He’s not guilty, he’s my brother
AMERICAN BY DAY by Derek B. Miller (Doubleday £16.99)
NORWEGIAN police chief inspector Sigrid Odegard is dispatched by her father to the U.S. to find out what has happened to her older brother, Marcus, who has mysteriously disappeared in upstate New York.
It transpires that he is the prime suspect in the murder of a black college professor. The local sheriff, Irv Wylie, is convinced that he pushed her out of a window. Odegard sets out to prove him wrong.
But Wylie is a long way from the redneck stereotype of the smalltown sheriff, just as Odegard is very far from a flatfoot Scandinavian copper.
This is a subtle crime story peopled with beautifully drawn characters.
Former UN worker Miller’s debut, Norwegian By Night, was praised as a literary novel with the body of a thriller, and this equally elegant story is not to be missed.
BODY AND SOUL by John Harvey (Heinemann £14.99)
HARVEY’S series focusing on the dark, brooding detective Frank Elder was hugely successful before he announced his retirement. Happily, he changed his mind and wrote the story of Elder’s last case.
Now living in retirement in Cornwall, the ex-policeman is surprised when his estranged daughter Katherine turns up on his doorstep, distraught but refusing to explain why.
She disappears equally suddenly, but Elder discovers that she has been modelling for, and in a relationship with, artist Anthony Winter.
When he sees paintings of his daughter, Elder is shocked and attacks the painter in London before returning home. Shortly afterwards, Winter is found dead and suspicion falls on Elder. This is wonderfully atmospheric crime writing — a tribute to Harvey’s exceptional talent.
TURN A BLIND EYE by Vicky Newham (HQ £12.99)
THIS impressive debut from psychologist Newham, who taught in the East End of London for years, introduces spirited Detective Inspector Maya Rahman. She’s a Bangladeshi who works around Brick Lane and is mourning the loss of her brother.
The headmistress of a local school is found strangled in her office on the first day of term — her wrists are tied together and there is a card at the scene on which is written the ancient Buddhist precept: ‘I shall abstain from taking the ungiven.’
Then a second body is discovered with another mysterious message. A serial killer is on the loose, and Rahman is faced with trying to unravel the riddles.
The multicultural community of Brick Lane is sensitively evoked, and the heroine is ultra-hip. It’s no surprise that she has been snapped up for television.