Arab Jazz – Karim Miské
‘Arab Jazz’ by Karim Miské (translated by Sam Gordon) marks the crime fiction debut of this French documentary film-maker of mixed Mauritanian and French blood. It is an unusual, original and seductive story, formally a police procedural novel but with a style, structure and pace that single it out from many of its current counterparts. ...
Kolymsky Heights – Lionel Davidson
‘Kolymsky Heights’ by Lionel Davidson was first published in 1994 and, having re-read this epic, atmospheric thriller in Faber & Faber’s fine 2015 edition I was left to reflect on what has changed in world politics and thriller fiction since the novel’s first publication, and on what has remained the same. Far-away, mysterious, brooding Russia ...
A Killing Winter – Tom Callaghan
Cruel as a winter in Kyrgyzstan. Brutal like the fiercely-fought revolutions that have savaged this Central Asia republic, wedged between Uzbekistan and China. ‘A Killing Winter’, debut novel by Tom Callaghan, hurls the reader in a world that’s very far from the comfortable one we know. A world of corruption, poverty, tribal culture and crushed ...
The Girl in the Red Coat – Kate Hamer
‘The Girl in the Red Coat’, debut novel by Kate Hamer, is a stunning story which straddles genres with seductive ease and makes you turn the pages addictively. It’s a XXIst century fairy tale with characters so real you’ll feel you just know someone like them. At the same time it’s very close to being ...
Dead Connection – Alafair Burke
Internet dating and the hidden perils thereof; a rookie cop from Wichita, Kansas, thrown in at the deep end in a murder case assigned to a headline-grabbing detective; a blood-thirsty serial killer prowling the New York city pavements and the internet highways; the ominous shadows of the Russian mafia and of FBI agents who may ...
The Lynchpin – Jeffrey B. Burton
‘The Lynchpin’ is the second novel by Jeffrey B. Burton featuring FBI Special Agent Drew Cady. Yes, an FBI sleuth is the hero and protagonist of a crime novel. Why the surprise? I have read about FBI agents in crime fiction countless times before. M. Connelly has written novels centred around Special Agent Rachel Walling, ...
Dry Bones in the Valley – Tom Bouman
Reading ‘Dry Bones in the Valley’ by Tom Bouman is like taking a breath of fresh country air after too much time spent in the city. Nothing wrong with a good urban crime story of course, but I simply love the way Bouman has woven the Pennsylvania countryside into the plot: its woods and valleys ...
The Kind Worth Killing – Peter Swanson
Prepare yourselves for some sleight-of-hand shocks in ‘The Kind Worth Killing’ by Peter Swanson. He cleverly, almost slyly keeps some facts up his narrative sleeve early on, managing to be secretive in plain sight and then springing several stunning surprises. Swanson gets away with his own brand of ‘unreliable narration’ because he does it well, ...
