On the Radar — It’s been a hot week in England, and this summer seems to be as hot as ever in the crime fiction universe. This week publishers have sent us a thriller from James Patterson, two Italian mysteries, something from Sweden and more. Read on and discover plenty of summer releases for your reading list…
FBI agent, John O’Hara receives a desperate call from a man whose son and daughter-in-law have been brutally murdered whilst on honeymoon in the Caribbean. He wants their killer found and he’s prepared to pay O’Hara to track him down. As a federal agent this isn’t something his bosses would look favourably on, but O’Hara’s on suspension, so he takes on the case. However, it becomes clear that the investigation is far more complicated when another couple is murdered before they board their honeymoon flight to Rome. Patterson has co-written the book with Howard Roughan. Second Honeymoon is out today.
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Madeline Hart is a rising star within Britain’s governing party and the keeper of a dark secret. She’s been having an affair with the prime minister, Jonathan Lancaster. When Madeline disappears on the Italian island of Corsica, Lancaster finds his career under threat. He has seven days to pay up or she dies. Lancaster is determined to keep the matter away out of the press and approaches Gabriel Allon – art restorer, master assassin and spy – to bring Madeline home safely. Author Daniel Silva has written several thrillers in the past, and they’ve been likened to the work of Robert Ludlum. The English Girl is out now.
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Michele Giuttari is a former head of police in Florence, and during active service put away some of the region’s mafia bosses. He’s turned this experience to crime fiction and The Dark Heat sees Florence terrorised by an infamous serial killer. When news of his death circulates, its citizens breathe a collective sigh of relief. Then a senator and his butler are found brutally murdered. Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara returns for his sixth case and he isn’t convinced that the city has seen the last of its serial killer but investigating the latest double murder presents its own complications – vendettas, corruption and a powerful adversary lurking in the shadows. The Dark Heat of Florence is out today.
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One girl has been brutally murdered – her body arranged on her bed with her hands covering her eyes. Meanwhile, Vicky Bennet has disappeared from a home for troubled girls north of Stockholm. Detective Inspector Joona Linna has been called in to investigate. Vicky is suspected of the murder when a bloody hammer is found under her pillow, but was she involved? In Stockholm, Flora Hansen makes her living as a medium who pretends to talk to the dead. When she hears about the killing she decides to call the police claiming that she has made contact with the dead girl. She offers information, for a fee, and so her phone calls are ignored, however they soon become more desperate. She just wants someone to listen to her, but can the information she claims to have help to catch a killer? The Fire Witness is out now.
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The story opens in Gallipol1 in 1915, but events move forward to the summer of 1917. A year has passed since the events in The Dead of Mametz and military policeman Thomas Oscendale is back for his second investigation. He’s away from the front and on leave in the Welsh coastal town of Barry, but it’s not long before he finds himself being drawn into the brutal murder of a war widow. Demons Walk Among Us is out now. Watch for our review soon.
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Here’s an anthology of some very different short stories of murder which aren’t for the faint hearted. In Gumbo Weather, a mob enforcer spars with a crime boss to rescue a child from a hellish home. Tiger Mother takes us back to 1950s Harlem where Caldonia Peele is searching for her missing son. In Black-Eyed Susan, a bad joke becomes very real for the denizens of a mill town gin mill, and The Last Sacrament tells the story of the dangerous life of an unlikely altar boy. Steel Heart is out now.
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