On the Radar — Our weekly column featuring new crime fiction releases will hopefully find you looking for interesting titles to add to your to be read list. We’ve got a brand new voice from America, and three British authors who made their names self-publishing before landing book deals. Plus, the highly respected Ken Bruen is back with a three-book bundle re-released for modern audiences.
Let’s start with a book that’s being released today at 99p for Kindle. Kate Maddox, the central character in Catch Your Death, has returned and once again she’s up against a super-bug that threatens all of humanity. However this time the action takes place in California and scientists capable of finding a cure for the virus are being killed. Paul, the man she formed a relationship with in Catch Your Death, heads off to find answers while Kate tries to explore a secret laboratory in the California hinterland. This is the first new book to be written by Edwards and Voss since their book deal with HarperCollins and we’ll be bringing you a review very soon!
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Similar to Edwards and Voss, Kerry Wilkinson enjoyed runaway success as a self-publishing crime author with his Jessica Daniel series – Locked In, Vigilante and The Woman in Black. The detective makes her return 28 February in Think of the Children and the book is already in the top 10 pre-ordered crime titles on Amazon UK. When a car crashes in Manchester and the driver is killed, nobody expects to find the body of a child, wrapped in plastic, in the car’s boot. It gets even creepier when Daniel discovers some children’s clothes buried in the woods, and a list of children’s names in an allotment shed. Is somebody preying on local children? We’ll bring you the review in February.
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We’re staying in Manchester, but if the title of this book brings to mind baroque harpsichord melodies, think again. Here we have yardies, crackheads and guns. This is the second Bane book, following on from The Doll Princess, which earned Benn quite a reputation as a new voice in crime fiction. Here, an ex-girlfriend turns up as Bane is marking the death of his father. She has a wounded new boyfriend with her and trouble is on their tail. Meanwhile a yardie called Hagfish is muscling in on the local gang scene and wants to take down Bane. We shall see… on 3 January.
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Turf wars don’t get much worse than the one that’s been fought in Ireland over the last century or two, however the legendary Irish author Ken Bruen set his White Trilogy stories – A White Arrest, Taming the Alien and The McDead – on the mean streets of London. Not only are they brilliantly titled, but these books see two aging cops, Roberts and Brant, trying to make up for past mistakes, collar a mysterious hitman, and corner a crimelord across the three stories. All three novels are now available in one eBook or paperback thanks to MysteriousPress. You can watch a brief video in which the author discusses his work below – seems a nice chap too:
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And finally, in the self-published category, this release features nine noir episodes by Hispanic author Joaquin Pineda. Featuring Charlie Talbot and a range of other characters Pineda has invented, the stories focus on violence, bloodshed, loneliness… but one or two also contain a grain of dark humour. There are hitmen, homicide detectives, con artists and there’s also a father out for justice. Just the sort of things you look for in classic noir, but here Pineda also hopes to question the harsh nature of modern society. Give it a whirl on Smashwords.
