We Shall Inherit the Wind
With a somewhat philosophical title, this is Gunnar Staalesen’s latest Varg Veum book to appear in English. As a private detective, Veum is unusual in Scandinavian crime fiction and here he’s hired by a woman to find her missing husband. He’s an executive in a…
The Bone Tree by Greg Iles
This is the sequel to Greg Iles’ epic novel Natchez Burning and it tells the story of a decades-old battle in Louisiana and Mississipi between ruthless racist organisations and the forces of law and order. The Bone Tree itself is a semi-mythical dead tree in the…
I Let You Go
This excellent debut is not the work of a novice writer, but of an experienced and established journalist. A clever combination of police procedural and psychologocal thriller, it begins with a scene that will chill every parent’s soul to its core. One momentary lapse of…
The Water Knife
The diversity of platforms for literature fans is a great joy, and in this audiobook the Puerto Rican actress and presenter Almarie Guerra narrates a tale of greed, deception and murder, all based around the most vital commodity in Nevada, Arizona and California. Narcotics? Gold?…
Snowblind
Our thirst for Scandinavian gloom, death and despair remains unquenched. Ragnar Jónasson takes us to the bleak and suitably isolated town of Siglufjörđur, about as far north-west as it is possible to go in Iceland without falling into the icy waters of the Denmark Strait….
Golden Age of Murder
Are we recommending a non-fiction book. Well certainly, when it is an erudite and loving account of a genre for which pretty well all crime fiction lovers have a secret place in their hearts. This book takes us down some well-travelled roads, dealing with the genius of…
22 Dead Little Bodies
This novella features the Odd Couple of Scottish crime fiction, the eminently likeable Aberdeen cop Logan McRae and his foul-mouthed, chain-smoking lesbian boss, DCI Roberta Steele. You can catch up with them at length in Close To The Bone, but here we have a very…