On the Radar — It’s a feature of fame that once an artist makes the big time, there is also an appetite for their earlier works which may not have attracted much attention first time around. We kick off with a pre-Roy Grace novel by Peter James, and finish with a pulp tale of betrayal, lust and greed from Michael Pool – with plenty of variety in between.
Billionaire by Peter James
Described as vintage Peter James, this book was first published in 1983 and tells the tale of a successful London stockbroker. Peter Rocq is tempted away from the straight and narrow path of making the best investments for his clients into a dangerous world where he is encouraged to use insider information to make easy money. Needless to say, that easy money has a formidable price in the end and our broken broker finds himself dealing with some very dangerous men. For them another dead financier is an easily signed off business expense. Available on 31 December, and you can read another of our Peter James reviews here.
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Haunting Investigation by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
This historical novel takes us to Philadelphia in the early 1920s. Although America didn’t suffered the catastrophe Europe faces in WWI, the Spanish flu knew no boundaries and in this book thousands have perished. As the country slowly recovers, young reporter Poppy Thornton discovers that the suicide of a businessman is actually murder. Problem. Poppy can’t break this sensational scoop to her editor. Why? Because her informant is the ghost of a soldier killed alongside her father in France, a few years earlier. This blend of detection and the paranormal is available from 31 December.
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A Hunter’s Moon by Alan Osi
This is billed as the first movement of The Moondust Sonatas. As Beethoven stirs uneasily in his grave, we are set down in present day Brooklyn, where a dissolute DJ called Percival is presented with the druggie’s version of the Holy Grail – a powder which, after a couple of snorts, transports the user out of the gutter and up into the stars. Moondust. Well, of course, Nirvana has an entrance fee, part of which is the immediate attention of every drug baron from Medallin to Morocco. The other disturbing downside to the magic potion is that it transports the user to places where they have a dangerous insight into real-life, real-world affairs, and that isn’t something likely to please the most powerful men on the planet. Published on 31 December.
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Unhappy Families by Oliver Tidy
Though the title doesn’t include the words ‘dark’, ‘dead’ or ‘blood’, this one’s actually a new British police procedural. This is the sixth in the series, and the two featured coppers are named after Romney Marsh, a scientifically important wetland in the county of Kent. This relatively cosy tale is set in the bustling port of Dover and the team of DI Tom Romney and DS Joy Marsh have to cope with a touch of ghoulies and ghosties, and long-leggedy beasties, while something equally unpleasant is found in a dead man’s flat. Oliver Tidy is self-published, and says of his search to find a sympathetic literary agent, “I had more chance of pissing into a gale-force wind and remaining dry.” Unhappy Families is out on 27 December.
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Death Plays a Part by Lesley Cookman
This author is well known for her 15-book series featuring amateur detective Libby Sarjeant, but now she strikes out anew with the first in a historical series set in Edwardian England. World War I has yet to devastate English society, and in the seaside town of Nethergate, the Alexandria Theatre entertains visitors during the summer season. When owner Dorinda Alexander hires a vibrant new vocalist, she anticipates that Velda Turner will have them standing in the aisles and shouting for more. Her hopes turn to ashes, however, as murder and an investigation into her own past threaten Dorinda’s future happiness. Available from 26 December.
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The Darkest Secret by Alex Marwood
Alex Marwood is no stranger to Crime Fiction Lover. We reviewed The Wicked Girls and The Killer Next Door in 2013, and in November that year the author spoke to us in this interview. In her latest novel, a three-year-old girl is snatched from her parents in the sedate seaside resort of Bournemouth. Coco’s family are wealthy and in the top tier of British society, but their social pre-eminence doesn’t secure a safe return for the little girl, and the case is slowly but inexorably shifted from hot to cold. Then, over a decade later, Coco’s father dies, and the secrets that burst forth on the weekend of his wake turn a cold case into a red hot search for justice. Published on 1 January.
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A Death In Sweden by Kevin Wignall
Belgian-born author Kevin Wignall brings us a thriller which has the protagonists – a group of security agents – pursuing their deadly trade across northern Europe. Dan Hendricks is ex-CIA and ex- a lot of other things too. In what might prove to be his swansong he tries to establish the truth behind a public hero who might never have really existed at all. Dark dealings, duplicity and betrayal face Hendricks as his years of tradecraft are tested to destruction. Available on 1 January.
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Debt Crusher by Michael Pool
Cam Reynolds has been a foot-soldier in The Organisation for long enough. His boss dies, and after Cam sheds the obligatory tears over Tom Colcetti’s grave, he looks forward to inheriting the big leather swivel chair. But life ain’t that simple. Young gun Tommy Colcetti has his own ideas and his own vision statement, so for Cam Reynolds life is about to become a war zone. The eye-catching cover is the work of fellow pulp novelist Eric Beetner and Debt Crusher is out on 1 January.
Have a look here for last week’s new crime books.
