Chris Lloyd won the HWA Gold Crown Award in 2021 for The Unwanted Dead, a tense thriller set in Paris at the start of the Nazi occupation in 1940. Detective Eddie Giral, still traumatised by his experiences during the First World War, is helpless in the face of this menace. There’s one thing he still […]
By the Edge of the Sword by CB Hanley
Christmas, 1218: Conisbrough is shrouded in deep snow and a stranger’s body is found frozen to death. The cryptic letter it carries is from Joanna, an old friend of Edwin Weaver’s, who is in danger and pleading for his help. Edwin and his friend Martin undertake a perilous winter journey to discover that Joanna stands […]
Celtic Cross by Sara Sheridan
About to get married, Mirabelle and her fiancé, retired Superintendent Alan McGregor, are torn about where they will settle. When a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes up to buy a secluded house on the banks of the Firth of Forth, they submit to getting permission from the local landlord. But that permission comes at a price – […]
Did radicals and reactionaries unite against Tsar Alexander II?
Did the radicals plotting to murder Alexander II and the reactionaries who thought his reforms went too far join forces to get rid of the Tsar? RN Morris explores an unlikely alliance that provides the political backdrop to his latest historical crime mystery, Law of Blood. In his excellent biography of Tsar Alexander II (1818-1881), […]
Writing in Ice: A Crime Writer’s Guide to Iceland by Michael Ridpath
If you had to choose a new location for a crime series, where would you look? Michael Ridpath had to do just that. He chose Iceland, a country of fjords, glaciers and volcanoes, of long, manic summer days and long, sinister winter evenings, a place where everyone is on Facebook and everyone’s grandmother has spoken […]
The Cold North Sea by Jeff Dawson
The North Sea, October 1904: When Russian warships bombard the Hull trawler fleet, killing innocent fishermen, public outrage pushes Britain and Russia to the brink of war, the sparks from which could inflame the entire Continent. Dr Ingo Finch, once of the Royal Army Medical Corps, is long done with military adventuring. But when a […]
No Ordinary Killing by Jeff Dawson
South Africa in 1899: as the Boer War rages, Captain Ingo Finch of the Royal Army Medical Corps pieces together casualties at the front. Then, recovering in Cape Town, he is woken by local police. A British officer has been murdered, and an RAMC signature is required for the post-mortem. Shocked by the identity of […]
Summon Up the Blood by RN Morris
London, 1914. A killer is at liberty in the dark alleys of the city. His victims have one thing in common: all the blood has been drained from their bodies. Who could do such a thing – and why would he want his victims’ blood? As the killer’s reign of terror continues, Detective Inspector Silas Quinn of […]