On the Radar — Welcome to On the Radar, our weekly news column featuring the latest crime releases. What we want to do this week is wake you up to a domestic noir sizzler called In Her Wake from the indie publisher Orenda Books. There’s more too – Bernie Gunther is back, and we’ve got crime stories set in LA and Texas, as well as a 70s Florida thriller. Read on and pick over which mystery will become your next read…
A buzz has been growing around Amanda Jennings’ third novel since its release for Kindle in February. This is domestic noir of the highest order, where a woman’s entire life is torn apart. When Bella’s father kills himself he leaves behind a letter explaining that she’s not actually his daughter and was in fact abducted as a child. As her quest for self-knowledge leads her to the moody and rugged environs of Cornwall, she discovers not only about her strange childhood but begins to investigate her own disappearance! What a fantastic conceit. Watch for our review soon. The paperback is out on 1 April, and that is no joke!
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We have already given you a first look at the latest Bernie Gunther novel here. The former Nazi detective’s story continues in 1956 and he’s working in a hotel on the French Riviera. Never a man to shy away from meeting celebrities, Gunther is employed by none other than William Somerset Maugham to handle a blackmail attempt on the celebrated author. The blackmailer’s assertion is that Maugham is gay and Gunther finds himself involved with a loathsome but resourceful ex-Nazi, and that infamous trio of English spies, Burgess, McLean and Philby. Our guide to the Bernie Gunther novels is here, and you can read the latest episode in his career from 29 March.
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Following his Henry Christie series about the well worn detective, former policeman Nick Oldham brings us a new hero – Steve Flynn. Flynn is ‘ex’ many things, including the UK police and the Royal Marines, but his retirement to the sunny Canary Islands to work as a sport fishing guide is rudely interrupted when he’s accused of murdering his boss. In order to avoid being framed, Flynn has to resurrect his rusty military and police skills to thwart determined adversaries. Onslaught is out on 1 April, and you can revisit the Henry Christie novels starting here.
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Marnie Riches has established a very popular series whose titles are all prefaced with the words The Girl Who… Thus far we have reviewed Broke The Rules and Wouldn’t Die. The resident cast is headed by former cop and current criminologist Georgina ‘George’ Mackenzie. Assisted by Amsterdam’s Chief Inspector Paul van den Bergen, she hunts an inventive but savage killer. His weapon of choice, in one of the bitterest winters Holland has experienced for a generation, is needle-sharp icicles. There could also be links to the case of two missing children. George has to conduct her search among the poorest of Europe’s poor – Roma gypsies and other migrants who are unwanted and unloved by their host societies. Published on 31 March.
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Road movie meets picaresque novel in this account of a down-at-heel infantryman in a drug baron’s army, and his attempt to punch way, way above his weight. East has been happy enough to act as a spear-carrier on LA street corners, but when his boss sends him on a murder mission, things go bad in a spectacular fashion. With a decrepit van, a wodge of dollar bills, an out-of-date map, and a supporting cast of misfits and losers, what could possibly go wrong? Oh, yes – we mustn’t forget the illegal weapon and East’s delusional younger sibling. Catch up with this ill-fated mission from 30 March. Watch for the CFL review soon.
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Ed Earl Burch had his chance to make a name for himself as a Dallas cop – and he blew it. Big time. Now, with failing knee joints, a bank manager with a seriously negative attitude, and a reputation as a busted flush, Burch picks up the crumbs from under the tables of more respectable PIs. When he crosses the path of Carla Sue Cantrell – not so much the Yellow Rose of Texas, but more the Black Dahlia – he is sucked into a mission to avenge the death of a former buddy. Cantrell has her own reasons to seek the death of Teddy Roy Bonafacio, even if it brings her and the ever more reluctant Burch up against one of the most feared and ruthless Mexican drug cartels. Out now as a paperback and on 25 March for Kindle.
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Spencer White has made the long and sometimes tortuous journey from the terraced wartime streets of Manchester – with the Luftwaffe playing an essential part in the town planning process – to the benches of England’s law courts. Now a senior judge, he could be forgiven for looking back at his childhood with nostalgia. Instead, a seemingly innocent act of self-preservation by his mother resonates down the years, and involves him in a desperate battle to save his reputation. Available from 28 March.
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The cover is something of a giveaway, and you would be correct in assuming that this is pulp, pulp, pulp fiction with a bloodstained and homicidal anti-heroine. Selena is the creation of Greg Barth, who lives and writes in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In this, the third in the series, Selena is facing her worst enemy – herself, and her destructive nihilistic lifestyle. Coming a close second, however, is a sadistic rival crime boss. Selena and her criminal chums from The Red Light Lounge will have to dig deep in their repertoire of dirty tricks to see off this challenge to their power. Published on 1 April.
Foggy Moskowitz certainly wins the award for inventive name of the week. The year is 1974 and we meet the Jewish car thief, who has fled his native Brooklyn to escape a string of investigations into his dubious activities. He ends up in the more comfortable surroundings of Florida and, as you do, he is now working as a child protection officer. His search for an abducted infant takes him into some unfamiliar places, a far cry from his Long Island heartland. He comes face to face with the fascinating history of the Seminole tribe, as well as being forced to lock horns with an unscrupulous criminal who has decided that appropriating someone else’s land is a much safer route to riches than robbing banks. Published on 1 April.
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