Things get under way with a bang in this week’s new books column as an explosion rips through the English city of Durham in LJ Ross’s latest novel. The Shrine leads off a package of five books, which also include The Girl Beneath the Sea by popular magician Andrew Mayne. Sharon Bolton, Catherine Moloney and Carolyn Kirby also have new novels out. More choice for you as the Coronavirus lockdown continues…
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The Shrine by LJ Ross
Northeast England is fertile ground for crime author LJ Ross, whose DCI Ryan series hits book 16 with The Shrine. The deeply religious history of the area continues to play a role in the stories – and in this one, in addition to investigating the shooting of a colleague, Ryan is searching for a priceless relic of St Cuthbert following an explosion at Durham Cathedral. A new and deadly police procedural from an English author who has garnered a legion of fans over the past few years. Out 26 April.
Pre-order now on Amazon
The Girl Beneath the Sea by Andrew Mayne
This Florida-based mystery has seen a surge of interest since it was first released on Kindle, and on 1 May it will land as a paperback. Andrew Mayne seems to have created a new sub-genre here, the police diver mystery. Sloan McPherson is the diver in question; she’s who the police go to when smugglers and modern-day pirates ditch their loot – or dead bodies – in Florida’s beautiful waters. The body of a woman found floating in a canal puts McPherson on a collision course, not only with the killer but also, it seems, some of her colleagues.
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The Split by Sharon Bolton
A new stand alone by Sharon Bolton is set to arrive on 30 April, and it’s a tense psychological thriller set on the remote Antarctic island of South Georgia. The place is home to glaciologist Felicity Lloyd, a woman who delights in her solitude – because she lives in fear that her ex-husband Freddie may one day find her. Felicity jumped at the chance to work in isolation and hide from him, but now Freddie is out of prison after serving time for murder and he won’t give up until he finds her. All hope is not lost, however – rescue could be on the way, in the unlikely form of a Cambridge doctor who has taken an interest in Felicity and Freddie’s case from the get-go.
Pre-order now on Amazon
Crime in the Heat by Catherine Moloney
This series featuring Detective Gil Markham has reached book seven – maybe time to dip in a toe? Markham and his partner Detective George Noakes of Bromgrove CID are flummoxed when a serial killer begins to target people who work at a local community centre. The first victim is 20-something English teacher Bex Shawcross, whose strangled corpse is found stuffed in the refrigerator in the doctor’s office. She seems to have had something of a reputation, but it’s hard to solve a crime when no-one is prepared to speak ill of the dead. Then the killer strikes again… and again, with no obvious link other than their place of work. Can Markham and Shawcross solve this one before anyone else bites the dust? Out now for Kindle.
Buy now on Amazon
When We Fall by Carolyn Kirby
Carolyn Kirby’s debut novel The Conviction of Cora Burns set out her stall as an author of historical crime to be reckoned with. Now she turns her attention to World War II, with a book that’s available on Kindle and comes out in print on 7 May. At its heart is the Katyn Massacre of 1940, when over 22,000 Polish military officers were murdered under orders of the Soviet Union, but as the story begins it is 1943, and fog forces pilot Vee Katchatourian to make an emergency landing in England, where she meets enigmatic RAF airman Stefan Bergel. The meeting is about to change her life – and that of Polish resistance worker Ewa Hartman, mourning the loss of her lover, Stefan, who was taken by the Soviets at the start of the War…
Buy now on Amazon