On the Radar — This week our new crime books column features the latest from Nicolas Obregon, a writer who sets his mysteries in Japan. He’s sending detective Iwata on the trail of an Unknown Male. We’re also bringing you a new political thriller by Simon Kernick, a futuristic thriller by Roderick Hart, and Mark McCrum is here to tell us to murder our darlings. Read on and discover your next crime read…
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Unknown Male by Nicolas Obregon
With the Tokyo Olympics coming next year, Nicolas Obregon adds a third novel to his series featuring the Japanese detective Kosuke Iwata and the games form the perfect backdrop. A week before the opening ceremony, British student Skye Mackintosh is found dead in a ‘love hotel’. Kosuke Iwata has left the force, but as the police are struggling to make any headway at all in their investigation they decide to bring him onboard. He soon discovers there are dark and complex reasons behind the neon-lit world that Skye inhabited. It arrives 28 November and follows on from Blue Light Yokohama and Sins as Scarlet.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Die Alone by Simon Kernick
Not many people have a good word to say about politicians these days, so it seems right that one should be at the heart of Simon Kernick’s latest book, out on 28 November. Alistair Sheridan is a golden boy of British politics, tipped to be the next PM. He’s handsome and likeable but as crime fiction luck would have it he is also a secret serial killer with a taste for young women. Few people know the real Sheridan, and disgraced police detective Ray Mason is one of them. But Mason is in jail, awaiting trial for murder – until armed men help him escape and make him a tempting offer: assassinate Sheridan and move on to a new life. Is Mason being set up? The only person he can turn to for help is ex-cop and former lover Tina Boyd, and it’s about to get complicated. More politics with a deadly twist can be found in Louise Doughty’s Apple Tree Yard.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Ears of a Cat by Roderick Hart
With its enigmatic title, The Ears of a Cat does indeed appear to a left field futuristic thriller, with an international twist. Set in Germany, the US, the UK and Japan, it revolves around a plot to reduce the human population – a perverse way of solving many of world’s problems. Catherine Cooper, Cindy Horváth and Gina Saito have got their hands on a new bird flu virus, but are being pursued by an agent who could be as deadly as they are. Fish whispering, talking to cats, a Japanese sex doll and fractured penis all feature, according to the blurb… It’s on sale now.
Buy now on Amazon
Murder Your Darlings by Mark McCrum
This writing lark can be mighty dangerous, as crime author and sleuth Francis Meadowes discovers in the third book of this popular series, which is out on 28 November. Meadowes is having a fine old time running a creative writing course in the beautiful Umbrian countryside, when the idyll is ruined by the suspicious death of one of the participants. They all seemed such a nice bunch of people, but lurking among the wannabe best-sellers is someone who has murder in mind. Can Meadowes unveil the culprit before they strike again? For more book-related shenanigans, try Betsy Reaveey’s Murder at the Book Club for size.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Man on Edge by Humphrey Hawksley
The second book in the Rake Ozenna series is out on 29 November, and finds the Alaska National Guard major springing into action to help out a former fiancée. Trauma surgeon Carrie Walker finds herself stranded in Moscow after she answers an urgent call from her estranged uncle, senior Russian naval officer Artyom Semenov, a man who says he has vital secrets to share. Unwittingly, Carrie has put herself in grave danger and as Rake flies to her rescue he finds himself pitted against a dangerous enemy who has the power to trigger a global catastrophe. You’ll find more Eastern Bloc intrigue in Timothy Jay Smith’s The Fourth Courier.
Pre-order now on Amazon