Untold Damage
Written by Robert K Lewis — Waking up with the needle still in his arm is a new one for ex-cop Mark Mallen, and a new low. He’s spent the past four years of his life as a heroin junkie, a descent that began during undercover…
Web of the City
Written by Harlan Ellison — Hard Case Crime is back on the re-issue beat, this time with Ellison’s debut, written whilst he finished his Army training and first published in 1958. To add value, the publisher has given the book another great cover by Glen…
Smile of the Viper
Written by Harry Dunn — Take one downbeat gumshoe, add a beautiful damsel in distress and all you need is a bad impression of Humphrey Bogart to create the recipe for a cliched fictional view of the life of a private detective. Thankfully, Harry Dunn…
Swear Down
Written by Russ Litten — Swear Down is the difficult second novel for Hull-based author and scriptwriter Russ Litten. His first was Scream If You Want To Go Faster, which poignantly studied a series of different characters attending the last day of the Hull Fair, Europe’s…
Photographic evidence: Cold Killing
Regular readers of Crime Fiction Lover will know that we like it when book publishers go that extra mile – for instance with a really well-designed cover, or a nice slipcase for a neatly printed book. This week, their PR machines have been a little…
The Killing Pool
Written by Kevin Sampson — Welcome to The Killing Pool, a book that’s so dark you may well need a torch to read it. Set in the mean streets of Liverpool, it features the lowest of lowlifes – and I don’t just mean the criminals. Liverpool…
Chamber Music
Written by Tom Benn — Chamber Music is the second gritty thriller to feature Tom Benn’s protagonist Henry Bane. The first was the The Doll Princess. I didn’t get a chance to read it, but it generated a buzz and was nominated for the Dylan…