What treasures does this week’s new books column hold in store? Well, we have everything from TV producers solving murders to stained glass window mysteries and even a courier with a briefcase surgically attached to his wrist. Six books to choose from, so which will become your next read?
The Murder Show by Matt Goldman
If anyone should know the behind-the-scenes dramas of a television detective show, it’s Emmy Award-winning TV writer Matt Goldman – and that’s exactly where his latest novel begins. The Murder Show has been a big hit with viewers for three seasons, but when the network turns down showrunner Ethan Harris’s pitch for series four he goes home to Minnesota in search of inspiration. But there’s a twist in store when an old friend is killed by a hit-and-run driver, and Ethan and former school pal Ro Greeman – now a local police officer – decide to work together to get to the truth. Do they succeed? Find out when The Murder Show comes out on 15 April.
Order from Amazon
My Daughter is Missing by JD Kirk
JD Kirk has built up quite a following with his twisty-turny psychological thrillers – and My Daughter is Missing, out on 16 April, is another one to add to the collection. A woman running from her past is faced with a dilemma when her nine-year-old daughter Hollie isn’t there at school pick-up time. The mother turns down the offer of the police, and makes up some far-fetched story about there being a mix-up. But really, she’s frantic – because for years, she’s been looking over her shoulder and protecting Hollie. Now the past has caught up with her and the dreaded day has come, she will stop at nothing to get her little girl back.
Order from Amazon
No-one Hears the Last Shot by Lavie Tidhar
Lovers of short-form crime are in for a treat with No-one Hears the Last Shot, an eclectic collection of the best crime and noir stories of Lavie Tidhar, including the CWA Dagger Award nominated Bag Man and much more besides, out now. It spans the globe and multiple eras and genres, focusing on everyone from a hitwoman in Tel Aviv, a young boy searching for a missing cat on a South Pacific island, a Roman Empire informer digging for info about an upcoming heist, a pair of hapless actors forced into a seedy mystery in Golden Age Hollywood, and even a confounding botanical mystery taxing the grey cells of none other than Sherlock Holmes!
Order from Amazon
***Subscribe to get the CFL newsletter delivered to your inbox every Thursday.***
Splintered Justice by Kim Hays
Swiss homicide detective Giuliana Linder of the Bern Police and her investigating partner Renzo Donatelli have quite a conundrum in Splintered Justice by CWA Debut Dagger finalist Kim Hays, out on 15 April. When an artisan falls from scaffolding while repairing a medieval stained glass window in Bern Cathedral, a teenager is implicated. An apparent link to the suicide of the youngster’s mother 15 years ago piques Donatelli’s interest, and he decides to reexamine the woman’s death in the hope of finally getting promotion to homicide detective. But what part does the injured worker play in all this, given that he was only 10 when the woman died?
Order from Amazon
The Price of Everything by Jon McGoran
Jon McGoran’s The Price of Everything is something of a sci-fi crime crossover, set in the future and published on 8 April. Armand Pierce does deliveries, but forget Evri or UPS – this is a much more serious operation. When Armand became a courier a decade ago, he had an attaché case connected to a titanium cuff grafted into the bones of his wrist, and took an oath: the delivery is everything. He’s a man with talents, who can run, fight and even kill if it means he gets the job done. If he doesn’t complete his task, Armand dies at the hands of The Guild – so he’s in big, big trouble when he arrives at the destination of his latest drop, only to find the attaché case is empty…
Order from Amazon or Bookshop.org
Murder at St Paul’s Cathedral by Jim Eldridge
Let’s head to London in the midst of The Blitz for Murder at St Paul’s Cathedral by Jim Eldridge, set to be published on 17 April. It’s 1941, and after hugely unpopular senior chorister Edwin Roberts is found beaten to death in the crypt, Detective Chief Inspector Coburg and Sergeant Lampson are sent to investigate. As the pair begin to gather information, they uncover a whole crowd of suspects, and a black market trade in rare books and valuable art to boot. Then another murder occurs inside St Paul’s and the powers-that-be ramp up the pressure for the case to be solved – and fast.
Order from Amazon or Bookshop.org
