On the Radar — The Ancient Greeks used to proffer some good advice: don’t pay the ferryman until he gets you to the other side. Chris de Burgh followed up and turned the phrase into a hit record in 1982. But what would Socrates or de Burgh have made of liquorice coins left on the eyes of a murder victim found somewhere in the wilds of Sweden? Scandibrit Will Dean’s second novel features this clue and it looks like it’ll climb the charts for sure. Plenty more new crime fiction this week as well, with an equally chilly new novel from Finland, a return to Florida with Steph Broadribb and a feisty cleaner solving London crimes in A Clean Canvas.
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Red Snow by Will Dean
Blood on snow is an image often evoked in Scandinavian crime fiction, and Will Dean is an Englishman whose home is now in Sweden and whose style adopts the local flavour. This is his second book, and it follows on from his phenomenal debut, Dark Pines. Tuva Moodyson, local reporter in a town surrounded by forests, has a new story to report and it involves two bodies. The first is deemed suicide, the second… murder. What is the significance of two of salty liquorice coins left over the dead man’s eyes and why is #Ferryman trending on social media? It’s out 10 January and we’ll be bringing you an interview with the author soon.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Deep Dirty Truth by Steph Broadribb
The tale of the bounty hunter and single mother Lori Anderson continues in Steph Broadribb’s new action thriller which is out now for Kindle and on 5 January as a paperback. A Miami syndicate thinks Lori owes them, so they pick her up and in exchange for not being shot in the head she is tasked with killing Carlton North, a mob accountant, who is in protective custody. Trouble is, he’s testifying in 48 hours – but more than that, does she really want to assassinate him? We’ve previously reviewed Deep Blue Trouble and Deep Down Dead.
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Evil Things by Katja Ivar
Time to try a new Finnish crime author. In this new translation, Hella Mauzer is a Helsinki homicide cop who has been posted to Ivalo, way up in the Arctic Circle. When an elderly local man goes missing near the border, the local cop Järvi wants to turn a blind eye. However, when a body is found Hella’s suspicions are proved correct. He was murdered. The investigation takes them to the small village of Käärmela where something even worse has been going on… Find out more on 3 January.
Pre-order now on Amazon
A Clean Canvas by Elizabeth Mundy
There’s dirty business afoot once again in this sequel to In Strangers’ Houses. Like that book, A Clean Canvas has a cosy vibe as Hungarian cleaner Lena Szarka turns Miss Marple in a bid to find a masterpiece stolen from the London art gallery which she cleans with her cousin Sarika. Then Sarika goes missing too and tongues begin to wag. Can Lena prove her cousin’s innocence and find the missing work of art? She must tackle the snobbery, duplicity and downright dishonesty of the London art scene if this tale is ever to have a happy ending. Out 3 January.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Changeling by Matt Wesolowski
This is Six Stories book three, which sounds like some complicated mathematical equation but is great news for fans of Matt Wesolowski and his creation, the podcast crime journalist Scott King. On Christmas Eve in 1988, little Alfie Marsden went missing from his father’s car in the Wentshire Forest Pass. No trace of Alfie has ever been found, and King decides to make the mystery the subject of one of his podcasts, interviewing witnesses and visiting the scene of the crime – a spooky place where people have reported strange sightings… Out now for Kindle, out 24 January in paperback.
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Blue on Blue by Paul Bennett
Fraud investigator Paul Shannon spent seven years in jail for the mercy killing of his sister, who was left quadriplegic after a hit and run accident where no one was ever caught. Although 20 years have passed, Shannon still has his sights on catching the perpetrator, who he believes was a police officer, so when he’s asked to clear the name of a copper accused of embezzling a million pounds he jumps at the chance to delve into police files and search for clues. But the killer is watching and soon Shannon’s life is in danger… Out 28 December.
Buy now on Amazon
