CRIME
The Trial
(Century £20, 368 pp)
In his crime debut, television judge Rinder introduces the world to Adam Green, barrister-in-training (known as a pupil) in an engaging courtroom drama.
Still with six months to go to see whether he gets a formal place in barristers’ chambers, Green finds himself with the unenviable task of defending well-known criminal hardman Jimmy Knight against a charge of murdering heroic policeman DI Grant Cliveden.
The detective keeled over and died when he was about to give evidence at the Old Bailey. He had been poisoned — after meeting Knight in a pub. On the surface it is an open-and-shut case, and Green’s ‘pupil master’ washes his hands of it and leaves his pupil to do what he can.
Determined to become a full member of chambers, Green fights against the odds to prove his client’s innocence. Strong storytelling with a murder mystery at its heart makes it one to treasure.
All the Sinners Bleed
(Headline £20, 352 pp)
Already compared to the unforgettable Elmore Leonard, Cosby goes from strength to strength, and this — his fourth haunting story — underlines it. Titus Crown is the first black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia, a place where he grew up before leaving to make his name as an FBI agent.
A year after his return and election, he is called out to a school shooting, where one of the town’s favourite white teachers is killed by a former student — who is then shot dead by Crown’s deputies.
It is the first step in the discovery of a horrifying series of crimes that have claimed the lives of many black children. The ugly truth is that a serial killer has been hiding in plain sight in the county for many years and no one noticed. At the same time, a group of far-Right activists want to celebrate the town’s Confederate history.
The tensions between black and white escalate, with Crown trying to keep the peace and find the killer. Richly textured, this is elegant, fierce storytelling at its absolute best.
After That Night
(HarperCollins £20, 432 pp)
International best-seller Slaughter — who has sold more than 40 million books around the world — returns with another compelling case for Georgia Bureau of Investigation detective Will Trent, and it does not disappoint.
Fifteen years ago, Sara Linton’s life was transformed when a celebratory night out went terribly wrong and she suffered a violent attack.
She has rebuilt her life, becoming a successful doctor, engaged to a man she loves. But now she finds herself in the emergency room fighting to save another woman, Dani Cooper, who has also been brutally attacked. Could the two crimes be linked?
Detective Trent certainly thinks so, as his investigation doggedly uncovers the parallels. Packed with Slaughter’s trademark forensic skills, including her eye for telling postmortem details, the plot races along, leaving the reader gasping for breath.
No wonder Trent is already a big hit on the Disney+ channel, having just been renewed for a second series.
DailyMail
