On the Radar — Sarah Hilary is one of the rising stars of British crime fiction and returns with a new Marnie Rome mystery for us, while CL Taylor’s latest chilling domestic noir lands this week as well. There are also six other very different crime books to check out this week, as well as a mystery app that might give you a giggle or two. See what you think of A Matter of Murder, below…
Sarah Hilary is one of the UK’s top new crime author and her heroine Marnie Rome returns for a third police procedural thriller. This time she is up against a man whose name is… wait for it… Harm. He collects vulnerable young women. When one of Harm’s family goes missing after a road accident, Marnie and her Sergeant, Noah Jake, are duty bound to make enquiries into him, his world, and his unique family. He takes this intrusion very seriously, and Marnie finds herself up against a devious, calculating and thoroughly formidable opponent. We first met DI Marnie Rome in the 2014 best-seller Someone Else’s Skin and then in the follow up novel No Other Darkness. Out now, watch for our review soon.
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The Wilkinsons aren’t the archetypal golden family you see in British TV advertising. They won’t be on a Kellogg’s commercial soon. They do care for each other, in a strange sort of way, but they keep their own secrets, and the sense of bonding is, shall we say, different. When 15-year-old Billy disappears in the middle of the night, each member of the family feels some sense of guilt. Months pass, and still no-one is any the wiser as to where Billy is, or even if he is still alive. Claire, Billy’s mum, has never given up hope that he might return one day. But how much can she trust the other members of the family? And just how much can we trust Claire while we read her story? You can read our reviews of earlier CL Taylor books The Lie and The Accident. Out now.
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Following on from the 2014 book Heartman , Bristol private detective JT Ellington is hired to find a missing doctor in order to get some documents from the man. Ellington was a policeman back in the Caribbean, but now he’s living in England he’s using his investigative skills to eke out a living. Trouble is, Dr Fowler might not want to be found because his professional standards are at the level that screams lawsuit. When Fowler is found, he is in no position to run. He has been gunned down outside a pub, but his dying words send JT on a collision course with some very dangerous people. Published on 14 April.
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Former Royal Engineer Jim Wilson has found that his specialist training after years in the army is of little use in civilian life. That is until he and a couple of former squaddie mates are offered a job which is right up their street. A Russian museum hires Jim, Ivan and Georgie to restore a German U boat which has been sitting in mothballs on the Baltic coast since 1945. Too good to be true? Of course it is. They find themselves virtual prisoners of a Russian mafia gang, and the restored submarine – with all its weaponry – certainly won’t be on show in a museum, but used for a much deadlier purpose. Published on 11 April.
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Crime fiction with a culinary twist is not as rare as you might suppose. Remember, all those years ago, the famed gourmet tastes of Nero Wolfe? Now we are right up to date, but in a Santa Cruz Italian eatery where, due to her mother’s death, former lawyer Sally Solari has come home to help her bereaved father with the restaurant. Sally is good at front of house, but the work is a far cry from the courtroom battles she was trained to fight. Then, with a relative murdered, and one of their own chefs the prime suspect, Sally gets to bring her legal and investigative skill into play to find the real culprit. Available from 12 April.
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During World War II, the brightest and best Oxbridge dons were eagerly snapped up by British Intelligence. The guns have fallen silent, but in 1946 the Russians, Americans and English are busy picking over the bones of a shattered Europe. Duncan Forrester leaves his post with the Special Operations Executive and returns to what he thinks will be a quieter life under Oxford’s dreaming spires. When a controversial and much disliked academic is murdered, there is no shortage of suspects, but the police home in on just one – Forrester’s oldest and most valued friend. Determined to find the real killer, he is forced to follow a trail of academic jealousy and double dealing which leads him to Berlin. There, the seeds of the Cold War are germinating and he’s in the middle of it. On the shelves from 12 April.
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When a man is shot on the doorstep of Philadelphia cop Doyle Carrick, he has to scratch his head and wonder if someone was sending him a message. Despite his reluctance to become involved in the case, he finds himself compelled to travel to one of the most dangerous places on earth – the chaotic island of Haiti. On Haiti, almost anything can happen, and usually does, but Carrick discovers that he is battling not a lone killer, but a multi-national biotech giant run by people who are more than willing to leave a corpse here or there. Carrick discovers a massive fraud involving international aid and a conspiracy hatched at the highest level of government, and could end up one of those corpses. Published on 19 April.
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New PI Edwina ‘Eddie Shoes’ Schultz lives in Bellingham, Washington. We pick up her story when a distinctly humdrum case of marital infidelity turns into a murder mystery. Both the woman who hired Edwina, and the woman she was paid to spy on, both disappear. As much in an attempt to claim her fee, Edwina becomes involved in a complex case. She is helped and hindered by her mother, Chava. Among other things Chava has links with organised crime, is handy with a gun, and is a geared poker player. Tagging along in the wake of these formidable dames is Edwina’s former love interest, homicide cop Chance Parker. Out now for Kindle, and as an audio book on 15 April.
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This new app is a point-and-click mystery game set in an old English country house where one of the guests – in true Golden Age fashion – is a cold blooded killer. Unlike some adventure games, here the mystery is procedurally generated, which means it can be different each time you play. Not only that, but the plot can change depending on your actions. There are suspects to interrogate and puzzles to solve along the way, quirky Victorian-style illustrations, and a haunting soundscape to boost the chilling atmosphere. It’ll be out for Mac, PC, iPad and Android from 18 April. Watch the trailer below.
