Yes, yes, it’s a criminal headline but we’re specialists in the field. So we lead with Karin Smirnoff’s new Salander novel, which has the chilling title The Girl With Ice in Her Veins. There are cuts as in film edits with Richard ‘Thorin Oakenshield’ Armitage and cut throats with the Secret Barrister, plus three authors new to our site – Sara Driscoll, Penny Zang and Damiano Polcaro. Read on for your latest crime fiction fix, on the rocks.
The Girl With Ice in Her Veins by Karin Smirnoff
In 2021, Karin Smirnoff was unveiled as the author to carry on the legacy of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series and the Swedish writer continues the task with The Girl With Ice in Her Veins, out on 28 August. In Gasskas, in the far north of Sweden, natural resources are being shamelessly exploited by shadowy multinationals. The only opposition comes from Lisbeth Salander’s niece Svala and a group of environmental activists. When a young reporter is murdered, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, now working at the Gasskas newspaper, decides to investigate. Meanwhile, Lisbeth Salander is searching for her old hacker friend, Plague, and uncovers a hit list containing both his name and Svala’s…
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The Cut by Richard Armitage
Stage and screen actor Richard Armitage found a whole new audience with his debut crime novel Geneva. Now he returns with The Cut, a standalone that arrives on 28 August. Barton Mallett made headlines 30 years ago as the scene of a brutal crime – one of Ben Knott’s school friends was murdered, another went to prison for it. Now the village is back in the spotlight as the location for a Hollywood film, with Ben’s son Nathan in the leading role. As filming begins, Ben is shocked to discover that the plot is much too close to home. Digging up the past is a dangerous business, but just how far is Ben prepared to go to protect his family… and himself?
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The Cut Throat Trial by The Secret Barrister writing as SJ Fleet
SJ Fleet is a debut authorwith an incomparable insider’s knowledge. Best known as The Secret Barrister, they have written several non-fiction books about the vagaries of the legal system. Legal thriller The Cut Throat Trial is published on 28 August, and focuses on the stories of three teenagers accused of the brutal murder of an elderly teacher on New Year’s Eve. Each of them denies it, putting the blame on the other two and giving their defence barristers a major headache. All the lawyers need to do is persuade a jury that their client is innocent, but they are up against a formidable opponent in the shape of a prosecutor who needs to win the case at all cost.
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Bastard by Damiano Polcaro
If hardboiled British crime fiction with a side order of dark humour is what you love, then make a beeline for Bastard by debut indie author Damiano Polcaro, out now. We’re in modern-day London, where our narrator likes to watch people and what they get up to. He’s rich, bored, and when he spots the abusive, the violent, the racist, he decides to ‘educate’ the bastards on how to behave. One wrong move and our man finds himself suddenly in the clutches of the criminal underworld, forced to work for a psychotic crime boss and dragged into a life or death game with players from the Cartel to Westminster. It’s time for our hero to decide where he stands.
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Doll Parts by Penny Zang
Back when best friends Nikki and Sadie were in college, they heard stories of the Sylvia Club, a campus legend surrounding the deaths of multiple Sylvia Plath-adoring students, all written off as suicides. With dreams of becoming a writer, Nikki becomes obsessed with the tragic tales, and the dead girls start to haunt her nightmares. Now 20 years have passed, Nikki is dead and Sadie is pregnant to the husband of her estranged best friend. She falls into Nikki’s perfect life, surrounded by memories. But Sadie becomes convinced that clues Nikki left behind are pointing to the truth of what happened to the Sylvia Club – could Nikki be the most recent victim? Find out when Doll Parts by Penny Zang is out now.
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Shadow Playby Sara Driscoll
The danger of sharing too much online is at the centre of Shadow Playby Sara Driscoll, out on 26 August. Chicago physical therapist Krista Evans finds that her clients rely on her life and love advicejust as much as her massages – which gives her an idea… why not live stream the experience for her followers? With help from a tech-savvy friend, Krista is soon up and running, and gathers a huge audience. It’s all going well until an account with the username Chase547 takes umbrage at what she tells him, and begins a campaign of harassment that moves far beyond the keyboard and into her home.
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