Look out for these! Hot picks for September 2013 – set in Manchester, Lewis, Italy and Sweden.

The holiday season seems well and truly over - I’ve been back at work for a week and as I write this post, the sky is looking overcast and it looks like a downpour is about to start.  Since my last post, I’ve read some really good books that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and have no hesitation in recommending.  It might have been the holiday season that led me to choose lots of books set outside England, but the crime in them was always excellent, no matter where they were set.

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Playing with Fire by Kerry Wilkinson  Kerry Wilkinson is a journalist that started self publishing his books, but quickly made it into print.  Playing with Fire is Wilkinson’s fifth book set in Manchester, featuring DS Jessica Daniel.  The story centres on the release of Chadwick, an arsonist, imprisoned for setting fire to a pub with a teenager sleeping inside.  The local newspaper’s new crime journalist is stirring things up reporting that the victim’s father is out for revenge.  Daniel has to deal with several several arson attacks and schoolgirl suicides, which looks as if they might be part of a suicide ring.   If these cases aren’t complicated enough she’s not really sure about whether she should marry her new partner and probably worst of all whilst Daniel finds the new crime reporter to be annoyingly pushy, she starts to think that she might actually fancy him!  Daniel’s superior think she’s getting too personally involved, but she decides to take some chances, hoping to crack the cases which seem to be linked by more than passing coincidences.  This is a good, solid novel that you can read as a standalone without starting at the first of the series.

The Chessmen by Peter May  This is the final instalment of the Lewis Trilogy, which sees Fin Macleod no longer a city detective, back on Lewis as head of security on a privately owned estate dealing with organised poachers.  Macleod and his past friend Whistler Macaskill, find a light aeroplane, hidden for years, with a dead body at the pilot’s seat.  The find sets off a chain of events that bring to light Macleod’s complex past and leads to the solution of the mysterious disappearance of another friend Roddy.  There is a high price though - the murder of one of Macleod’s friends is just one of the tragedies you see as the story finally moves to its conclusion.  This deeply atmospheric book switches from present to past, with a well developed backstory that drip feeds information about the characters and their history.  The backstory doesn’t just provide background though – it’s genuinely entertaining in its own right and reminded me of the immensely enjoyable Espedair Street by the late Iain Banks.  Again, you could read this as a standalone novel, but I feel I’ll soon be looking for the other books in the trilogy.

When the dead awaken by Steffen Jacobsen  Jacobsen is a Dane, whose life is firmly centred in Denmark, but has written this thriller set in Italy. The book starts with a shipping container accident which disgorges dozens of bodies that were due to be dumped at sea.  District Attorney Sabrina D’Avalos’ investigation shows that two of the corpses were of people in the witness protection programme.  She soon finds this case has links to the murder of her father by the Camorra, particularly his involvement in the development of a new anti-counterfeiting technology.  The Camorra headed by the ruthless Francesco Terrasino see D’Avalos and her investigation as a threat that must be stopped.  D’Avalos faces danger from the murderous Urs Savelli’s and his operatives, as well as the mysterious assassin L’Artista, who is also believed to be involved in D’Avalos’ father’s murder.  Although D’Avalos’ main aim is to solve her current case, she follows the clues believing they will help solve the mystery of her father’s murder too.  This pacey thriller evokes well the character of Italy as well as the corruption and danger from organised crime.

The Strangler’s Honeymoon by Hakan Nesser (26^th September)  Nesser continues to produce good solid Skandicrime, with The Strangler’s Honeymoon the ninth book in the Van Veeteren series.  My first encounter with Nesser’s books was finding Borkmaan’s Point in my local library about five years ago.  His books are quietly understated, reflecting Van Veeteren’s bookish character, whilst having a strong plot, dark atmosphere and an honest “warts and all” portrayal of Sweden.  This latest book sees the Maardam police discovering the decomposing body of a murder victim, strangled and left in her own flat.  They soon realise that this is not the first of the killer’s murders and therefore unlikely to be the last.  Meanwhile, Van Veeteren, now a former Chief Inspector, is drawn into the case after a priest who asks for his help falls under a train.  Van Veeteren needs to help the police identify the mysterious serial killer before he strikes again.  If you’re a fan of Skandicrime, this is definitely for you.  If you’ve not tried Hakan Nesser before, it’s worth a punt.

I’ll be back in October with more hot picks, meantime, happy reading and if you read any of these books, please do feel free to post feedback about what you think of them.

Romancrimeblogger