Look out for these! – March’s recommendations are a little more daring than usual – a mystery by a Korean author, the first of a new series set in Paris and an ebook with three million downloads now in print

I do get and read a lot of books and wondered whether I play it too safe in what I choose to read and what I recommend on The Crime Warp.  I decided that I should be a little more adventurous so I started looking at a number of less obvious novels by authors that aren’t in the mainstream, and chose three books with something special that attracted me to them.  So, this month’s trio is a little more unusual, but I think, like me, you’ll be pleased if you read any of these.  I hope that at least one of these books ends up on your “to try” list

The Investigation by Jung-Myung Lee – Set in Fukuoka prison in 1944, Watanabe, a young prison guard is charged with finding the killer of fellow guard Sugyama.  Although a confession from a prisoner appears to resolve the case, Watanabe continues to investigate and starts to uncover what has been happening in the prison, a place of unspeakable violence and brutality that few inmates manage to survive.  Although originally written in Korean, Lee’s style and the power of the poetry and writing at the heart of the book shine through.  This isn’t just a mystery, but a memoir of people’s struggle not to succumb to circumstances where all humanity seems to have been lost.

The Lying Down Room by Anna Jaquiery (published 10 April) – In a hot and oppressive Paris August, Chief Inspector Serge Morel is called to a seemingly unusual death.  An old woman is lying in a bed, laid out as if asleep.  However officer Abdelkadar astutely notices that all the bedsheets are neatly and tightly tucked in – impossible for the dead woman to have done.  It’s murder.  So starts Morel’s first case.  He hunts down the clues whilst juggling with the effect of his father’s advancing senility and the reappearance of his former love Mathilde.  As more deaths follow, Morel finds that the answers are not just in the past in France, but far away in Soviet Russia.

The One You Love by Paul Pilkington – Emma Holden is at her hen night with her best friend Lizzzy and a crowd of fun loving friends.  Dressed as cowgirls, they’re having a great time making the most of Emma’s last days as a single woman.  A call from Emma’s brother Will leads them back to the flat Emma shares with her fiancé Dan, to find Dan’ brother Richard bludgeoned, bloody and unconscious with Dan nowhere to be found.  With Richard in a coma and Dan missing, all fingers seem to point to Dan as the attacker.  But when crime scene photo’s appear in the newspapers, Emma realises it’s her past that has led to the events of the deadly present.  This novel was originally published as an ebook, which received more than three million downloads.  Now available in print, but presently (21 March 2014) on Kindle at only £2.48.

That’s it for my recommendations this month.  Please do leave comments on these books – I’d like to know what you think of my choices this month and, as always, keep an eye out on the blog for more in depth reviews of books I’ve read and lots more.  Happy reading!

Romancrimeblogger