Our new books radar this week brings a tale of two continents. Having spent last week in the US, some home grown talent steps up to the plate. We start in Bath with a cop killer, then head to the smoke for a missing person’s case and a hospital break-out, before travelling back across the Atlantic to Nevada where emotions are running high.
Cop to Corpse by Peter Lovesey
A policeman on his beat in the Somerset city of Bath is shot dead by an unseen gunman in the early hours of a sleepy Sunday morning. He’s the third victim of a killer dubbed the Somerset Sniper. The duty inspector called to the scene is determined to make an arrest, locks down the area and finds the murder weapon in the process, but ends up being attacked and left for dead. Enter burly CID chief Peter Diamond and his team, who must hunt down this cop killer before he strikes again. Out on 5 April.
Frank’s Wild Years by Nick Triplow 
We move from Bath to Deptford in South London, and Frank Neaves is propping up the bar in a local hostelry. It’s the week between Christmas and New Year, and Frank isn’t feeling particularly festive. He’s down to his last tenner and about to get drawn into the hunt for the pub’s missing landlord Carl Price, who just happens to be the son of a long dead local villain and Frank’s old pal, Dave Price. It’s a journey that will take Frank and worried barmaid Adeline up to Hull and up against malevolent small time crook James O’Keefe. O’Keefe has taken up with Carl’s ex-wife. With their past mistakes coming back to haunt Frank, Adeline and Carl this is likely to be an experience none of them will forget in a hurry. This one’s only 77p on Kindle.
It Wasn’t the Bullet by Iain Young
Our third book takes in the Channel Islands and Southern France before ending up in London. Borderline sociopath Charlie is an import level drug dealer with no redeeming qualities. After a heavy night of drink and drugs, he wakes up in hospital to learn he’s been shot but with no memory of what happened. His friend Terry has been beaten to death, and there’s a drug squad officer looming over him with threats of prison unless he gives up his contacts. He needs to escape and his trauma nurse Samantha may just be his ticket to freedom. When Samantha’s brother got hooked on the drugs he sold for Charlie, it was Samantha who turned to Charlie for help. It’s a favour he’s about to call in.
Death at Willow Creek Mine by JD Savid 
After the death of their parents, three brothers go to live with their widowed aunt in northwest Nevada. Together they open up their aunt’s historic old gold mine and start to work it. The middle brother Nathan is mentally handicapped and not averse to antics that are either foolish or dangerous, which irritates his younger brother Hector. Aaron, the elder of the three is worried that this situation could end in violence, and it’s not long before tragedy strikes and what follows is the ultimate cover-up.
