They say variety is the spice of life and there is nothing more spicy than these heart-stopping crime novels! We have it all here this April, from translated fiction to psychological to noir to Golden Age and more — there truly is something for every crime fanatic out there coming out this month! These are thrillers like you’ve never seen before, so try something new this spring and immerse yourself in these electrifyingly unique stories.
The Simple Art of Killing a Woman by Patrícia Melo
Translated by Sophie Lewis
The Indigo Press | 9781911648758 | PB | £12.99 | 18th April 2024
To escape an overprotective family and an abusive partner, a young lawyer accepts an assignment in the Amazonian border town of Cruzeiro do Sul. There, she meets Carla, a local prosecutor, and Marcos, the son of an indigenous woman, and learns about an epidemic of violence against women that seems beyond comprehension. What she finds in the jungle is not only relentless oppression, but a deep longing for answers to an unsolved crime from her past. Through the ritual use of ayahuasca, she meets a chorus of warrior women on a path of revenge and recovers the painful details of her mother’s death. The Simple Art of Killing a Woman is a psychological trip with a twist. It’s about the strength of individuals in the face of overwhelming violence, the problem of femicide in Brazil, and the haunting of a cold case.
Guns & Almond Milk by Mustafa Marwan
Interlink Books | 9781623711054 | PB | £15.99 | 4th April 2024
Born to Egyptian parents and raised as a first-generation British Muslim, Luke Larson struggles to be from two worlds at the same time. He is working in a humanitarian mission in Aden, at the height of the Yemeni conflict. Max Gorsky, Luke’s new patient, is a security contractor working for the government forces. Rebel forces have taken over the city, and Max’s team is now taking refuge in the city’s hospital, in preparation for their final stand. Luke and his team find themselves caught in a deadly clash between the ruthless rebel group and the desperate security contractors. At the same time, Max and Luke need to settle debts from their shared past in the UK where they joined forces in fencing a multi-million-dollar stolen artifact operation that went wrong. Guns & Almond Milk is a fast-paced story of love, murder, and thrill that provides readers with a fresh perspective on humanitarian work, religion, assimilation, and Middle Eastern politics.
The North Line by Matt Riordan
Hyperion | 9781368100076 | HB | £26.99 | 2nd April 2024
Everyone believes Adam to be something he’s not. Sometimes that’s because he’s told them a story. Sometimes he’s told himself one. But when Adam joins an Alaskan fishing crew that’s promising quick money, the dangerous work and harsh lifestyle strip away all fabrications and force a dark-hearted exploration of who he really is. On the unforgiving Bering Sea, Adam finds the adventure and authenticity of a fisherman’s life revelatory. The labour required to seize bounty from the ocean invigorates him, and the often crude comradery accompanies a welcome, hard-earned wisdom. But when a strike threatens the entire season and violence stalks the waves, Adam is thrust into a struggle for survival at the edge of the world, where evolutionary and social forces collide for outcomes beyond anyone’s control. In his riveting debut novel, Matt Riordan pairs personal experiences with a master storyteller’s eye in a piercing examination of the quest for identity in the face of tempests within and without.
A Bullet for Rhino by Clifford Witting
Galileo Publishing | 9781915530271 | PB | £10.99 | 25th April 2024
Detective Inspector Harry Charlton finds himself invited to a reunion at Mereworth School at which a particularly unpleasant, but very famous and accomplished old boy, Colonel Bernard Garstang — VC, DSO and MC, … aka ‘Rhino’ will be present. The Colonel is attending this event in order to persuade his daughter Diana and his ex-wife Muriel that Diana should accompany him to live in Port Douglas, Nigeria. He is both inebriated and armed… But also there is Gordon Hollander, who is much enamoured of Diana, and is far from keen on allowing her to be taken off anywhere. Gordon’s father, Sir James, also doesn’t want Rhino in the family given what he knows about him from school days… and Mark Longdon seems to have an excess of secrets that Rhino is willing to divulge. So, as the title suggests, it doesn’t look good for the Colonel. Witting has woven these relationships into a hilarious fabric that wraps around the reunion, the centrepiece of which is the cricket match between Mereworth 1st XI and the Old Merrovians XI. While it is quite apparent that many people wanted Rhino dead, it is not at all apparent whom it was that finished him off. Witting is at his best in creating a cast of extremely colourful characters while adhering to a gripping tale of detection.
The Rope Artist by Fuminori Nakamura
Translated by Sam Bett
Soho Press | 9781641295697 | PB | £9.99 | 2nd April 2024
Two detectives. Two identical women. One dead body — then two, then three, then four. All knotted up in Japan’s underground BDSM scene and kinbaku, a form of rope bondage which bears a complex cultural history of spirituality, torture, cleansing, and sacrifice. As Togashi, a junior member of the police force, investigates the murder of a kinbaku instructor, he finds himself unable to resist his own private transgressive desires. In contrast, Togashi’s Sherlock Holmesian colleague Hayama is morally upright to a fault, with a stalwart commitment to the truth and nearly superhuman powers of deduction. When Hayama notices a dangerous measure of darkness within Togashi, he embarks on a parallel investigation, which soon spirals out of control. Unflinching in its flayed-raw treatment of identity, violence, sexuality, power, the occult, and the divine, The Rope Artist is both viscerally painful and unexpectedly hopeful — a genre homage that shines a light on the most dangerous elements of the human psyche.
Remain Silent by Robyn Gigl
VERVE Books | 9780857308597 | PB | £10.99 | 17th April 2024
Erin McCabe’s years as a criminal defence attorney have prepared her for almost anything — except for being on the opposite side of the interrogation table. A new client — a successful financial advisor — has been found stabbed to death on the beach near his palatial Jersey Shore home. Unfortunately, the time of death is estimated to be during Erin’s one and only consultation with him. As the last person to see him alive, Erin is now the prime suspect. While the investigation unfolds, Erin and Duane are called on to represent a mother charged with abducting her child, a hot-button case that has both private and public implications for Erin. As she battles one prosecutor who wants to see her charged with murder and another determined to send her to jail for refusing to divulge her client’s location, Erin also faces a devastating family tragedy. With not only her career on the line, but also her personal relationships and her freedom, the stakes have never been higher.
