Introducing the most recent bestselling titles from this specialist crime publisher; we have an array of exciting novels from January – June 2017!
First up is Heretics by Leonardo Padura, recently released with a magnificent launch event at Daunt Books, attended by over hundred people, this gritty Cuban crime novel speaks volumes.
A sweeping novel of art theft, anti-semitism, contemporary Cuba, and crime from the most celebrated living Cuban author.
In Heretics, Leonardo Padura takes us from the tenements and beaches of Cuba to Rembrandt’s gloomy studio in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, telling the story of people forced to choose between the tenets of their faith and the realities of the world, between their personal desires and the demands of their times. A grand detective story and a moving historical drama, Padura’s novel is as compelling, mysterious, and enduring as the painting at its centre.
“A textured treat for those who like their detective fiction served long and lazy with a double shot of rum.” – Financial Times
(9781908524782/ pb/£12.99)
Next is Athenian Blues by Pol Koutsakis, the first in the Stratos Gazis mystery noir series!
“So sweet, so calm, so unaffectedly natural… I’d nearly forgotten that the reason she had invited me there was to discuss how I would kill her husband.”
Stratos hates being called a hitman. He takes care of problems. Permanently. Problems that people pay handsomely to have solved. His clients don’t want to know the details, but Stratos is conscientious…
“Koutsakis makes his English-language debut with an intriguing crime novel. American film noir shaped Stratos’s view of life, and Koutsakis effectively translates that half-lit, morally ambiguous milieu to seedy modern-day Athens. Noir fans will look forward to the next instalment.” – Publishers Weekly
(9781908524768/pb/£8.99)
Following on is The Road to Ithaca written by Ben Pastor, the fifth in the spellbinding Martin Bora series.
A captivating multi-layered crime novel set in Crete after the Germans take control of the island from the British and New Zealand forces.
1941. Wehrmacht officer Bora is sent to Crete, recently occupied by the German army, to investigate the brutal murder of a Red Cross representative befriended by SS-Chief Himmler. All clues lead to a platoon of trigger-happy German paratroopers, however, the truth may be more complex. Bora takes to the mountains of Crete to solve the case, navigating his way between the lcal bandits and foreign resistance fighters. Carrying Joyce’s Ulysses in his pocket, Bora starts a perilous odyssey of his own.
“In Tin Sky, Pastor effectively melds a well-constructed whodunit with a grim portrayal of the Eastern front.” – Publishers Weekly, Starred Review on Tin Sky (Fourth in the Martin Bora series)
(9781908524805/ pb/£8.99)
My personal favourite, A Man of Genius by Janet Todd, is a psychological crime thriller set in a Gothic nineteenth century world. You can read more about it in my two part blog post featuring an interview with the internationally renowned Janet Todd.
Literary tour de force set in London and Venice in 1819 by internationally renowned Cambridge scholar Janet Todd.
Set in bustling Regency England and decaying Venice, A Man of Genius portrays a psychological journey from safety into secrecy and obsession. After a troubled childhood, Ann achieves independence earning her living as an author of Gothic novels. Within a group of male writers, she meets and is enthralled by the supposed poetic genius, Robert James. They become lovers but soon their relationship becomes tortuous as Robert descends into violence and madness. Ann’s journey of self-discovery begins…
“Strange and haunting, a gothic novel with a modern consciousness.” – Philippa Gregory, International No.1 bestseller of historical fiction, best known for The Other Boleyn
(9781908524829/ pb/£8.99)
To end with a bang, or rather, Three Drops of Blood and a Cloud of Cocaine by Quentin Mouron, we have a thrilling debut title – a darkly humorous, psychological mystery set in Boston.
Written with the pace and controlled violence of the best of Tarantino’s films, the story breaks with the many conventions of the genre, holding a satirical mirror to our society by entering the minds of two men at the edge of sanity.
Sheriff McCarthy, a church-going family man, is desperately trying to keep some sort of boundary between the sordidness of his investigations and his private life. But Franck, willing to kill for the sake of a good pun, dominates the story. He is a disturbing, violent, totally decadent character, always over dressed, an actor with too much make-up, a man always rushing to the bathroom for another line of coke, revealing the darker workings of the case with a blood curdling laugh.
“Mouron is a revelation. He juggles characters with ease in a sordid world perfectly evoked, and all of it is done in high tempo style.” – Huffington Post
(9781908524836/ pb/£8.99)
Don’t fret, there’s more to come from Bitter Lemon and their collection of thrilling crime novels! Watch this space!
Post by Sarah