On the Radar — In a move reminiscent of a terrifying 1980s pro wrestling move, Orenda Books is landing a Finnish double-punch on us this week with two knockout Nordic noir novels. We’ve practiced our pronunciations, and we can assure you that both Kati Kiekkapelto and Antti Tuomainen have floored us in the past with their brilliant writing, and Orenda has turned the two Finns into a deadly tag-team by releasing a book by each of them on the same day!
The Exiled by Kati Hiekkapelto
Apparently, Kati Hiekkapelto began her storytelling career at the age of two with a cassette deck and a whole lot of imagination. This week sees her third crime novel’s translation into English with main character Anna Fekete returning to the Balkan village where she was born for a summer holiday. When her purse is stolen, and the thief is found dead, she’s drawn into a murder investigation and, wouldn’t you know it, there are links to her own family and… the past! She’ll also be caught up in the refugee crisis, giving the book a contemporary twist that’ll make it even more appealing to thriller lovers. We continue to receive glowing reports of this author’s skills, which only confirm the five-star rating we gave The Defenceless. The paperback arrives 10 October; it’s already out on Kindle.
Buy now on Amazon
The Mine by Antti Tuomainen
As we go to press ‘publish’, Orenda Books is working frantically to bring you this brand new translation on 10 October. Because you want it ASAP, you really do. The author’s first novel, The Healer, was a five-star read in which he evoked a near-future apocalypse in Helsinki and within that buried the mystery of a woman’s disappearance. In Dark as My Heart, he gave us a gritty, contemporary noir exploration of wealth, power and social class via a tragedy and cover-up, again involving a disappeared woman. The Mine is different again. It’s an environmental thriller in which a journalist takes on a mining company that has caused an ecological disaster, and gets caught up in matters when the firm’s executives are murdered one-by-one.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Turncoat by Alan Murray
When Clydebank was bombed in 1941, 48,000 were made homeless, 600 injured and 500 killed. In this WWII thriller, Military Intelligence men Danny Inglis and George Maclean find that the bombers were directed by German informants in the city, but as soon as they get close their suspect is killed. The plot wraps in the IRA and when a German pilot crash lands in the Scottish countryside making a new set of outlandish claims, Inglis and Maclean find themselves trying to crack a conspiracy, with the free world depending on them to do so. Out 20 October.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Chain of Custody by Anita Nair
Anita Nair is an Indian, English language writer based in Bangalore. She has written a string of novels in various genres, but this one follows on from A Cut-Like Wound, her first Inspector Gowda novel. The detective finds himself dealing with a horrible case involving child trafficking. A lawyer has been murdered, a 12-year-old girl has disappeared, and someone called Krishna might be pulling the strings in the Bangalore underworld. The law, officials, witnesses, and even his own family all seem to be lined up against Gowda as the seedier side of modern India is exposed. Like detectives everywhere, his job is to solve the crime… Released 13 October in print, Kindle already available.
Buy now on Amazon
The Kingdom by Fuminori Nakamura
Crime fiction from the Land of the Rising Sun is glowing so brightly we’ve got a Donald Trump tan over here, and nobody’s hotter than Fuminori Nakamura at the moment. We’ve already reviewed Last Winter We Parted and The Thief, and in The Kingdom we meet Tokyo underworld freelancer Yurika. She poses as a prostitute, baits and dates high profile men, and then blackmails them with incriminating photos. Although she works alone, she’s controlled by a secretive larger organisation, and is trying to shut out the bad memories of her past. Bad memories that are awakened when a crime lord called Kizaki – meaning ‘monster’ – begins to stalk her. Out now.
Buy now on Amazon
