Whether it’s gritty realism, a much-needed laugh or some seriously perplexing puzzles you need to get you through your holiday, August’s new crime releases has you covered. Here’s our top three reads to enjoy in the sun.
Guilty by Definition: Susie Dent
Release date: 12th August 2024
Susie Dent is a writer and broadcaster on language, known best for the 30 years she’s appeared on Channel 4’s Countdown and its sister show 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Guilty by Definition is Dent’s debut novel and unsurprisingly. the book has a lexicographical flavour.
An anonymous letter delivered to the Clarendon English Dictionary hints at secrets and lies linked to a particular year. A year senior editor Martha Thornhill remembers all too well, it was the summer her brilliant older sister Charlie went missing.
When more letters arrive, and Martha and her team pull apart the complex clues within them, it becomes apparent Charlie had been keeping a secret, one that other forces are desperate to keep it well and truly buried.
Death at the Sign of the Rook: Kate Atkinson
Release date: 22nd August 2024
Never judge a book by its cover may be wise advice in most cases but this time? How could Death at the Sign of the Rook be anything other than an instant crime classic when the cover echoes some of the gorgeous Agatha Christie Fontana covers from the sixties and seventies?
The choice of cover is no coincidence, Jackson Brodie is back, and the story begins in a scenario only too familiar to Christie fans. Marooned overnight by a snowstorm in a grand country house with a vicar, an Army major and a Dowager, Jackson Brodie and his loyal sidekick DC Reggie Chase have are on the hunt for a thief. A portrait was stolen from the house of an elderly widow on the morning she died, can they discover what secrets the painting hold before a convicted murderer on the run takes another victim?
The Hotel Avocado: Bob Mortimer
Release date: 29th August 2024
Gary Thorne the anti-hero of Bob Mortimer’s debut novel, The Satsuma Complex is back and his latest dilemma is deciding if he should leave the familiar streets of London to help Emily his girlfriend run the all new Hotel Avocado or not.
Bob Mortimer trained as solicitor before a chance encounter with Vic Reeves in the 1980s led to a successful career in comedy as half of the duo Reeves and Mortimer. His screen credits include Shooting Stars, Big Night Out, Catterick, Taskmaster and most recently, Gone Fishing.
