Look out for these! April's selection of three novels that you can really get your teeth into!

It’s now almost that time of year when you start thinking about sitting outside with a book whiling away an afternoon reading.  Although we’re not quite there yet – I found it distinctly chilly outside at the weekend – I thought I’d let you know about three books I've recently read that are really worth looking out for.  These are all highly recommended and would keep you pretty well glued to the garden chair even if it did get chilly!

Hard Cold Winter by Glen Erik Hamilton.  I came across Van Shaw last year in Glen Erik Hamilton’s first novel Past Crimes, when Van Shaw was tracking down who murdered his grandfather.  In this new novel, Van Shaw is firmly back in civilian life when Willard, an old criminal acquaintance of his grandfather’s calls in a favour.  Willard niece hasn’t been seen for several days and he asks Van Shaw to find her and make sure she is safe.  After a trek to the remote log cabin where Willard’s niece and her boyfriend are thought to be, Van Shaw finds a scene of a brutal double murder.  Both niece and boyfriend are dead.  Van Shaw is determined to find the person responsible, but he is spoilt for choice as a number of possible leads emerge and as the bodies pile up, the investigation becomes more and more dangerous not just for Van Shaw, but for the close friends around him.  This is a strong and assured second novel that you can read as a standalone book, although the first novel is definitely worth a read too.  Highly recommended.

Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben – Maya’s husband Joe has been murdered right in front of her.  Coldly shot dead in their favourite spot in the park by two masked men.  Maya is still traumatised from her tour of duty in Iraq and the shock of her husband’s death and the responsibility of looking after her young daughter weigh heavily upon her.  Maya’s friend buys her a nanny cam disguised as a picture frame so that Maya can check on her nanny and make sure that her daughter is being properly looked after.  Soon after when she is reviewing he recording she sees the impossible – her dead husband is on the recording, playing with their daughter.  As Maya tries to make sens e of this seemingly impossible scene, she locks horns with members of her dead husband’s family – the wealthy and well connected Burkett’s.  Soon she’s uncovering secrets that the family have worked to keep hidden for years, even from Maya and this is all connected to Joe’s murder.  I’ve never read a Harlan Coben novel before.  I read this book in a couple of chunks and found it an easy read with a tight plot and plenty of real surprises – strongly recommended.

The Hollow Men by Rob McCarthy.  Harry Kent, a former army doctor now works as a hospital registrar and police surgeon, although that doesn’t stop him using prohibited stimulants to help him get through the day!  This particular day, Kent is called to a siege where Solomon Idris is holding eight people hostage to assess Idris who seems to be on the edge of both physical and mental collapse.  When Idris is shot by the police, Kent takes him to hospital to look after him.  Although he should be safe in hospital. What seems to be a chance drug error convinces Kent that someone is trying to kill Idris and that the only person that could be responsible is a doctor.  The police are not convinced and Kent now has the bit firmly between his teeth, knowing that he must find out who wants Idris dead and more importantly why.  I was genuinely surprised to find this is a first novel – it’s a really good read, so if you want to try a book by a new author – look no further than this one – you won’t regret it! 

That’s all for April – I’ll be back soon, so do look out for more recommendations from me here on The Crime Warp!

Romancrimeblogger