Adnan’s Story by Rabia Chaudry
We kick off with True Crime, and this is an account of the murder of a young Asian-American woman, Hai Min Lee. She was killed in January 1999, and her former boyfriend Adnan Syed was tried for her murder, and convicted. He has always protested his innocence, and the case has become a cause célèbre in America, and anyone who marvels at the complexities and contradictions of America’s legal system will enjoy this book. The case is still very much ‘live’, and there are almost daily developments, Rabia Chaudry’s book being just one strand in a case which seems as if it will run and run. You can find out more about the case here. Adnan’s Story has just been published by Century. Follow the link to see buying choices.
The Trespasser by Tana French
Tana French is the author of several best sellers set in the Irish capital city, Dublin. Don’t expect cheerful pub sing-songs and endless pints of Guinness, however, as French deals in the hard currency of violent death, and those who seek to bring killers to justice. Cops Stephen Moran and Antoinette Conway have crossed paths – and swords – before in French’s novels, but now they have to try to meld their spiky and abrasive personalities into a force that will bring to justice a stone-cold killer who is hoping that the police will fall into the trap he has laid for them, where the bait is a very obvious suspect. You’ll have to wait until late September to get your hands on a copy of The Trespasser, but you can pre-order by following the link. It’s published by Hodder & Stoughton.
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
The crime fiction landscape is, some might say, crowded with Detective Inspectors, but it seems our thirst for these middle-managers in police stations across the world seems unquenchable. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is as popular as any of his counterparts, and in this, his 17th outing, Gamache has a new job, as the new commander of the Sûreté Academy. He is well aware that there is a dangerous undertow of corruption and venality which sucks away at the integrity of young graduate officers, and he is determined to sweep the stable clean. All does not go according to plan, however, and when he is implicated in the death of a former Academy lecturer, his career – and life – come under severe threat. A Great Reckoning is published by Sphere and will be available at the end of August.
Enter By The Narrow Gate by David Carlson
To begin with, a little erudition, ‘Gate’ is a very common suffix in British street names, but the word does not refer to an opening, which can be opened and closed. Rather, it means a street, or thoroughfare, and is used thus in many biblical references, such as the title of this book. With this in mind, readers will find they are in on the start of what may well be an attractive new series. Many of the best crime stories deal in partnerships, and the latest in a long line brings together a monk, Father Nicholas Fortis, and Lieutenant Christopher Worthy of the Detroit Police Department. The action, however, takes place in New Mexico – Santa Fe, to be precise – and the two apparently mismatched sleuths combine their very different skills to solve the violent death of a young nun. We are well ahead of ourselves here, as this will not be available until November, but Coffeetown Press are confident that they have a winner on their hands. You can pre-order here.
Detonator by Andy McNab
Since his authorial debut with Bravo Two Zero in 1993, the former SAS soldier’s real identity has become public knowledge, but he has reinvented himself, at least in fiction, with the derring-do of international operator Nick Stone. Fans of the genre will find that Detonator ticks all the boxes. We have lone-wolf terrorists, a resurgent and malevolent Russia, a friend’s murder which cries out for vengeance, and enough exotic locations to satisfy a travel agent’s brochure. Detonator, published by Bantam Press, is the 17th adventure for Nick Stone and is already available to those who want a Kindle or a hardback. If you want the paperback edition, you’ll need to hang on until September.
There are just a handful of authors who, when you have their latest book in your hands, remind you of the sheer unalloyed pleasure that can come from reading. For me, that is the best feeling in the creative world, bar none – and that’s from someone who spent most of his professional life teaching and playing music. One of those treasured authors is Val McDermid, who you know is never going to let you down.
With a worldwide wave of support, optimism and hopes for a bright future, the African National Congress swept to power in 1994, and post-apartheid South Africa was born, blinking in the light, but healthy and vigorous. Paul Mendelson’s gripping novel of crime and corruption shows that the rainbow dream has not yet turned into a fully grown nightmare, but it reveals a country where racial and social tensions are never far from the surface.
TODAY’S DELIVERY brought two books which in different ways could not offer more of a contrast. One is by a writer who has achieved near-legendary status in his own lifetime, is believed to be Bill Clinton’s favourite author, and who has created a handful of truly memorable characters. The other is by an author making his crime fiction debut, but who is no stranger to the world of books and people who write them, as he is a former journalist who now runs a literary agency in London.
Humfrey Hunter certainly knows his way around the London literary scene, and his novel Storykiller is set in the English capital. We meet Jack Winter, a former hot-shot reporter who now puts his knowledge of how to make the headlines to a very different use – that of making them disappear if the client is rich enough. After unwisely accepting a new client, he finds himself in danger of becoming one of the headlines himself – as a corpse. 
Most critics have run out of superlatives to describe the work of Walter Mosley. British crime author 
The van skids to a halt on the lonely hill top lane. Occasional distant lights from isolated farms and cottages are all that pierce the darkness. The young men inside the van giggle as they open the rear doors and throw the girl from the dirty mattress on which she has been sprawled. She hits the roadside with a body-jarring crunch.
AUSTRALIAN CRIME FICTION doesn’t come my way anywhere near as much as I would like. I’m a massive fan of Peter Temple, but new books from him are as rare as hens’ teeth. For snappy, PI-style reads, there’s always Peter Corris and his Cliff Hardy novels. So, it was with great pleasure that I opened the packet from Little, Brown publishers, to find that I was holding a brand spanking new Australian crime story.
Newly promoted Detective Sergeant Fiona Griffiths, of South Wales Police, might be said to have a disability. She suffers from…..no, wait, we mustn’t use the word ‘suffers’, in case of causing offence. ‘Has’, maybe? OK, DS Griffiths has Cotard’s Syndrome. This strange condition can manifest itself in many ways, the most extreme of which convinces the person concerned that they are actually dead. Less extreme symptoms include partial disconnection between brain and body, and some of the traits of Asperger’s Syndrome, such as an inability to read or understand social gestures or convention.
fullybooked2017 