Welcome to our weekly column featuring the latest new crime novels. Let’s get underway with some hot historical crime fiction set in Raj India from Abir Mukherjee. Also in our report you’ll find novels by David Boito and Con Lehane, plus tech thrillers from Cate Holahan and Heather Gudenkauf.
The Burning Grounds by Abir Mukherjee
It’s been four years since we last tarried with Sam Wyndham and Surendranath Banerjee, so fans of the series will be delighted to hear that book six arrives on 4 November in the US and 13 November in the UK. The Burning Grounds by Abir Mukherjee is set in 1920s Calcutta. The tale begins when a man is found with his throat slashed on the Burning Ghats of Calcutta, where the dead are cremated. The victim was a popular patron of the arts, a man who was, by all accounts, beloved by all. So who wanted him dead? It’s a question that taxes the talents of Detective Sam Wyndham. Meanwhile, Surendranath Banerjee is back from his exile in Europe and on the hunt for a trailblazing female photographer who has disappeared. When the two cases collide, the pair must put their differences aside and get to work.
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Fatal Castle by David Boito
Beefeaters? The Tower of London? You might think that David Boito’s Fatal Castle is historical crime… but you’d be wrong. Instead, it’s 2023, and as the story unfolds, Clive Bellamy, Chief Yeoman Warder at the Tower, is about to mend bridges with his estranged daughter, Ashley, a diamond enthusiast. But life takes a dramatic turn when the pair are trapped as ex-bomb disposal expert Richard Bindar leads a brutal heist disguised as an act of terrorism, his target the infamous Koh-i-Noor diamond. Can they use their inside knowledge of the ancient keep to fight back and make their escape? Find out when the book is published on 31 October.
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The Red Scare Murders by Con Lehane
1950s New York City is the setting for Con Lehane’s The Red Scare Murders, out on 4 November. Blacklisted during a communist witch hunt, former Hollywood cartoonist Mick Mulligan has pivoted to become a private detective on the seedy streets of Hell’s Kitchen. His first paying case is about to test all Mulligan’s skills. Black taxi driver Harold Williams is two weeks away from execution for the murder of hated cab company owner Irwin Johnson; can Mulligan find enough evidence to keep Williams from the electric chair? With nobody talking and a line of undesirables on his trail, this case could be make or break.
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The Kidnapping of Alice Ingold by Cate Holahan
The abduction of blonde, beautiful and privileged Alice Ingold captures the imagination of a nation when the masked culprits turn the whole thing into a game. Instead of demanding ransom, they release a riddle and invite the entire country to solve it. Alice’s father Brian, a visionary AI tech guru, believes that machines will give him the answer, while her mother, Catherine, tries to crowdsource the solution. But as more clues drop and nobody seems to be any closer to solving the mystery, a complex and disturbing picture of the crime emerges. The Kidnapping of Alice Ingold by Cate Holahan comes out on 1 November.
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The Perfect Hosts by Heather Gudenkauf
A lavish gender reveal party turns deadly in Heather Gudenkauf’s thriller The Perfect Hosts, published on 4 November. Madeline and Wes Drake have invited 200 of their closest friends and family to their sprawling horse ranch for a Pistols and Pearls party to reveals the gender of their baby. The fun turns into fear after a fireworks showpiece backfires, killing one of the guests. With the small town in shock, Agent Jamie Saldano is called in to investigate, who soon learns that the Drakes have things they’d like to keep hidden, and the woman who died in the explosion was not the victim of an accident. Who was the real target, and is anyone prepared to tell the truth about what happened that day?
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