New title from Rennie Airth in 2009

It seems Rennie Airth is consistent. The Dead of Winter is to be published five years after the publication of The Blood-Dimmed Tide which itself was five years after River of Darkness. The series stars shell-shocked detective John Madden, first in the 1920s and moves on to the 1930s for the second book. I loved River of Darkness and a third book in the series is an event to look forward to.

Synopsis: He could see in searchlights probing the night sky, illuminating the barrage balloons which floated like giant moths above the darkened city to hinder the approach the V-2s which descended without warning like thunderclaps and which Londoners had come to fear more than any other weapon used against them. During a blackout on the streets of London on a freezing evening in late 1944, a young Polish land girl, Rosa Nowak, is suddenly and brutally killed. For the police, their resources already stretched by the new war regulations and the thriving black market, this is a shocking and seemingly random crime. No one can find any reason why someone would want to murder an innocent refugee.For the former police inspector John Madden, the crime hits close to home. Rosa was working on his farm and he feels personally responsible for not protecting her. His old colleagues Angus Sinclair and Billy Styles are still at the Yard but struggle to make sense of their few clues. Their only lead points towards Europe - but as the war rages across the continent, will they find the killer before he strikes again?

The Dead of Winter is due out in May 2009 (UK).