On the Radar — This week the Bones series by Kathy Reichs receives its latest instalment, and we’ve also got a brand new book by Denise Mina. There’s a wartime crime story, a couple of Irish connections and a trip to Malmo as well. See what you think of this week’s new releases…
Speaking in Bones by Kathy Reichs
“Dem bones, dem bones, dem – dry bones…” It could be a good sound track for this book and its 17 predecessors featuring forensic anthropologist Temperence Brennan. The author herself carries out the same role for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in North Carolina, so she knows of what she writes. In this story, Tempe becomes involved in a mysterious case at a local beauty spot. She needs to identify several bodies dug up at the site, while at the same time unexplained lights seem to be appearing and inspiring a local cult. Our review of Bones of the Lost (2013) is here, and Ms Brennan’s latest adventure is available on 21 July.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Clandestine by J Robert Janes
France, 1943. The Third Reich is slowly but inexorably crumbling at the fringes, but in occupied France there is a strange state of affairs. The Vichy Government of Marshal Pétain contains countless officials and administrators who are only too happy to live high on the hog, while the rest of the population suffers under strangling austerity and resources are diverted to Germany. Against this backdrop, uneasy bedfellows Kriminalpolizei officer Hermann Kohler and Sûreté Inspector Louis St Cyr try to solve a crime involving a hijacked bank van, two murdered functionaries, and a missing Dutch woman who may have been a secret agent. Available on 21 July.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Killing Eva by Alex Blackmore
The author’s previous day job as a financial lawyer certainly informs this high octane tale of murder and conspiracy at the highest levels of commerce and government. The nightmare for Eva Scott begins when she witnesses a killing under the soaring roof of London’s Waterloo Station. Dying words whispered in her ear chime with events earlier in her life which she hoped were dead and buried. Eva is up against fate, history and vested interests. The digital edition of this thriller from No Exit Press – the sequel to Lethal Profit – is out on 23 July, with a paperback due in Autumn 2015.
Throw Down by David Menon
Menon first introduced readers to Manchester Detective Superintendent Jeff Barton in Sorceror (2013). This book, sixth in the series, sees Barton dealing with one of the grim ironies of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Old wounds never heal, particularly if they were caused by bullets from sectarian guns. A former Republican terrorist – released from prison as part of the Good Friday Agreement – is found shot dead. His sister, herself a former IRA commander, is then found living quietly in a Melbourne suburb, 10,000 miles away, and her past is exposed. Meanwhile, Barton has to deal with tit-for-tat killings on his home turf… Out on 24 July.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Murder in Malmö by Torquil MacLeod
If you like printed books here’s the chance to get hold of a novel which has only been available digitally since it first came out in 2013. MacLeod’s Malmö series features Inspector Anita Sundström, and here she is suffering after a falling out with her boss. He has sidelined her into investigating what seem trivial misdemeanors, while all she is desperate to do is help in the high profile hunt for the killer of a well-known advertising executive. When another prominent citizen of the Swedish city is murdered Sundström gets her wish and is immediately put in danger. Published on 23 July.
Buy now on Amazon
9/10 of the Law by Glenn H Mitchell
The author was born and brought up in Melbourne, but now lives and works in Phnom Penh. His debut full length novel was a sci-fi chiller called Nowhere, but 9/10 is described as a crime thriller with a touch of the paranormal. Detective Ben Ricci may be a good cop, but he is not a very good man. In the midst of a crumbling marriage, a professional standards investigation and a far-from-professional interest in a witness, he is initially scornful when his investigation of a brutal killing throws up paranormal connections. Initially he dismisses ghostly children, Japanese curses and a doll that won’t die, but events force Ricci to re-evaluate his position. Published on 28 July.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Aloysius Tempo by Jason Johnson
The delightfully named Mr Tempo is a hitman. With a difference. He doesn’t employ the traditional tools of his trade. Not for him the double-tap to the head with .22 pistol, or the stiletto thrust between the ribs. Tempo specialises in staging fatal ‘accidents’ where the target’s demise is put down to bad luck. Based in Amsterdam, he is recalled to his native Ireland only to find that his would-be employer is none other than the Irish government. Asked to stage the accident to end all accidents – on the eve of the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising – Tempo’s world is turned on its head. The author is currently the Northern Ireland correspondent for The Sun newspaper and this, his fourth book, will be on the shelves from 31 July.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Blood Salt Water by Denise Mina
Glasgow cop DI Alex Morrow has plenty on her plate, what with trying to bring up a young family, and her gangster half-brother Danny languishing in jail. When a woman suspected in a major narcotics and money-laundering operation disappears just before the police can make an arrest, Morrow suspects foul play. Her investigations also lead her to cross paths with a remorseful murderer who sent a woman to the bottom of a Scottish loch on the instructions of a sadistic organised crime boss. The action takes place in the contrasting settings of Glasgow’s criminal underworld and the old spa town of Helensburgh. The book is out on 30 July, but until then you can read our interview with Denise Mina here. She will also be appearing at the top Swedish crime fiction festival, Crimetime Gotland.
Pre-order now on Amazon
