CRIME
DARK OBJECTS
DARK OBJECTS by Simon Toyne (HarperCollins £14.99, 416 pages)
by SimonToyne (HarperCollins £14.99, 416 pages)
The author of the best-selling Sanctus trilogy opens this dark and haunting story with the discovery of the body of a brutally murdered woman on display in a stunning glass-fronted home on the edge of New York’s Highgate Cemetery London.
The body is surrounded by four carefully chosen objects, one of which is a narrow band depicting the forensic process of investigating a murder scene by an expert, Dr. Laughton Rees, outlined.
Rees is typically a scientist who never visits a crime scene and never investigates live cases. Rees is persuaded to help DCI Tannahill Khan solve the murder. As a teenager, she witnessed the murder of her own mother. Now a mother herself, she’s struggling to understand the killer’s clues – do they have anything to do with her? Captivating from the first page to the last, this is superb storytelling that is sure to send a chill down the spine.
THE BINDING ROOM by Nadine Matheson (HQ £14.99, 512 pages)
THE BINDING ROOM
by Nadine Matheson (HQ £14.99, 512 pages)
From criminal attorney Matheson, whose debut The Jigsaw Man introduced DI Anjelica Henley of the Serial Crimes Unit, this second novel is every bit as gripping as her first.
Pastor Caleb Annan of the Church of the Prophet is found stabbed to death in his church, but even more startling is the discovery of an emaciated man chained to a bed in a hidden upstairs storage room. Worse, he appears to have been tortured. Amazingly, he’s alive, but barely, and he can’t speak at all. #
The pastor’s sinister wife doesn’t seem particularly affected by the death of her husband or the chained man, and so begins a chilling search for the possible motive for the murder.
Gradually, a horrific truth begins to emerge when a second body is discovered, and with it the possibility that the killings may have had a ritual element.
Excellently told, it confirms Matheson’s promise as a front-row crime writer.
THE THREE DAHLIAS by Katy Watson (Constable £14.99, 384 pages)
The three dahlias
by Katy Watson (Constable £14.99, 384 pages)
This charming detective novel from the prolific Watson is based on an intriguing idea – that the three actresses who played fictional detective Dahlia Lively might actually be able to solve real-life murders.
You’re invited to the country home of Lettice Davenport, creator of Dahlia in the 1930s, for a weekend of celebrations for VIP fans. Also in attendance are the fan club president, the team behind the latest adaptation, and the Davenport family.
All three actresses have their own take on the character. Then the bodies pile up and the plot thickens. It’s a tribute to the golden age of crime writing – and Dame Agatha would approve.
