Bitter Lemon Press
Books published by Bitter Lemon Press
The Transparency of Time
Ex-inspector Mario Conde returns to help a friend recover a stolen black Madonna, a statue with a history dating back to the crusades.
Reviewed on 30 April 2022 by Chris Roberts
The Foreign Girls
On a break in the north of Argentina, Buenos Aires journalist Veronica Rosenthal is determined to find those responsible for the rape and murder of two foreign girls she befriended.
Reviewed on 26 March 2022 by Chris Roberts
The Measure of Time
Italian lawyer Guido Guerrieri is contacted by a girlfriend from his distant past She believes her son has been wrongly convicted for murder. Guido has to decide whether it’s wise to take on the appeal.
Reviewed on 23 October 2021 by Sylvia Maughan
How To Betray Your Country
August Drummond’s service as a spy has been terminated, but he remains in the game as a distraction from his grief over the death of his wife.
Reviewed on 21 August 2021 by Chris Roberts
Crocodile Tears
Diego is grateful to be released from prison when the wife of the man he kidnapped declines to identify him. Unfortunately, his freedom comes with demands quite beyond his capacity.
Reviewed on 13 March 2021 by Chris Roberts
The Aosawa Murders
The poisoning of celebrants at a Japanese family birthday party is a mystery, even when the culprit admits responsibility. The true story takes years to emerge.
Reviewed on 19 September 2020 by Chris Roberts
The Night of Shooting Stars
Lieutenant-Colonel Martin von Bora is in Berlin in July 1944, directed to investigate the murder of a prominent clairvoyant, but the rumours of political conspiracy suggest that Bora himself is at risk.
Reviewed on 19 September 2020 by Chris Roberts
Deep As Death
Detective Hella Mauzer, fired from the police and trying to survive as a private investigator, searches for a serial killer who might have been responsible for several deaths, including those of local prostitutes.
Reviewed on 31 July 2020 by Ewa Sherman
The Fragility of Bodies
A suicide alerts journalist Veronica Rosenthal to the number of deaths on the railways of Buenos Aires, and her research reveals that many of these fatalities are anything but accidental.
Reviewed on 07 September 2019 by Chris Roberts
Grab a Snake by the Tail
Havana detective Mario Conde is persuaded to take the case when an elderly Chinese man is found hanged, marked with arcane symbols and missing a finger.
Reviewed on 24 August 2019 by Chris Roberts
The Horseman's Song
Young German volunteer lieutenant Martin Bora is in a relatively quiet area of the Spanish civil war front when he finds the body of national poet Garcia Lorca.
Reviewed on 10 August 2019 by Chris Roberts
Evil Things
It’s 1952. Hella Mauzer, the first female Inspector in the Helsinki Homicide Unit, has been deemed too emotional for her job, demoted and sent to a small-town police station in Lapland. She sees a chance to redeem and prove herself when an old man disappears in the forest.
Reviewed on 01 June 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The Cold Summer
Pietro Fenoglio, a Marshall in the Carabinieri, conducts an investigation into the kidnapping and killing of a local mobster’s young son amidst spreading violence in the region.
Reviewed on 13 April 2019 by Ewa Sherman
The First Prehistoric Serial Killer and other stories
A collection of short stories set in or around Barcelona featuring a variety of characters, apparently respectable, who become involved in serious crime.
Reviewed on 27 October 2018 by Chris Roberts
Baby Blue
Stratos Gazis’ friend Angelino has taken charge of Emma, a talented blind girl, who is bitter at the murder of the man who protected her. Stratos gets the job of finding the killer.
Reviewed on 18 August 2018 by Chris Roberts
Holy Ceremony
Lieutenant Ariel Kafka from the Violent Crime Unit in Helsinki investigates a bizarre case of a woman’s body stolen from a morgue. He’s been chosen by someone who wants to exact revenge and who might be a perpetrator or a severely damaged soul.
Reviewed on 23 June 2018 by Ewa Sherman
Beside the Syrian Sea
When his father is kidnapped by ISIS, Jonas employs his skills as an intelligence agent. But until now he has been working from behind a desk.
Reviewed on 09 June 2018 by Chris Roberts
The Greek Wall
Greek Intelligence agent Evangelos investigates a severed head found on the Greek border but finds the truth obscured by the conflicting demands of vested interests.
Reviewed on 03 March 2018 by Chris Roberts
Three Drops of Blood and a Cloud of Cocaine
When old Jimmy Henderson is found dead in his car, mutilated with a knife, both local sheriff Paul McCarthy and Franck, a visiting private detective, take an interest.
Reviewed on 19 August 2017 by Chris Roberts
Heretics
Retired Cuban detective Mario Conde helps to trace the chain of possession of a Rembrandt portrait that was stolen and disappeared for 70 years.
Reviewed on 24 June 2017 by Chris Roberts
The Road to Ithaca
Wehrmacht officer Martin Von Bora lands in Crete immediately after the 1941 German invasion and is handed the investigation into a possible war crime.
Reviewed on 24 June 2017 by Chris Roberts
Athenian Blues
Contract killer Stratos Gazis is contacted by the beautiful actress Aliki: her husband beats her, and she wants him dead. Stratos decides to do a little investigating before he accepts the job.
Reviewed on 18 February 2017 by Chris Roberts
Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
Auntie Poldi decides to move to Sicily. When she discovers the body of her handyman on the beach, shot through the head, she decides to investigate.
Reviewed on 04 February 2017 by Sylvia Maughan
Chain of Custody
Inspector Borei Gowda investigates the death of a lawyer, and uncovers a connection with the disappearance of the daughter of his cleaner.
Reviewed on 24 December 2016 by Chris Roberts
A Quiet Place
When Tsuneo Asai’s wife dies unexpectedly, it is some time before he discovers that an apparent accident is more than it seems, and takes steps against the person he deems responsible.
Reviewed on 20 August 2016 by Chris Roberts
A Fine Line
Guido Guerrieri is a defence lawyer working in Bari, southern Italy. Having just completed a successful appeal on behalf of a man accused of sexual assault, he receives a telephone call from a judge requesting his help.
Reviewed on 23 July 2016 by Arnold Taylor
Betty Boo
When Pedro Chazaretta is found with his throat cut and the knife in his hand, some say suicide and some say murder – his wife died the same way and Chazaretta may have had a hand in it.
Reviewed on 14 May 2016 by Chris Roberts
The Body Snatcher
A man out fishing is the sole witness to a plane crash, and relieves the dead pilot of his watch, his phone, and a kilo of cocaine.
Reviewed on 13 February 2016 by Chris Roberts
The Man Who Loved Dogs
A Cuban writer meets a man with two Russian wolfhounds while walking on a beach. He gradually learns the man’s story – he is the exiled killer of Leon Trotsky.
Reviewed on 20 June 2015 by John Cleal
Fallout
Maori detective Tito Ihaka is tasked with a very cold case, and combines this with investigations into the death of his own father.
Reviewed on 04 April 2015 by Chris Roberts
Behind God's Back
Ariel Kafka, one of only two Jewish detectives in Finland, investigates a shooting and unearths connections to international finance.
Reviewed on 21 March 2015 by Chris Roberts
A Dark Song Of Blood
Martin Bora, a wehrmacht officer in 1944 Rome, forms an uneasy alliance with Italian policeman Guidi to solve two shocking crimes.
Reviewed on 31 May 2014 by Chris Roberts
Hotel Brasil
The disparate residents of a Rio de Janeiro hotel all come under suspicion when one of their number is found decapitated.
Reviewed on 19 April 2014 by Chris Roberts
Baghdad Central
In post-invasion Baghdad, former police inspector Khafaji is seized by the Americans and pressed into unwilling service.
Reviewed on 22 February 2014 by Chris Roberts
The Silence of the Wave
Carabinieri marshal Roberto Marias is recovering from the psychiatric wounds suffered at work and meets a woman also in treatment.
Reviewed on 25 January 2014 by Chris Roberts
A Crack in the Wall
Architect Pablo Simo’s unsatisfying life is disrupted when an attractive caller awakens memories of a crime it was hoped had been forgotten.
Reviewed on 04 October 2013 by Chris Roberts
