On the radar – With the Olympics in full swing this week our books radar readout is spiking with three authors from gold-medal-winning Team USA… although we’ve yet to bring you any Chinese crime fiction gold! But first we’ll stop in Poland where there’s been a murder. Then the USA takes over via the holy island of Tinos in the Aegean for a mystery penned by an American author who could give Greek writer Anne Zouroudi a run for her money. And to round things off two esoteric-sounding releases also from the United States.
A Grain of Truth by Zygmunt Miloszewski
Polish State Prosecutor, Teodor Szacki returns for his second investigation. Having left his job, home and family in Warsaw, Teodor has moved to Sandomierz, a picturesque town of churches and museums. He’s looking for a new life but stumbles straight into a strange murder investigation. The victim has been found with the blood drained from her body. It’s a killing that bears all the hallmarks of a legendary Jewish slaughter ritual, prompting a wave of anti-Semitic paranoia. When the victim is found to have had a lover, her husband becomes prime suspect but before he can be arrested, he is found murdered in similar circumstances. To get to the truth, Teodor must unravel a mystery that originates more than 60 years ago. A Grain of Truth is out on 13 September.
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Target: Tinos by Jeffrey Siger
The idyllic Aegean island of Tinos is the setting for the fourth book in this police procedural series featuring Inspector Andreas Kaldis of Greece’s Special Crime Division. When the charred remains of two unidentified bodies are discovered chained together with the burnt remains of a Greek flag, the press screams for justice. However, when the victims are identified as gypsies, the mood changes, and Kaldis is ordered to close the investigation. Being the copper he is, Kaldis is determined to get to the bottom of things and believes the sudden influx of gypsies and foreigners to Tinos may just hold the key, especially when he learns of a valuable treasury on the island that could provide a possible motive. With a wedding to organise, can Kaldis solve the case before anyone else dies, or his fiancée turns into bridezilla?
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The Origins of Disgust, Self-Hatred and Hostility by Ken Leek
This follows the story of young runaway Mike Hollister who, at 17 years old, has decided to abandon his criminally-minded surrogate family with their seedy underground contacts and devise his own original, high profit, illegal money making schemes. Mike may be streetwise but the one thing he can’t predict is the unforeseen but brutal disaster that his operation leads to…
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The Slickrock Paradox by Stephen Legault
Three years ago, Silas Pearson’s wife Penelope disappeared whilst working on a conservation project in Utah’s red rock wilderness. Law enforcement officers gave up the search believing she had simply left her husband, but Silas is not inclined to agree and refuses to give up looking for her. Now living in the area where she disappeared, he’s determined to find his wife, dead or alive.
Pre-order now on Amazon
