On the Radar — We’ve been waiting for years for Karin Slaughter to write a book with ‘daughter’ in the title so that we could deploy an Iron Maiden pun, and she’s finally done it. However, just as it’s happened we can think of one. Can anyone help? Let’s see… erm… bring your daughter to Karin Slaughter’s… um… barbecue?

Also on our radar this week some new Italian crime fiction in translation, a novel from one of Denmark’s leading writers, crime fiction set in Spain and even a robot detective.

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The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
Already out in the UK, Karin Slaughter’s latest hits US bookshelves on 8 August and it’s one of those standalone novels about dark deeds buried in the past. Twenty-eight years ago, two girls were forced to walk into the forest at gunpoint. One ran, the other wasn’t so lucky. If luck is the right word. Because their mother was killed, their father left a broken man, and their community scarred forever. Now Charlotte Quinn has become a top attorney – the good daughter – but she might just have to face it all again when violence returns to Pineville, digging up all those bad memories.
Buy now on Amazon

The Susan Effect by Peter Hoeg
Published in 1992, Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow won the Glass Key Award and remains an outstanding example of Nordic noir fiction. It’s from Denmark and like Carlsberg it reaches places other crime fiction simply doesn’t. Seriously. Peter Hoeg’s latest also features an enigmatic heroine. Susan Svendsen is a physicist with an ability that seemingly can’t be explained by science. People just open up to her and reveal their secrets without even being asked. However, an undercover wing of the Danish security service has one over on Susan, and one of its operatives forces her to go and question a member of a secret council known as the Future Commission. Shortly after their meeting, someone tries to kill Susan and her son. Her whole family is in mortal danger… Watch for our review soon, and for more information click here.
Pre-order now on Amazon

Kill the Father by Sandrone Dazieri
Dante Torre has an unusual past in this translation from Italian. He was held captive by a kidnapper dubbed The Father for 11 years before escaping from his concrete cell. He now lends his unorthodox investigative methods to the police in Rome. Deputy Captain Colomba Caselli is freshly blooded from a botched raid in Paris. Her boss pairs her up with Torre to investigate a missing boy whose mother was beheaded. The evidence suggests The Father has returned. This is the first in a series featuring Caselli and Torre, and is billed as an intelligent, well-crafted thriller that promises to set your pulse racing. Out as a paperback on 10 August.
Buy now on Amazon

From the Shadows by Neil White
Defence lawyer Dan Grant is the last hope for Robert Carter. Carter is accused of stalking then murdering a young teacher, Mary Kendricks. The case has been dropped in Grant’s lap at short notice. He has assistance from a freelance investigator, Jayne Brett, but just two weeks to unravel the threads as the courtroom drama plays out. Based in Manchester this legal thriller is the start of a new series from the criminal lawyer turned writer. One of his earlier offerings, Next to Die, was a five-star rated thriller on our site. Out now for Kindle and as a paperback on 10 August.
Pre-order on Amazon

Fatal Sunset by Jason Webster
Number six in the Max Camara series, set in Valencia, Spain finds the chief inspector under pressure from his new boss. Then the larger-than-life owner of a popular nightclub is found dead – a death which appears anything but suspicious…. until Camara receives an anonymous phone call that leads him to believe otherwise. It’s a decision destined to put both Camara and his journalist girlfriend Alicia in peril. Out 3 August.
Pre-order now on Amazon

Killing is My Business by Adam Christopher
If pulp fiction with a hi-tech twist is your bag, then Adam Christopher’s robot hitman Ray Electromatic is your (metallic) man. Business is on the up in 1960s Los Angeles when Ray’s boss Ada sends him on a stakeout which turns out to be a lot more complicated than it first appears. This author channels the old B movie style into a story that’s a cross between sci-fi and Dashiell Hammett. Out now.
Buy now on Amazon

Hit by PS Bridge
Meet Mark King, renowned British lawyer and Sandhurst military academy dropout who’s been assigned a case which could cement his place at the top of the tree – prosecuting known terrorist Mohammed Al-Azidi. But it’s a job that puts him in the firing line, literally, and when King’s wife is murdered by a gang of hitmen and the court case collapses, he is forced to go to ground and mete out his own form of justice. Out now.
Buy now on Amazon

Read about last week’s new crime releases here.