The curtain drops
On the Radar — How do you like the sound of Brad Parks’ latest, in which an actor is drafted in to go undercover in a prison to eke information out of an inmate? It sounds like a pretty good set-up, but it’s not the…
Deutschland 86 – Top German crime show returns
The reluctant East German operative Martin Rauch is back, but he’s wiser and meaner than he was in Deutschland 83, the throwback espionage thriller that had the crime fiction world in nuclear meltdown back in 2015. Now he’s 27 and is hiding out in Angola….
A crime book is a gift you give yourself
On the Radar — The first week of March is a big one on the crime fiction calendar with plenty of new books coming out, and we’ve got some of the best for you here in On the Radar. Our top pick this week is…
A Time to Scatter Stones
Written by Lawrence Block — Matt Scudder might just be one of the most under-appreciated private detectives in American crime fiction. The former cop has worked 17 cases in crime novels, dating back to the first in the series, The Sins of the Fathers in…
First look: Ryuko
She smokes cigars, rides a motorbike, packs twin tommies and she has a dragon tattoo. But Ryuko isn’t from Sweden, and she’s not like anything Japanese crime fiction has sent us so far. Today we’re bringing you a first look at this manga graphic novel…
Another brick in the wall
On the Radar — Sometimes a book arrives that’s so big the postman needs to knock on the door because it won’t fit in the letterbox. The Border by Don Winslow is a good example. It’s the kind of book we normally refer to as…
Interview: David Laws
Writing punchy copy comes naturally to David Laws. He spent most of his life as a journalist writing for national and local newspapers, and has now reinvented himself and is using his skills in the crime fiction genre. His second novel, Exit Day, is set…
What really happened?
On the Radar — What really happened? It’s what every thriller and every mystery has us turning the pages to find out, isn’t it? This week’s books have plenty of subterfuge and plot twists as we wait to find out what really happened to Annie…