On the Radar — Today’s new crime books column starts off with a book that’s interesting because it’s the product of something quite rare in literature – a collaboration between authors. Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger have teamed up on Death Deserved, a contemporary thriller in the Nordic noir category. In some of the other books, we’ve got crime-solving characters teaming up in various ways as well – so read on and take your pick!
Sign up for the CFL weekly newsletter here.
Death Deserved by Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger
One great collaboration – that between Norwegian crime fiction author authors Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger – is matched in the pages of Death Deserved by a slightly more dubious one. Yes, Scandinavia is soon to get its first crime-solving celebrity blogger in the form of Emma Ramm, who teams up with damaged cop Alexander Blix after discovering the body of a TV star, dead in her home with the number one pinned to her. Soon clues relating to the departed celebrity start appearing in various locations. Will number one be followed by a two? Available now for Kindle, the paperback arrives 6 February.
Buy now on Amazon
The Lantern Men by Elly Griffiths
Number 12 in the hugely popular series featuring Dr Ruth Galloway arrives on 6 February and it’s all change. Ruth has a new job, home and partner and is no longer North Norfolk police’s resident forensic archaeologist. Until a convicted murderer makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Ivor March is willing to reveal the burial sites of more of his victims, but only if Ruth will agree to do the unearthing. They’re supposedly buried near a village said to be haunted by the Lantern Men, who lure travellers to their deaths. Is March telling the truth? And why is he so desperate to have Ruth involved? Read our review of book 11, The Stone Circle, here.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Home by Sarah Stovell
Exquisite, by the same author, earned a glowing review on CFL when it was released in 2017. This is an author who knows how to conjure up a gripping crime tale or two! The discovery of a teenager’s body in a churchyard is the touchstone for this latest standalone, which is out now. Hope Lacey was just 15, and pregnant, but although the community is shocked, it comes as no big surprise to them. Because Hope lived at The Home, a residence for disturbed young girls. As the police begin their investigation, their interviews with both residents and staff lead to some distressing revelations…
Buy now on Amazon
Her Last Breath by Alison Belsham
Alison Belsham’s debut, The Tattoo Thief, was published last year and introduced the decidedly off-kilter pairing of straight-laced, buttoned up young DI Francis Sullivan and anything-but-conventional tattoo artist Marni Mullins. They’re thrown together again when a serial killer begins to target young women in Brighton. The thing is, the victims are not dead when he leaves them, and the killer’s modus operandi soon has everyone on the back foot. Can Sullivan and Mullins put aside their past history and work together to solve this one – though with Marni’s son Alex in the frame, it looks unlikely? Out now for Kindle and on 6 February as a paperback.
Buy now on Amazon
Beast by Matt Wesolowski
Here’s book four of Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories series in a fashionable red, gorgeous and perfect company for the evening. The premise which sees fictional true crime podcaster Scott King reporting on supposedly true crimes continues as he investigates the case of a young vlogger (video blogger) found frozen to death in the wake of 2018’s weather phenomenon, the Beast from the East. She had been locked into a local landmark called The Vampire Tower in Northumbria and left to die. Three members of a cult were convicted of her murder. However, as King interviews six witnesses, the true and terrifying nature of what took place becomes clear. Again, this is available for Kindle and out 6 February in print.
Buy now on Amazon