Forthcoming books to look forward to from Quercus Books and Maclehose Press

When human remains are recovered from the bottom of the River Clyde suddenly Glasgow’s underworld is buzzing with the news that the dredged up bones belong to Gentleman Joe Strachan, Glasgow’s most successful and ruthless armed robber. Strachan’s daughters hire Lennox to find out who has been sending them large sums of cash each year on the anniversary of their father’s most successful robbery. Despite the fact that his instincts tell him otherwise Lennox takes the job and soon realises that he should have listened to his instincts. The Deep Dark Sleep is by Craig Russell and is the third book in the series to feature Lennox. It is due to be published in July 2011.

Commissario Soneri returns in the second novel by Valerio Varesi. In The Dark Valley, it is autumn in Parma and Commissario Soneri decides to leave the city and return to his home village in the Appenines for a much needed holiday. The small and rather isolated village revolve around the fortunes of the Rodolfi family. All of a sudden the family finds itself in the midst of a financial scandal with worrying implications for the whole community. Not long afterwards a decomposed body is found in the woods by a hiker. Reluctantly Soneri finds himself involved in investigating what is going on. The relationship between the patriarch Palmiro and his son Paride complicate matters. Matters go from bad to worse when he learns that his own father and Palmiro were once friends. The Dark Valley is due to be published in September 2011.

Sonia Varika is a former actress who has found solace in alcohol and isolation, but when her body is pulled from a fire it is almost beyond recognition and she is the only survivor in the house that she shared with a small family of African refugees. For her ex-lovers Police Colonel Chronis Halkidis and Simeon Piertzovanis (the landlord of the gutted building) her fate is a heavy reckoning. Reflection gives way to guilt and then the fanatical desire to hold those responsible by any means necessary. With corruption rife in his own force Halkidis finds his investigation hindered from within. Fuelled by their need for revenge and by their own twin addictions of cocaine and alcohol Kalkidis and Piertzovanis find themselves resorting to increasingly violent means as they try and unmask a conspiracy that unites the church and state against the interest of justice. Ashes is by Sergios Gakas (trans from Greek) and is due to be published in July 2011.

Pacific Heights, San Francisco. Psychiatrist Vera List discovers two of her clients are having an affair with the same man. But what at first seems like a strange coincidence soon evolves into a serious concern. This Hollywood-suave, mystery man, who insists on anonymity, seems to know both women's most intimate secrets. Moreover, he appears to be using this knowledge to push them to their mental limit. Fearing for their sanity, Vera seeks help. Help is Marten Fane: intelligence operative for hire, and the go-to man when you are fresh out of options. Fane, along with his crack team of surveillance experts - John Bucher, Roma Solis and Bobby Noble - must find this man, and stop him. Yet as Fane delves deeper into the world of his target, his gut instinct is confirmed: this is not just some creepy Lothario. In fact, they are dealing with a frighteningly calculated professional conducting a disturbing psychological experiment. This experiment will end in death, unless Fane moves like lightening to stop it. Pacific Heights is by Paul Harper and introduces the characters of Fane and Company where a professional surveillance team must stop a rogue black ops agent’s sinister experiment. Pacific Heights is due to be published in August 2011.

The Devil’s Light by Richard North Patterson is due to be published in July 2011. It is August 2011 and an Al-Qaeda operative masterminds the theft of a Pakistani military weapon. A chilling transmission is then broadcast to the world promising a major attack on a US city to mark the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Intelligence indicates that the weapon has been smuggled out from Pakistan and is on its way to the US with New York City or Washington as the likely target. Agent Brooke Chandler once a prodigious Middle East operative who is trying to deal with the loss of those close to him senses a deception but can he convince his superiors?

The Mayan Resurrection is the sequel to The Mayan Prophecy. After sacrificing himself to prevent mankind’s extinction, Michael Gabriel finds himself imprisoned in a torturous purgatory-like dimension in the Mayan netherworld. The war between good and evil wages on, as Michael Gabriel’s fate and that of plant Earth, hangs by an increasingly thin thread. The Mayan Resurrection is by Steve Alten and is due to be published in August 2011.

The Crowded Grave is by Martin Walker and is due to be published in August 2011. A French/Spanish summit that is due to be held is being threatened by Basque separatists and he is also having problems with animal rights campaigners. Bruno’s day has not started well. A local archaeological team has found a well-preserved skeleton and Bruno senses a link between the two groups and the mysterious corpse. Bruno must think fast, and keep his wits about him especially as the answer may lie a little closer to home.

Alexander Seaton returns in this third novel Crucible of Secrets. It is Midsummer 1631 and whilst Alexander Seaton and his fellow masters are enjoying some time off with their students Robert Sim the librarian of Marischal College is murdered. The university and town authorities investigate the murder and Seaton is asked to look into his private life. In the course of the investigation his personal feelings threaten to cloud his judgment as he discovers a side of the librarian he could never of guest at. It is only when a second apparently unrelated murder takes place that Seaton begins to piece together the connections. Crucible of Secrets is by Shona MacLean and is due to be published in August 2011.

The Tenderness of the Wolves author Stef Penney returns with The Invisible Ones. Small-time private investigator Ray Lovell is in a hospital bed veering between paralysis and delirium. But before the accident that landed him there he had promised to find Rose Janko. Rose married to Ivo Janko the charismatic son of a travelling gypsy family. When Ray starts to investigate her disappearance he is surprised at the hostility that he receives from Rose’s family. The Janko’s are a family touched by tragedy and perhaps it is Rose’s discovery of whatever they are trying to hide is at the bottom of her disappearance. Soon Ray wishes he never got involved. The Invisible Ones is due to be published in September 2011.

John Meyer Frey rots on Death Row for murdering a girl when he was seventeen. His victim’s father is desperate for revenge, while his prison guard is torn by feelings of compassion for the young man. Both of them see their hopes thwarted when Frey dies of heart disease. Across the Atlantic, a cheap crooner sees a drunkard harassing several women and loses his temper. The incident would normally be dismissed as just another drunken brawl but Detective Inspector Ewert Grens is made suspicious by certain details of the case. The investigation will blow apart the debate between the death penalty and the wider conflict between public justice and private revenge. Redemption is by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellstrom and is due to be published in September 2011.

In the first the thaw of spring the body of a young woman surfaces in the River Thorne. Rebecka Martinsson working as a prosecutor joins forces with Police Inspector Anna-Maria Mella as they are drawn into an investigation that focuses on old rumours about the disappearance of a plane carrying supplies for the Wehrmacht in 1943 and a killer who will no doubt kill again to keep the past buried. Until Thy Wrath Be Past is by Åsa Larsson and is due to be published in August 2011.

One autumn day in 1992, former pop singer Lennart Cederstrom finds something unexpected in the forest: a baby girl in a plastic bag, partially buried. He gives her the kiss of life, and her first cry astounds him; it is a clear, pure musical note. He takes her to his wife and persuades her that they should keep this remarkable child. But the baby becomes a strange girl, made more unusual by their decision to hide her in their basement to keep her from the prying eyes of government departments. When she reaches puberty, a terrifying scene sees her kill both her parents. When her scheming adopted brother returns to find her over their bodies, he seizes the opportunity and enters her into an X Factor-style talent competition. She quickly becomes famous. In spite of this, she remains very lonely, until she befriends another damaged girl on the internet. They form a powerful bond and soon create a growing gang of other disgruntled girls and, calling themselves the Wolves, they set out to take revenge for all they've ever suffered. John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Little Star is the dark, sad and shockingly real story of a friendship between two damaged children and the terrible consequences for those who cross them. Little Star is due to be published in September 2011.

Out of Sight by Isabelle Grey is her debut fiction novel. Patrick Hinde thought that he had moved on from his painful past but when his parents come to stay he finds himself catapulted back to his childhood. The last thing he remembers is strapping his son into his car on the way to taking him to the child-minder. Instead, distracted he drives to his surgery and leaves his son forgotten in the car. Five years later now living in the South of France Patrick Hinde has no wife or son and refuses to get into a car. But what will happen to his relationship with Leonie when she finds out what he has done. Out of Sight is due to be published in July 2011.

Philip Kerr returns with his eighth Bernie Gunther novel The Man With the Iron Heart. The Man With The Iron Heart is due to be published n October 2011.

Things have been pretty hectic for Dr Siri, now he is off with his wife and friends. But there is o rest for the wicked. With the help of a little blackmail they are accompanying an American MIA team whose mission it is to discover what happened to a stoned airman downed ten years earlier. In the remote Plain of Jars, Dr Siri and the morgue team must expose a killer in their midst before they too become victims. Slash and Burn is by Colin Cotterill and is due to be published in October 2011.

CWA Gold Dagger winner Peter Temple returns with a new Jack Irish novel White Dog. When beautiful and wayward sculptor Sarah Longmire is charged with killing her lover Mickey Francis and Jack Irish is asked by her defence counsel to make inquiries. Sarah’s guilt seems clear cut but Jack’s investigations that soon finds that Mickey’s life was not what it seemed. The more Jack is convinced of Sarah’s innocence the more he finds himself attracted to her and the more dangerous he becomes to those who want the whole problem to go away. White Dog is due to be published in October 2011.