While Val McDermid has written numerous standalone crime novels, as well as the Lindsay Gordon and Kate Brannigan series, it seems to be her Dr Tony Hill books that crime fiction lovers are most hooked on. And if you’re a fan of Hill and his counterpart DCI Carol Jordan, we’ve got some good news as you can see. The latest release in the series has been announced and an early copy has arrived at CFL HQ. Splinter the Silence goes on sale 27 August and it’s up against some other big hitters like the latest Millennium series novel The Girl in the Spider’s Web. But this is Val McDermid we’re talking about and we’re certain this book will hold its own.

This early review copy we’ve got our hands on didn’t even come with a press release. Instead, most of the info is printed on the jacket along with Val McDermid’s name in exquisite gold foil. She’s the queen of the psychological thriller, don’t you know? And this one sees psychological profiler DrTony Hill examining a series of female suicides, trying to spot a pattern. It turns out each of them was tormented by somebody online before killing themselves. Could these suicides have been murders, and is this the work of a serial killer? It says here that Hill and Jordan find themselves up against someone with nothing to fear, and nothing to lose. Looks like it’s going to be 388 pages of pure tension in the fictional Northern city of Bradfield, where previous novels in the series have been set.

Watch for our review soon, as well as an interview with Val McDermid about her latest book. You can read about the previous book in the series, Cross and Burn, here.