Sometimes, you just need a new series, this month and for the next little while it might be a good time to try to find one. There have been a number of new authors whose books have just been released or re-released in Canada.
A.J. Cross’ new title is Dark Truths (in stock, TP, $18.50). The novel is set in Birmingham, England and the plot revolves around the murder of a female jogger. It is a police procedural with the addition of criminologist Will Traynor. Detective Inspector Bernard Watts and his team are not very happy when the well-known and high profile, Traynor is brought in to help them. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the second title in the series, Devil in the Detail (HC, $38) in May.
Alison Bruce started her Detective Gary Goodhew series in 2008, but it has only been intermittently available in North America. At the moment, it is in the process of being re-issued. The series is set in Cambridge, and the first title is Cambridge Blue (in stock, TP, $17.99). The later titles will be reissued in the next couple of months. Goodhew is the youngest detective in the Cambridge police force. So many mystery series are set in Oxford so it's nice to have another university town as the background.
Colin Falconer’s latest series featuring DI Charlie George is new to Whodunit? and North America. Another police procedural, this series is set in North London. The first title in the series is Lucifer Falls and starts with the murder of a Catholic priest (in stock, TP, $18.99). The second title Innocence Dies is due to be released on May 18th. Falconer has written several other series.
Angela Marsons’ has a long, very popular series featuring Detective Kim Stone which again has only just become available in North America. We have just received Evil Games (TP, $16.95). I must admit that I did not get very far into the book as it was too graphic for me.
To get away from England, Max Seeck has a second title in his Detective Jessica Niemi series, which is set in Finland, coming in September. Like the first book in the series, The Witch Hunter (in stock, TP, $23), The Ice Coven is a police procedural with supernatural overtones.
Getting away from the police but staying within the legal system Jane Casey has a new book, The Killing Kind, set in London with a new main character barrister Ingrid Lewis. Starting with the seeming accidental death of another female barrister, Ingrid becomes convinced that the death was neither accidental nor that the right person died. She believes that it was a case of mistaken identity and that she herself was the intended victim. A plot with many twists and turns it is hard to know at times who is the hunter and who is the hunted.
Another legal series set in London is Abi Silver’s Burton and Lamb series. Judith Burton and Constance Lamb are solicitors and each of the books has a different theme which is reflected in the titles. The first book, The Pinnochio Brief (TP, $18.95) deals with assumptions about truth as well as issues around Artificial Intelligence. We also have The Aladdin Trial (TP, $18.95) and The Cinderella Plan (TP, $20.95) in stock. I am not a huge fan of books with multiple voices and short chapters but wanting to know the truth of the case kept me going until the end.