On the Radar — This week, as well as a mix of settings from Whitechapel via Florida and on to France and Sweden, it also looks like our new crime books offer a blood-dripping combination of murder and mutilation with Jack the Ripper serving as inspiration for at least two of them. Read on…
Click here to subscribe to the CFL newsletter.
Keeper by Johana Gustawsson
A brutal killing and mutilation in Falkenberg, Sweden bears all the hallmarks of the serial killer Richard Hemfield. But he’s been locked away in a high security psychiatric hospital for the past 10 years. Is it a copycat crime? It’s personal for Alexis Castells, a true crime writer, given Hemfield killed someone close to him. His co-investigator Emily Roy, a profiler, is probing at the disappearance of actress Julianne Bell in London. That also has Hemfield’s stamp but the historical roots of this case stretch all the way back to the Ripper. Johana Gustawsson is one of our women to watch in 2018. Out 15 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Prince and the Whitechapel Murders by Saul David
George Hart has fought in South Africa, won the Victoria Cross, and been undercover in Afghanistan. But when you are half-Zulu and half-Irish in Victorian London you’ll always be an outsider. He finds himself babysitting none other than Prince Albert. The wayward Prince has been making nighttime forays to enjoy the pleasures of the East End. Prostitutes in Whitechapel in 1888? You can guess what happens next. The murders soon start and ‘Zulu’ Hart investigates. Given Saul David’s pedigree we can expect some rich layers in this historical crime fiction that weaves in that infamous Ripper mystique. Released 22 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Minced, Marinated and Murdered by Noël Balen and Vanessa Barrot
The title has a ring of the Hell’s Kitchen about it, but there’s no Gordon Ramsay here. Instead, the central character is food writer Laure Grenadier, whose appetite for sleuthing is piqued when a beloved chef is found murdered in Lyon, France’s gastronomic capital. Helped by her trusty photographer Paco, Laura is determined to find the killer though there might just be some good meals and wines along the way. Translated from French by Anne Trager, it might just have all the ingredients of a tasty whodunit. Out 20 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Vanished by Dan Petrosini
Detective Frank Luca is trying to find Phil Gabelli. Luca is happy to catch a break from the usual burglaries in the Gold Coast’s communities. Gabelli has a drop dead beautiful wife, Robin, and his pal Dom Stewart has noticed her qualities. He’s thinking of moving in on her. Stewart reported Gabelli’s disappearance and Luca is soon teasing out a dark tale of obsession. Is Gabelli murdered or has he taken off? How deep into this is Robin? We are promised a police procedural thriller with plenty of twists and shades of the hardboiled in Naples, Florida. Out now.
Buy now on Amazon
Kiss Me Kill Me by JS Carol
A standalone psychological thriller from author of The Killing Game, shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award who also writes as James Carol, creator of the Jefferson Winter series. Zoe thinks her dreams have come true when she meets Dan. He seems the perfect catch and she falls for him but once they marry, she begins to glimpse the real man behind that romantic facade – controlling, aggressive and paranoid. Zoe needs to escape, but who can she trust? Out 22 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Memory Chamber by Holly Cave
Debut novelist Cave hits the ground running with this dark thriller set in a time when true death is a thing of the past. Instead, you can spend eternity reliving your happiest moments, helped by Heaven Architects like Isobel. It’s a job she loves, but when Isobel falls for Jarek, one of her terminal clients, things take an unexpected turn. Jarek’s wife is found dead, and Isobel is suddenly plunged into a darker side of the world in which she lives and works, where truth is at a premium and trust is a rare commodity. Out 22 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
