There are some high quality reads on the way and top of our pile this week is the latest from Chris Carter. He’s an author with a huge and dedicated following, and for good reason – the knowledge he built up as a criminal behaviour psychologist goes straight into his books, and you can tell. Very. Highly. Rated.
On the other hand, if you’re in the mood for some World War II era intrigue, then the latest novels from Jacqueline Winspear and Alex Gerlis might appeal – each in its own way. Former FBI man James Comey is back with his second legal thriller, and we have something a bit… mystical… from Dana Elmendorf.
What are you waiting for? Check ’em out!
The Death Watcher by Chris Carter
Robert Hunter is back in The Death Hunter, published on 6 June. It’s the 13th in Chris Carter‘s series featuring the LAPD Ultra Violent Crimes Unit detective, and the story begins with what at first appears like a routine hit and run death. But the badly injured victim died of hypothermia – unlikely in the California heat – and some of his injuries were not as a result of him being in collision with a car. Soon Hunter and his partner Carlos Garcia are on the trail of a twisted serial killer who has successfully been hiding his gruesome work for years. This murderer leaves behind no crime scene, and hides in plain sight. Have they finally met their match? For a closer look at this deadly hardback, click here.
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The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs sets out to solve a wartime conundrum in The Comfort of Ghosts, the 18th and final book in Jacqueline Winspear’s nostalgic series featuring the psychologist and investigator, out on 4 June. It is 1945, and in London a group of squatters have taken up residence in the Belgravia mansion of Maisie’s former in-laws, Lord and Lady Julian Compton. In trying to help them out, Maisie uncovers a decades-old mystery that concerns her first husband, James, who was killed while flying an experimental fighter aircraft. The deeper she digs, the more Maisie comes to realise that what she had taken as truth could be a total fiction.
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Westport by James Comey
When we first met Nora Carleton, in James Comey’s debut Central Park West, she was Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. As Westport opens, she is lead counsel at Saugatuck Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. It’s a slower pace of life – until her colleague and friend, Helen, is brutally murdered and Nora becomes the prime suspect. They had been working on outing an inside trader… could the two things be connected? Time for Nora to call for assistance, in the shape of old colleagues from the US Attorney’s office, mafia investigator Benny Dugan and attorney Carmen Garcia. Find out how things pan out on 6 June.
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In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf
If you have a hankering for a Southern Gothic family drama, then take note of In the Hour of Crows by Dana Elmendorf, out on 4 June. Superstition is a way of life for the folks who live in a small Appalachian town. Doorways are painted blue to ward off evil spirits, and black ferns are a harbinger of death. One of its residents is Weatherly Opal Wilder, who has a unique gift — she can talk the death out of the dying and save their lives. Weatherly is treated with suspicion by the townsfolk, until they need her skills. But when her cousin Adaire dies in an accident, Weatherly is convinced it was murder and sets out to prove it, no matter the cost.
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Every Spy A Traitor by Alex Gerlis
Espionage author Alex Gerlis launches a new series with the arrival of Every Spy a Traitor on 6 June. Charles Cooper is a young would-be novelist who’s in Europe to research his book. But the year is 1937, a million people have died in Stalin’s Great Purge and the Nazi terror grips Germany. As the continent heads towards war, British spymasters know there is a Soviet agent in their ranks, codenamed Agent ‘Archie’, and there’s a frantic search to find them. What they don’t know is that he is not the only traitor. And where is young Cooper in all this? Ah, well that’d be telling…
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