On the Radar — As ever, a great mix of crime fiction for readers of all tastes is to be found in our weekly new books column, starting off with the latest from Pauline Rowson…
Dangerous Cargo by Pauline Rowson
After a successful series of police procedurals, Pauline Rowson has left dry land to bring us the tale of marine commando Art Marvik, who investigates crime for National Intelligence Marine Squad. This is the second in the series. The seas off England’s south coast are host to all manner of intrigue and misdeeds, including a corpse washed up on an Isle of Wight beach. These things happen, you might say, but not when the man was officially declared dead 50 years earlier. Pauline Rowson featured in our Gazetteer of British Crime Fiction, and the Marvik’s latest case is available on 31 May.
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A Straits Settlement by Brian Stoddart
As a blistering hot Madras summer tortures even the locals, English policeman Christian Le Fanu is longing for a real crime to take him away from the mountain of paperwork which is the downside of his promotion to Inspector General of Police. His wish comes true, but he experiences the perils of the growing confrontation between the Raj and the Nationalists in 1920s India. The previous episodes of Le Fanu’s career, A Madras Miasma and The Pallampur Predicament show Stoddart’s love of alliteration, but they were also fine novels. Out 24 May.
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Moorlands by Jason Beech
Small-time crook Larry is in a world of trouble. He has a missing sister, dodgy friends, and money-induced cracks in his family. Sophie is the missing sister, and his step-father wants him to use his criminal skills to find her. Larry’s in debt to a man called Stan, who has a seriously dark side. As time runs out on paying Stan his money, Larry fears his sister is more than avoiding everybody. His nerves are stretched by multiple tensions, from friends’ roving eyes to the consequences of an ill-advised one-night stand. Can Larry escape Stan’s heavy hand – and find Sophie alive? You can find the answers from 30 May.
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The Madam by Jaime Raven
British noir here as Lizzie Wells has suffered three years of hell in London’s Holloway prison. One compensation for her is that she has a new sexual partner – an intriguing fellow inmate called Scar. When Scar and Lizzie are released, they are determined not to let bygones be bygones, and they set about finding – and harming – those whose lies and self-interest caused Lizzie to be wrongly banged up in the first place. Published today, 19 May.
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Mortal Fall by Christine Carbo
Glacier National Park, Montana. The 1583 square miles of untouched wilderness are guarded by the massive sentinels of the Rocky Mountains. But they’re not enough because Police officer Monty Harris is investigating the death of a colleague and friend, Paul ‘Wolfie’ Sedgewick. How did the naturalist – and passionate advocate for the preservation of wolverines – come to die on a rock face, when he was the most experienced and skilled climber in the North West? Harris suspects a conspiracy, and he will not rest until it is exposed, and those who killed Sedgewick are brought to justice. Out on 31 May.
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My Husband’s Wife by Jane Corry
This is a psychological thriller set in that most dangerous of environments – the home. That makes it domestic noir. Lily met Ed when she was a newly qualified solicitor, and he was struggling for a handhold on the treacherous rock face of London’s advertising industry. Now, years later, both are successful, but dangerous spikes from the past are only inches below the surface, and their outwardly blissful life is shattered by the reappearance of people whose only aim is to serve up a cold dish of revenge. Published on 26 May for Kindle.
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Berlin Red by Sam Eastland
In the seventh of Eastland’s Inspector Pekkala series it is April 1945 Berlin is bracing itself for the final assault by the Red Army. Hitler has one last card up his sleeve, and it may be the ace to trump all others. Veteran Russian cop Pekkala is enlisted by British Intelligence to disrupt the lethal V2 missile programme. Also see our review of The Beast In The Red Forest. Out on 24 May for Kindle and as paperback on 26 May.
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The German Messenger by David Malcolm
As we know from The Thirty-Nine Steps, espionage was a vital part of warfare even during World War I. Here we have Harry Draffen – a British secret agent – attempting to track down and neutralise a German agent who plans to succeed where the Central Powers have so far failed. His mission? Simple – to bring Britain and its empire to its knees. Published on 24 May.
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The Wolf of Sarajevo by Matthew Palmer
Matthew Palmer’s political thriller tells the tale of an American operative who has returned to the Bosnian capital two decades after the horrors of the massacre at Srebrenica, but is drawn into the latest chapter of the bitter ethnic division which has ravaged the region for so long. Like Eric Petrosian, the fictional hero of this book, Matthew Palmer is a career American diplomat. Available on 24 May.
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