Today on the site, we take a look at Storiaverse, a new app for iOS and Android.
With dozens of authors involved, the app brings you short stories that bring in animated segments (with music, character voices and sound effects) along with segments of text. It's a new way of enjoying short stories on your smartphone. You can zone out for 15 minutes on your commute or on your break and let your imagination take over.
The app covers all genres but already several crime fiction authors are involved, including award winners such as Josh Pachter, Michael Bracken and John M Floyd.
Best of all - it's free. You can download it here: https://www.storiaverse.com
Read our feature on how it all works and discover five of the best crime short stories on Storiaverse here: https://crimefictionlover.com/2024/06/discover-crime-stories-on-storiaverse/
Below is a trailer for one of the tales written by Michael Bracken.
When you think of classic noir, LA, the Midwest, maybe even Paris comes to mind. But we like to track down stories in unusual and unlikely settings. A crime fiction lover like us, the Welsh author Matthew Bird has combined the classic noir format with a coming-of-age story and set his novel in the town of Holywell on the Dee Estuary in Northeast Wales.
Of course, the book is entitled Welcome to HolyHell and holy Hell is what follows when young loner called Jay Ellis intercepts a bag of cash that could be life changing. Well, it is life changing but not in the way he expects as two conmen - one old and one young - try to track down the money.
The story is set during the infamous heatwave of 1976 and the heat is relentless, literally and figuratively, melting down the harbour side town. Like the best noir, this is one that tweaks the conscience and teeters on the bounds of morality, with the peril dialling up as the pages turn.
Welsh crime fiction is on the up and this one comes from a writer whose work has appeared on Radio Wales, Radio Four and in his printed crime and horror series.
It's one to try if you love noir. Grab a Kindle or Print copy with our associate link: https://amzn.to/48X8pfc
Congratulations on launch day to Boston Teran - Big Island, LA is on sale today and this is a welcome return to noir territory for the award-winning author.
Unfortunately, we can't post a photo of them as Boston Teran's real identity is a mystery. What we can tell you is that this is a novel you'll come to for the intrigue, the setup and the action, but what caps it all off is the quality of the author's prose.
A weapons heist has gone wrong at an LA police shooting club and ex-marine amputee Ana Ride is roped into finding out what really happened to help out one of her father's friends. The tendrils of the case reach far into a corrupt world, including those involved in the construction of a freeway through LA neighbourhoods. Also in the mix is the columnist and podcaster Landshark, a character from Teran's second novel, Never Count Out the Dead.
It's some years since Boston Teran has written a crime novel and lots of readers may be unfamiliar with their work. After years away writing historical fiction, it's time to rediscover this author and Big Island, LA is a great place to start. The author's first novel, God is a Bullet, was recently turned into a motion picture.
Try Big Island, LA here: https://amzn.to/3S1Ssyh
We like to let readers know about indie crime novels that will take them off the beaten path to discover something different, and so this week we're posting about Grave Issue by Julia Vaughan.
It's only 99p this week, and is definitely worth trying.
We really enjoyed this novel when it came out a year ago. For a start, it's set in Shropshire – not London or Glasgow or the Cotswolds, even. Not a place you often see in crime fiction.
Then there's the unusual protagonist, DCI Kath Fortune, who first appeared in Daisy Chain. She's a cold case detective, who's involved with a disabled ex-con. And they have secrets running deep.
But all that has to be put to one side as she looks into a case some 50 years old - that of Abraham and Esther Downing, who were killed at their cottage. Some years later the skeletons of six children were found around their property. It's a chilling one and the case has never been cracked.
This is a great read if you enjoy police procedurals, isolated rural settings, haunting secrets from the past, and places and characters that you don't normally read about.
Try it here: https://amzn.to/3PHxfIv
Today we're giving a Facebook shout out to the Welsh indie crime author Math Bird, whose new mystery Border Sands came out last week.
Math writes about a part of the country not often seen in crime fiction – the Welsh coast of the Dee Estuary, which is wild and isolated, beautiful and rugged. Northeast Wales is the perfect setting for a book like Border Sands.
First in a proposed series about the investigative journalist Mabon Pryce, Border Sands sees its protagonist return to his home town for a funeral. There, he starts looking into the brutal murder of Mary Reece in 1983 - the town's darkest moment. Scraping away layers of the town's past like old paint, soon Mabon is confronting his own demons and the author capitalises on the atmosphere of the area to create an eerie and troubled aura around his plot.
Border Sands follows Math's previous works set in the area such as Welcome to Holyhell and The Whispering Sands, as well as his horror tale Witch's Copse.
It's always interesting to see new Welsh crime authors coming to the fore, building the reputation of the genre in Wales in the same way that we've seen in Scotland. You can try Math's new novel here: https://amzn.to/3RiQOIm
SATURDAY DRAW: Today we're offering the ultimate prize for anyone who loves the David Raker series by Tim Weaver.
Like and/or Share this post and enter our draw to win this early press copy of The Last Goodbye, latest in the series. When you get this in your hands you'll notice that not only does it say RAKER in white lettering, debossed in the jacket is the author's surname, WEAVER. A very cool cover image too. Beautiful and a great story too - read our full review here:
https://crimefictionlover.com/2023/06/the-last-goodbye-by-tim-weaver/
This draw closes at 8am Sunday morning and is worldwide.
IMPORTANT NOTE: We've had problems with imposters telling people they'd won, sending them to a fake website and asking for their credit card details. Do not fall for this. Nobody will be contacted before the draw closes. You'll be informed that you've won as a comment on the thread below and contacted by our editor via FB Messenger. If anyone posing as CrimeFictionLover tries to engage with you, don't respond, please report them to Facebook.
SATURDAY DRAW: Here's one from the CFL book trove - our uncorrected proof of The Dead of Winter by Stuart MacBride is up for grabs in a worldwide draw.
Like and/or Share to enter.
As you can see in the video, it's got a gloss alternative cover featuring mugshots of the criminals who populate the Cairngorms town in which DC Edward Reekie finds himself - trapped there by a blizzard. A cop in a veritable prison town... and a brutal crime is committed while he's there. We love how pages throughout have been printed with charred edges.
Top drawer Scottish crime fiction! Draw closes 8am Sunday morning.
NOTE: We've had problems with imposters telling people they'd won, sending them to a fake website and asking for their credit card details. Do not fall for this. Nobody will be contacted before the draw closes. You'll be informed that you've won as a comment on the thread below and contacted by our editor via FB Messenger. If anyone posing as CrimeFictionLover tries to engage with you, don't respond, please report them to Facebook.
SATURDAY DRAW: Here's a worldwide draw to win an AWESOME prize.
Like and/or Share and you'll be entered to win our SPARKLY advance reading copy of Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson.
It's a Country music-themed thriller and our full review is here: https://crimefictionlover.com/2022/03/run-rose-run-by-dolly-parton-and-james-patterson/
Hold it to the light and it sparkles like rhinestones.
Draw closes 8am Sunday morning. Be in it to win it!
Beware of anyone posing as Crime Fiction Lover asking for your details. It still happens now and again.
Good luck.
Here's a lovely clip of the up-and-coming Scottish crime author CF Peterson reading a passage from his new novel, The Purified.
Prose this good is spiritual stuff - especially if you love Tartan noir.
The author's first novel, Errant Blood, established him as a name to watch in the genre, and on Friday he's unveiling The Purified, book two in his series set in Duncul in the Highlands.
There's a live launch taking place at Golden Hare Books in Edinburgh - one of Britain's finest indie bookshops - at 7pm. Adelphi Selection will be on hand with drams of Scotch.
Meet the author, hear about the book, grab a copy, sip Scotch, chat with like-minded readers. I don't know if there's anything more satisfying if you love your crime fiction.
Tickets are £5 or free if you buy the book (£9.99), and the author will sign it for you.
Find out more here: https://bit.ly/3Db4xXe
It's published by Scotland Street Press and you can grab a copy here: https://www.scotlandstreetpress.com/product/the-purified
