Kiwi crime fiction kicks things off in this week’s new books report, and RWR McDonald’s debut novel, inspired by Nancy Drew truly does look… inspired! Can’t wait to tuck into that one. Plus we’ve got a book with a rock soundtrack by Mark S Bonta, and the latest from Bryan J Mason, Barbara Havelocke, Jess Armstrong and Noelle W Ihli. Read on and choose your favourite.
The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace by RWR McDonald
Meet Tipp Chan. She’s 11, lives in a small town in New Zealand and is obsessed with her Uncle Pike’s old Nancy Drew books. She longs to have a mystery to solve, so when her teacher is found dead beside Riverstone’s only traffic light, Tipp, her uncle and his boyfriend team up to form The Nancys, a secret detective club. It’s all meant to be a harmless adventure, but after a close call with the murderer, The Nancys must close ranks and knuckle down to some serious sleuthing. Winner of the Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel, RWR McDonald’s The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace makes its UK debut on 13 November.
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Song of the Embers by Mark S Bonta
If you’re ready to Rokk, then Song of the Embers by Mark S Bonta is sure to strike a power chord. This multimedia mystery has a hard-core rock star as its protagonist. We first met Michael Rokk in Hard Rokk Murder, and now he and Detective Gina Bauer must resume their unlikely partnership after the body of a young woman is discovered marked with a strange symbol. It’s a mystery that will take them from St Petersburg, Florida to the backroads near Sebring. And as the story unfolds, so does a specially-composed rock soundtrack, with tunes that encompass the characters, setting and plot points. It’s out on 14 November. Kerrang!!
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Dead On by Bryan J Mason
Fans of crime fiction with a side order of black humour will be delighted to hear that Harry Burnard and The Squad are back on 5 November in Bryan J Mason’s Dead On. We’re in Belfast in the 1990s, a city divided by The Troubles, and Harry and his team are looking for new criminal cases to work. It’s slim pickings though, because there is no crime – only terrorism – and they’re expressly banned from working terrorist cases. It’s clear that no one is quite as they seem. Take Carlo Fontaine, head of the IRA’s Nutting Squad and also a valuable asset to the British Security Services. Meanwhile Fergie Devine has murder on his mind. It’s all about to blow, and Harry and his squad are right in the firing line.
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Estella’s Fury by Barbara Havelocke
Great Expectations meets Killing Eve in the Dickens-inspired Gothic historical crime novel Estella’s Fury by Barbara Havelocke, published on 13 November. We’re in London, it’s 1835 and Estella is the talk of high society. Her beauty is renowned, but there is plenty going on behind that pretty face. Just what has she done with her husband? And could her past crimes come back to haunt her? In the hope of finding some peace, she visits her friend, Lady Taykall – but the disappearance of a servant girl threatens to bring Estella’s carefully constructed world tumbling down around her. Is it time for her to strike back, once again?
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The Devil in Oxford by Jess Armstrong
Christmas 1923 is fast approaching, but cheer is destined to be in short supply in Jess Armstrong’s The Devil in Oxford, out on 4 November. Ruby Vaughn and her octogenarian housemate and colleague Mr Owen are in the university city to attend a handful of his antiquarian society meetings, until the discovery of the body of disgraced scholar Julius Harker amid his exhibition of Egyptian antiquities looted by Napoleon spreads panic throughout the cobbled streets. Ruby reluctantly agrees to investigate at the behest of an old friend – but things go awry with the unwelcome reappearance of a face from the past…
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Forget You Saw Her by Noelle W Ihli
It was 17 years ago that Sabrina gave away her baby daughter for adoption, and she has thought about Andrea every day since, hoping that she’s happy and loved. A letter from the police changes all that – Andrea is missing, and the news throws Sabrina into a frenzy. She never knew her daughter, but something tells Sabrina that Andrea is never coming home. She’s haunted by dreams in which Andrea is trying to tell her something. But someone is watching; someone who is desperate to keep the truth under wraps. Forget You Saw Her by Noelle W Ihli comes out on 6 November.
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