On the Radar — This week we start in Brighton with Peter James and his 11th Roy Grace novel, You Are Dead. Then, it’s an intercontinental flight all the way to Tasmania for a cosy mystery. In addition, we have a handful of books from the UK, a handful more by American authors, and a devilish cosy set in Tasmania. Enjoy…
You Are Dead by Peter James
The ever-popular Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is back for his 11th outing. Once again, we are at the seaside, but Peter James conjures up a Brighton that is seldom welcoming, usually edgy, and far from cosy. The action kicks off with a chilling set piece – a man listens on the phone to his lady being attacked. The ensuing deathly silence kicks off a particularly nasty case for the Brighton copper. Does the discovery of a body, dead for three decades, link to recent killings? Has the outwardly genteel South Coast resort been harbouring a serial killer for 30 years? You’ll find the answers from 21 May. We have reviewed the previous novel in the series, Dead Man’s Time.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Murder Down Under by KJ Emrick
Darcy Sweet appears here for the 17th time and has just married Jon, the love of her life. They are honeymooning in a Tasmanian tourist lodge where nothing untoward ever happens – unless you count the three mysterious deaths which the local police attribute to unfortunate coincidence. Darcy and John know better, of course, and soon they are up to their eyes in the search to find which of their fellow guests is the killer in this cosy crime fiction novel. Available on 20 May.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Mourner by Susan Wilkins
This promises to be a big and bruising story about an art student who wants to start afresh, away from the criminal family she was born into. Her violent hoodlum brother is languishing in jail plotting revenge on her for testifying against him. Add a dash of lesbian love, a police officer forced to resume her career in private security and a looming parliamentary scandal, and we have a bristling follow-up to Susan Wilkins’ previous novel, The Informant (2014). The author is an established scriptwriter who has worked on programmes such as Casualty, Heartbeat, Coronation Street and Eastenders. Her latest book is published on 21 May.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Lake House by Helen Phifer
This week’s supernatural touch is provided by Helen Phifer and her fourth novel featuring Annie Graham, a the police officer with psychic gifts. Annie has put past traumas behind her, and is now happily married to a fellow copper. Things take a downward turn when she is first responder to a call from an elderly woman who is convinced that some nameless terror is lurking in her cellar. Does she have dementia, or is there really something terrible beneath Martha Beckett’s feet? Available on 22 May.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Disintegration by Richard Thomas
Yellow and black spells danger, so be wary dear reader. The cover of Disintegration signals a dark and disturbing novel shot through with violence, mental instability, breaks in reality, and tragedy. Set in Chicago’s mean streets, the story is told by a man fighting off a descent into paranoia as he remembers his lost family. He only ventures into the real world to execute evil-doers, according to instructions slipped under his door. It’s crime fiction with more than a dash of nihilist noir, and arrives for Kindle on 26 May.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Only the Brave by Mel Sherratt
DS Allie Shenton first hit the shelves in Mel Sherratt‘s remarkable debut crime novel, Taunting The Dead, and here she is knee deep in a war between two crime organisations. The book plays out almost in real time, with a growing body count. Things become complex for Shenton when she is targeted by the man who attacked her sister years earlier, and left a woman permanently damaged even after the physical scars had healed. Mel Sheratt is a reformed chic-lit author and we interviewed her here. Only the Brave is out on 26 May.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Killer Plan by Leigh Russell
You can read our review of the last Geraldine Steel novel, Stop Dead, here. When the widow of a man who is brutally beaten to death clearly knows the identity of the murderer, but is too scared to reveal it, Steel is faced with the toughest case of her career. The killer strikes again, and the troubled London cop faces a potentially career-ending choice. When a 10-year-old boy disappears – presumed abducted – events spiral out of control for both the hunters and the hunted. The series has been optioned for TV and the latest is out now.
Buy now on Amazon
Fourth to Run by Carys Jones
This is the latest episode in the series which has set former big time Chicago lawyer Aiden Connolly in the distinctly unfriendly environment of Avalon, a small town somewhere in the Deep South. Now in a relationship with the woman he saved from the death penalty in an earlier book, Connolly investigates the mysterious death of an old friend, and his search for the truth leads him into the bloody hands of a Mexican drug cartel. We reviewed the first book in the series under its original name Not All Stars Sparkle. Fourth to Run is out on 15 May.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Click here to see last week’s new releases.
