Genre round-up: crime fiction
A selection of the best in new crime fiction, contemporary and historical, from the Bookhuger publishers for the month of August…
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Unholy Awakening, by Michael Gregorio
A female corpse is found in the town of Lotingen. The girl’s neck has been ripped open, all the blood drained from the body. Hanno Stiffeniis hastens to investigate a case more terrifying than murder. Would any human being kill in such a gruesome fashion?
Emma Rimmele has come to Lotingen to bury her mother. A beautiful woman travelling with a coffin in her baggage, Emma attracts gossip like a magnet. When a corpse is discovered near the house where she is living, speculation about the mysterious stranger reaches fever pitch. When two more ravaged bodies are found, fingers point accusingly in her direction. One word is heard on every tongue. Vampire.
Magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis defends Emma Rimmele against the hideous accusation. Has he fallen under the vampire’s spell, as his neighbours believe? News arrives from a nearby town. A French officer’s throat has been ripped out. Another French soldier has bled to death. The horror of Lotingen is happening elsewhere. Colonel Lavedrine, a criminologist in the Grand Armée, is ordered to collaborate with Hanno Stiffeniis. Two years earlier, they had worked together to solve a murder (Days of Atonement, 2007), despite fierce clashes of character and opinion.
Once again, each man is drawn into the forbidden world of the other. Stiffeniis takes his chance among French soldiers vying for power, while Lavedrine must tread dark graveyard paths in pursuit of a curse which has plagued Prussia for centuries.
They are seeking a cold-blooded killer.
A killer thirsting for warm blood from a pulsing vein.
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All the Colours of the Town, by Liam McIlvanney
When Glasgow journalist Gerry Conway receives a phone call promising unsavoury information about Scottish Justice Minister Peter Lyons, his instinct is that this apparent scoop won’t warrant space in the Tribune. But as Conway’s curiosity grows and his leads proliferate, his investigation takes him from Scotland to Belfast. Shocked by the sectarian violence of the past, and by the prejudice and hatred he encounters even now, Conway soon grows obsessed with the story of Lyons and all he represents. And as he digs deeper, he comes to understand that there is indeed a story to be uncovered – and that there are people who will go to great lengths to ensure that it remains hidden.
Compelling, vividly written and shocking, All the Colours of the Town is not only the story of an individual and his community, it is also a complex and thrilling enquiry into loyalty, betrayal and duty.
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Captured, by Neil Cross
Even though he is still young, Kenny has just weeks to live. Before he dies, he wants to find his childhood best friend Callie Barton and thank her for the kindness she showed him when they were at school together.
But when Kenny begins his search, he discovers that Callie Barton has gone missing. Although cleared of any involvement, her husband Jonathan seems to be hiding something.
Kenny has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. And knowing that time is running out on him, he’s prepared to do whatever it takes…
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House of the Lost, by Sarah Rayne
When novelist Theo Kendal inherits the remote Norfolk house in which his cousin Charmery was murdered, he believes it will bring him closer to the truth about her death. It will also be the ideal place to finish his new book.
But the bleak Fenn House is a lonely and sometimes uncomfortable place to spend the winter. And the strangest thing is that Theo’s new novel seems to be writing itself – and heading in an unplanned direction. Theo finds himself describing a young boy called Matthew who lives in constant fear of a visit from the cold-eyed men. Struggling to understand the dangerous secrets that surround him and his family, Matthew inhabits a terrifying world where people die in macabre circumstances, where they can be imprisoned without trial or reason, their identities wiped from the world forever.
And then Theo discovers that Matthew and his family really existed, part of a dark and violent segment of recent history that threatens to reach across the years to tear his life apart.
And somehow it all connects to the death of his cousin Charmery.
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Paint it Black, by PJ Parrish
Florida’s scenic Sereno Key has been shaken to the core by a ritualistic serial killer who is targeting black men, leaving his victims faceless and marked with spray paint. Finished as a cop in Michigan, Louis Kincaid is persuaded to take the case as a PI and he joins forces with rookie FBI profiler, Emily Farantino.
But without a badge Louis is trying to work in limbo, not knowing where his limits end, and the suspect’s rights begin. Hindered by a false confession, an incompetent county sheriff, and the killer’s changing pattern, Louis is still struggling to deal with his demons from his previous case.
Before long it becomes clear that these gruesome murders are no ordinary hate crimes, and Louis finds himself the next victim of a predator more twisted than he ever imagined…
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Free Country, by Jeremy Duns
It is May 1969, and MI6 double agent Paul Dark stands alongside mourners at the funeral of Sir Colin Templeton; the former head of the organisation, the man he knew simply as ‘Chief’ — and the man he killed in cold blood.
Dark has got away with it, evading the attentions of both his fellow British spies and the KGB operatives to whom he long ago pledged loyalty. But that precarious security is about to be shattered, launching Dark back into the heart of an international conspiracy and making him a target for both exposure and assassination.
Desperate to escape his predicament, Dark gambles everything on one last throw of the dice, exposing his Soviet handler to the British. But before long, he finds he has no choice but to go on the run again, taking him to the labyrinthine backstreets of Rome. The race is on to stop a deadly plot that dates back to the early years of the Cold War.
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The Predator of Batignolles, by Claude Izner
The fifth Victor Legris Mystery.
In the turbulent Parisian summer of 1893,Victor Legris has vowed to give up the dangerous hobby of amateur sleuthing to concentrate on selling books.
But a murderer is at large in Paris, intent on revenge for events that took place many years before during the Commune.
And when a bookbinder friend of Victor’s becomes the latest victim of the mysterious Leopard, the young bookseller feels impelled to resume his detective work and uncover the identity of the Batignolles predator.
