Sonja van der Westhuizen

The Madman by Henning Mankell

4 August, 2026

Translated by George Goulding and Sarah de Senarclens — Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell has had a substantial influence on us here at Crime Fiction Lover and his death in 2015 left a glaring gap in the crime fiction landscape. We were thrilled by the…

Kindle Print Reviews

Murder at the End of the World by Akane Araki

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

29 July, 2026

Translated by Jesse Kirkwood — In two months’ time, an asteroid named Telo is due to hit Fukuoka, Japan, with a kinetic energy equivalent to 45 billion megatons of TNT. “It’s the end of the world as we know it,”‘ as Michael Stipe once sang….

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Cathedrals by Claudia Piñeiro

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

24 June, 2026

Translated by Frances Riddle — Claudia Piñeiro is one of Argentina’s most translated authors and her novel Elena Knows was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022 and developed into a Netflix film. In Cathedrals, Piñeiro delivers a psychological family crime novel that focuses…

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The Secrets from the Deep by Satu Rämö

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

16 June, 2026

Translated by Kristian London — Finnish-born writer Satu Rämö has lived in Iceland for 20 years and won the 2025 Petrona Award for The Clues in the Fjord, the debut in her Hildur series. In the fourth of the series, she returns with a dark…

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Astronaut! by Oana Aristide

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

7 May, 2026

Astronaut! is a satirical police procedural and coming-of-age story set in the final months of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s dictatorship in 1989 Romania. At the centre of the story are Constantin, a weary police detective, and Lia, a rebellious schoolgirl. Both have to navigate their daily lives…

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Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

28 April, 2026

Translated by Florian Duijsens — Criminal defence lawyer Björn Diemel is a character who finds maintaining a work-life balance slightly challenging in Murder Mindfully by German crime author Karsten Dusse. The fact that he represents Berlin’s most dangerous criminals, specifically the volatile mob boss Dragan…

Print Reviews

Phantom Pass by André M Louw

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

18 April, 2026

South African author André M Louw makes a notable entrance to the crime genre with a debut that balances fully fleshed-out characters with a breakneck pace. The story commences with the discovery of Mark Whitcombe, a prominent 67-year-old retired lawyer whose mutilated corpse is found…

Kindle Print Reviews

Falls the Shadow by Mike Nicol

By Sonja van der Westhuizen

14 April, 2026

Mike Nicol’s last book, Hammerman – A Walking Shadow, concluded a five-book series featuring the surfing private investigator Fish Pescado and lawyer Vicki Kahn. With his latest novel, the South African author starts afresh and introduces a police officer as his protagonist. However, this is…

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About author

The Madman by Henning Mankell

Murder at the End of the World by Akane Araki

Cathedrals by Claudia Piñeiro

The Secrets from the Deep by Satu Rämö

Astronaut! by Oana Aristide

Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse

Phantom Pass by André M Louw

Falls the Shadow by Mike Nicol

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