CRIME FICTION
THE FERAL DETECTIVE by Jonathan Lethem
(Atlantic £16.99, 336 pp) LETHEM’S first detective novel since the exquisite Motherless Brooklyn 20 years ago confirms him as one of America’s finest living writers — wry, truthful and utterly original.
There are echoes of James Ellroy in this story, set against the edges of society in LA and featuring hippy groups who live in the Mojave Desert. It bristles with unusual characters, and bizarre locations.
Phoebe Siegler is searching for her friend’s missing daughter, Arabella, who has been off the grid for the past three months. She hires eccentric private detective Charlie Heist, who keeps a possum in his desk drawer, to help.
It transpires that Arabella may have become involved with one of two groups hiding out in the desert, known as the Rabbits and the Bears. Heist has been a member of both at one time, hence his feral nickname.
Startling, funny — it is captivating.
THE KILLER IN ME by Olivia Kiernan
(Riverrun £18.99, 352 pp) THIS is the second outing for the engaging, if troubled, head of the Dublin murder squad DCS Frankie Sheehan. Two mutilated corpses are found in a church in Clontarf where the detective grew up, and it appears to her, as a trained criminal profiler, that a serial killer is at work.
In the meantime, the shortcomings in the investigation of a 17-yearold cold case are being played out in a TV documentary, which suggests that the young man convicted of the crime may have been innocent.
Plenty of careful detail, not least in the politics at the highest levels of policing, and a satisfyingly twisty plot make this a procedural that positively hums with authenticity.
But at its heart is the character of Sheehan, fiercely independent and determined not to be bullied.
KOSSUTH SQUARE by Adam LeBor
(Head of Zeus £18.99, 432 pp) I AM a fan of foreign correspondent and crime writer Adam LeBor, who sets his intriguing stories in interesting locations.
He lives part-time in Hungary, so it is no surprise that he sets this serpentine tale of political corruption there, against the background of a policeman hero who may be horribly compromised.
Detective Balthazar Kovacs is summoned to a luxurious brothel owned by his brother. A VIP Arab customer has died in embarrassing circumstances, and it emerges that he’s a Qatari financier who is a guest of the Hungarian government.
The brothel’s in-house CCTV footage has been mysteriously erased — is someone out to discredit Kovacs? Are his family now a target for the fresh political forces in a Hungary struggling under a new PM?
An elegant, atmospheric tale that twists and surprises at every turn.