Just like the culprit in Stuart MacBride’s latest mystery, our new books column hits you like clockwork. You can more or less set your watch by it. And we kill every Friday rather than once a fortnight, which is great value. Let’s begin this week with MacBride, one of Scotland’s finest, and back that up with a pair of Aces – Atkins and Cathy – plus some eclectic stuff by Praveen Herat, Robert White and Chris Coppel.
In a Place of Darkness by Stuart MacBride
These fictional serial killers are a quirky bunch, and the latest in a long line features in Stuart MacBride‘s new standalone novel, In a Place of Darkness, out on 20 June. The Fortnight Killer strikes, you’ve guessed it, every two weeks and he is the subject of Oldcastle’s biggest ongoing murder investigation. New to the team and keen to make his mark is DC Angus MacVicar, but his dreams of proving himself evaporate when he is tasked with babysitting the forensic psychologist from hell – a sarcastic know-it-all American, on loan from the FBI. With just two days to go until the murderer strikes again, Angus’s shiny new job is fast losing its appeal.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
Don’t Let the Devil Ride by Ace Atkins
It has never been a storybook romance for Addison McKellar and her husband Dean, but even with all their ups and downs she never expected him to just disappear. His friends are cagey, the police dismissive, so Addison turns to an old friend of her father’s, the legendary Memphis PI Porter Hayes, for help. Together the pair begin to piece together a picture of a man Addison never knew – because it soon becomes clear that Dean was involved in some pretty dodgy dealings. But Addison and Hayes aren’t the only ones looking for him, and some very dangerous people have Dean’s wife and children in their sights… Don’t Let the Devil Ride by Ace Atkins is out now in the UK, 25 June in the US.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
The Case of the Secretive Secretary by Cathy Ace
It’s late summer, the temperatures are rising and the women of the WISE Enquiries Agency are busy, busy, busy – perfect ingredients for another tasty slice of Welsh cosy crime from the pen of Cathy Ace. In Tenby, private investigator Mavis MacDonald and Dowager Duchess Althea Twyst are trying to get to the bottom of some strange shenanigans at a pretty hotel when an unexpected death sets them off on another track entirely. Meanwhile, in the village of Anwen-by-Wye a garden gnome has disappeared. And who is causing chaos in the kitchens of Chellingworth Hall? All will become clear when The Case of the Secretive Secretary is published on 24 June.
Order now on Amazon
Between This World and the Next by Praveen Herat
Sex trafficking, corrupt power brokers and ruthless arms dealers are explored in the international thriller Between This World and the Next by award-winning author Praveen Herat, out on 18 June. British war photographer Joseph ‘Fearless’ Nightingale is grieving the loss of his partner and unborn child when he accepts an assignment in Cambodia. There, he reconnects with an old friend and meets a young woman named Song, who is struggling to cope with losses of her own. Then Song disappears, and Fearless sets out to find her – while navigating a world where human life is cheap and violence is a means to an end.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
Fade to Black by Robert White
What goes on beneath the surface? That’s what American crime author Robert White set out to explore in this tome of 22 short stories that come tinged with noir. Why is that guy brooding over his drink? What made that woman look away as soon as you noticed her? What is that stranger thinking? Dark things, for sure, in a collection of stories all about murderous intentions, festering anger and dark secrets. It’s on sale from 28 June.
Order now on Amazon
Latency by Chris Coppel
If you’re looking for a contemporary thriller with a liberal dose of the supernatural thrown in, you’ve found it. Latency by Chris Coppel arrives on 25 June and is a police procedural that strays into the paranormal horror genre. Two down-on-their-luck LAPD detectives are ordered to work together on a series of cold cases, and slowly begin to uncover a common thread that may hold the key to some of Tinseltown’s grisliest unsolved murders. Unwittingly, they’ve also unearthed secrets from another dimension, where monstrous creatures are just waiting for a chance to show their faces…
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org