SUSPENSEFUL SEPTEMBER: SIX NEW CRIME TITLES TO READ IN SEPTEMBER

With two thirds of the year nearly over and Christmas looming, the rush of new releases is growing, providing plenty of choice for crime readers in September.

Fans of British crime writing seem to be particularly well served with major new releases by Ann Cleeves, Richard Osman, Paula Hawkins and the excellent Ian Rankin/William McIlvanney collaboration The Dark Remains, which I have already read and enjoyed.

Here are six of the books I am most looking forward to reading in September.

Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club was one of those books which really divided the crime fiction fraternity. Lots of people really enjoyed it, while others disliked it with a passion. I have to admit that I was in the camp that liked it. I found it engaging, witty, good fun and one of the few books that made me laugh out loud in 2020. It wasn’t a deep book, but it had a decent mystery plot, some astute observations and was certainly entertaining.

I am therefore really looking forward to The Man Who Died Twice to see whether Osman can maintain the humour and enjoyment of his debut. Set immediately after the first book, The Man Who Died Twice finds the septuagenarian members of the Murder Club on the track of a murderer and a cache of diamonds, when one of Elizabeth’s ex-husbands, who she thought was dead, turns up looking for help.

This should be very good!

The Man Who Died Twice is released in Australia on 14 September 2021 and in the United Kingdom on 16 September 2021.

Here is a link to my review of The Thursday Murder Club: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/the-thursday-murder-club-by-richard-osman-viking-september-2020/

Ann Cleeves will forever be known as the author of the books that spawned the much loved Vera and Shetland television shows.

In 2019 she took a break from Vera and Jimmy Perez and moved her focus, with The Long Call, to the Two Rivers region of North Devon and a new detective, Matthew Venn.  Now she is back with a second book in the series, The Heron’s Call, which finds Venn investigating the lavishly staged murder of a popular artist, Nigel Yeo, who has been killed by a shard of glass from a broken vase, which had been created by his daughter Eve, a well known glassblower.

From an early glance, The Heron’s Call contains all the elements beloved by Ann’s many fans and it looks set to be another success for her.

Here is a link to my review of The Long Call: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/the-long-call-by-ann-cleeves-macmillan-a29-99/

Simon Conway has been cited as a rising star on the British spy fiction scene since the success of his award winning A Loyal Spy back in 2010. The Stranger from last year drew considerable praise and featured a wild, blood soaked conclusion that left many questions unanswered.

The Saboteur continues the battle between MI6 agent Jude Lyon and the terrorist Guy Fowle, as both of them become caught up in a possible Russian plan to destroy the United Kingdom. Conway, a former British soldier and aid worker, always infuses his stories with credible detail on warfare and spy craft, so expect another explosive, rapid-fire read.

The Saboteur is already out in the United Kingdom, but is released here in Australia on 1 September 2021.

Candice Fox wrote one of the best debut Australian crime novels of the past 10 years with Hades back in 2014 and followed it up with the equally impressive Eden. Her output since then has been mixed, but she always brings her own unique style to everything she writes.

Since 2016 she has been writing books in collaboration with James Patterson along with her own solo efforts. The next novel with Patterson, 2 Sisters Detective Agency (Century), is due out in late September and looks promising.

Set in Los Angeles it revolves around attorney Rhonda Bird. When Rhonda returns home to LA to bury her estranged father, she discovers that he left her two final surprises. The first is a private detective agency. The second is a teenage half-sister named Baby. When Rhonda goes into her father’s old office to close down the business, she gets drawn into a case involving a young man who claims he was abducted and finds herself in a deadly battle with an assassin.

Like all of the collaborations that Patterson does, it is likely to be a brisk, entertaining read with plenty of action and surprises, and hopefully with some of Candice’s quirky touches.

2 Sisters Detective Agency is released in Australia on 28 September. It is released in the United Kingdom on 30 September 2021 and in the United States on 5 October 2021.

Here is a link to my review of Candice Fox’s last solo effort Chase: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/april-thriller-reading-new-books-by-candice-fox-joel-dicker-and-c-l-taylor/

S. R. White made a promising entry into the Australian crime writers’ ranks with his 2020 debut Hermit.

Prisoner is the follow up and once more features detective Dana Russo in an intriguing case. The publishers provide the following description:

“When a man is found savagely ‘crucified’ amidst a murky swamp in northern Australia, detective Dana Russo and her team are called to a shocking scene. The victim is a convicted rapist, just released from prison, who years earlier committed an atrocious crime yards from where he was killed.

Who murdered him – and why? With several potential leads, the investigation quickly becomes more complex, and sinister, than anyone imagined. And Dana realises she’ll have to confront her own troubled past to understand the true motives of the killer.”

It sounds intriguing. My colleague at the Canberra Weekly, and fellow blogger, Michael Popple (unknownlibrary.com) has already read it and said that it is a “compelling murder mystery with a clever and moving central storyline”.

I am looking forward to reading it.

Here is a link to my review of Hermit: https://murdermayhemandlongdogs.com/hermit-by-s-r-white-headline-september-2020/

There is a sad backstory to The Final Cut. Jeffreys, a well established actor and playwright, wrote the first novel in the Detective Robert Cardilini series, Man At The Window, back in 2018 and was working on the second book, The Final Cut, when he passed away. The novel was completed by his wife Rosalba Jeffreys.

I remember reading and reviewing Man At The Window, which was a dark police detective novel set in Perth in the 1960s. I quite enjoyed it and it will be interesting wo see where Jeffreys and Rosalba have taken the series. If it is anything like Man At The Window, it will be a gritty tale.

The Final Cut is released in Australia on 31 August 2021.

So, a very good selection of new releases to look forward to.