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Fever
By Mike Mitchell, Friedrich Glauser. 1896
Praise for Friedrich Glauser's other Sergeant Studer novels:"Thumbprint is a fine example of the craft of detective writing in a…
period which fans will regard as the golden age of crime fiction."-The Sunday Telegraph"In Matto's Realm is both a compelling mystery and an illuminating, finely wrought mainstream novel."-Publishers Weekly"A despairing plot about the reality of madness and life, leavened with strong doses of bittersweet irony. The idiosyncratic investigation of In Matto's Realm and its laconic detective have not aged one iota."-Guardian"With good reason, the German-language prize for detective fiction is named after Glauser. . . . He has Simenon's ability to turn a stereotype into a person, and the moral complexity to appeal to justice over the head of police procedure."-The Times Literary SupplementWhen two women are "accidentally" killed by gas leaks, Sergeant Studer investigates the thinly disguised double murder in Bern and Basel. The trail leads to a geologist dead from a tropical fever in a Moroccan Foreign Legion post and a murky oil deal involving rapacious politicians and their henchmen. With the help of a hashish-induced dream and the common sense of his stay-at-home wife, Studer solves the multiple riddles on offer. But assigning guilt remains an elusive affair.The third in the Sergeant Studer series.The Chinaman
By Mike Mitchell, Friedrich Glauser. 1896
"After reading Friedrich Glauser's dark tour de force In Matto's Realm, it's easy to see why the German equivalent of…
the Edgar Allan Poe Award is dubbed 'The Glauser.'"--The Washington PostPraise for the Sergeant Studer series:"Thumbprint is a fine example of the craft of detective writing in a period which fans will regard as the golden age of crime fiction."--The Sunday Telegraph"In Matto's Realm is a gem that contains echoes of Dürrenmatt, Fritz Lang's film M and Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. Both a compelling mystery and an illuminating, finely wrought mainstream novel."--Publishers WeeklyWhen, in later years, Sergeant Studer told the story of the Chinaman, he called it the story of three places, as the case unfolded in a Swiss country inn, in a poorhouse, and in a horticultural college. Three places and two murders. Anna Hungerlott, supposedly dead from gastric influenza, left behind handkerchiefs with traces of arsenic. One foggy November morning the enigmatic James Farny, nicknamed the Chinaman by Studer, was found lying on Anna's grave. Murdered, a single pistol shot to the heart that did not pierce his clothing. This is the fourth in the Sergeant Studer series. Friedrich Glauser is a legendary figure in European crime writing. He was a morphine and opium addict much of his life and began writing crime novels while an inmate of the Swiss asylum for the insane at Waldau.Zen and the Art of Murder: A Black Forest Investigation I (The Black Forest Investigations #1)
By Oliver Bottini. 2018
** NOW SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER**"Gripping" TatlerThe first in a thrilling new crime series set in Germany -…
the Black Forest Investigations Louise Boni, maverick chief inspector with the Black Forest crime squad, is struggling with her demons. Divorced at forty-two, she is haunted by the shadows of the past. Dreading yet another a dreary winter weekend alone, she receives a call from the departmental chief which signals the strangest assignment of her career - to trail a Japanese monk wandering through the snowy wasteland to the east of Freiburg, dressed only in sandals and a cowl. She sets off reluctantly, and by the time she catches up with him, she discovers that he is injured, and fearfully fleeing some unknown evil. When her own team comes under fire, the investigation takes on a terrifying dimension, uncovering a hideous ring of child traffickers. The repercussions of their crimes will change the course of her own life.Oliver Bottini is a fresh and exciting voice in the world of crime fiction in translation; the Rhine borderlands of the Black Forest are a perfect setting for his beautifully crafted mysteries.Translated from the German by Jamie BullochRosy & John
By Pierre Lemaitre. 2017
A gripping addition to Lemaitre's award-winning Paris trilogy - Irene, Alex and Camille Jean Garnier lives on the fringes -…
a lonely nobody who has lost everything dear to him. His girlfriend was killed in an unexplained accident, his mother has just been sent to prison - he has even lost his job after the sudden death of his boss.In one last, desperate cry for help, Jean sets up seven lethal bombs, hidden all over Paris and timed so that one will explode every 24 hours.After the first detonation, Jean gives himself up to the police. He has one simple demand: his mother must be released, or the daily explosions will continue.Camille Verhoeven is faced with a race against time to uncover the secrets of this troubled young man and avert a massive human disaster.Lemaitre's Camille Verhoeven Trilogy - Alex, Irene and Camille - has been a multiple winner of the CWA International Dagger.Translated from the French by Frank WynneThe Awkward Squad (MacLehose Press Editions #3)
By Sophie Hénaff. 2017
Suspended from her job as a promising police officer for firing "one bullet too many", Anne Capestan is expecting the…
worst when she is summoned to H.Q. to learn her fate. Instead, she is surprised to be told that she is to head up a new police squad, working on solving old cold cases.Though relieved to still have a job, Capestan is not overjoyed by the prospect of her new role. Even less so when she meets her new team: a crowd of misfits, troublemakers and problem cases, none of whom are fit for purpose and yet none of whom can be fired.But from this inauspicious start, investigating the cold cases throws up a number a number of strange mysteries for Capestan and her team: was the old lady murdered seven years ago really just the victim of a botched robbery? Who was behind the dead sailor discovered in the Seine with three gunshot wounds? And why does there seem to be a curious link with a ferry that was shipwrecked off the Florida coast many years previously?Translated from the French by Sam GordonValse Triste
By Marcello Fois. 2017
When Michelangelo, a young autistic child, goes missing, Commissario Sergio Striggio is put in charge of the investigation. Searches turn…
up nothing, but there is an interesting connection with the mother's past: when she was a child, her twin brother also went missing, never to be found. However, Striggio is finding it difficult to concentrate on the case. He is waiting for his father, Pietro, to come and stay. The idea of the visit is torturing him. He fears having to reveal that he is gay - most of all he fears that his partner, Leo, will reveal his sexuality to his father. Pietro, however, has other matters on his mind: he has news of a devastating diagnosis to share with his son.And when his life with Leo unexpectedly collides with his investigation into Michelangelo's disappearance, it seems that in the complicated web of the small town of Bolzano, the truth behind the mystery cannot hide for long.Valse Triste is one of those rare novels in which the quality of the writing is matched by the pace of the narrative. Fois' language is precise and poetic, and the reader is kept guessing by twist after twist.The First Man: A Commandant Michel de Palma Investigation
By Xavier-Marie Bonnot. 2010
Commandant Michel de Palma, known by his colleagues as 'the Baron', has chosen early retirement and plans to travel the…
world. But he is dragged back into the force when a case that has haunted him for a decade erupts once more. Resurfacing from Le Guen's Cave, a prehistoric grotto thirty-eight metres below sea level outside Marseilles, France, an experienced diver mysteriously gets into difficulties. Meanwhile, Thomas Autran, a serial killer with a peculiar interest in the supernatural, suffering from a dangerous form of schizophrenia, is once again on the run. Ancient cave paintings, savage murders committed according to a precise ritual: a return to the first ages of humanity, the era of the great Palaeolithic hunters. And despite the gory trail left at each crime scene, de Palma must first understand the child, the secrets of a family, a story of exploitation - and revenge - before he can track down the First Man.Talking to Ghosts
By Hervé Le Corre. 2009
With his son Pablo's kidnapping still unsolved, and his marriage ruined by the torment of hope, the brutal murder of…
a single mother in her own home is an almost welcome diversion for Commandant Vilar. The woman leaves behind a son, Victor, thrown into the foster system with only his mother's urn for company. Struggling with bullies, trauma and the first pangs of teenage love, Victor carries a secret that followed his mother to her grave. Struggling for leads, Vilar is shaken when the colleague investigating Pablo's kidnapping disappears. When a sadistic caller claims to have information about his son, Vilar is torn between duty and a desperate chance of redemption.Arab Jazz
By Karim Miské. 2012
Kosher sushi, kebabs, a second hand bookshop and a bar: the 19th arrondissement in Paris is a cosmopolitan neighbourhood where…
multicultural citizens live, love and worship alongside one another. This peace is shattered when Ahmed Taroudant's melancholy daydreams are interrupted by the blood dripping from his upstairs neighbour's brutally mutilated corpse. The violent murder of Laura Vignole, and the pork joint placed next to her, set imaginations ablaze across the neighborhood, and Ahmed finds himself the prime suspect. However detectives Rachel Kupferstein and Jean Hamelot are not short of leads. What is the connection between a disbanded hip-hop group and the fiery extremist preachers that jostle in the streets for attention? And what is the mysterious new pill that is taking the district by storm? In this his debut novel, Karim Miské demonstrates a masterful control of setting, as he moves seamlessly between the sensual streets of Paris and the synagogues of New York to reveal the truth behind a horrifying crime.Bed of Nails
By Antonin Varenne. 2008
It's as if he's being mocked from beyond the grave. When John Nichols arrives to identify the body of an…
old friend, he is immediately caught up in the detritus of Alan Musgrave's life, the side of Paris the tourists don't see, where everyone has a past but very few count on a future. But what can he expect from a man who bled to death in his own excruciating S&M stage show? Now there's a maverick police lieutenant on the prowl who thinks that Musgrave's suicide was murder. Guérin might not look like much, but he's one of the few honest officers on the force. As the horrific extent of police abuse is revealed, the race is on to find the link between a slew of recent suicides - and the key to it is buried deep in Nichols's past. Bed of Nails does for Paris what James Ellroy did for vintage America, shining a light as never before on the seedy underbelly of La Ville-Luminère.Ashes
By Sergios Gakas. 2011
When Sonia Verika, a former actress who takes solace in alcohol and isolation, is pulled from the fire, her body…
is burned almost beyond recognition. The house she shared with a retired director and a small family of African refugees is entirely destroyed, and she is the only survivor. For her ex-lovers, Police Inspector Chronis Halkidis and Simeon Piertzovanis, a failed lawyer and the landlord of the gutted property, her fate is a heavy reckoning. Reflection gives way to guilt, and then to a fanatical desire to uncover the truth behind the blaze and hold those responsible to account - by any means necessary. But with corruption rife throughout the force, Chronis soon finds his investigation shackled from within. Fuelled by their need for revenge, and by their twin addictions to alcohol and cocaine, Simeon and Chronis must resort increasingly to violence if they are to unmask a conspiracy that unites church and state against the interests of justice. A classic noir thriller, Ashes is unflinching in its examination of the violence and extortion bred by corruption, but at the same time tender in its treatment of human weaknesses, of guilt, addiction and regret.The Sweetness of Life
By Paulus Hochgatterer. 2006
It is Christmas in the alpine town of Furth am See and a six-year-old girl is playing ludo with her…
grandfather. The doorbell rings, and the old man goes to answer. The next time the girl sees him, he is lying with his skull broken, his face a red pulp against the white snow. From that time on, she does not speak a single word. Raffael Horn, the psychiatrist engaged to treat the silent child, reluctantly becomes involved in solving the murder along with Detective Superintendent Ludwig Kovacs. Their parallel researches sweep through the town: a young mother who believes her new-born child is the devil; a Benedictine monk who uses his iPod to drown the voices in his head; a high-spending teenager who tortures cats. The psychological profile of this claustrophobic, winter-held town is not reassuring - which, if any, of its inhabitants was the brutal night-time slayer of the suffering girl's grandfather?The First Fingerprint
By Xavier-Marie Bonnot. 2008
In an underwater cavern off the coast west of Marseille are the first human engravings known to man. Among them…
is a crude drawing of a three-fingered hand, which has long puzzled archaeologists. Is it a hunting signal? A mystic sign invoking the spirits? Or is it, as many believe, evidence of ritual mutilation in a Shamanistic world? "The Hunter" evidently believes the latter. Driven by inhuman voices to maim and kill, he severs the body parts of his victims - and signs his savagery with a print of a three-fingered hand. Commandant Michel de Palma, of the Marseille murder squad, heads to the university in Aix-en-Provence to investigate further, but the clique of pre-history professors he encounters are as hard to unravel as the meaning of the cave-drawing itself. As he gets closer to the truth, the group of academics close ranks. Slowly and alone, de Palma begins pursuing a mystery that dates back to the Ice age.The First Fingerprint introduces a policeman as polished as he is brutal, as charming as he is deceptive. Michel de Palma, called "the Baron" by his colleagues, knows the dark underside of the city of Marseille as do none of his rivals. But his enemies are everywhere: in the crime-infested sinks of the suburbs; in the sleek and squalid bars of the old quarter; even in the police ranks themselves.The Voice of the Spirits: A Commandant Michel de Palma Investigation
By Xavier-Marie Bonnot. 2010
Commandant Michel de Palma follows an anonymous tip-off to a gated mansion by the coast and finds a body whose…
face is obscured by a fearsome tribal mask. Beneath it is a mysterious wound that could not have been caused by a bullet. Surrounded by scores of masks and painted skulls, de Palma hears the haunting strains of a primal flute from the floors above. With few leads to go on, de Palma delves into an account of the murdered doctor's voyage to Papua New Guinea seventy years earlier. But when his chief suspect is found dead, killed by the same method as Delorme, he begins to wonder whether the bodies on his hands are not the victims of spirits intent on revenge.The Girl Who Played With Fire: A Dragon Tattoo story (Millennium #2)
By Stieg Larsson. 2006
***********************Listbeth Salander returns in the second novel in the bestselling series - 100 million copies of the Girl With the…
Dragon Tattoo series sold worldwide."Even more gripping and astonishing than the first . . . This novel will leave readers on the edge of their seats" Joan Smith, Sunday TimesLisbeth Salander is a wanted woman. Two Millennium journalists about to expose the truth about sex trafficking in Sweden are murdered, and Salander's prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable and vengeful behaviour makes her an official danger to society - but no-one can find her. Mikael Blomkvist, Millennium magazine's legendary star reporter, does not believe the police. Using all his magazine staff and resources to prove Salander's innocence, Blomkvist also uncovers her terrible past, spent in criminally corrupt institutions. Yet Salander is more avenging angel than helpless victim. She may be an expert at staying out of sight - but she has ways of tracking down her most elusive enemies.Stieg Larsson's groundbreaking trilogy is continued in The Girl in the Spider's Web, The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye and The Girl Who Lived Twice by David LagercrantzNever Forget: The #1 bestselling novel by the master of the killer twist
By Michel Bussi. 2018
A #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A SUNDAY TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH'Outrageously entertaining' The Times'A tantalising story that wraps the…
reader in myriad enigmas - utterly spellbinding'Daily Mail'As exhilarating as Bussi's breakthrough novel After the Crash' The Sunday Times 'Agatha Christie updated and then cranked up to 11: a blast' Shots Magazine REVENGE IS WORTH WAITING FOR... Jamal loves to run. But one morning - as he is training on a path winding up a steep cliff - he stumbles across a woman in distress.It's a matter of seconds: suddenly she is falling through the air, crashing on the beach below.Jamal is only an unlucky bystander - or is he?His version of events doesn't seem to fit with what other eyewitnesses claim to have seen. And how to explain the red scarf carefully arranged around the dead woman's neck?Perhaps this was no accident after all.Or perhaps there is something more sinister afoot - a devilish plan decades in the making, masterminded by someone hell-bent on revenge.MICHEL BUSSI: THE MASTER OF THE KILLER TWISTBeloved by readers... 'I didn't anticipate all the twists and turns in this cleverly plotted novel''The final twist is a bit of a jaw dropper''Twists and turns aplenty!''A twisting, turning story which clobbers you with a number of cracking twists!''Fast-paced and chock full of twists, turns and red herrings' ...and critics 'A novel so extraordinary that it reminded me of reading Steig Larsson for the very first time . . . I doubt I'll read a more brilliant crime novel this year' Sunday Times on After the Crash'A dazzling, unexpected and haunting masterpiece' Daily Mail on Black Water Lilies'Inventive, original and incredibly entertaining' Sunday Mirror on Don't Let Go'Combines an extraordinarily inventive plot with characters haunted by long-ago events - and demonstrates why he has such a hold on readers' Sunday Times on Time is a KillerA gripping mystery about a woman trying to find out the truth behind the death of her best friend and…
introducing a brilliant detective duo - perfect for fans of Peter James, Angela Marsons and James Oswald. A DEAD GIRLA vulnerable young woman, fresh out of the care system, is trying to discover the truth behind the sudden death of her best friend.A MURDERED POLICE OFFICERThe charred body of a policeman - currently the subject of an internal investigation - is found in the burnt-out-shell of his car on the Southend seafront.A CRIME WORTH KILLING FOR?To DS Frank Pearson and DC Catherine Russell of the Essex Police Major Investigation Team, the two events seem unconnected. But as they dig deeper into their colleague's murder, dark secrets begin to emerge.Can Pearson and Russell solve both cases, before more lives are destroyed?A twisty, gripping novel that introduces a brilliant new detective duo. If you like Peter James, Angela Marsons and James Oswald, then you'll love this crime debut. TRULY EVIL, the gripping second book in the series is out now. ****Praise for Burned and Broken:'Immensely impressive' The Times'The investigation into a copper's dramatic death in downbeat Southend scoops a cast of equally downbeat characters into its net, and tensions rise as their stories fold around each other. An accomplished debut' Sunday Times'Emotional, intelligent, sensual and with such a strong voice, Burned and Broken by Mark Hardie is a crime debut that deserves huge success' Harry Illingworth (Goldsboro Books)'I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book and I would recommend it to anybody. I can't wait to read more investigations led by DS Frank Pearson and DC Cat Russell' Amanda Oughton (Ginger Book Geek)'The story is easy to follow without being too simple, and the novel really manages to evoke a sense of atmosphere and reality within its pages. I didn't find myself becoming distracted whilst reading at all, and raced through it in hours. I will certainly be reading any future novels, particularly in this series which I wholeheartedly enjoyed' Laura Naz (Snazzy Books)'Five stars' Amazon reviewer'What a read!' Amazon reviewer'I was engrossed right from the start and read it in one long,…
very satisfied sitting' Amazon reviewerTHE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WITH OUR BLESSING AND BENEATH THE SURFACE RETURNS WITH A BRAND NEW SERIAL-KILLER THRILLER. The inspector frowned and examined the earth under the trees. As he scanned the glade, his stomach lurched. One, two, three, four. Five, counting the mound of earth disturbed under the tent. Somebody had cleared the earth of its natural layer and sown their own flowersIn five placesFive gravesA young woman, Fiona Holland, has gone missing from a small Irish village. A search is mounted, but there are whispers. Fiona had a wild reputation. Was she abducted, or has she run away? A week later, a gruesome discovery is made in the woods at Ireland's most scenic beauty spot - the valley of Glendalough. The bodies are all young women who disappeared in recent years. D.I. Tom Reynolds and his team are faced with the toughest case of their careers - a serial killer, who hunts vulnerable women, and holds his victims captive before he ends their lives. Soon the race is on to find Fiona Holland before it's too late. . .'Deft plotting and expert handling of tension make for an intelligent mystery' GuardianCamille: The Final Paris Crime Files Thriller
By Pierre Lemaitre. 2014
MEET COMMANDANT CAMILLE VERHOEVEN OF THE PARIS POLICE WITH NOTHING ELSE TO LOSEAnne Forestier finds herself in the wrong place…
at the wrong time when she blunders into a raid on a jeweller's on the Champs-Élysées. Bludgeoned beyond recognition, she is lucky to survive. But her ordeal has only just begun.HE CAN BREAK ALL THE RULESLying helpless in her hospital bed, with her assailant still at large, Anne is in mortal danger. Only one thing gives her hope: Commandant Camille Verhœven.TO PROTECT THE WOMAN HE LOVES For Verhœven it's a case of history repeating itself. He cannot lose Anne as he lost his wife. This time he faces an adversary whose greatest strength appears to be Verhœven's matchless powers of intuition.Winner of the 2015 C.W.A. International DaggerStick Together
By Sophie Hénaff. 2017
After their successful solving of three cold cases and exposing corruption at the very highest level of the Paris police…
force, Anne Capestan's squad of misfits and no-hopers should be in a celebratory mood. However, now despised by their colleagues at 36 quai des Orfèvres and worried for their future, morale has never been lower among the members of the Awkward Squad.Capestan does her best to motivate her troops, but even she cannot maintain a cheerful façade when she has to investigate the murder of Commissaire Serge Rufus, the father of her ex-husband. Worse, it soon appears that his murder is linked to two other victims, both of whom were warned by the killer before they struck . . .