How do you feel about writing collaborations? Today we bring you news of a partnership between the French novelist Johana Gustawsson and her Norwegian counterpart Thomas Enger. Together they’ve created Son, our lead book. It’ll be an interesting read, alongside a debut by Kate Kemp, new noir from Nick Kolakowski, a caper with an unusual setup by Angela Chadwick and LGBTQ+ crime fiction set in the 80s by Adam Macqueen. Plenty to check out, then…
Son by Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger
Two big hitters in the world of European crime writing have combined for the first in what could well become a new series featuring Kari Voss, a psychologist and expert in body language and memory. The title has two meanings, as Kari, obsessed with finding her young son who vanished seven years ago, is sent to the small Norwegian village of Son, where her expertise is needed in the hunt for the killer of two teenage girls. A suspect is soon arrested, but Kari is certain the police have got it wrong and decides to conduct her own investigation. What are the villagers hiding, and could it have any bearing on her son’s disappearance? Find out when Son by Johana Gustawsson and Thomas Enger arrives on 13 March.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
The Grapevine by Kate Kemp
Let’s head to a quiet cul-de-sac in Canberra in the 1970s, the setting for Kate Kemp’s debut novel, The Grapevine, out on 13 March. There, we meet Tammy, who is 12, bored, and not looking forward to the long school summer holidays – until a severed foot is discovered, and turns out to belong to Antonio Marietti, a new arrival in Warrah Place. Who could have killed him, and why? Tammy is determined to find out. As the story unfolds, the narrative is shared between the women who live there but as we crime fiction lovers know, bad things can happen behind closed doors… and not everyone can be trusted to be completely truthful.
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Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski
Lovers of noir with a dash of humour thrown in should make a note of 11 March, which is when Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski makes an appearance. Dash Fuller is a Hollywood fixer who’s made a career out of making other people’s dirty secrets disappear. He’s burnt out, and mainlining on bourbon and self-loathing when Madeline Ironwood asks for help. Her father Ken, a notorious smuggler and murderer, vanished two decades ago. Now his bones have been found in a barrel at the bottom of a dried-up lake and Madeline is dead set on finding out how he got there. With those in the know closing ranks, can the pair work together and get to the truth?
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The Impersonators by Angela Chadwick
Struggling to find a plus-one for an important event? Need a ‘boyfriend’ to take to a family gathering? Then maybe you need the help of The Impersonators, two out of work actors whose harmless business soon leads them into all kinds of bother. Things start to go awry when Lucy and Jack meet Zelda, a wealthy woman who was dumped by her ex-boyfriend and is now out for white-hot revenge. The pair have never been averse to telling a white lie or two on behalf of their clients, but are they prepared to deliver what Zelda is asking of them? It’ll all become clear when Angela Chadwick’s The Impersonators is published on 13 March.
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Inalienable Right by Adam Macqueen
Former Piccadilly Circus rent boy Tommy Wildeblood is now cutting his teeth as a newly-qualified teacher at a South London comprehensive school. It’s 1987 and AIDS is making headlines when Margaret Thatcher’s government launches a chilling attack on the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in a new law known as Section 28. His past life means that Tommy knows where the skeletons are buried – looks like it’s time for him to step into the firing line and expose the truth about one of the PM’s most trusted lieutenants. Inalienable Right by Adam Macqueen is out now for Kindle and on 13 March as a paperback.
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