Forthcoming books to look forward to from Constable & Robinson

The Thief is a seasoned pickpocket.  Anonymous in his tailored suit, he weaves in and out of Tokyo crowds, stealing wallets from strangers so smoothly sometimes he doesn't even remember the snatch.  Most people are just a blur to him, nameless faces from whom he chooses his victims.  He has no family, no friends, no connections...But he does have a past, which finally catches up with him when Ishikawa, his first partner, reappears in his life, and offers him a job he can't refuse.  It's an easy job: tie up an old rich man, steal the contents of the safe.  No one gets hurt.  Only the day after the job, does he learn that the old man was a prominent politician, and that he was brutally killed after the robbery.  And now the Thief is caught in a tangle even he might not be able to escape.  The Thief is translated from Japanese and is by Fuminori Nakamura.  It is due to be published in August 2012.

A Time for Patriots is by Dale Brown and is due to be published in August 2012.  When murderous bands of militiamen begin roaming the western United States and attacking government agencies, it will take a dedicated group of the nation's finest and toughest civilian airmen to put an end to the home-grown insurgency.  U.S. Air Force Lieutenant-General Patrick McLanahan vows to take to the skies to join the fight, but when his son, Bradley, also signs up, they find themselves caught in a deadly game against a shadowy opponent.  When the stock markets crash and the U.S. economy falls into a crippling recession, everything changes for newly elected president Kenneth Phoenix.  Politically exhausted from a bruising and divisive election, Phoenix must order a series of massive tax cuts and wipe out entire cabinet-level departments to reduce government spending.  With reductions in education and transportation, an incapacitated National Guard, and the loss of public safety budgets, entire communities of armed citizens band together for survival and mutual protection.  Against this dismal backdrop, a SWAT team is ambushed and radioactive materials are stolen by a group calling themselves the Knights of the True Republic.  Is the battle against the government about to be taken to a new and deadlier level?  In this time of crisis, a citizen organization rises to the task of protecting their fellow countrymen: the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the U.S. Air Force auxiliary.  The Nevada Wing - led by retired Air Force Lieutenant-General Patrick McLanahan, his son, Bradley, and other volunteers - uses their military skills in the sky and on the ground to hunt down violent terrorists.  But how will Patrick respond when extremists launch a catastrophic dirty bomb attack in Reno, spreading radiological fallout for miles?  And when Bradley is caught in a deadly double-cross that jeopardizes the CAP, Patrick will have to fight to find out where his friends' loyalties lie: Are they with him and the CAP or with the terrorists?  With A Time for Patriots, Dale Brown brings the battle home to explore a terrifying possibility-the collapse of the American Republic.

A winter's evening and a trio of unruly youths board a bus and gang up on teenager Luke Donnelly, hurling abuse and threatening to kill him.  The bus is full but no one intervenes until Jason Barnes, a young student, challenges the youths.  Luke seizes the chance to run off the bus but his attackers follow.  Andrew Barnes is dragged from the shower by his wife Valerie: there's a fight in the front garden and Jason's trying to break it up.  Andrew rushes to help and the assailants flee.  Jason shouts to his father to phone an ambulance - Luke is badly hurt.  Minutes later Jason collapses in their living room, he has been stabbed.  The blow proves fatal.  Valerie and Andrew are devastated by the loss of their only child, and react in very different ways to their grief.  Valerie wants justice, revenge even, but Andrew is desperate to find some meaning in Jason's sacrifice, some understanding about what led to such a tragedy.  Luke survived the assault thanks to Jason's actions, but is in a coma.  His mum Louise keeps vigil at his bedside, waiting for him to wake and trying to keep the rest of life as normal as possible for her younger child Ruby.  As his marriage disintegrates, Andrew secretly visits Luke and his mother Louise and a fragile friendship develops.  Meanwhile the press begin to paint a picture of Luke as a less than innocent victim and raise questions about the cost of Jason's heroism.  One of the offenders confesses to the attacks and shows remorse while the others plead not guilty.  Conflicting accounts emerge during the trial.  With some parties prepared to lie, the matter of uncovering what really happened is far from straightforward, and the jury's verdict hard to predict.  Split Second is by Cath Staincliffe and is due to be published in July 2012.  It is a novel that explores the issue of whether to intervene or look the other way and the fall-out from either decision.  "Split Second" tackles questions of bravery, fear, and kindness and depicts the human impact of violent crime.

When Inspector John Carlyle discovers a disorientated girl in a park near Buckingham Palace, he takes it upon himself to find out who she is and where she's from.  His hunt for the identity of this lost girl takes him from Ukrainian gangsters in North London to the lower reaches of the British aristocracy.  Soon, the inspector is on the trail of a child-trafficking ring that stretches from Kiev to London, and back to the palace itself...  Buckingham Palace Blues by James Craig and is the third book in the series to feature Inspector John Carlyle and is due to be publish in August 2012.

Tooth for a Tooth is by T F Muir and is due to be published in September 2012.  What secrets from the past was he about to uncover?  When a woman's skeleton is discovered in a shallow grave, DCI Andy Gilchrist is tasked with finding her murderer.  But a psychic's warnings and markings on a rusted cigarette lighter found among the rotted remains set Gilchrist off on a trail that will take him back 35 years back to his past and on course to find his brother's killer in a fatal hit and run accident.  When dental records from an extracted tooth force Gilchrist to confront the unthinkable - that his brother was her killer - he keeps his fears to himself, only to be suspended on suspicion of destroying evidence.  But Gilchrist battles on in his quest for answers.  Who was the woman?  Why was she murdered?  And was the fatal hit and run really an accident?

Due to financial hardships at Tawcester Towers, the Dowager Duchess has decreed that the only way the family fortunes can be restored is to marry Blotto to an American.  So begins the fourth adventure in the Blotto and Twinks series, and this time the aristocratic sleuthing siblings end up being transported across the Pond to the gangster-ridden hellhole that is Prohibition Chicago.  Reluctantly, Blotto being together with Twinks and his trusty chauffeur Corky Froggett set sail on ocean liner S/S His Majesty.  He feels like a condemned man as waiting him in Illinois is fabulously wealthy heiress Mary Chapstic.  She is the only daughter of meatpacking magnate Hiram P. Chapstick III.  But it's Twinks who discovers early on that all is not as it seems and that Hiram P. Chapstick III is in fact up to his neck in a bootlegging operation run by the notorious Chicago mobster, Spagsy Chiaparelli.  So Blotto and Twinks set out to unmask the villainy of Hiram P. Chapstick III, where a final shootout takes place among the filthy stockyards, abattoirs and caning factories of Chicago's Meatpacking District.  Will Blotto and Twinks ever make it back to dear old Blighty?  Blotto, Twinks and the Bootlegger’s Moll is by Simon Brett and is due to be published in July 2012.

A Brief Guide to James Bond is due to be published in September 2012.  The world's fascination with Bond is unstoppable.  James Bond is the greatest British fictional hero of the post-war era.  He also has a huge following in the US - and around the world - as a legendary Cold War warrior, and now as a daredevil able to take on the villains of the post-Cold War world.  The Bond books are all in print.  With new stories by Sebastian Faulks and Jeffrey Deaver and a forthcoming book by William Boyd and Charlie Higson writing children's versions.  In this comprehensive guide to Ian Fleming, the books, the films and the world that was created out of "007", Nigel Cawthorne uncovers Bond's allure.  It comes with special sections on the main characters - Q, M, the Bond Girls, and the women who first inspired them; the cars, and the incomparable baddies.  It will be the ideal gift for fans and aficionados alike and will be published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of "Doctor No".

His and Her is by M C Beaton and is due to be published in October 2012.  Agatha has fallen in love - again.  This time it's the local gardener, George Marston, she has her eye on.  But competition for his attention abounds.  With her shameless determination, Agatha will do anything to get her man - including footing the bill for a charity ball in town just for the chance to dance with him.  But when George is a no-show Agatha goes looking for him - and finds he has been murdered, having been bitten by a poisonous snake and buried in a compost heap.  Agatha and the rest of her crew plunge into an investigation and discover that George had quite a complicated love life.  And if Agatha now can't have George, at least she can have the satisfaction of confronting those women who have and finding a murderer in the process.

 

 Ted Bundy.  America's most notorious serial killer.  For two women, he is the ultimate obsession.  One is cop whose sister may have been one of Bundy's victims.  The other is a deranged groupie who corresponded with Bundy in prison - and raised her son to finish what he started.  To charm and seduce innocent girls.  To kidnap and brutalize more women than any serial killer in history.  And to lure one obsessed cop into a trap as sick and demented as Bundy himself...  The Fear Collector is by Greg Olsen and is due to be published in November 2012.

The Fourth Crow is by Pat McIntosh and is due to be published in July 2012.  The crows are gathering above Glasgow, watching the movements of the clergy and townspeople alike...Tied to St Mungo's Cross by the cathedral to be cured of her madness overnight by the saint, the young woman is found in the morning beaten and strangled, still tied to the cross.  But is she who she seems to be?  And who would flout the saint's protection like this?  Gil Cunningham must trace the dead woman and find her enemies, track down the thieves and murderers and identify the watchers in the shadows, particularly the elusive fourth person who holds the secret of what happened that night.  Questioning cathedral staff and apprentice boys, pilgrims and tradesmen, he uncovers only more puzzles.  And then there is another death.  How is it connected to the first?  While his wife Alys deals with the tensions within their family, Gil has to untangle the threads of the mystery to find the 

Pulse is by John Lutz and is due to be published in October 2012.  The infamous transsexual serial killer known as Daniel Danielle escapes from prison during a Florida hurricane and Frank Quinn fears he has returned and is wreaking havoc as the body count rises.  Or it could be a copycat killer working with stunning originality but whoever it is, this evil force must be stopped before another victim is claimed.  Pulse is due to be published in October 2012.

Joey McCarthy is stabbed to death in a pub car park in a random act of violence.  Shortly afterwards Charlotte Stone's terminally ill mother dies and then, within weeks, two of her teenage friends commit suicide.  With her home life disintegrating and both her father and brother racing towards self-destruction Charlotte realises that her own personal nightmare may not be over yet.  When DC Gary Goodhew finds the body of another suicide victim he is forced to recall some deeply buried memories of an earlier death; memories which lead him to Charlotte Stone and the events in her life.  From their individual points of view, they both begin to wonder whether all these tragedies are somehow linked to a bigger picture.  And if they are right, then who will be the next victim?  The Silence is the fourth book in the DC Gary Goodhew series by Alison Bruce and is due to be published in July 2012.

Author Hannah Dennison has two books due out in September 2012.  First, Expose - When an early morning call wakes Vicky from the arms of her dream man, reality had better be worth it - and it is.  A tipster tells her about the secret funeral of local celebrity Scarlett Flemming, organised by her grieving husband Doug.  The entire town is baffled by the sudden death and oddly discreet funeral.  After all, in life Scarlett had hardly been a shrinking violet.  Vicky's suspicions are heightened when she learns of the Flemings' shaky finances - and that Doug has as many admirers as Scarlett had enemies.  And while canvassing suspects and juggling three potential suitors, Vicky must stay one-step ahead of a killer once she realises she's no longer writing an obituary - she's writing an expose!  The second book is Thieves, after a spate of local robberies Vicky's hot on the trail of gypsies, tramps and thieves!  Unaware that their temporary pitches is also the official gathering site for the upcoming annual Morris Man Dance-a-thon, the gypsies have set up their illegal campsite at The Grange - much to the dismay of almost everyone in town.  And when shortly afterwards there is a slew of sliver thefts in the area, blaming the despised uninvited guests makes more than a little sense.  But when the body of an unnamed woman is found in a shallow stream, Vicky suspects there's a connection between the murder and the recent thefts - and she's determined to prove it.  It's a criminal conundrum suited only for the mind of Vicky Hill, Cub Reporter on the "Gipping Gazette", and she's determined to uncover answers and clinch her fourth national exclusive!

Books to look forward to from Constable and Robinson

David Dickinson’s Death in a Scarlet Coat is due to be published in January 2011. Master of the Hunt, the fifteenth Earl of Candlesby, has come to lead his riders once again. But this time he comes as a corpse, wrapped in blankets across his horse, a corner of his scarlet coat visible in the morning mist. Only three people see the body. One dies. Another vanishes. Now only one man knows how he was killed. Lord Francis Powerscourt is summoned to investigate murder in a crumbling house where the paper is peeling off the walls and the stuffed owls each only have one leg. The estate is virtually bankrupt as Powerscourt uncovers a world of jealousy, revenge and hatred, where the sons are as dissolute and dangerous as the father. The fifteenth earl had left a trail of duels, theft and adultery across the flatlands of Lincolnshire. It takes another death and a deadly chase under the crumbling estate before Powerscourt unlocks the secret of death in a scarlet coat.

Death of a Sweep is by M C Beaton and is due to be published in February 2011. In the south of Scotland, residents get their chimneys vacuum-cleaned. But in the isolated villages in the very north of Scotland, the villagers rely on the services of the itinerant sweep, Pete Ray, and his old-fashioned brushes. Pete is always able to find work in the Scottish highlands, until one

day when Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping onto the floor of a villager's fireplace, and a dead body stuffed inside the chimney. The entire town of Lochdubh is certain Pete is the culprit, but Hamish doesn't believe that the affable chi

mney sweep is capable of committing murder. Then Pete's body is found on the Scottish moors, and the mystery deepens. Once again, it’s up to Hamish to discover who’s responsible for the dirty deed — and this time, the murderer may be closer than he realizes.

Stormtide is a Webb Carrick murder mystery. Webb Carrick of the Scottish Fisheries Protection Service latest adventure takes him on a North Atlantic shark hunt in the waters of the storm-tossed Hebrides. Webb Carrick finds he has inadvertently strayed right into the middle of a smouldering feud between a renegade band of shark hunters and some vengeful local fishermen, angered by the drowning of a young girl – a feud which threatens to ignite when he boards a wrecked fishing boat and finds her skipper dead on deck. As furious charges and counter charges are hurled, murder and arson come to the islands with stealthy suddenness. But when the final stormtide breaks even Webb Carrick is staggered to discover how much is at stake in terms of life and death. Stormtide is by Bill Knox and is due to be published in February 2011.

Murder at the Villa Byzantine is the sixth crime novel to feature amateur sleuths Antonia Darcy and Major Payne. What role does the mysterious Miss Hope, former governess to the Bulgarian royal family, play in the bizarre murder at the Villa Byzantine? And does she in fact actually exist? Antonia Darcy and Major Hugh Payne attend a birthday party for one of their Hampstead neighbours, little knowing they will end up investigating the grisly death of one of Melisa

nde Chevret’s other guests. The ageing actress becomes a natural suspect when her love rival is killed. But after that first murder, another murder takes place at the Villa Byzantine. The owner of the exotically styled house is royal biographer Tancred Vane, but he swears he is innocent. And surely his new friend Catherine Hope, an elderly lady helping him with his research, can have nothing to do with it? It looks as though the victim’s daughter is to blame – but how likely is it that a teenage girl should have a dainty silk handkerchief bearing her monogram? And would she drop it so conveniently beside her mother’s dead body? Murder at the Villa Byzantine is by R T Raichev and is due to be published in February 2011.

Why Don’t You Come For Me is by Diane Janes and will be published in March 2011. Sometimes Jo still wakes suddenly, thinking she can hear Lauren’s cry. Although twelve years have passed since her baby daughter was abducted, photos of the child continue to arrive by post with the words, I Still Have Her, scrawled across the back. The police think it’s the work of a hoaxer but Jo has always believed them to be genuine – and until there is some hard evidence to the contrary, she will always hold on to the belief that Lauren is still alive. But if the pictures really do come from the kidnapper it means that they have been keeping track of Jo’s movements all these years – and recently Jo has begun to feel as if she is being watched – and that whoever has her daughter is getting closer. Is Jo’s husband right to dismiss her fears as paranoia, or might Jo herself be in danger? As her life begins to unravel Jo fears that the truth may lie in older events; in a half-forgotten childhood world, scarred by rumours of insanity and murder.

The Calling by Alison Bruce and is the third in the DC Goodhew series and is due to be published in July 2011. Kaye Whiting went to buy a birthday present and didn’t come back. She isn’t dead, or physically injured. But she is alone and very, very scared. Fifty miles away in Cambridge town centre a deeply disturbed young woman is standing by a payphone. She kno

ws she often feels compelled to do harmful things and is driven by a desire to make a call. DC Goodhew is

one of the detectives assigned to find Kaye and when her body is discovered the only clue to the potential murderer is a woman’s voice on his answerphone saying, ‘K

aye isn’t the first and won’t be the last…’

The Witness is by Cath Staincliffe. A senseless crime, a community in fear, would you dare stand up and be counted? Would you bear witness knowing how high the cost might be? Four bystanders in the wrong place at the wrong time. Witnesses to the shocking shooting of a teenage boy. A moment that changes their lives forever. Fiona, a midwife, is plagued by panic attacks and unable to work. Has she the strength to testify? Mike, a delivery driver and family man, faces an impossible decision when his frightened wife forces him to choose – us or the court case. Cheryl, a single-mother, doesn’t want her child to grow up in the same climate of fear. Dare she speak out and risk her own life? Zak, a homeless man, offers to talk in exchange for witness protection and the chance of a new start. Ordinary people in an extraordinary situation. Will the witnesses stand firm or be prevented from giving evidence? How will they cope with the emotional trauma of reliving the murder under pitiless cross-examination? A compassionate, suspenseful and illuminating story exploring the real human cost of bearing witness. The Witness is due to be published in April 2011.

Death’s Other Kingdom is the third Inspector Max Romero mystery. 23rd February 1981 – an attempted military coup in Spain. Thirty years later, young journalist Mariana Mora learns that her father’s death that day was suicide. She doesn’t believe it. As Granada moves through its winter cycle of pageants and rituals, Inspector Max Romero investigates assaults on two young women. Both had received threatening notes. And then Mariana is found dead. The police are convinced they are dealing with a serial assailant but Max discovers a link to the death of Mariana’s father. The ghosts of the coup are still powerful and deadly. Death’s Other Kingdom is by P J Brooke and is due to be published in July 2011.

Blotto, Twinks and the Rodents of the Riviera is by Simon Brett. There is consternation at Tawcester Towers! While giving a guided tour of the house’s Long Gallery Blotto is stunned to discover that two of the family portraits – a Gainsborough and a Reynolds – are missing. Tawcester Towers has been the victim of art thieves! Blotto is forced to summon his brilliantly intelligent sister Twinks who instantly deduces that a gang of international art thieves based in Paris has stolen the paintings. So Blotto and Twinks instantly set off in the former’s Lagonda for France! Their investigations in Paris bring them into contact with the absinthe-soaked art community of the Rive Gauche, but after an attempt on his life at the Folies Bergere, Blotto is persuaded by Twinks that it is to Nice they must travel, as the criminal mastermind La Puce runs his evil empire from there, funded by the proceeds of many European art collections – including those from Tawcester Towers. The French Riviera is a gay old place, and following various lead, Twinks makes contacts with many expatriates and Americans all leading the good life, including the famous silent movie star Mimsy La Pim, who Blotto finds himself curiously drawn to. But after a particularly decadent party it is discovered that La Puce has kidnapped Mimsy – and so it is up to Blotto and Twinks to save the starlet from many fates worse than death and restore the fortunes of Tawcester Towers to boot! Blotto, Twinks and the Rodents of the Riviera is due to be published in July 2011.

Warsaw Anagrams is a chilling mystery set in Warsaw’s Jewish ghetto. Autumn 1940. The Nazis seal 400,000 Jews inside a small area of the Polish capital, creating an urban island cut off from the outside world. Erik Cohen, an elderly psychiatrist, is forced to move into a tiny apartment with his niece and his beloved nine-year-old nephew, Adam. One bitterly coldwinter’s day, Adam goes missing. The next morning, his body is discovered in the barbed wire surrounding the ghetto. The boy’s leg has been cut off, and a tiny piece of string has been left in his mouth. Soon, another body turns up – this time a girl’s, and one of her hands has been taken. Evidence begins to point to a Jewish traitor luring children to their death. The Warsaw Anagrams is by Richard Zimler and is due to be published in February 2011.

In A Bedlam of Bones there is more blackmail, mayhem and murder for the humbug-crunching vicar, his dog, and the cat. After the unsettling exploits in the Auvergne the vicar and his companions try to resume a life of moderate respectability. But the recent events cast a long

shadow and they are soon in the grip of sinister repercussions. Who is the menacing blackmailer stalking the previous blackmailer and the bishop? Can the bishop survive the threat of being ‘outed’? Why is there a body in the polyanthus bed and can Lavinia Birtle-Figgins really be as dippy as she seems? These and other imponderables immerse the Reverend Francis Oughterard in a fresh web of danger and subterfuge while his animal ‘minders’, Maurice and Bouncer, try their best to make sense of all this human bedlam. A Bedlam of Bones is by Suzette Hill and is due to be published in May 2011.

In the international bestseller Roma, Steven Saylor told the story of the first thousand years of Rome by following the descendants of a single bloodline. Now, in Empire, Saylor charts the destinies of five more generations of the Pinarius family, from the reign of the first emperor, Augustus, to the glorious height of Rome’s empire under Hadrian. Through the eyes of the Pinarii, we witness the machinations of Tiberius, the madness of Caligula, the cruel escapades of Nero, and the chaos of the Year of Four Emperors in 69 A.D. The deadly paranoia of Domitian is followed by the Golden Age of Trajan and Hadrian—but even the most enlightened emperors wield the power to inflict death and destruction on a whim. But at the novel’s heart are the wrenching choices and seductive temptations faced by each new generation of the Pinarii. One unwittingly becomes the sexual plaything of the notorious Messalina. One enters into a clandestine affair with a Vestal virgin. One falls under the charismatic spell of Nero, while another is drawn into the strange new cult of those who deny the gods and call themselves Christians. However diverse their destinies and desires, all the Pinarii are united by one thing: the mysterious golden talisman called the fascinum handed down from a time before Rome existed. As it passes from generation to generation, the fascinum seems to exercise a power not only over those who wear it, but over the very fate of the empire. Empire is by Steven Saylor and is due to be published in May 2011.

A serial killer holds New York in his grip. He does not choose his victims. Nor does he watch them die. But then there are too many of them for that. The explosion of a twenty-two storey

building, followed by the casual discovery of a letter, lead the police to face up to a dreadful reality: some of New York’s buildings were mined at the time of their construction. But which ones? And how many? A young female detective hiding her personal demons behind a tough appearance, and a former press photographer with a past he’d rather forget, and for which he still seeks forgiveness, are the only hope of stopping this psychopath. A man who does not even claim responsibility for his actions.

A man who believes himself to be God. I am God is by Giorgio Faletti and is due to be published in June 2011.

The Counterfeit Madam by Pat McIntosh is due to be published in June 2011. Gil Cunningham had hoped that the first time he set foot in the brothel on the Drygate it would also be his last, but by the time all was settled he felt quite at home within its artfully painted chambers. The bawdy house, along with the neighbouring property and two more in Strathblane, are all part of a deal offered to Gil and his wife Alys by the forceful Dame Isabella. Her proposal also involves Gil’s young ward, and matters are further confused by an outbreak of counterfeit coins in Glasgow, which Gil has been ordered to investigate. Then Dame Isabella is found dead in strange circumstances, and the more Gil pursues the cause of her death, the more false coins he finds. And then the bawd-mistress, the enigmatic Madam Xanthe, gets involved and rumours circulate that the Devil is abroad in Strathblane. By the time Gil and Alys have untangled matters, some very surprising – and sinister – thing have come to light.

Devil-Devil by G W Kent is an exotic crime series set in the Solomon Islands featuring Sergeant Kella and Sister Conchita. It’s 1960 and Sergeant Ben Kella of the Solomon Islands police force is only a few days into a routine patrol of the most beautiful yet dangerous and primitive areas of the South Pacific. Yet, already, he has been cursed by a magic man, stumbled across evidence of a cult uprising and failed to find an American anthropologist who has been scouring the mountainous jungle in search of a priceless erotic icon. To complicate matters further, at a local mission station, Kella discovers the redoubtable Sister Conchita secretly trying to bury a skeleton, before a mysterious gunman tries to kill her. Mission-educated yet an aofia – the traditional peacemaker of the islands – Kella is forced to link up with Sister Conchita, an independent and rebellious young American nun, in order to track down the perpetrators of a series of bizarre murders. Devil-Devil is due to be published in June 2011.