More from the River of Darkness

No, that is not a reference to Karl Rove's pen or Dick Cheney's black heart. Rennie Airth, author of the very strong River of Darkness, has finally released his follow-up in paperback. The Blood-Dimmed Tide picks up with Inspector John Madden in 1932, around a decade after the events related in the prio volume. The setting, both historic and geographic, and character development set Airth's first effort well above the average police procedural and I expect more of the same from this outing. Publishers' Weekly reports that this is the second in a planned trilogy, with the third set during the second world war. If Airth's between-the-wars detective fiction is even half as good as Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir, we will be in high cotton.