This week, Jeff Popple reviews three very good crime reads. More of Jeff’s reviews can be found on his blog, murdermayhemandlongdogs.com

Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly

Allen & Unwin, $32.99

Michael Connelly is one of the world’s best crime writers, and a new release from him is always a highlight. His latest, Resurrection Walk, is billed as a ‘Lincoln Lawyer Thriller’, but it also features the iconic Harry Bosch in a major role. The story revolves around the efforts of Bosch and his half-brother, Mickey Haller, to prove that the ex-wife of a LA sheriff’s deputy was wrongly jailed for his murder four years ago. Combining taut plotting with well-crafted characters and entertaining courtroom scenes, Resurrection Walk is a terrific crime thriller that builds to a suspenseful climax. Highly recommended.  

Summer of Blood by Dave Warner

Fremantle, $32.99

Los Angeles also features in Dave Warner’s Summer of Blood. In this long-awaited sequel to Big Bad Blood, two Sydney detectives head to America in 1967 to find the missing son of a friend of the police minister. As they scour the back streets of LA and San Francisco, they become immersed in the world of new music, drugs, free love and hippie counterculture, and find themselves on the trail of a serial killer. Told in a stripped down, staccato style, Summer of Blood is a twisty tale full of vivid imagery, violence, moral ambiguity and some astute reflections on the 1960s.   

I Am Already Dead by David Whish-Wilson

Fremantle, $34.99

Fremantle-based David Whish-Wilson does not enjoy the attention that other crime writers receive, but his tough noir tales are among the best crime fiction being produced in Australia today. I Am Already Dead is set in Perth in 1993 and features trainee private investigator Lee Southern, who finds himself drawn into a web of intrigue and escalating violence when he agrees to investigate a series of bribery attempts against a wealthy entrepreneur. Well written and totally gripping, with a memorable cast of characters, it moves along at a rapid rate to the bloody and surprising climax. Superior crime writing.