On the Radar — Reporting to you from Reykjavik, the world’s most northerly capital city, we start off this week’s new book’s column with a book set in the city that involves the burnt remains of a murder victim. On the Radar also offers stops in the UK, China, France and Sweden, so let us know which book grabs your fancy this week.
A Place to Bury Strangers by Grant Nicol
Kiwi author Grant Nicol resides in Reykjavik and is one of the organisers of Iceland Noir, and he’s timed the release of his new novel to tie in with the event, which takes place this week. In it we meet Detective Grimur Karlsson, who is investigating the disappearance of a girl in the suburbs. When a charred corpse turns up with a cryptic message left nearby, the Reykjavik police fear they have a gang war on their hands. Somehow the burnt body and the missing girl are linked… Out now.
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Basic Element by Wendy Cartmell
British writer Wendy Cartmell has taken her Sergeant Major Crane character and given him a new partner in the form of DCI Anderson, thereby starting a new series. Book two is Basic Element and we’re not talking about life giving carbon, oxygen or hydrogen here. In fact, the opposite. Crane and Anderson are on the trail of a sadomasochist who is addicted to killing, and whom the papers have dubbed The Choker. Out 18 November for Kindle.
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The Killing Room by Peter May
Riverrun has been reprinting Peter May’s early novels, and this is the third in his China Thriller series. In it, detective Li Yan is sent to Shanghai to investigate 18 mutilated female corpses. While on secondment from Beijing, he’ll be working with Mei Ling, the deputy head of the serious crime squad. Meanwhile, Li’s lover Margaret Campbell keeps an eye on things and also helps unravel the case, discovering that the killer has a truly sickening interest in pathology. Indeed, he or she is performing autopsies on living people! Out now.
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The Man Who Wasn’t There by Hjorth & Rosenfeldt
Michael Hjorth was a screenwriter on Wallander. Hans Rosenfeldt created The Bridge. Together they write novels about the Swedish criminal profiler Sebastian Bergman, also a TV programme. Bergman is a bit like Cracker, but more of a ladies man. Barely a chapter passes when he isn’t working an angle on a woman he’s met. Unless, of course, he’s working a case. Here, he and the rest of the Riksmort are investigating the discovery of six bodies in a grave up in the mountains. Two are dressed, the rest aren’t, and some of the corpses are missing their teeth. Worst of all, two of them are children. Out now.
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Red-handed in Romance-Conti by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen
The Winemaker Detective series published by Le French Book reaches its 12th instalment, and here the setting is that famous wine region of Burgundy. It’s harvest time, and the visiting wine tasters Benjamin Cooker and Virgile Lanssien continue their amateur sleuthing with a case involving the brutal murder of one of the grape pickers. Cooker himself becomes a chief suspect of the gendarmes and must extricate himself from the situation as well as corner the real killer. Out now.
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