Shadowy memories tinged with vengeance. Jazz solos. A cold corpse in the river. A heist. Hemp sandals… This week’s reading pile might just give you sensory overload. Let’s kick off our weekly news report with Catriona Ward’s latest novel, set in New England and with a decidedly creepy vibe to it.
Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward
The bestselling and award winning author of The Last House on Needless Street is back with another darkly sinister psychological thriller destined to keep you reading late into the night. In a windswept cottage overlooking the sea, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood companions and the shadowy figure of the Daggerman, who stalked the New England town where they spent their summers. And of Sky, Wilder’s one-time friend, who stole his unfinished memoir and turned it into a lurid bestselling novel. Wilder is ready to take his revenge, but as he begins writing, strange things happen – is Sky haunting him? Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward is out on 20 April.
Order now on Amazon or Bookshop.org
Viper’s Dream by Jake Lamar
If jazz noir ever gets to be a thing, Jake Lamar’s Viper’s Dream will be right there in the mix with Ray Celestin. Let’s travel back to 1936, which is when Clyde ‘The Viper’ Morton boards a train from Alabama to Harlem to chase his dream of being a jazz musician. But soon Clyde is forced to face the truth… he’s just not good enough to make the grade. And when his talent fails him, the would-be jazz player instead finds himself entangled in the dangerous tides of Harlem’s drug trade. It’s decision time – what he is willing to give up and what is he prepared to fight for? Pick up a copy on 20 April to find out.
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Sons and Brothers by Kim Hays
The second book in Kim Hays’ Polizei Bern series, Sons and Brothers is out on 18 April – and as it opens, an elderly surgeon is assaulted and thrown into Bern’s Aare river to drown on an icy November night. When his bruised corpse is found, his watch is missing. Could this be a mugging gone wrong? The more Swiss police detective Giuliana Linder and her assistant Renzo Donatelli learn about Johann Karl Gurtner, the more convinced they are that his death was not random. As Giuliana and Renzo begin the laborious task of tracking down people who hated Gurtner – and it’s a long list – they find themselves sidetracked by a growing attraction to one another and their ambivalence about having an affair.
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Enemies Closer by Tom Batt
Fans of short, sharp thrillers will love Enemies Closer by indie author Tom Batt. It’s out on 11 April and just over 160 pages long. Sworn emenies become allies in this British-based heist yarn. Jaded police detective Mike Palmer has been trying to take down suspected bank robber Donovan Carter for 18 months, but the crook has always managed to stay one step ahead of the game. The cat and mouse affair pales into insignificance when Mike’s ex-wife threatens to take their daughter away to another country and he needs to engage an expensive lawyer to fight her for custody. Trouble is, he’s broke and in desperation turns to Donovan for money. But what Mike is asked to do in return goes against everything he stands for.
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More Groovy Gumshoes edited by Michael Bracken
Here’s an anthology of short stories that’s far out, man! Edited by Michael Bracken, More Groovy Gumshoes follows the highs and lows of private eyes in the psychedelic 60s. From old-school PIs with their flat-tops, off-the-rack suits and well-worn brogues to the new breed with their shoulder-length hair, bell-bottoms and hemp sandals, this is a rollicking romp with stories by Jack Bates, CW Blackwell, Michael Bracken, NM Cedeño, Hugh Lessig, Steve Liskow, Adam Meyer, Tom Milani, Neil S Plakcy, Stephen D Rogers, Mark Thielman, Grant Tracey, Mark Troy, Andrew Welsh-Huggins and Robb White. Out on 10 April.
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