On the Radar — There are a lot of great crime books coming out in the next couple of weeks, but we think the pick of the bunch is the debut from Holland, which starts off our column this week. Butterfly on the Storm is aimed at fans of Stieg Larsson the hardback looks a beauty with its interesting jacket design. But, there’s plenty more to choose from too – ten books, so many decisions, tough life…
Butterfly on the Storm by Walter Lucius
The first in the Heartland Trilogy is already a Dutch bestseller and will soon be available in translation. The journalist Farah Hafez starts nosing when a young boy is found after an apparent hit-and-run accident just outside Amsterdam. When Farah hears him uttering one word she realises he is from Afghanistan – the country she left as a child. She is soon unearthing crime and corruption across the Netherlands, South Africa and Russia. Debutant Walter Lucius has pedigree as a screenwriter and we are looking forward to a fast-paced thriller that takes in the arms trade, torture and political corruption. Released 30 March.
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When She was Bad by Amy Lovell
An intriguing cover with nary a silhouette in sight is the first sign that this book is something a little different. Instead, we have a battered, broken doll and a story that harks back to a murder in the 1950s. The victim was Leonie Woodbridge’s sister and Leonie was the killer. Or was she? Nothing is at is seems in this murder mystery with a difference, out 6 April.
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Iron Wolf by Dale Brown
Fancy a quick break from police procedurals and cosies? Get the juices flowing with this Clancy-esque techno-thriller that piles on the action. The first female US president Stacy Anne Barbeau faces an international crisis when Russia invades Ukraine and Moldova. An ex-president liaises with the Poles to launch a manned robot attack without official US or NATO support. McLanahan is in the thick of it as one of the Cybernetic Infantry Device pilots. This is now the 20th book in the Patrick McLanahan series from former US Air Force captain Brown. Out in ebook now and the paperback is released 6 April.
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Ashes to Ashes by Paul Finch
Also arriving 6 April is Paul Finch’s sixth Mark ‘Heck’ Heckenburg novel. He’s a detective who isn’t afraid of taking action and gets into all kinds of scrapes because of it. This time Heck tracks a man called John Sagan, who is a torturer for hire, back to Bradburn, the town where Heck grew up. He thought he’d never return, but his prodigal son musings will have to be put to one side because not only has Sagan arrived the area, but Bradburn has its own serial killer who specialises in fiery deaths.
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Heretics by Leonardo Padura
The huge Nazi ocean liner on the 1930s-style cover of this book give you plenty of clues as to its content. In the Cuban author’s latest novel appearing in translation, the St Louis is sailing from Hamburg to Havana with a hundreds of Jewish refugees aboard. On board the ship is the Kaminsky family, and with them a treasured Rembrandt painting of Christ. Nine-year-old Daniel Kaminsky watches from the dock as the vessel is sent back to Europe and the painting disappears. Seven decades later, the painting resurfaces, and Daniel’s son decides to find out what happened. The Kindle version is available now.
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The Fourteenth Letter by Claire Evans
The title might have you running through the alphabet (it’s N) but the letters referred to here are actually the ones delivered by the postman. It is 1881, and in London a young bride-to-be is murdered at her engagement party, in front of all the guests. The following morning, a young legal meets with a reclusive client, who gives him a small casket and a strange message. How the two stories are connected will keep you guessing in this debut novel, out 6 April.
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Another One Goes Tonight by Peter Lovesey
What on earth was Ivor Pellegrini doing out at night in Bath with an urn of human ashes? Detective Peter Diamond helps bring him back from the brink of death when he finds him lying on the fringes of the scene of a fatal police car accident. Diamond is soon confronted with a realisation that Pellegrini might be a serial killer. The enormously accomplished Lovesey has a large back catalogue to enjoy and this is another mystery from a master of the police procedural. Available as an ebook now and the paperback is out 6 April.
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Death Trap by Anna Smith
Crime reporter Rosie Gilmour is back – and in big trouble – in number eight of the series written by former Daily Record chief reporter Anna Smith, out 6 April. A killer is on the loose in Glasgow, and he has Rosie in his sights. After all, she was the one who helped to catch him and now Thomas Boag is bent on revenge. But as our intrepid hack tries to distract herself with an investigation into people trafficking, the list of people out to get her stretches ever longer…
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Freefall by Brian Lutterman
A lawyer by training, Brian Lutterman sets his crime novels in the corporate settings in the state of Minnesota. Freefall, the third in his mystery-thriller series features paraplegic attorney Pen Wilkinson, arrives 1 April. Previous novels in the series are Downfall and Windfall. Here, Pen must go in search of her missing nephew, a computer prodigy who may be able to prevent a cyber catastrophe that could destroy a major bank and send the world economy into, yes, free fall. Kindle version now available.
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The Body in Jingling Pot by John Ellis
This novels opens a new self-published series by John Ellis featuring Yorkshire detective DCI Jim Oldroyd and his new recruit up from the Met. With the Yorkshire Dales as a backdrop, the mystery involves a body found in an extensive system of caves beneath. Nobody can figure out how the body got there, nor how it appeared and disappeared again, but maybe a little historical research will help Oldroyd and his team track down the killer before they strike again.
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