Ann Cleeves' new series

With the conclusion of the Shetland series (in print at least), Ann Cleeves is turning her hand to a new series set in Devon. Out in September, it's called The Long Call.

Here are some details from goodreads:

In North Devon, where two rivers converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father’s funeral takes place. Once loved and cherished, the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.

Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

The case calls Matthew back into the community he thought he had left behind, as deadly secrets hidden at its heart are revealed, and his past and present collide.

New Releases - February 2019

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in February 2019 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). February 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.

• Abbott, Rachel - The Shape of Lies #8 DI Tom Douglas
• Armstrong, Sarah - The Wolves of Leninsky Prospekt
• Bourne, Sam - To Kill the Truth
• Bowen, Rhys - The Victory Garden
• Bray, Richard - Material Remains
• Brittany, Amanda - Tell the Truth
• Buchholz, Simone - Beton Rouge #2 Chastity Riley
• Buckley, Fiona - A Web of Silk #17 Ursula Blanchard, an Elizabethan lady
• Camilleri, Andrea - The Overnight Kidnapper #23 Inspector Montalbano, Sicily, Italy
• Chambers, Kimberley - The Sting
• Chase, Clare - Death Comes to Call (ebook only) #3 Tara Thorpe
• Clare, Alys - The Woman Who Spoke to Spirits #1 World's End Bureau Victorian Mystery series
• Craig, James - Dying Days #13 Inspector John Carlyle
• Dams, Jeanne M - A Dagger Before Me #21 Dorothy Martin
• Driscoll, Teresa - The Promise
• Eastland, Sam - The Elegant Lie
• Edger, Stephen - Little Girl Gone
• Ellis, Kate - Dead Man's Lane #23 Wesley Peterson (policeman) and Neil Watson (archaeologist), Tradmouth, Devon
• Ellwood, Nuala - Day of the Accident
• Enger, Thomas - Inborn
• Finch, Charles - The Vanishing Man #2 Charles Lenox (prequel)
• Gee, Maggie - Blood
• Goddard, Robert - One False Move
• Good, Anthony - Kill
• Gordon, Alexia - Fatality in F #4 Gethsemane Brown, Ireland
• Griffiths, Elly - The Stone Circle #11 Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist and DCI Harry Nelson
• Helm, Kate - The Secrets You Hide
• Hill, Casey - Fallout (ebook only) #8 Riley Steel, Forensic Investigator, Dublin
• Hunter, Phillip - Murder Under a Green Sea #1 Max and Martha Dalton, 1930s
• Jennings, Maureen - Heat Wave
• Kelly, Jim - The Mathematical Bridge #2 Nighthawk series, Cambridge, 1939
• Kent, Tony - Marked for Death
• Knight, Renee - The Secretary
• Kot, Danuta - Life Ruins
• La Plante, Lynda - Widows: Revenge #3 Dolly Rawlins
• Lea, Caroline - The Glass Woman
• Lindstein, Mariette - The Shadow of the Cult #2 The Cult on Fog Island Trilogy
• London, Kate - Gallowstree Lane
• Manfredi, Valerio Massimo - Wolves of Rome
• Mark, David - The Mausoleum
• Massey, Sujata - The Satapur Moonstone #2 Perveen Mistry, India's only female lawyer, 1920s
• Masterton, Graham - Begging to Die #10 Detective Superintendent Katie Maguire, Ireland
• Michaelides, Alex - The Silent Patient
• Minier, Bernard - Night #4 Commandant Servaz
• Morgan, Phoebe - The Girl Next Door
• Muir, T F - Dead Catch #8 DI Andy Gilchrist & team, St. Andrews
• Natt och Dag, Niklas - The Wolf and the Watchman
• Nordbo, Mads Peder - The Girl Without Skin
• O'Connor, Carlene - Murder in an Irish Pub #4 Siobhan O'Sullivan, Kilbane, County Cork
• Oswald, James - Cold as the Grave #9 Detective Inspector McLean, Edinburgh
• Pastor, Ben - The Horseman's Song #6 Wehrmacht Captain Martin Bora, 1939
• Raybourn, Deanna - A Dangerous Collaboration #4 Veronica Speedwell, adventuress and butterfly hunter, Victorian London
• Reid, Andrew - The Hunter
• Reid, Rebecca - Perfect Liars
• Rogneby, Jenny - Any Means Necessary #2 Leona Lindberg of Stockholm's Violent Crimes Division
• Sampson, Fay - The Wounded Snake #2 Hilary & Veronica
• Sanders, G D - The Taken Girls #1 DI Edina Ogborne, Canterbury Police
• Selman, Victoria - Blood for Blood #1 Ziba Mackenzie
• Sendker, Jan-Philipp - The Far Side of the Night #3 China Trilogy
• Smith, Anna - Fight Back #2 Kerry Casey, Glasgow
• Spain, Jo - Dirty Little Secrets
• Spencer, Sally - Dead End #13 DCI Monika Paniatowski, Whitebridge
• Tallon, Emma - Boss Girl #3 Anna Davis
• Trotter, Alan - Muscle
• Tudor, C J - The Taking of Annie Thorne (apa The Hiding Place)
• Tursten, Helene - Hunting Game #1 Detective Inspector Embla Nystrom
• Tuti, Ilaria - Flowers Over the Inferno #1 Teresa Battaglia
• Tyce, Harriet - Blood Orange
• Walter, B P - A Version of the Truth
• Watt, Douglas - The Unnatural Death of a Jacobite #4 John MacKenzie, Lawyer, 17thC Edinburgh
• Watt, Holly - To The Lions #1 Casey Benedict, Investigative Journalist
• Westerson, Jeri Traitor's Codex #11 Crispin Guest, ex Knight, Medieval times

Review: The Cold Summer by Gianrico Carofiglio tr. Howard Curtis

The Cold Summer by Gianrico Carofiglio translated by Howard Curtis, September 2018, 276 pages, Bitter Lemon Press, ISBN: 1912242036

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here and here.)

“… You’re close to the shit, too, like all of us. But you never get it on you. I don’t know how else to put it. It’s like you had some kind of power …
Maybe it annoys me because I admire you, or vice versa. Am I talking crap?”
“No, you’re making perfect sense.”

1992, Bari, Southern Italy, summer-time.
Marshal Pietro Fenoglio sits in his favourite cafe so engrossed in the local newspaper editor’s advice to the police on handling a Mafia flare-up that he doesn’t immediately notice the young man trying to rob the cashier. When he does – he quickly overcomes the would-be robber and pins him to the floor. The cafe unfreezes and the carabinieri are called. Two men walk in and demand Fenoglio hands over the thief. They are not carabinieri. They say they will teach the thief a lesson. Fenoglio promises the men a lengthy stay at the police station if they don’t clear off – which they do. Then he pays for his breakfast pastry despite the owner’s objections and accompanies the young robber to the police station. Frankly, Fenoglio is tempted to let him go. He likes him, believes that this was, as he says, his first robbery attempt. But there are rules. He tells the young man to plea bargain and in all likelihood he will get a suspended sentence. The arrestee is grateful, telling Fenoglio that if he ever needs help he will find him hanging out near the Petruzzelli theatre. The mention of the theatre sours Fenoglio. It had been one of the things he had liked about Bari: concerts, an opera. But someone torched the theatre a few months ago. Now it’s just a burnt-out shell.

Captain Valente, new boss, fresh from Rome, summons Fenoglio to his office and asks him to bring him up to speed on the local mafia fight. Fenoglio obliges. A few weeks ago Shorty, a member of local crime boss Grimaldi's gang, was murdered. Since then several high profile Grimaldi gang members have disappeared or been killed. Valente assumes it’s a rival gang but Fenoglio points out that no-one outside the group has been killed. This looks more like battles within the gang itself.

Over a solitary lunch in a local trattoria, Fenoglio thinks about his current equally solitary life; his recent separation from Serena. The cause? His obsession with work perhaps but truly he thinks it’s because he can’t have children. Fenoglio knows that he has never been any good at showing his feelings. He feels them, but... Would Serena have a child with someone else? Could he stand that?

Back at the office they receive a tip-off. Grimaldi’s son has been kidnapped. Using a traffic violation as cover, Fenoglio questions one of Grimaldi’s associates known as the Accountant. Apparently the boy disappeared on the way to school a couple of days ago. The Accountant confirms there has been a ransom demand but cannot say whether it was paid or not. Fenoglio’s musings over the delicate procedure of demanding the appearance of a local Mafia boss and his wife at a police station are interrupted by news of a shoot-out in a neighbouring village. These incidents and killings are escalating in some kind of silent bubble, corroborating Fenoglio’s belief in an internal gang war. What is more the ransom, it seems, has been paid but the boy hasn’t been returned. They are interviewing the woman who delivered the ransom money when they get the grimmest news of all; the boy’s body has been found at the bottom of an isolated well. He has been dead for days…

Celebrated Italian crime writer, anti-Mafia prosecutor and one-time senator, Gianrico Carofiglio, embarks on a new series with THE COLD SUMMER (translated here by experienced Carofiglio translator Howard Curtis). It introduces Marshal Pietro Fenoglio of the Bari Carabinieri: solitary, thoughtful, reserved, a Northerner from Turin, carabiniere for twenty years and a man of principle. Events revolve around the tragic death of a kidnapped child and are set against the back-drop of real-life events – the Mafia assassinations of two high-profile anti-Mafia judges in 1992. In some parts the writing blends the action of police procedural with the cool reportage of legal deposition. This last might sound tedious but the formal language of the deposition serves to both collapse time and to filter the savagery of the violent crime. And Carofiglio's description of the structure and ritual of the “Societa Nostra” is engrossing and absorbing; simultaneously grandiose and elaborate, they function to confirm a gang member’s loyalty and even the subservience of locals to the rule and composition of the “Family” – perhaps an ornate mirror of modern day urban gang culture. The characters are closely observed: Fenoglio’s complex, reticent personality offset by the almost brutal character of his colleague Pellecchia. Finally a mix of random and purposeful events (Carofiglio has said that: “… real world investigations and trials are much more ruled by chance than in films and novels.”) move this story to an eventual darker turn and protagonist.

Strongly recommended. I look forward to more.

Lynn Harvey, January 2019

TV News: Trapped II and BBC Four

The BBC confirmed yesterday that Trapped, Follow the Money and Cardinal would be returning to BBC Four and that they have also purchased the Australian drama, Safe Harbour.

Here's the blurb for the second series of Iceland's Trapped:

After the success of the first series on BBC Four, series two of the acclaimed Icelandic crime drama Trapped returns. Outside Parliament in Reykjavik, a man throws himself at the Minister for Industry, setting fire to them both. Andri Olaffson, now working in Reykjavik, is assigned to the case and quickly learns the attacker was the minister’s twin. Their family’s roots are in the North, in the very area Andri had hoped to leave behind, where his old colleague Hinrika is now Chief of Police. Trouble is brewing in the town, with widespread anger at a power plant, drilling and a proposed aluminium plant. Shortly after Andri’s return the power plant’s foreman is found dead. Are the two incidents - the murder and the attack in Reykjavik - connected?

No news yet on the transmission date.

Review: Cruising to Murder by Mark McCrum

Cruising to Murder by Mark McCrum, June 2018, 224 pages, Severn House Publishers Ltd ISBN: 0727888072

Reviewed by Geoff Jones.

(Read more of Geoff's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Francis Meadowes is a crime writer and has been invited to give a lecture on the cruise ship the Golden Adventurer in return for a free cruise. This is the high end of cruising, mainly wealthy Americans, some British and a German. Most cruise ships have between 800 and 1200 passengers on board, but this one has considerably less. Sailing the west coast of Africa, the itinerary is not the usual tourist visits but unusual and rare sights.

Francis is befriended by German retired surgeon, Klaus, an elderly lady who is a widow and has sailed on many cruises and looking forward to more, Eve, and an American single lady, Sadie, travelling with her aunt.

When Eve is found dead in her bed and the ship's doctor is reluctant to sign the death certificate everyone is naturally alarmed. When there is then a “man overboard” situation and they realise it is a young woman who is travelling with an older man, everyone is then convinced there is a murderer on board, despite the captain suggesting it is suicide. Francis is asked by the captain to investigate because of his previous success at a literary festival murder. One of the excursion staff accompanies Francis in his investigations on behalf of the captain.

Francis gets deeper into the mystery and soon realises his own life is at risk. Can he solve the case before it is too late?

The author knows his cruising. I've only been on the larger ships, but the description of the activities and the life on board is similar. He has written mainly non-fiction books except THE FESTIVAL MURDERS which also featured Francis. This was very enjoyable and I highly recommend it. I look forward to reading more about Francis, starting with his previous book.

Geoff Jones, January 2019

Cover Theme: Twins

Saturday fun. The latest in my cover theme posts.

Cover Theme: Children's Playgrounds (& Balloons)

Saturday fun. The latest in my cover theme posts.

Aside from Julie Corbin's Tell Me No Secrets, these are all recent covers.

TV News: Coroner

Not to be confused with the BBC's The Coroner....Canadian series Coroner is based on MR (Matthew) Hall's series of books featuring Coroner Jenny Cooper. The action has moved from the Welsh-English border near Bristol, to Toronto.

Coroner has just begun its run of 8 episodes in Canada but we don't have to wait long here in the UK. The first episode is on the Universal Channel at 9pm on 21 January.

Here's some of the the official blurb from CBC:

Inspired by the best-selling series of books by M.R. Hall and created by Morwyn Brebner (Saving Hope), CORONER (8x60) is a character-driven one-hour drama about Dr. Jenny Cooper (SERINDA SWAN), a recently widowed new coroner who investigates suspicious, unnatural or sudden deaths in Toronto. The series reflects the rich diversity of Toronto, and each case brings Jenny into a new arena in the city, touching on buzz-worthy themes. Jenny taps into her intuition as much as her intellect and heart as she solves cases with the help of homicide detective Donovan McAvoy (ROGER CROSS), a man who isn’t afraid of challenging the status quo; pathologist Dr. Dwayne Allen (LOVELL ADAMS-GRAY) and his assistant River Baitz (KILEY MAY); and Alison Trent (TAMARA PODEMSKI), Jenny’s assistant who keeps it real. And while Jenny solves mysterious deaths, she also deals with clinical anxiety; a teenage son, Ross (EHREN KASSAM), who is still grieving the death of his father; and the prospect of starting a new relationship with the enigmatic Liam (ÉRIC BRUNEAU).

Coroners feature as the lead characters in three other British/European series to my knowledge:

Bernard Knight's Sir John de Wolfe series set in twelfth century Devon.
Priscilla Masters' Martha Gunn series set in Shrewsbury.
Jutta Profijt's Martin Gänsewein series set in Cologne.

(There are slightly more pathologists.)

New Releases - January 2019

Many apologies for the extended delay since my last post. We've had a few technological issues over the last few weeks. Thank you for continuing to visit Euro Crime and best wishes for 2019 (and on).
Here's the latest in my regular feature, of monthly releases.
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Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in January 2019 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). January 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.

• Alfon, Dov - A Long Night in Paris
• Allan, Claire - Apple of My Eye
• Allen, Hania - Clearing The Dark #2 DS Dania Gorska
• Amphlett, Rachel - Bridge to Burn #7 Detective Kay Hunter
• Bailey, R J - Winner Kills All #3 Sam Wylde, Close Protection Officer
• Bannister, Jo - Silent Footsteps #3 Detective Constable Hazel Best & Gabriel Ash
• Barber, Lizzy - My Name is Anna
• Barton, Fiona - The Suspect
• Bradley, Alan - The Golden Tresses of the Dead #10 Eleven year old Flavia de Luce, 1950s England
• Broadribb, Steph - Deep Dirty Truth #3 Lori Anderson
• Brooke, Amanda - Don't Turn Around
• Butler, D S - Where Secrets Lie #2 Detective Karen Hart
• Clements, Rory - Nemesis #3 Thomas Wilde, 1930s
• Connolly, Sheila - The Lost Traveller #7 Maura Donovan, County Cork
• Cutts, Lisa - Lost Lives
• Dahl, Arne - Hunted #2 Detective Sam Berger
• Dean, Will - Red Snow #2 Tuva Moodyson, Sweden
• Deegan, James - The Angry Sea #2 John Carr, Ex SAS
• Dunford, Caroline - A Death at a Gentleman's Club #12 Euphemia Martins
• Eldridge, Jim - Murder at the British Museum #2 Former Detective Inspector Daniel Wilson
• Finlay, Mick - The Murder Pit #2 Arrowood, PI, 1895
• Foley, Lucy - The Hunting Party
• Fortin, Sue - Schoolgirl Missing
• Grant, Andrew - Invisible
• Griffin, Eamonn - East of England
• Hilton, Matt - False Move #5 Grey and Villere, Louisiana
• Hodge, Sibel - The Disappeared
• Hunter, Maddy - Catch Me if Yukon #12 Emily Andrews
• Hurley, Graham - Curtain Call
• Ivar, Katja - Evil Things #1 Hella Mauzer
• James, Bill - Hitmen I Have Known #35 DCS Harpur and ACC Iles
• Jameson, Hanna - The Last
• Kavanagh, Emma - To Catch a Killer
• Keane, Jessie - The Edge #3 Darke family
• Law, J S - The Coldest Blood #3 Lieutenant Danielle Lewis, Royal Navy
• Laws, Peter - Severed #3 Professor Matt Hunter
• Leather, Stephen - Last Man Standing
• Lehtolainen, Leena - Where Have All the Young Girls Gone #11 Detective Maria Kallio, Helsinki
• Lindstein, Mariette - The Cult on Fog Island #1 The Cult on Fog Island Trilogy
• Mark, David - Cold Bones #8 Detective Sergeant McAvoy of Humberside CID
• Martinez, Agustin - Village of the Lost Girls
• Maxwell, Alyssa - A Murderous Marriage #4 Lady and Lady's Maid Mystery
• May, Peter - The Man With No Face
• McCulloch, Ian - A Lot of Nerve
• McGuire, Michael - Flight Risk
• Mundy, Elizabeth - A Clean Canvas #2 Lena Szarka, Hungarian cleaner, London
• Parks, Alan - February's Son #2 Harry McCoy, Police Officer, Glasgow, 1973
• Rose, Jacqui - Fatal
• Rosett, Sara - Murder at Blackburn Hall #2 High Society Lady Detective, 1920s England
• Rowland, Laura Joh - The Hangman's Secret #3 Miss Sarah Bain, Victorian Era
• Savage, Vanessa - The Woman in the Dark
• Seymour, Gerald - Battle Sight Zero
• Shepherd-Robinson, Laura - Blood & Sugar
• Shimada, Soji - Murder in the Crooked House
• Sveistrup, Soren - The Chestnut Man
• Taylor, June - Keep Your Friends Close
• Wesolowski, Matt - Changeling #3 Six Stories
• Wilkins, Susan - It Should Have Been Me

International Dagger Speculation (2019)

It's time to consider the titles eligible for the 2019 CWA International Dagger.

Here's the list of translated crime novels published between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 ie the period of eligibility. There's 98* so far (cf 110 last year).

*as usual this total includes titles published by AmazonCrossing. I am not sure if these count as UK publications for the CWA Dagger however I imagine people interested in this list will also be interested in these books. 

In addition to the list I have set up a Good Reads widget on the right-hand side of the blog. This allows the covers to be visible. You can subscribe to this list through RSS.

In the list below I've also included the country of birth and gender of the author(s) plus the translator's name and the publisher.

Stats:

The breakdown by gender is 63 Male, 34 Female, 1 Male & Female team.
Authors are from 22 countries. The most represented country is Sweden (24) followed by Italy (12) and Germany (10).
Over 70 translators (including pairs of translators) brought you these titles, with at least 14 individuals having translated more than one. (I've put "tbc" when I cannot find the name of the translator.)

NB. The CWA website has the list of official submissions

As it's December I've put 2018's titles in one list and only 2019's by month:

April 2018 - December 2018

Boris Akunin - Black City (Russia, M) (tr. Andrew Bromfield, W&N)

Alex Beer - The Second Rider (Austria, F) (tr. Tim Mohr, World Noir)
Lina Bengtsdotter - For the Missing (Sweden, F) (tr. Agnes Broome, Orion)
Jonas Bonnier - The Helicopter Heist (Sweden, M)(tr. Alice Menzies, Zaffre)
Oliver Bottini - A Summer of Murder (Germany, M) (tr. Jamie Bulloch, MacLehose Press)
Riccardo Bruni - The Hawthorne Season (Italy, M) (tr. Hillary Locke, AmazonCrossing)
Karin Brynard - Weeping Waters (South Africa, F) (tr. Maya Fowler and Isobel Dixon, World Noir)
Michel Bussi - Time is a Killer (France, M) (tr. Shaun Whiteside, W&N)

Bernadette Calonego - The Stranger on the Ice (Switzerland, F) (tr. Gerald Chapple, AmazonCrossing)
Christoffer Carlsson - The Thin Blue Line (Sweden, M) (tr. Michael Gallagher, Scribe)
Gianrico Carofiglio - The Cold Summer (Italy, M) (tr. Howard Curtis, Bitter Lemon Press)

Kjell Ola Dahl - The Ice Swimmer (Norway, M) (tr. Don Bartlett, Orenda Books)
Sandrone Dazieri - Kill the Angel (Italy, M) (tr. Anthony Shugaar, Simon & Schuster)
Giancarlo De Cataldo & Carlo Bonini - The Night of Rome (Italy, M & M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Europa Editions)
Maurizio De Giovanni - Nameless Serenade (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, World Noir)
Virginie Despentes - Vernon Subutex Two (France, F) (tr. Frank Wynne, MacLehose Press)

Marc Elsberg - Zero (Austria, M) (tr. Simon Pare, Doubleday)
Caroline Eriksson - The Watcher (Sweden, F) (tr. Tara F Chace, AmazonCrossing)
Ramon Diaz Eterovic - Angels & Loners (Chile, M) (tr. Patrick Blaine, AmazonCrossing)

Karin Fossum - The Whisperer (Norway, F) (tr. Kari Dickson, Harvill Secker)

Frank Goldammer - The Air Raid Killer (Germany, M) (tr. Steve Anderson, AmazonCrossing)
Frank Goldammer - A Thousand Devils (Germany, M) (tr. Steve Anderson, AmazonCrossing)
Johana Gustawsson - Keeper (France, F) (tr. Maxim Jakubowski, Orenda Books)

Zhou Haohui - Death Notice (China, M) (tr. Zac Haluza, Head of Zeus)
Sophie Henaff - Stick Together (France, F) (tr. Sam Gordon, MacLehose Press)
Nir Hezroni - Last Instructions (Israel, M) (tr. Steven Cohen, Point Blank)
Keigo Higashino - Newcomer (Japan, M) (tr. Giles Murray, Little, Brown)
Martin Holmen - Slugger (Sweden, M) (tr. Annie Prime, Pushkin Vertigo)
Jorn Lier Horst - The Katharina Code (Norway, M) (tr. Anne Bruce, Michael Joseph)

Susanne Jansson - The Forbidden Place (Sweden, F) (tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles, Mulholland Books)
You-Jeong Jeong - The Good Son (South Korea, F) (tr. Chi-Young Kim, Little, Brown)

Robert Karjel - After the Monsoon (Sweden, M) (tr. Nancy Pick & Robert Karjel, HarperCollins)
Lars Kepler - The Rabbit Hunter (Sweden, M & F) (tr. Neil Smith, HarperCollins)
Pol Koutsakis - Baby Blue (Greece, M) (tr. Anne-Marie Stanton-Ife, Bitter Lemon Press)
Volker Kutscher - Goldstein (Germany, M) (tr. Niall Sellar, Sandstone)

Jens Lapidus - Top Dog (Sweden, M) (tr. Alice Menzies, Vintage Crime)
Antoine Laurain - Smoking Kills (France, M) (tr. Louise Rogers Lalaurie, Gallic Books)
Leena Lehtolainen - Derailed (Finland, F) (Owen F Witesman, AmazonCrossing)
Pierre Lemaitre - Inhuman Resources (France, M) (tr. Sam Gordon, MacLehose Press)
Marc Levy - The Last of the Stanfields (France, M) (tr. Daniel Wasserman, AmazonCrossing)
Minna Lindgren - The Lavender Ladies Detective Agency: The End of Sunset Grove (Finland, F) (tr. Kristian London, Pan)
Walter Lucius - Angel in the Shadows (Holland, M) (tr. Lorraine T Miller & Laura Vroomen, Michael Joseph)

Franco Marks - Blood in the Snow (Italy, M) (tr.  Richard McKenna, Aria)
Deon Meyer - The Woman in the Blue Cloak (South Africa, M) (tr. K L Seegers, Hodder)
Zygmunt  Miloszewski - Priceless (Poland, M) (tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, AmazonCrossing)
Emiliano Monge - Among the Lost (Mexico, M) (tr. Frank Wynne, Scribe UK)

Fuminori Nakamura - Cult X (Japan, M) (tr. Kalau Almony, Soho Press)
Jo Nesbo - Macbeth (Norway, M) (tr. Don Bartlett, Hogarth)
Hakan Nesser - The Root of Evil (Sweden, M) (tr. Sarah Death, Mantle)
Elisabeth Noreback - Tell Me You're Mine (Sweden, F) (tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Allison & Busby)

Kristina Ohlsson - The Lies We Tell (Sweden, F) (tr. Neil Smith, Simon & Schuster)
Martin Osterdahl - Ask No Mercy (Sweden, M) (tr. Peter Sean Woltemade, AmazonCrossing)

Andreas Pfluger - A Shadow Falls (Germany, M) (tr. Astrid Freuler, Head of Zeus)

Marc Raabe - Homesick (Germany, M) (tr. Isabel Adey, Zaffre)
Melanie Raabe - The Stranger Upstairs (Germany, F) (tr. Imogen Taylor, Pan)
Cay Rademacher - The Forger (Germany, M) (tr. Peter Millar, Arcadia)
Dolores Redondo - All This I Will Give to You (Spain, F) (tr. Michael Meigs, AmazonCrossing)
Ane Riel - Resin (Denmark, F) (tr. Charlotte Barslund, Doubleday)

Roberto Saviano - The Piranhas (Italy, M) (tr. Antony Shugaar, Picador)
Emelie Schepp - Slowly We Die (UK: ebook only) (Sweden, F) (tr. Suzanne Martin Cheadle, HQ, HarperCollins)
Lilja Sigurdardottir - Trap (Iceland, F) (tr. Quentin Bates, Orenda Books)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir - The Reckoning (Iceland, F) (tr. Victoria Cribb, Hodder & Stoughton)
Gunnar Staalesen - Big Sister (Norway, M) (tr. Don Bartlett, Orenda Books)
Jesper Stein - Unrest (Denmark, M) (tr. David Young, Mirror Books)
Viveca Sten - In Harm's Way (Sweden, F) (tr. Marlaine Delargy, AmazonCrossing)
Viveca Sten - In the Heat of the Moment (Sweden, F) (tr. Marlaine Delargy, AmazonCrossing)
Martin Suter - The Last Weynfeldt (Switzerland, M) (tr. Steph Morris, No Exit Press)

Michael Theurillat - Death in Summer (Switzerland, M) (tr. Ayca Türkoglu, Zaffre)
Olga Tokarczuk - Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead (Poland, F) (tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Antti Tuomainen - Palm Beach, Finland (Finland, M) (tr. David Hackston, Orenda Books)

Valerio Varesi - The Lizard Strategy (Italy, M) (tr. Joseph Farrell, MacLehose Press)
Marco Vichi - Ghosts of the Past (Italy, M) (tr. Stephen Sartarelli, Hodder)

Inger Wolf - Frost and Ashes (Denmark, F) (tr. Mark Kline, People's Press)
Inger Wolf - Songbird (ebook only) (Denmark, F) (tr. tbc, People's Press)


January 2019

Dov Alfon - A Long Night in Paris (Israel, M) (tr. Daniella Zamir, MacLehose Press)
Arne Dahl - Hunted (Sweden, M) (tr. Neil Smith, Harvill Secker)
Leena Lehtolainen - Where Have All the Young Girls Gone (Finland, F) (tr. Owen F Witesman, AmazonCrossing)
Mariette Lindstein - The Cult on Fog Island (Sweden, F) (tr. tbc, HQ)
Agustin Martinez - Village of the Lost Girls (Spain, M) (tr. Frank Wynne, Quercus)
Soji Shimada - Murder in the Crooked House (Japan, M) (tr. Louise Heal Kawai, Pushkin Vertigo)
Soren Sveistrup - The Chestnut Man (Denmark, M) (tr. Caroline Waight, Michael Joseph)

February 2019

Simone Buchholz - Beton Rouge (Germany, F) (tr. Rachel Ward, Orenda Books)
Andrea Camilleri - The Overnight Kidnapper (Italy, M) (tr. Stephen Sartarelli, Mantle)
Thomas Enger - Inborn (Norway, M) (tr. Kari Dickson, Orenda Books)
Mariette Lindstein - The Shadow of the Cult (Sweden, F) (tr. tbc, HQ)
Valerio Massimo Manfredi - Wolves of Rome (Italy, M) (tr. Christine Feddersen Manfredi, Pan)
Bernard Minier - Night (France, M) (tr. tbc, Mulholland Books)
Niklas Natt och Dag - The Wolf and the Watchman (Sweden, M) (tr. Ebba Segerberg, John Murray)
Mads Peder Nordbo - The Girl Without Skin (Denmark, M) (tr. Charlotte Barslund, Text Publishing)
Jan-Philipp Sendker - The Far Side of the Night (Germany, M)(tr. tbc, Polygon)
Helene Tursten - Hunting Game (Sweden, F) (tr. Paul Norlen, Soho Press)
Ilaria Tuti - Flowers Over the Inferno (Italy, F) (tr. Ekin Oklap, W&N)

March 2019

Samuel Bjork - The Boy in the Headlights (Norway, M) (tr. Charlotte Barslund, Doubleday)
Kjell Ola Dahl - The Courier (Norway, M) (tr. Don Bartlett, Orenda Books)
Camilla Grebe - After She's Gone (Sweden, F) (tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Zaffre)
Stina Jackson - The Silver Road (Sweden, F) (tr. Susan Beard, Corvus)
Hideo Yokoyama - Prefecture D (Japan, M) (tr. tbc, riverrun)
Joakim Zander - The Friend (Sweden, M) (tr. Elizabeth Clark Wessel, Head of Zeus)

Also published but ineligible - Short Story collections

Andrea Camilleri - Death at Sea (tr. Stephen Sartarelli )
Hakan Nesser - Intrigo (tr. tbc)
Teresa Solana - The First Prehistoric Serial Killer and other stories (tr. Peter Bush)
Helene Tursten - An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good (tr. Marlaine Delargy)

Review: A Maigret Christmas and other stories by Georges Simenon tr. David Coward

Today's review is courtesy of CrimeTime's Bob Cornwell. Read more of his reviews on Euro Crime.

A Maigret Christmas is being serialised on Radio 4's Book at Bedtime, starting on 24 December.

A Maigret Christmas and other stories by Georges Simenon tr. David Coward, 217 pages, October 2018, Penguin Classics, ISBN: 0241356741

These three first-class Simenon short stories first saw light of day in France in 1951 as a collection titled Un Noël de Maigret. They now return to the Penguin catalogue, newly and ably translated by David Coward, as a Penguin Classic. Then as now, they make an attractive package both for the long-term or intermittent Simenon reader, but also perhaps as a Christmas present for the younger crime reader unfamiliar with his work.

The title story offers an intimate glimpse of the home life of Madame and Monsieur Maigret (not altogether complimentary to the latter) as the former devotedly slips out early on Christmas morning to fetch warm croissants from the local baker for her restless husband. Thereafter the action gradually heats up as two ladies from across the street in Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, one somewhat reluctant, come looking for some advice from their famous neighbour. For whilst delivering some small Christmas gifts that morning to a young girl taken in after her mother’s death by one of the women, they discover her already in possession of an expensive doll – and that Father Christmas has delivered it in person. Astutely, Madame Maigret realises that her husband is unlikely to walk away from such a mystery, however seemingly trivial. “Happy now?” she whispers softly…

In the second tale, Seven Small Crosses in a Notebook, childhood winters and a black pudding of mysterious provenance are the topics of conversation as the night shift telephone operators at the Quai des Orfèvres (Maigret’s HQ in Paris) cope with a busy Christmas Eve. But this not a Maigret story (though Janvier, a young associate of Maigret, makes a little more than peripheral contribution). Instead the focus is on Lecoeur, a twelve-year veteran of the shift, who not only records each incident as it is reported, but also out of idle curiosity the location and the type of crime. So far this evening he has noted three potential suicides, “almost” two hundred of the nastier drunken episodes, 48 stolen vehicles, five stabbings (Paris, 1950 or thereabouts!), a few lost children. There is also a murderer at large. Then Lecoeur, using his intimate knowledge of Parisian geography, spots something deliberate in the pattern he has recorded of seven attacks that have been made on the red emergency phones that line the streets of Paris…

Both these stories evolve into complex investigations. In the first Maigret is soon directing his team of Lucas and Torrence, on Christmas duty in the Quai des Orfèvres, to find the crucial evidence to support his evolving theories. Seven Crosses is even more remarkable. It is also a team effort but it is no less an intimate portrait of Lecoeur, a man fully conscious that, however vital his contribution today “tomorrow he would be just a very ordinary telephone operator sitting at his switchboard”. Simenon’s respect for his humble origins and uncomplaining dedication to his job seeps from every paragraph.

Finally, in another milieu close to Simenon’s heart….just as The Little Restaurant near Place des Ternes (“A Christmas Story for Grown-Ups”) is closing after a low-key Christmas Eve, a tragic event occurs. Two female witnesses are questioned: a pretty young woman, “badly made up”, and the somewhat older Jeanne, known to the police as Long Tall Jeanne. Jeanne casually notes from the young woman’s overheard testimony that she comes from the same coastal area as herself, but decides to leave for ‘home’. The night’s events however have left her troubled, so instead she heads for the bright lights of Place des Ternes, with unexpected consequences. A much shorter tale than its two predecessors, it is another beautifully observed, unsentimental tale that nevertheless warms the heart.

All three stories are packed with background detail, culled from a lifetime of close observation (Lecoeur’s Paris is “a Paris apart…not the Eiffel Tower, the Opera and the Louvre, but dark administrative buildings with a police van parked underneath a blue lamp, and leaning against its wall, the bicycles of the cycle-mounted police patrols” – and a great deal more besides.

Simenon’s “characters grow in this thick soil of sensuous experience…they take colour and conviction from their surroundings”. Thus wrote Julian Symons, crack crime writer and critic in an essay on Simenon in Bloody Murder, his classic study of crime fiction back in 1972. All the more remarkable then that in 1945 Simenon had moved to America and would not return permanently to Europe, apart from two short trips in 1952 and 1954, until 1955. Place du Ternes was written in Tucson, Arizona in 1947, and the other two in Carmel, California in 1950.

Great stuff, I think. One for the collection.

Bob Cornwell
December 2018

New Releases - December 2018

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in December 2018 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). December 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: Amsterdam Noir (ed.s Rene Appel and Josh Pachter)
• Anthology: For the Sake of the Game - Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon (ed.s Laurie R King & Leslie S Klinger)

• Alderson, Sarah - Friends Like These
• Bengtsdotter, Lina - For the Missing
• Bilyeau, Nancy - The Blue
• Blake, Robin - Rough Music #5 Titus Cragg, Coroner & Luke Fidelis, Doctor, 1740 Lancashire
• Brown, Eric - Murder Served Cold #6 Donald Langham, Crime Writer, London, 1955
• Carpenter, Elisabeth - Only a Mother
• Carroll, B M - The Missing Pieces of Sophie McCarthy
• Doherty, P C/Paul - The Godless #19 Brother Athelstan
• Downing, David - The Dark Clouds Shining #4 Jack McColl
• Ellis, Kate - The Boy Who Lived with the Dead #2 Inspector Albert Lincoln, 1919
• Falconer, Colin - Lucifer Falls #1 Detectives Charlie George and Clare Reeves
• Fossum, Karin - The Whisperer #13 Inspector Konrad Sejer, Norway
• Griffiths, Rebecca - A Place to Lie
• Heley, Veronica - False Account #13 Bea Abbott, Sixty-something owner of The Abbott (Domestic) Agency
• Holmen, Martin - Slugger #3 Harry Kvist, a bi-sexual former boxer and debt collector, 1930s Stockholm
• Ison, Graham - Hardcastle's Quandary #15 DI Hardcastle, 1900s
• Judd, Alan - Shakespeare's Sword (novella)
• Kara, Lesley - The Rumour
• Kelly, Stephen - Hushed in Death #3 Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Lamb, World War II
• Krisco, Kim - The Celtic Phoenix #1 Sherlock Holmes & Baker Street irregular Tessa Wiggins
• Lake, Alex - The Last Lie
• Levy, Marc - The Last of the Stanfields
• Lloyd, Catherine - Death Comes to Bath #6 Kurland St. Mary Mysteries
• Mace, Lorraine - Retriever of Souls #1 DI Sterling
• McCrery, Nigel - Bloodline #6 DCI Mark Lapslie, synaesthesia sufferer
• Murphy, Peter - One Law For the Rest of Us #6 Ben Schroeder, Lawyer, 1960s
• Rademacher, Cay - Deadly Camargue #2 Provence Mystery
• Randall, Anne - Deceived #4 DIs Wheeler and Ross, Glasgow
• Robb, Candace - A Murdered Peace #3 Kate Clifford, C14 England
• Robertson, Michael - A Baker Street Wedding #6 Brothers Reggie and Nigel Heath, Lawyers, Baker Street
• Rous, Emma - The Au Pair
• Taylor, A M - Forget Me Not
• Templeton, Aline - Carrion Comfort #2 DI Kelso Strang
• Thorogood, Robert - Murder in the Caribbean #4 Death in Paradise (DI Richard Poole)
• Turnbull, Peter - Cold Wrath #25 Detective Chief Inspector Hennessey and Detective Superintendent Yellich
• Turner, Ronnie - Lies Between Us
• Tyler, L C - The Bleak Midwinter #5 John Grey, lawyer, 1657
• Weeks, Stephen - The Man at the Bank #3 The Countess of Prague
• Wyer, Carol - Last Lullaby #2 Detective Natalie Ward

TV News: Young Wallander

It's recently been announced that Netflix has ordered a UK-Swedish production of a "Young Wallander" series, a six-parter featuring a 20-something Wallander and his first case. Details via Variety:

The adventures of “Young Wallander” are coming to Netflix. The streaming giant has ordered a U.K.-Swedish series based on the early life of Henning Mankell’s popular police inspector, who has already been already depicted on the small screen in the BBC “Wallander” series with Kenneth Branagh and a Swedish version with Krister Henriksson.

“Young Wallander” will see the titular detective tackling his first-ever case. Netflix’s VP of international originals, Erik Barmack, announced the project Wednesday at C21’s Content London event.

“We’re looking at Wallander when he was in his early 20s, before he became so jaded,” he said, noting that Mankell’s books had sold 50 million copies around the world in multiple languages. “When we talked to Berna [Levin] at Yellow Bird and saw the opportunity to work on a project like this, we got really excited.”

Production starts on the serialized six-parter, which will be in English, in 2019.

Levin, creative director at Banijay-owned Yellow Bird U.K., said that “getting to meet Wallander as a young man and explore how the times and his new experiences will shape him to eventually become the man we already know and love is a thrilling opportunity. We are confident he will captivate new audiences and delight longstanding fans once again with his sharp intelligence, youthful enthusiasm and unmistakable humanity.”

Website Updates: November 2018

I've updated the main files on the Euro Crime website today. "Euro Crime" includes both British and other European crime fiction writers (that have been published in English); non-British/European born crime writers who are strongly associated with British/European crime fiction (eg. Donna Leon), and crime writers in translation from outside of Europe.

I've also streamlined the site a little by removing several pages which were obsolete and/or out of date: Competition, Links, and News. New entries have been added to the sidebar for the Euro Crime Facebook page and the Petrona Award website.

Just a couple of reminders regarding the New Releases page:

1. The main by month/by author pages refer to when a book is published (in English) anywhere in the world however the 'by category ie historical, translated etc' is specific to when it's published in the UK.

2. When a book is released "early" in ebook I am taking the publication date as to be when the print edition comes out (this is the rule we use for determining Petrona Award eligibility).

As always, if you spot something wrong or missing, please do let me know.

Here's a summary of the usual updates:

The Author Websites page now lists 1083 sites.

In Bibliographies there are now bibliographies for 2696 authors (13532 titles of which 3098 are reviewed).

I've added new bibliographies for: G D Abson, Michelle Adams, Claire Askew, Lizzy Barber, Hannah Begbie, Alison Belsham, Rachael Blok, Guy Bolton, Jonas Bonnier, James Brabazon, Simone Buchholz, Laura Carlin, B M Carroll, Holly Cave, Lezanne Clannachan, Louisa de Lange, James Deegan, Angus Donald, Sophie Draper, Charlotte Duckworth Nuala Ellwood, Clare Empson, Mick Finlay, Jack Ford, M J Ford, E C Fremantle, Anthony Good, Emily Gunnis, Bradley Harper, Paul Harrison, James Hazel, Kate Helm, K J Howe Christopher Huang, Stina Jackson, Jo Jakeman, B E Jones, Bill Jones, Sandie Jones, Lesley Kara, Serena Kent, Tony Kent, Merle Kroger, Antoine Laurain, Caroline Lea, Mariette Lindstein, Asia MacKay, Louise Mangos, Kate Mascarenhas, H P Maskew, S R Masters, Sarah Meuleman, Alex Michaelides, Emiliano Monge, Phoebe Morgan, Anthony Mosawi, Niklas Natt och Dag, Alex North, Martin Osterdahl, Darren O'Sullivan, Vikki Patis, S W Perry, Heather Redmond, Rebecca Reid, Ane Riel, Maggie Robinson, Palle Rosenkrantz, Jacob Ross, Emma Rous, Michael Rutger, Joanne Sefton, Victoria Selman, Laura Shepherd-Robinson, John Simpson, C J Skuse, A M Taylor, Michael Theurillat, Rebecca Tinnelly, Alan Trotter, Harriet Tyce, Pål Undall, Jessica Vallance, Holly Watt and Yigal Zur.

I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jane Adams, Tasha Alexander, Hania Allen, Lin Anderson, M J Arlidge, Jennifer Ashley, R J Bailey, Jackie Baldwin, Fiona Barton, Samuel Bjork, Helen Black, Sara Blaedel, Robin Blake, Hilary Bonner, Oliver Bottini, Rhys Bowen, Alan Bradley, Conor Brady, Gyles Brandreth, Simon Brett, Neil Broadfoot, Frances Brody, Ken Bruen, Steve Burrows, Andrea Camilleri, Sam Carrington, Chris Carter, Will Carver, Steve Cavanagh, Ray Celestin, Kimberley Chambers, Paul Charles, Clare Chase, E O Chirovici, P F Chisholm, Rosie Claverton, Rory Clements, Daniel Cole, John Connolly, Lesley Cookman, Julie Corbin, Jane Corry, Colin Cotterill, James Craig, Mike/M W Craven, Richard Crompton, A J Cross, Bill Daly, Paula Daly, Lindsey Davis, Giancarlo De Cataldo, Maurizio De Giovanni, Anja de Jager, Will Dean, J P Delaney, Hannah Dennison, Katerina Diamond, P C/Paul Doherty, Claire Douglas, David Downing, Teresa Driscoll, Joy Ellis, Thomas Enger, Ramon Diaz Eterovic Jessica Fellowes, T P Fielden, Helen Fields, Paul Finch, Elena Forbes, Frederick Forsyth, Christopher Fowler, Dick Francis, Guy Fraser-Sampson Agnete Friis, Robert Galbraith, Robert Goddard, Dolores Gordon-Smith, Andrew Grant, Alex Gray, Camilla Grebe, Susanna Gregory, J M Gregson, Bear Grylls, Patricia Hall, Adam Hamdy, Peter Hanington, Mari Hannah, Elodie Harper, C S Harris Cora Harrison, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, L V Hay, Elizabeth Haynes, Mandasue Heller, James Henry, Mick/M Herron, Nir Hezroni, Sarah Hilary, Casey Hill, Martin Holmen, Anthony Horowitz, Anna Lee Huber, Graham Ison, Hanna Jameson, Diane Janes, Quintin Jardine, Michael Jecks, Luke Jennings, Philip Gwynne Jones, Emma Kavanagh, Jessie Keane, Erin Kelly, Claire Kendal, Simon Kernick, T E Kinsey, Ali Knight, Renee Knight, Roberta Kray, Snorri Kristjansson, David Lagercrantz, J S Law, Anna Legat, Leena Lehtolainen, Simon Lelic, Donna Leon Catherine Lloyd, Frances Lloyd, H B Lyle, Shona/S G MacLean, Torquil MacLeod, Gilly Macmillan Susan Elia MacNeal, Adrian Magson, Karen Maitland, Michael J Malone, Antonio Manzini, Scott Mariani, David Mark, Edward Marston, Andrew Martin, Faith Martin, Priscilla Masters, Peter May, Nigel McCrery, Andy McDermott, Catriona McPherson, Danny Miller, Caroline Mitchell, Mandy Morton, Peter Murphy, Amy Myers, Jo Nesbo, Hakan Nesser, Vicky Newham, Chris Nickson, John Niven, Ronnie O'Sullivan, James Oswald, Alan Parks, Tony Parsons, Ben Pastor, Anne Perry, Christoffer Petersen, Andreas Pfluger, Henry Porter, Marc Raabe, Cay Rademacher, Deanna Raybourn, Sarah Rayne, Eric Mayer & Mary Reed, Alex Reeve, Rod Reynolds, Matthew Richardson, Phil Rickman, Stella Rimington, Mike Ripley, Peter Robinson, Jenny Rogneby, Jacqui Rose, Emma Rowley James Runcie, Leigh Russell, Simon Scarrow, Jan-Philipp Sendker, Gerald Seymour, Sara Sheridan, Mel Sherratt, Soji Shimada, Jeffrey Siger, Alexander McCall Smith, Anna Smith, Helen Smith, Teresa Solana, Roz Southey, Jo Spain, Michael Stanley Mel/Melvin R Starr, Viveca Sten, Abbie Taylor, Andrew Taylor, Aline Templeton, Sherry Thomas, Will Thomas, E S Thomson, Lesley Thomson, Peter Tickler, M J Tija, Rebecca Tope, Peter Tremayne, S K Tremayne, C J Tudor, Helene Tursten, L C Tyler, Martin Walker, Rachel Ward, Ruth Ware, Douglas Watt, Ashley Weaver, Matt Wesolowski, Neil White, Lucie Whitehouse, Andrew Williams, Andrew Wilson, Jacqueline Winspear, Michael Wood, Tom Wood, Jake Woodhouse and Joakim Zander.

Review: Never Proven by Bill Daly

Never Proven by Bill Daly, November 2018, 320 pages, Old Street Publishing, ISBN: 1910400777

Reviewed by Terry Halligan.
(Read more of Terry's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

This is the fourth book in the Charlie Anderson series by this very talented writer from Glasgow and set in around the town he knows so well.

John Preston an IT consultant is found dead on the streets of Glasgow and DCI Charlie Anderson is very disturbed by the circumstances of the killing which indicate that the victim perhaps knew his assailant. On the same night a local man was attacked in a local pub and had his hand nailed to the floor and it looked like the assailants were connected to the killing but the DCI has a hard case attempting to prove the connection.

As this is the fourth book in the series the detectives in the story become more familiar to the regular reader and their back story provides the author with a rich seam of content to pass on.

As is usual in books of this kind there are many false trails before the ultimate reveal in the final paragraphs.

Bill Daly originally came from Renfrew (near Glasgow). Having spent forty years away from Scotland (living mainly in France) he returned to live in Glasgow in 2015. In 2016, he was awarded The Scottish Association of Writers’ Constable Trophy for his novel writing. His first DCI Charlie Anderson thriller BLACK MAIL, published in 2014 became a No 1 Kindle Bestseller in the “Scottish Crime” category.

I always look forward to reading Bill Daly's books as they effortlessly incorporate the seedy nastiness of the tougher parts of Glasgow. They are always very fast moving and evocative and the characters all have a rich credibility. I was, as usual, absolutely gripped until the final dramatic paragraph and look forward to reading more from this very exciting and gifted author.

Very strongly recommended.

Terry Halligan, November 2018.

Review: Big Sister by Gunnar Staalesen tr. Don Bartlett

Big Sister by Gunnar Staalesen translated by Don Bartlett, June 2018, 271 pages, Orenda Books, ISBN: 9781912374199

Reviewed by Lynn Harvey.
(Read more of Lynn's reviews for Euro Crime here and here.)

Norway, Bergen, Spring 2003
Moving out of his office whilst the owners redevelop the building has been unsettling enough for private investigator Varg Veum. But now he is back behind his desk and the woman sitting across from him is telling him that she is his sister. Varg tells her that he found a birth certificate and adoption papers amongst his mother’s things but he admits that he had been reluctant to look for her. His sister in turn had visited their mother back in 1975, to find out who her father was. However big sister Norma Johanne can’t tell Varg anything about the yellowed newspaper cutting he also found amongst their mother’s papers, an article about a jazz band called The Hurrycanes. In fact Norma has really come to Varg to ask him to find her god-daughter Emma, a 19-year-old trainee nurse who disappeared several weeks ago. Her Bergen landlord and flatmates say that she packed up and moved out but they don’t know where to and she isn’t answering her phone. Emma’s father happens to live in Bergen but he left the family under a cloud when Emma was only two years old. Norma Johanne has tried the police but they think she has just taken off somewhere and aren’t interested in pursuing an investigation. So she has come to Varg. Explaining that only the police can check Emma’s bank cards and phone, Varg agrees to investigate.

Varg's first try is Emma’s last known address starting with the landlord's flat on the top floor of the building. There is not much there for him except the landlord’s wife who is drunk and available, her husband being away on business. Varg makes his way downstairs to Emma’s apartment where he speaks to one of the flat mates. She seems disinterested and vague, explaining that they hadn’t really known Emma, she had simply answered their advert for a housemate. But she does remember her once talking about trying to see her father. Emma’s father must be Varg’s next step. There he is greeted by the father’s second wife, Emma’s stepmother, dressed in a tracksuit and impatient to get out on her twice daily run. She dismisses any talk about “that hysterical daughter”. There is a sizeable motorbike chained in the carport and Emma’s father, dressed in leather and denim, is hostile too. He doesn’t want anything to do with Emma. He doesn’t care what, if anything, has happened to her. He never really knew her anyway. Varg continues his search: Emma’s schoolfriend, now studying in Berlin; Emma’s college; her fellow students. But he draws a blank and his impression is that nobody cares much about the girl except perhaps her friend in Berlin.

The past begins to haunt both Emma’s story and that of Varg as he and his new sister make their tentative first steps in connection. Shadowy motives and past traumas begin to emerge alongside connections to a biker gang. Another death closer to home ensnares Varg into real physical danger but still the mystery of Emma refuses to yield its answers until the end of this surprisingly poignant story.

BIG SISTER is the first novel that I have read in Staalesen’s mammoth, established and prize-winning Varg Veum series. I can only hang my head in shame that it has taken so long for me to arrive here. But this also means that there is one thing I can vouch for: Staalesen weaves Veum’s past into the narrative so deftly that the reader can pick up the thread of his life, in as much as it relates to the story, seamlessly. Neither too much is explained nor too little. My hat is doffed. This is the ninth of the UK published Varg Veum series and reads easily and fluently in this translation by Don Bartlett, veteran translator of Nesbo and Knausgaard.
Bartlett himself once described Staalesen’s crime writing as “soft hard-boiled crime”. I suspect Staalesen pays homage to Raymond Chandler and his American West Coast creation Philip Marlowe in its details: the bottle of spirit in the office desk drawer; Norma Johanne Bakkevik – does that ring a bell for Norma Jean Baker/Marilyn Monroe? Even the title of this novel recalls Chandler’s own titled work “The Little Sister”. But perhaps I’m getting carried away.

In BIG SISTER, Staalesen has written a densely interwoven mystery and it's down to Varg Veum to pick apart the strands; a solidly satisfying private eye tale crafted with detailed storytelling, pace, wit and a compassionate eye.
A definite recommend.

Lynn Harvey, November 2018

TV News: The Brokenwood Mysteries Series 5

New Zealand's equivalent to Midsomer Murders, The Brokenwood Mysteries, returns to tv channel Drama on 23 November. This is the fifth series, and I believe, like the others is four episodes long.

You can watch previous episodes via the Drama homepage. If you want to watch them in HD - the Drama channel is SD only - then HD copies can be purchased via Amazon Prime Video. They are currently £8.99 a series. This price does fluctuate - I bought series 4 a few days ago at £4.99.

From the Drama website:

On the face of it, Brokenwood is another quiet, country town in New Zealand, the kind you might find just a few hours drive from any city. The people are pleasant and there's a strong sense of community. It has a golf club, regular wine shows, everything you would expect... and a few things you wouldn't, like buried secrets, treacherous lies and fiendish murders. DI Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) and DC Kristin Simms (Fern Sutherland) are on hand to investigate these small-town crimes in big-sky country. 

Review: No Time to Cry by James Oswald

No Time to Cry by James Oswald, November 2018, 336 pages, Wildfire, ISBN: 1472249895

Reviewed by Geoff Jones.

(Read more of Geoff's reviews for Euro Crime here.)

Detective Constable Constance Fairchild has a major problem; Lady Constance to give her correct title, or Con as she prefers. Her father is Lord of the Manor in a Northamptonshire village but she is now based with the Met Police in London.

Con has just discovered her boss and good friend Detective Inspector Peter Copperthwaite brutally murdered. He was on an undercover operation and Con was his liaison. Her colleagues believe that she compromised his cover. Detective Superintendent Bailey is scathing of Con's role and immediately suspends her.

Con is desperate to clear her name but gets sidetracked when her brother Ben's girlfriend Charlotte asks her to find her sister Izzy. Izzy has gone missing from her exclusive school (Con went there and was expelled on her last day) and her parents the DeVilliers seem unconcerned. Con is estranged from her parents but is close to her father's sister, her Aunt Felicity. She moves in with her aunt when life gets complicated in London as someone wants her dead! Can Con clear her name? Can she find Izzy and why has she disappeared?

This seems like a new series for the author who is best known for his Detective Inspector McLean series which has eight books (nine in February 2019). Fast paced but at times fairly implausible, Con is a likeable character and there is more to be revealed in her background, so I will look forward to reading more about her in the next instalment. Recommended.

Geoff Jones, November 2018

Waterstones & Crime Sections

I visited the Waterstones in Birmingham yesterday and I posted these photos on the Euro Crime Facebook page last night commenting that the crime section is separate to the fiction. My local Waterstones took the decision to integrate their crime into the fiction, quite a while back and I thought the Birmingham branch did the same. I'm hoping that the trend is to revert to separate sections. My local library also did this a few years ago but when they reopened after a refurbishment the crime section was back!

I know there is an argument that genre books will sell better/be checked out more when integrated but I find it a bit of a chore to browse as I rarely read anything but crime.

How does your Waterstones/library shelve its crime?

New Releases - November 2018

Here's a snapshot of what I think is published for the first time in November 2018 (and is usually a UK date but occasionally will be a US or Australian date). November 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.

• Abbott, Rachel - And So It Begins
• Akunin, Boris - Black City #12 Erast Fandorin, Gentleman Sleuth, Russia
• Alexander, Tasha - Uneasy Lies the Crown #13 Lady Emily
• Bird, A L - The Classroom
• Black, Helen - Bang to Rights #8 Lilly Valentine, Family care lawyer
• Blok, Rachael - Under the Ice
• Brady, Conor - In the Dark River #4 Detective Sergeant Joe Swallow, Dublin, 1880s
• Brett, Simon - Blotto, Twinks and the Intimate Revue #9 Brother and sister sleuths, Blotto and Twinks
• Bruen, Ken - In the Galway Silence #14 Jack Taylor
• Carver, Will - Good Samaritans
• Child, Lee - Past Tense #23 Jack Reacher, ex MP, USA
• Chisholm, P F - A Suspicion of Silver #9 Sir Robert Carey, 16th Century
• Crompton, Richard - Night Runners #3 Mollel, a crime-solving former Maasai warrior, Nairobi, Kenya
• Daly, Bill - Never Proven #4 DCI Charlie Anderson, Glasgow
• de Jager, Anja - A Death in Rembrandt Square #4 Lotte Meerman, a Cold Case Detective, Amsterdam
• Dennison, Hannah - Dangerous Deception at Honeychurch Hall #5 Kat Stanford
• Draper, Sophie - Cuckoo
• Farrelly, Tanya - When Your Eyes Close
• Fielden, T P - A Quarter Past Dead #3 Miss Dimont, Temple Regis, Devon
• Finley, Diana - Finding Lucy
• Fraser-Sampson, Guy - The House on Downshire Hill #5 Hampstead Murders
• Gitsham, Paul - The Common Enemy #4 DCI Warren Jones
• Gordon-Smith, Dolores - Forgotten Murder #10 Jack Haldean, 1920s
• Griffiths, Elly - The Stranger Diaries
• Hamdy, Adam - Aftershock #3 John Wallace
• Hannah, Mari - The Insider #2 Stone and Oliver
• Harris, Robert J - Castle Macnab #2 Richard Hannay
• Herron, Mick - - The Drop #1 Slough House Novella
• Holliday, SJI - The Lingering
• Horowitz, Anthony - The Sentence is Death #2 Detective Daniel Hawthorne
• Jardine, Quintin - Cold Case #30 Detective Chief Superintendent Bob Skinner, Edinburgh
• Kernick, Simon - We Can See You
• Knight, Ali - Before I Find You
• Kray, Roberta - Deceived
• Lapidus, Jens - Top Dog #2 Emelie Jansson, Lawyer & Teddy, Ex-con
• Law, J S - The Coldest Blood #3 Lieutenant Danielle Lewis, Royal Navy (ebook version; pb out in Jan 19)
• MacKenzie, A J - The Body in the Boat #3 The Romney Marsh Mysteries
• MacLeod, Torquil - Malice in Malmo #6 Inspector Anita Sundstrom
• Makovesky, Tess - Gravy Train
• Manzini, Antonio - Out of Season #3 Rocco Schiavone, deputy prefect of police, Italian Alps
• Mariani, Scott - The Rebel's Revenge #18 Ben Hope, Ex-SAS
• Maskew, H P - Innocents to the Slaughter #2 Hudson & Lawes, England,1838
• McDermott, Alan - Seek and Destroy #2 Eva Driscoll
• McPherson, Catriona - A Step So Grave #13 Dandy Gilver, Society Sleuth, 1920s Scotland
• Monge, Emiliano - Among the Lost
• Myers, Amy - Death at the Wychbourne Follies #2 Nell Drury, chef-sleuth, 1920s
• Nesser, Hakan - The Root of Evil #2 Inspector Barbarotti
• Osterdahl, Martin - Ask No Mercy #1 Max Anger
• O'Sullivan, Ronnie - The Break #3 Frankie James
• Oswald, James - No Time to Cry #1 DC Constance Fairchild
• Patis, Vikki - The Diary
• Perry, Karen - Your Closest Friend
• Pfluger, Andreas - A Shadow Falls #2 Jenny Aaron
• Phifer, Helen - Last Light #4 Detective Lucy Harwin
• Rahman, Khurrum - Homegrown Hero #2 Jay Qasim
• Rhodes, Kate - Ruin Beach #2 DI Ben Kitto
• Robinson, Maggie - Nobody's Sweetheart Now #1 Lady Adelaide, England, 1924
• Rogers, Bill - The Blow Out #4 National Crime Agency
• Russell, Leigh - Death Rope #11 DI Geraldine Steel
• Scarrow, Simon - The Blood of Rome #17 Macro and Cato, Roman soldiers
• Sefton, Joanne - If They Knew
• Staincliffe, Cath - Fear of Falling
• Taylor, Marsali - Death on a Shetland Isle #7 Shetland Sailing Mysteries
• Todd, Charles - A Forgotten Place #10 Bess Crawford, battlefield nurse, WWI
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