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“Drink up!” urged the Chief. “There’s no escaping fate. Drink while the champagne lasts!”
― Andrey Kurkov, Death and the Penguin
Welcome to another of our regular round ups of recently acquired detective and thriller titles.
In this month’s exciting and thrilling mixed bag of titles we have a new crime thriller novel set in the atmospheric and wonderful city of Dunedin, called The Night She Fell by Eileen Merriman. We also have The Extinction of Irena Rey: a new book by Women’s Prize finalist Jennifer Croft. In The Extinction of Irena Rey, the scene is set when an acclaimed author goes missing in an ancient Polish forest and her translators set to work as sleuths to find her.
We also have The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill – a novel which has lots of fun with the concept of conspiracy theories and carefully and cleverly weaves it into the plot. For fans of the “strange and fantastic “Death and the Penguin, we have a new work by its author Andreĭ Kurkov, which is the first instalment of his latest series called The Silver Bone. Taking a very different approach from Andreĭ Kurkov, A Death in Diamonds by Sophia Bennett is a crime tale in which Queen Elizabeth II takes a leading role, we also have in our bag of delights a chilling, gas lit, gothic crime called A Grave Robbery by Deanna Raybourn, a novel that revolves around a mysterious waxwork figure. And finally we have novels which feature various dastardly deeds committed in Devon, Lake Zurich and France. In short, there is something to suit every detective and thriller fan. To peruse our full selection, just glance below.
The night she fell / Merriman, Eileen
“‘When I last saw Ashleigh, she was lying in a pool of blood … Her eyes were open, staring sightlessly into the sky. I’d like to think she saw the stars before she died; that in her last moments she flew, soaring on serotonin, dreamy with dopamine. I’d like to think she didn’t suffer …’ A beautiful young law student dies on the concrete below her third-storey window in chilly Dunedin. It’s clear enough how she died. What isn’t is why – or who’s involved. Plenty of people had a reason to hate Ashleigh, with her straight As and perfect looks. She’s fallen out with her flatmates, and her boyfriend Xander is having second thoughts about their future together. And then there are the weird messages…” (Adapted from Catalogue)
The extinction of Irena Rey : a novel / Croft, Jennifer
“Eight translators arrive at a house in a primeval Polish forest on the border of Belarus. It belongs to the world-renowned author Irena Rey, and they are there to translate her magnum opus, Gray Eminence. But within days of their arrival, Irena disappears without a trace. The translators, who hail from eight different countries but share the same reverence for their beloved author, begin to investigate where she may have gone while proceeding with work on her masterpiece…” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.
The mystery writer : a mystery / Gentill, Sulari
“There’s nothing easier to dismiss than a conspiracy theory―until it turns out to be true. When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother’s doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. Will her brother support her ambition or send her back to finish her degree? What will her parents say when they learn of her decision? Does she even have what it takes to be a successful writer? When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served…” (Adapted from Catalogue)
The silver bone : a novel / Kurkov, Andreĭ
“A perplexing mystery introduces rookie detective Samson Kolechko in Kyiv as he is tackling his first case, set against real life details of the tumultuous early 20th century.Kyiv, 1919. World War I has ended in Western Europe, but to the East, six factions vie for control of Ukraine. Amidst the instability, young Samson Kolechko places his engineering career on hold. But in the city of Kyiv where competing patrols, black-market enterprise, and mayhem prevail everything remains up for grabs and new opportunity lurks just around the corner …” (Adapted from Catalogue)
A death in diamonds / Bennett, Sophia
“1957 – A young woman is found dead in a mews house a mile from Buckingham Palace, wearing only silk underwear and a diamond tiara. An older man is discovered nearby, garrotted and pierced through the eye with a long, sharp implement. According to the police, a high society card game was going on downstairs that night. One of the players surely committed the murders, but each of them can give the others an alibi. When someone very close to her is implicated, the young Queen is drawn in to the investigation…” (Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.
A grave robbery / Raybourn, Deanna
“Lord Rosemorran has purchased a wax figure of a beautiful reclining woman and asks Stoker to incorporate a clockwork mechanism to give the Rosemorran Collection its own Sleeping Beauty in the style of Madame Tussaud’s. But when Stoker goes to cut the mannequin open to insert the mechanism, he makes a gruesome discovery: this is no wax figure. The mannequin is the beautifully preserved body of a young woman who was once very much alive. But who would do such a dreadful thing, and why?” ( Adapted from Catalogue) Also available as an eBook.
A Devon midwinter murder / Austin, Stephanie
“With the festive season fast approaching, amateur sleuth Juno Browne helps organise a Christmas Fair to raise funds for Ashburton’s local animal sanctuary. The event is a success, but whilst Santa is handing out presents in the fairy-lit grotto, a murder is being committed in a dark corner of the garden. Juno discovers the body of Bob the Blacksmith, found clutching a horseshoe decorated with a sprig of elder. Suspicion falls on Bob’s longsuffering wife, Jackie, and on Don Drummond, with whom Bob violently quarrelled in the past. From this cloud of suspicion, Juno begins to make connections between Bob’s murder and previous ‘accidental’ deaths, but her course is obstructed by those who insist on links to ancient folklore…” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Deep dark blue / Kobler, Seraina
“Lake Zurich is Rosa Zambrano’s beat. Once a detective with the CID, she’s traded in serious crimes for the serenity of the water, patrolling it daily as the first female officer in Zurich’s maritime police force. But when the body of Dr Jansen, a renowned fertility doctor and successful biotech entrepreneur, is dredged up in a fisherman’s nets, Rosa must call on her old training to solve his murder. This case hits close to home for Rosa, she’s a patient of Jansen’s, and had her eggs frozen at his clinic only days before he was killed. Her investigation leads her from opulent villas on Lake Zurich’s shores to genetic research labs and a thriving escort service on the outskirts of the city and to four women, each of whom in their own way have rejected the hand they have been dealt by biology or fate.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Murder at la Villette / Black, Cara
“Aimée Leduc’s ex Melac, her daughter’s father, has been hounding her for weeks, pressuring her to move little Chloe to Brittany, threatening to take her to court for custody–all but stalking her. Harassed and fed up, Aimée has stopped taking his calls. That’s why she doesn’t know as she’s leaving a client’s office late one night that Melac is waiting for her by the Bassin de la Villette–where an assailant attacks him just in time for Aimee to find his still-bleeding body in the canal. Interrupted, the killer knocks Aimée unconscious and plants the bloody knife in her hands for the police to find. Now Aimée is in police custody, debilitated by her concussion, with overwhelming evidence working against her…” (Adapted from Catalogue)
