On the Radar — Get your reading glasses, if you need them, because we start off this week’s new releases with a peculiar novel about a woman who starts off marrying an optician and ends up selling her body and involved in a murder case. From there it gets even more unusual with a crossbow killer, an art caper and a food critic with a body in his bathtub. Let’s not overlook a mystery set in around a theme park based on Tombstone, Arizona…
The Optician’s Wife by Betsy Reavley
Young Debbie is a girl nobody notices. She lives in a quiet street in a nondescript part of town. She works in the completely unremarkable high street store – Woolworths.
When she meets the handsome, charming and witty Larry Miller, she has to pinch herself in amazement when he asks her out. Thus begins a relationship which aims for the stars, but ends in the gutter, with murder, deception and brutality on the way. We’ve previously reviewed The Quiet Ones by the same author. Watch our site for the full review of this, Betsy Reavley’s latest thriller, which is released on 18 June.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Last to Die by Arlene Hunt
In a horribly topical plot, a young woman survives a mass shooting at a high school. She becomes something of a media celebrity as a result, but there is someone out there who is not sharing the love for Jessie Conway. A crossbow killer has notched up several victims already, and he sees the feisty, resilient Jessie as his biggest challenge to date. We gave Hunt’s The Outsider (2013) the full five-star verdict. This latest psychological thriller from one of Ireland’s best writers is available from 24 June.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Payton Edgar’s Portrait by MJT Seal
Author MJT Seal takes us back to the 1960s with this tale, adding a distinct touch of cosy crime as he goes. Payton Edgar is a larger-than-life restaurant critic for a London newspaper who becomes disgruntled when someone writes a scathing letter to The London Clarion mocking his abilities. As Edgar hustles to become a member of the most prestigious dining club in town, he is thrown off his stride by the disagreeable matter of a corpse in his bath. The proceeds from the previous Payton Edgar novel Payton Edgar’s Agony went to the Sussex Cancer Fund. Out now.
Buy now on Amazon
The Dali Deception by Adam Maxwell
As the title suggests this is a fine art caper and the central character is a super thief by the name of Violet Winters. Her skills have defeated the best security arrangements in Europe, and now she has to steal a priceless painting, and give herself escape time by substituting a fake for the original. The original, although signed by the Catalonian Surrealist, is actually a blank canvas, so you might think it should be an easy job. However, this is crime fiction, and you will not be surprised to learn that a gangland thug called Big Terry and someone described in the blurb as ‘a furious midget’. On the shelves from 20 June.
Pre-order now on Amazon
No Accident by Robert Crouch
Robert Crouch lives and writes in East Sussex, and his main character here is Kent Fisher, an environmental health officer. He’s summoned to the Tombstone Adventure Park – a place built around the OK Coral Wild West story – to investigate what appears to be an industrial accident. Expect sharp dialogue and irreverent humour in this whodunnit which manages to pay homage to the traditional murder mystery, while striking a contemporary and irreverent note. Available from 20 June.
Burned and Broken by Mark Hardie
Southend, Essex. A blousy seaside resort renowned for the best and worst of the traditional yearning of English working class families for the seaside experience. This police procedural introduces DS Frank Pearson and DC Catherine Russell, as they investigate the death of a colleague, incinerated in his burnt-out car on the seafront, between the fish and chip shops and amusement arcades. Pearson and Russell uncover dark secrets which threaten both the reputation of the Essex police force – and their own careers. Available now for Kindle and in print on 23 June.
Buy now on Amazon
The Yemen Contract by Arthur Kerns
CIA agent Hayden Stone has his toughest job yet in the strife ridden Arabian republic of Yemen, once the home of the legendary Queen of Sheba. Abdul Wahab is the latest and most lethal manifestation of Islamic extremism, and he is working hard to establish Yemen as a launch pad for a series of devastating terrorist strikes on mainland Europe. He sees Stone as the main threat to his ambitions, and so he kidnaps Stone’s partner, Sandra Harrington, in the hope of luring the agent to his destruction. Published on 28 June.
Pre-order now on Amazon
