Perhaps an unfortunate choice of words, but with crime I feel one needs a plot and characters that keep you guessing, even when it’s time to turn out the light and go to sleep.

District V111 by Adam Lebor

 

Try this. It’s different, and the setting is new, and complex, the observations are sharp, the plot is totally on key. Yep, not a lot of sleep reading this as you read just a few more pages, and then more.

Balthazar Kovacs is a detective in the city’s murder squad. The city in question is Budapest, the detective is a gypsy. A tricky choice of career because your colleagues don’t trust gypsies and and your own kind think you’ve gone over to the dark side.

Do the dead care though? Presumably not, as long as the perpetrator is found and some sort of justice is served. So when Kovacs receives a message on his ‘phone from a blocked number he goes to work, doing what he does best- solving crime… The message showed a dead body at 26 Republic Square, the former Communist Party headquarters, but it is a body which has gone walkabout by the time Kovacs arrives. Like all good crime it is more than just the crime, but the setting, and the conflict between characters as Kovacs delves into the gritty darkness of the alleys of District V111 especially when it seems Kovacs brother might be involved.

Atmospheric, interesting, with a thought provoking backstory of – well – tribal conflict almost. More than just a procedural crime, but it’s  a real novel, with an interesting theme. I haven’t been to Budapest but will, now. Not the District V111 perhaps. Bravo.

Adam Lebor, the author, is a veteran foreign correspondent who has covered Hungary and Eastern Europe since 1990. His novels include Hitler’s Secret Bankers (I must read it) He writes for the Economist, Financial Times and divides his time between Budapest and London.

District V111 by Adam Lebor. Hardback £18.99 pub Head of Zeus.

In total contrast:

Resort to Murder, a cosy crime by another journalist, TP Fielden.

 

I enjoyed this more than his first in the Miss Dimont Mystery series; The Riviera Express. It seems TP Fielden has grown into the world of Temple Regis and is writing with more confidence. Miss Dimont is a lovely character, with flaws, oh yes, somewhat in the way of Agatha Raison in that she can be acerbic, even a little jealous of new arrivals in The Riviera Express, the local newspaper.

In this instance the new arrival is  young Valentine Waterford, whose relative is a roundly condemned gossip columnist. The characters are well formed, the concept of a cosy crime is beguiling. But as with all good novels there is a sharp truth beneath it all. Miss Dimont is indeed a defender of Free Speech, justice and the facts, and what’s more she will turn young Val into a good reporter if she’s got anything to do with anything.

Of course she gets in the way of the local copper, Inspector Topham, of course she retains her credibility both in Temple Regis and with her readers. Great fun.

Resort to Murder. A Miss Dimont Mystery by TP Fielden. PB £7.99 HB £14.99. Audio. £12.99

She’s not There by Joy Fielding

 

 

I find lost children, dead children, harm to children really hard to read, but I know others don’t, so this psychological thriller could be one for you.

When Caroline Shipley’s two year old daughter disappeared, her whole world came crashing down.

Fifteen years later, Caroline receives a phone call: ‘I think my real name is Samantha. I think I’m your daughter.’

It truly is a nightmare situation. Is this stranger actually her daughter, and how did she vanish in the first place?

This novel has pace, heart, and deals with an issue that is painful even to contemplate. It could well be one for you.

Joy Fielding is the New York Times bestselling author of Charley’s Web amongst others.

She’s not There by Joy Fielding. Zaffre £7.99/ebook available.

 

The Perfect Victim by Corrie Jackson

 

This is a pacey novel set very much in today’s world. Charlie and Emily Swift seem the Instagram-perfect couple: gorgeous, successful, and they adore one another. So what could possibly shake their world which is as perfect as those lives I see presented on social media sites, with every utterance greeted with acclaim by all their ‘friends’.

Or am I being an acerbic granny with my increasingly firm doubts about social media?

But let’s move on. So what could shake this relationship? How about Charlie being named as prime suspect in an appalling murder?

Emily is devastated and reaches out to Charlie’s best friend, London Herald journalist, Sophie Kent (one might wonder quite what goes on in the journalistic world with the high prevalence of journalistic characters, not to mention authors who seem to have much grist for the mill?)

Sophie knows Charlie could not have done this. She takes up the cudgels and risks her reputation to clear Charlie’s name, but as she proceeds, the perfect image of Charlie and Emily’s marriage starts to shatter, and all that was safe in Sophie’s life is in jeopardy.

A page turner: clever, brisk with a plot that drives forward.

The Perfect Victim by Corrie Jackson pub Zaffre, pb £7.99

 

As a ps:

I write women’s fiction for Arrow as Milly Adams and also Margaret Graham but adore cosy crime, and love writing it, as a total break from the research required for my ‘day job’ so whooshed one out on ebook, called Maeve’s Afternoon Delight. My children said it sounded like a soft porn book. My agent said, if it was it would zap off the shelves, instead of trickling, but I just have such fun writing them. I have another on the way: Squashed to Death, and not in any way to be confused with soft porn – so very there.

The Waterway Girls by Milly Adams. Arrow. A House Divided by Margaret Graham. Maeve’s Afternoon Delight by Margaret Graham.