On the Radar — There are those who say we should bury the heroes of crime fiction with their authors, and others who contend that it’s simply no fun without new stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, or Lisbeth Salander for that matter. This week Margery Allingham is revived once again by contemporary author Mike Ripley. Equally interesting are those books where a well known author from the past is resurrected to investigate a case and we’ve got one of them this week too. Nicola Upson has created another crime for Josephine Tey to solve and her latest release looks mighty enticing as well. We’ve also got racism in Stockholm, historical crime, a Muslim-American detective, and Karen Perry’s latest for you. Bumper week – let us know which ones you’ll be reading.
Veteran crime writer Mike Ripley has been entertaining crime fiction lovers for years with his novels featuring the jazz-loving taxi driver and PI Fitzroy Angel. He’s also written for the TV series Lovejoy. Here he takes up the pen of the great Margery Allingham to create a new case for Albert Campion. Campion has to negotiate the tricky world of London’s diplomatic circles to solve a murder involving an ambassador’s daughter and her most unsuitable suitor. This came out in hardback in February, but will be available on Kindle from 1 June. The author previously completed Allingham’s Mr Campion’s Farewell and our review is here.
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Ash Rashid certainly seems to touch parts of the cop spectrum that others don’t reach. For starters, he is a Muslim. Secondly, in complete defiance of the Q’ran, he is a serious drinker. After the best part of a year on the wagon, Rashid’s desire for a quiet life is challenged by the discovery of a series of brutally butchered corpses, all connected with a murder trial a decade earlier. Rashid has to pay the price for his own part in that trial, as he faces a remorseless and determined killer. Read our interview with author Chris Culver here. Out 28 May.
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Cleverly hinted at in the cover design, here’s a crime story with racial tension as a key theme. But it’s not set in St Louis or Los Angeles. Nope, this is downtown Stockholm. Leo Junker is an ex-cop with a bad reputation who uses his innate street smarts and police training to track down the killer of a young woman, despite the disapproval of his former colleagues. As he zeroes in, Leo’s own disreputable past returns to haunt him and we enter a hidden Stockholm. Far from the waterfronts and vibrant international venues, it’s a place where race and colour are a constant source of friction. This came out for Kindle in March, but will be available as a paperback on 31 May.
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This is the tale of a virtual war between a policeman and a hardened criminal, united only in their desire for mutual vengeance. DI Matthew Adams is, naturally enough, on the side of the law, while Patrick Sullivan deals drugs, pimps young girls, and has a string of violent offences on his record. Fate deals them both cruel hands, and while Adams mourns the loss of his daughter, Sullivan grieves over his brother. Can Adams reconcile his burning desire for retribution with the the strict demands of the justice system? We reviewed an earlier novel by Sheryl Browne – The Edge of Sanity. Death Sentence is out on 1 June.
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When a retired teacher tries to put worries about her husband’s volunteer work in Gaza to one side, the quaint streets and unique atmosphere of Glastonbury in Somerset seem to offer an ideal diversion. Then Hilary and her recently widowed friend Veronica discover a bomb at one of the town’s holy sites and their pleasant holiday turns into a nightmarish race against time. The Wounded Thorn was out in hardback earlier this year, but Severn House is releasing a Kindle version on 1 June. We have previously reviewed Father Unknown by the same author.
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Readers who like London, the 1930s and Josphine Tey have hit the jackpot this week, as this novel features all three. It is May 1937, Edward has abdicated and another coronation will captivate the world. While the broadcast media prepares to hail King George VI, real-life-author-turned-fictional-sleuth Josephine Tey is in town to supervise a radio dramatisation of one of her books. Murder interrupts the rehearsals for the production, and Tey turns away from her BBC duties to wade through a mire of corruption and deceit to expose the killer. Out on 2 June.
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Karen Perry is the pen name for Dublin writing partners Karen Gillece and Paul Perry, and their latest book tells the tale of a childhood tragedy that echoes down the years. A traumatic event on the banks of a Kenyan river in 1982 has forged an unbreakable psychological link between Nick, Luke and Katie. Now adults, they have gone their separate ways. After 30 years, Luke has gone missing in mysterious circumstances, and Nick and Katie realise that the story which began on that hot African day all those years ago is not over. We reviewed The Boy That Never Was in September 2014, and Only We Know is out for Kindle on 4 June, and as a hardcover later in the summer. Watch for our review soon.
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Sometimes the most picturesque locations can make for the most chilling crime scenes, and it is from the streets of Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon that a Chinese student is snatched and held captive by a potential killer. DI Will Jackman battles his superiors and his own demons to try to find the missing girl, but when another Chinese student also vanishes his task becomes doubly difficult. He’ll have to steer a course between the conflicting demands of a very serious ransom note, Chinese culture, the British legal system and the demands of his family. Available on 1 June.
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