A SONG FROM DEAD LIPS by William Shaw

A SONG FROM DEAD LIPS William Shaw (williamshaw.com) Quercus (www.quercusbooks.co.uk) £7.99 When a young woman is found strangled and naked yards away from the recording studio on Abbey Road made famous by The Beatles, the case falls to Cathal Breen, a member of the Met’s D Division. Still recovering from the death of his father, […]

THE AXEMAN’S JAZZ by Ray Celestin

THE AXEMAN’S JAZZ Ray Celestin Mantle (www.panmacmillan.com) £16.99 New Orleans, May 1919. A man, styling himself the Axeman, has already brutally murdered six people, leaving tarot cards by their mutilated bodies, and has sent a letter to the Times-Picayune promising more in the future. Independently of each other, three people – Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot; […]

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HARRY QUEBERT AFFAIR by Joël Dicker

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE HARRY QUEBERT AFFAIR Joël Dicker (joeldicker.com) Translated by Sam Taylor Maclehose Press (maclehosepress.com) £20.00 Late in the summer of 1975, Nola Kellergan disappeared from the small seaside town of Somerset, New Hampshire. Almost thirty-three years later, her body is found buried on Harry Quebert’s land, along with the original manuscript of […]

MIDNIGHT CROSSROAD by Charlaine Harris

MIDNIGHT CROSSROAD Charlaine Harris (charlaineharris.com) Gollancz (www.gollancz.co.uk) £18.99 You might pass through the town of Midnight without noticing it, if it weren’t for the stoplight at the intersection of Witch Light Road and the Davy highway. Most of the town residents are very proud of the stoplight, because they know that without it the town […]

ABOVE by Isla Morley

ABOVE Isla Morley (www.islamorley.com) Two Roads (www.tworoadsbooks.com) £13.99 The latest book in the Hodderscape Review Project comes from Hodder’s sister imprint, Two Roads, and is, at least early in the book, reminiscent of Emma Donoghue’s excellent Room. The Review Project’s March book was Robert A. Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. You won’t find […]

THE KILLING SEASON by Mason Cross

THE KILLING SEASON Mason Cross (carterblake.net) Orion (www.orionbooks.co.uk) £12.99 The first thing you should know about me is that my name is not Carter Blake. That name no more belonged to me than the hotel room I was occupying when the call came in. Caleb Wardell killed nineteen people with a sniper rifle before he […]

THE INVESTIGATION by Jung-Myung Lee

THE INVESTIGATION Jung-Myung Lee Translated by Chi-Young Kim (www.chiyoungkim.com) Mantle (www.panmacmillan.com) £16.99 Fukuoka Prison, shortly after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour, is used for the incarceration of, amongst others, dissidents and those of anti-Japanese tendencies. For the most part , these people are Koreans, a race whose language has been outlawed and whose culture […]

IRÈNE by Pierre Lemaitre

IRÈNE Pierre Lemaitre (www.pierrelemaitre.com) Translated by Frank Wynne (www.terribleman.com) MacLehose Press (maclehosepress.com) £16.99 Released: 13th March 2014 Commandant Camille Verhœven’s team are called to the scene of a grisly murder in a well-appointed apartment set in the middle of a largely deserted industrial estate. Two women have, quite literally, been torn apart and the only […]

THE BLACK-EYED BLONDE by Benjamin Black

THE BLACK-EYED BLONDE Benjamin Black (www.benjaminblackbooks.com) Mantle (www.panmacmillan.com) £16.99 It seems like a straightforward case: Nico Peterson, the boyfriend of Philip Marlowe’s married client, has disappeared. It’s a scenario Marlowe has investigated often and it usually means the boyfriend has wanted to end the affair and decided disappearing might be an easier option than going […]

SEASON TO TASTE by Natalie Young

SEASON TO TASTE or HOW TO EAT YOUR HUSBAND Natalie Young Tinder Press (www.tinderpress.co.uk) £12.99 She cleaned the nails with a nailbrush, rinsing in the sink; and then she brushed the skin with an oil brush to give it a good crisp. She rubbed all over the hand with olive oil and salt and then […]