Words in Titles

Doing the monthly lists of new releases I'm struck by how many have a family member in the title, however it's not as prevalent as I thought. Looking at 2024 and 2023, I did a search of approximately 1050 titles per year with some common words and this is what I found:

Name - 2024 (2023)

Daughter - 1 (5)

Father - 1 (1)

Husband - 6 (5)

Mother - 8 (7)

Sister - 3 (5)

Wife - 8 (9)

and the still popular but decreasingly so I think with only 3 so far in 2025:

Girl/Girls - 18 (23)

Do let me know in the comments if you want any other words checking...

New Releases - March 2025

I'm still behind so this is what I have for March 2025 and will make a start on April and May! 

Things have been a bit up in the air as my OH was knocked off his bike in early February. He is ok but not back at work yet and may need an operation. So our routines have been changed and I've not been reading as much etc. 

Please note that, unless specifically mentioned, when a book has differing print and ebook release date, I use the print release date. Translators' names are included where known.

Further to my post about writers of colour and the Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, I have identified the writers of colour (that I know of) with a *** (none this time).

 

Abell, Stig - The Burial Place #3 Jake Jackson
Adams, Will - The Hallowed Grail #3 Warne and Elias
Bannalec, Jean-Luc - An Island of Suspects tr. Jamie Lee Searle #10 Commissioner Dupin 
Barrettt, Andrew - Cutting Ties #3 DS Regan Carter
Beaumont, Charles - A Spy at War #2 Oxford Spy Ring
Black, Pat - To Pay the Ferryman #1 D.I. Lomond
Boland, Peter - Death of a Wild Swimmer #5 Charity Shop Detective Agency
Briggs, J C - The Secrets of Treasonfield House #3 Gothic House Mystery
Bright, Verity - A Recipe for Murder #21 Lady Eleanor Swift, 1920s
Bruen, Ken - Galway's Edge #18 Jack Taylor
Bull, Jessica - A Fortune Most Fatal #2 Miss Austen Investigates
Carter, Andrea - There Came A-Tapping
Chapman, Julia - Date with Destiny #10 The Dales Detective Series
Chibnall, Chris - Death at the White Hart
Cockburn, Tormod - The Torn Isle #9 Mysterious Scotland
Coles, Catherine - Murder at Kelleven Castle (ebook only) #10 Tommy & Evelyn Christie
Croft, Kathryn - The Last One to See Him
Cullen, R M - Harlequin Is Dead #1 Richard Brinsley Sheridan, C18
Dalgliesh, J M - A Dead Man on Staffin Beach #5 DI Duncan McAdam, Isle of Skye
Dawson, Mark - The Haunting of Hallows House (ebook only) #3 The Casebook of Atticus Priest
Devlin, Cara - Method of Revenge #2 Spencer & Reid
Dixon, Helena - The Secret Detective Agency #1 Miss Jane Treen, London, 1940s
Ellis, Emmy - Raton #38 Cardigan Estate
Ellis, Emmy - Regal #39 Cardigan Estate
Frankland, Maria - I Don't Like Mondays
Gatward David J - Stone Cold #20 DCI Harry Grimm
Gayle, Katie - A Village Theatre Murder #7 Julia Bird, Cotswolds
Gomez-Jurado, Juan - White King tr. Nick Caistor & Lorenza Garcia #3 Antonia Scott 
Gustawsson, Johana & Enger, Thomas - Son trs. Thomas Enger & Johana Gustawsson and Mr Enger Snr #1 Kari Voss 
Hannah, Mari - Her Sister's Killer #5 Stone and Oliver
Hays, Katy - The Vipers
Hendy, Hannah - An Extremely Unlikely Death #6 The Dinner Lady Detectives
Hood, D K - Fear for Her Life #25 Detectives Kane and Alton
Hornsley, Sarah - Bad Blood
Hunter, M A - The Woman on Platform 8
James, Ed - Fear of Any Kind #7 DI Rob Marshall
Jones, Sandie - I Would Die for You
Jordan, G R - Drop Like Flies #42 Highlands and Islands
Kidd, Jess - Murder at Gulls Nest #1 Nora Breen, 1950s
Lancaster, Neil - When Shadows Fall #6 DS Max Craigie, Scotland
Limoncelli, Rosanne - The Four Queens of Crime
McCleave, Simon - False Witness #2 Frank Marshal
McDine, A J - The Husband Before You
McEwan, Lynne - A Troubled Tide #5 DI Shona Oliver, Dumfries
McNamee, Eoin - The Bureau
Mackay, N J - The Vanished #3 DI Sebastian Locke

Mason, Kelly - Death by Diamond #5 Lady Ellen Investigates, 1920s    
Morrison, Lynn & Radcliffe, Anne - Brilliance and Betrayal #1 Diamond of the Ton
Oswald, James - The Rest is Death #14 Detective Inspector McLean, Edinburgh
Perks, Heidi - Someone is Lying
Perrin, Kristen - How To Seal Your Own Fate #2 Castle Knoll Files
Petit, Chris - Come In and Shut the Door
Rhodes, Tyler - Death Slides and Cheese Pies #13 Max's Campervan Case Files
Roth, Lucy - When Sally Killed Harry
Salter, Michelle - A Murder at Mill Ponds #6 Iris Woodmore, 1920s
Smith, Dandy - The Wedding Vow
White, S R - Pacific Heights
Whyte, Nicola - 10 Marchfield Square
Williams, Lana - The Gravesend Murder #3 Field & Greystone

Snowblind - Anniversary Edition

I'm very pleased to share the official news of a tenth anniversary edition of Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson. Snowblind was first published by Orenda Books in 2015 with a translation by Quentin Bates and was the first of Ragnar's crime novels to be translated into English. I reviewed it on the blog

Ten years on, not only do we have this gorgeous sprayed edge hardback edition, but it also contains a newly translated prequel novella, Fadeout (tr. Larissa Kyzer). It's published on 10 October 2025 and you can pre-order a copy here.

And without further ado...the cover:

You can watch a teaser video on Instagram

 

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And here's the blurb:

Snowblind – 10th Anniversary edition, including NEW Dark Iceland series prequel, Fadeout.

Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors – accessible only via a small mountain tunnel. Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik – with a past that he's unable to leave behind. When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in the local theatre, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life.

An avalanche and unremitting snowstorms close the mountain pass, and the 24-hour darkness threatens to push Ari over the edge, as curtains begin to twitch, and his investigation becomes increasingly complex, chilling and personal. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness – blinded by snow, and with a killer on the loose.

Taut and terrifying, Snowblind is a startling debut from an extraordinary new talent, taking Nordic Noir to soaring new heights.