We receive literally hundreds of requests throughout the year asking for our help in publicising new crime novels. Sometimes these come from people promoting the huge names out there – like Patricia Cornwell, Lee Child and Ian Rankin. But we also get a lot of requests from people who are going it alone, the self-published authors, or writers who have a deal with a small indie publisher. Ten to Taste is part of New Talent November, and here we turn the spotlight on these unsung heroes of crime fiction. Why not add some new blood to your crime reading diet by trying one of these ten suggestions?

The Hidden Legacy by GJ Minett
When Ellen Sutherland finds she has been named in a will as the beneficiary of a beautiful cottage in Gloucestershire, she is delighted but puzzled. Who was Eudora Nash, and why did she bequeath the property to Ellen? A modern puzzle soon turns sinister, when it becomes clear that it is linked to terrible events at a school over 40 years earlier. Graham Minett lives in Sussex, and is a long time fan of the work of William Faulkner.
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The Naked Philosopher by Paul Margolis
Brooklyn-born Margolis has worked as a producer and writer for film and television for three decades, and in his debut novel is set in Los Angeles. A former cop, whose glittering career was cut short in controversial circumstances, Jack Pearl now makes a precarious living as a poker player. When his father – a distinguished academic and thinker – goes missing, Jack has to draw on the skills which made him such a promising police officer. He discovers that his father had many secrets including an illicit affair with a young student. Jack learns the truth, but not before revelations about his father’s life collide with grim events in his own.
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Imperfect Strangers by Lea O’Harra
Fujikawa is a small provincial town in Japan, with a select university. Nothing much ever happens in Fujikawa, until President Nomura, of the university, is found dead at his desk, accompanied only by a traditional Japanese doll. Inspector Inoue finds no shortage of people who wanted Nomura dead, and is on the verge of uncovering a major scandal. But suddenly his boss, Superintendent Takanaka, takes over the case, makes an arrest, and declares the matter closed. Inoue won’t let it lie, and risks his job and his safety in his determination to uncover the truth. The author’s real name is Wendy Jones Nakanishi, and she has lived in Japan for over 30 years.
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Hunt for the Troll by Mark Richardson
This troll doesn’t live under a bridge. This troll doesn’t strike fear into the hearts of billy goats. This troll isn’t even hassling people on social media. No, the troll in this book intrudes into the sleep of an ambitious software writer, and persuades him that together they can change the world, alongside a bizarre collection of misfits and creative oddballs. As the cover suggests, this mixture of fantasy, pulp and crime story takes place in the shadow of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Mark Richardson, who created this dreamtime visitor, works in marketing during the day but has become an established writer of short stories in his spare time.
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The Fury of Blacky Jaguar by Angel Luis Colón
We’re not sure what’s up with this chap’s nickname, but Blacky Jaguar is a scarred and embittered ex-IRA thug. The principal object of his desire is a 1959 Plymouth Fury called Polly. When someone steals her away from him, his heart is broken, but he sets out to exact a terrible revenge, taking apart The Bronx one brick at a time… and there might be a few severed limbs along the way too. Helped and sometimes hindered by a former girlfriend, now an FBI agent, Blacky seems to be on a collision course with damnation, but if he makes the right swerve he could be heading for salvation. The author is an established contributor to the pulp/noir publication All Due Respect.
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Revenge Ritual by CJ Browne
The author has led a dramatic life at the sharp end of crime prevention, both as a probation officer and an expert on neighbourhood security. In her novel set in Devon’s Jurassic Coast she combines the contemporary issues of migrant workers, personal loss and urban violence. The semi-autobiographical central character is a high profile criminologist, Dr Kate Trevelyan. She tries to prevent local animosity towards migrants boiling over into bloodshed and street violence while at the same time investigating the tragic death of her father in a fire. Her probing upsets local vested interests and some dangerous people who have everything to fear from a spotlight being shone on their activities.
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The Pestilence by Faisal Ansari
Ansari works in the dry but demanding world of legal eagles who make sure that mergers and acquisitions made in the City of London are watertight, but his debut thriller focuses on a version of the near future where tension in the Middle East has given way to peace. A dramatic and unexpected resumption of hostilities sets in motion a terrifying electrical storm, which spreads with consequences – some disastrous and some miraculous – which destabilise world order.
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Cardiac Arrest by Lisa Q Mathews
You can judge a book by its cover and after one look you won’t be surprised to discover that this novel by a former editor of the Nancy Drew mysteries sets its feet very firmly in the cosy camp. Summer Smythe and Dorothy Westin are two formidable femmes who combine for the first time to solve a murder in a Florida retirement community where money may not buy love, but it’s good for pretty much everything else on the menu. With Summer a suspect, and Dorothy the killer’s next target, the hunt for the real murderer of a charismatic cardiologist becomes, literally, a matter of life and death.
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The Kolkata Conundrum by Kalyan Lahiri
Orko Deb is the boss of one of Kolkata’s emerging security firms – The Golden Red Security Agency. When one of its employees seems to be caught bang-to-rights after the death of a glamorous woman he was supposed to be guarding, young Orko must step out from behind his desk and do some real detecting. He blunders his way into some very select and prickly parts of Kolkata society, but at every step, he is convinced that he is on the trail of a group of money launderers for whom murder is just a regrettable necessity. Kalyan Lahiri is a former banking and finance expert.
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Indemnity by Bo Barber
Bo Barber brings his vast experience as a Pennsylvanian cop to this story of an abused child, Marcus Jones, who stores up his rage until he becomes an adult. After he qualifies as a doctor he begins to exact a steady but remorseless revenge on humanity. In satisfying his blood lust, he makes two serious enemies. The first is a group of organised crime bosses who have been attracted by Jones’s healthcare insurance scams. The second, and just as deadly in their own way, are those charged with protecting the profits of America’s insurance industry. Jones echoes Macbeth’s thoughts – “I am in blood stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er,” – and is determined that if he should fall, he will take many others with him.
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