Forthcoming books to look forward to from Little, Brown

Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi have always relied on the advice of the classic guide to their trade, The Principles of Private Detection. But who is the eminent author, Mr Clovis Andersen, and what if he were to come to Botswana? It seems a very unlikely possibility, and yet . . . When Mr Andersen visits Botswana on holiday; he is delighted and intrigued to stumble across the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Professional courtesy suggests that he call and announce himself. Meanwhile, Mma Makutsi and Phuti Radiphuti are embarking on married life and building a new house – a tricky business under any circumstances, but especially hazardous when the name of the contractor is the Joy and Light Building Company. The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection is by Alexander McCall Smith and is due to be published in March 2012.

Stonemouth is the latest book by Iain Banks and is due to be published in April 2012. Stewart Gilmour is back in Stonemouth. After five years in exile, his presence is required at the funeral of patriarch Joe Murston, even though the last time Stu saw the Murstons he was running for his life. Although there’s supposed to be a temporary truce between him and the town’s biggest crime family, it’s soon clear that only Stu is taking this promise of peace seriously. Before long, a quick drop into the cold grey river Stoun begins to look like the soft option. As Stu uncovers ever-darker stories, his homecoming takes a more lethal turn than even he had anticipated. Tough, funny, fast-paced and touching, Stonemouth cracks open adolescence, love, brotherhood and vengeance in a rite of passage novel like no other.

When the Devil Drives is the by Chris Brookmyre and is due to be published in June 2012. Is the devil just the name we give to the worst in ourselves? When private investigator Jasmine Sharp is hired to find Tessa Garrion, a young woman who has vanished without trace, it becomes increasingly clear that there are those who want her to stay that way. What begins as a simple search awakens a malevolence that has lain dormant for three decades, putting Jasmine in the crosshairs of those who would stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried. Uncovering a hidden history of sex, drugs, ritualism and murder, Jasmine realises she may need a little help from dark places herself if she’s going to get to the truth. But then, needs must . . .

Ibrahim Al-Brehm is a respectable husband and a police inspector on Jeddah’s murder squad. But for the past year, he has been having an affair with a woman named Maria. Until one day she disappears. Terrified and with nowhere else to turn, Ibrahim goes to Katya, one of the few women on the force. As she ventures into Saudi Arabia’s underworld, Katya uncovers a murder that connects Maria to a human trafficking ring. Soon Ibrahim realises that the killer is closer to home than he had ever imagined. Kingdom of Strangers is a suspenseful story of murder and deception among Saudi Arabia’s shaded alleys, gleaming compounds and vast lonely deserts. Kingdom of Strangers is by Zoë Ferraris and is due to be published in May 2012.

Night Watch is the fourteenth novel to feature DA Alex Cooper and this time her fascinating foray is into the dark side of New York City, and this time is centred around the city’s most glamorous and legendary restaurants, uncovering the shocking secrets that have lurked just beneath the surface of the bustling metropolis for centuries – only to come screaming to light in the present day. CBS TV Studios and Samuel L. Jackson’s UppiTV have optioned the rights to a TV series starring DA Alex Cooper. Night Watch is by Linda Fairstein and is due to be published in May 2012.

The Black Rose of Florence by Michele Giuttari and sees the return of Chief Superintendent Ferrara and is due to be published in March 2012. A beautiful member of the Florentine jet set is found choked to death. Left naked on her bed, a black rose lies on her body. Chief Superintendent Michele Ferrara returns to Florence in this fifth Ferrara novel. This time he is up against a powerful enemy desperate to keep his identity hidden. With more violent deaths by the day, Ferrara faces his most insidious investigation yet, forcing him to confront deadly secrets from his own past . . .

The Survivor is the latest thriller by Gregg Hurwitz. From an eleventh-storey ledge, Nate surveys Los Angeles: the skyline, the beach, and the sun. And then he puts one foot in the air, preparing to jump. But a gunshot from the floor below stops him. And when Nate interrupts his suicide to stop a robbery underway, he puts himself and his estranged family at unimaginable risk! The Survivor is a gripping, propulsive thriller about family, loyalty and the power of redemption. It is due to be published in April 2012.

The Map is by T S learner and is due to be published in January 2012. An Oxford classics scholar has discovered a mysterious scroll. A band of occultists in thrall to Aleister Crowley has gathered in London. A map to three mazes hidden within Europe has been unfolded. And an ancient mystery is calling . . . From the author of Sphinx comes the most dazzling novel of the year: a sophisticated, relentlessly thrilling story of labyrinths, riddles and centuries-old secrets.

When Ylva fails to come home from work, her husband is not initially suspicious. But as time passes, he becomes frantic with worry and he finally contacts the police. What no one knows is that she’s being held hostage in the cellar of the house next door. A camera is rigged against her own house and Ylva can only watch her life pass by on the screen . . . The reasons why Ylva has been kidnapped, and what eventually becomes of her, have gripped and obsessed readers across Scandinavia for the past year. She’s Never Coming Back is by Hans Koppel. The film rights have been optioned by Firebird, the producers of the Stieg Larsson films. She’s Never Coming Back is due to be published in January 2012.

The Turin Shroud Secret is by Sam Christer and is due to be published in February 2012. IT IS THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL RELIGIOUS ICON IN THE WORLD. No one knows where it came from. No one knows when it was made. But now, the greatest mystery in religious history holds the key to a present-day serial killer who devises savage, bizarre deaths for his victims. And only two American cops, following a trail that stretches from California to the Vatican, can expose the secret of the Shroud.

In The Enemy Victor is now an ex-freelance assassin turned CIA ally. But when his new boss gives him a hit list – three names, three targets – what promised to be a simple assignment plunges him into an international conspiracy where no one can be trusted – especially the people Victor works for. The Enemy is by Tom Wood and is the second book in the series to feature Victor a former assassin. The Enemy is due to be published in May 2012.

The Wicked Girls is the debut novel by author Alex Marwood. One fateful summer morning in 1986, two eleven-year-old girls meet. By the end of the day they are charged with murder. Twenty-five years later, journalist Kirsty Lindsay is reporting on a series of attacks on young women in a seaside town when she interviews funfair cleaner Amber Gordon. It’s the first time Kirsty and Amber have seen each other since that dark day. But with new lives to protect, will they be able to keep their wicked secret hidden? The Wicked Girls is due to be published in June 2012.

It is drawing near to the end of term, and the university at Cambridge is in turmoil over the opening of a new Common Library. There is an attack on one of the masters at a meeting to discuss the matter, and a body is found floating in the pond in the library’s garden on the eve of its opening. Meanwhile, there are rumours of a large force of hostile mercenaries lurking in the Fens. Aided by their friend Sheriff Tulyet, Bartholomew and Michael must thwart the invaders before the Feast of Corpus Christi the following week. To fail might mean the destruction of the town. Murder by the Book is by Susanna Gregory and is due to be published in June 2012. It is the latest book in the Brother Bartholomew Series. Also being published in January 2012 and by Susanna Gregory is The Piccadilly Plot, which is the seventh in the Chaloner Restoration series. Thomas Chaloner is relieved to be summoned back to London. His master, the Earl of Clarendon, has sent him to Tangier to investigate a case of corruption. Chaloner will be glad to be home, to be reunited with his new wife, but the trivial reason for his recall exasperates him – the theft of material from the construction site of Clarendon’s embarrassingly sumptuous new house just north of Piccadilly. Within hours of his return, Chaloner is thrust into extra investigations involving threats of assassination, a stolen corpse and a scheme to frame the Queen for treason. Yet there are connections from them, all which thread through the unfinished Clarendon House.

In 1998 a gang of girls shoplifts in the East End. Outside the deserted home of Donald Peck, the local weirdo, ringleader Paige decides to up their game. Minnie, the weakest, is pushed through a window to let the others in. But the front door never opens. Two days later, Minnie’s body is found under a bed. Fourteen years on, the surviving girls – now women – receive death threats never to speak about that day. Someone seems determined to keep the truth buried. Nothing But Trouble is by Roberta Kray and is due to be published in April 2012

DEAD ONE MINUTE

Harriet and her brother Austin have always been scared of the quarry where their stonemason father works. So when they find him dead, they scarper and look for some help.

ALIVE THE NEXT?

When help arrives, the quarry is deserted and there is no sign of the body. Were the children mistaken? Is their father alive? Did he simply get up and run away?

A SINISTER DISAPPEARING ACT

It seems like another unusual case requiring the expertise of Kate Shackleton. But surprising family ties make it Kate’s most dangerous – and delicate – yet. Murder in the Afternoon is the third book in the Kate Shackleton series by Frances Brody and is due to be published in March 2012.

As moorland fires sweep across the Peak District National Park, hundreds of firefighters and park rangers battle to prevent flames reaching a remote inn, once a famous landmark but now abandoned and boarded up. The blaze is just one of a series of random acts of arson which have destroyed miles of heather moorland – and once the flames have died, a grim surprise awaits DS Ben Cooper and DI Diane Fry: a body – dead for years. Dead and Buried is the thirteenth book in the Cooper and Fry series by Stephen Booth. It is due to be published in June 2012 and is currently in development as a television series.

A Pound of Flesh is by Alex Gray and is due to be published in March 2012. Detective Inspector Lorimer’s worst nightmare is a serial killer loose in his city. But two serial killers operating at once in Glasgow is a nightmare come to life. Is there any link between the brutal slaying of prostitutes in the backstreets of the city and the methodical killing of several unconnected businessmen? Psychologist Solly Brightman is helping with both cases, but someone within Lormer’s team is unwittingly sabotaging their efforts by leaking confidential police information. Their whispers will cost lives.

Ruby Jones just needed to relax and take a holiday. She made a bad decision when she chose Goa . . . Famed for beaches and full moon parties, Goa is also home to one of the most famous Christian shrines in Asia – St Francis Xavier, his body still intact after five hundred years. But when the head of the saint is stolen, Ruby discovers that beyond the palm-fringed beaches is a world of corruption and crime, and she finds herself at the centre of a lethal world turning in on itself – with deadly consequences. Whispers from a Goan Grave is by Kathleen McCaul and is due to be published in July 2012.

Celebrity in Death is by J D Robb and is due to be published in February 2012. Lieutenant Eve Dallas is no party girl, but she’s managing to have a reasonably good time at the celebrity- packed bash celebrating a new movie based on one of her famous cases. It’s a little spooky seeing the actress playing her, who looks almost like her long-lost twin. Not as unsettling, though, as seeing the actress who plays her partner Peabody – drowned in the pool on the roof of the director’s luxury building. It’s up to Eve, Roarke and the real Peabody to find the killer in their midst.

Inspector Singh is sick of sick leave, so when Mrs Singh suggests they attend a family wedding in Mumbai, he grudgingly agrees – hoping that the spicy Indian curries will make up for extended exposure to his wife’s relatives. Unfortunately, the beautiful bride- to-be disappears on the eve of her wedding – did she run away to avoid an arranged marriage, or is there something more sinister afoot? When a corpse is found, the fat inspector is soon dragged into a curious murder investigation with very firm instructions from Mrs Singh to exonerate her family. But as he uncovers layer upon layer of deceit, he knows it isn’t going to be that easy. Inspector Singh Investigates: A Curious Indian Cadaver is the fifth book in the Inspector Singh series by Shamini Flint and is due to be published in April 2012.

The Cadaver Game is the sixteenth book in the Wesley Peterson series. When the decaying body of a murdered woman is discovered, DI Wesley Peterson has problems establishing her true identity. But as he tries to find out more about the mysterious woman he has another disturbing case to investigate. The naked bodies of two teenagers have been found with shotgun wounds at the foot of a cliff. As Wesley searches for the truth, both cases become stranger as he uncovers the connection to a sinister manhunt mirroring events from the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Then a skeleton is found near the place where the dead teenagers were last seen alive and Wesley finally has to face a terrible truth . . The Cadaver Game is by Kate Ellis and is due to be published in February 2012.

Also due to be published in April 2012 is The Day of The Lie by William Broderick.