We’ve stepped into April, stepped into spring, but there are dark dealings on the horizon – in the world of crime fiction, at least. This week’s new books column has six treats for mystery lovers to explore, starting with a very atmospheric looking title set in the North of England, written by Sarah Hilary. Spring might be here, but this looks as chilly and damp as the creeping fingers of death… Brrr!
The Drowning Place by Sarah Hilary
English crime author Sarah Hilary is back, with a new series set in Derbyshire’s Peak District and featuring the multi-layered DS Joseph Ashe. Joe was born and brought up in Edenscar, where he now works – and is something of a celebrity. Or maybe celebrity is the wrong word, because as a child he was the only survivor of a school bus crash where his teachers and classmates drowned. Joe is literally haunted by what happened back then, but he must put that aside when an inexplicable and shocking crime occurs on his patch and his new boss, DI Laurie Bower, makes it clear there is no time for superstition and ghosts if they are to find a killer. The Drowning Place arrives on 16 April.
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Too Close to Home by Seraphina Nova Glass
There’s a big Labor Day party in full swing in the elite lakefront community of Cloverhill Lakes when the celebrations are shattered by the sound of Regan Hoffman’s car being blown to pieces. The wrong person is killed in the explosion, but Regan knows it was meant for her. Suddenly her world of coffee dates, PTA meetings, Chardonnay, brunch, sundresses and backyard bonfires is soured, and her feelings of unease increase when she sees her dead husband – alive. After another Cloverhill resident meets an untimely end, Regan realises that she’ll need to be on her guard if she’s to survive. Too Close to Home by Seraphina Nova Glass is published on 14 April.
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Kill Dick by Luke Goebel
A teenage addict and an ex-professor running a rehab scam find common ground in Luke Goebel’s dark and satirical literary thriller Kill Dick, out on 14 April. Susie Vogelman is 19, has dropped out of college and is making the most of an endless supply of prescription drugs while living it up in an affluent part of Los Angeles. But a killer is targeting addicts, and with her father’s ties to an opioid empire, Susie is scared that she’ll be next. Then she meets disgraced professor Peter Holiday and together the pair get dragged into a web of privilege, corruption and violence, where every escape leads deeper into the rot.
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Who Knew the Ridpath Girl by Stacy Johns
Gracen Ridpath is best known as the host of a successful YouTube channel for stay-at-home-dads. But when he was young his 11-year-old sister, Douggy, died and neither Gracen nor his hometown of Meander were ever the same. Gracen is unprepared for the response when he finally shares this with his audience, and clicks go through the roof when he airs a theory that he’s previously kept to himself: that Douggy chose to die, and he knows why and who’s to blame. The admission brings Quinn, Douggy’s childhood best friend, back to Meander looking for answers. And when people start dying around them, the pair find themselves at the centre of a police investigation. Who Knew the Ridpath Girl by Stacy Johns is out for Kindle on 14 April, in print on 14 May.
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A Killing Breath by Faye Snowden
If you’re in the mood for a soupçon of Southern Gothic, then take note of 14 April, when A Killing Breath by Faye Snowden is released. Homicide detective Raven Burns owes everything to the generous people who looked after her when her father, Floyd ‘Fire’ Burns, was unmasked as a notorious serial killer. Now she concentrates on putting people like him behind bars, until the latest hunt for a serial killer terrorising a town leads Raven right back to the night when her father killed someone dear to her. It’s time to confront her past and work out how much of Raven’s father lives inside her.
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Three Bengal Kittens by Philipp Schott
Canadian veterinarian-turned-crime writer Philipp Schott returns with Three Bengal Kittens, out for Kindle on 14 April, in print on 14 May. It’s book four in the series featuring Dr Peter Bannerman, and finds the vet coming to the aid of his brother, Sam after he is arrested for the murder of a neighbour in Winnipeg. Sam has mental health issues and Peter is certain that he is not a killer, but with his brother more interested in the welfare of three Bengal kittens he rescued from the dead neighbour’s home, it’s hard to get a coherent story out of him. Sam is also rambling about ghosts, and when Peter spends the night in his brother’s home, he begins to see why. But who is the murderer? And can Peter find enough evidence to prove Sam’s innocence, while looking for one of the kittens that has gone missing?
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