New Reviews: Black, Cross, Fossum, Harris, Holt, James, Kent, Radmann, Russell

The reviews are back after a break of a couple of weeks. (I've written up last weekend's Harrogate Crime Writing Festival.)

Settings this week include Brighton, London, Italy, Norway, Scotland, South Africa and the US.

Here are the new 9 reviews:

Terry Halligan reviews the third of Sean Black's US-set Ryan Lock series, Gridlock, which is now in paperback;

Amanda Gillies reviews Neil Cross's Luther prequel Luther: The Calling now out in paperback (complete with a quote from Sarah Hilary's review);

I review the first Inspector Sejer book from Karin Fossum In the Darkness, tr. James Anderson which was originally published in 1995 (in Norwegian);

Terry also reviews Oliver Harris's debut The Hollow Man which introduces amoral policeman Nick Belsey;

Anne Holt's first Hanne Wilhelmsen investigation is even older than In the Darkness but Maxine Clarke writes that The Blind Goddess, tr. Tom Geddes "remains fresh and engaging";

Mark Bailey reviews Peter James's new Roy Grace book, Not Dead Yet which he enjoyed, but it might be time to wrap up the series-long backstory mystery;

Susan White reviews Christobel Kent's The Dead Season the third in this Florence-based PI series;

Lynn Harvey reviews Christopher Radmann's striking debut set in South Africa: Held Up

and Geoff Jones reviews Craig Russell's Dead Men and Broken Hearts the fourth in the Lennox series set in 1950s Glasgow.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

Harrogate - New Blood

And on to the next panel. Val McDermid's very popular "New Blood". As you can see the room is huge and I was so far back I had to watch the tv screen and couldn't take any useful photos.

From the Programme:
Always a festival ‘must see’. Queen of Crime Val McDermid has hand-picked four of the hottest new talents on the scene and invited them to discuss their debut novels. Eager readers on the lookout for the next big thing will be spoiled for choice as Val introduces Elizabeth Haynes (Into The Darkest Corner), David Mark (The Dark Winter), Oliver Harris (The Hollow Man) and Kate Rhodes (Crossbones Yard).

My notes:

VM gets sent piles of debut books so she can pick authors for the panel. Keeps her up to date as well as getting a list for hitman. Crime fiction has expanded over the years, you can go anywhere do anything. Buy & Try!

All here because VM loved characters and voices.

OH - police procedural very unlike Dixon of Dock Green

LH - took pole-dancing clasees for research.

DM - a man of mystery! The Dark Winter is set in "joyous sea side town of Hull" as fun as you'd might expect...

KR is a poet

[then followed an intro to all the books - links to reviews are above.]

LH - the OCD plot was device for word count (as written for NaNoWriMo) and think of what to do next. VM used to send Kate Brannigan to the supermarket for similar reasons.

DM - born in Carlisle.

OH - write to explore other aspects of people's lives, experimental form to take apart what's going on.

LH - worked for police intelligence - wrote romance in playground, 50 shades of jelly baby (VM). Massive crime fiction fan but could never find any justification for crime, so was part of reason she applied for police job, to inspire her fiction.

Boundary between crime fact and fiction. Darkness in book. VM can read violence but terribly squeamish.

DM - write about what you know. As a journalist for 7 years has met many victims of crime (crime reporter). Natural affinity. Lucky to get job at 17, almost immediately attending murder trial.

KR fed up with poetry after 15 years, very lonely. Like to have a conversation with readers, loved crime fiction, very classy and very good at the moment especially in Britain.

VM - you have to care about a character whether you like or hate them.

VM - George Bennett in A Place of Execution was given self-doubt as a result of It's a Wonderful Life.

DM's main character is very earnest, good - which is tiresome and he has arguments with him in his head. VM says What drives McAvoy is his love for wife and child

KR's next book is about bankers dying (big cheer from the audience).

Publishing Deal - Oliver Harris

The briefest of news from The Bookseller about a new crime series:

Jonathan Cape has bought UK, EU & Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) at auction from Greene & Heaton to a new crime series by Oliver Harris.

The two books feature Nick Belsey, a London police detective who has hit rock bottom.­