Wolves in the Dark
Written by Gunnar Staalesen — A knock comes in the night and a hungover Varg Veum answers the door. Police detective Hamre has come, this time not for help, but rather with a warrant for Veum’s arrest. Both men are fast closing in on retirement age,…
Deep Down Dead by Steph Broardribb
The action thriller never seems to go out of fashion, and fans of writers like Lee Child and David Baldacci seem to welcome each new release with relish. From John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps through Geoffrey Household’s Rogue Male and on to Child’s Reacher series, books…
The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson
Translated by Neil Smith — As retired detective Lars Martin Johansson, a living legend in the Swedish National Police Force, approaches his favourite hot dog kiosk in Stockholm, he hasn’t a care in the world except to savour his favorite lunch ritual. Will it be…
Unquiet Souls by Liz Mistry
When the body of prostitute Sharon Asif is found in the snow dappled graveyard of a Bradford churchyard, DS Alice Cooper unwittingly opens a can of grisly worms. In the locked loft of the dead woman’s house are 20 children, two of them dead. It transpires…
When the Music's Over
Written by Peter Robinson — Newly promoted Detective Superintendent Alan Banks is given a high profile case to lead here in the 23rd novel in Peter Robinson’s impressive series. Former TV personality Danny Caxton is being investigated for the rape of a teenager in 1967 in…
The Crow Girl
Written by a pair of Swedes using the pseudonym Erik Axl Sund, The Crow Girl is the next big thing in Scandinavian crime fiction. Vast, dark, atmospheric and tackling all manner of big themes, it actually collects together three separately published novels in one fabulous…
Angel by Anita Waller
A good measure of how much a book affects you is how much of it stays with you months, or years, later. Anita Waller’s debut Beautiful, which I reviewed here for New Talent November last year, is full of the kind of scenes that you…