We haven’t seen quite as much historical crime fiction as we’re used to so far this year, so it’s exciting to open this week’s new books report with a novel harking back to the period just after World War I. Emma Flint’s Other Women looks wonderfully conceived and pretty dark too.
In the pile this week we’re also highlighting a new Harker graphic novel from Gibson and Danks, a trip to Montevideo with Mercedes Rosende, some people trafficking noir with Karen Katchur and a New Zealand procedural from Vanda Symon. Which one would you start with?
Other Women by Emma Flint
Her debut novel, Little Deaths, won acclaim in 2017 – now Emma Flint is back with Other Women, which comes out on 23 February and is based on a murder that happened almost 100 years ago. The country is still in mourning five years after World War I has ended, and the women who lost fathers, sons, husbands and sweethearts must valiantly carry on. Beatrice Cade lost no one, has no one, and decides to take a job in the city, where a fleeting encounter changes everything. Kate Ryan is a wife, mother and accomplished liar. On the south coast of England a horrific murder occurs and two women who should have never met are connected forever…
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
The Hand that Feeds You by Mercedes Rosende
In the mean streets of Montevideo, Uruguay, the robbery of an armoured vehicle goes wrong – which is good news for the intrepid Ursula Lopez, who manages to snatch all the loot and get away… no thanks to her inept companion Diego. Now the failed robbers are on their trail, and so are the police and Ursula’s sister. But Ursula is a woman of great talents and resources and if anyone can get away with this, she can. She’s a murderess with a sense of humour, and practically invisible to the men who dominate the deeply macho society of Uruguay. Translated by Tim Gutteridge, The Hand that Feeds You is sequel to Crocodile Tears, and it comes out on 23 February.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
Harker: The Black Hound Part Two by Roger Gibson and Vincent Danks
Harker is a name well known in the British indie comic scene and fans contributed to a successful Kickstarter campaign which has helped to publish the second part of The Black Hound in graphic novel format. DCI Harker is enjoying a well-earned break in Whitby when a famous novelist is killed right in front of him. Is Harker being set up as a suspect? He decides to back away and relax on the dodgems. DS Critchley, however, needs his help when another body washes in with the tide. Could Harker really be the murderer? He’s certainly grumpy enough… A unique homage to classic TV detective shows, filled with humour, wit, adventure and mystery, Harker: The Black Dog Part Two by Roger Gibson and Vincent Danks is out on 23 February.
Pledge on Kickstarter
The Greedy Three by Karen Katchur
A kidnapping goes awry in The Greedy Three, written by Karen Katchur and out on 28 February. The trio in question consists of kidnapper Noah, hired to buy a baby from a human trafficking ring and smuggle her across the Canadian border for $500,000; teenage runaway Eve, who takes the infant and the sack full of cash away from him; and Hester, an outcast, living alone in a backwoods cottage, harbouring secrets of her own. Who is likely to come out on top here? With the law hot on their trail and the traffickers’ hired guns closing in, this unlikely trio is soon at one another’s throats in a wildly inventive and darkly comic thriller.
Order now on Amazon
Expectant by Vanda Symon
Vanda Symon and her creation Detective Sam Shephard return on 16 February with the release of Expectant. The shocking murder of a heavily pregnant woman throws the New Zealand city of Dunedin into a tailspin, and the devastating crime feels uncomfortably close to home for Shephard, who is counting down the days to her own maternity leave. She is confined to desk duties, but that doesn’t stop the mother-to-be from searching for the missing link between this brutal crime and a string of cases involving mothers and children in the past. As the killer’s crimes escalate, no one is safe and the clock is ticking in this darkly chilling thriller.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
