Wild Lake – Laura Lippman
‘Wilde Lake’, the latest stand-alone novel by Laura Lippman, the multi award-winning author of the Tess Monaghan series and of ‘What the Dead Know’, is a gripping story about a murder, its investigation and solution. A sophisticated novel featuring a skilfully woven plot, clever psychological insights, well-crafted characters (a feisty state’s attorney and her family, ...
Clinch – Martin Holmén
‘Clinch’, the debut crime novel by Swedish author Martin Holmén, does exactly what it says on the tin, and does it very well. Right from the outset it grips you in a fierce embrace, and doesn’t let go. It gets personal, goes deep, and isn’t ashamed of its raw edges. It’s also highly original, a ...
The Long Count – JM Gulvin
As does crime, good crime writing needs concealment. In his first John Q. mystery, ‘The Long Count’, JM Gulvin does conceal something big in the story. Something that, once revealed, will hit readers like a freight train. Or like a well-disguised royal flush. Gulvin works his surprise(s) cleverly, as an experienced poker player would, with ...
Hard Cold Winter – Glen Erik Hamilton
‘Hard Cold Winter’ is Glen Erik Hamilton’s second crime novel set in Seattle and featuring former US Army Ranger Van Shaw. It’s never easy to follow up a good first novel, and Hamilton has succeeded both in writing a captivating story and in establishing Van Shaw as a remarkable character, a highly original presence in ...
Tregunna – Carla Vermaat
‘Tregunna’ by Dutch author Carla Vermaat, writing her twenty first novel in English (some using the nom de plume Mary Morgan), ranks among the most original crime stories I have read this year. The setting, to me at least, was a discovery: the Cornish coast and the town of Newquay, which Vermaat paints so vividly, ...
The Travelers – Chris Pavone
‘The Travelers’ is Chris Pavone’s third thriller, after his highly successful previous novels, ‘The Accident’ and ‘The Expats’. The latter, his first, received both the Edgar and Anthony awards for Best First Novel. Pavone’s latest is a well-crafted hall of mirrors, filled with smokescreens, evasion and deceit, hurling the reader headlong in a world populated ...
Coffin Road – Peter May
‘Coffin Road’ is Peter May’s fifth novel set in and around the ruggedly beautiful Isle of Lewis and Harris, part of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, the British Isles’ first outpost against the might of the Atlantic Ocean. May takes on a double authorial risk in ‘Coffin Road’ and to his credit he comes up trumps, not ...
Fever City – Tim Baker
Tim Baker, author of ‘Fever City’ has set himself a very high bar for his crime fiction debut. If writing about America’s most tragic XXth century political assassination wasn’t enough (in the wake of heavyweights such as Don DeLillo, James Ellroy and Stephen King, who all created major fiction works around John F. Kennedy’s murder), ...
