From a Nazi nightmare to murder in Melbourne
Crime fans are spoilt for choice with our pick of the most gripping new thrillers
RESURRECTION BAY ★★★★★ by Emma Viskic Pushkin Vertigo, £12.99
WHEN his best friend is murdered at home in Melbourne, private investigator Caleb Zelic vows to track down the killers.
Zelic is deaf but what he loses through misreading lips, he more than gains from analysing facial expressions, particularly when people are lying. He embarks upon an investigation with the help of his friend Frankie, a former police officer, but soon realises that the killers are on their trail.
After fleeing to Resurrection Bay, where he grew up, Zelic starts to unearth secrets that put his former wife Kat in danger and force a showdown that could alter their lives for ever.
This outstanding debut from Australian author Viskic is fast-paced with gut-wrenching twists and an engaging protagonist. In a vintage year for Australian crime fiction, in particular The Dry by Jane Harper, Viskic stands out as an author to watch. JC
THE SCARRED WOMAN ★★★★ by Jussi Adler-Olsen Quercus, £18.99
THE seventh instalment of the Department Q series sees Carl Mørck under pressure to meet case completion targets or see his cold case unit closed to save money.
So the last thing the world-weary detective needs is to be drawn into a complicated investigation that will take up precious time and resources to solve.
But when the body of an elderly woman is found in a park in Copenhagen and the case bears striking similarities to an unsolved murder from more than a decade ago Carl feels he has to take it on.
However, just when he needs his unit to function smoothly, secretary Rose has a breakdown as she struggles to deal with a ghost from her past and her demons seem to be connected to one of the department’s most sinister case files. So it falls to Carl, Assad and Gordon to uncover the dark secret plaguing Rose.
The Scarred Woman tackles complex social issues including Nazi war crimes and child abuse while entertaining the reader with Adler-Olsen’s trademark mix of suspense and humour. Recent novels in the Department Q series have been slightly lacklustre but the series’ great strength is its wonderfully drawn characters. So with its focus on Rose and her colleagues’ efforts to help her, The Scarred Woman marks a welcome return to form. JC
GOOD FRIDAY ★★★ by Lynda La Plante
Zaffre, £18.99 IN March 1976 Jane Tennison witnesses an IRA bomber leaving a bag at Covent Garden Underground station moments before it explodes.
She is adamant she can’t identify the man who killed several people and left many more injured. But when a photograph appears in the newspapers showing her assisting the wounded at the scene, it is feared that she and her family could become a target for IRA retaliation. So Tennison, now a detective, is transferred to the bomb squad to keep her out of harm’s way.
As she comes under pressure from the beleaguered head of the squad to identify a key suspect, Tennison attends the annual formal CID dinner of Scotland Yard on Good Friday at St Ermin’s Hotel.
With hundreds of detectives and their wives present, it presents the perfect target for the IRA. And after Tennison recognises a parking attendant as the Covent Garden bomber, she faces a race against time to convince her senior officers of his guilt and to prevent another atrocity.
This is the third novel in a prequel series from the creator of the classic ITV drama Prime Suspect which starred Helen Mirren as Tennison.
Though a little slow at times, Good Friday is an enjoyable read set in troubled times for the capital and shedding light on the iconic detective’s formative years. JC
THE SEAGULL HHHH by Ann Cleeves
Macmillan, £16.99 DETECTIVE Inspector Vera Stanhope unravels dark secrets from Whitley Bay’s past in Ann Cleeves’ riveting new novel.
Millions will be familiar with Brenda Blethyn’s portrayal of Vera in the television series of the same name but Cleeves’ engaging prose provides a much deeper, subtler insight into an intriguing and likeable character.
Vera is faced with the distasteful task of visiting a corrupt policeman in prison and discovering the whereabouts of the body of slippery wheeler-dealer Robbie Marshall, who mysteriously vanished in the 1990s.
But when police search a rocky area by St Mary’s Island, they find not one skeleton but two, doubling the workload of the irrepressible detective with a penchant for bottles of Wylam beer.
The threads lead back to an
upmarket nightclub called The Seagull where all sorts of skulduggery took place beneath a veneer of glamour and sophistication. Cleeves vividly captures the richness of life in Tyne and Wear and makes you long to visit The Seagull with its rogues’ gallery of regulars.
At the same time a question mark hangs over the relationship between Vera’s late father Hector and John Brace, a corrupt detective superintendent whose career Vera helped to end.
Amid an atmosphere of brooding, simmering tension, Hector is linked to an illegal trade in birds’ eggs and raptors and the reader fears that poor Vera is about to uncover some disturbing revelations about her father. Readers will enjoy Vera’s relentless quest for the truth in this astutely observed, atmospheric crime novel. JM
SNARE ★★★★ by Lilja Sigurdardottir Orenda Books, £8.99
AFTER a messy divorce Sonja Gunnarsdottir resorts to smuggling cocaine into Iceland to raise money to regain custody of her young son.
While still seeing the woman her husband found her in bed with, she plans to get out of drug running before the authorities cotton on. But her intricate plans are scuppered when she attracts the attention of Bragi, a customs officer nearing retirement. At the same time her lover Agla is being investigated for her role in Iceland’s financial crash.
With the net closing in as ash falls on Reykjavik from the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption, they will have to rely on their wits to avoid being snared.
This first novel of a planned trilogy is stylish, taut and compelling and a film adaptation is in the pipeline. With characters you can’t help sympathising with against your better judgment, Sigurdardottir takes the reader on a breathtaking ride. JC
BLACK TEETH ★★★ by Zane Lovitt Text Publishing, £10.99
COMPUTER geek Jason Ginaff spends most of his time sitting in his Melbourne flat and researching the online history of prospective employees for big companies. He unearths images that the candidates thought they had deleted from social media sites.
After his mother dies he uses his internet skills to track down the man he believes to be his father, retired police officer Glen Tyan, who is being stalked by another man intent on killing him. The stalker is a recluse named Rudy Alamein who believes Tyan framed his father for his mother’s murder and sent him to a tough prison where he committed suicide.
Ginaff befriends Alamein and decides to halt his murderous plan by finding out who really killed Alamein’s mother.
Black Teeth is a bleak Aussie noir featuring an assortment of essentially unlikeable characters who have taken the wrong path. It is largely well-written, cleverly plotted and in places funny, but the ending is overly rushed. JC