On the Radar — What more could you want than 11 new crime books landing in the next couple of weeks, including ones by big-name crime authors like Dennis Lehane, Arnaldur Indridason, Lee Child and Peter James? If you’re anything like us, you’ll be thinking, “It’s hard to choose…”
Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
Often basing his books in the charismatic North East US city of Boston, Dennis Lehane is one of America’s top crime authors. Shutter Island and Mystic River have been made into films, and dealt with mental health and the legacy of old crimes, respectively. His books usually have a psychological edge to them, and in Since We Fell it looks like he might be veering into the contemporary crime fiction cauldron often called domestic noir. Do we really know those closest to us? In this case it’s a character called Rachel who is starting to doubt her husband. He was there for her when she needed him most, but now his behaviour is becoming a concern. Then she discovers… well, you get the idea. Watch for our review before the book’s release on 16 May.
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The Shadow District by Arnaldur Indridason
Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason has a deep interest in his country’s history, and you may have noticed that his books are riddled with cold cases. Memories and the impact of crimes past run through the Erlendur novels like glacial meltwater. Here he harks back to Iceland during World War II. The country is occupied by American forces, and young Icelandic girls are fraternising with corporals, sergeants and even privates. The older Icelanders don’t like ‘the Situation’ as they refer to it, and when a young girl turns up dead behind The National Theatre, there are many furrowed brows, including those of detectives Flovent and Thorson, sent to investigate. Meanwhile, in the present day, why has 90-year-old Stefan been suffocated? Find out 18 May, and watch for our review.
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A Talent for Murder by Andrew Wilson
A bestselling biographer of Patricia Highsmith, among others, Andrew Wilson has set his sights on another doyenne of crime fiction for this book. It’s the first in a series featuring Agatha Christie, whose disappearance in the winter of 1926 has been well-documented – but what actually happened to the Queen of Crime in the 10 days that elapsed before she was discovered at a hotel in Harrogate? It’s an ingenious solution that involves murder as Wilson comes up with his own account of events. Out 18 May.
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No Middle Name by Lee Child
How does a book containing a dozen short stories featuring Jack Reacher sound to you? This is the complete collection and it lands on 18 May, and it looks like must-read material for Reacher fans. Included is the new Reacher novella, Too Much Time, which kicks off proceedings. We are liking the sound of Guy Walks into a Bar, and The Picture of the Lonely Diner. The hardback features anonymous man silhouette end papers and a similar silhouette of Reacher in gold leaf on the front cover (behind the dust jacket), it looks like a beautiful piece of print. Out 18 May.
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Bad to the Bone by Tony J Forder
Welcome to a new series featuring Peterborough’s DI James Bliss and DC Penny Chandler. Skeletal remains are dug up in woodland in Cambridgeshire. With the help of a local anthropologist they realise that the bones were only recently moved there. Back in 1990 there was a reported case of a young woman being hit by a car but there was no body and no witnesses. When two retired policeman also die the investigation takes a new turn and a cover-up is suspected. Bliss battles his own demons in a police procedural that promises plenty of twists and turns. Out now.
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Love Me Not by MJ Arlidge
UK crime writer MJ Arlidge’s seventh novel featuring DI Helen Grace and the southern port city of Southampton will be out May 18. It combines his prickly protagonist Grace and his skill at creating compelling action – acquired in a 15-year career working in prime time television – to produce this fast-paced thriller about a pair of serial killers. Over the course of a single long and bloody day, the killing spree continues, with Grace and her team determined to identify the elusive links between the victims that could point to who this strange pair may be and how to stop them.
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Need you Dead by Peter James
Det Supt Roy Grace and his creator Peter James have garnered a loyal following over the years, and we’re reached book 10 of the series, out 18 May. In Brighton, our hero is called to investigate after a woman is found dead in the bath. It all seems simple enough at first, but as Grace digs deeper the complications begin to multiply. He’ll need all his powers of deduction to sort this one out!
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Bad Blood by Brian McGilloway
An unknown man is found in an Irish park with his head bashed in and an admission stamp on his hand suggests he had visited a gay club. Has he been stoned to death, just as suggested by a local hate-speech pastor? Meanwhile, a far-right group are agitating and a paramilitary commander is engaged in a power struggle. Derry-born McGilloway is a writer where the social context looms large. DS Lucy Black returns in her fourth outing and she has her work cut out in the febrile days leading up to the Brexit vote. Out 18 May and our review soon.
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Crimson & Bone by Marina Fiorato
The haunts of Victorian London in 1853 are fertile ground for exploring the seamier aspects of human nature. Enter Annie Stride, a prostitute who is stony broke, homeless and pregnant. She teeters on the parapets of Waterloo Bridge about to end it all with a leap into the Thames. Her luck apparently changes when a young man, Francis Maybrick Gill, a talented pre-Raphaelite painter, takes her for his muse. She is soon mixing it in high society. However, prostitutes are dying and all is not as it seems. Fiorato is an experienced historical novelist and this one is released 18 May.
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Crimes of Winter by Philippe Georget
In the past we’ve had Summertime, All the Cats are Bored, and now the seasons have turned and French author Philippe Georget’s Crimes of Winter has been translated into English. Inspector Gilles Sebag’s depression and boozing mounts as he finds out his woman is cheating on him. His escape, like so many fictional detectives, is in his work, where a woman has been murdered in a hotel, and a man appears to have thrown himself off a bridge. Were these crimes of passion? Is the town of Perpignan mirroring the turmoil in Sebag’s own heart? Out 11 May.
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The Day She Disappeared by Christobel Kent
Expect psychological thrills from the author of Richard and Judy pick The Loving Husband. Nat and Beth are BFFs, tell each other everything and are virtually joined at the hip – so Nat knows something is wrong when Beth ups and leaves without so much as a text message. Trouble is, no-one else shares Nat’s misgivings – so who is going to believe her when she becomes convinced that she’s being watched? Out 18 May.
Pre-order now on Amazon
