By the Dart • Book Review Book Review CRIME WAVE
Who doesn’t love a bit of escapism and it seems that May is the month for my escape from chaos, cooking and children into the murky world of mystery and murder. Like me you may be feeling bereft with the prospect of life without Broadchurch and In The Line of Duty. Fear not, as it seems there’s a feast of crime fiction to be devoured with psychological thrillers, serial murders and suspense aplenty. A number of the old favourites - both authors and characters - are returning to the page but there are some gripping debuts out there too. It seems Devon and its seaside location is a popular backdrop for murder with 2 locally based titles to draw your attention. Kate Ellis’ most recent
book The Mermaid’s Scream (Piatkus) sees the return to Dartmouth’s alter ego Tradmouth, with DI Wesley Peterson solving the mystery of the murder of promising young author Zac Wilkinson. As always this practiSed author weaves the crimes of past and present, “the plotting is intricate and the finale totally unexpected” (The Bookseller) Life in the Devonshire seaside town of Temple Regis is the setting for the recently published The Riviera Express by Kingsbridge author T P Fielden (HQ, £12.99). Judy Dimont is
the reporter on the eponymous local paper and also the eccentric amateur sleuth who decides to investigate a murder on the 4.30 from Paddington and a
suspicious death on the clifftops. With a backdrop of 1950s england and some familiar settings in South Devon, there is surely a faint whiff of Agatha Christie and Miss Marple. Lucy Wilson highlighted it recently in the Guardian, describing it as “unashamedly cosy, with gentle humour…a solid old-fashioned whodunnit” and it seems we can expect more from Miss Dimont as she is set to return to the page in November 2017 in the second book in the series, Resort to Murder. Detectives and investigators enchant their
readers in different ways. Some we like, others are social misfits with troubled lives of their own. One of crime fiction’s most enduring characters is Inspector Rebus who celebrates his 30th
by Emma Jones
anniversary in 2017. His latest outing Rather Be the Devil will be published in paperback by Orion in June in time for RebusFest - a weekend festival of literature, music, art and film in the familiar setting of edinburgh. (30 June – 2 July) www.ianrankin. net
Donna Leon – the
renowned creator of Venetian Detective, Commissario Guido Brunetti - recently celebrated the 25th
in the anniversary
of her first Brunetti novel with the publication of Earthly Remains (William Heinemann) – the 26th
series. Everyday Venetian life is at the core of her novels with a background of vaporetti rides, tourists and political corruption. In her latest, Leon continues to entrance her readers with her erudite detective who is drawn into the mystery of a missing caretaker as he recuperates on one of the Venetian islands. The New York Times bills the book as “one of her best” with the author drawing on her love of the city and the ongoing real, environmental issues that affect it. And the most
anticipated thriller on the shelves this month must be Into the Water (published by Doubleday) written by Paula Hawkins - the author of the runaway success The Girl on the Train. Who knows if it will pass the ‘second book test’ but surely it’s worth a sneaky peek.
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