On the Radar — This week’s new crime releases lean towards the historical and fantastic, but we also have the return of a contemporary London serial killer, some Florida Noir, murder in Bath… oh, and I nearly forgot, the latest offering from an author who specialises in Pet Noir!
Barbara Hambly is from Southern California but lived in New Orleans until her home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She is a prolific author of mysteries, science fiction, fantasy and horror. This is the fifth in the series featuring former intelligence agent and academic, James Asher. Set in early 20th century London, the book has everything a lover of fantasy crime could wish for, from warring vampires, a wife kidnapped along with her young daughter, and lashings of period detail. Available from 28 November.
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Will Carver is one of the UK’s most promising crime authors with his debut Girl 4 receiving widespread acclaim, while his second novel, The Two, was awarded five stars here on Crime Fiction Lover. Dead Set is the third novel in the DI David January series, and it seems that his estranged wife wants his attention. It also seems that his adversary Eames, the serial killer in Girl 4, is back. Will he start a new killing spree, will January start dreaming of the sinister Smiling Man again, and is January’s wife actually manipulating the killer? It’s out today.
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This popular long-running series takes us back to 16th century England, in and around the nest of deception, intrigue and potential treachery that was the court of Elizabeth I. Fiona Buckley is the pen-name of Valerie Anand, and this book is the 12th to feature Ursula Blanchard, half sister to the Queen herself. Ursula has been recently widowed, and is trying to make a new life for herself and her baby son in the peace of the countryside, far away from the royal court. When a neighbour is found stabbed, and then Ursula’s manservant is accused of the crime, it’s goodbye to tranquility. Ursula must call in some favours from powerful friends in order to prevent the execution of an innocent man. Published on 28 November.
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Margaret Duffy brings us resolutely back into the 21st century with this, the latest in her series featuring husband and wife crime-fighting duo Patrick Gillard and Ingrid Langley. They work for SOCA – the Serious Organised Crime Agency which, in real life, ceased to exist in October 2013. The setting is Bath, the city in south west England celebrated for its Roman Baths and beautiful Georgian architecture. Among the historic terraces there are, however, plenty of mean streets, and it is down these that Gillard and Langley must go in order to solve a case which involves gunshots in a smart city bistro, a dead pornographer, and a high ranking policeman suspected of murder. Out on 28 November.
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Simon Toyne is TV producer and scriptwriter, and The Tower is the finale to his Sancti Trilogy. The two previous volumes were Sanctus (2011) and The Key (2012). We are in Dan Brown territory here, with an ancient ruined city in Turkey, the devious workings of the Catholic Church, secretive monks who guard a centuries-old secret, and an investigative journalist whose persistence brings him to the attention of forces who will stop at nothing to preserve their organisation. This was hardback release earlier in the year, but the paperback is out today.
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Clea Simon is the author what might be called Pet Noir. You may understand where this is going when you consider that her previous titles include Parrots Prove Deadly, Cats Can’t Shoot and Dog’s Don’t Lie. This is seventh mystery featuring Dulcie Schwartz, and is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Dulcie is busy trying to help organise a literary convention. If you think you might like strange apparitions, a persistently nosy female sleuth and plenty of cats – ghostly and otherwise – then this book, set against the hallowed academic backdrop of Harvard and MIT, may well be for you. Out on 28 November.
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Forget the neon lights. Forget the glitz. Forget the bikinis and mojitos. And get ready for the other side of Miami. The grimy, gritty, dark side that low ranking, booze slurping journalist Pete Fernandez begins to negotiate when he’s asked by a friend to locate their missing daughter. Broken by grief over his father’s death, he delves into a hidden underworld of murder, drugs and, to his surprise, secrets about his own family. Secrets that he’d rather were left concealed behind that shroud of neon lights, glitz, bikinis and, yes, mojitos. This debut novel is out now.
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