A Few Drops of Blood
By Jan Merete Weiss
Soho. $26.95
Naples is a conflicted city. The members of the Camporra, the local crime family, lives side by side with the decent citizens of the Italian city. So it comes as no surprise that Captain Natalia Monte of the Carabiniere has some friends whom she grew up with who are now crime syndicate members. At times this can be a problem, while in other instances it can make solving a crime a bit easier.
In this situation Monte is investigating a bizarre murder of two gay males that has shaken the city. The case will take the policewoman into some of the seamier sections of her city and force her to acknowledge the homophobic feelings that run deep in both the religious sector and crime families of Naples.
As with the previous novel featuring Natalia Monte, the author provides a detailed picture of both this famous Italian city and its varied citizenry. Jan Merete Weiss has laid claim to Naples as her city for this series of police procedural novels and she is an expert guide, showcasing all its interesting neighborhoods.
Hell to Pay
By Garry Disher
Soho. $26.95
One of Australia’s most prolific crime writers, Garry Disher sets this latest novel in the backcountry of South Australia. In trouble with the Adelaide Police Department and the subject of an internal investigation, Paul Hirschhauser, “Hirsch” for short, is demoted and sent to Tiverton while the wheels of “police justice” slowly turn.
Not welcomed by the locals, Hirsch discovers he is in for a rough time because his boss appears to be the leader of a group of adults who never outgrew their schoolyard-bullying phase.
When a teen girl is found dead alongside a local highway, everyone wants to call it an unfortunate hit-and-run accident, but Hirsch isn’t so sure that’s what really happened. Bucking the locals and his boss, he launches his own investigation and realizes he has stirred up a local hornet’s nest and there will be hell to pay.
If you enjoying rooting for the underdog you’ll find this thriller easy to get into. Hirsch doesn’t deserve all the abuse heaped upon him but that also makes him a character most readers can sympathize with.
Last Winter We Parted
By Fuminori Nakamura
Soho. $25
Do you really think that a person could murder someone, purely for the sale of art? There must be something that fostered his madness to such a point. There’s a more brutal madness to this than two simple murders.”
This quote from “Last Winter We Parted” succinctly captures the issue this award-winning novel raises. Two women have been burned alive and the accused killer, a renowned photographer named Kiharazaka, faces the death penalty for the heinous crimes.
A young writer has been commissioned to interview Kiharazaka in prison and write a full account of the case. As the interviews continue, the writer becomes convinced that the accused man is not the killer, but why is he willing to accept blame for the crimes?
The winner of the 2014 David L. Goodis Award for Noir Fiction, this dark mystery muddies the line between good and evil to the point where there isn’t a distinguishable difference anymore. Just over 200 pages in length, this short novel will continue to resonate with the reader long after it is finished.
To Dwell in Darkness
By Deborah Crombie
William Morrow. $25.99
Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid has a new assignment. He’s been transferred from Scotland Yard to head a new murder investigation team out of Holborn Police Station. For his first assignment Kincaid is assigned a lethal bombing at St. Pancras International Station.
The dead man was part of a protest group and supposedly he was only carrying a smoke bomb, although the evidence suggests otherwise. The disappearance of a bystander complicates the investigation and makes a puzzling death even more difficult to sort out.
Besides trying to get to the bottom of what happened at the train station, Kincaid also wonders why he was transferred from headquarters. The more he wonders about his former bosses’ motives, the more the police detective begins to question the decision and wonder if he has followed the right career path.
Those who have followed this series have see the central character handle some difficult professional and personal challenges, but this situation may turn out to be the most trying of all of them.
Sidney Sheldon’s Chasing Tomorrow
By Tilly Bagshawe
William Morrow. $26.99
Sidney Sheldon’s popular heroine, Tracy Whitney, is back for an encore thanks to Tilly Bagshawe. Tracy and her partner in love and crime, Jeff Stevens, have pulled off some remarkable international heists. They have been in retirement for a while as Tracy makes plans for having a family and Jeff works at the British Museum.
Then a mysterious stranger enters the couple’s lives and Tracy disappears without a trace. What gives? For a decade Jeff wonders what happened and what went wrong while the rest of the world assumes Tracy is dead.
But a series of strange murders, eleven victims in ten different cities, causes Tracy to resurface. All the cities are places where Tracy has formerly been involved in a heist and each one places her back in the limelight in some manner.
A high stakes game is unfolding with Tracy at the center of it and if she doesn’t get to the bottom of it quickly, even more people are going to die.
Sabotage
By Matt Cook
Forge. $25.99
This action and espionage adventure that unfolds on the high seas marks the debut of Matt Cook. A cruise ship loses power in the North Atlantic. This ship and its 3,000 passengers are pawns in a deadly extortionist plan that also involves private warfare technology.
Meanwhile, a Stanford professor, Malcolm Clare, has been kidnapped and one of his students seeks to find him. Austen Hardy enlists the help of this mentor’s daughter and soon the two find themselves in Saint Petersburg where they’ll find the help they need to find Professor Clare.
What follows is an international, high tech thriller that has stakes far greater than just the missing academic and the cruise ship held hostage. Those who love a novel that moves at a break neck pace “Sabotage” is the perfect fit and the ideal airport diversion.
