Charlotte Evans checks out the latest crop of crime thrillers.
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Bookshop shelves are stacked with the latest fictional incidents of murder, mishap and general mayhem. It's a buffet of bad-doing, but some of these crimes are worth investigating more than others.
Back with his first novel in three years is John Grishham, whose The Appeal (Random House, $54.99) delves into the murky world of big business buying justice - or, more accurately, a decision it likes. Krane Chemical Corp has been poisoning the town of Bowmore, Mississippi, for years. When a tiny husband-and-wife law firm wins $41 million in damages for client Jeanette Baker in a wrongful death suit, Krane Chemical appeals to the Supreme Court. To ensure a win it decides to "fix" the judicial elections and get a compliant judge on the bench.
I haven't enjoyed the later Grishams much, but I found The Appeal a compelling read - though the lack of reader payoff at the end is disappointing
Also back on the crime scene are the latest instalments in on-going series by Linda Fairstein and James Patterson. Killer Heat (Hachette Livre, $38.99) features Fairstein's popular Alexandra Cooper, an assistant district attorney in Manhattan who specialises in sex crimes. There's a heatwave in New York City - and a serial killer on the prowl. It's a solid crime thriller that ticks all the boxes.
Like Grisham, Patterson is an author who churns out novels with stupefying frequency. In 2006, he sold more than 12 million books in North America alone. 7th Heaven (Random House, $36.99), co-written with Maxine Paetro, is the seventh novel featuring the Women's Murder Club of detective Lindsay Boxer, medical examiner Claire Washburn, district attorney Yuki Castellano and journalist Cindy Thomas.
In this instalment, the beloved son of California's former governor disappears. Prostitute Junie Moon confesses to the crime and Castellano is faced with a media circus surrounding her prosecution. Meanwhile, Boxer is on the trail of an arsonist terrorising San Francisco. It's an easy-flowing, enjoyable story with a nice twist at the end.
In the style of The Da Vinci Code comes a fat, sprawling crime adventure called The Venetian Betrayal by Steve Berry (Hachette Livre, $38.99). Swap Leonardo da Vinci for Alexander the Great, substitute a female megalomaniacal Eastern European ruler for Opus Dei, and an ancient biological weapon for the Holy Grail and you have the gist of it.
While I can't see it spawning imitators or specialist holiday packages, The Venetian Betrayal packs plenty of action and plot twists to keep you hooked. It's not an easy book to dip in and out of but one you may care to set aside for a lazy weekend.
Of a far lighter weight and style is The Delegates' Choice, by Ian Sansom (HarperCollins, $26.99).
This comic crime novel spins the rather minor case of a stolen mobile library van into an amusing adventure driven by two kooky characters.
Englishman Israel Armstrong and Northern Irishman Ted Carson are the mobile librarians for Tumdrum on the "windswept north coast of the north of the north of Northern Ireland".
Sansom writes with a delightful sense of the absurd and pokes gentle fun at the pretentiousness of literary types.
- Detours, HoS
