Orenda Books
Helga Flatland’s books are a joy, her writing quiet, her observations sharp, her language simple but carefully chosen. One Last Time, her latest, is a fine example of this and, like her debut, it focuses on family. Here, Flatland’s gaze hones in on the relationship between mothers and daughters, as exposed in three generations of … Continue readings
Tags : family drama, Helga Flatland, Norwegian writers, One Last Time, One Last Time Helga Flatland, Orenda Books
Matt Wesolowski’s Six Stories series is smart, contemporary and sinister. Using the format of Scott King’s much-watched podcasts to explore a particular crime, he mixes folklore, crime-fiction and elements of horror and the supernatural to play on his characters’ and the reader’s paranoia and fear. It’s a masterclass in audience manipulation, but the … Continue readings
Tags : Cairngorms-set crime fiction, Matt Wesolowski, Orenda Books, Orenda Books crime fiction, Scott King podcasts, Scottish set crime fiction, Six Stories Matt Wesolowski, Six Stories series
We do like a good Nordic Noir and we do like Orenda Books, so Smoke Screen, the latest collaboration of best-selling crime writers Thomas Enger and Jørn Lier Horst, is a win–win. The second in the series featuring policeman Alexander Blix and journalist Emma Ramm, it starts with a bang, literally, when … Continue readings
Tags : Blix and Ramm, Blix and Ramm 2, Jorn Lier Horst, Nordic Noir, Norwegian crime writers, Orenda Books, Orenda crime fiction 2021, Oslo-based crime, Scandi crime, Smoke Screen, Thomas Enger
We’ve great fans of Karen Sullivan’s Orenda list, partly because of the inclusion of so many very fine books published in translation.We first came across the writing of acclaimed French-Canadian author Roxanne Bouchard in 2018, when Orenda published the lyrical We Were the Salt of the Sea in English. We adored it. It’s … Continue readings
Tags : crime fiction in translation, David Warriner translator, DS Joaquin Morales, French-Canadian authors, Gaspe Peninsual, Orenda Books, Quebec's Gaspe Peninsula, Roxanne Bouchard, The Coral Bride, The Literary Lounge, The Literary Shed, We Were the Salt of the Sea
It’s surprisingly hard to come up with a good book title, one that’s not only attention grabbing, but shouts, ‘Hey [waggly hands], this is what I am!’, and sometimes going old school is the key. The Creak on the Stairs does just that and it doesn’t disappoint. The nod-to- the-crime classics’ title is … Continue readings
Tags : Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, icelandic crime writers, Icelandic noir, Icelandic procedural novels, Orenda Books, Orenda crime, The Creak in the Stairs
Helen Fitzgerald’s Ash Mountain adds to the many very good novels set in Australia published in the past few years. A concise book, only 211 pages, it packs a punch and has a lasting resonance. Told from multiple perspectives, the story has at its heart Fran, the single mother, who’s returned to the … Continue readings
Tags : Ash Mountain, Australian firestorm literature, Australian noir, BBC series adaptations, book to TV, books set in Victoria, disaster noir, Helen Fitzgerald, Helen Fitzgerald's The Cry, Orenda Books, teamOrenda, The Cry
Set in a remote part of the Lake District, Sarah Stovell’s remarkable The Home is a stark, beautiful and emotive novel that takes no prisoners. Focusing on three troubled young women in care, Annie, Hope and Lara all have traumatic pasts. While they have been let down by those meant to protect them, at … Continue readings
Tags : 2020, Orenda Books, psychological thriller, sarah stovell, the home
We periodically wax lyrical about independent presses and their lists and Karen Sullivan’s Orenda Books has had several such shout outs. She’s a canny publisher with a great eye, and the range and quality of her authors support that. So, no surprise then that wonderful Doug Johnstone’s latest novel, A Dark Matter, is published … Continue readings
Tags : A Dark Matter, Doug Johnstone, Edinburgh, indie presses, Karen Sullivan, Orenda Books, Scottish noir, Scottish writers
Set in a remote part of the Lake District, Sarah Stovell’s remarkable The Home is a stark, beautiful and emotive novel that takes no prisoners. Focusing on three troubled young women in care, Annie, Hope and Lara all have traumatic pasts. While they have been let down by those meant to protect them, at … Continue readings
Tags : 2020, crime fiction, Orenda Books, psychological thriller, sarah stovell, the home
We do not converse with one another. We don’t have to do that. Our purpose is to stand on the edge and ask ourselves one question. Pretend we have some kind of choice. We are the message. The spectacle. This is the theatre of cruelty.” There’s an exactness to Will Carver’s writing that … Continue readings
Tags : Orenda Books, suicide, Will Carver
There’s a lovely moment In the Absence of Miracles, when Michael J. Malone’s protagonist is catching up with a childhood friend whom he hasn’t seen in an age, and the residual awkwardness that one quite often feels in such circumstances just falls away. ‘There we sat, with legs kicking the side. The years fell … Continue readings
Tags : Crime Writers Association, In the Absence of Miracles, Karen Sullivan, Michael J. Malone, Orenda Books, psychological thriller, Scottish noir
Today, we’re delighted to welcome Canadian author Paul E. Hardisty to The Literary Lounge. Shortlisted for the CWA John Creasy Dagger award, Paul’s Claymore Straker series is critically acclaimed and has garnered fans such as Lee Child. Turbulent Wake, Paul’s latest book, is a beautifully penned standalone, examining love and loss. It is published … Continue readings
Tags : Arcadia B, Arcadia Books, Clay Straker, CWA, John Creasy Dagger award, Karen Sullivan, Orenda, Orenda Books, Paul E. Hardisty, reading on location, The Australian Institute of Marine Science, Turbulent Wake
The rain creates walls in the night. Falling from the sky, they are like mirrors, reflecting and warping the blue light from the police car. Everything spins. The street emerges from the darkness and loses itself behind the harbour lights, and there – right in the middle, just where it suddenly drops downhill – … Continue readings
Tags : Bavaria, Chastity Riley, German noir, Hamburg, Ivo Stepanovic, noir, Orenda Books, reading on location, Simone Buccholz
The second book in Lilja Sigurðardóttir’s excellent Reykjavík Noir Trilogy, Trap opens with Sonja living in the States with her son, Tómas. When ex-husband Adam grabs their son, he forces Sonja to choose between giving up Tómas completely or returning to Iceland and the life she left behind. Enmeshed once again in Iceland’s drug trade, … Continue readings
Tags : Arctic noir, Icelandic noir, Icelandic writers, Lilja Sigurðardóttir, Nordic Noir, Orenda Books, Reyjakvik Noir Trilogy, The Literary Lounge Q&A, Trap, women crime fiction writers