On the Radar — Yes, we have torment for crime lovers this week because John Connolly’s latest horror x PI crime novel is here and it’s called A Time of Torment. Cathy Ace’s softer series about corpses also continues in Golden Age style and we’ve got seven more books for you to pick and choose from in this week’s new releases. Enjoy.
A Time of Torment by John Connolly
John Connolly’s iconic Maine-based private detective Charlie Parker has recovered from a near-fatal gun battle, and returns to do battle with criminals both of this world and another far more sinister place. A decent man is framed for paedophile offences and Parker – aided by his violent, other worldly lieutenants Louis and Angel – finds that a reclusive and vindictive rural community known as The Cut have much to answer for. If you need to brush up your knowledge on the series, have a look at our Guide to John Connolly’s Charlie Parker novels. A Time of Torment is out on 7 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Corpse with the Garnet Face by Cathy Ace
Cathy Ace was tired of book titles beginning with ‘The Girl with…’ She likes to get straight to the point, so each title in her series begins with ‘The Corpse with…’ You can try …the Golden Nose, …the Silver Tongue or …the Platinum Hair. Now she brings us another Golden Age-inspired mystery and her protagonist Cait Morgan – both a foodie and a criminologist – finds herself in Amsterdam with husband Bud. They end up investigating a family mystery which may have fatal consequences. The Corpse with the Garnet Face is published on 5 April for Kindle and at the end of the month in print.
Pre-order now on Amazon
A Brilliant Death by Robin Yocum
Place: Brilliant, a steel town in Ohio. Time: the 1970s. High school student Travis Baron has never known his mother. All he knows is that she died in an accident on the river when he was a baby. Now, aided by his best buddy Mitch and an alcoholic ex-cop, he tries to piece together the fragments of knowledge he can glean about his mother’s death. His father, a brutal and bitter drunk, has excised all evidence of his wife’s existence principally because when Amanda Baron died she was with her lover. When a coherent picture emerges from the scattered jigsaw pieces, Travis is faced with a massive dilemma. What should he do next? Should he be content with having found the truth, or should he share his knowledge and spark explosive events that will change his life for ever? Out on 5 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Girl from Home by Adam Mitzner
When a financial scam goes wrong, Manhattan fund manager Jonathan Caine’s life – both business and private – goes belly-up. With his wife, his Bentley and his Gold Amex account history, he goes home to New Jersey to spend time with his ailing father. He attends 25th anniversary high school reunion and renews his acquaintance with former prom queen Jacqueline Williams. Caine learns that Jacqueline is suffering because of her abusive husband, and while we sensible readers are hollering, “Don’t go there!”, he blunders into a web of intrigue that makes his Wall Street woes seem like a picnic in comparison. Available from 5 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
A Coin for the Hangman by Ralph Spurrier
A second-hand book dealer who happens to have the same name as the author buys a job lot of books and artefacts found in a non-descript Sussex bungalow. He realises that he has in his hands is a series of diaries and documents owned by Reginald Manning, who became the official hangman in the brief period after the UK’s last Chief Executioner Albert Pierrpoint’s retired but just before the abolition of capital punishment. What he finds is both chilling and fascinating. Is he reading about a miscarriage of justice on an epic scale? Is there anyone still alive who can verify the events described in the diaries? Published on 5 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Braking for Bodies by Duffy Brown
A mystery set in the world of recreational cycling? Whyever not! Evie Bloomfield has left the stresses and strains of LA far behind. She is now working in a bike shop on Lake Huron’s Mackinac Island. Her peace is disturbed by a ferry full of brash tourists, one of whom is a gutter journalist – the former boss of Evie’s best friend Fiona. When the journalist is found murdered and Fiona becomes the prime suspect, Evie has literally to get on her bike to find the real killer. Available from 5 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Disappearance by Annabel Kantaria
As Audrey Bailey nears her allotted three score years and ten she goes on a once-in-a-lifetime Aegean cruise with her twin children and ponders the 50 summers that have passed since she met and married her husband. Two young ex-pats meeting in a Bombay cafe seems so long ago, and so much has happened in between. Now, the night before her birthday, she tells Lexi and John that, despite appearances, she has fabulous wealth which they stand to inherit upon her death. But then Audrey disappears. Where is she? Can Lexi and John even trust each other, or is there a dark family secret behind Audrey vanishing? There is a free sample of this psychological drama available for Kindle right now, the paperback will be on the shelves from 7 April, with a complete Kindle version available by the end of April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Spur of the Moment by David Linzee
There is more than enough high drama, death and bloodshed onstage in the world of opera, and nowhere more so than the tempestuous tale of love and lust in the Spanish dust – Carmen. The St Louis Opera is about to set Missouri alight with its controversial production of Bizet’s masterpiece. However, not only is chief fundraiser Don Radleigh revealed to be having an affair with the wife of one of the opera’s main benefactors, but the woman is dead! He’s the number one suspect. His sister Renate, a singer with the opera, protests his innocence and is then cast into the main role when the killer strikes again. Can she find the real killer before Don José makes the final dagger thrust on the stage?
Buy now on Amazon
Saving April by Sarah A Denzil
Hannah Abbott suffers from what is known as an ‘invisible illness’. Five years earlier she suffered a trauma which has stayed with her every waking hour. Reclusive, irrational, terrified of everyday things, she ekes out an existence in a Yorkshire suburb, rarely leaving the house and communicating with others only when strictly necessary. When a new family moves into the house opposite, and Hannah sees a small child in a window, holding up a sign saying ‘Help!’ she faces a major dilemma. Should she intervene and face ridicule because of her own fragile mental state, or should she draw her own curtains and hope that the wicked world outside will just go away? Out now.
Buy now on Amazon
