Sunday 29 December 2019

Books to Look Forward to From Pushkin Press (Vertigo)

February 2020
In 1940s Japan, the wealthy head of the Inugami Clan dies, and his family eagerly await the reading of the will. But no sooner are its strange details revealed than a series of bizarre, gruesome murders begins. Detective Kindaichi must unravel the clan's terrible secrets of forbidden liaisons, monstrous cruelty, and hidden identities to find the murderer, and lift the curse wreaking its bloody revenge on the Inugamis. The Inugami Curse is by Seishi Yokomizo and is a fiendish, intricately plotted classic mystery from a giant of Japanese crime writing, starring the legendary detective Kosuke Kindaichi.

March 2020
Darkness for Light is by Emma Viskic.  After a lifetime of bad decisions PI Caleb Zelic is finally making some good ones. He's in therapy, his business is recovering and his relationship with his estranged wife Kat is on the mend. But soon Caleb is drawn into the tangled life of his troubled ex partner Frankie, which leads to a confrontation with the cops. And when Frankie's niece is kidnapped, she and Caleb must work together to save the child's life. But can Caleb trust her after her past betrayals?

May 2020
In the small town of Crozon, Brittany, a library houses the faded dreams of aspiring writers – manuscripts that were rejected for publication. Visiting while on holiday, successful young editor Delphine Despero is thrilled to discover a novel so powerful she feels compelled to bring the manuscript back to Paris to have it published.   The book is a sensation, prompting fevered interest in the identity of its author – appar- ently one Henri Pick, a now-deceased pizza chef from Crozon. Sceptics begin to cry that the whole thing is a hoax. How could this man have written such a masterpiece? Jean-Michel Rouche, an obstinate journalist, heads to Crozon to investigate. The Mystery of Henri Pick is by David Foenkinos 

Saturday 28 December 2019

Books to Look forward to from Sandstone Press

April 2020
The body of Paul Shore toppled onto him, a stream of blood pooling around them on the concrete. Bernard lay back and waited to see if he too was going to die.  An undercover agent gone rogue is threatening to shoot a civil servant a day. As panic reigns, the Health Enforcement Team race against time to track him down – before someone turns the gun on them.  Murder at the Music Factory is by Lesley Kelly. 

June 2020
Expiry Date is by Rachel Ward. Bea’s favourite customer, Julie, hasn’t been seen for weeks. Her abusive husband claims she left him – but when a corpse is found, it seems to confirm Bea’s worst fears. Then police announce that the body has been buried for fifteen years.  Who is the dead girl? What was her connection to Bea’s late father? And what on earth has happened to Julie?

Friday 27 December 2019

Books to Look Forward to from Titan Books Incl (Hard Case Crime)

January 2020
The Manifestation of Sherlock Holmes is by James Lovegrove. Tales of treachery, intrigue and evil… Maverick detective Sherlock Holmes and his faithful chronicler Dr John Watson return in twelve thrilling short stories.  The iconic duo find themselves swiftly drawn into a series of puzzling and sinister events: an otherworldly stone whose touch inflicts fatal bleeding; a hellish potion unlocks a person’s devilish psyche; Holmes’s most hated rival detective tells his story; a fiendishly clever, almost undetectable method of revenge; Watson finally has his chance to shine; and many more – including a brand-new Cthulhu Casebooks story.

February 2020
What’s hidden behind the silver screen? In New York City, a movie critic has just murdered his girlfriend – well, one of his girlfriends (not to be confused with his wife). Will the unlikely crime-solving partnership he forms with the investigating police detective keep him from the film noir ending he deserves?  On the opposite coast, movie star Dawn Devayne – the hottest It Girl in Hollywood – gets a visit from a Navy sailor who says he knew her when she was just ordinary Estelle Anlic of San Diego. Now she’s a big star who’s put her past behind her. But secrets have a way of not staying buried…  Double Feature is by Donald Westlake.

The Big Bang is by Micky Spillane and Max Allan Collins.  It’s the middle of the Swinging Sixties in midtown Manhattan. Hammer, recuperating from a near fatal mix-up with the Mob, disturbs some drug dealers assaulting a young motorbike messenger who was transporting medicine for a hospital. He saves the kid but the muggers are not so lucky. The Mob and a new young breed of drug trafficker assume he will target them, and they target him right back, with a street-corner knife attack. Hammer and his beautiful, deadly partner Velda take on the drug racket in New York. In a world of flashy discos, swanky bachelor pads and the occasional dark alley, Hammer deals with doctors, drug addicts and hit men, and meets changing times with his trademark brand of violent vengeance.

The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Martian Menace.  A new addition to the Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series from science fiction and crime author Eric Brown. A deadly plot. For the second time in human history, Martian invaders occupy planet Earth. After a common terrestrial virus thwarted the first deadly invasion, another Martian armada arrived six years later to make peace. Now, mankind enjoys unprecedented prosperity due to the aliens' scientific wonders and technology, and an entente exists between the two races. But when Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are called upon to investigate the death of an eminent Martian philosopher, they unravel an intricate web of betrayal and murder that leaves no one - human or Martian - beyond suspicion...

Mike Hammer, the iconic PI created by hard-boiled crime master Mickey Spillane and written by New York Times bestseller Max Allan Collins, returns in Masquerade for Murder. Hammer is at a high society party when a wealthy and well-respected man, Colby, is hit by a car and badly injured. When all he expected was a night on the town, Mike is hired to find out who was driving the car. His search leads him on a trail of murders, the victims often exhibiting the same kind of strangulation as the cause of death. How are they connected to an accident involving Corby, and why is the man himself acting so strangely?


FBI agent Reed Markham is haunted by one painful unsolved mystery: who murdered his mother? Camilla was brutally stabbed to death more than forty years ago while baby Reed lay in his crib mere steps away. But a shattering family secret changes everything Reed knows about his origins, his murdered mother, and his powerful adoptive father, state senator Angus Markham. Now Reed has to wonder if his mother’s killer is uncomfortably close to home.  Reed enlists his friend, suspended cop Ellery Hathaway, to join his quest in Vegas. Ellery has experience with both troubled families and diabolical murderers, having narrowly escaped from each of them.   Far from home and relying only on each other, Reed and Ellery discover young Camilla had snared the attention of dangerous men, any of whom might have wanted to shut her up for good. They start tracing his twisted family history, knowing the path leads back to a vicious killer―one who has been hiding in plain sight for forty years and isn’t about to give up now.  All The Best Lies is by Joanna Schaffhausen



March 2020
Are Snakes Necessary is by Brian de Palma and Susan Leham.  When the beautiful young videographer offered to join his campaign, Senator Lee Rogers should've known better. But saying no would have taken a stronger man than Rogers, with his ailing wife and his robust libido. Enter Barton Brock, the senator's fixer. He's already gotten rid of one troublesome young woman -- how hard could this new one turn out to be? Pursued from Washington D.C. to the streets of Paris, 18-year-old Fanny Cours knows her reputation and budding career are on the line. But what she doesn't realize is that her life might be as well...

April 2020
Sherlock Holmes acquires a new client when a beautiful young woman, Isabel Stone, faints on the steps of his Baker Street rooms. She has come to beg his assistance in reclaiming some priceless jewels kept from her by her tyrannical stepfather, Captain Grimbold Pratt. But shortly after agreeing to take her case, Captain Pratt comes to Baker Street, not quite so tyrannical as Isabel would have them believe. Holmes and his cousin, Dr Henry Vernier, must unravel a tense family mystery dating back to the Indian Mutiny, where neither of them is sure who to believe... The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Venerable Tiger is by Sam Siciliano

July 2020
She Lies Close is by Sharon Doering.  Five-year-old Ava Boone has been missing for six months. There are have been no leads, no arrests, no witnesses. The only suspect was quiet, middle-aged Leland Ernest.  And Grace Wright has just bought the house next door. Recently divorced, Grace uprooted her two small children to start again and hopes the move will reset her crippling insomnia. But now she understands bargain-price for her beautiful new house.  With whispered neighbourhood gossip and increasingly sleepless nights, Grace develops a fierce obsession with Leland and the safety of her children. Could she really be living next door to a child-kidnapper? A murderer?  With reality and dream blurring more each day, Grace desperately pursues the truth – following Ava’s family, demanding answers from the police – and then a body is discovered…

You Again is by Debra Jo Immergut.  Abigail Willard first spots her from the back of a New York cab: the spitting image of Abby herself at age 22 – right down to the silver platforms and raspberry coat she wore as a young artist with a taste for wildness. But the real Abby is now 46, married with a corporate job and two kids. As the girl vanishes into a rainy night, Abby is left shaken. Was this merely a hallucinatory side-effect of working-mom stress? A message of sorts, sent to remind her of passions and dreams tossed aside? Or something more dangerous?  As weeks go by, Abby continues to spot her double around her old New York haunts—and soon, despite her better instincts, Abby finds herself tailing her lookalike. She is dogged by a nagging suspicion that there is a deeper mystery to figure out, one rooted far in her past. All the while, Abby’s life starts to slip from her control: her marriage hits major turbulence, her teenage son drifts into a radical movement that portends a dark coming era. When her elusive double presents her with a dangerous proposition, Abby must decide how much she values the life she’s built, and how deeply she knows herself.


Thursday 26 December 2019

Books to Look Forward to From Atlantic Books and Corvus Books

January 2020
Kim Byeongsu is losing his mind. Quite literally. He keeps forgetting the little things in life, like basic words, whether or not he has a dog, the last time he killed someone... In his prime, Byeongsu was one of the best murderers around, spending years obsessively trying to perfect his technique, only killing in the pursuit of artistry. And then he gave it all up to be a dedicated father to his adopted-daughter, Eunhui. Now though, suffering from the onset of dementia, he decides to come out of retirement one last time and for one final target: his daughter's boyfriend, who he believes is a serial killer just like him. After all, it takes a one to know one.  In other dark and glittering tales, an affair between two childhood friends questions the limits of loyalty and love; a family disintegrates after a baby son is kidnapped and recovered years later; and a wild, erotic pursuit of creativity might just come at the expense of all sanity.  Diary of a Murderer is by Kim Young-Ha

 Keep Your Eyes on Me is by Sam Blake.  You won't be able to look away.  When Vittoria Devine and Lily Power find themselves sitting next to each other on a flight to New York, they discover they both have men in their lives whose impact has been devastating. Lily's family life is in turmoil, her brother left on the brink of ruin by a con man. Vittoria's philandering husband's latest mistress is pregnant. By the time they land, Vittoria and Lily have realised that they can help each other right the balance. But only one of them knows the real story...

February 2020
Power. Jealousy. Desire.  Twenty-five years ago, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl and her charismatic teacher disappeared without trace...  When Louisa arrives at Temple House, an elite catholic boarding school, she quickly finds herself drawn to sophisticated fellow pupil Victoria and their young bohemian art teacher, Mr Lavelle. The three of them form a bond that seems to offer an escape from the repressive regime of the nuns who run the cloistered school. Until Louisa and Mr Lavelle suddenly vanish. Years later, a journalist with a childhood connection to Louisa determines to resolve the mystery. Her search for the truth will uncover a tragic, mercurial tale of suppressed desire and long-buried secrets. It will shatter lives and lay a lost soul to rest.   The Temple House Vanishing is by Rachel Donohue.


Takes One to Know One is by Susan Isaacs.  Just a few years ago, Corie Geller was busting terrorists as an agent for the FBI. But at thirty-five, she traded in her badge for the stability of marriage and motherhood. Between cooking meals and playing chauffeur, Corie scouts Arabic fiction for a few literary agencies and, on Wednesdays, has lunch with her fellow Shorehaven freelancers at a so-so French restaurant. Life is, as they say, fine. But at her weekly lunches, Corie senses that something's off. Pete Delaney, a seemingly bland package designer, always shows up early, sits in the same spot (often with a different phone in hand) and keeps one eye glued to his car. Corie intuitively feels that Pete is hiding something - and as someone who is accustomed to keeping her FBI past from her new neighbours, she should know. But does Pete really have a shady alternate life, or is Corie just desperate to add some spark to her humdrum suburban existence? She decides that the only way to find out is to dust off her FBI toolkit and take a deep dive into Pete Delaney's affairs..

April 2020
The Saracen’s Mark is by S W Perry.  London, 1593. Five years on from the Armada and England is taking its first faltering steps towards a future as a global power. Nicholas Shelby - reluctant spy and maverick physician - and his companion Bianca Merton are settling into a life on Bankside. But, in London there is always a plot afoot...   Robert Cecil, the Queen's spymaster, once again recruits Nicholas to undertake a dangerous undercover mission that will take him to the back alleys of Marrakech in search of a missing informer. However, while Nicholas hunts for the truth across the seas, plague returns once more to London - ravaging the streets and threatening those dearest to him. Can Bianca and Nicholas' budding relationship weather the threats of pestilence and conspiracy? And will Nicholas survive his mission and the unpredictability of Marrakesh to return home?

It's London, the swinging sixties, and by rights MI6 spy Joe Wilderness should be having as good a time as James Bond. But alas, in the wake of an embarrassing disaster for MI6, Wilderness has been posted to remote northern Finland in a cultural exchange program to promote Britain abroad. Bored by his work, with nothing to spy on, Wilderness finds another way to make money: smuggling vodka across the border into the USSR. He strikes a deal with old KGB pal Kostya, who explains to him there is a vodka shortage in the Soviet Union - but there is something fishy about Kostya's sudden appearance in Finland and intelligence from London points to a connection to cobalt mining in the region, a critical component in the casing of the atomic bomb. Wilderness's posting is getting more interesting by the minute, but more dangerous too.  Moving from the no-man's-land of Cold War Finland to the wild days of the Prague Spring, and populated by old friends (including Inspector Troy) and old enemies alike, Hammer to Fall is by John Lawton and is a gripping tale of deception and skulduggery, of art and politics, a page-turning story of the always riveting life of the British spy.

Tuesday 24 December 2019

Books to Look Forward to From Little Brown Publishing (Incl Constable & Robinson, Sphere & Piaktus)

January 2020
The Woods is by Vanessa Savage.  Two girls went down to the woods but only one came back.  There's a lot from Tess's childhood that she would rather forget. The family who moved next door and brought chaos to their quiet lives. The two local girls who were murdered, their killer never found. In fact, the only thing she can't remember is the one thing she wishes she could.  Ten years ago, Tess's older sister died. Ruled a tragic accident, the only witness was Tess herself, but she has never been able to remember what happened that night in the woods.  Now living in London, Tess has resolved to put the trauma behind her. But when an emergency call from her father forces her back to the family home, Tess discovers that, sometimes, the past cannot be laid to rest .

February 2020
Abducted at thirteen.  Returned at twenty-eight.  Is it time to go back into the labyrinth?  A young woman named Samantha Andretti wakes up in a hospital bed.  Samantha was abducted when she was thirteen.  She was kept prisoner for fifteen years.  The man by her side, Dr. Green, believes that Samantha's memories contain the clues that will lead to the capture of her abductor. But why does she keep referring to a labyrinth? Outside the hospital, private investigator Bruno Genko does not have long to live. Bruno was assigned to Samantha's case many years ago, and now it is his chance to make amends.  Can Samantha be persuaded to go back into the labyrinth? And how did the man its the centre vanish so quickly?  Into the Labyrinth is by Donato Carrisi.

Pretty Guilty Women is by Gina Lamanna.  At the famously luxurious Serenity Spa & Resort on the Californian coast, guests arrive ready to celebrate what is set to be the wedding of the year.  Ginger is an overworked, under-pampered mother of three who's barely holding the family together when she learns a secret about her daughter that could ruin everything.   Lulu is a wealthy retiree with four ex-husbands, and a fifth on the way.  Emily harbours a dark secret, which she's become expert at forgetting with the help of a bottle of wine.  Kate is a powerhouse lawyer with her life in order - except for one little problem that won't go away.  Only twenty-four hours later a man is found murdered.  All Detective Ramone knows for certain is that these four women sit calmly across from him, offering four very different confessions, each insisting they acted alone. 

'Doctor Kent Abner began the day of his death comfortable and content'.  When Kent Abner - baby doctor, model husband and father, good neighbour - is found dead in his town house in the West Village, Detective Eve Dallas and her team have a real mystery on their hands. Who would want to kill such a good man? They know how, where and when he was killed but why did someone want him dead?   Then a second victim is discovered and as Spring arrives in New York City, Eve finds herself in a race against time to track down a serial killer with a motive she can't fathom and a weapon of choice which could wipe out half of Manhattan. Golden In Death is by J D Robb.

The dead don't always rest in peace . . .  On a stormy night in December, a tree is blown down on an isolated Devon farm. And when the fallen tree is dragged away a rucksack is found caught amongst the roots - and next to it is a human skeleton. And when the fallen tree is dragged away a rucksack is found caught amongst the roots - and next to it is a human skeleton.   The discovery of the body and the rucksack revives memories for DI Wesley Peterson. A young hitchhiker who went missing twelve years ago was last seen carrying a similar backpack. Suddenly a half-forgotten cold case has turned into a murder investigation.  Meanwhile, in the nearby village of Petherham, a famous TV psychic is found dead in suspicious circumstances whilst staying at a local guesthouse. Wesley's friend, archaeologist Neil Watson, is studying Petherham's ancient mill and uncovering the village's sinister history. Could the string of mysterious deaths in Petherham over a hundred years ago be connected to the recent killings?   As Wesley digs deeper into the case, it seems that the dark whisperings of a Burial Circle in the village might not be merely legend after all . . .  The Burial Circle is by Kate Ellis.

In The Crypt with a Candlestick is by Daisy Waugh.  Sir Ecgbert Tode of Tode Hall has survived to a grand old age - much to the despair of his younger wife, Emma. But at ninety-three he has, at last, shuffled off the mortal coil.  Emma, Lady Tode, thoroughly fed up with being a dutiful Lady of the Manor, wants to leave the country to spend her remaining years in Capri. Unfortunately her three tiresome children are either unwilling or unable (too mad, too lefty or too happy in Australia) to take on management of their large and important home, so the mantle passes to a distant relative and his glamorous wife.  Not long after the new owners take over, Lady Tode is found dead in the mausoleum. Accident? Or is there more going on behind the scenes of Tode Hall than an outsider would ever guess....?

Into The Valley is by James Craig.  To everyone's surprise, John Carlyle has been promoted to Commander. The new job comes with its own office, a PA, and a diary filled with meetings. Struggling to come to terms with the his new responsibilities, Carlyle finds his position threatened by investigative journalist Bernie Gilmore. Gilmore is digging into Carlyle's relationship with ex-drug dealer Dominic Silver and the pair's involvement in the killing of gangster Tuco Martinez. Carlyle hopes he can put Bernie off the scent but Dom favours more drastic measures. Meanwhile, Carlyle's new boss, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Michelle Mara, wants him to help out mysterious 'security consultant' Gregory Cosneau. Pining for his old job, Carlyle has to try and keep everyone happy, or face losing everything.

March 2020
Forced Confession is by John Fairfax.  William Benson.  Criminal barrister.  Convicted murderer....  Convicted of murder sixteen years ago, William Benson is ostracised by the establishment and his family. Supported by a close-knit group including solicitor Tess de Vere, he's defied them all and opened his own Chambers. Now he faces the case of his life - and the terminal illness of Helen Camberley who helped him leave his prison life behind   Jorge Menderez, a doctor from Spain, has been found dead in a deserted warehouse in East London. A troubled man, he'd turned to counsellor Karen Lynwood seeking help. Now Karen's husband, John, is accused of his murder. Who is Menderez, and why did he come to London? Benson is defending the couple against seemingly impossible odds, while secrets from his own past threaten to overwhelm him.

This day never happened.  You hear me?  By a frozen lake, ten-year-old Jesse waits for his father.  It's New Year's Day, and his dad promised a fresh start.  But Jesse messed it all up.   And that's when he meets the woman.  In the months ahead, the woman's sudden disappearance sets off a chain of events in Whale Bay, spanning out like fracture lines into the lives of her husband, the detective trying to solve her case, and of Jesse and his family - a young boy cracking like ice under the weight of a terrible secret. How A Woman Becomes a Lake is by Marjorie Celona and is a  chilling literary mystery that asks what happens when we are failed by the ones we love.

Grace is Gone is by Emily Elgar.  Meg and her daughter Grace are the most beloved family in Ashford, the lynchpin that holds the community together. So when Meg is found brutally murdered and her daughter missing, the town is rocked by the crime. Not least because Grace has been sick for years - and may only have days to live.  Who would murder a mother who sacrificed everything, and take a teenager away from the medication that could save her life? Everyone is searching for an answer, but sometimes the truth can kill you . . .

Black Rain Falling is by Jacob Ross.  On the Caribbean island of Camaho, forensics expert Michael 'Digger' Digson is in deep trouble.  His fellow CID detective Miss Stanislaus kills a man in self-defence - their superiors believe it was murder, and Digger given just six weeks to prove his friend is innocent.  While the authorities bear down on them, Digger and Miss Stanislaus investigate a shocking roadside murder, the first tremors of a storm of crime and corruption that will break over Camaho at any moment.

Victorian London, 1882. Five years ago, crusading lawyer Cage Lackmann successfully defended Moses Pickering against a charge of murder. Now, a body is found bearing all the disturbing hallmarks of that victim - and Pickering is missing. Did Cage free a brutal murderer?  Cage's reputation is in tatters, and worse, he is implicated in this new murder by the bitter detective who led the first failed case. Left with no other alternative, Cage must find Pickering to prove his innocence.   His increasingly desperate search takes him back to the past, to a woman he never thought to see again, and down into a warren of lies and betrayals concealed beneath Holland Park mansions and the mean streets of Whitechapel - where a murderer, heartbreak and revenge lie in wait.  The Graves of Whitechapel is by Claire Evans.

When Shadows Fall is by Alex Gray.  When his old friend and former colleague is shot dead at his home, Detective Superintendent William Lorimer is devastated. And his problems are only just beginning. It's not long before two further deaths are reported: both victims ex-policemen.   It's clear this is a targeted campaign against their own, yet with no other link between the victims to identify the killer, Lorimer's police team are starting to panic. Who will be next?  Lorimer knows he must keep his cool if he is to solve the case. But with time running out before the next attack, he's struggling to ignore the sickening question at the back of his mind:  Will he get to the killer, before the killer gets to him?

Liberation is by Imogen Kealey and is inspired by the true story of Nancy Wake, whose
husband was kidnapped by the Nazis and became the most decorated servicewoman of the Second World War.  To the Allies she was a fearless freedom fighter, special operations super spy, a woman ahead of her time. To the Gestapo she was a ghost, a shadow, the most wanted person in the world with a five-million Franc bounty on her head.   Her name was Nancy Wake.  Now, for the first time, the roots of her legend are told told in a thriller about one woman's incredible quest to save the man she loves, turn the tide of the war, and take brutal revenge on those who have wronged her

Who do you turn to, when everyone's a stranger and you stop believing what your own eyes see?  Finnie Doyle and Paddy Lamb are leaving city life in Edinburgh behind them and moving to the little town of Simmerton. Paddy has landed a partnership in a local solicitors and Finnie's snagged a job as a church deacon. Their rented cottage is quaint; their new colleagues are charming, and they can't believe their luck.But witnessing the bloody aftermath of a brutal murder changes everything. They've each been keeping secrets about their pasts. And they both know their precious new start won't survive a scandal. Together, for the best of reasons, they make the worst decision of their lives.  And that's only the beginning. The deep, deep valley where Simmerton sits is unlike anywhere Finn and Paddy have been before. They are not the only ones hiding in its shadow and very soon they've lost control of the game they decided to play...  Strangers at the Castle is by Catriona McPherson.

The Pottery Cottage Murders is by Carol Ann Lee and Peter Howse.  For three days Billy Hughes played psychological games with Gill Moran and her family, while secretly murdering them one by one. Blizzards hampered the police manhunt, but they learned where the dangerous criminal was hiding and closed in on the cottage. A desperate car chase ensued, ending with a shoot-out and the killer's death. There was just one survivor.   The plot for a great crime novel? No, it all actually happened in January 1977.  The Pottery Cottage Murders is a gripping, fast-paced account of a criminal case that reads like fiction but is terrifyingly true. What took place at a family home on the Derbyshire moors in 1977 made the name Pottery Cottage synonymous with horror: an address briefly as infamous as 112 Ocean Avenue in the US town of Amityville, where a young man had murdered his entire family three years earlier, and the home of married killers Fred and Rosemary West on Cromwell Street in Gloucester.   Afterwards, the determination of sole survivor Gill Moran to prevent any written or dramatic accounts of the case saw 'Pottery Cottage' largely vanish from public consciousness, yet those events changed British history. Now in her eighties, Gill has finally given permission for her story to be told - by the former Chief Inspector who saved her life over forty years before.

April 2020
In the second instalment in the Detective Varg Novels, Ulf and his team investigate a
notorious lothario - a wolf of a man whose bad reputation may, much to his chagrin, be all bark and no bite.  The Department of Sensitive Crimes, renowned for taking on the most obscure and irrelevant cases, led by Ulf Varg, their best detective, is always prepared to take on an investigation, no matter how complex. So when Ulf is approached by the girlfriend of Trig Oloffson, who claims her beau (the infamous bad boy of Swedish letters) is being blackmailed, Ulf is determined to help. The case requires all of Ulf's concentration, but he finds himself distracted by his brother's questionable politics and meteoric rise within the Moderate Extremist Party and by his own constant attraction to his married co-worker Anna. When Ulf is then tasked with looking into a group of dealers exporting wolves that seem decidedly domestic, it will require all of his team's investigative instincts and dogged persistence to put these matters to bed.  The Talented Mr Varg is by Alexander McCall Smith.

Seven Lies is by Elizabeth Kay.  It all started with one little lie . . .  Jane and Marnie have been inseparable since they were eleven years old. They have a lot in common. In their early twenties they both fell in love and married handsome young men.   But Jane never liked Marnie's husband. He was always so loud and obnoxious, so much larger than life. Which is rather ironic now, of course.  Because if Jane had been honest - if she hadn't lied - then perhaps her best friend's husband might still be alive . . .This is Jane's opportunity to tell the truth, the question is:  Do you believe her?

Venetian Gothic is by Philip Gwynne Jones.  It is November 2nd, 2017. All Souls Day. On the Day of the Dead, the citizens of Venice make their way to the cemetery island of San Michele to pay their respects to the departed. When an empty coffin is unearthed in the English section of the graveyard, a day of quiet reflection for Nathan Sutherland becomes a journey into the dark past of a noble Venetian family.  A British journalist, investigating the events of forty years previously, disappears. A young tourist - with an unhealthy interest in Venice's abandoned islands- is found drowned in the icy lagoon.  A terrible secret is about to be brought to light, and a deadly reckoning awaits on Venice's Isle of the Dead

May 2020
Signs of Murder is by David Wilson.  Criminologist David Wilson returns to his home town of Carluke in Lanarkshire, to revisit a story of an unsolved murder that continues to haunt its past. It's a story that anyone growing up there had embedded in their DNA.  Officially though, this isn't an 'unsolved murder'. A suspect was found guilty by a jury of his peers and so, as far as anyone official is concerned, this murder has been 'solved'. The 'murderer' has even now done his time, and been released from prison.  But Carluke has always known that a young man was wrongly convicted. This book is a search for the truth.

When Ethan Flynn, charismatic vocalist of supergroup Stigma, is electrocuted by his own guitar in front of 175,000 witnesses on the Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury Festival, suspicion falls on his tyrannical twin, Tyrone.  Leading the murder investigation is Buddhist detective, Vincent Caine, and his partner, DI Shanti Joyce. To Shanti's consternation the pair have become known as 'the go-to team for weird stuff in the West Country' and few crimes come weirder than this. Amidst the pulsating beats of the festival, the unlikely duo struggle to untangle the wildly conflicting statements of minders, lovers, drug-fuelled roadies, and dodgy divas.  Against the mystical backdrop of Glastonbury Tor and the tiny Somerset village of Kilton, the terrifying trail leads Shanti and Caine from clairvoyant Tarot readings to the cryptic lyrics of a lost song, cunningly concealed by the tragic superstar.  Can the unlikely mix of Shanti's down-to-earth pragmatism and Caine's intuitive sleuthing skills solve this most singular of murders? Is the future of the world's greatest festival in peril? And what happens when two consummate professionals are forced to share a tent in the steamy heat of summer?  Festival of Death is by Laurence Anholt.

After months trapped at sea with her now ex-husband, Mia Fallon is trying to re-build her life. The past few months she's thought only of revenge, but when the police arrive to tell her he's been murdered, she feels no relief.   As the investigation focuses on his new wife, Rachel, Mia becomes obsessed with what happened on the night of the murder. Because someone else knows the truth. And they know Mia wasn't where she says she was...  The One That Got Away is by Egan Hughes. 

June 2020
The Geometry of Holding Hands is by Alexander McCall Smith.  Isabel Dalhousie applies her moral philosopher's mind to wrongdoings in Edinburgh, and will have to call upon her powers of deduction and her unflappable moral code to unravel another mystery in this latest novel from his Isabel Dalhousie series.  In Edinburgh, rumours and gossip abound. But Isabel knows that such things can't be taken at face value. Still, the latest whispers hint at mysterious goings-on, and who but Isabel can be trusted to get to the bottom of them? At the same time, she must deal with the demands of her two small children, her husband and her rather tempestuous niece, Cat, whose latest romantic entanglement comes - to no one's surprise - with complications. Even with so much going on, Isabel, through the application of good sense, logic and ethics, will, as ever, triumph.

Trying - and failing - to keep his head down and to stay out of trouble, ex-con Zaq Khan agrees to help his best friend, Jags, recover a family heirloom, currently in the possession of a wealthy businessman. But when Zaq's brother is viciously assaulted, Zaq is left wondering whether someone from his own past is out to get revenge. Wanting answers and retribution, Zaq and Jags set out to track down those responsible. Meanwhile, their dealings with the businessman take a turn for the worse and Zaq and Jags find themselves suspected of murder.   It'll take both brains and brawn to get themselves out of trouble and, no matter what happens, the results will likely be deadly. The only question is, whether it will prove deadly for them, or for someone else . . . ? Stone Cold Trouble is by Amer Anwar.

The Curator is by M W Craven.  It's Christmas and a serial killer is leaving displayed body parts all over Cumbria. A strange message is left at each scene: #BSC6.  Called in to investigate, the National Crime Agency's Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are faced with a case that makes no sense. Why were some victims anaesthetized, while others died in appalling agony? Why is their only suspect denying what they can irrefutably prove but admitting to things they weren't even aware of? And why did the victims all take the same two weeks off work three years earlier?  And when a disgraced FBI agent gets in touch things take an even darker turn. Because she doesn't think Poe is dealing with a serial killer at all; she thinks he's dealing with someone far, far worse - a man who calls himself the Curator.  And nothing will ever be the same again . . .

Reykjavik detective Gunnhildur Gisladottir tries not to believe in ghosts. But when Helgi, one of her team is certain he's seen a man who had been declared dead more than fifteen years ago, she reluctantly gives him some unofficial leeway to look into it.  Has the not-so-dead man returned from the grave to settle old scores, or has he just decided to take a last look around his old haunts?  Either way, there are people who have nursed grudges for years, hoping for a reckoning one day. Even the rumour of his being alive and kicking is enough to spark a storm of fury and revenge, with Gunnhildur and Helgi caught up in the middle of it.  Cold Malice is by Quentin Bates.

The Mimosa Tree is by Ovidia Yu.  Mirza, a secretive neighbour of the Chens in Japanese Occupied Singapore, is a known collaborator and blackmailer. So when he is murdered in his garden, clutching a branch of mimosa, the suspects include local acquaintances, Japanese officials -- and his own daughters.  Su Lin's Uncle Chen is among those rounded up by the Japanese as reprisal. Hideki Tagawa, a former spy expelled by police officer Le Froy and a power in the new regime, offers Su Lin her uncle's life in exchange for using her fluency in languages and knowledge of locals to find the real killer.  Su Lin soon discovers Hideki has an ulterior motive. Friends, enemies and even the victim are not what they seem. There is more at stake here than one man's life. Su Lin must find out who killed Mirza and why, before Le Froy and other former colleagues detained or working with the resistance suffer the consequences of Mirza's last secret.

Scottish Highlands, 1958.  Britain is awash in Cold War anxiety as Mirabelle Bevan heads for the Highlands on a holiday to visit Superintendent Alan McGregor's family. More glamorous than she expected, the Robertsons welcome her with open arms and an array of cocktails, but she has scarcely arrived when the body of an American fashion buyer turns up brutally murdered, plunging the local village into disarray and sending shockwaves around the close, Highland community.   Mirabelle can't resist investigating, but what she finds lays the limitations of her feelings for McGregor bare and calls into question the loyalties of all those around her from the Robertson's housekeeper Mrs Gillies to the family of the dead woman. What started as a relaxing break in scenic surroundings soon spirals into a week fraught with danger. As the press descend on the Robertson's Highland estate, it rapidly becomes clear that things are not as black and white as they first appeared and Mirabelle can't count on anyone . . . Highland Fling is by Sara Sheridan.  

My favourite reads of 2019

So I finally managed to get round to drawing up my list of favourite reads for this year.  In no particular order they are as follows - 

Blood and Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan Macmillan) 
June, 1781. An unidentified body hangs upon a hook at Deptford Dock - horribly tortured and branded with a slaver's mark.  Some days later, Captain Harry Corsham - a war hero embarking upon a promising parliamentary career - is visited by the sister of an old friend. Her brother, passionate abolitionist Tad Archer, had been about to expose a secret that he believed could cause irreparable damage to the British slaving industry. He'd said people were trying to kill him, and now he is missing . . .  To discover what happened to Tad, Harry is forced to pick up the threads of his friend's investigation, delving into the heart of the conspiracy Tad had unearthed. His investigation will threaten his political prospects, his family's happiness, and force a reckoning with his past, risking the revelation of secrets that have the power to destroy him.  And that is only if he can survive the mortal dangers awaiting him in Deptford.

Heaven my Home by Attica Locke (Serpent’s Tail/Profile Books)
Nine-year-old Levi King knew he should have left for home sooner; instead he found himself all alone, adrift on the vastness of Caddo Lake. A sudden noise - and all goes dark.  Ranger Darren Matthews is trying to emerge from another kind of darkness; his career and reputation lie in the hands of his mother, who's never exactly had his best interests at heart. Now she holds the key to his freedom, and she's not above a little blackmail to press her advantage. An unlikely possibility of rescue arrives in the form of a case down Highway 59, in a small lakeside town.  With Texas already suffering a new wave of racial violence in the wake of the election of Donald Trump, a black man is a suspect in the possible murder of a missing white boy: the son of an Aryan Brotherhood captain. In deep country where the rule of law only goes so far, Darren has to battle centuries-old prejudices as he races to save not only Levi King, but himself.

Conviction by Denise Mina (Vintage)
Everyone loves a true-crime podcast... until they have a starring role. Conviction stars a strong female protagonist who is obsessed by true-crime podcasts and decides, one day, to investigate one of the unsolved crimes herself. It's just a normal morning for Anna McDonald.  Gym kits, packed lunches, getting everyone up and ready. Until she opens the front door to her best friend, Estelle. Anna turns to see her own husband at the top of the stairs, suitcase in hand. They're leaving together and they're taking Anna's two daughters with them. Left alone in the big, dark house, Anna can't think, she can't take it in. With her safe, predictable world shattered, she distracts herself with a story: a true-crime podcast. There's a sunken yacht in the Mediterranean, multiple murders and a hint of power and corruption. Then Anna realises she knew one of the victims in another life. She is convinced she knows what happened. Her past, so carefully hidden until now, will no longer stay silent. This is a murder she can't ignore, and she throws herself into investigating the case. But little does she know, her past and present lives are about to collide, sending everything she has worked so hard to achieve into free fall.

New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke (Orion)
Detective Dave Robicheaux first met Desmond Cormier on the backstreets of New Orleans. He was a young pretender who dreamt of stardom whilst Robicheaux had his path all figured out.   Now, twenty-five years later, their roles have reversed. When Robicheaux knocks on Cormier's door, he sees a successful Hollywood director.   It seems dreams can come true. But so can nightmares.  A young woman has been crucified, wearing only a small chain on her ankle, and all the evidence points to Cormier. Robicheaux wants to believe his old friend wouldn't be capable of such a crime - but Cormier's silence is deafening.  And he isn't the only ghost from Robicheaux's past which comes back to haunt him.

The Hooded Gunman: An Illustrated History of Collins Crime Club by John Curran (Harper Collins Publisher)
A lavish full-colour celebration of the 2000 books by more than 250 authors published by the iconic Crime Club between 1930 and 1994.  The Hooded Gunman was the sinister figure who, having appeared in various guises on the covers of Collins' various series of Mystery and Detective books in the 1920s, finally gained recognition with the launch of Collins' Crime Club, becoming the definitive imprint stamp on more than 2,000 books published by that august imprint between 1930 and 1994. From Agatha Christie to Reginald Hill, the Hooded Gunman was a guarantee of a first-class crime novel for almost 65 years, and those books are now as sought after and collectable and almost any other book series, with many commanding high prices and almost impossible to find.  In the year that Collins - the publisher founded by William Collins in Glasgow in 1819 - is enjoying its 200th birthday, this book celebrates probably its most famous publishing imprint. Written and researched by Agatha Christie writer, expert and archivist Dr John Curran, this sumptuous coffee table book looks back at the history of the Crime Club and its authors, showing the jackets of every book published by the imprint over seven decades, and the descriptive 'blurbs' of every book, running to more than 350,000 words.  With facts, figures and lists, and drawing on rare archival photos, correspondence and marketing materials, it is the first time that anyone has attempted to chronicle the publishing of the Crime Club - the ultimate book for fans of crime fiction and also of twentieth century book jacket design.

Out of the Dark by Gregg Hurwitz. (Penguin Books)
THE PRESIDENT - Leader of the free world, the most powerful man on earth, and the greatest threat to his country.   He's hiding something dark and sinister, and if the truth got out it would bury him. He will not let that happen. THE ASSASSIN - Codename: Orphan X. Evan Smoak was taken from his foster home and inducted into a top-secret Cold War programme. Trained to become a lethal weapon, he was forced to do whatever it takes to keep his country safe.   But then he discovered the mission was corrupt, and escaped. Now he helps those who can't help themselves.   THE RECKONING - Evan knows the President's secret. And that's very dangerous knowledge indeed. To save himself and his country, he must ask himself one simple question . . .  How do you kill the most well-protected man on earth?

Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippmann (Faber & Faber)
Cleo Sherwood disappeared eight months ago. Aside from her parents and the two sons she left behind, no one seems to have noticed. It isn't hard to understand why: it's 1964 and neither the police, the public nor the papers care much when Negro women go missing.  Maddie Schwartz - recently separated from her husband, working her first job as an assistant at the Baltimore Sun- wants one thing: a byline. When she hears about an unidentified body that's been pulled out of the fountain in Druid Hill Park, Maddie thinks she is about to uncover a story that will finally get her name in print. What she can't imagine is how much trouble she will cause by chasing a story that no-one wants her to tell.

A Book of Bones by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton)
He is our best hope.  He is our last hope.  On a lonely moor in the northeast of England, the body of a young woman is discovered near the site of a vanished church. In the south, a girl lies buried beneath a Saxon mound. To the southeast, the ruins of a priory hide a human skull.  Each is a sacrifice, a summons.  And something in the shadows has heard the call.  But another is coming: Parker the hunter, the avenger. Parker's mission takes him from Maine to the deserts of the Mexican border; from the canals of Amsterdam to the streets of London - he will track those who would cast this world into darkness.  Parker fears no evil.  But evil fears him . . .

The Whisper Man by Alex North (Penguin Books)
If you leave a door half-open, soon you'll hear the whispers spoken . . .   Still devastated after the loss of his wife, Tom Kennedy and his young son Jake move to the sleepy village of Featherbank, looking for a much-needed fresh start.  But Featherbank has a dark past. Fifteen years ago, a twisted serial killer abducted and murdered five young boys.  Until he was finally caught, the killer was known as 'The Whisper Man'.  Of course, an old crime need not trouble Tom and Jake as they try to settle in to their new home.  Except that now another boy has gone missing. And then Jake begins acting strangely.  He says he hears a whispering at his window . . .

The Mobster’s Lament by Ray Celestin (Pan Macmillan)
New York, 1947:  The city that never sleeps.   A killer who'll never stop.  The Mobster's Lament is both a gripping crime novel and a vivid, panoramic portrait of 1940s New York as the mob rises to the height of its powers… Fall, 1947.  Private Investigator Ida Davis has been called to New York by her old partner, Michael Talbot, to investigate a brutal killing spree in a Harlem flophouse that has left four people dead. But as they delve deeper into the case, Ida and Michael realize the murders are part of a larger conspiracy that stretches further than they ever could have imagined.  Meanwhile, Ida's childhood friend, Louis Armstrong, is at his lowest ebb. His big band is bankrupt, he's playing to empty venues, and he's in danger of becoming a has-been, until a promoter approaches him with a strange offer to reignite his career . . .  And across the city, nightclub manager and mob fixer Gabriel Leveson's plans to flee New York are upset when he's called in for a meeting with the `boss of all bosses', Frank Costello. Tasked with tracking down stolen mob money, Gabriel must embark on a journey through New York's seedy underbelly, forcing him to confront demons from his own past, all while the clock is ticking on his evermore precarious escape plans.  From its tenements to its luxury hotels, from its bebop clubs to the bustling wharves of the Brooklyn waterfront, Ray Celestin masterfully 

Crime Fiction: A Readers Guide by Barry Forshaw (Oldcastle Books)
There are few contemporary crime fiction guides that cover everything from the golden age to current bestselling writers from America, Britain and all across the world, but the award-winning Barry Forshaw, one of the UK’s leading experts in the field, has provided a truly comprehensive survey with definitive coverage in this expanded new edition of the much admired Rough Guide to Crime Fiction.  Every major writer is included, along with many other more esoteric choices. Focusing on a key book (or books) by each writer, and with essays on key crime genres. It is designed to be both a crime fan’s shopping list and a pithy, opinionated but unstuffy reference tool and history. Most judgements are generous (though not uncritical), and there is a host of entertaining, informed entries on related films and TV.

The King’s Evil by Andrew Taylor (Harper Collins)
A royal scandal that could change the face of England forever...  London 1667. In the Court of Charles II, it's a dangerous time to be alive - a wrong move could lead to disgrace, exile or death. The discovery of a murder at Clarendon House, the palatial home of one of the highest courtiers in the land, could have catastrophic consequences.  James Marwood, a traitor's son, is ordered to cover up the murder. But the dead man is Edward Alderley, the cousin of one of Marwood's acquaintances. Cat Lovett had every reason to want her cousin dead. Since his murder, she has vanished, and all the evidence points to her as the killer.  Marwood is determined to clear Cat's name and discover who really killed Alderley. But time is running out for everyone. If he makes a mistake, it could threaten not only the government but the King himself...

Honorary mentions go to 
The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem (Atlantic Books)
This Body’s not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero. (Titan Books)
The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell. (Little Brown)
Changeling by Matt Wesolowski (Orenda Books)
This is Gomorrah is by Tom Chatfield (Hodder & Stoughton)
Death in the East – Abir Mukherjee (Vintage)