Angelica’s Smile – Andrea Camilleri
Vigata’s finest is back: this time in a novel which the eagle-eyed among you will have already seen in the UK as part of the latest season of Inspector Montalbano on BBC4. As ever, though, Stephen Sartarelli’s printed translations of Andrea Camilleri’s works are a delight and Angelica’s Smile, due in mid-June, is no different. ...
A Colder War – Charles Cumming
Love Le Carré? A Colder War by Charles Cumming is a gripping international thriller in a similar, modern vein. The Times has described former MI6 operative Cumming as ‘the man who most successfully gets under the skin of Britain’s intelligence agencies’. Now that’s an endorsement. Fictional espionage is in safe hands. MI6’s Head of Station in ...
The Abduction – Jonathan Holt
I’ve always thought if there was one city that embodied intrigue, with its dark water and its conspiratorial corners and alleyways, it’s Venice. All through its long history, the city has been home to power struggles, corruption and shady dealings. That’s where we find ourselves in Abduction, the eagerly-awaiting second part of Jonathan Holt’s Carnivia ...
Want you dead – Peter James
I’ve been looking forward to this: the moody shots of a pier in the half-light, the dark shadows lurking around the fairground… It’s got to be the cover of the newest book to feature Brighton’s DSI Roy Grace. Want You Dead by Peter James is the tenth book in this series and it’s out just ...
The Skin Collector – Jeffery Deaver
I’m not sure if I’m allowed to begin a post with a woohoo, but I’m going to do it anyway. Woohoo! If The Skin Collector by Jeffery Deaver sounds a bit like a long-awaited follow-up to The Bone Collector, well that’s because that’s exactly what it is. We now live in a world where tattoos ...
A Dark and Twisted Tide – Sharon Bolton
Like all the very best trilogies, the Lacey Flint Trilogy is now up to part four, with A Dark and Twisted Tide by Sharon (formerly SJ) Bolton. Former detective Lacey Flint left CID for a safer, quieter life with the river police – or that’s what she thought. She moves into a houseboat on a quiet Thames ...
Wolf – Mo Hayder
Wolf is Mo Hayder’s tenth novel, and like its predecessors, it’s most definitely not for the faint-hearted. An author who prides herself on her honesty, Mo doesn’t gloss or steer our emotional reactions to events; she simply describes them in chilling and visceral detail. Her debut, Birdman, was described by The Guardian as a ‘first-class ...
A Lovely Way to Burn – Louise Welsh
Yay! The start of a brand new trilogy. We thriller fans are serial readers: we have our signatures, our readerly modus operandi and we indulge ourselves for as long as we can get away with. The start of a trilogy always gets us excited. A Lovely Way to Burn by Louise Welsh is the first ...
