Books to Look Forward to from Head of Zeus

July 2019

The Heart Keeper is by Alex Dahl.  How do you mend a broken heart? It's been three months since Alison Miller-Juul's world fell apart when her six-year-old daughter, Amalie, died in an accident. Three months of sympathy cards, grief counselling and gritting her teeth, but it's still only the vodka and pills that seem to help. Across town, Iselin Berg's life is finally looking up. Her seven-year-old daughter, Kaia, has survived a life-changing operation. After years of doctors, medication and hope, they can now start thinking about the future. When Alison uncovers a dangerous secret, she is left in turmoil. She can now see a way to heal her broken heart, but will she risk everything to do so?

December, 1939. Having solved the case of the Suffolk Vampire, Inspector Betty Church and her colleagues at Sackwater Police Station have settled back down to business. There's the elderly Mr Fern who keeps losing his slippers, Sylvia Satin's thirteenth birthday party to attend and the scintillating case of the missing bookmark to solve. Though peace and quiet are all well and good, Betty soon finds herself longing for some cold-blooded murder.  When a bomb is dropped on a residential street, both peace and quiet are broken and it seems the war has finally reached Sackwater. But Betty cannot stop the Hun, however hard she tries. So when the body of one of the bomb victims is found stretched out like an angel on Sackwater's beach, Betty concentrates on finding the enemy much closer to home...  A Room of the Dead is by M R C Kasasian

August 2019

There's power in stories and this is a story of power. Dead bodies aren't unusual in the alleyways of Fenest. Muggings, brawls gone bad, debts collected - Detective Cora Gorderheim has seen it all. Until she finds a Wayward man with his mouth sewn shut. As

Cora pieces together the dead man's story, she's drawn into the most dangerous story in the Union of Realms: the election. All she wants is to catch the killer, but nothing is that simple in an election year. Dark forces conspire against the Union and soon she finds herself at the rotten core of it all. Cora will find the killer, but at what cost? Widow”s Welcome is by D K Fields

Bitterroots is by CJ Box. Former police officer Cassie Dewell is trying to start over with her own private investigation firm. Guilty about not seeing her son and exhausted by the nights on stakeout, Cassie is nontheless managing... until an old friend calls in a favor: she wants Cassie to help exonerate a man accused of assaulting a young girl from an influential family. Against her own better judgment, Cassie agrees. But out in the Big Sky Country of Montana, twisted family loyalty runs as deep as the ties to the land, and there's always something more to the story. As Cassie attempts to uncover the truth, she must fight against the ghosts of her own past that threaten to pull her back under. 

September 2019

The newspapers called it The Bad Place. A remote farm out on the Thames estuary, where six children were held captive for two weeks. Five of them got out alive.  That was twenty years ago. Now adults, they meet up annually to hold a candlelit vigil for their friend who died. The only rule is that no-one can talk about what happened the night they escaped. But at this year's event, one of them witnesses a kidnapping. A young girl, Sammi, is bundled into a van in front of their eyes. Is history repeating itself? Is one of them responsible? Or is someone sending them a twisted message? DI Sasha Dawson, of Essex Police, is certain that the key to finding Sammi lies in finding out the truth about The Bad Place. But she also knows that with every second she spends trying to unlock the past, the clock ticks down for the missing girl...  The Bad Place is by M K Hill.

November 2019

No Fixed Line is by Dana Stabenow... though there is no fixed line between wrong and right. There are roughly zones whose laws must be obeyed. It is New Year's Eve, nearly six weeks into an off-and-on blizzard that has locked Alaska down, effectively cutting it off from the outside world. But now there are reports of a plane down in the Quilak mountains. With the National Transportation Safety Board unable to reach the crash site, ex-Trooper Jim Chopin is pulled out of retirement to try to identify the aircraft, collect the corpses, and determine why no flight has been reported missing. But Jim discovers survivors: two children who don't speak a word of English. Meanwhile, PI Kate Shugak receives an unexpected and unwelcome accusation from beyond 

Who really killed Leo Fenton? Two years ago, Ben Fenton went camping with his brother Leo. It was the last time they ever saw each other. By the end of that fateful trip, Leo had disappeared, and Ben had been arrested for his murder. Ben's wife Ana has always protested his innocence. Now, on the hottest day of 2018's sweltering heat wave, she receives a phone call from the police. Leo's body has been found, in a freshly dug grave in her own local churchyard. How did it get there? Who really killed him? St Albans police, led by DCI Jansen, are soon unpicking a web of lies that shimmers beneath the surface of Ana's well-kept village. But as tensions mount, and the tight-knit community begins to unravel, Ana realises that if she wants to absolve her husband, she must unearth the truth alone.  The Scorched Earth is by Rachel Blok.

December 2019

Tobias Hawke was the tech genius boss of the British Institute for Deep Learning. Now his body has been found in his lab: he has been brutally murdered. Hawke was on the brink of an astonishing breakthrough in the field of Artificial Intelligence. His creation, 'Syd', a machine-learning device that mimics human thought, promised to change the face of humanity forever. But, in the wake of her creator's murder, Syd has gone into emergency

shutdown procedure. What secrets are her neural networks hiding? 

Michael North, ex-assassin and spy-for-hire, is the man to find out. But he can't work alone. Teenage hacker Fangfang, and Hawke's widow, a prize-winning ethicist, have their own reasons to solve the murder. But can they uncover the truth before it's too late?  Curse the Day is by Judith O’Reilly.

In the Net is by Chan Ho-Kei. Natasha, a librarian, lives a quiet life with her fifteen-year-old sister Anastasia. After a difficult, impoverished upbringing and the deaths of their parents, they are finally finding a bit of stability. Then one day, Natasha comes home to find her teenage sister has jumped to her death. Was it suicide, or was she pushed? And does it have anything to do with a recent trip on the Hong Kong subway which left Anastasia silent and withdrawn? Natasha cannot rest until she knows the truth about her sister - even if that means tracking down her sister's friends one by one and making them confess. Part detective novel, part revenge thriller, In the Net explores themes of sexual harassment, internet bullying and teenage suicide - and vividly captures the zeitgeist of Hong Kong today.

Blood Ties is by Helen Burnside.  Adele Robinson is behind bars. Having been convicted for the murder of her abusive father, she quickly realises that she’ll have to play it tough if she’s going to survive. Meanwhile, her brother Peter is building his criminal empire on the outside. But he soon comes to the attention of Manchester’s rival gangs, and a turf war breaks out. And when things start to get bloody, only Adele can step in to protect the family business. Will she get out in time to save Peter? After all, blood is thicker than water, and when family’s in trouble you can’t look the other way. 

Books to Look Forward to from Head of Zeus

January 2019

It was nothing more than a one-night stand. Juliana Brody, a judge in the Superior Court of Massachusetts, is rumoured to be in consideration for the federal circuit, maybe someday the highest court in the land. At a conference in a Chicago hotel, she meets a gentle, vulnerable man and in a moment of weakness has an unforgettable night with him. They part with an explicit understanding that this must never happen again.  But back home in Boston, it becomes clear that this was no random encounter. The man from Chicago proves to have an integral role in a case she's presiding over - a sex-discrimination case that's received national attention. Juliana discovers that she's been entrapped, her night of infidelity captured on video. Strings are being pulled in high places, a terrifying unfolding conspiracy that will turn her life upside down. But soon it becomes clear that personal humiliation, even the possible destruction of her career, are the least of her concerns, as her own life and the lives of her family are put in mortal jeopardy.  In the end, turning the tables on her adversaries will require her to be as ruthless as they are.  Judgment is by Joseph Finder.

Verses for the Dead is by Preston & Child.  After an overhaul of leadership at the FBI's New York field office, Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast is forced to accept an unthinkable condition of continued employment: the unorthodox lone wolf must now work with a partner.  Pendergast and his new cohort, Special Agent Coldmoon, are dispatched to Florida to investigate a rash of ritualistic murders. A killer is carving out the hearts of his victims, and depositing the stolen organs alongside the headstones of existing graves. Accompanying each heart is a cryptic letter, signed by a 'Mr Brokenhearts'. There is one more intriguing aspect to Mr Brokenhearts' macabre modus operandi: the chosen graves all belong to women who have committed suicide.  As he searches for the connection between the old suicides and the new murders, Pendergast realises the brutal new crimes may be just the tip of the iceberg: that he faces a conspiracy of death reaching back decades.

February 2019

Begging to Die is by Graham Masterton. A young girl is found wandering the city alone. Who is she?  Someone is killing beggars on the streets of Cork. But why?  DCI Katie Maguire, Ireland's most fearless detective, must find out. But while she fights for justice for the homeless, her fiance Conor has his own crusade: against illegal puppy farming. A hugely lucrative black market run by terrifying gangs, it is a huge scandal in Ireland.  Soon their freedom, their marriage, and even their lives are in danger...

March 2019

Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett encounters bad behavior on his own turf: a drone is killing wildlife - and the drone belongs to a mysterious and wealthy man whose grandson is dating Joe's own daughter, Lucy.  When Joe tries to lay down the rules for the drone operator, he is asked by the FBI and the DOJ to stand down - and with good reason: the man is in the witness relocation program and he's being hunted by four killers from the Sinaloa cartel. If Joe isn't careful, his actions will expose the witness to his pursuers.  Teaming up with a new partner - a female game warden - to confront these assassins, Joe finds himself their prey - along with Lucy and her boyfriend.  Wolf Pact is by CJ Box.

The Friend is by Joakim Zander.  Jacob Seger arrived in Lebanon with a head full of dreams. This is his first job in the world of international diplomacy, and he's determined to change the world for the better. When he meets the handsome, soulful Yassim at a glamorous party, his happiness is complete.  But three weeks later, Jacob recognises his own face in the newspaper. He is wanted on terrorism charges - apparently he is plotting attacks on Stockholm, London, Brussels, and Rome. Jacob is crushed. Has Yassim set him up? Is he now a pawn in a murderous plot? Jacob doesn't know who he can trust. But one thing's for certain: he needs to flee Beirut - and fast.  At once a moving love story and a gripping adventure, The Friend is an intelligent and urgent thriller that untangles the complexities of international politics and casts light on the dark threats facing the world today.

A Suspicion of Silver is by P F Chisholm.  Sir Robert Carey leaves the court of Scotland's King James VI in early January, 1593, on the hunt for Joachim Hochstetter - also known as Jonathan Hepburn.  Carey, the Queen's Deputy Warden in Carlisle, is carrying a warrant for Hochstetter's arrest for plotting with the King of Spain and Scottish earls to assassinate King James. Hochstetter, a skilled engineer, is a son of a family of Anabaptists from Augsburg and may have taken ship. Or he may have gone to ground at Vicar's Island, Derwentwater, where his widowed mother, Radegunda, rules the smelting business and her unruly brood. Is he a man driven by the religious politics of the period? Or is he just a stone-cold killer?  Meanwhile, what is the fate of Sir Robert's surly henchman Henry Dodd? Is his wife - the redoubtable Janet - now a childless widow?

April 2019

In Kossuth square, Lajos Kolompar, a local politican is found dead, face down in a pond in front of Parliament. With his blood alcohol nudging fatal levels, he's believed to have fallen and drowned.  Gypsy cop Balthazar Kovacs of the Budapest murder squad reads of

Kolompar's death in the news. It stays in the back of his mind until his old girlfriend, journalist Eniko Szalay, receives a tip-off from the coroner's office that Kolompar's autopsy results were tampered with.  And his body accidentally cremated.  Soon, Kovacs is drawn into the Budapest underworld of people smuggling, blackmail and violent political tensions - always caught between the two worlds of the Gypsy and the non-Gypsy, of the law and family loyalty.  Kossuth Square is by Adam Lebor.

The Playground Murders is by Lesley Thomson.  Wormwood scrubs playground, 1980.  The wind blows across the common, and the girl in her shorts shivers. The playground is isolated, timeless. Far from the prying eyes of grown-ups, she and her friends can play make-believe here. The looming slide is a mountain; the upturned log a pirate ship. But six-year-old Sarah Ferris does not know that in two days' time, she will be dead: a victim of jealousy, betrayal, and her own innocence. Hammersmith, 2019. Cleaner Stella Darnell loves rooting into shadowy places and restoring order. She'll clear your attic, polish your kitchen and scrub your bath - but she also investigates cold cases. Stella can spend hours sifting through forgotten evidence looking for shreds of evidence the police might have missed. So when a woman is found dead, and the killer is linked to the Sarah Ferris murder, Stella is the woman for the case. But dredging up the past can be dangerous. Especially if the playground killer is back...

May 2019

A wounded daughter.  Detective Fabian Risk's daughter is in a coma at Helsingborg hospital. It's Risk's fault for getting her involved in his last investigation - and the guilt is crippling.  A murdered boy.   A young Syrian refugee has been killed. It looks like a racist attack - but then more people die across Sweden and Denmark. There's no link between any of the victims. Is this a serial killer who strikes at random?  A desperate hunt.  In Denmark, Police Chief Astrid Tuvesson must abandon her AA program to lead the investigation. And in Sweden, Fabian Risk is called from his daughter's bedside and forced back into service. But even with a united team, tracking a random killer is next to impossible...  How do you catch a killer… Who never strikes the same way twice.  Motive X is by Stefan Ahnhem.

A Date With Death is by Mark Roberts.  All they wanted was to find their happy-ever-after... Instead, they met their deaths.  Three women have been killed in Liverpool. The MO points to a stranger, and now DCI Eve Clay is on the trail of a vicious man who preys on lonely women on dating sites. He signs off the same way with each message: "Kiss kiss, night night."  His crimes are escalating - and Eve has to stop him before another girl dies. But first she needs to find him. And that means going undercover online, and posing as his perfect victim...

June 2019

A Line of Forgotten Blood is by Malcolm Mackay.  Scotland has been a proudly independent country for centuries. But success has now turned sour. Malcolm Mackay's remarkable novel of crime and corruption is set in a brooding, rain-swept Scottish city that is compellingly different from the one we think we know.  The Scottish city of Challaid is corruption-riddled place where people frequently go off the radar. So when PC Vinny Reno discovers his ex-wife, Freya, has disappeared, he turns to private detectives Darian Ross and Sholto Douglas.  Their search will lead them to a collision between Freya and a wealthy banking family. But it also leads to more questions. What does Freya's disappearance have to do with a year-old murder case? What is the involvement of a young man who never leaves his house? As they dig deeper into the past, Darian and Sholto realise they must stand against the most powerful people in the city if they are to unearth the truth...

Books to Look Forward to from Head of Zeus

July 2017

Everybody knows about Sherlock Holmes, the unique literary character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who has remained popular over the decades and is more appreciated than ever today. But what made this fictional character, dreamed up by a small-town English doctor back in the 1880s, into such a great success? This is the fascinating and exciting tale of the man and people who created the Holmes legend. It is also the tragic story of an author who tried to escape from his own invention and the inheritance that ruined a family dynasty. The book also charts the unexpected fortune and success of the actors, writers and readers who, over the decades, have recreated and renewed the idea of this most-famous of all detectives: from the gentleman amateur of the 1890s to the odd genius of Sherlock today. The Life and Death of Sherlock Holmes: Master Detective, Myth and Media Star is by Mattias Boström.

Paradise Valley is by C J Box.  For three years, Investigator Cassie Dewell has been hunting the serial killer known as The Lizard King. Twice she has come close to taking him, but now, working for the Bakken County, North Dakota sheriff's department, Cassie has set what she believes is the perfect trap. But the plan goes horribly wrong, and the blame falls on Cassie. Disgraced, she loses her job and, worse, is put under investigation. At the same time, Kyle Westergaard, a troubled kid whom Cassie has taken under her wing, has disappeared, telling everyone he is going on a long-planned adventure. Kyle's grandmother begs Cassie to find him and with nothing else to do, she agrees. But in the same way that two streams converge into a river, Kyle's disappearance may be more sinister than anyone suspects. Cassie's a lone wolf now - with no allies, no support, and only her own wits to rely on - and she will face a killer who is as ruthless as he is cunning. Can she do it alone?

Michael Tanner is heading home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong laptop from security. What he doesn't know is that the owner is US senator Susan Robbins, and her laptop contains top secret files that should never have been on there in the first place. And Senator Robbins is not the only one who wants the laptop back...Suddenly, Tanner is a hunted man. On the run, terrified for the safety of his family - he is in desperate need of a plan - but who can he trust?  The Switch is by Joseph Finder

August 2017

The Room by The Lake is by Emma Dibdin.  When Caitlin moved from London to New York, she thought she had left her problems behind: her alcoholic father, her dead mother, the pressure to succeed. But now, down to her last dollar in a foreign city, she is desperately lonely. Then she meets Jake. Handsome, smart, slightly damaged Jake. He lives off-grid, in a lakeside commune whose members practise regular exercise and frequent group therapy. Before long, Caitlin has settled into her idyllic new home. It looks like she has found the fresh start she longed for. But, as the commune tightens its grip on her freedom and her sanity, Caitlin realizes too late that she might become lost forever...

Madrid, 1982: The dictator is dead and Guzman is finally back in the capital. Years of bitter exile in the provinces doing the dirty work for the sinister Head of Military Intelligence have left their mark on the Comandante. He wants out. But he needs money first...and what better way to get it than blackmail? After all, he knows better than anyone where all the bodies are buried. Madrid, 2010: Forensic Investigator Ana Maria Galindez has been tracking Comandante Guzman by the trail of dead he left behind him: 15 tangled corpses in a disused mine, three skeletons in a sealed cellar in the Basque country. Guzman is the key to unlocking some of Spain's darkest secrets. But are there are those who will do anything keep the past buried. By threatening to disturb the dead, both Guzman and Galindez have placed themselves on the same lethal trajectory.  The Dead by Mark Oldfield.

September 2017

When I Wake Up is by Jessica Jarlvi.  'Why won't Mummy wake up?' When Anna, a much-loved teacher and mother of two, is left savagely beaten and in a coma, a police investigation is launched. News of the attack sends shock waves through her family and their small Swedish community. Anna seems to have had no enemies, so who wanted her dead? As loved-ones wait anxiously by her bedside, her husband Erik is determined to get to the bottom of the attack, and soon begins uncovering his wife's secret life, and a small town riven with desire, betrayal and jealousy. As the list of suspects grows longer, it soon becomes clear that only one person can reveal the truth, and she's lying silent in a hospital bed...

October 2017

Deadlier is 100 of the best crime stories written by women, selected and introduced by

Sophie Hannah. From Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier, to Val McDermid and Margaret Atwood, women writers have a long been tempted to criminal acts. Here, award-winning author Sophie Hannah brings together 100 of her favourite examples. Deadlier includes prize-winners, bestsellers and rising stars, so whether you take your crime cosy or hard-boiled, this big, beautiful anthology will keep you reading long into the night.

They say the girls were witches, but Beatrice Scarlet, the apothecary's daughter, knows they were victims...London, 1758: Beatrice Scarlet has returned to London and found work at St Mary Magdalene's Refuge for fallen women. Beatrice enjoys the work and her apothecary skills are much needed. The home cooperates with a network of wealthy factory owners across London, finding their charges steady work and hopes of rehabilitation. But when twelve girls sent to a factory in Clerkenwell disappear, Beatrice is uneasy. Their would-be benefactor claims they were witches, sacrificed by Satan for his demonic misdeeds. But Beatrice is sure something much darker than witchcraft is at play...  The Coven is by Graham Masterton.

Trust Me is by Zosia Wand.  Lizzie is twenty-seven, and she has a great relationship with her seventeen-year-old stepson, Sam, even though they could pass for brother and sister. When Sam becomes sullen and withdrawn, Lizzie starts to suspect that something sinister is going on at school. She thinks an older woman is grooming him, trying to turn him against his family. But nobody believes her - and then suspicion falls on Lizzie herself.

The Downside is by Mike Cooper.  In an age of cyber-crime, Finn is an old school thief: he's never stolen anything weighing less than five tons. Now, fresh out of prison and flat broke, he's got a line on his biggest job ever. Cracking the most heavily guarded private vault in North America? No problem. Hauling $50 million of precious metal out past guards, dozens of policemen and an armored SWAT battalion? Even easier. But navigating the betrayals of double-crossing partners, the machinations of a hedge-fund billionaire gone bad, and the ambiguous proposals of a woman with her own agenda? Finn has only begun to figure out the downside.

November 2017

Jenny Aaron was a government assassin, part of an elite unit tracking Germany's most dangerous criminals. She was one of the best, until a disastrous mission ended with her abandoning a wounded colleague and then going blind from her injuries. Now, five years later, she has learnt to navigate a darkened world, but is haunted by betraying her colleague. When she is called back to the force to trace a ruthless serial killer, she seizes the opportunity to solve the case and restore her honour. Strong-willed and fearless - but vulnerable too. In The Dark is by Andreas Pflüger.

Life's tough for a Gypsy cop in Budapest. The cops don't trust you because you're a Gypsy. Your fellow Gypsies, even your own family, shun you because you're a cop. The dead, however, don't care. So when Balthazar Kovacs, a detective in the city's murder squad, gets a mysterious message on his phone from a blocked number he gulps down the rest of his morning coffee, grabs his police ID and goes to work. The message has two parts: a photograph and an address. The photograph shows a man, in his early thirties, lying on his back with his eyes open, half-covered by a blue plastic sheet. The address is 26, Republic Square, the former Communist Party headquarters and once the most feared building in the country. But when Kovacs arrives at Republic Square, the body has gone...  District VIII is by Adam Lebor.

Undertow is by Anthony J Quinn.  The body of a dead police detective drifts ashore at Lough Neagh. What appears to be a simple case of suicide, takes on a more sinister tone when Detective Celcius Daly travels across the Irish border to the desolate village of Dreesh, a place where law and order have ground to a halt, and whose residents, ruined by a chain of bankruptcies, have fallen under the spell of a malevolent crime boss with powerful political connections to the IRA. Out of his jurisdiction, out of his claustrophobic cottage and out of his comfort zone, Daly is plunged into a shadowy border world of desperate informers, drunken ex-cops, freelance intelligence agents and violent smugglers. Doomed to be kept in the dark by two separate police forces working in parallel to each other along a border bracing itself for Brexit, Daly's dogged search for the truth soon sparks an outbreak of murderous violence.

Criminal Snippets

Incredibly sad to hear via Martin Edwards blog Do You Write Under Your Own Name of the death of Stuart Pawson. I met Stuart a number of times at various CWA events and I can honestly say he was one of the nicest people to talk to.  He also wrote wonderful books.  He shall certainly be missed by a lot of us.  

Good news on the publicity front to some of our favourite PR people who have been promoted!  Congratulations go to Caitlin Raynor who has been made Deputy Communications Director at Headline. Frances Gough who has been promoted from Senior Press Officer to Publicity Manager.  More information can be found here.

Congratulations also go to Elizabeth Masters who has been made Deputy Publicity Director for Quercus.  Prior to her promotion she was PR Manager for Tinder Press at Headline.

Author James Patterson has launched a co-writing competition according to the Bookseller.  To enter the student must be enrolled in Patterson’s Masterclass and the winner will co-author a book with him.

Author C J Lyons is to have the first in a new series published by Canelo.  The book entitled Last Light will also see the re-issue of her Lucy Guardino FBI Thrillers.

Huge congratulations also go to Alex Marwood who has signed a contract for two more novels with Sphere. The Edgar and Macavity Award winning author’s latest book is the Darkest Secret.

The Bafta award-wining drama is set to return to the BBC with three new films.  The films are The Third Voice, The Lost Weekend and The Big Bang. Murder uses personal confessions to revisit the missing moments leading up to a death, in search of the truth.

The BBC have also recommissioned The Coroner and Father Brown.  The Coroner  will return in a new 10 part series that will begin shooting in South Devon later on this year whilst, Father Brown will continue for a fifth year.

According to Nordic Noir TV, BBC 4 have acquired “Modus” a new Nordic Noir crime drama. Based on the bestselling series of novels Vik/Stubø by Anne Holt, Modus is an adaptation of the fourth book Fear Not (Pengemannen’) which was written in 2009.  The UK air date is yet to be announced.
Coming to More4 on 3 March is Thicker Than Water at 10pm.  It is said to be a glorious Nordic noir with a difference, set in the enchanting Swedish archipelago. In Thicker Than Water a mother attempts to reunite her three adult children by forcing them to confront the dark family secrets that are buried in their past.  The trailer can be seen below.

The Guardian have a review of When I was Old by Georges Simenon which is a rare glimpse into his life.

Clare Clark also reviews ex-Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis gothic debut The Butcher’s Hook. Also in The Telegraph Janet Ellis talks about going from being a Blue Peter presenter to a debut novelist.

For those of you like me that are presently enjoying the adaptation of John Le Carré’s The Night Manager you might be interested in the Guardian quiz on how much do you know about John Le Carré.  

Also in The Telegraph Tom Hiddleston who can currently be seen in The Night Manager talks about why his character could be the next Bond.

According to the Bookseller Transworld Books have won the rights to Waterstones crime buyer Joe Knobbs debut series of crime novels.  The series, set in a "sprawling, twilight northern city”, will introduce readers to Aidan Waits, a disgraced young detective, who is caught stealing drugs from evidence and subsequently blackmailed into going undercover. When an MP’s daughter runs away from home, Waits is sent to track her down and finds himself "at the centre of a storm". Uncovering the motives of those involved, he’s thrown forwards - through politicians, police and drug lords - towards "a truth he doesn’t want to know".  Volume rights for three books were acquired.  The first book in the series Sirens is due to be published in Spring 2017.

Congratulations go to C J Box for winning the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Best Novel and also Robert J Randisi who has been awarded the 2016 John Seigenthaler Legend Award.  The award is given by Killer Nashville.

According to Deadline Bill Paxton is to star in a present day reimaging of the Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke film Training Day. Set 15 years after the film, Bill Paxton is set to play one of the bad cop roles in the CBS drama pilot.

It looks as if there is going to be another remake of The Thomas Crown Affair according to Deadline.  The classic 1968 original of course featured Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway whilst the first remake in 1999 featured Pierce Brosnan (of Bond fame) and Rene Russo.  This time around hot of his brilliant acting in Creed, Michael B Jordan is set to star.  Why they need a remake I don’t know.  The original in my opinion is still the best but the 1999 version is no slouch either.

Author of The Turning Tide, Brooke Magnanti talks about her new novel in the Independent and also about real and fictional forensics.  In The Telegraph the author also talks about her mother buying all her Secret Diary of a Call Girl books which were based on her blog written using the pseudonym Belle de Jour.
Fans of Daredevil will welcome the trailer for season two that has just been released.  The trailer which can be seen below shows The Punisher and Elecktra in action.

The second season of Daredevil can be seen on Netflix from 18^th March.

A new cast list has been confirmed for the drama DCI Banks which is based on the novels of Peter Robinson. The series is comprised of 6 x 60’ original episodes inspired by the books from acclaimed novelist Peter Robinson.