days of unusually warm sunny weather we’re now back into jumpers and scarves, so we thought a trip back into the sunshine might be in order, and it’s certainly a mixed bag of treats.

For our first stop we’re headed to South Africa where fans of crime thriller writer, Roger Smith will be pleased to hear that he has just released a short novella (available on Kindle since 22 February) ahead of the publication of his fourth novel, Capture, later this year.

Ishmael Toffee
Newly released from prison after a 20 year stretch, hired killer Ishmael Toffee finds himself a job working as a gardener for a high profile lawyer. Having made an unexpected friend of his employer’s six-year-old daughter, Cindy, he finds himself faced with a dilemma when he discovers that the child is being raped by her father. Having renounced his former ways, does he abandon the child to her fate or will he be tempted to take violent measures to protect her, that could land him in a whole heap of trouble?

The Blues Man
London born writer Robin Webster is a self-published writer now based in the West Country. His new debut novel, The Blues Man, tells the story of Leon Anderson, an ex-con who has spent the last 10 years in prison for a drug related shooting. Having discovered a talent for playing the harmonica during his sentence, he’s intent on leaving his criminal past behind and re-inventing himself as a blues musician. All is going well, with a record deal on the table and a possible European tour on the cards, but a chance meeting with an old associate and the disappearance of a call girl threaten to take him back down a road he’s been trying to stay away from.

The Jaguar
We’re staying with a musical theme for our next book and travelling down to California for a crime thriller that sounds like it might keep us all on the edge of our seats. T Jefferson Parker is a name many of our US readers may already be familiar with but his next novel is set to introduce him to readers this side of the Atlantic when it’s released in May by Sandstone Press. Take one dodgy sheriff’s deputy, his songwriter wife, and a dangerous cartel. Mix together and throw in one honest lawman to even things out. Erin McKenna has been kidnapped by the leader of the Gulf Cartel and is held at a dilapidated castle in the Yucatecan lowlands. In her confinement she has been ordered to compose a narcocorrido, whilst the two lawmen must put aside old rivalries and join together in order to save her.

Sherlock Holmes and the Dead Boer at Scotney Castle
Our final book brings us back to dear old Blighty and a mystery that takes us back in time to the Edwardian era. The casebook  of Sherlock Holmes has been re-opened by Tim Symonds who whisks us back to the Sussex countryside in 1904 and a case involving the mysterious Kipling League.  A naked body has been found in a wagon pond near Scotney Castle. In one hand the dead man is clutching a pair of dark glasses. With no obvious clues as to who the man was or how he died, Holmes and Watson find themselves being drawn into one of their strangest cases yet – one that Holmes himself wanted to remain a secret, but why?

Copies of Ishmael Toffee and The Jaguar are on their way to us so expect reviews to follow…