Book Club

The Axeman’s Jazz

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Based on the true story of a series of killings in post-WWI New Orleans, this book is a heady mix of soulful music, savage murder and the unique atmosphere of The Big Easy. In one sense it is a period police procedural, but as Detective…
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Book Club

Malice

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Japanese sensation Keigo Higashino is back with his fourth novel in English translation – the first of his series following police detective Kyoichiro Kaga. Here popular author Kunihiko Hidaka is found dead in his home the day before he is due to leave the country….
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Book Club

The Valley

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Don’t expect a cosy rural crime thriller – the valley of the title is actually a street in suburban London. On the one hand the book is a psychological study of the hopes and fears of the families who live in The Valley, but it…
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Book Club

Angel of the Abyss

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Set in contemporary Los Angeles, this is the tale of a failed screenwriter who becomes involved in the restoration of a 1926 movie which for a number of reasons has achieved cult status with film buffs. Graham Woodward is well aware that the star of the…
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Book Club

Never Look Back

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DI Mike Lockyer has an autistic brother. He also has a failed marriage. The wedding ring on a chain round his neck is a constant reminder of the latter, while his visits to his brother’s care home remind him that life can be extremely unfair…
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Book Club

The Lying Down Room

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“I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles”, goes the old song. Certainly, the August heat is a trial for Chief Inspector Serge Morel as he tries to solve a puzzling and brutal series of murders. Not only is Morel finding the temperature a…
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Book Club

The Last Refuge

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When Scotsman John Callum arrives in the Faroe Islands, he discovers a place that’s as forlorn and remote as he is. Callum is running from something, but it’s not clear what. For a while, it seems like he might just achieve the quiet solitude he…
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Book Club

The Investigation

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Korean crime fiction is something of a rarity, so this translation by Chi-Young Kim is a find. It is 1944, and a mixture of criminals, anti-war activists and Korean partisans are being held in Fukuoka Prison, a Japanese POW camp. The guards have a particularly…
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