On the Radar — Well, when we say ‘you can count on Banks’ we mean Alan Banks, the detective central to Peter Robinson’s police procedural series, who also appears in the ITV crime drama based on the books. Not banks like Lloyds or Natwest – we can’t vouch for them. Anyhow, Banks is back for his 23rd book, and we’ve also got second novels from the excellent authors Derek B Miller, Clare Mackintosh and Donald Ray Pollock in this week’s new releases. Oh, and there’s a new Fred Vargas too. Yes! FRED VARGAS!
When the Music’s Over by Peter Robinson
Yorkshire-born and educated in Canada, Peter Robinson sets his books in the county of his birth, and successful they are too. This is the 23rd novel in the Alan Banks series, and he is now a detective superintendent. In a topical plot line, mirroring the Jimmy Savile scandal, Banks is investigating sex abuse claims against a popular entertainer who thinks he’s untouchable. Meanwhile, Banks’ number two, Annie Cabot, is investigating the death of a young girl whose naked and battered body is found in a country lane. Out 14 July.
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The Girl in Green by Derek B Miller
We loved Miller’s debut, Norwegian by Night, and now the American author returns with a story set in war-torn Iraq, where a colonel is killed, and where British journalist Thomas Benton tries to atone for the death of a local girl 20 years back in the aftermath of Desert Storm. He works alongside aid worker Marta Storm, and the novel explores this troubled area of the Middle-East, 25 years after the first Gulf War. Out 5 July.
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I See You by Clare Mackintosh
Former policewoman Clare Mackintosh knows what it’s like to work on CID, and her debut I Let You Go was a big critical success and sold very well. So readers must be waiting in anticipation for I See You, in which a woman sees a photo of herself in a strange classified ad in a London newspaper. There’s a web address and a phone number, but why? What’s it all to do with? The next day the same ad shows a photo of a different woman. Is there some kind of weird stalker out there and what may happen next? Out 28 July.
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I’ve Been Watching You by KA Richardson
This thriller set in the North East of England has a similar vibe to Clare Mackintosh’s book, but goes more in the direction of forensics. Ben Cassidy is a single mother and a crime scene investigator. She and her team are looking into the apparent hit-and-run of a care worker but it turns out that there could be a killer closer to them than they think. Is there a possible love interest in the form of Jacob Tully, a veteran Ben meets on a digital forensics course? This is book two in the series and is out now.
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A Climate of Fear by Fred Vargas
Sacre bleu! French author Fred Vargas has won four CWA International Dagger Awards – could A Climate of Fear offer the chance of five? There’s a touch of mythology and political history behind this one. Firstly, a woman is found dead in her bathtub in a staged suicide, with a strange symbol on her body. A second victim, who previously was on a disastrous expedition in Iceland, is also found dead. Is there a link between the deaths, an Icelandic demon and a secret society studying the writings of Max Robespierre? Fittingly, it’s out on Bastille Day – 14 July.
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The Heavenly Table by Donald Ray Pollock
Are you ready for some rural noir that could just blow the doors off your pick-up truck? Author Donald Ray Pollock is set to be the new name in American Gothic with a novel of rip-roaring theft, looting and death as three brothers tear across the Deep South on horseback. Cane, Cob and Chimney Jewett worked hard on the fields of Georgia, driven by their despotic daddy, Pearl. With the old man’s death they become outlaws and are pursued just about to Hell and back by the authorities. Out 14 July. The author’s The Devil All the Time also kicks ass.
Pre-order now on Amazon
