On the Radar — Someone told us you love tricksy mysteries, and if that’s true you’ve come to the right place. On the Radar is our weekly news column and we’ve got five brain-tinglers for you this week, starting with one set in Ireland. There are psychological thrills, espionage, mobsters, criminal kids and more…
A Famished Heart by Nicola White
We love a tricksy mystery here at Crime Fiction Lover, and a new one is out to befuddle us on 27 February. A Famished Heart is set in Ireland. Sisters Berenice and Rosaleen Macnamara aren’t missed at first, but when the local priest breaks down the door to their home he finds them starved to death, their faces a picture of terror. The double tragedy brings surviving sister Francesca home from the US. She has questions, and wants answers – and so do Detectives Vincent Swan and Gina Considine, who don’t think the deaths were suicide. Because what little evidence there is, shows someone else was there, watching the sisters die…
Pre-order now on Amazon
I Am Dust by Louise Beech
Louise Beech is never one to rest on her laurels and delights in keeping her readers guessing. Her last book, Call Me Star Girl – reviewed here – was set in a local radio station; this time her standalone psychological thriller treads the boards in a spooky theatre. It’s 20 years since actress Morgan Miller was murdered backstage in her dressing room at the Dean Wilson Theatre. Now they’re planning a revival of the play she was about to star in – and using the same venue. Tempting fate? What do you think? Catch up with the drama on 16 February, when I Am Dust is out for Kindle.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Little Friends by Jane Shemilt
Friendship can be both a blessing and a curse, and three couples head down the latter road in this darkly dramatic slice of domestic noir that has echoes of Alex Marwood’s The Darkest Secret. The adults first meet through their children, then gradually become close, leading to parties and barbecues – they even go on holiday together. But all three marriages are shaky and after an affair splits the group, things get a little off kilter. Meanwhile, while the grown ups concentrate upon each other, the children are left to their own devices… A bad idea in crime fiction land – and the stuff of nightmares for any responsible parent. Little Friends is out on 20 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Coldest Warrior by Paul Vidich
This novelisation of real events takes us back to 1953, when the US government scientist Dr Charles Wilson jumped or was pushed to his death from the ninth storey of a building. Then, in the mid-70s, Wilson’s death is reopened as a cold case and it falls to Wilson’s old friend and CIA agent Jack Gabriel to find out the truth. It’s his last case before he retires, and he could be up against an almighty cover-up of foul play by federal agents from multiple agencies. The Coldest Warrior is based on the same true story as Wormwood, on Netflix, and arrives on 27 February.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb
What could be more exciting as Steph Broadribb‘s Lori Anderson series than a trip to Illinois and a chance to take on the Chicago mob? Florida bounty hunter Anderson has been co-opted onto an FBI mission by Special Agent Alex Monroe, as the kingpin of the Cabressa family hopes to add a priceless chess set to his collection by winning it at a high stakes poker game. Anderson’s partner JT is in on the action too, and the pair soon find themselves trapped in a building, and in a city shrouded in darkness due to a power cut. Deep Dark Night is out now for Kindle.
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