On the Radar — When Magpie Murders landed at CFL HQ the other day, people couldn’t keep their hands off it. The book has a wonderfully illustrated dust jacket with silver block foil lettering to wow your eyeballs. Our review is on its way too, don’t worry. In our news column this week we’ve got books set in Wales, Greece, Pakistan and 1665 London. Murder and mayhem and mystery are all promised.
The hugely popular and successful author of young adult mysteries and adventures returns with an ingenious novel perfect for fully grown crime fiction lovers. Here we have a mystery within a mystery, so to speak. Editor Susan Ryeland works for the famous crime author Alan Conway, who specialises in 1950s, classic-style crime stories. Conway is not such a nice man, and proofing his latest murder mystery Susan detects a second story between the lines – one of jealousy, greed, ambition and murder. One for sorrow, two for joy… We’re not sure what goes in between, but this book’s strapline is: “Seven for a mystery that needs to be solved.” You’ll be able to do that on 6 October when it goes on sale.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The latest Welsh crime fiction author to watch out for doesn’t reside in the country’s fair green valleys. Nope. Dylan Jones now lives in Oakland, California, but he’s started his new Tudor Manx mystery series on the isle of Anglesey. Tudor Manx is a DI in the North Wales Constabulary and his first case involves a particularly brutal murder. A man has been crucified on the bow of a fishing boat. Manx was hoping for a quieter life after his time with the Met but his homecoming is a rough one. There’s also the ghost of his murdered sister to deal with, and his taste for the hard liquor. Released 30 September.
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The Wall Street lawyer has found a second and more fulfilling career writing mystery novels set in Greece, and this is his eighth case for Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis. It begins with the murder of a young protestor in Athens. The trail of the killer takes Kaldis to the beautiful island of Santorini, where a group of top military leaders is meeting in secret. Is a new military junta about to destabilise Greece? Soon Kaldis is trying to stop another murder – one that could blow the lid off the entire country.
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Historical crime fiction lovers will be delighted with this book, which takes us back to Restoration period London and the Great Plague of 1665. When ‘bring out your dead,’ is the cry most often heard, it would seem the perfect time to plot a murder and hide the corpse. When one particular body in the Tothill pit raises suspicion – a messenger for the Duke of York, no less – the lawyer John Grey is called in to investigate. But is his boss, Secretary of State Lord Arlington, more interested in the letter the dead man was carrying than the reasons for his demise? Find out 6 October.
Pre-order now on Amazon
For fans of Jack Reacher and Jason Bourne, here we have the latest Mitch Rapp novel by Vince Flynn, writing with Kyle Mills. The CIA man is sent out to Pakistan where it seems militants might be about to get their hands on nuclear weapons. Could it be a Moscow-inspired plot to stir things up even more in the Middle East? Rapp soon finds himself in Russian territory, posing as a jihadist, trying to foil a deadly plan with global implications. It’s out 11 October.
Pre-order now on Amazon