On the Radar — It’s a varied and esoteric bag of books we bring this week. The best of the bunch appears to be a mystery set in the Dolomites which hit the top of the charts in Italy and is now available in English. Meanwhile, Australian author Ann Turner is on hand to take us to Australia, we’ve got an NFL player turned detective in Vegas, a pair of crime-solving dogs, and a handful of thrillers for you too…
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The Mountain by Luca d’Andrea
When American Jeremiah Salinger takes his daughter Clara on a trip to the Dolomites in Northern Italy for a little fossil hunting, he overhears a conversation that resonates with his own distant past. Three students were murdered here and their remains brutally scattered by the killer, who as never caught. In a tight-knit community, harbouring its own suspicions and secrets, Salinger sets about solving the murders for the sake of his own sanity… but things start to turn ugly with the locals. The book, likened to Stephen King and Jo Nesbo, sold in huge numbers in Italy. This translation is already available for Kindle with a hardback out at the end of November.
Buy now on Amazon
Out of the Ice by Ann Turner
Award-winning screenwriter and film director Ann Turner has chosen Antarctica as the setting for her second novel. Australian scientist Laura Alvarado specialises in the research of whales, so when she is asked to visit and report back on an out of bounds former whaling station in Fredelighavn, with a view to it being opened as a museum, she baulks at the idea. But what she finds there is about to lead our heroine into all kinds of trouble in a thriller that crosses continents. Out 19 October.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Wild Card by Luke Murphy
Reformed debt collector and ex-NFL player Calvin Watters managed to prove he was innocent of murder and helped convict a killer. But his chance to settle down for the quiet life is upset when Ace Sanders breaks out of prison and Watters ends up trailing him into hostile country. Watter’s buddy, Detective Dale Dayton, is still probing the Sanders’ case and is uncovering new evidence that threatens to open a can of political worms. Hackers and dodgy Russians, ruthless cartels and murderers all make up a pacy international thriller. We reviewed Luke Murphy’s last novel Kiss and Tell. Released 14 October.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Don’t Wake Up by Liz Lawler
Former emergency department nurse Liz Lawler has created a medical thriller as her debut novel and it opens in a most alarming fashion. Alex Taylor wakes up tied to an operating table, but the man who is standing over her is no doctor and what he asks her to do certainly isn’t healthy. The trouble is, no-one will believe Alex when she later recounts the story and they begin to give her a wide berth. Is she really going mad, or is someone else out there about to go through the same ordeal? Out now.
Buy now on Amazon
Ears for Murder by Sue Owens Wright
Bow wow. Here’s a brilliant crime book for dog lovers. Sue Owens Wright is a leading non-fiction author writing about canine pets, but has also turned her hand to mysteries. Ears for Murder is the fourth book in her series featuring Beanie McBean and her Basset hound Cruiser. Here they are joined by another Basset called Calamity, and one day on a walk in the woods near Lake Tahoe the two pooches discover the body of a lumberjack pinned to a tree with an arrow. Is this a protest against the clear cutting that’s going on in the area? Are Beanie and her dogs the archer’s next targets? The book is on sale now and it’ll have you howling.
Buy now on Amazon
The Hit by Anna Smith
Rosie Gilmour is a Glaswegian crime journalist with plenty of grit. She is searching for some child traffickers but her main suspect, a dodgy accountant, could well be dead. He has disappeared and Gilmour suspects his wife Helen had a hand in it. It gets even more messy when the hitman sent to off him also turns up stone cold. Rosie’s interest, and the danger, intensifies when the accountant is found to have been working with a set of gangsters who have been trading in babies from Romanian orphanages. This is the ninth book in the Rosie Gilmour series. Out now.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Wrong Place by Michelle Davies
DC Maggie Neville returns, following her introduction in the critically acclaimed debut Gone Astray. Neville is acting as family liaison officer in two crimes which put the victims in hospital. One is an elderly woman, attacked at home, the other a wife, assaulted by her husband who subsequently tried to kill himself. There appear to be no links between the two but the more Neville digs, the more convinced she is that there are other sinister elements at play… Out now.
Buy now on Amazon
