From And Then There Were None to Shutter Island, you know when you’re surrounded by ocean the only way out is to catch the killer… It’s a time-worn setup in crime fiction but it works a treat. So, let’s start our news report stuck on a Caribbean island with former cosy crime author Sarah Yarwood-Lovett and her new destination thriller, The Pedge. We’ve also got some Scottish crime fiction, trips to Denmark and Romania, and let’s also spend some time stranded in Arkansas…
The Pledge by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett
Destination thrillers are the new kids on the crime fiction block and The Pledge by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett, out on 26 March, has already got its towel on the sunbed. Thea is a barrister who’s just won a landmark case. She’s married to cabinet minister Charles, but it’s a union that’s showing signs of fraying at the edges. Which is why Thea jumps at the chance to take a few days away on a private island. The invitation is enigmatic, to say the least, and upon her arrival Thea is surprised to see her husband there too, along with a select band that includes billionaires, a Royal, a supermodel and a world famous pop star. Their hostess, Olga, has an agenda of her own but when she’s murdered overnight, the disparate gathering realises that they are trapped, with no way of escape of communication… and a killer in their midst.
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The Long Dark by Andrew Raymond
Lovers of Scottish crime fiction will be happy to hear that Andrew Raymond‘s The Long Dark is out in print on 26 March. It’s the fifth book to feature DCI John Lomond, and finds him and his team still mourning the death of one of their own. But duty comes first when they’re called to the set of a popular Scottish detective show, where the show’s official police advisor – legendary Serious Crime Squad detective Jack Beattie – has been murdered. Beattie was an exemplary copper, loved by all who worked with him. Or was he? Because when Lomond digs deeper he uncovers some shocking secrets… Next sixth the series, The Ferryman is published on 26 March too. Find out more here.
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Hide and Seek by Søren Sveistrup
Do you remember the legendary Nordic noir crime show The Killing? If so, get ready for 26 March – that’s when Hide and Seek by Søren Sveistrup is published. One of the creators of the programme and in his latest book a twisted killer is on the loose and they’re using a children’s counting rhyme to taunt their prey. Long-forgotten memories come back to haunt a woman, in the shape of a string of anonymous text messages, repeating that same counting rhyme. Then she goes missing, and Detectives Naia Thulin and Mark Hess are tasked with finding her but after uncovering links to a decades-old cold case, their investigation takes a terrifying turn. Can they finally catch the killer, before someone else dies?
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Six Mile Store by AM Belsey
Honey feels like life is going to hell in a handcart – surely things can get better than this, even here in rural Arkansas? She’s got a boring weekend job at the Six Mile Store, her boyfriend’s about to leave the country, her college advisor hates her, her mother isn’t listening to anything she says, and she’s got this cop breathing down her neck just about all the time. She thinks that making friends with her new colleague Lisa will make things better, but when a regular customer is found dead, Honey’s glass half full simply drains away. We spoke to new crime author AM Belsey about Six Mile Store here, and it comes out on 19 March.
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Astronaut! by Oana Aristide
Let’s head to Romania in the late 1980s, where a man-eating bear is making all the headlines and terrorising a country that’s living under a communist regime. There’s also a human serial killer on the loose, and it’s up to idealistic police detective Constantin to catch them. Meanwhile, rebellious school child Lia is unwittingly drawn into her elderly neighbour’s seditious plot in coming of age story-meets-crime novel Astronaut! by Oana Aristide, published on 26 March
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Death Watch Cottage by T Orr Munro
Former crime scene investigator-turned-crime writer T Orr Munro’s latest novel, Death Watch Cottage, is released on 26 March. It finds CSI Ally Dymond at a Devon holiday cottage, where the body of Leo Hawkins has been found – the victim of carbon monoxide poisoning. But is everything as it first appears? Leo’s wife relates the details of her husband’s last hours but something isn’t adding up. Does some graffiti daubed nearby by an anti-tourist group have any relevance to the case? Then a second body is found and with nobody, it seems, willing to tell the whole truth it is up to Ally and the murder team to get to work and find the killer.
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