Marty Greenberg Obit

This comes via Marty's long-time assistant and friend, Larry Segriff.

Dr. Martin H. Greenberg, known throughout the publishing industry for the scope and scale of the anthologies he produced, passed away on June 25, 2011.

Dr. Greenberg, whose background and training was in political science, and who worked for many years as a professor at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, was a longtime fan of science fiction. He got his start in publishing when, in the early 1970s, he realized that many great SF stories demonstrated or dealt with themes, ideas, and issues that correlated to what he was teaching. In partnership with Pat Warrick, Marty reached out to a number of authors having at the time absolutely no idea how to clear a permission or what went into the production of an anthology and ended up co-editing his first reprint anthology, Political Science Fiction: An Introductory Reader (1974).

That anthology became the first of many, and spawned a great career and also a terrific friendship with Isaac Asimov. As Marty told the story, when Isaac received his request to reprint "Evidence" and "Franchise," Isaac responded with a very polite letter saying that he would be happy to allow the reprint provided that Marty could prove that he was not a certain individual with a similar name who had a less than savory reputation at the time. Marty did so, writing back with a letter that began by listing his genealogy, went through his academic background and how he ended up in Green Bay, and he signed it, 'Marty the Other.' Isaac responded with a letter addressed to 'Marty the Other,' and so began both a friendship and a career
that lasted a very long time. Isaac introduced Marty to many aspects of publishing, and Marty was Isaac¹s best friend for the last twelve years of Isaac's life.

Marty eventually branched out and started creating original anthologies, and went on to a career that spanned almost four decades and produced over 2,500 books (including nearly a thousand anthologies, many non-fiction works, and many hundreds of novels in multiple genres). Along the way, he helped co-found the Sci-Fi Channel and befriended many authors and editors.

It was always a point of personal pride with Marty that, though he never considered himself a writer, he was always perceived as very author friendly and he worked hard to give writers the absolute best market he could.

During his career, Marty was awarded lifetime achievement honors in science fiction, mystery, and horror‹the only person in history to win such awards in all three genres. Marty won numerous other awards as well, in
essentially every major genre, and was particularly proud of his Guest of Honor appearances at a number of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery conventions.

An interviewer once remarked to Marty that he was known in the business as the 'king of anthologies' and asked Marty how he felt about that. Marty, true to form, borrowed a line from Mel Brooks and replied, "It's good to be the king."

Marty cast a long shadow across the industry, and devoted himself to establishing and maintaining top quality markets for writers. In the wake of his departure, his company, Tekno Books, will continue his good work
under the guidance of his wife Rosalind, but there is no doubt that he will be missed.

Marty was preceded in death by his first wife, Sally. He is survived by his wife Rosalind, their daughter Madeline, of Seattle, WA, two stepdaughters from his first wife; Kari Walsh, wife of John Kerkhof, and their daughter Delenn Kerkhof, of Appleton, WI, and Kate Walsh, wife of Matt Hall, of Bakersfield, CA.

 ******

On a personal front, it was Marty who published by very first commissioned short story "Bubastis" in an anthology he co-editor with Ed Gorman in 1998 entitled THE TREASURY OF CAT MYSTERIES. It seemed it didn't put them off as they then invited me to contribute to the THE BEST OF THE AMERICAN WEST, when my story rubbed shoulders alongside great writers such as Louis L'Amour, Luke Short and Richard Matheson. He and Ed kept the short story assignments coming in and I was asked for another Western which appeared in THE BEST OF THE AMERICAN WEST 2. The last western short story I wrote for him appeared in DESPERDOES (2001)

In 1999 Marty approached me to contribute to a sci-fi anthology called FUTURE CRIMES, and he accepted my dystopian view of London in the future.

I owe both Marty and Ed big time, and I've never forgotten that. My condolences go out to Marty and his family. 

Look to the Lady........

ESSEX POLICE MUSEUM

"Look to the Lady" - The life & crime fiction of Margery Allingham

An illustrated talk about the Essex author Margery Allingham and her famous detective character 'Albert Campion', by Roger Johnson.

Thursday, July 7 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm

£3 Entry (Tea and coffee provided) All profits go to the Museum which is a registered charity.

Spaces Limited. To book please call 01245 457 150 or email museum@essex.pnn.police.uk

Becky Wash
Museum Curator

Information on the Margery Allingham Society can be found here.

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Orion

Asbury Park is a thrilling police procedural with supernatural elements. Ten weeks ago, Homicide Detective Sailor Doyle worked his first solo case, a gruesome double murder in a remote farmhouse in Virginia. And things turned very nasty for him ...Now Sailor is recuperating with his family at a beach house in Belmar, on the New Jersey shore. He's struggling with prescription drug withdrawal while trying to build up his shattered shoulder and leg, and he's also trying to rebuild his shattered relationship with his wife. Jenny, while pleased he's alive, is less enamoured with the idea of reconciliation. Seeking refuge in a century-old beachfront resort hotel, Sailor meets an elderly man, Mark "Moses" Stillman, a former minor league baseball player whose wife and daughter drowned in the ocean off Belmar years earlier. Sailor's having nightmares about his previous case, and when he starts seeing things again, he realises that once again he's being guided to the truth ...even if it's not what he wants to hear. And it's not long before he finds himself investigating those deaths. Asbury Park is by Robb Scott and is due to be published in January. It is the sequel to 15 Miles.


In Stieg and Me, Larsson's lifelong companion talks about her relationship with Steig Larsson. There is only one person who can tell Stieg Larsson's story other than himself - his lifelong companion and muse, Eva Gabrielsson. She tells the story of their 30-year romance, of Stieg's upbringing and early years, and how this shaped his morals and personality. She talks of his life-long struggle to expose Sweden's Neo-Nazis, of his struggle to keep the magazine he founded, EXPO, alive, his difficult relationships with his immediate family, and the joy and relief he discovered writing the Millennium trilogy. Above all, this is a love story, and shows that if there was another secret besides Larsson's own imagination and convictions, it was his absolute love for his companion and her nurturing of their privacy and shared passions. Their story is told as a series of short vignettes, and Eva Gabrielsson speaks with rare candour and dignity, inspired only by the truth as she knows it. This book is poignant in its account of two soulmates and the life they shared, and most importantly is deeply insightful into the man everyone wants to know better, and about whom so little is known. "I would have preferred to have never written this book. It speaks of Stieg, of our life together, and of my life after his death," writes Gabrielsson early in her book. It was written because she alone can tell this story. Steig and Me is due to be published in July.


Dr Ethan Stark has made his living murderers. He wants to know what makes them tick. The answer to this is of particular interest to Ethan. He only became Ethan Stark when his father's murder conviction forced him and his mother to start new lives. Now, at the facility for the criminally insane where his father is incarcerated, he's going to come face to face with him for the first time in 28 years.... Nature of the Beast is by Tami Hoag and is due to be published in January.

New York, January 1896. Arthur Conan Doyle, the renowned creator of Sherlock Holmes, arrives at the Britannic Hotel with his wife, Louisa, ready to begin his first American tour. While he prepares his lectures, Louisa becomes mesmerised by this brash, vibrant, dangerous city, especially when a woman's brutally butchered corpse is found in a Bowery alley and Louisa is convinced from the artist's sketch in the paper that she'd seen the victim at the hotel. Arthur is patronisingly skeptical about her womanly 'fantasies' but when she sprains her ankle and is forced to remain at the hotel while Arthur goes on tour, Louisa cannot resist pursuing her intuitions. And when more bodies start appearing, she's convinced that she holds the key to the killings. With the help of the hotel's hard-bitten detective and an ambitious female news reporter, Louisa starts to piece together a story of madness, murder and depravity - a story that leads inexorably back to the hotel itself, the strange story of its unique construction and a madman who is watching her every move. Winter at Death's Hotel is by Kenneth Cameron and is due to be published in November.

House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz and is due to be published in November. It is the first official new Sherlock Holmes mystery.


Jailbird and former boxer Danny Boy Lorca was not known for his grip on reality, but when he witnessed in the desert one night convinced Sheriff Hackberry Holland that something very bad had made its way from Mexico into South Texas. The killings were as brutal as anythung Danny Boy had seen. Enough to make Holland realise that this was more than just business:this was evil. A Feast Day of Fools is by James Lee Burke and is due to be published in November.


Orphaned by an act of senseless violence that took their mother from them, half-brothers Clarence Luckman and Elliott Danziger have been raised in state institutions, unaware of any world outside. But their lives take a sudden turn when they are seized as hostages by a convicted killer en route to death row. Earl Sheridan is a psychopath of the worst kind, but he has the potential to change the boys' lives for ever. As the trio set off on a frenetic escape from the law through California and Texas, the two brothers must come to terms with the ever-growing tide of violence that follows in their wake - something that forces them to make a choice about their lives, and their relationship to one another. Set in the 1960s, Bad Signs is a tale of the darkness within all of us, the inherent hope for salvation, and the ultimate consequences of evil. It returns to the haunting ground covered in the award-winning, international bestseller, A Quiet Belief In Angels. Bad Signs is by R.J.Ellory and is due to be published in October.

Michael Connelly and Harry Bosch return in The Drop. Harry Bosch is facing the end of the line. He's been put on the DROP - Deferred Retirement Option Plan - and given three years before his retirement is enforced. Seeing the end of the mission coming, he's anxious for cases. He doesn't have to wait long. First a cold case gets a DNA hit for a rape and murder which points the finger at a 29-year-old convicted rapist who was only eight at the time of the murder. Then a city councilman's son is found dead - fallen or pushed from a hotel window - and he insists on Bosch taking the case despite the two men's history of enmity. The cases are unrelated but they twist around each other like the double helix of a DNA strand. One leads to the discovery of a killer operating in the city for as many as three decades; the other to a deep political conspiracy that reached back into the dark history of the police department. The Drop will be published in October.


With U.S. intelligence agencies wracked by internal power struggles and paralyzed by bureaucracy, the President is forced to establish his own clandestine group - Covert-One - selected from the very best operators America has to offer. It is only activated as a last resort, when the threat is on a global scale and time is running out. In Northern Uganda an American Special Forces team is wiped out by a group of normally peaceful farmers. Video of the attack shows even women and children possessing almost supernatural speed and strength, consumed with a rage that makes them immune to pain, fear, and all but the most devastating injuries. Covert-One's top operative, Army microbiologist Colonel Jon Smith, is sent to investigate the attack and finds evidence of a parasitic infection that for centuries has been causing violent insanity and then going dormant. This time, though, it's different. The infection is purposely being kept alive and the director of Iranian Intelligence is in Uganda trying to make a deal for a biological weapon to unleash on the West. As Smith and his team are cut off from all outside support, they begin to suspect that forces much more powerful than the Iranians are in play - forces that can be traced to Washington itself. Robert Ludlum's The Ares Decision is by Kyle Mills and will be published in October.


The Impossible Dead sees the return of Malcolm Fox in the second novel in Ian Rankin's new series. Malcolm Fox and his team from Internal Affairs are back. They've been sent to Fife to investigate whether fellow cops covered up for a corrupt colleague, Detective Paul Carter. Carter has been found guilty of misconduct with his own uncle, also in the force, having proved to be his nephew's nemesis. But what should be a simple job is soon complicated by intimations of conspiracy and cover-up - and a brutal murder, a murder committed with a weapon that should not even exist. The spiralling investigation takes Fox back in time to 1985, a year of turmoil in British political life. Terrorists intent on a split between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom were becoming more brazen and ruthless, sending letter-bombs and poisonous spores to government offices, plotting kidnaps and murder, and trying to stay one step ahead of the spies sent to flush them out. Fox has a duty to get at the truth, while the body count rises, the clock starts ticking, and he fights for his professional and personal life.

Harlan Coben returns in September with a new Myron Bolitar book entitled Shelter. Mickey Bolitar's year can't get much worse. After witnessing his father's death and sending his mom to rehab, he's forced to live with his estranged uncle Myron and switch high schools. A new school comes with new friends and new enemies, and lucky for Mickey, it also comes with a great new girlfriend, Ashley. For a while, it seems like Mickey's train-wreck of a life is finally improving - until Ashley vanishes without a trace. Unwilling to let another person walk out of his life, Mickey follows Ashley's trail into a seedy underworld that reveals that this seemingly sweet, shy girl isn't who she claimed to be. And neither was Mickey's father. Soon, Mickey learns about a conspiracy so shocking that it makes high school drama seem like a luxury - and leaves him questioning everything about the life he thought he knew.

In September, Jeff Lindsay returns with Double Dexter.


Glen Barber isn't the only person in the small town of Milford with things on his mind. The recession has been bad for his construction business, especially after a mysterious fire destroys one of his buildings. But everyone else in Milford seems to have problems too, as the financial pressures begin to pinch. Glen's troubles, however, are about to escalate to a whole new level. His wife Sheila has her own plans for getting them out of their financial jam, but these come to an abrupt halt when her car is found at the scene of a drunk-driving accident that took three lives. Not only is she dead, but it appears she was the cause of the accident. Suddenly Glen has to deal with a potent mixture of emotions: grief at the loss of his wife, along with anger at her reckless behaviour that leaves their young daughter motherless. If only he could convince himself that Sheila wasn't responsible for the tragedy - but as he looks deeper into the circumstances and begins to realise just how many secrets lurk behind Milford's idyllic facade, he may have to face something much, much worse... The Accident is by Linwood Barclay and is due to be published in August.


A Drop of the Hard Stuff is by Lawrence Block and sees the return of Matt Scudder and is due to be published in September. Matt Scudder and Jack Ellery were at school together but never exactly friends. Twenty years later, when Scudder was a detective and Jack was standing the other side of the one-way glass in a police line-up, it was clear their lives had taken very different paths. What they shared, however, was a battle with alcohol. Now Jack is on the ninth step of the AA program and it's time to make amends to the people he's wronged over the years because of his addiction. But when he ends up shot in the head, and it's clear that stirring up the past was maybe not such a good idea, it's up to Scudder to find the killer.

FBI Agent Pendergast returns in Cold Vengeance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. A hunting trip for Pendergast and his brother-in-law, Judson Esterhazy, turns into a violent clash, in which Pendergast is left for dead. Cold Vengeance is due to be published in September.

Spero Lucas has a new line of work. Since he returned home after serving in Iraq, he has been doing special investigations for a defence attorney. He's good at it, and he has carved out a niche: recovering stolen property, no questions asked. His cut is forty percent. A high-profile crime boss who has heard of Lucas's speciality hires him to find out who has been stealing from his operation. It's the biggest job Lucas has ever been offered, and he quickly gets a sense of what's going on. But before he can close in on what's been taken, he tangles with a world of men whose amorality and violence leave him reeling. Is any cut worth your family, your lover, your life? Spero Lucas is George Pelecanos's greatest creation, a young man making his place in the world one battle and one mission at a time. The first in a new series of thrillers featuring Spero Lucas,The Cut is due to be published in August.


Love You More is by Lisa Gardner. WHO DO YOU LOVE? One question, a split-second decision, and Brian Darby lies dead on the kitchen floor. His wife, state police trooper Tessa Leoni, claims to have shot him in self-defence, and bears the bruises to back up her tale. For veteran detective D. D. Warren it should be an open-and-shut case. But where is their six-year-old daughter? AND HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO ...As the homicide investigation ratchets into a frantic statewide search for a missing child, D. D. Warren must partner with former lover Bobby Dodge to break through the blue wall of police brotherhood, seeking to understand the inner workings of a trooper's mind while also unearthing family secrets. Would a trained police officer truly shoot her own husband? And would a mother harm her own child? ...TO SAVE HER? For Tessa Leoni, the worst has not yet happened. She is walking a tightrope, with nowhere to turn, no one to trust, as the clock ticks down to a terrifying deadline. She has one goal in sight, and she will use every ounce of her training, every trick at her disposal, to do what must be done. No sacrifice is too great, no action unthinkable. A mother knows who she loves. And all others will be made to pay. Love you more... Love You More is due to be published in July.


Bill Moore is a man with a plan. He's got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida keys, a great marriage, and a beautiful house. He had a five year plan for world domination, too, but it's already creeping into year six...so now he's decided to mix it up - just a little. This means getting in tight with the people in power, the players who run the area like their personal kingdom. It's all going to plan until the day Bill gets to work to find a card left on his desk. It's black on both sides, just one word printed in white: MODIFIED. From that moment, Bill's life begins to change. At first barely noticeably, then in more and more disturbing ways. Bill soon finds out, in the most terrifying fashion, that he has become the subject of a dark and deadly game...and that he has no choice but to fight back. Packed with relentless twists and sinister thrills, Killer Move is the latest psychological thriller from bestselling, award-winning author Michael Marshall. Killer Move is due to be published in July.


An elite public school. An outsider. Rumours of a haunting Fleeing expulsion and the death of a close friend, Andrew Taylor is sent by his father to spend his final year at the prestigious public school Harrow. It is an eccentric place, a rambling ancient building filled with the sons of the rich and famous. Shortly after he arrives, the other pupils notice Andrew's striking resemblance to Lord Byron, a former pupil of Harrow, and Andrew is persuaded to play Byron in the forthcoming school play. This is where his troubles begin. Before long Andrew senses a malevolent presence. His fellow Harrovians joke about 'The Lot Ghost' but when a classmate dies, the haunting becomes all too real. Soon another classmate falls ill and Andrew discovers old letters hidden in a bricked-up basement. Aided by his housemaster Piers Fawkes - a once famous poet turned alcoholic - Andrew realises he must discover the secret history behind the letters to prevent further deaths. The White Devil is by Justin Evans and is due to be published in October.


The Diamond Chariot is by Boris Akunin and is due to be published in September. The first of the interlinked plotlines is set in Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Fandorin is charged with protecting the Trans-Siberian Railway from Japanese sabotage in a pacy adventure filled with double agents and ticking bombs. Then we travel back to the Japan of the late 1870s. This is the story of Fandorin's arrival and life in Yokohama, his first meeting with Masa and the martial arts education that came in so handy later. He investigates the death of a Russian ship-captain, fights for a woman, exposes double-agents in the Japanese police, fights against, and then with the ninjas, and becomes embroiled in a shocking finale that interweaves the two stories and ties up the series as a whole.

Defending Jacob is by William Landay and is due to be published in January. When a teenaged boy is discovered stabbed to death in the woods adjoining the local high school, a wave of shock ripples through the suburban community of Newton, outside of Boston. Assistant district attorney Andy Barber is used to dealing with murder and its after-efffects, but with his own son, Jacob, also a student at the school, he too is anxious for a swift arrest and conviction. But as the kids appear to be stonewalling the cops and the investigation stalls, evidence emerges that ties Jacob to the crime - and suddenly Andy faces a very different challenge: preventing his son from being convicted of murder. Together with his wife, Laurie, the family closes ranks in the midst of an increasingly hostile community as Andy prepares for the trial of his life, the one trial he cannot afford to lose. Especially when the emergence of his own dark family secrets threatens to undermine Jacob's defence. And as the drama reaches its climax, Andy and Laurie have to face every parent's toughest questions: how well do you really know your own child, and how far would you go to save them?


In Spartan, Dunn's explosive debut, he draws on his unique background to breathe dynamic new life into the contemporary spy novel. Featuring super-spy Will Cochrane, Dunn paints a nerve-shredding, stunningly suthentic picture of today's secret world. It's a place where trust is precious and betrayal is cheap. And where a violent death is the reward for being outplayed by your enemy. Will Cochrane, the Service's most prized asset and deadliest weapon, has known little else since childhood. And he's never been outplayed. So far... Spartan is due to be published in August.

The Devil Colony is by James Rollins and is due to be published in December. In the Rocky Mountains, a horrible massacre ensues. Bodies are found purposefully positioned to form two symbols. One man recognises the warning behind the gruesome murders: Painter Crowe, director of SIGMA, has seen these symbols before and knows the deaths were a personal threat. One of the victims was his beloved cousin. Crowe joins forces with Commander Grayson Pierce to penetrate the shadowy heart of a dark cabal that has been manipulating American history. But can he discover the truth before it destroys all he holds dear? The truth lies hidden within the ruins of a cursed lost colony - a place known only as THE DEVIL COLONY

Latest Crime News Round-Up

For those of you that missed out on the event of the year i.e. Crime in the Court then have no fear as the redoubtable David Headley of Goldsboro Books will be having another crime fiction related event in September. This time the event will be History in the Court. The date is 29 September and there will be historical re-enactments taking place. Watch this space for more information!

According to the Bookseller Ian Fleming Publications have appointed Curtis Brown as the worldwide literary agents for the Ian Fleming James Bond novels as well as future Bond literary works. Jonny Geller and Curtis Brown are taking over from Simon Trewin at United Agents.

Sphere have according to the Bookseller have signed Scottish author Alex Gray to two more books in her Glasgow based crime series.

Despite the fact that her editor Kate Eldon has moved to HarperCollins, bestselling author Karin Slaughter has signed up again to a two-book contract to Century.

Harvill Secker have signed Norwegian author Jo Nesbø to a single book deal. Nesbø is the author of the Harry Hole novels. According to the Bookseller the Phantom is the sequel to the bestselling novel The Leopard and will be published in January 2012.

The public vote for World Book Night 2012 is now open to the public so that members of the public can nominate their favourite 10 novels. More information can be found here. The vote is open until 31 August 2011.

Interesting article in the New York Times by Jeff Lindsay the author of the Dexter series. In his article he talks about writing his Dexter series and why we are so fascinated by serial killers.

Congratulations go to Mulholland UK who are due to publish Iced by Bernard Minier, a debut French crime writer. The full news can be found here.

With a five part mini-series currently being shown on Sky Atlantic featuring Kate Winslet and Evan Rachel Wood, Sarah Churchwell's article in the Guardian about re-reading James M Cain’s Mildred Pierce wonders what has been gained and lost with the Todd Haynes adaptation.

With the recent release of her memoir There Are Things I Want You To Know' About Stieg Larsson and Me about her relationship with Stieg Larsson, Eva Gabrielsson his common-law-widow answers a Q&A for the Wall Street Journal online. The is also a Los Angeles Times Books article as well.

With Jeffrey Deaver still on his James Bond duty with the recent launch of Carte Blanche, TheWeek.com have a list of his six favourite espionage novels. Needless to say and unsurprisngly there is at least one Ian Fleming novel on the list as well as a John le Carré novel and Len Deighton.

John le Carré has been awarded the Goethe Medal for his contribution to "the development of coalescence, peace and creativity in Europe". The full article can be found in the Guardian.

With Smokin’ Seventeen just released in the US, Janet Evanovich talks to USA Today about all things Plum related and the fact that for the first time there will be two numbered Plum books released in 2011. Explosive Eighteen will be released in November in the USA.

A group of best-selling authors has teamed up to urge the public to donate money to a cutting-edge university facility - a morgue. According to the BBC author Val McDermid along with other luminaries such as Lee Child, Stuart McBride and Tess Gerristen have already pledged their support. The Guardian article can be found here.

According to Publishers Weekly, under the auspices of its Vintage Crime/Black Lizard imprint, Vintage Books is launching the Weekly Lizard, a mobile-optimized online site devoted to news and feature content about crime and mystery writing. It will also offer content under several topical sections on the site. First up includes a feature on Ruth Rendell by Val McDermid. She writes about the longevity of Inspector Wexford.

Huffington Post asks their readers to pick their favourite book character that they would most like to sleep with. So far the entries include Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre, Acheron from Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series (now that I can understand), Mr Darcy, Sherlock Holmes, Lady Chatterley, Albert Campion, Willie Garvin (Modesty Blaise’s sidekick), Alex Cross, Elisabeth Salander, Ranger and Morelli from Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Roarke from J D Robb’s InDeath series (another one I can understand), Rhett Butler, Atticus Finch, Harry Dresden, Philip Marlowe and Lucas Davenport to name a few!

According to Deadline.com Jennifer Lopez is in talks to play the lead female opposite Jason Statham in Parker, the Taylor Hackford-directed action film adaptation of the Donald Westlake mystery novel series. The character has already been played by Lee Marvin in Point Blank and of late by Mel Gibson in Playback.

According to Inside Movies actor Antonio Banderas is teeming up with Pedro Almodóvar for the thriller The Skin I Live In. What initially looks like a straightforward hold-up turns into something entirely different. The Trailer can be seen below!


La Piel Que Habito Teaser / flix.gr by Flixgr
The Skin I Live In was shown earlier at Cannes 2011. The Guardian review can be found here.

ITV have re-commissioned another series of Lewis. Three of the new films are currently titled - ‘Generation of Vipers’, ‘The Age of Foolishness’ and ‘Death of the Author. Former Bond villain Toby Stephens will star in one of the episodes and Morse creator Colin Dexter will continue to act as series consultant

If you were like me and positively devoured the award winning series of graphic novels 100 Bullets written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Eduardo Risso then I am sure that you will be pleased learn that according to Deadline.com, Showtime have joined forces with David S Goyer to write and executive produce 100 Bullets as a drama series project as a potential TV series. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. 100 Bullets was an absolutely fantastic series of graphc novels.

According to TV Eh?, Canada’s source for information on Canadian Television shows three Canadian authors have had their books optioned for television series. The authors are William Deverell, Giles Blunt and Robert Rotenberg. The full media release can be found here. Deverell's series, set in the Gulf Islands and featuring attorney Arthur Beaucham, won the Hammett award for crime writing in 1997; Giles Blunt's Detective John Cardinal series won Britain's Silver Dagger Award for Fiction in 2001; and Robert Rotenberg's debut novel Old City Hall, about a popular radio host who is arrested for murdering his wife. Giles Blunt is said to be adapting his own material for television.

Vigilante Entertainment has optioned bestselling true-crime author Gregg Olsen's book Starvation Heights. Set in the Pacific Northwest it is the story of a egotistical woman doctor who took advantage of the popularity of Dr. Kellogg's health sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan and starved her patients to death.

Those of you that have been following Bouchercon memories over on the Bouchercon2011 blog may be interested to note that are very own Ali Karim has his own Bouchercon memory up on the blog. My Bouchercon memory can be found here.

The sad news of the death of Martin Greenberg has just been revealed by Mystery Fanfare Those of you that are fans of anthologies and short stories will no doubt recognise his name. Martin Greenberg was the editor of many an anthology spanning crime, horror and speculative fiction. I can attest to the fact of what a prolific editor he was by just looking on my own bookshelves where I stack my anthologies. He will most certainly be sorely missed. (Thanks to Janet Rudolph for the sad news)

Certainly not a Blue Monday!

Monday saw the launch of the new Nicci French book Blue Monday at Penguin’s Offices in central London. The launch took place on the 10th floor of their building along the Strand which afforded us magnificent views of the London skyline. It was just a shame that the rain did not afford us a clear view.

Blue Monday is a new series for the crime-writing duo and the first in a new series of 8 crime novels featuring a series character. They will be published over the next ten years, with the first seven each named after a day of the week. The final title will bring the whole series together. Set in London Psychotherapist Frieda Klein will be introduced as the series heroine in the first title.


Monday, the lowest point of the week. A day of dark impulses. A day to snatch a child from the streets ...The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes national outcry and a desperate police hunt. And when his face is splashed over the newspapers, psychotherapist Frieda Klein is left troubled: one of her patients has been relating dreams in which he has a hunger for a child. A child he can describe in perfect detail, a child the spitting image of Matthew. Detective Chief Inspector Karlsson doesn't take Frieda's concerns seriously until a link emerges with an unsolved abduction twenty years ago and he summons Frieda to interview the victim's sister, hoping she can stir hidden memories. Before long, Frieda is at the centre of the race to track the kidnapper. But her race isn't physical. She must chase down the darkest paths of a psychopath's mind to find the answers to Matthew Farraday's whereabouts. And sometimes the mind is the deadliest place to lose yourself.

Those joining Nicci French for the launch included the editor of Crime Time Barry Forshaw and Chris Simmons of Crime Squad.

More information about Nicci French and their books can be found here.

Pictures © Ayo Onatade

Top Notch Thrillers from Ostara Publishing

In July 2011, Top Notch Thrillers is proud to reissue two great British thrillers from the early 1980’s, both of which are fine examples of ‘flight and pursuit’ novels in the John Buchan tradition.


Geoffrey Household (1900-88), often seen as the natural successor to John Buchan, is rightly famous for his 1939 classic Rogue Male about an aristocratic English big game hunter’s failed attempt to assassinate Hitler and his subsequent fight for survival as the hunter becomes the hunted.

More than 40 years after that ground-breaking thriller, Geoffrey Household gave us the sequel, Rogue Justice, where the background to the previously anonymous ‘Rogue Male’ is revealed as he declares his own private war on Nazi Germany, blazing a blood-stained trail from Poland to Greece to dispense his own type of justice on the brutal ideology which has destroyed the Europe – and the woman – that he loved.

Not only is Rogue Justice a sustained, fast-moving action thriller, told with all Household’s usual skill when it comes to a pursuit over wild terrain and his self-depreciating humour, it is at heart a dark, nobly romantic but fatalistic love story. For the rogue hero this time, it is not a question of whether he will survive, but how he will choose to meet his death....

*
Jessica Mann is well-known as a broadcaster, journalist and crime-writer and is currently the crime fiction critic for the Literary Review.

Her 1981 novel Funeral Sites is nothing less than an updated, feminist take on John Buchan’s famous tale of flight and pursuit, The 39 Steps, as the main character finds herself on the run from her politically ambitious (and murderous) brother-in-law. In a frenzied escape from a Swiss alp via London’s club land to a Cambridge hospital, she finds a lone ally in feisty archaeologist Tamara Hoyland, who was to become Jessica Mann’s series heroine, and the chase comes full circle in a dramatic showdown back in the Swiss mountains.

Funeral Sites is a frantic, breathlessly-paced chase thriller which puts a female stamp on what had seemed until then a very male preserve and whilst staying true to the form, the novel cheekily references the work of John Buchan – and indeed Geoffrey Household, another master of the genre.

Jessica Mann is the first woman to join the ranks of British authors reissued under the Top Notch Thriller imprint, who include: John Gardner, Victor Canning, Brian Callison, Duncan Kyle, Francis Clifford and Adam Hall.

Rogue Justice ISBN 9781906288549
Funeral Sites ISBN 9781906288600*

(*also available as an eBook)

*

Top Notch Thrillers is a specialist imprint of Ostara Publishing which was established in 2009 to revive Great British thrillers “which do not deserve to be forgotten” using the latest print-on-demand technology and offering many titles as eBooks for the first time. The series editor is Mike Ripley, who currently writes the ‘Getting Away With Murder’ column on www.shotsmag.co.uk.

By September 2011, there will be 20 Top Notch Thrillers available in print and (in many cases) electronic formats. They can be purchased through good bookshops or Amazon and via the Ostara website (www.ostarapublishing.co.uk) which contains much additional information of TNT books and authors.

Couple of Highlights from Headline Publishers

The brilliant new Elizabethan thriller from the highly acclaimed author of Sacred Treason. 1564: Catholic herald William Harley, Clarenceux King of Arms, is the custodian of a highly dangerous document. When it is stolen, Clarenceux immediately suspects a group of Catholic sympathisers, the self-styled Knights of the Round Table. Francis Walsingham, the ruthless protege of the queen's Principal Secretary, Sir William Cecil, intercepts a coded message from the Knights to a Countess known to have Catholic leanings. He is convinced that Clarenceux is trying to use the document to advance the cause of the Catholic Queen. And soon Clarenceux enters a nightmare of suspicion, deception and conspiracy. Conflict and fear, compounded by the religious doubts of the time, conceal a persistent mystery. Where has the document gone? Who has it and who really took it? And why? The roots of betrayal are deep and shocking: and Clarenceux's journey towards the truth entails not just the discovery of clues and signs, but also the discovery of himself. The Roots of Betrayal is due to be published in July and is by James Forrester the pen-name of Dr Ian Mortimer.


Joseph Finder's first Nick Heller novel, Vanished, was published to widespread acclaim. Now Nick Heller returns in an explosive new thriller Buried Secrets. When private investigator Nick Heller returns home to Boston to set up his own agency, he soon gets an urgent case closer to home than expected. Alexandra Marcus - teenage daughter of hedge fund titan and Heller family friend Marshall Marcus - has been kidnapped. But it's no ordinary kidnapping - she has been abducted by professionals, buried alive in an underground casket, a video camera streaming her desperate pleas live over the internet. With a limited supply of food and water, time is quickly running out. Nick is determined to catch the perpetrators but when Marcus is arrested by the FBI for fraud, accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, Nick realises that he has some powerful enemies who may have the motivation to go after his daughter and a conspiracy that reaches up to the very highest levels of government. Nick must play a dangerous game if he hopes to flush out those responsible before Alexa is buried for good...

Both James Forrester and Joseph Finder will be at Theakston’s Old Peculair Crime Writing Festival in July.

For those of you that missed reading Dr Yes by Bateman when it came out in hardback then you can have a second chance. The paperback version is due out just before the end of June.




One to look forward to in August is A Serpent Uncoiled by Simon Spurrier.

A missing mobster. A bizarre spiritualist society. And three deaths, linked by a chilling forensic detail. Working as an enforcer in London's criminal underworld brought Dan Shaper to the edge of breakdown. Now he's a private investigator, kept perilously afloat by a growing cocktail of drugs. He needs to straighten up and rebuild his life, but instead gets the attention of his old gangland masters and a job offer from George Glass. The elderly eccentric claims to be a New Age Messiah, but now needs a saviour of his own. He has been marked for murder. Adrift amidst liars and thugs, Shaper must push his capsizing mind to its limits: stalked not only by a unique and terrifying killer, but by the ghosts of his own brutal past.

Harlan Coben and Lee Child crime fiction film news!

Tom Cruise is mulling an opportunity to get involved in a new action-driven literature-turned-film series that revolves around the exploits of a man with the initials J.R. – and no, the role in question would not be that of Jack Ryan. Rather, Cruise could play ex-army cop Jack Reacher in an adaptation of Lee Child’s novel One Shot.

Oscar-winner Christopher McQuarrie (who co-wrote the Cruise-starring Valkyrie back in 2008) penned the One Shot screenplay and is prepped to helm the project as well. However, while McQuarrie has written numerous scripts over the past few years alone, his only other directorial effort was the 2000 film The Way of the Gun.
Lee Child (the pen name for author Jim Grant) has so far written fifteen full-length novels that feature the Jack Reacher character to ...

Click to continue reading Tom Cruise Offered Jack Reacher Role in ‘One Shot’.




Ben Affleck is in early talks to direct an American adaptation of the Harlan Coben novel "Tell No One,"

Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures are negotiating to acquire the rights to the novel. They already have a deal with Chris Terrio to write the script.
Affleck directed Warners' 2010 "The Town."

"Tell No One," published in 2001, is the author's first New York Times bestseller. The story, made into a movie in France in 2006, is about a pediatrician -- Coben is married to a pediatrician -- whose wife suddenly vanishes. When the doctor goes looking for her, he is beaten -- and then is considered a suspect.

When police determine she is the victim of a serial killer, he's off the hook -- until more bodies are found years later, and he's once again a suspect. French director Guillaume Canet adapted the French version. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will produce the American version. Warner Bros. will release it domestically; Universal Pictures International will release it abroad.

Deadline.com first reported the news.

New Move for Selina Walker

Selina Walker moves to Century and Arrow

16.06.11 | Charlotte Williams

Cornerstone has appointed Selina Walker, currently publishing director of Transworld's crime and thriller list, to the role of publisher for Century and Arrow.

Walker will begin her role in mid-July, following 11 years at Transworld where she worked with authors including Tess Gerritsen and Simon Sebag Montefiore.

At Century and Arrow, she steps into Kate Elton's shoes, who is moving to HarperCollins.

Cornerstone m.d. Susan Sandon said: "I've long admired Selina's publishing: she has a wonderful eye for talent and a track record which is second to none. I know that she will add lustre to Century and Arrow."

Walker added: “I’m thrilled to be given the hugely exciting opportunity to run imprints that span commercial fiction and non-fiction whilst being able to benefit from staying within The Random House Group.”

As a result of Walker's promotion, Sarah Adams, currently editorial director Transworld crime and thrillers, will become publishing director, with Cat Cobain promoted to publishing director of the women's fiction list.

Sarah Emsley, currently non-fiction editor working with popular culture titles, will be promoted to senior editorial director.

Sleepless in Glasgow

At Shots Ezine we’re always looking out for interesting debut novels, and though not a debut novel as such, ‘The Dead Won’t Sleep’ is Anna Smith’s debut crime novel and one to look out for if you enjoy tough urban noir. Following the journalistic traditions of fellow Scottish crime-writers Val McDermid and Tony Black, Anna Smith has been a journalist for over twenty years and is a former chief reporter for the Daily Record in Glasgow. She has covered wars across the world as well as major investigations and news stories from Dunblane to Kosovo to 9/11. She writes a regular newspaper column in the News of The World with a readership of more than a million in Scotland alone. The Dead Won't Sleep is the first thriller in a series featuring crime journalist Rosie Gilmour.

The body of a young teenage hooker is found washed up on the beach near Glasgow. This stark event barely captures a headline in the cynical world of tabloid newspapers. This is Glasgow in the 1990s and she’s just another dead heroin addict. But Tracey Eadie was only fourteen years old and came from a children’s home in Glasgow. How did she get from there to where she is now? One of Tracey’s friends on the street contacts Rosie Gilmour, a tabloid journalist. She gives Rosie a tip off that’s dynamite, too hot to print but impossible to ignore. Rosie has covered many dark stories in her career. Her background has plenty in common with Tracey’s and her own life could have gone either way. Her investigation exposes a sordid tale of corruption and child abuse that leads from the murky streets of Glasgow to the very top of the establishment. For Rosie, it is the only story worth telling, but she soon discovers that the forces united against her will stop at nothing to make sure nobody ever gets to the truth.

The Shots team met up with Anna Smith in Holborn’s Chancery Court Hotel last night together with award-winning writer / critics Laura Wilson and Natasha N J Cooper thanks to the Quercus Publishing team, who have published the worldwide bestsellers of Stieg Larsson and John Ajvide Lindqvist.

Over cocktails we discovered that Anna has seen the reality of the dark side of human nature, witnessing as a journalist the very worst mankind can offer, and she said while covering the Rwanda genocide, she still can smell of death and decay and it rests uneasily in her memory, so perhaps the title ‘The Dead Won’t Sleep’ is an apt title. She has recently been reading up on the crime-fiction genre listing her favourite writers being James Crumley, Harlan Coben and was very enthused by Noah Boyd’s debut ‘The Bricklayer’. Her inspiration to introduce Rosie Gilmour in her first outing, is due to her first-hand knowledge of the havoc that the Heroin epidemic caused in Glasgow and seeing the effects as a journalist made her focus that period into a dark narrative.

Anna credits strong encouragement from her agent Ali Gunn as well as her editor, the legendary Jane Wood for steering her toward writing a crime-fiction series, and one that would have an appeal beyond the dark streets of Glasgow, and the trail of shared heroin syringes.

Read More about Anna Smith’s ‘The Dead Won’t Sleep’ and other upcoming books from Quercus Publishing here and the launch party here

We know that we’ll be hearing a lot more from Anna Smith’s Rosie Gilmour novels as they probe the dark side of human nature, and provide insight; which is what a journalist does when faced with the shadows in reality.

Photo © 2011 Ali Karim ‘Anna Smith at The Pearl Bar in Holborn’s Chancery Court Hotel’

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Random House, Century, Hutchinson etc

On an ordinary spring day, Special Agent Faith Mitchell of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation returns home to a nightmare. Expecting to find her mother minding Faith’s new baby daughter Emma, she is horrified to discover Emma locked in the shed, her mother’s safe open, her gun missing and a trail of blood to the front door. Without waiting for back-up, Faith enters the house to a scene of carnage. It has been torn apart and a man lies dead in a pool of blood. She stumbles across two more intruders, and within minutes they too are shot dead. And when the Atlanta police force turns up, Faith has some difficult questions to answer. But she has some desperate questions of her own. What were the killers searching for? Ex-Atlanta police chief Evelyn Mitchell was once under investigation by Faith’s partner Will Trent. Is her mother directly involved this time, and where is she now? With Faith suspended from duty, Will, together with the help of Dr Sara Linton, must piece together the fragments of a brutal and complicated case and catch a deeply troubled and vicious murderer with only one thing on his mind. To keep on killing until the truth is finally revealed. Fallen is by Karin Slaughter and is due to be published in July 2011.


Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford returns in The Vault. A retired Wexford finds that his special skills are needed to help solve an old case. Don’t forget, Wexford said,I have lived in a world where the improbable happens all the time. However, the impossible has happened. Chief Inspector Reg Wexford has retired. He and his wife, Dora, now divide their time between Kingsmarkham and a coach house in Hampstead, belonging to their actress daughter, Sheila. Wexford takes great pleasure in his books, but, for all the benefits of a more relaxed lifestyle, he misses being the law. But a chance meeting in a London street, with someone he had known briefly as a very young police constable, changes everything. Tom Ede is now a Detective Superintendent, and is very keen to recruit Wexford as an adviser on a difficult case. The bodies of two women and a man have been discovered in the old coal hole of an attractive house in St John’s Wood. None carries identification. But the man’s jacket pockets contain a string of pearls, a diamond and a sapphire necklace as well as other jewellery valued in the region of £40,000. It is not a hard decision for Wexford. He is intrigued and excited by the challenge, and, in the early stages, not really anticipating that this new investigative role will bring him into physical danger. The Vault is due to be published in August 2011.


The Fear Index is a chilling contemporary thriller from Robert Harris set in the competitive world of high finance. Dr Max Hoffman is a legend. An American physicist once employed on the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, he now uses a revolutionary and highly secret system of computer algorithms to trade on the world’s financial markets. None of his rivals is sure how he does it, but somehow Hoffman’s hedge fund built around the standard measure of market volatility: the VIX or Fear Index generates astonishing returns for his investors. Then, late one night, in his house beside Lake Geneva, an intruder disturbs Hoffman and his wife while they are asleep. Set entirely over the course of a single day, The Fear Index follows Hoffman’s quest to find out who is trying to destroy him, even as the world’s financial markets head for collapse. The Fear Index is due to be published in September 2011.


Flash and Bones is the fourteenth book to feature Temperance Brennan. In the run-up to the biggest NASCAR race week of the year, Dr Temperance Brennan is called to a landfill site backing onto the Charlotte speedway track in North Carolina. Someone has discovered a barrel of hardened asphalt with a human hand poking through the top. With the country’s press trained on Charlotte, it is up to Tempe to try to release and identify the body in the barrel. But there is more than one potential victim: the brother of a girl who went missing with her boyfriend ten years before comes forward, and the trail he sets in motion leads Tempe to one of America’s largest fascist organisations. But before she can discover anything, the FBI confiscate the body and destroy it. What terrible secret could they be hiding? As tension at the speedway mounts, Tempe tries to unravel the conspiracy of lies surrounding the missing couple, the body in the barrel, and the horrific death at the track of yet another victim... Flash and Bones is by Kathy Reichs and is due to be published in September 2011.


The Silenced is the fourth book in the Jonathan Quinn series and takes him to Paris and London on the trail of a man known only as The Ghost. But the hunter becomes the hunted when Quinn finds that someone is stalking his family. Professional cleaner Jonathan Quinn has a new client and a odd job: find and remove the remains of a body hidden twenty years ago inside the walls of a London building, before the building is demolished. But Quinn and his team are being watched. Suddenly caught in the crossfire between two dangerous rivals, Quinn must unravel the identity of the body and why it still poses so great a threat even in death. Because a plot stretching from the former Soviet Union to Hong Kong, from Paris to London, from Los Angeles to Maine is rapidly falling apart. And Quinn hasn’t just been hired to tie up loose ends he is one. The Silenced is by Brett Battles and is due to be published in July 2011.

Into Dust is the second crime thriller to feature Detective Inspector Ned Bale and police dog handler extraordinaire, Kate Baker by Jonathan Lewis. The Minister for Defence is blown to smithereens in his car on a lonely road in the Brecon Beacons, where he has a weekend hideaway. DI Ned Bale is on the crime scene within seconds, but neither he nor forensics can work out how on earth the crime was committed, let alone who did it, or with what motive. That is until one fingerprint is found on one tiny fragment of the explosive timing device. The fingerprint of Ned Bale’s closest ally in the Force, dog handler Kate Baker. But how on earth could her fingerprint be on a terrorist’s bomb. Far away on bomb disposal duty in Afghanistan, Kate has to be questioned. But Kate herself has become involved with someone extremely plausible, attractive and dangerous. Into Dust is due to be published in September 2011.


Joe Clayton thought the dangers of his undercover career were behind him. He was wrong. One grey October morning, while working in a quiet Bristol street, he hears the voice of the man who has sworn to destroy him. Minutes later Joe is running for his life again. Desperate for sanctuary, he heads for the small Cornish town of Trelennan, and the home of Diana Bamber, widow of a former police colleague. But Diana reacts strangely to his arrival, and gradually Joe discovers that Trelennan is far from the idyllic, law-abiding resort it claims to be. The town is in the grip of one man. Leon Race doesn’t welcome strangers, especially ex-cops who start asking questions about missing women. Soon Joe is caught up in another undercover role, but as he penetrates the web of secrets that ensnares the town’s elite, his own secret is at risk of discovery. And all the time his old enemy is circling... Blood Falls is by Tom Bale and is due to be published in October 2011.


The Secret Chamber is by Patrick Woodhead and is due to be published in November 2011. People have been disappearing in what the explorer Stanley called the black heart of Africa - the impenetrable forests of northern Congo. But when a brilliant young English doctor vanishes, alarm bells really start to ring. Intelligence chief Jack Milton sends a message to his godson Luca Matthews ("The Forbidden Temple" hero) in the Himalayas asking him to go to Africa and find Joshua. Reluctantly Luca obeys, but he is no longer the man he once was, traumatised by his part in the death of his best friend, his legendary climbing nerve shot to pieces. Meanwhile in Africa, mining troubleshooter and brilliant flying pilot, Beatrice (Bear) Makuru, also wants to brave the northern wilderness. Coltan is the mineral without which no mobile phone or computer would work. Explosions have been wrecking coltan mines. Bear needs to find out why. Her journey with Luca to Africa's black heart is the beginning of an utterly terrifying sequence of events, uncovering a secret so simple yet so startling that it could rock the foundations of the civilised world.

Detective Inspector January David is on the hunt for an elusive serial killer but the leads are drying up. The first victim was taken on Halloween and as the months develop more ritualistic murders are discovered. So far, five innocents, each struck down in a public place, have been left dead. Brooke Derry should have been the sixth but she miraculously survives. Meanwhile, January’s personal life is in turmoil as he battles the demons which have haunted him all his life. He’s desperately seeking his missing sister and his private hell is only intensified by the corruption within his own team. When the killer’s picture is leaked to the press, hysteria grips London as the public sees the face of evil and fears they will be next. But no one, including DI David, realises that an unknown vigilante has also seen the front pages and has tracked down the killer and is now holding them captive. January is in pursuit of not just one lost soul, but two . . . The Two is the second novel in the January David series and is by Will Carver. It will be published in November 2011.


Full Circle is by Mark Pearson and will be published in October 2011. No matter how fast you run, no one can escape the past . . . Jack Delaney is looking forward to spending Christmas with Kate Walker and his daughter, but the past has a way of ruining the best-laid plans. Some years earlier, Delaney’s testimony was crucial in putting Michael Robinson, a violent serial rapist, behind bars. However, new DNA evidence secures an appeal. And Robinson walks free. Only to be discovered dead three days later. Robinson is not the first rapist to have perished in mysterious circumstances. And DI Sally Cartwright is beginning to work on the theory that there may be a vigilante at work. As the body count rises, the spotlight of suspicion falls on Delaney. The circle closes . . .

James Patterson has four books due out. In Now You See Her due to be published in August 2011. To save her own life, Nina Bloom vanished. Now, to rescue an innocent man, she confronts the killer she thought she had escaped forever. A successful lawyer and loving mother, Nina Bloom would do anything to protect the life she’s built in New York including lying to everyone, even her daughter, about her past. But when an innocent man is framed for murder, she knows that she can’t let him pay for the real killer’s crimes. Nina’s secret life began eighteen years ago. She had looks to die for, a handsome police-officer husband, and a carefree life in Key West. When she learned she was pregnant with their first child, her happiness was almost overwhelming. But Nina’s world is shattered when she unearths a terrible secret that causes her to run for her life and change her identity. Now, years later, Nina risks everything she’s earned to return to Florida and confront the murderous evil she fled. In a story of wrenching suspense, James Patterson gives us his most head-spinning, action-filled story yet - a Hitchcock-like blend of unquenchable drama and pleasure. In Kill Alex Cross the President’s children have been kidnapped and Alex Cross races to save them before it’s too late. The President’s son and daughter are abducted, and Detective Alex Cross is one of the first on the scene. But someone very high up is using the FBI, Secret Service, and CIA to keep him off the case and in the dark. A deadly contagion in the water supply cripples half of the capital, and Cross discovers that someone may be about to unleash the most devastating attack the United States has ever experienced. As his window for solving both crimes narrows, Alex makes a desperate decision that goes against everything he believes and one that may alter the fate of the entire country. Kill Alex Cross will be published in September 2011.

Kill Me If you Can also by James Patterson is due to be published in November 2011. Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a duffel bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his gorgeous girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts until he realises that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won’t stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted maximum revenge. Trailing him is the Ghost, the world’s greatest assassin, who has just pulled off his most high-profile hit: killing Walter Zelvas, a top member of the international Diamond Syndicate. There’s only one small problem: the diamonds he was supposed to retrieve from Zelvas are missing.Now, the Ghost is on Bannon’s trail but so is a rival assassin who would like nothing more than to make the Ghost disappear for ever. James Patterson will also publish The Christmas Wedding as well in November 2011.