Where did we find this amazing specimen? It was in a mystery package sent in to Crime Fiction Lover by The Folio Society. Let’s take a closer look…

Above, the box that arrived by courier. It’s so unassuming it makes the carpet look good!

Inside the box from The Folio Society, three tidy looking black gift boxes. The Folio Society specialises in creating high quality printings of classic books. Here’s a quote from the Society’s mission statement: “Our pleasure in reading is enhanced by the book itself, in which typography, illustration, paper, printing and binding all play a part in creating a harmonious whole. In a world of declining publishing standards, where most books are cheaply printed, and bound using low-grade materials, The Folio Society resolutely sets store by traditional values of excellence; for our designers and production personnel the term ‘quite good’ means ‘no good’: only the best is good enough.” That gets the thumbs up from Crime Fiction Lover.

Here’s a look inside one of the three boxes we were sent – a slipcase containing a gorgeous copy of The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain. It’s one of 14 crime releases by The Folio Society. Others include boxed sets of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley books, and The Dorothy L Sayers Mysteries collection, and a set by Agatha Christie. You can see all their crime thrillers here.

Above you can see The Postman Always Rings Twice with its cover illustration by Patrick Leger. It was released last year.

And here’s a look at Cover Her Face by Baroness PD James, with its cleverly designed cover by Jonathan Burton. Each book also has six or seven internal plates.

The image above is a look inside The Postman Always Rings Twice. A book like this sells for £22.95 to £28.95. Keep them in mind – they make great gifts for crime fiction lovers.

Finally, the above image shows all three books in all their glory. Would you like to own one of them? Then head over to our Facebook page where we’ll be giving them away in online draws. Good luck.

From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming
I still have my father’s collection of James Bond novels published by Pan Books late 1950s and 60s, which I saved from my mother’s frequent op shop culls. Published in 1957, From Russia With Love was the fifth Bond book but the first one I read. It involves a complex plot by Soviet counter intelligence, SMERSH, to kill Bond and discredit British intelligence, using a beautiful Russian cipher clerk and a secret decoding machine as bait. Lashings of action and intrigue, evocative settings such as Istanbul and the Orient Express, characters including the SMERSH executioner, Red Grant, and the diabolical Colonel Rosa Klebb all feature. I can still remember reading this in my late teens and my mind going whoooosh with the possibilities.
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The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
The Neon Rain was another of my father’s books. After 19 novels, I’m a bit over the character of Dave Robichaux. But that won’t stop me from recognising how incredibly influential the books were for me and countless other crime fiction lovers. The Neon Rain was the book that kicked off the series. Robichaux is an ex-alcoholic, ex-Vietnam vet, and a New Orleans cop. Here he tangles with an impressive list of psychopathic heavies in his battle to track down a young prostitute’s killers. It’s a terrific tale from a master of crime fiction narrative and place.
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The Dying Trade by Peter Corris
The private investigator was languishing in almost complete obscurity in Australian crime fiction before Peter Corris wrote The Dying Trade, the 1980 debut of the now legendary fictional Australian private investigator, Cliff Hardy. This was one of the first Australian crime novels I can remember reading. Hardy is hired by a shifty property developer to discover who’s behind harassing phone calls to the man’s sister. It’s a violent, hardboiled mystery, the apparent simplicity of the case inverse to the reality of what’s really occurring. Corris also infuses the text with a wonderful sense of class and geography in 80s Sydney.
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The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
“When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside Sonoma California, drinking the heart out of a fine spring afternoon.” I was hooked from the opening line of James Crumely’s The Last Good Kiss. CW Sughrue is a Montana investigator and part-time barman in a topless joint. He’s hired to track down a missing girl, a search that takes him deep into the heart of America’s post-Vietnam nightmare. This book blew me away when I first read it – the complexity of the story, the flawed and damaged nature of the characters, the way it wove counter-cultural themes and crime fiction together. It felt real and urgent. This is an author I wish had written a lot more.
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The Big Nowhere by James Ellroy
I’d never even heard of James Ellroy when I picked up a second hand copy of The Big Nowhere while backpacking in Guatemala in the mid-90s. I loved the dense, intersecting plotlines revolving around a series of gruesome murders and three desperate, ambitious men recruited to investigate Communist influence in early 50s Hollywood. This book blew a giant hole in what I thought crime fiction could be. It also introduced me to what remains one of the most terrifying and corrupt bad cop fictional characters I’ve read, Lieutenant Dudley Smith of the LAPD. “Knock knock, whose there? Dudley Smith so Reds beware.”
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Last week we included LoiteringWithIntent’s five books that got her into crime fiction. Click here to read that article. Tune in on Friday for the next episode…

This plot has been used many times, and had its heyday in the 1970s political conspiracy movies, when the Vietnam War and Watergate pushed Americans’ trust in government to all-time lows. David Darracott’s Internal Security continues in this frightening vein, though he draws on more recent events to present a solid, if far-fetched, thriller that once again has America on the brink of chaos.

The hero of Internal Security is Tom Darden, who reports for for a small radio news outlet when a bomb explodes at a hotel during Spring Break in Daytona Beach, Florida. While investigating the dubious details, Darden meets Linda Ramsey, a paramedic who helps him get information and falls quickly in love with his tenacious will. Darden’s editor, however, is less enamoured with the reporter’s stubbornness. Tom Darden is sent to Iraq to keep him from prying into the bombing in Daytona.

Try as he might, Darden’s editor can’t keep him from digging into such a wide-ranging conspiracy. The reporter discovers ongoing torture while in Iraq, and barely escapes torture himself through the intervention of the State Department. Darden escapes military sadism in Iraq, but comes home determined to prove that terrorism at home and torture abroad are linked.

While Tom Darden searches for answers, the conspiracy ramps up and gains momentum. Led by a power-hungry Washington official who is only ever referred to as ‘the War Hawk’ and who resembles former vice president Dick Cheney, the cabal plans to jail and torture all political opponents in the interest of security. Under the euphemistic banner of ‘taking the gloves off’, powerful politicians and financiers bankroll militia groups and plan to use them as footsoldiers once martial law is in place.

Nick Darden becomes a marked man when he begins to expose the plans of the War Hawk and his allies. Will Linda’s help be enough to keep him alive? As the War Hawk accelerates plans for a coup d’etat, Darden must survive right-wing paramilitaries, government assassins and torture at the hands of one of the plan’s architects.

Internal Security ultimately proves a mixed, though enjoyable, bag. Characters are not real, believable people as much as they are cutouts which reflect the author’s political views. It is not at all clear why most characters take the actions they do, or why some parts of the government line up behind the War Hawk when other parts actively oppose him. There is little personality or strategy to motivate characters’ actions. All we are left with is the impression that the characters who oppose the conspiracy are noble, while those who support it do so because they are evil. What’s more, conspiracy theories are hardly novel these days. With each national tragedy over the past decade or so – like 9/11, the Sandy Hook school shooting or the Boston Marathon bombing – various political factions have blamed their political opponents or some part of the US government.

Darracott’s thriller may strain credulity and suffer from a dearth of subtlety. But if you agree with, or can look past, the polemics, then Internal Security is a solid tale. Darden is a compelling, if sanctimonious, protagonist, and you will want to find out if he succeeds. The author does a very good job of releasing details slowly and keeping readers in suspense as he sprinkles hints and then reveals details about the plot in due course. Darracott never lets the plot get bogged down, and the propulsive storyline will keep you turning the pages of Internal Security.

Self-published
Print/Kindle
£3.23

CFL Rating: 3 Stars

The Doll by Taylor Stevens
US thriller writer Taylor Stevens arrived on the scene back in 2011 with The Informationist, a book that attracted the attention of Hollywood director James Cameron and is set to be turned into a film. It began a series that has been likened to Robert Ludlam’s Bourne novels, with a protagonist similar to Steig Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander from his Millenium trilogy. Vanessa Munroe is a woman with a troubled past and a strong survival instinct, and in this third novel, she’s going to need it. Kidnapped by an unknown adversary from a busy Dallas street, Munroe finds herself in an underground world that’s controlled by an unknown figure known as The Doll Maker. Women and girls are viewed as merchandise, but Muroe’s past has given her the skills she needs to survive. While looking for a way to escape, Munroe must also find out who her kidnapper is and why she was taken, but ultimately, she must also accept that she cannot save everyone. The Doll is out on 4 June.
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Evil and the Mask by Fuminori Nakamura
Back in March last year, we reviewed Nakamura’s English language debut, The Thief, a novel in which our protagonist lives by his wits in the shadows. His latest book is Evil and the Mask and it sees a strange family tradition change a young boy’s life forever. When he was 11 years old, Fumihiro Kuki’s elderly father tells him that his purpose in life is cause pain and misery to a world that is beyond saving. From that moment the boy is trained to achieve this aim and to do so believing there will be no repercussions for his actions, that he is beyond the law, and he can live out any fantasy he chooses, no matter how many people he hurts along the way. However, as  his education progresses, Fumihiro begins to question his father’s wishes and starts to resist. Evil and the Mask is available to download on Kindle from 11 June and will be out in hardback on 27 June.
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Black Skies by Arnaldur Indridason
In 1997, Arnaldur Indridason introduced readers in his native Iceland to Detective Inspector Erlandur Sveinsson in Sons of Dust, a book that is yet to be translated into English. However, English speakers have come to know characters like Detectives Sigardur Oli and Elinborg via books that have been translated such as Jar City and Silence of the Grave. In Black Skies, it’s Sigurdur Oli who comes to the fore. He’s a man dissatisfied with his lot – he’s unhappy in his job and his relationship has hit the skids, but a school reunion increases his problems. Agreeing to go and talk to a couple of blackmailers who have targeted a friend puts him in the wrong place at the wrong time when he walks in and finds a woman beaten unconscious. When she dies in hospital, Oli is assigned the investigation, but he must do so without revealing the real reason that he was at the murder scene. Black Skies is already available in hardback and on Kindle, but is due for release in paperback on 6 June. Watch for our review.
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The Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler
When the wife of their greatest enemy begins to act strangely, Bryant and May of the Peculiar Crimes Unite determine that they must investigate. They believe someone may be trying to drive her insane, but she’s convinced that witchcraft is the cause. However, in doing so their attention is diverted away from a more pressing matter, the death of an old woman who’s body is found inside St Bride’s church. Prior to her death, two small children had been playing a seemingly innocent game of witch-hunter, in which they cursed the woman to die. Is her death a coincidence, or are darker forces at work? A brutal stabbing in a London park reveals a connection between the two investigations, which leads the pair to both Bedlam and Bletchley Park. This 10th Bryant & May mystery is out on 6 June.
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Last year, Harry Bingham introduced us to the wayward and totally original Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths in Talking To The Dead, which got a five-star review here on Crime Fiction Lover. Fiona was abandoned as a child, brought up by a benevolent Welsh crime boss and his wife, but suffered severe mental illness in her teens. She survived and joined the police. Bingham’s next book Love Story With Murders is due out on 20 June, and the mystery begins with human body parts being discovered around Cardiff. So, we invited him to sit down on the virtual CFL sofa to tell us about his books…

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to be a crime writer?
I started out as an investment banker, then turned to writing full time when I was 30. I’ve written in a few different genres – fiction and non-fiction – but I feel most at home in crime. I like the structure of the crime story, but most of all I like the ecosystem in which the genre flourishes: the festivals, the websites, the fans, the fact that you have your own special section of the bookshop. And crime is cool, too. It’s dark and edgy and funny and intelligent. I love it.

You have given Fiona Griffiths Cotard’s Disease. What is it, and what made you decide to use it for this character?
It took quite a long time to develop Fiona, but the thing that locked everything in place was her Cotard’s Syndrome, an illness where sufferers believe themselves to be dead. It seemed to me that the condition was perfect for a crime story. It’s a mystery in itself. It walks a dark edge between life and dark. And it places the detective herself as the ultimate outsider. I came to the idea from two directions. One, I was reading a lot of material about confabulation in mental illness – occasions when the brain simply makes up wild stories to get over some specific type of injury. Cotard’s is obviously one of the more colourful examples of this. And two, my wife, who works with the mentally ill, had a patient who suffered with the condition. When I hit the idea, I knew I’d arrived.

In Talking To the Dead, Griffiths has a shoot-out with the gangsters that  just shouldn’t work, but it does, brilliantly. I’m not sure why – can you help us?
Ha! I enjoyed that shoot-out. I think the key is the first person narration. You’re not watching Fi pull the trigger. You’re being her as she pulls it. What’s more, because of Fi’s muddled head, she’s actually clearer and more alive during this scene than almost any other in the book. She feels integrated in a way she seldom manages to achieve. So I think there’s a vibrancy there which encourages the reader to swallow the storyline.

Fiona Griffiths seems too crazy, too beautiful and too intense for anyone to ever bring her to life on-screen. Have you had any approaches? Do you think it could ever be done?
It’s being done! Sky Living will broadcast a two-hour pilot later this autumn. Sophie Rundle stars. I’ve not seen a first cut yet, but shooting has already been completed.

Love Story With Murders is out next month – what can readers expect from this second outing for Fiona Griffiths?
More murder, more crime, more off-piste policing. Fiona is feeling a little more confident in her way of doing things. She’s a bit less introspective, but a bit more alarming to be around. Oh, and there’s one big scene where… well, I shouldn’t say. But put it this way: I gave a proof copy of the book to Sophie Rundle who will, I hope, reprise her role as Fiona Griffiths on screen next year. My inscription in that book just said, ‘To Sophie, buy gloves.’

You found a publisher who put your books into print. What’s your view on self-publishing, and had you not secured a deal, might you have taken that route?
Interesting question. I run the Writers’ Workshop, an outfit which offers help and advice to first-time writers, and we see a lot of people wrestling with this exact question. And while we have had some very successful self-pub clients, it’s still fairly rare for self-pubbers to achieve real sales or to launch a career. So, although I’m very open to changing my mind, I’d say that, for now, the regular route into publishing via literary agents has to remain the target for 99 per cent of writers. If Talking to the Dead hadn’t clicked with my agent, I’d have rewritten the damn book.

What’s next for you and Fiona Griffiths?
We will find out FG’s origins, yes, and in a determinate way. That is, there’ll be a proper solution to the mystery in time. But we’re a few books away from that still, and I’ve no idea what happens afterwards. I’m pretty sure there’ll only ever be one Fiona Griffiths in my life, though. She and I seem made for each other.

Watch for our review of Love Story With Murders. To find out more about Harry Bingham’s Writers’ Workshop click here.

The year is 1960. Kjartan, a rather green functionary from the local magistrate’s office, reluctantly steps off the boat on the tiny Icelandic island of Ketilsey to file a report about a dead body found by local seal hunters. Not used to field work, he hopes to endure the local food and the somewhat odd but helpful inhabitants until the authorities can claim the body.

Things get complicated when Kjartan finds a mysterious message near the body. Before dying of exposure, the unidentified man used stones to spell out ‘lucky’ in the sand. Kjartan also discovers a cryptic note in the man’s pocket which he soon learns relates to a notorious medieval manuscript called the Flatey Book, which contains a riddle known to inflict a curse on anyone who attempts to solve its mysteries.

Readers become familiar with this manuscript early on, as it is introduced and each of its 40 riddles is treated in chapters that alternate with those describing the investigation. These asides are accompanied by text from the Flatey Book’s ancient stories of the violent exploits of the Norse Kings. But Ingolfsson adds yet another layer of mystery: these tales are pondered by two as yet unknown readers who seek in them the key to the famous riddle.

When the body is identified as Gaston Lund, a noted Danish scholar of Icelandic antiquities known to be obsessed with the Flatey enigma, the investigation suddenly expands. An investigator from the Reykjavik police and a charismatic reporter launch parallel investigations and political pressures from Denmark also come into play on the tiny island.

Now in it for the long haul, Kjartan is aided by a colourful cast of characters including Grimur the district officer/seal hunter, the local priest Thormodur Krakur, and the alluring doctor Johanna, who acts as coroner. While he waits for backup, he tries to make sense of the murder, the book, and the local culture of the island, all of which seem to be very strongly linked.

Although The Flatey Enigma at first seems to be a traditional whodunit, another brutal killing two-thirds into the book steers it firmly into noir territory, while keeping us guessing until the end. One of the main characters is killed and mutilated according to a horrific Viking tradition called the ‘blood eagle’ – straight out of the Flatey Book’s pages. Google ‘blood eagle’ and you’ll see – it’s not safe for lunch.

When the big-gun investigators are finally brought in from Reykjavik to grill every inhabitant of the island, possible motives begin to emerge, as do the true identities of the characters involved, and Kjartan himself becomes one of the prime suspects. While the locals are all found to have enduring connections to the book, we learn that the outsiders too have links from the past, and all of these factors have a bearing on the mystery of the deaths and the destiny of the manuscript. The complex narrative weaves in interesting elements of national identity and political intrigue.

The charm of the Flatey Enigma lies in its patient exposition of characters, clever plot construction, and the surprising solution to the entire set of mysteries. But special mention goes to the authentic atmosphere that imbues the narrative, informed by the author’s own experiences there as a child. The mystery’s slow unfolding reflects the peaceful and methodical existence of the Icelandic coastal folk, whom Ingolfsson vividly renders. As with certain other Icelandic examples of Nordic Noir, you must at times suspend your disbelief in curses, elves, and Norse superstitions that are remnants from the time of the Sagas. Fans of murder mysteries, ancient incunabula, Scandinavian history, not to mention anthropological bonuses like regional cuisine and survival techniques, will savour the novel’s languid style, local colour, and even some mystical moments.

AmazonCrossing
Print/Kindle
£3.99

CFL Rating: 5 Stars

Written by Jonelle Patrick – 

This novel, however, introduces readers to a lesser-known but equally well-established facet of Japanese nightlife: host clubs. This time, it is wealthy women who pay for the privilege of being listened to and fussed over by young, androgynous-looking men. Sex is  seldom on the cards, but rivalries and lies abound, especially when large sums of money are at stake. In this strange world where nothing is quite what it seems, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Detective Kenji Nakamura is called out to investigate the death of popular hostess Cherry, who seems to have fallen to the bottom of the stairs in her house. Under pressure from his superiors to file the case as an accident – plausible enough given the amount of alcohol ingested – Kenji nevertheless continues to investigate. He discovers that Cherry was not only terrified of one of her regular customers, but that she was also far too involved with Hoshi, the most popular host at the Nova Club. When two other hostesses are attacked within a week, it becomes obvious that something serious is at stake.

Meanwhile, the love of Kenji’s life, English translator Yumi, is worried about her old school friend Coco, who seems to be falling in love with the very same Hoshi. Yumi reluctantly accompanies Coco to the club, first in an attempt to dissuade her from spending far too much of her money on Hoshi and then in an effort to help Kenji with the investigation. Yet she knows that she can ill afford to be seen in the red-light district, as she is about to enter into an arranged marriage with the son and heir of a very influential, wealthy family. Yumi is torn between the expectations of her family and her love for Kenji: there is an undeniable frisson of attraction between them which adds piquancy to the story. They make a formidable couple of sleuths, the professional and the amateur, as both are equally dogged, even foolhardy at times, in their pursuit of truth and justice. Along the way, we are given occasional glimpses into other enticing characters such as less experienced host Shinya, demanding rich customer Mrs Ono, and Tommy Loud – the red-haired Australian crime tech guy who speaks perfect Japanese.

Jonelle Patrick divides her time between Tokyo and San Francisco, and writes regularly about cultural differences in her blog Only in Japan. Her knowledge and love of the country shine through in this novel, with just enough additional explanation (and even pictures, at least in the Kindle edition) to appeal to readers unfamiliar with Japan. If you are looking for an enjoyable read, a clever little puzzle and an exotic location, you will find much to entertain and inform you in Fallen Angel.

InterMix
Kindle
£2.66

CFL Rating: 4 Stars

Joe and Max have a long history together, as did Max and Eldon, but Joe has never been fond of Eldon and what he stood for, which was the bad old days of corruption in Miami law enforcement. Max was part of it too, but that was a lifetime ago. Joe isn’t one to cut corners in his investigations, however, and in spite of his dislike of Burns he’s determined to solve this and not allow the higher ups to sweep it under the rug.

Soon, tragedy strikes again, right in front of Max, and in the most personal way. Max is determined to find a killer roaming the streets of Miami who seems to be gunning for certain people. The name Vanetta Brown keeps coming up, and her connection to certain subversive groups is a starting point for Max. A powerful woman with an old vendetta wants to find Vanetta Brown to settle the score, and she enlists Max’s help. Max is starting to suspect that Vanetta isn’t guilty of the crimes that she’s been accused of, but the threat of more prison time is a huge motivator, so he reluctantly makes his way to Cuba, hoping to find his way to Vanetta and, ultimately, the truth. Little does he know that he may be traveling in the shadow of an old foe who is the embodiment of evil.

Voodoo Eyes is the third in a series featuring Max Mingus, preceded by the superb Mr Clarinet and The King of Swords. Those two novels pitted Max against unspeakable terror, and by far the most shudder-inducing villain so far has been Solomon Boukman, who some believe is the earthly incarnation of Baron Samedi, the Voodoo god of death. The King of Swords took place in the 80s, so there’s a significant time jump – more than 25 years-between it and Voodoo Eyes, which takes place in 2008. Max still struggles with his tortured past. As much as he doesn’t want to take this journey, he knows in his heart that it’s his destiny to see it through. Max isn’t perfect – far from it – but the core of good that runs through such a lonely, emotionally weary man shines like a beacon. Just beyond middle age, Max still longs for the glory days of police work, and it’s not hard to draw him back into the game, but at what price? At this rate, it might be his soul.

Nick Stone was born of a Scottish father and Haitian mother and has spent much of his life in Haiti. In Mr Clarinet, he rendered Haiti in blood-soaked brush strokes, while also capturing the human side of a country in turmoil. In Voodoo Eyes, he takes us to Cuba, where old meets new – nothing and no-one are what they seem. You may never looks at Cuba the same way again. The Max Mingus series is one of the best crime thriller series out there, and if you’re a fan of authors like Mo Hayder, they’re must-reads. Creepy and stunningly atmospheric only begins to describe the books, and although poor Max deserves a break I’m keeping my fingers crossed for another installment.

Sphere
Print/Kindle
£4.49

CFL Rating: 5 Stars

Written by Håkan Nesser –

However, although the author is Swedish and has won many awards in his homeland, he himself does not feel part of the Nordic Noir phenomenon. “Apart from the language factor I tend to believe we have very little in common. Myself and Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo and Karin Alvtegen, to mention a few, write in totally different styles, and sometimes the bunching together of us seem pretty arbitrary,” he told us in an email recently.

Reading The Weeping Girl as a fan of Scandinavian crime fiction, I tend to agree with him. It shares few of the characteristics that we associate with the sub-genre. For a start, it’s not set in Scandinavia, but in a country that Nesser has invented, which is similar to The Netherlands or Belgium. Most of the character names and places sound Dutch. There’s no ice or snow, and it’s not really a book with a dark and foreboding feel to it. There are no East European gangsters, neo-Nazis, or Odin-worshipping serial killers, and none of the characters has a genetic abnormality either, for that matter. The Weeping Girl might more accurately be described as Eurocrime if you wanted to slot it into a sub-genre, and it’s also very definitely a police procedural.

Now that we’ve cleared that up, what happens inside? Well, the book opens with a confusing sequence in which a young girl called Winnie Maas meets up with a man to drink, smoke and have sex. She talks about wanting to back out of a plan the fellow has, but it’s not clear what that plan is. She gets pushed off a bridge over a railway line, and dies.

Nearly two decades later, Ewa Moreno, protege of the now retired chief inspector Van Veeteren of previous Nesser books, is on her way to the seaside town of Lejnice for her holidays. On the way, she has to do a little work. An inmate wants to speak with her and he tells her that one of coppers in her division is a paedophile, but he won’t name the man. Is this just a ruse? On top of this, on the train journey to Lejnice Moreno meets an 18-year-old girl called Mikaela Ljiphart who is in tears. It transpires that she is going to see her father, who was convicted of the murder of Winnie Maas 16 years ago. Soon afterwards, Mikaela is reported missing.

Moreno is meant to be on holiday with her boyfriend Mikael Bau – enjoying sun, sea and sex at his family’s holiday home. But both cases nag away at her. Firstly, she’s disturbed that there might be a paedophile on the force. Secondly, what’s happened to Mikaela? She starts helping the local police who are looking for the girl, despite their inept chief, Vrommel. As with many detective stories, the investigations worm their way into her personal life. They’re getting nowhere in their search for Mikaela, but then a man’s body is dug up by two young boys on the beach. How are the Maas murder and more recent crimes linked?

Moreno questions everything except, perhaps, just why she’s so committed to the case even though it will ruin her holiday and her relationship with Bau. Nesser’s book is filled with convincing secondary characters, and there are lots of them – the local cops, journalists, the families involved, and so on. Some of the key scenes are vividly described, with poetic touches here and there. There are several little sub-plots going on as well. It seems there’s a touch of corruption going on. For long periods, however, the investigations are stalled and despite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, not a lot happens. The ending, while realistic, is only partly satisfying.

If you like a complex police procedural, with an even more complex female lead detective, you’ll enjoy The Weeping Girl. And if you’re a fan of previous Van Veeteren books, don’t worry, the great man does make a cameo appearance later on.

Mantle
Print/Kindle/iBook
£6.59

CFL Rating: 3 Stars

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
Brighton Rock straddles the line between ‘entertainments’ and ‘serious’ literature which Greene imposed on his work, a pacy, violent thriller about a teenage gangster Pinkie trying to move in on Brighton’s lucrative protection rackets by way of murdering a journalist who has exposed him, then anyone else who gets in his way. It’s also a meditation on Catholicism, with Pinkie embodying the most self-serving interpretation of the faith, believing he can bully and maim and kill with impunity, as long as he repents before he dies. He is a loathesome character, cold and without remorse, one of the most chilling figures in 20th century literature. Greene pits him against an unlikely avenger, Ida Arnold, a pragmatic hedonist, all dirty laugh and sentimentality, slamming her agnostic sensibilities against Pinkie’s Catholicism as they tussle over the soul of witness-turned-wife Rose.
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The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
“The first time I laid eyes on Terry Lennox he was drunk in a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith outside the terrace of The Dancers.” It’s one of the most iconic opening lines in crime fiction and sums up what you get with Chandler, luxe and sleaze cheek by jowl. Marlowe, the shop-soiled Galahad, is sucker for a bird with a broken wing and ends up driving Lennox to Tiajuana, presuming he’s evading the police, but he makes no judgements. Then a New York publisher calls on him to baby sit the brilliant but deeply flawed author Roger Wade and Chandler’s definitive PI Philip Marlowe finds himself amid screwed-up rich folks and the criminals who feed off them, trying to unearth the terrible secret plaguing Wade. The prose sings with hardboiled poetry and the Chandler’s eye for the interplay of high society and low habits have made this a genre-defining classic.
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The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Tom Ripley is kind of a nobody, a low level con man in 1950s New York, scraping a living and dreaming of a better life. He’s fairly smart, fairly resourceful, but it’s a simple case of mistaken identity which changes his life. Tom is despatched to Italy by a wealthy businessman, tasked with persuading his feckless son to come home and face his responsibilities. Dickie Greenleaf is everything Tom aspires towards: wealthy, self-assured, cultured. But Dickie soon tires of Tom and his dismissal sets our amoral anti-hero on a murderous career path which spans five books and 30 years and stands as one of the highest accomplishments in psychological crime fiction. Ripley shouldn’t be an attractive character, we really shouldn’t root for him, but we do, and after many re-reads I’m still not sure why, which is testament to Highsmith’s sly skills. Read our article Revisiting Mr Ripley here.
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Mildred Pierce by James M Cain
Mildred Pierce is the least crimey of Cain’s ouevre. In fact, other than a spot of fraud and an instance of attempted infanticide, it is completely crime free. Except it isn’t. Mildred Pierce, the eponymous heroine, is a newly divorced mother of two in depression era Los Angeles, struggling to make enough to look after her two girls, the angelic Ray and spoilt diva-in-waiting Veda, who disapproves of Mildred’s low status job as a waitress. Veda softens slightly when Mildred’s hard work leads to a string of successful restaurants and an affair with blue blood playboy Monty. The mother/daughter relationship is at the heart of the book, a twisted dynamic with Veda taking everything she can get and Mildred idolising her despite her myriad slights and betrayals, which build inexorably towards stealing Monty away. I love books which explore the small crimes that families and couples commit against each other, when they’re as well written as this is, they are far more disturbing than the goriest of serial killer novels.
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Cat Chaser by Elmore Leonard
Set in the Dominican Republic, miles away from Leonard’s regular stomping grounds, we’re in the company of ex-US marine turned hotel owner George Moran, who returns to the island looking for Luci Palma, a revolutionary who shot him during the US occupation years before. Instead he runs across Mary de Boya, an ex-lover now married to a former death squad general with heavy mob connections. Moran wants to spirit Mary away from her husband – along with $2 million in dirty cash – but an assortment of small time crooks and bent cops are on the trail too, along with a woman who may or may not be the elusive Luci Palma. There’s a reason why Elmore Leonard is considered the daddy of crime writing and Cat Chaser, with it’s pared back style, oddball characters and complex plot deftly resolved, is one of his best.
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Last week, MarinaSofia shared the five books that got her in to crime ficiton, and you can read that article here. Tune in next Friday when PulpCurry will be here.

Carver’s Quest by Nick Rennison
Writer, editor, bookseller and Sunday Times reviewer Nick Rennison is probably better known within historical fiction circles. However, he’s about to make his mark in the crime fiction genre with a new amateur sleuth joining the ranks. It’s 1870 London, and amateur archaeologist Adam Carver and his assistant, Quint, have just received a young female visitor at their Doughty Street lodgings. The pair soon find themselves heading off to Greece in search of a lost ancient text that may reveal the whereabouts of a treasure hoard belonging to Phillip II of Macedonia. However, this is a hunt that’s fraught with danger. Two people have already been killed and there’s political unrest gripping the country. Carver decides to join forces with his former Cambridge tutor, but this is a mystery where nothing is as it seems, culminating in a shocking conclusion at a hilltop monastery. Carver’s Quest is out 1 June.
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Death in the Vines by ML Longworth
Judge Antoine Verlaque and Commissionaire Paulik receive an urgent call which sees them heading down to Provence for their third case. Olivier Bonnard, owner of the Beauclaire winery, is devastated by the discovery of a theft at his vineyard, and the loss of a cache of priceless, rare vintages. Not long after, Gilles d’Arras reports the disappearance of his wife Pauline, with her body subsequently being found by Bonnard at the vineyard. An intriguing little case for our duo, which is out on 28 May.
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Dark Companion by Jim Nisbet
Reprinted and released in the UK as a paperback, Nisbet’s 2006 novel Dark Companion was quite a success on the indie scene for its San Francisco-based author. At 144 pages, it’s short, but perhaps not so sweet. Bannerjhee Rolf is a scientist working for a pharmaceuticals company, but when it’s downsized his world is suddenly thrown out of control. Getting involved with his neighbour Toby Pride, along with his junkie girlfriend, is a mistake waiting to happen, especially as he’s now a fugitive from justice. This is a cautionary tale with a sting in its tail.
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Dead Man’s Time by Peter James
Few authors are as enthusiastic about the genre, nor have done more for it in recent years, than Peter James. His Brighton police detective DS Roy Grace is back for a ninth outing in Dead Man’s Time. A robbery at a secluded mansion leaves its elderly occupant dying and Grace on the hunt for the killer, who also also taken a stash of valuable. However, it’s one priceless items that has the woman’s family ready to exact their own brand of justice. Within days of being assigned the case, Grace finds himself on a bloody trail into the world of antiques, all the way back to 1920s gangland New York. Peter James’ Not Dead Yet was our contributor Lucy Conlon’s top book of 2012. Dead Man’s Time is out on 6 June, and if you buy it from Tesco you’ll get access to an exclusive video of the author.
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Written by Stav Sherez –

Now Carrigan and Miller are back and this time, they are not even sure that murder has been committed. Or should that be ‘murders’? Because when Carrigan receives an urgent call on his day off, he is surprised to learn that he is being summoned to a blaze at a small convent in an upmarket residential street in West London. It is unclear whether the fire was arson or a mere accident, until 10 bodies are found behind a locked door, with an 11th discovered inside a confession box in the convent’s chapel. And there are only supposed to be 10 nuns in residence… so what’s that all about?

Thus begins a complex investigation which sends the pair off on different tangents. Carrigan thinks the deaths are connected to a particularly nasty gang of Albanian mobsters who combine drug dealing with sex trafficking, while Miller is convinced the answer lies in Peru, where several of the dead nuns worked during the 1970s, where another of their number mysteriously disappeared recently. Whatever the reason, it appears the local Catholic diocese is determined to block the pair’s every move. And with a pair of dark-suited heavies also intent on doing them harm, Jack and Geneva have plenty on their plate as the powers-that-be press for a quick resolution in the run-up to Christmas – which is just 11 days away.

As if dealing with a difficult case is not enough, both Carrigan and Miller are wrestling with personal problems, and neither seems too keen to share. Christmas is a particularly difficult time for Jack, who is still grieving the death of his wife, while Geneva is being bombarded with thinly-disguised threats from her ex-husband. Setting their personal lives aside, they are always there for each other and make a great team as the plot swirls and eddies around them.

And what a plot! I can’t begin to imagine how much research went into this book – from modern-day drug cartels to the upsurge of radical Liberation Theology in South America in the 1970s. The hard work has certainly paid off, because I was engrossed throughout.  If there’s a flaw with Eleven Days at all, it might be that you’ll be able to work it out well before the ending like I did, though I’m certain the finale will shock and surprise many readers.

Eleven Days is a dark and complicated tale, offset by Sherez’s gift for lyrical prose and the clever way he weaves teasing snippets of clarity that hit you like sunshine through the clouds. Be warned, though, you’ll be led down many a garden path before you reach that final page!

Faber and Faber
Print/Kindle/iBook
£5.27

CFL Rating: 4 Stars