Often we talk about the wide geographic spread of the crime novels that appear on our digital pages, but today’s news column might be interesting because of the different professions of the characters involved. We don’t have any butchers, bakers or candlestick makers, but we do have a lawyer, a monk, an aristocrat (is that a job?), a forensic accountant and, erm… a detective, of course!
Let’s get things going with that deadly writing combo Dreda Say Mitchell and Ryan Carter who have created a troubled solicitor…
Believe Me by Dreda Say Mitchell and Ryan Carter
Believe Me is a psychological thriller co-written by award-winning crime writers Dreda Say Mitchell and Ryan Carter, and it comes out on 25 April. Lawyer Gabby lost her mother 25 years ago from an undisclosed illness but memories come flooding back when she finds her mother’s name on the deeds of a house at the heart of a property wrangle. As she tries to piece together the dark and disturbing history of Ocean Haven, Gabby begins to experience the same unexplained pains her mother experienced all those years ago. Is she about to die in the same way? Or is Ocean Haven hiding a secret about her mother’s past – and Gabby’s future?
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
The Monk by Tim Sullivan
Book five in the series featuring neurodiverse DS George Cross finds him in something of a quandary. Cross has always wondered why his mother left him when he was a child. Now she is back and he has answers – but this unexpected reunion is not anything he’s used to dealing with. Maybe work can set him back on track? Or maybe not. The body of a monk is found savagely beaten to death in a woodland near Bristol. Nothing is known about Brother Dominic’s past, which makes investigating difficult. How can Cross unpick a crime when they don’t know anything about the victim? The Monk by Tim Sullivan is published on 27 April.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
The Vulture Fund by Jeff Buick
A woman visiting Boston is brutally killed in a drive-by shooting – a crime that opens the door to a strange case involving a dead hedge fund billionaire and a connection to a village in faraway India. Her murder appears to be a case of wrong place, wrong time, but as Curtis Westcott and his team at Boston Homicide dig in, they discover a link to the death of a wealthy and powerful financier. So, off to Mumbai goes Detective Aislinn Byrne. Meanwhile, Stan Lamers goes face-to-face with a violent suspect and Bryan Cheung learns how deceptive a homicide investigation can be. The Vulture Fund is the third book in the Curtis Westcott crime series by Jeff Buick, and it’s out on 25 April
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The Maiden by Kate Foster
Kate Foster’s historical crime novel The Maiden is inspired by a real-life case and won the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect Award in 2020. Set in 17th century Scotland, this clever whodunit revolves around a respectable noblewoman accused of the shocking murder of her lover. In Edinburgh in the autumn of 1679, Lady Christian Nimmo is arrested and charged with the murder of her lover, James Forrester, and branded an adulteress, whore and murderess. But it is true? She wasn’t the only woman in Forrester’s life, and certainly not the only one who might have had cause to wish him dead… Pick up a copy on 27 April and find out.
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Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow
Martin Hench is 67, single, and successful in a career stretching back to the beginnings of Silicon Valley. He’s also an A-list forensic accountant who knows everything there is to know about computer hardware and software, is as comfortable with social media as people a quarter his age, and an expert on international money-laundering and shell-company chicanery. Now Martin’s been roped into a job that’s more dangerous than anything he’s ever agreed to before – and it will take every ounce of his skill to get out alive. Grab a copy of Cory Doctorow’s Red Team Blues when it comes out on 27 April.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
Read about last week’s new crime novels here.