On the Radar — There haven’t been many big releases hitting the shelves this close to Christmas but what we do have is fascinating and diverse. This week you can pre-order the latest German crime fiction, head to Chesapeake Bay or try some new domestic noir as On the Radar pings six times for six new crime novels…

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Beton Rouge by Simone Buchholz 

How far would you go to get back at your boss? Someone’s taking it to the extreme in the latest thriller from award-winning German author Simone Buchholz, translated by Rachel Ward and out 28 December. An unconscious man found in a cage at the offices of a German newspaper is identified as the manager of the company. He’s been tortured and three days later another manager suffers a similar fate. It’s a case for public prosecutor Chastity Riley and her new colleague Ivo Stepanovic, but as they dig further they discover that neither man is as innocent as they first appeared. We’ve previously reviewed the author’s book Blue Night.
Pre-order now on Amazon

Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding

Frances Metcalfe and her son Marcus are having a tough time of it, but there’s a chink of light at the end of the tunnel when he wins a place at prestigious Forrester School. All’s well until an incident at Forrester leads to Marcus being ostracised and suddenly Frances feels more alone than ever. Then Kate comes along. She’s rich, beautiful and powerful… and she wants to be friends. But one of these women is not as she seems in this tasty slice of domestic noir… Out now.
Buy now on Amazon

Forger’s Revenge by Leah Devlin

The popular Chesapeake Murders series continues with another twisted tale of death and deception, out now.  Art forger Ella Winston is out of jail and out for revenge against the people who put her there. She travels to River Glen in search of paintings of the Battle of Gettysburg by the Civil War painter Adam Eatonout that can help to prove her innocence, but her enquiries take a deadly turn when the people she contacts begin to die mysteriously.  Someone is out to frame Ella once more – can Detective Jay Braden catch the cunning and elusive real killer before they strike again?
Buy now on Amazon

Murder Undeniable by Anita Waller

Anita Waller‘s latest murder mystery gets underway when Katerina Rowe, the deacon in the small parish of Eyam, discovers a male body along with a badly beaten woman in the alley behind her husband’s pharmacy. She teams up with the young woman she has saved and together they start trying to solve the murder. Soon it becomes clear that forces in the village – including the police – don’t want them poking around. Out now.
Buy now on Amazon

The Fountain in the Forest by Tony White

Already available in the United States, Tony White’s novel is arriving in the UK as a paperback. It involves the discovery of a mutilated corpse, hanging in a theatre, and DS Rex King is starting to think it was a ritual murder. The action shifts between London, 1980s France and Stonehenge as the author plays with the genre, and indeed the novel form in general.
Buy now on Amazon

One Law for the Rest of Us by Peter Murphy

Who can resist a tasty legal thriller in the middle of winter? Peter Murphy’s One Law for the Rest of Us comes out on 13 December. Against her better judgement, perhaps, Audrey Marshall has sent her daughter Emily to the same school she went to. The same school where she was sexually abused. History has repeated itself and Audrey turns to barrister Ben Schroeder to bring the men responsible to justice. But is there one law for them and…
Pre-order now on Amazon