On the Radar — So many fascinating crime books are being released at the moment, we wouldn’t blame you if you felt the need to lie down. Our reviewers certainly feel that way at the moment. The publishing industry is a veritable Gatling gun spraying us with explosive new reads. It’s fitting then, that first in today’s round-up of new releases is called The Lying Down Room. So take a load off your feet, sit back, and discover the rest of this week’s new books…
This author is certainly cosmopolitan. She is of French-Malaysian descent and grew up in Europe and Asia. After a spell as a journalist in Russia, she settled in the Australian city of Melbourne. Just to confound expectations, her debut novel is set in Paris, and is centred on police detective Serge Morel. Morel’s beloved father is slowly succumbing to senility, but still he must do his job. In a sizzling Paris summer, Morel has to cast his family responsibilities to one side as a killer seems to be targeting elderly ladies. The killer works to the sound track of Faure’s Requiem, and there is the heartache of an old and unrequited love, and a link to very modern Russian gangsters. Available from 10 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
This may be a marriage made in heaven. Between 1929 and 1965 Margery Allingham wrote over 20 detective stories featuring the aristocratic sleuth Albert Campion. Allingham, along with Dorothy L Sayers, Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie, bestrode The Golden Age of crime fiction like a quartet of Empresses. Meanwhile, Mike Ripley is the author of the Angel novels, set in the hinterlands of Essex and London’s East End. He is a life long admirer of Allingham, so he leapt at the chance to complete an unfinished draft by the woman who inspired him. We have all the ingredients of a classic Golden Age mystery – an outwardly idyllic English village, a despotic ruling family, ancient feuds, manservants and secret passages linking ancient buildings. It’s out now – watch for our review!
Buy now on Amazon
Bristol-based Cally Taylor is a psychologist by profession, but her early novels were romantic comedies. Here, she’s turned to her professional background with a psychological thriller. Teenager Charlotte Jackson lies in a coma after inexplicably but deliberately walking in front of a bus. Her mother, Sarah, tries to mine into her daughter’s private life, but in doing so not only casts a light on the world her daughter has been inhabiting, but the metaphorical spotlight is shifted onto her own life. Trust, preconceptions and old loyalties are all cast aside as Sarah Jackson embarks on a dangerous voyage of discovery. Available from 10 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
This is the second book featuring the the forensic psychologist Paula Maguire, and is the third crime novel by Claire McGowan, former chair of the CWA. The Dead Ground is set in the fictional Irish border village of Ballyterrin and Christmas is approaching. There is an early snowfall, but even more chilling is the abduction of a new-born baby. Then, to make matters worse, a young woman is found brutally murdered inside a stone circle. To bring the killer to justice Paula must call on all her professional skills as well as her empathy for the culture and lifestyle of the local people. Published on 10 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Following Blue Monday, Tuesday’s Gone and Waiting for Wednesday, this is the latest book in a series which clearly has a finite length. Here the writing partnership of journalists Nicci Gerrard and Sean French present the fourth book involving the Suffolk-born psychotherapist Frieda Klein. Frieda has long since moved away from East Anglia to London, but when an old friend asks for her help after being raped, she has to return to her birthplace, with all its painful memories, and confront a case where she alone seems to have the key to a fatal mystery. Out on 10 April. We’ll have a review for you tomorrow.
Pre-order now on Amazon
This author is deeply fascinated by the criminal mind. On his blog he says: “Why are criminals so fascinating? Because they’re our neighbours. Because they’re our friends and family. Because they’re us.” Following numerous short story contributions, Toxicity is his first crime novel and follows the tragi-comic story of Maddox Kane. Kane is released, blinking in the sunlight, after serving a 10-year jail term. The only person left in his life is his daughter, but Kane’s ex-wife and her disreputable husband stand in the way of a happy re-union with her. Expect black humour, trailer trash noir, and the sights and sounds of creatures scuttling for cover when stones are upturned. Available from 15 April.
More info
Chang introduced NYPD detective Jack Yu in his Chinatown trilogy, which comprised Chinatown Beat (2006), Year Of The Dog (2008) and Red Jade (2010). After a four-year hiatus, Yu returns when the body of an Asian man is pulled from the Harlem River and the wasp-ish white cops on the case are disinclined to get too involved in the impenetrable workings of the Chinese community. Yu is made of sterner stuff, however, and he embeds himself in the secretive world of gambling clubs, restaurants, loan sharks and elusive Triad connections in order to reach the truth. Published on 17 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau, aka Fred Vargas, first published this book in 1996 under the original title Un peu plus loin sur la droite. It was the second book in the Three Evangelists series, the eponymous saints being Marc Vandoosler, known as Saint-Mark, Lucien Devernois, known as Saint-Luke, and Matthias Delamarre, known as Saint Matthew. While undertaking a routine stakeout, an investigator finds a mysterious human bone fragment on the pavement. When he takes it to the police, he is dismissed as a time-waster, but his fixation on the mystery – as yet with neither a victim nor a suspect – takes him to a Breton village. Remaining none the wiser, he enlists the help of Marc and Matthias. The trio soon find that what appeared to be a quirky little mystery is actually the tip of a very sinister iceberg. Out on 17 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
