Palace Of Treason
By Jason Matthews, Scribner, 480 pages, $29.99
Languid summer days seem made for hot, steamy thrillers and this summer, no novel is hotter than Palace Of Treason, Jason Matthews's sizzling sequel to Red Sparrow. Fans know that the Sparrow is Captain Dominika Egorova of the Russian Intelligence Service. Along with her brains and some well-honed brawn, Egorova's espionage talents are sexual; she knows all the tricks, literally, for Russia's politicos and oligarchs. Egorova is also a CIA mole, one of the service's most valuable, and she has fallen in love with Nate Nash, her CIA handler – a romance that can end their jobs and/or lives. Matthews spent more than 30 years in the CIA and it's real-life espionage snippets that give his fiction such marvellous texture. Think of this as an updated version of John le Carré's Circus with a pair of villains that make old Karla look like Mr. Rogers. Matthews's talents don't stop with plots; his characters are unforgettable and his settings beautifully done. Read this and, if you haven't already, Red Sparrow. This is a series to savour.
The Burying Ground
By Janet Kellough, Dundurn, 288 pages, $11.99
Love the Murdoch Mysteries? Then you need to discover Janet Kellough's terrific Toronto series set in 1851 and featuring preacher/detective Thaddeus Lewis. The Burying Ground is the fourth Lewis novel, named for the place where the faceless poor – indigents, vagrants, criminals – are buried in Victorian Toronto. When someone starts digging up graves, disturbing the city's poorest and most lost, no one cares except the sexton, Morgan Spicer, tasked with caring for the graves. He takes his case to the one person who just might help, Thaddeus Lewis, who preaches to the Yonge Street down-and-out and agrees that someone must stop the vandalism. What ensues is a trail leading to blackmail, corruption and a tragic old sexual scandal. Who says Canadian history is boring?
Come To Harm
By Catriona McPherson, Midnight Ink, 343 pages, $17.50
Fans of her Dandy Gilver series may not know that Catriona McPherson also writes serious stand-alone novels of psychological suspense. Come To Harm is her third and it's shudderingly terrific. Keiko Nishisato is a sheltered young woman from Tokyo who heads out to the University of Edinburgh to study psychology. Everything seems perfect: Her patrons, the Painchton Traders, are covering the costs of her study and even include a rental flat in Painchton, a village outside Edinburgh. But then things begin to unravel. There is a nasty smell in the drains. Just bad plumbing? Perhaps a bit of carry-over from the butcher shop downstairs? Then strange notes appear and, finally, there are the girls who disappeared and who the townspeople seem remarkably unwilling to discuss. Nishisato pokes and prods but she's a stranger in a strange land – a stranger who might, like the others, disappear. Save this one for a night when you can read straight through.
Dexter Is Dead
By Jeff Lindsay, Doubleday, 287 pages, $28.95
Dexter's Final Cut, the previous and seventh in the Dexter series, was the worst book of the lot. Dexter and Deb became consultants to a film and, in the process, became their Showtime characters instead of the sibling act we learned to love/hate. The decline mirrored the drop in the TV series; it never recovered after Season 4, starring the brilliant John Lithgow as the Trinity Killer. The next four seasons were painfully unkind, leading up to a completely sorry end. Yep, I hated it. So it's nice to have old Dexter back for one last go in a good book. A lot of loose ends are tied up. The writing has Lindsay's old zip and we are prepared for things not to end well. But just what does happen? Read on. I can promise you that Dexter doesn't end up in a logging camp in Alaska.
Antidote To Venom
By Freeman Wills Crofts, Poisoned Pen Press, 278 pages, $16
Once upon a time, crime fiction was plot-driven, with puzzles, tweaks and twists to keep readers guessing to the end. The Queen of the genre was Dame Agatha Christie, and one of her favourite authors was Freeman Wills Crofts, who sank into undeserved obscurity as the British Golden Age came to an end. Poisoned Pen Press has resurrected Crofts, one of crime fiction's most inventive plotmasters. Antidote to Venom is one of his cleverest masterpieces. He gives us George Surridge, director of the Birmingham Zoo and a man in trouble. His marriage is collapsing, he's in debt and his job is in jeopardy because the animals in the zoo are sick. Surridge's solution to his dilemmas is an ingenious murder … the legendary "perfect crime." Will he pull it off? Fans of puzzles will adore this book. Would-be writers should read and learn.
The Slaughter Man
By Tony Parsons, Century, 374 pages, $24.99
The sequel to Parsons's debut novel, The Murder Bag, is every bit as good, if not better. The story begins with a creepy prologue as a young boy attempts to escape the slaughter of his family in an exclusive gated London community. You will not be able to stop reading after this opening. Cut to Detective Constable Max Wolfe, in charge of the investigation. There seems to be no possible reason for the murders – a happy, wealthy family with no known criminal ties has been killed with an unorthodox weapon, a stun gun reserved for cattle heading to slaughter. Furthermore, one member of the family, a small child, seems to have been abducted. Why kill the others and keep the one? Wolfe goes in search of similar cases and finds one, but the M.O. belongs to a criminal from 30 years ago, arrested, imprisoned, released and, now, dying. He's not the killer, but Wolfe can't shake the idea that someone, somehow, has revived his technique. But who and why? This is a superior detective novel with real clues and great characters. Parsons is a writer to watch.