Murder, mystery and intrigue in this months classic crime picks: HOW TO GET AWAY WITH
How To Get Away With Murder is available now
How to Get Away With Murder by Tam Barnett (Boldwood Books £9.99, 280pp)
When it comes to serial killers, it takes one to know one. Or so it seems to crime reporter Kelli Amari. Having played a big part in nailing a psychopath, she looks to him for hints on how she might track down another serial murderer.
But Kelli has her own demons, including a drug-induced torpor when she was no longer in control of her actions. And who left a blood-soaked rag in the glove compartment of her car?
Obsessed with clearing her conscience while identifying a killer on the loose, her pursuit of a front-page scoop finds suspects close to home. Even her own partner is not beyond suspicion. How To Get Away With Murder is a fast-paced, tension-building mystery with a shattering finale, all the more impressive for this being a debut novel. Tam Barnett is a name to watch.
Deadly Earnest is available now
Deadly Earnest by Joan Cockin (Galileo £10.99, 252pp)
Personality and intelligence tests were all the rage in the 1950s when employers were in hot competition to recruit the brightest and the best. This is the backdrop to a mystery involving a group assessment of potential high-flyers whose competitive spirit has dangerous consequences.
On hand as an observer, picking up tips for police recruitment, Inspector Cam gets more closely involved when one of the candidates reports death threats.
The evidence points to self-aggrandisement by a candidate desperate to call attention to himself. But when he is found dead along with a staff member, the case is no longer one of deception.
Cam is confident that he can identify the killer. But why then does he hold back, leaving the local police to do the leg work? This and other baffling questions hover as layers of deception are peeled away to reveal the dramatic and unexpected truth.
Murder at Bletchley Park is available now from the Mail Bookshop
Murder at Bletchley Park by Christina Koning (Allison & Busby £9.99, 352pp)
Blinded in the Great War, Frederick Rowlands relies on his other senses to detect what those with clear sight have failed to spot.
With the country again at war, Rowlands finds a role on the home front – helping the police unravel a conspiracy to break the security of Bletchley’s famous decoding centre. When his daughter, a brilliant mathematician working at Bletchley, goes missing and her friend is found strangled, Rowlands must use all his powers of detection to solve a case that threatens a fatal blow to the war effort and his own family.
With a plot that is cleverly contrived and an endearing lead character, this mystery is a sheer delight.