CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan

Inspector Ashwin Chopra (retired) has a perplexing task in front of him indeed after taking his wife to Mumbai’s Prince of Wales Museum to see England’s crown jewels, only to have them stolen just as he and his wife have their turn with the famed gems. After they regain consciousness and composure, it’s not long before Chopra returns to the case after an old friend, standing to be accused of the theft, begs for his help. With all of India and England’s best and brightest (and most belligerent, to happily continue with the alliteration) on the case, what can Chopra do to solve it that no one else can? Well, it involves a lot of bluster, sneaking around, getting covered completely in cake and donning a disguise or two – and, of course, the help of his detective agency partner Ganesha, who happens to be an elephant, and is excellent at stakeouts (as long as he is kept sated by Dairy Milk chocolate and mango juice).

Khan’s series of Baby Ganesh Agency books is fun and vibrant, but don’t let getting covered in cake fool you – it doesn’t skirt past the darker places in Chopra’s beloved Mumbai. Characters are a delight – from Chopra’s wife Poppy, who leaps off the page with her determined enthusiasm for solving every problem she can, to Poppy’s insufferable mother (readers will undoubtedly hope a future book involves matricide), to the probably orphaned youth Ifran, who fills a hole in Chopra and Poppy’s life that they had only sometimes let themselves recognise. Bad things happen to people who both don’t and do deserve it, and the theft of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, taken unhappily from India in the first place, is not the only crime to be solved. This is an inventive and enjoyable series, and an excellent armchair way to enjoy a luminescent view of the Mumbai Chopra defends with such purity of intent (if not with temper!).

NEW CRIME FICTION

Redemption Road by John Hart

Four days after she shot two kidnappers in a hail of bullets, Elizabeth Black drives around the city, listless, hated, loved. Half the world admires her for saving a young woman from the unspeakable things they threatened to do; the other half questions why so many bullets were necessary and why there seem to be some things that don’t add up. As she and the victim suffer from their trauma, together and apart, on the other side of town a cop Elizabeth once knew leaves prison after thirteen years behind bars, and the son of the woman he was imprisoned for killing is there waiting for him. This is a story laced with secrets, half-truths, and tension that boils on the page.

Stalker by Lars Kepler

The Hypnotist, published a few years ago, rode the wave of Scandi crime like a pro surfer (I’m getting a bit too far off topic with this summery analogy here) and started a bestselling series. In the pseudonymous duo’s latest instalment, Detective Inspector Joona Linna is dead – at least, everyone believes that to be true. A video is sent to police, showing a woman through a window, and the next day she is found brutally murdered. The death is close to another murder from years before, where the culprit, a priest, was imprisoned – and still is – and when psychiatrist Erik Maria Bark is called in to hypnotise a victim’s husband, he realises that years ago he may have made a mistake. It’s time to call in Joona Linna, no matter what shape he’s in. Because when you’re a literary cop, a bit of dying would never stop you.

The One Who Got Away by Caroline Overington

Caroline Overington, a Walkley Award-winning journalist and Davitt Award winner for her true crime book Last Woman Hanged, returns with another psychological thriller – the domestic turned dangerous. Loren Wynne-Estes has the faultless family life that someone at the school gates always appears to have – a dashing husband, enviable home, oversized car (actually everyone at the school gates has one of those), and a set of beautifully matching twins. Yet one day, another mother hands her a note and there is enough in that envelope to change not only the life Loren strived to build with David, her polar opposite husband, but the lives of those around them: small town intrigue writ large.

Dark Fires Shall Burn by Anna Westbrook

Sydney writer and academic Anna Westbrook brings 1940s Newtown to exquisite and nerve-rattling life in Dark Fires Shall Burn, based on the horrific and real 1946 murder of a young girl found dead in a cemetery. Here, teenager Templeton and his sister Annie find themselves at the mercy of brothel madam Dolly Jenkins, the only key to their safety – but also their window to the new, salacious world that post-war Sydney has become. When their paths cross with a young girl who witnessed a shooting, all are swept up in a tide of grief and revenge on streets awash with horror, sexuality, darkness and light.

A Midsummer’s Equation by Keigo Higashino

At a picturesque Japanese ocean town, ‘Detective Galileo’ – aka physicist Manabu Yukawa, who has taken up residence in other Higashino books before to help out the police – is summoned to discussions of deep sea mining off Hari Cove’s glorious coastline. His stay at a local inn is tempered by the death of another patron, found at the bottom of a cliff after an apparent accident. But when it becomes apparent that dying of carbon monoxide poisoning at the bottom of a cliff isn’t traditionally an accidental injury – and that the victim was a retired police officer – things start to get interesting. Higashino is a master of the detective novel, with more than a few fans at Readings, and Yukawa’s enthralling conversations with the locals and his surprising and clever reveals make this the kind of book you’ll push on all your friends.

The Butchers of Berlin by Chris Petit

This compelling, harrowing excursion into the shattered world of Berlin in 1943 as August Schlegel – who usually investigates fraud – is shaken awake after a night so hard he spent it in the police cells, and put on a homicide case. At first, interest is low in a murder-suicide between two Jewish people, but when the murdered man turns out to be a dead German and the killer an old man wearing a coveted army medal, Schlegel’s interest is piqued. Even after a gruelling day of more bodies including a gruesome find in a cattle car, he can’t help but think of the old man, and those he left behind. In the meantime, a young Jewish woman, after barely escaping a mass arrest, is darting through the shadows of Berlin, trying to be saved and save those around her. This is a vivid realisation of a terrible time and the multitude of fates that could befall anyone.

NEW TRUE CRIME

The Wicked Boy by Kate Summerscale

On a warm Monday in East London in 1895, two young boys whose father has gone to sea take themselves out to the cricket to watch the Gentlemen vs the Players. The next day, they return to watch more of the game; the day after, they start to pawn some jewellery, roping in a family friend to help. After all, their mother has gone away for a little while. It’s another week before the smell in one of the bedrooms starts to become noticeable: their mother has gone away for longer than a while, her murderer is her elder son, thirteen-year-old Robert Coombes. The Wicked Boy is the true story of Robert and Nathaniel Coombes, the murder, the frenzied trial that followed, and what happened after – a tale that leads all the way here, to Australia and on to Gallipoli. With fine historical accuracy and forthright clarity, Summerscale tells the tale of a child murderer – and the man he became.

Fiona Hardy