February New Releases

A quick round-up of some great new crime releases for February and definitely something for everyone here…

Six women. Six abductions. Six souls in peril…London is in the grip of a barbaric serial killer, dubbed Herod by the tabloid press. Four pregnant women have been abducted in quick succession, their bodies mutilated and dumped. When a fifth pregnant woman, Julia Caton, is taken from her home in the dead of night, DCI David Rosen knows that time is running out to save her…Then Rosen gets a mysterious phone call from Father Sebastian Flint, an enigmatic priest who seems to know rather too much about the abductions. When it emerges that Father Flint was once the Vatican’s leading expert on the occult, the investigation takes an increasingly disturbing turn. But it isn’t until Rosen discovers the existence of an ancient text – said to be the devil’s answer to the bible – that the true horror of Herod’s plan begins to unfold. Rosen is drawn inexorably to the killer’s lair, where he will discover a terrible truth – that Herod’s retribution is absolute, and that there are far worse things than death… (1 Feb- Atlantic Books)

Reporter Rex Tracey has just recovered from his affair with Lithuanian artist Milda Majauskas when she disappears. He’s got other concerns, not least an anti-immigration group spreading hate across Tottenham, and a string of attacks on young women at the local  beauty spot, Alexandra Palace. But when Rex himself becomes a suspect, he is forced to seek answers. Amongst the tea-houses and squats, the yam shops and tower blocks of this little-glimpsed, forever-changing London, Rex unearths a trail of secrets and falsehoods, from corrupt police to illegal factories. But the truth behind Milda’s fate evades him until the final twist, when Rex, and the last people to see her, must all account for their guilt. (1 Feb- Old Street)

Eighty-two years old, and recently widowed, Sheldon Horowitz has grudgingly moved to Oslo, with his grand-daughter and her Norwegian husband. An ex-Marine, he talks often to the ghosts of his past – the friends he lost in the Pacific and the son who followed him into the US Army, and to his death in Vietnam. When Sheldon witnesses the murder of a woman in his apartment complex, he rescues her six-year-old son and decides to run. Pursued by both the Balkan gang responsible for the murder, and the Norwegian police, he has to rely on training from over half a century before to try and keep the boy safe. Against a strange and foreign landscape, this unlikely couple, who can’t speak the same language, start to form a bond that may just save them both. (7 Feb- Faber)

As Hitler’s forces smash into Soviet territory, annihilating the Red Army divisions in its path, a lone German scout plane is forced down. Contained within the briefcase of its passenger is the seemingly inconsequential painting of a hyalophoria cecropia, otherwise known as a red moth. Military Intelligence dismisses the picture as insignificant, but in the state of emergency Stalin suspects a German plot. He summons his old adversary, Inspector Pekkala – the elusive Finn who was once Tsar Nicholas II’s personal detective – to discover the real significance of this strange wartime cargo. As the storm gathers around them, Pekkala, together with his assistant from the shadowy Bureau of Special Operations, soon find themselves on the path of the most formidable art thieves in history. Those real target is a secret and prized possession of the Romanovs, once considered to be the eighth wonder of the world. (7 Feb- Faber)

In the dying days of 1850 the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case. His client? The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein. Charles soon finds himself being drawn into the bitter battle being waged over the poet’s literary legacy, but then he makes a chance discovery that raises new doubts about the death of Shelley’s first wife, Harriet, and he starts to question whether she did indeed kill herself, or whether what really happened was far more sinister than suicide. As he’s drawn deeper into the tangled web of the past, Charles discovers darker and more disturbing secrets, until he comes face to face with the terrible possibility that his own great-uncle is implicated in a conspiracy to conceal the truth that stretches back more than thirty years. The story of the Shelleys is one of love and death, of loss and betrayal. (7 Feb- Corsair)

Meet Mollel, a former Maasai warrior whose beloved wife died in the bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi. Mollel has been assigned to the investigation of the brutal murder of a local prostitute. Despite the resistance of his colleagues, Mollel soon begins to uncover something more far-reaching. But are his warrior’s instincts, which have always served him so well, correct? Or will his convictions about the case be turned on their head? The investigation will become more personal to him than he could have possibly imagined… (14 Feb- W&N)

I make things disappear. It’s what I do. This time I’m tidying up the loose ends after a casino heist gone bad. The loose ends being a million cash. But I only have 48 hours, and there’s a guy out there who wants my head in a bag. He’ll have to find me first. They don’t call me the Ghostman for nothing…(14 Feb- Doubleday)

Highly intelligent but socially inept, Colin spends his free time collecting academic qualifications and searching for ways to meet women, until he stumbles upon a new technique that proves both potent and deadly. Police analyst Annabel is shocked when she discovers a decomposing body in the house next door and realises that no one, including herself, noticed her neighbour’s absence. At work she finds data showing that such cases are frighteningly common in her own town and sets out to investigate, convinced she is on trail of a killer. (14 Feb- Myriad)

When her plane is delayed overnight, Gaby Struthers finds herself forced to share a hotel room with a stranger: a terrified young woman named Lauren Cookson – but why is she scared of Gaby in particular? Lauren won’t explain. Instead, she blurts out something about an innocent man going to prison for a murder he didn’t commit, and Gaby soon suspects that Lauren’s presence on her flight can’t be a coincidence. Because the murder victim is Francine Breary, the wife of the only man Gaby has ever truly loved. Tim Breary has confessed, and even provided the police with evidence. The only thing he hasn’t given them is a motive. He claims to have no idea why he murdered his wife . . .(14 Feb- Hodder)

When Rink’s father is brutally murdered, Joe has to stop his friend rushing headlong for vengeance. Because Rink’s mother witnessed the crime and Yukiko isn’t telling everything she knows. Her silence is governed by the Japanese tradition of giri, or moral obligation. But when there are more vicious deaths – all of them elderly men known to Yukiko – it becomes a matter of honour to uncover the shameful secret that lies behind the murders. The killer isn’t playing by the rules. But some rules are made to be broken and Joe doesn’t care what he breaks to ensure Rink gets his revenge. (14 Feb- Hodder)

 Three men are found brutally executed in one of Gtenborg’s most fashionable neighbourhoods. All three men were involved in an online poker company, but that’s all they appear to have in common. The complex investigation immerses Detective Inspector Irene Huss and her colleagues into a world of expensive cars, fancy homes and impressive castles in the air. (14 Feb-Soho Press)

 Twenty-five-years ago, four-year-old Justin Manning disappeared. Two months later his body was found in a shallow grave in the woods, shocking the small town of Dove Point, Ohio. Janet Manning has been haunted by her brother’s death since the day she lost sight of him in the park. Now, a detective and a reporter are asking questions, raising new suspicions and opening old wounds. But if the man jailed for the murder is innocent, who did kill Justin? At the same time a stranger appears at Janet’s door claiming to know the truth and a high school friend returns, with his own confused memories of what happened. Janet thought she’d put the past and guilt behind her. But now the truth about her brother is heartbreakingly close – has she the courage to find it? (14 Feb- Penguin)

In kidnapping cases, the first few hours are crucial. After that, the chances of being found alive go from slim to nearly none. Alex Prévost – beautiful, resourceful, tough – may be no ordinary victim, but her time is running out. Commandant Camille Verhoeven and his detectives have nothing to go on: no suspect, no lead, rapidly diminishing hope. All they know is that a girl was snatched off the streets of Paris and bundled into a white van. The enigma that is the fate of Alex will keep Verhoeven guessing until the bitter, bitter end. And before long, saving her life will be the least of his worries. (28 Feb- MacLehose)

Actor Gwydion Morgan’s dramatic appearance at Jessica Mayhew’s psychotherapy practice coincides with a turbulent time in her own life – her husband has just revealed that he’s spent the night with a much younger woman. Gwydion, son of the famous Evan Morgan, is good looking and talented but mentally fragile, tormented by an intriguing phobia. Jessica is determined to trace the cause of his distress. So when his mother phones to say he is suicidal, Jessica decides to make a house call. The Morgans live in a grand cliff-top mansion overlooking a rocky bay with its own private jetty. It’s a remote and somewhat sinister place. On her visit, Jessica finds out that an au pair who looked after Gwydion as a child drowned in the bay in mysterious circumstances. Could it be that Gwydion witnessed her death? In her quest to help her client, Jessica finds herself becoming embroiled in the Morgans’ poisonous family dynamic. At the same time, she has to deal with the demands of her own domestic life: her struggle to keep her marriage intact, as well as her older daughter’s increasingly defiant behaviour. And then, of course, there is the growing attraction she feels towards her new client . . . (28 Feb- Macmillan)

In the middle of an unusually hot Swedish summer, a young woman studying at the Vaxjo Police Academy is brutally murdered. Police Inspector Evert Backstrom is unwillingly drafted in from Stockholm to head up the investigation. Egotistical, vain and utterly prejudiced against everything, Backstropm is a man who has no sense of duty or responsibilty, thinks everyone with the exception of himself is an imbecile and is only really capable of warm feelings towards his pet goldfish and the nearest bottle of liquor. If they are to solve the case, his long suffering team must work around him, following the scant few leads which remain after Backstrom’s intransigence has let the trail go cold. (28 Feb- Doubleday)

In her hey-day, ex FBI agent, Brigid Quinn, not only worked serial killer cases but became their prize. Small and blond, from a distance she looked vulnerable and slight…the perfect bait to catch a killer. But as Quinn got older, she realised she needed to find a protégé, a younger field agent to take her place. So Quinn trains a twenty-two year old and lets her loose in the field. The plan works. Until the Route 66 killer not only takes the bait, but kills the bait. Years on, Quinn is trying to move past the fact that she has a young woman’s death on her conscience. She’s now the perfect Stepford Wife – until she gets a knock on her door. The girl’s body has finally been discovered. Quinn is pulled back into the case and the more she learns about the killer the more she comes to believe, despite the overwhelming forensic evidence to hand, that they have the wrong man. (28 Feb- Orion) SEE MY REVIEW HERE- Rage Against The Dying.

Manhattan, 1778. A city of secrets, profiteers, loyalists and double agents. As the last part of America under British rule, New York is home to a swelling tide of refugees seeking justice from the British crown. Edward Savill is sent from London to investigate the claims of dispossessed loyalists. No sooner does he land than he becomes embroiled in the case of a gentleman murdered in the city’s notorious Canvas Town. An escaped slave hangs for the crime, but Savill is convinced they have executed the wrong man. Lodging with the respected Wintour family, Savill senses the mystery deepening. Judge Wintour’s beautiful daughter-in-law, Arabella, hides a tragedy in her past, while his son plans a dangerous mission into enemy territory. And what of Mr Noak, the enigmatic clerk seemingly bent on a dubious course of his own? One thing is clear – the killing in Canvas Town was just the start of a trail of murder, and it’s leading directly to Savill… (28 Feb- HarperCollins)

England may have survived the Armada threat of 1588, but when Spanish galleys land troops in Cornwall on a lightning raid seven years later, is it a dry-run for a new invasion? Or is there, perhaps, a more sinister motive? The Queen is speechless with rage. But as intelligencer John Shakespeare tries to get a grip on events, one by one his network of spies is horribly murdered. What has all this to do with Thomasyn Jade, a girl driven to the edge of madness by the foul rituals of exorcism? And what is the link to a group of priests held prisoner in bleak Wisbech Castle? (28 Feb- John Murray)