The Drowned by John Banville (Faber, £18.99)
The latest in Banville’s series set in 1950s Ireland begins with a Mercedes, engine still running, abandoned in a field by the sea in County Wicklow. It’s discovered by the reclusive Denton Wymes, who shortly afterwards encounters the “mad, or drunk, or both” Ronnie Armitage, who claims that his wife left the car abruptly and may have drowned herself. The behaviour of the couple in the nearby cottage, where the two men go to phone the police, is no less bizarre. When a search by the coastguards fails to recover a body, Detective Inspector Strafford is sent from Dublin to investigate. Strafford has problems of his own to contend with – his wife wants a divorce (possible only because the Straffords were married in England, but still no simple matter) and his lover Phoebe, daughter of the lugubrious pathologist Quirke, is pregnant. A beautifully written and intriguing slowburn of a book, in which the various quandaries in the main characters’ private lives are as absorbing as the central mystery, The Drowned is narratively connected to its predecessor but certainly works as a standalone.
The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins (Doubleday, £22)
The missing spouse in Hawkins’s latest novel is the philandering husband of famous artist Vanessa Chapman; he disappeared without trace 20 years before a bone in one of her “found objects” sculptures was identified as human by a visitor to the Tate. Vanessa herself is now deceased, having spent her last years in virtual seclusion on the Scottish tidal island still inhabited by Grace: old friend, carer, and keeper of the flame. When an art historian arrives with the twin aims of averting a scandal by “clearing up this bone business” and prising the remainder of Chapman’s work, willed to the foundation that employs him, from Grace’s reluctant hands, long-buried secrets are uncovered. With an intricate plot and multiple timelines and perspectives, The Blue Hour is a complex, atmospheric study of ambition, loyalty and betrayal.
Midnight and Blue by Ian Rankin (Orion, £25)
Most “maverick” cops are – existential crises and addiction issues apart – mysteriously immune to the consequences of their actions. Not so John Rebus: the 25th novel to feature bestseller Rankin’s cantankerous protagonist finds him incarcerated in HMP Edinburgh for the attempted murder of his old enemy, Big Ger Cafferty. Despite his vulnerability as a former cop, an acute shortage of accommodation means that he is released from the Separation and Reintegration Unit into the general halls, with the dubious promise of protection from in-house drug baron Darryl Christie. When a fellow inmate is found stabbed to death in his cell, Rebus begins an unofficial inquiry. Meanwhile, his former colleague DI Siobhan Clarke investigates the disappearance of teenager Jasmine Andrews – an apparently unrelated case, until another murder provides a link, and it starts to look as if some of Police Scotland are just as culpable as those they’ve put away. An expertly plotted and very welcome addition to a standout series.
A Case of Matricide by Graeme Macrae Burnet (Contraband, £14.99)
Like its predecessors, the concluding book in Burnet’s metafictional trilogy purports to be written by French novelist Raymond Brunet with the author in the guise of translator, and features Chief Inspector Georges Gorski of the unremarkable small town of Saint-Louis. Elderly Madame Duymann is convinced her son Raymond is planning to kill her, and what might be dismissed as senility is given credence by the fact that Gorski is unable to disprove her claim that Raymond has already done away with her dog. Meanwhile, the suspicious death of a local concrete manufacturer provides a case to be solved. Both investigations are sporadic, as the easily distracted Gorski, who spends far too much time in Le Pot, a scruffy local bar, has troubles closer to home, not least his own decrepit and increasingly confused maman, for whom he is principal carer. Some readers may find themselves frustrated by the lack of focus, but this quirky blend of psychological thriller and smalltown life is both thought-provoking and entirely convincing.
The Burning Stones by Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston (Orenda, £16.99)
When Ilmo Röty of the Steam Devil Sauna Company is burned to death inside one of his own products, the evidence seems to indicate that one of his colleagues, Anni Korpinen, is responsible. As if this, plus friction at work, a stagnant marriage to a man obsessed with Formula One and general midlife malaise weren’t enough for Anni, she must prove her innocence as well as outwitting the real killer, who appears to be gunning for her, too. And then there’s the matter of her feelings for the investigating police officer, who happens to be an old flame. Finnish author Tuomainen has a talent for creating offbeat characters that you can’t help rooting for and smart, resilient Anni is no exception in this tense, pacy novel, laced with the author’s trademark laconic humour and superbly translated by David Hackston.
