…but Aussie crime fiction remains as hot as ever. This week our new books report begins with the latest from Garry Disher – his standalone thriller about a nomadic thief hunted by some baddies in rural Australia. Plus, a new procedural from English author Rachel Abbott, a Dixie Mafia story from Snowden Wright, cosy Swedish crime with Katarina Bivald and a visit to 1989 Belfast with Bryan J Mason.
Sanctuary by Garry Disher
Grace makes a good living as a thief, but in her line of work it’s always best to stay on the move. That is, until she has an unfortunate run-in with an old associate and has to lie low for a while. Grace ends up in a quiet Australian rural town, where she befriends antique shop owner Erin and rents a room from her. It’s a simple life, and Grace realises that this is just what she’s been wanting all along. Could it be time to finally put down roots? But dangerous men have her in their sights and Grace’s past is about to catch up with her in explosive fashion. Find out what happens when Garry Disher‘s Sanctuary lands on 15 August.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
The Last Time I Saw Him by Rachel Abbott
The latest book in Rachel Abbott’s Stephanie King series is out now, and it finds the police detective investigating a mysterious death. Ellis Cobain, a wealthy philanthropist, is being touted for a knighthood, but his public persona differed greatly from his private life and in an exclusive boutique hotel in Cornwall three women who knew him well meet to plot his downfall. Then Cobain is found dead on his private yacht and the threesome must cover their tracks. With cast-iron alibis, it’s clear that the women didn’t do the deed – but can DS Stephanie King catch the real killer before anyone else dies?
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
The Queen City Detective Agency by Snowden Wright
We’re heading to 1980s Mississippi for a slice of Southern noir – Snowden Wright’s The Queen City Detective Agency, out on 13 August. The queen city in question is Meridian, overshadowed by Atlanta and New Orleans these days and home to the Dixie Mafia and its assorted dubious dealings. The murder of real-estate developer Randall Hubbard sets off a chain of events – including the killing in custody of a gang affiliate named Lewis ‘Turnip’ Coogan, who maintained he had been hired for the hit by Hubbard’s wife. Can ex-cop-turned-private-investigator Clementine Baldwin get to the bottom of it all, and find closure for Coogan’s grieving mother?
Order now on Amazon
The Murders in Great Diddling by Katarina Bivald
Is cosy crime your thing? Then perhaps this offering by Swedish author Katarina Bivald will be your cup of team. When Swedish author Berit Gardner arrives in the run down little village of Great Diddling, she immediately senses that it’s a place full of stories – which is good news, as she has a deadline looming and no manuscript to speak of. An explosion in the library of the village’s grand manor kills a local man and sends people into a blind panic. But who could have guessed that the village’s new-found notoriety would give the place an unexpected impetus… and a fledgling book and murder festival? The Murders in Great Diddling arrives on 13 August.
Order now on Amazon
An Old Tin Can by Bryan J Mason
A blackly comic crime book set in Belfast in the midst of The Troubles, An Old Tin Can by Bryan J Mason is the first in a new series and out now. It features Harry Burnard, who is soon beginning to regret his choices in life after joining a police force faced with threats on every side. He is a member of ‘The Squad’, a bunch of outsiders who are only allowed to work criminal cases, as distinct from terrorism, which means they have little to do. But when Harry begins to join the dots about an apparently random series of sectarian stabbings, he is faced with a killer pursuing his own particular agenda.
Order now on Amazon