On the Radar — Are you ready for Easter? Be on your guard because bad things can happen during the holidays and in Chris Brookmyre’s latest novel there are echoes of the Madeline McCann case, that real-life holiday tragedy in Portugal. This week’s new crime releases also feature David Young’s latest East German period piece, a couple of cops who rehash cases they got wrong and a look at post-legalisation California where things are a lot more complex than they should be for a pair of dealers.
You have been warned… Enjoy!
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Fallen Angel by Chris Brookmyre
Theakston and McIlvanney Award winner Chris Brookmyre is back with a standalone psychological thriller that has dark secrets at its heart. To new nanny Amanda, the Temple family seem blessed but lurking beneath the surface is a something that happened on a family holiday in Portugal 16 years ago. Then, a little girl died. Now, the family is about to reconvene at the same villa and suddenly Amanda begins to sense a different side to her dream employers. Out on 25 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Stasi 77 by David Young
If you enjoyed David Young’s debut Stasi Child, or even the TV series Deutschland 83 and 86, then Stasi 77 should probably go onto your reading list. The book will take you back to East Germany in the 1970s, where Karin Muller is investigating the death of a man who was found bound and suffocated by a nearby fire. Muller’s Stasi bosses decide that the crime had a political motive but when more bodies are found it looks more like a series of revenge killings. What’s got the detective on edge – other than the usual feeling of being watched – is that her partner Werner Tilsner is behaving strangely… Out 18 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Redemption by David Baldacci
The past comes back to haunt Detective Amos Decker when a mistake he made as a rookie detective has deadly consequences in the latest Memory Man thriller in David Baldacci’s bestselling series, out on 18 April. Decker is back home in Ohio when he’s approached by Meryl Hawkins – the very first man he ever put behind bars. Hawkins is dying and is adamant that he was innocent. Then he is shot dead and Decker begins to doubt his judgment. Could he really have got things so horribly wrong?
Pre-order now on Amazon
A Litter of Bones by JD Kirk
Say hello to a new name in Scottish crime fiction, and to his creation DCI Jack Logan, in a debut novel that’s out at the end of the month. Ten years ago, Logan caught a serial killer in a case which made his name and led to a commendation, a drink problem and a broken marriage in the process. Haunted by that case, Logan now works in the Glasgow Major Incident team. Then a child goes missing in circumstances that are all too similar to what occurred before. Could Logan have caught the wrong man? Is Mister Whisper still at large and about to kill again?
Pre-order now on Amazon
Count Down by Matt Phillips
The author of Accidental Outlaws and The Bad Kind of Lucky is back with a new example of his trademark contemporary pulp set in Southern California. Weed may have been legalised but all kinds of bad business surrounds it like a waft of skunk exhalation. As LaDon and Jesse make money selling marijuana on the street, ex-soldiers Glanson and Echo eye their business and figure on taking their cut. First, though, they need to cope with the dealers’ security team. It seems as though selling illegally was easier, but then again if LaDon and Jesse were declaring their earnings they might not have as much to worry about. Out 26 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
