New Releases - August 2021

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in August 2021 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). August and future months (and years) can be found on the Future Releases page. If I've missed anything or got the date wrong, do please leave a comment.

• Anthology: Many Deadly Return (ed. Martin Edwards)
• Allen, Jo - Death in the Woods (ebook only) #6 DCI Jude Satterthwaite, Lake District
• Amsinck, Heidi - My Name is Jensen
• Anderson, Lin - The Killing Tide #17 Rhona MacLeod, forensic scientist, Glasgow
• Batchelor, Penny - Her New Best Friend
• Bonda, Katarzyna - Conspiracy of Blood #2 Sasza Zaluska
• Calkins, Susanna - The Cry of the Hangman #6 Lucy Campion, Chambermaid, 17thC
• Cameron, Stella - The Playing Fields #7 Alex Duggins, Folly-on-Weir, Cotswolds
• Candlish, Louise - The Heights
• Carpenter, Elisabeth - The Vacancy
• Cavanagh, Steve - The Devil's Advocate #6 Eddie Flynn, USA
• Chaudhuri, A A - She's Mine
• Clark, Cassandra - The Day of the Serpent #2 Brother Chandler, 1399
• Conway, Simon - The Saboteur #2 Jude Lyon, MI6
• Croft, Elle - Buried
• Cutler, Judith - Death's Long Shadow #3 Matthew Rowsley, Steward & Mrs Faulkner, Housekeeper, Victorian Era
• Cutts, Lisa - Murder in the Village (ebook only) #4 Harry Powell
• De Giovanni, Maurizio - Bread For the Bastards of Pizzofalcone #5 Bastards of Pizzofalcone
• de la Motte, Anders - End of Summer #3 Seasons Quartet
• Dennison, Hannah - Danger at the Cove #2 Island Sisters
• Dixon, Patricia - The Other Woman
• Dunn, Matthew - The Spy Thief #5 Ben Sign, MI6
• Ellis, Kate - The Stone Chamber #25 Wesley Peterson (policeman) and Neil Watson (archaeologist), Tradmouth, Devon
• Ellwood, Nuala - The Perfect Life
• Feeney, Alice - Rock Paper Scissors
• Fitzek, Sebastian - The Soul Breaker
• Gatland, Jack - A Ritual For the Dying #6 DI Declan Walsh
• Grace, Ed - A Deadly Weapon #4 Jay Sullivan
• Gregory, Susanna - The Chancellor's Secret #25 Matthew Bartholomew, 14th Century physician, Cambridge
• Hamilton, Karen - The Ex-Husband
• Haughton, Emma - The Dark
• Hawkins, Paula - A Slow Fire Burning
• Hawkswood, Sarah - Wolf at the Door #9 Bradecote and Catchpoll, Worcestershire, C12 Bradecote and Catchpoll, Worcestershire, C12
• Holliday, Susi - Substitute
• Horowitz, Anthony - A Line to Kill #3 Detective Daniel Hawthorne
• Howard, Catherine Ryan - 56 Days
• Hrib, Bogdan - Resilience
• Huber, Anna Lee - Murder Most Fair #5 Verity Kent, England, 1919
• Hunter, M A - Repressed #5 The Missing Children Case Files
• Jameson, Emma - A Death at Candlewick Castle #2 Jemima Jago, Librarian, Isles of Scilly
• Jecks, Michael - The Moorland Murderers #6 Jack Blackjack, Tudor Era
• Jolly, Meg - The Mistakes We Deny #3 DI Ward, Yorkshire
• Jones, Sandie - The Guilt Trip
• Kent, Anna - The House of Whispers
• Kirk, JD - Colder than the Grave #8 DCI Logan
• La Plante, Lynda - Unholy Murder #7 WPC Tennison
• Lawrance, Jodie - The Evidence #2 Detective Helen Carter, Edinburgh, 1970s
• Legat, Anna - Death Comes to Bishops Well #1 Shires Mysteries
• Louth, Nick - The Body on the Moor #8 DCI Craig Gillard
• Mark, David - Darkness Falls #1 McAvoy Prequel
• Marsh, JJ - Wolf Tones
• Marshall, Laura - The Anniversary
• McDermid, Val - 1979 #1 Allie Burns, Journalist
• McDermott, Alan - When Death Strikes #4 Eva Driscoll
• McGeorge, Chris - Half-Past Tomorrow
• McIver, Ruth - I Shot the Devil
• McLean, Rachel - The Island Murders #3 DCI Lesley Clarke, Dorset
• Mo, Johanna - The Night Singer #1 Detective Hanna Duncker
• Morris, Vera - The Great Shroud #5 Anglian Detective Agency series
• Paulson-Ellis, Mary - Emily Noble's Disgrace
• Robb, Candace - The Riverwoman's Dragon #13 Owen Archer
• Robson, Amanda - The Unwelcome Guest
• Rose, C E - The House on the Water's Edge (ebook only)
• Russell, Leigh - Deep Cover #16 DI Geraldine Steel
• Saunders, Kate - The Mystery of the Sorrowful Maiden #3 Laetitia Rodd, Private Detective, Victorian Era
• Sennen, Mark - Puppet (ebook only) #7 DI Charlotte Savage
• Sharp, Zoe - Trial Under Fire #1 Charlie Fox Prequel
• Sheridan, Sara - Celtic Cross #9 Mirabelle Bevan (retired Secret Service), 1950s
• Silver, Abi - The Midas Game #5 Burton and Lamb
• Sivakumaran, Anita - Cold Sun
• Skelton, Douglas - A Rattle of Bones #3 Rebecca Connolly
• Smith, Alex - Every Mother's Son #6 DCI Robert Kett, Norfolk
• Spencer, Sally - Poison #14 DCI Monika Paniatowski, Whitebridge
• Sykes, S D - The Good Death #5 Oswald de Lacy, 14C Kent
• Temple, Rose - A Fatal Move (ebook only) #3 ex-Met PC Jemima Cotton, Little Cote
• Trinchieri, Camilla - The Bitter Taste of Murder #2 Nico Doyle, Chianti, Italy
• Unge, Christian - Hell and High Water #1 Dr Tekla Berg
• Waller, Anita - Blood Red
• Young, Glenda - Murder at the Seaview Hotel #1 Helen Dexter, Scarborough

E C R Lorac - Two-Way Murder

Despite Martin Edwards' best efforts it would be fair to say I have not read much classic crime fiction other than that by Agatha Christie, and a few by D L Sayers. However like a very large ship I am slowly turning in the right direction.

Last year I reviewed Anthony Gilbert's Death in Fancy Dress and earlier this year I listened to the Shedunnit podcast featuring E C R Lorac. I believe I chose this particular episode to download as author Sarah Ward featured on it. Sarah gave a talk at 'Bodies in the Library 2019' about E C R Lorac, a prolific author but of whom little is now known. 

You can read the transcript of the episode or listen to it at Shedunnit.

Fortunately the British Library has published several of Lorac's books as well as Crossed Skis which was released under her pseudonym of Carol Carnac.

I rootled round my library's catalogue and saw that they had several books including from 2021, Two-Way Murder, which I promptly reserved. I was surprised to find out in the introduction by Martin Edwards that this is its first publication, having been written shortly before the author's death in 1958.

I enjoyed Two-Way Murder very much. Initially I was worried that I'd chosen something very similar to Death in Fancy Dress as both seemed to feature a significant Ball and a young lady every man wanted to marry. Fortunately that wasn't the case.

Two-Way Murder revolves around the discovery of a body in the road, a road that was clear only a few hours earlier and a road very lightly used. The police struggle to even identify the body let alone how he came to be in the road.  All the main characters have alibis for the estimated time of death and the local police are stumped until Inspector Waring from CID is brought in and he has a brainwave.

The story is narrated from several points of view but even so they are quite cagey with the reader so even if the 'who' is guessable/deducible then I don't think the "why" is. This does not detract from an atmospheric whodunnit, set in a chilly, misty January on the English south coast. 

I shall be seeking out more by this author.

2021 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year - Winner

The winner of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2021 was We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker, with a Highly Commended for The Last Crossing by Brian McGilloway.

More details can be found at the Harrogate Festivals blog.

Amazon blurb: For fans of Jane Harper's The Dry comes a powerful novel about the lengths we will go to keep our family safe. This is a story about good and evil and how life is lived somewhere in between.

Thirty years ago, Vincent King became a killer.

Now, he's been released from prison and is back in his hometown of Cape Haven, California. Not everyone is pleased to see him. Like Star Radley, his ex-girlfriend, and sister of the girl he killed.

Duchess Radley, Star's thirteen-year-old daughter, is part-carer, part-protector to her younger brother, Robin - and to her deeply troubled mother. But in trying to protect Star, Duchess inadvertently sets off a chain of events that will have tragic consequences not only for her family, but also the whole town.

Murder, revenge, retribution.

How far can we run from the past, when the past seems doomed to repeat itself?

Technical Issues

I had hoped to have the August releases out on time however we are having some technical issues at the moment. We've moved from a desktop to a laptop and couldn't take the MS Office license with us and the new code we've been sent hasn't worked. I'm in touch with the company so hopefully it'll be resolved soon. It's causing a bit of stress, to add to everything else going on!