Well, if it’s crime fiction that gets you through the night, you’re not alone. For all members of the Crime Fiction Lover army, this week we bring you five new crime novels starting with an unusual thriller by the comedian Charlie Higson. His book Whatever Gets You Through the Night has the potential to go full on gonzo. Jonathan Kellerman is back as well, always reliable for a mystery, while thriller authors Sarah Sheridan, Tina Baker and Caroline Corcoran each have their own individual take on what happens when families go wrong. In other words, it’s a big week for thrillers…
Which novel will you be adding to your TBR pile this week?
Whatever Gets You Through the Night by Charlie Higson
Acclaimed comedy writer, producer, actor, and genuine James Bond aficionado Charlie Higson‘s new adult crime thriller Whatever Gets You Through the Night is out on 24 February. It is set in Corfu, where fixer McIntyre has been sent to spring Lauren, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, from the luxury compound of tech billionaire, Julian Hepworth – young, handsome, charismatic and a suspected paedophile. Sounds straightforward, until Lauren’s father turns up, threatening to give the game away, and soon McIntyre’s having to contend with Albanian gangsters, Greek drug dealers, psychotic bodyguards, flat earthers and spoilt, wealthy teenagers looking for dangerous kicks…
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City of the Dead by Jonathan Kellerman
Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis are back, and they’re investigating a grisly double homicide in Jonathan Kellerman‘s City of the Dead, out 17 February. A naked young man lies dead in the street in an affluent part of Los Angeles. At first it looks like he was the victim of a collision with a moving van, but all thoughts of accidental death vanish when a blood trail leads to a nearby home where a young woman lies butchered. She’s known to Delaware, and as the pair dig deeper into Cordelia Gannett’s past, they begin to piece together a disturbing story – but what, if any, part did the mystery second victim play in it?
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Girl in Bed Three by Sarah Sheridan
The girl in the hospital bed has just lived through an horrific experience but she remembers nothing about it… Or does she? Just how much of the truth is Sophie Macreavey willing to tell? That’s the question in Sarah Sheridan‘s Girl in Bed Three, which comes out on 21 February. Sophie has been stabbed, her adoptive parents and sister are dead and her brothers are missing. She admits to having been abused by her family, who controlled her and wouldn’t let her use technology. But alarm bells begin to ring when Sophie’s social worker unearths the girl’s social media account, online conversations with a boy and videos. What is Sophie hiding?
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Nasty Little Cuts by Tina Baker
Marc is a former soldier, haunted by vivid memories of a war he cannot forget. His wife Debs is a fitness instructor with nightmares of her own. Once they revelled in each other’s differences; now they grate to the point of drawing blood. Marc screams in his sleep. And Debs hardly knows the person she’s become, or why she lets him hurt her. It’s obvious that something has to give, but how much damage will be done in the process? A dark and disturbing domestic noir, Nasty Little Cuts by Tina Baker is out on 24 February.
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Five Days Missing by Caroline Corcoran
Romilly has just given birth to a beautiful baby girl – so what prompts her to walk out of hospital, leaving the baby behind? Her loving husband Marc is sure that he has the answer. Romilly was being monitored for early signs of postpartum psychosis and is obviously suffering from it – why else would she abandon her child? We’re in the realms of the psychological thriller here so you can be assured that things aren’t so cut and dried, so settle back for a story where not everything is quite as it might seem. Five Days Missing by Caroline Corcoran is published on 17 February.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org