Are you ready for some scheming, deadly rivalries, double dealing and stealing, not to mention the past catching up with certain people who thought they’d got away with it…? Well, you’re in the right place because this week’s crime novels offer all that and more. We begin our journey in Italy, for a famous old horse race and the murder of a jockey.
Runaway Horses by Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini
The Palio di Siena horse race has been attracting crowds since medieval times, and it takes centre stage in Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini‘s aptly titled Runaway Horses, out on 23 January in the UK and 25 February in the US. Anything can happen as neighbourhood rivalries intensify, and caught up in the midst of it all is Milanese lawyer Enzo Maggione and his wife Valeria. The two weren’t too keen on taking the excursion in the first place, but the death of a jockey stirs up a maelstrom of plots, counterplots and bribes which turn the trip into a living nightmare.
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The Wrong Daughter by Dandy Smith
Sibling rivalries are dialled up to 11 in The Wrong Daughter by Dandy Smith, which has already garnered huge acclaim in eBook and is out as a paperback on 16 January. Teenagers Caitlin and Olivia are delighted when their parents leave them home alone and go out to a dinner party. At last, they’re old enough to be trusted! But someone is watching, someone who gets in through the unlocked back door and takes Olivia… She vanished into thin air that night – but now, years later, Olivia is back. Or is she? In twisted a tale of family ties, secrets and lies, is either sister to be trusted?
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The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay
A mysterious heiress sets her sights on an illustrious London family in Alex Hay‘s historical crime novel The Queen of Fives, to be published on 30 January. The year is 1898, the city London as notorious con woman Quinn Le Blanc begins to spin her web of deception. She has just five days to convince an eligible duke into marrying her, stealing the family fortune in the process and no one seems capable of seeing through her disguise as a wealthy debutante. But Quinn needs to have her wits about her – because she may not be the only one playing a game of high deception…
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Tommy the Bruce by James Yorkston
Burns Night is on 25 January – which seems appropriate for the release of a new novel set in Scotland. Take a bow Tommy the Bruce, created by James Yorkston. Tommy is a fairly nondescript soul, who has inherited a ramshackle Perthshire hotel from his parents. It’s off the well-worn tourist track and heading for disaster, until Tommy meets and falls in love with Fiona McLean. But just as his outlook seems to be changing, Tommy’s past comes a knocking. There are shady people who mean to do him harm for past misdemeanours. Can’t the guy land a break?
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Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson
There are plenty of true crime podcasters featured in novels these days, but Poe Webb is just that little bit different. She invites people to ‘fess up to her audience about crimes they’ve committed, and has pulled in an enormous number of fans in the process. It’s a formula that works well, but when one vaguely familiar looking man appears on her show, Poe is in for a shock. Because the guy claims to have killed her mother – and Poe knows her mother’s murderer is dead. She’s the one who killed him, after all… Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson is out for Kindle on 28 January.
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