The Darkest Secret by Alex Harwood
Alex Marwood’s latest domestic noir novel is one of those ones where you’ll definitely feel like screaming, “He’s behind you!” like an overexcited child at a pantomime. There were also times when I wanted to grab a character by the arm and ask, “Can’t you…
In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride
Logan McRae is one of the more endearing Scottish coppers who has risen to fictional fame over the last two decades. Formerly a detective sergeant, he is now in uniform again and has been banished to the bleak north coast of Aberdeenshire, away from his…
Hard Cheese by Ulf Durling
Translated by Bertil Falk — Män som hatar kvinnor (Men who hate women) became The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Polis, polis, potatismos! (Police, police, potatoes) became Murder at the Savoy, the sixth novel in Sjöwall and Wahlöö’s Martin Beck series. In a similar way, Gammal ost (Old Cheese)…
Highbridge by Phil Redmond
His name is synonymous with hard-hitting TV dramas like Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks, but can Phil Redmond cut the mustard as a crime fiction writer? On this showing, the answer is an unhesitating ‘yes’. I suppose it’s not surprising that the man behind the…
Nausea by Ed Kurtz
Although Ed Kurtz had been published previously, 2014 was something of a breakout year for him. His output included two well-received novels, The Forty-Two and Angel of the Abyss, as well as the excellent novella Freight. Last year was a bit quieter, but now we have…
Ochoco Reach by Jim Stewart
Here we have another PI novel, but if you want mean streets, neon bar signs reflected in rainy sidewalks, and the seedy underbelly of a city where dreams go to die, then look elsewhere. We start in Oregon, where the air is cold and clean,…