Books to Look Forward to From Orion Publishing

July 2019

What happens when a private investigator ends up being the one uncovered?  Having lost everything after a failed marriage, Beverley Saunders now lodges in the basement flat of a house owned by her best friend Sophie and her husband, Tim. With Bev's former glittering marketing career in the gutter, she begins to do investigative work for other wronged women, gathering dirt on philanderers, bosses and exes.  But when Beverley takes on the case of Sophie's friend Angela, who is seeking to uncover grounds for divorce from her controlling husband, Jerry, the shadow Science Minister, she soon discovers that she isn't the only one doing the investigating... Beverley has a secret history she doesn't want coming out - but will she manage to stay hidden long enough to give Angela the freedom she deserves?  Tight Rope is by Marnie Riches.

Never Look Back is by A L Gaylin. She was the most brutal killer of our time. And she may have been my mother...  When website columnist Robin Diamond is contacted by true crime podcast producer Quentin Garrison, she assumes it's a business matter. It's not. Quentin's podcast, Closure, focuses on a series of murders in the 1970s, committed by teen couple April Cooper and Gabriel LeRoy. It seems that Quentin has reason to believe Robin's own mother may be intimately connected with the killings.  Robin thinks Quentin's claim is absurd. But is it? The more she researches the Cooper/LeRoy murders herself, the more disturbed she becomes by what she finds. Living just a few blocks from her, Robin's beloved parents are the one absolute she's always been able to rely upon, especially now amid rising doubts about her husband and frequent threats from internet trolls. Robin knows her mother better than anyone. But then her parents are brutally attacked, and Robin realises she doesn't know the truth at all...

Victim, survivor, abductor, criminal.  You will each become one. Your phone rings.  A stranger has kidnapped your child.  To free them you must abduct someone else’s child.  Your child will be released when your victim’s parents kidnap another child.  If any of these don’t happen your chid will be killed.  You are now part of the chain. The Chain is by Adrian McKinty.

August 2019

Four unsolved murders. In 1959, The Walker family murders shook Florida. At one time, 587 people were considered suspects - but 60 years later the investigation remains unsolved.   An FBI Agents final job. Former FBI agent Brigid Quinn is trying to enjoy life after work. But when the intriguingly complex Walker case comes up, she's only too happy to postpone retirement for a little longer.  A long forgotten killer.  At first, Quinn is reluctant to draw comparisons with another high-profile investigation of the time: the Clutter family murders, made infamous in Capote's In Cold Blood. But the similarities are impossible to ignore, and she is convinced that Perry Smith and Dick Hickok, executed at the time, weren't acting alone - in both cases . . .  We Were Killers Once is by Becky Masterman.

Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.  In the lucrative world of Wall Street finance, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie and Sam are the ultimate high-flyers. Ruthlessly ambitious, they make billion-dollar deals and live lives of outrageous luxury. Getting rich is all that matters, and they'll do anything to get ahead.  When the four of them become trapped in an elevator escape room, things start to go horribly wrong. They have to put aside their fierce office rivalries and work together to solve the clues that will release them. But in the confines of the elevator the dark secrets of their team are laid bare. They are made to answer for profiting from a workplace where deception, intimidation and sexual harassment thrive.  Tempers fray and the escape room's clues turn more and more ominous, leaving the four of them dangling on the precipice of disaster.  If they want to survive, they'll have to solve one more final puzzle: which one of them is a killer? The Escape Room is by Megan Goldin.

Sanctuary is by V V James.  Sanctuary. It's the perfect town. . . to hide a secret.  To Detective Maggie Knight, the death of Sanctuary's star quarterback seems to be a tragic accident. Only, everyone knows his ex-girlfriend is the daughter of a witch - and she was there when he died.  Then the rumours start. Bereaved mother Abigail will stop at nothing until she has justice for her dead son. Her best friend Sarah will do everything in her power to protect her accused daughter. And both women share a secret that could shatter their lives.  It falls to Maggie to prevent her investigation - and Sanctuary itself - from spiralling out of control.

The Darker Arts is by Oscar de Muriel. Madame Katerina, Detective 'Nine Nails' McGray's most trusted clairvoyant, hosts a seance for three of Edinburgh's wealthiest families.  The following morning everyone is found dead, with Madame Katerina being the only survivor. When questioned she alleges a tormented spirit killed the families for revenge.  McGray, even though he believes her, must find a rational explanation that holds up in court, else Katerina will be sentenced to death.  Inspector Ian Frey is summoned to help, which turns out to be difficult as he is still dealing with the loss of his uncle, and has developed a form of post-traumatic stress (not yet identified in the 19th century).  This seems an impossible puzzle. Either something truly supernatural has occurred - or a fiendishly clever plot is covering a killer's tracks...

'Who am I? Why am I here? Why did my mother give me away?'  On the surface, Luke and his girlfriend Hannah seem to have a perfect life. He's an A&R man, she's an arts correspondent and they are devoted to their new-born son Samuel. But beneath the gloss Luke has always felt like an outsider. So when he finds his birth mother Alice, the instant connection with her is a little like falling in love.  When Hannah goes back to work, Luke asks Alice to look after their son. But Alice - fuelled with grief from when her baby was taken from her 27 years ago - starts to fall in love with Samuel. And Luke won't settle for his mother pushing him aside once again...  Mine is by Clare Empson.

September 2019

A locked room. A dead body. A secret that went to the grave.  When retired police officer Finlay Shaw is found dead in a locked room, everyone thinks it's suicide. But disgraced detective William 'Wolf' Fawkes isn't so sure. Together with his former partner Detective Emily Baxter and private detective Edmunds, Wolf's team begin to dig into Shaw's early days on the beat. Was Shaw as innocent as he seemed? Or is there more to his past than he'd ever let on?  But not everyone wants Wolf back - and as his investigation draws him ever deeper into police corruption, it will not only be his career on the line - but the lives of those he holds closest as well...  Endgame is by Daniel Cole.

Set in a remote valley town in the heart of Norway's ancient fjords, Lake Child is by Isabel Ashdown and centres on the mystery of 16-year-old Eva Olsen, as she wakes after an accident and finds herself confined to the attic room of her family's forest home.  When a young Norwegian woman wakes from an accident robbed of her most recent memories, she trusts her parents' advice that she must stay confined to her attic bedroom while she recuperates. But when Eva decides the time has come to break free of their caring incarceration, she discovers a world of secrets and lies, and a journey to discover her true identity begins.

Degrees of Guilt is by H S Candler.  Maria is on trial for attempted murder. 

She has confessed to the crime and wanted her husband dead.   Lottie is on the jury, trying to decide her fate.  She embarks on an illicit affair with a stranger, and her husband can never find out.   You will think you know who is guilty and who is innocent. You will be wrong. 

Philocles and his troupe of actors have taken their play, The Builders, on the road to Corinth. But when their local contact dies of a suspicious poison only hours after they arrive in the city, Philocles needs to start asking questions.  But in one of the busiest trading cities in the ancient world, with rival gangs roaming the streets and a seemingly ruthless poisoner on the loose.  Scorpions in Corinth is by J M Alvey.

The Postmaster looked over my shoulder. As I turned to look I saw a flicker of movement from across the street. I felt unseen eyes peer at me. He walked away without another word. I watched as he climbed onto his bicycle and sped away down the street. I turned back and looked over my shoulder. Someone had been watching us. 1904. Thomas Bexley, one of the first forensic photographers, is called to the sleepy and remote Welsh village of Dinas Powys, several miles down the coast from the thriving port of Cardiff. A young girl by the name of Betsan Tilny has been found murdered in the woodland - her body bound and horribly burnt. But the crime scene appears to have been staged, and worse still: the locals are reluctant to help.  As the strange case unfolds, Thomas senses a growing presence watching him, and try as he may, the villagers seem intent on keeping their secret. Then one night, in the grip of a fever, he develops the photographic plates from the crime scene in a makeshift darkroom in the cellar of his lodgings. There, he finds a face dimly visible in the photographs; a face hovering around the body of the dead girl - the face of Betsan Tilny.  A Shadow of the Lens is by Sam Hurcom.

October 2019

Under Occupation is by Alan Furst.  Occupied Paris in 1942, a dark, treacherous city now ruled by the German security services, where French resistance networks are working secretly to defeat Hitler. Just before he dies, a man being chased by the Gestapo hands off to Paul Ricard a strange looking drawing. It looks like a part for a military weapon; Ricard realizes it must be an important document smuggled out of Germany to aid the resistance. As Ricard is drawn deeper and deeper into the French resistance network, his increasingly dangerous assignments lead him to travel to Germany, along the underground safe houses of the resistance - all the way to the mysterious and beautiful Leila, a professional spy.

A tragic death. A dark family secret. A past you can't escape. How well do you really know those closest to you?  Sarah's world has descended into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to find out the truth of what happened, and make sure the guilty are brought to justice. She is haunted by her dad's death, consumed by her grief and the memories of a cruel day that changed her life forever... she doesn't even know who she is anymore. But the future holds some hope for Sarah, as she tries to move forward. Nicola's future is not looking so hopeful. Since her husband died, the secret she's been keeping from her family - especially her daughter, Sarah - is eating away at her. The past is catching up with her, and the consequences will be devastating.  Bad Seed is by Jessica Eames.

When Gabriella is found unconscious on the banks of the canal, the first person DS Kate Munro wants to talk to is Gabi’s identical twin, Thea. There’s no evidence, but this attack seems personal.   The twins met for the first time in over a decade just last week. So what brought them back together so suddenly? With the attacker on the loose, no leads, and the victim still in a coma, DS Munro is determined to find out.  Ask Me No Questions is by Louisa de Lange.

The Night Fire is by Michael Connelly.  LAPD Detective Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch come together again on the murder case that obsessed Bosch's mentor - but was this flame kept alive, or a secret that was meant to be snuffed out?  Back when Harry Bosch was just a rookie homicide detective, he had an inspiring mentor who taught him to take the work personally and light the fire of relentlessness for every case. Now that mentor, J.J. Thompson, is dead, but after his funeral his widow hands Bosch a murder book that Thompson took with him when he left the LAPD 20 years before - the unsolved killing of a troubled young man in an alley used for drug deals.  Bosch brings the murder book to Renee Ballard and asks her to help him find what about the case lit Thompson's fire all those years ago. That will be their starting point.  The bond between Bosch and Ballard tightens as they become a formidable investigation team. And they soon arrive at a worrying question: Did Thompson steal the murder book to work the case in retirement, or to make sure it never got solved?

November 2019

Not saying Goodbye is the final novel in the internationally bestselling Erast Fandorin series by Bois Akunin..  Spring 1918. The young Soviet state is in a fever after the Revolution. For more than three years, Erast Fandorin has lain in a coma, faithfully cared for by his Japanese servant Masa. Now they are returning from the latest treatment with Dr Chang, a Chinese healer. Five months of séances have had a positive effect, but doctors remain cautious in their predictions – even if the state councillor does wake up, no one can say how his once prodigious mind might have been affected... 

False Value is by Ben Aaronovitch. Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm. Rather than sit around, he takes a job with emigre Silicon Valley tech genius Terrence Skinner's brand new London start up - the Serious Cybernetics Company. Drawn into the orbit of Old Street's famous 'silicon roundabout', Peter must learn how to blend in with people who are both civilians and geekier than he is. Compared to his last job, Peter thinks it should be a doddle. But magic is not finished with Mama Grant's favourite son.  Because Terrence Skinner has a secret hidden in the bowels of the SCC. A technology that stretches back to Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, and forward to the future of artificial intelligence. A secret that is just as magical as it technological - and just as dangerous.

Remember Me is by Amy McLellan.  Last night my sister was murdered. The police think I killed her. I was there. I watched the knife go in. I saw the man who did it.  And heard him laugh when he said he'd never be caught.  Because he knows I have prosopagnosia - I can't recognise faces. And if I don't find the man who killed my sister, I'll be found guilty of murder.

December 2019

For the Dead is by Lena Bengtsdotter.  She must find the truth about Francesca.   Before the past catches up with her...  DI Charlie Lager returns to investigate a long-buried disappearance.  A tragic past. Thirty years ago, the body of a teenage boy was found in Gullspang's lake, and his best friend vanished from her home. Paul Bergman's death was ruled a suicide; Francesca was never found.  An unsolved case.  Drawn back to Gullspang, Detective Inspector Charlie Lager is haunted by the strange house she knew as a child, and by the missing girl who once lived there. Convinced that the original investigation was flawed, Charlie is determined to uncover what really happened all those decades ago.  A crime that won’t stay buried.  But her interest in Francesca's disappearance begins to stir up long-hidden resentments, and half-forgotten memories. And if the truth is revealed, what will it mean for the living - and for the dead?

January 2020

Poison Ink is by Alison Belsham.  After old remains resurface in a heatwave, a young woman is attacked and left fighting for her life in hospital. Twenty-four hours later she dies and a deadly tattoo is discovered on her body. When another young woman disappears, Detective Francis Sullivan and his team fear a serial killer walks the streets of Brighton.   His team identify a suspect, Alex Mullins, son of his lover, Marni. Can Francis forget their shared past and save the next victim before it is too late? 

Can you ever really know your neighbours?  When human remains are found in a ground floor flat, the residents of Nelson Heights are shocked to learn that there was a dead body in their building for over three years. Sarah lives at the flat above and after the remains are found, she feels threatened by a stranger hanging around the building.  Laura has lived in the building for as long as she can remember, caring for her elderly father, though there is more to her story than she is letting on.  As the investigation starts to heat up, and the two women become more involved, it's clear that someone isn't telling the truth about what went on all those years ago... The Woman Downstairs is by Elisabeth Carpenter.

Books to look forward to from Orion Publishing

Far From True is by Linwood Barclay and is due to be published in April 2016.  After the screen of a run-down drive-in movie theater collapses and kills four people, the daughter of one of the victims asks private investigator Cal Weaver to look into a recent break-in at her father's house. Cal discovers a hidden basement room where it's clear that salacious activities have taken place - as well as evidence of missing DVDs. But his investigation soon becomes more complicated when he realises the DVDs may contain something even more shocking. Meanwhile, Detective Barry Duckworth is still trying to solve two murders - one of which is three years old - he believes are connected, since each featured a similar distinctive wound. As the lies begin to unravel, Cal is headed straight into the heart of a dark secret as his search uncovers more startling truths about Promise Falls. And when yet another murder happens, Cal and Barry are both driven to pursue their investigations, no matter where they lead. Evil deeds long thought buried are about to haunt the residents of this town - as the sins of the past and present collide with terrifying results.

A Hero in France is by Alan Furst and is due to be published in June 2016. Spring 1941. Britain is losing the war. But the fighters of the French Resistance are determined not to give up. These courageous men and women - young and old, aristocrats and nightclub owners, teachers and military heroes - run an escape line for British airmen down to Spain. In Rouen and Orleans, in secret hotels, and on the streets, they prise open Europe's sealed doors to lead British fighters to freedom...Thrilling, seductive and heart-poundingly tense, A Hero in France is a story of courage against the odds, set during one of the most intriguing periods of recent history.

The calm of Giverny has been disrupted - and not only by the tourists. A murderer is on the loose, and has claimed the life of Jerome Morval, a man whose passion for art was matched only by his passion for women. At the heart of the mystery are three women: a painting prodigy, the seductive village schoolteacher and an old widow who lives in a tower. But what do they have to do with the discovery of Jerome Morval's corpse? And what is the connection to the mysterious Monet painting of black waterlilies?  Black Waterlilies is by Michel Bussi and is due to be published in June 2016.

From its opening scene in revolutionary Mexico to the Battle of the Marne in 1918, and on to the bordellos and saloons of San Antonio during the reign of the Hole in the Wall Gang, House of the Rising Sun is an epic tale of love, loss, betrayal, vengeance, and retribution that follows Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland on his journey to reunite with his estranged son, Ishmael, a captain in the United States Army. After a violent encounter that leaves four Mexican soldiers dead, Hackberry escapes the country in possession of a stolen artifact, earning the ire of a bloodthirsty Austrian arms dealer who then places Hack's son Ishmael squarely in the cross hairs of a plot to recapture his prize, believed to be the mythic cup of Christ. Along the way, we meet three extraordinary women: Ruby Dansen, the Danish immigrant who is Ishmael's mother and Hackberry's one true love; Beatrice DeMolay, a brothel madam descended from the crusader knight who brought the shroud of Turin back from the Holy Land; and Maggie Bassett, one-time lover of the Sundance Kid, whose wiles rival those of Lady Macbeth. In her own way, each woman will aid Hackberry in his quest to reconcile with Ishmael, to vanquish their enemies, and to return the Grail to its rightful place.  House of the Rising Sun is by James Lee Burke and is due to be published in January 2016.

Frankie James is a young man with a lot on his shoulders. His mother disappeared when he was fifteen; his father’s in jail for armed robbery; and he owes rent on his inherited SoHo snooker club to one of London’s toughest gangsters. Things, you’d think, can only get better. Actually, they’re about to get a whole lot worse.  Frankie always swore to his mum he’d keep his younger, wilder brother out of trouble.  However when Jack turns up at the club early in the morning, covered in someone  else’s blood, with no memory of the night before, it seems there’s no way Frankie can  make good on his promise. With Jack banged up, awaiting trial for the vicious murder of a bride-to-be – a murder that’s sparked an even more vicious gang war between London’s two foremost crime families – Frankie knows a conviction could quickly turn  into a death sentence if he doesn’t discover who framed Jack and why?  In the underworld of 1980s Soho, is he tough enough and smart enough to come out on top?  Framed is by Ronnie O’Sullivan and is due to be published in June 2016.

Detectives Kovac and Liska return in the latest psychological suspense novel from author

Tami Hoag. It was a shocking crime. A middle-aged couple - hacked to death in their own home - with a samurai sword. Normal people. Who were they? And why were they targeted? It was a shocking crime. But it wasn't the first. Twenty years ago a policeman was murdered in his own back garden and the killer was never caught. One woman might link these mysteries. But she is being watched. Can Detectives Nikki Liska and Sam Kovac find her before it is too late? Suspense fiction doesn't get smarter than this. The Bitter Season is due to be published in March 2016.

The Promise is by Robert Crais and is due to be published in January 2016.  Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are joined by Suspect heroes Scott James and his K-9 partner, Maggie. Loyalty, commitment, the fight against injustice - these are the things that have always driven Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. If they make a promise, they keep it. Even if it could get them killed. When Elvis Cole is hired to locate a woman who may have disappeared with a stranger she met online, it seems like an ordinary case - until Elvis learns the missing woman worked for a defence contractor and was being blackmailed to

supply explosives components for a person or persons unknown. Meanwhile, in another part of the city, LAPD officer Scott James and his patrol dog, Maggie, enter an abandoned building to locate an armed and dangerous thief, only to discover far more than they expected. The fugitive is dead, the building is filled with explosives, and Scott and Maggie are assaulted by a hidden man who escapes in the chaos, all as a bloodied Joe Pike watches from the shadows. Soon, Scott and Maggie find themselves targeted by that man and, as their case intertwines with Elvis and Joe's, join forces to follow the trail of the missing woman as well. From inner-city drug traffickers to a shadowy group of Afghan war veterans with ties to a terrorist cell, the people they encounter on that trail add up to ever-increasing odds, and soon the four of them are fighting to find the woman not only before she is killed ...but before the same fate happens to one of them.

Eminent scientist Dr Ralph Padley is dying - and he knows it's time to finally tell the truth. Padley has a dark secret, which, if it got out, would have deadly consequences. But there are powerful men who will stop at nothing to silence him. FBI Special Agent Reilly has an agenda of his own. For months he has sought the man who kidnapped and brainwashed his five-year-old son. But that man is a ghost - a highly protected CIA official with no name and no identity, and who may have links to Reilly's own father. Watched, manipulated, and framed for crimes he didn't commit, Reilly becomes a fugitive, making it next to impossible for him to uncover the truth about his past while protecting the family he loves. He's left with no choice but to risk everything to unearth secrets that would shake the country to its core - if he's ever allowed to get that far.  The End Game is by Raymond Khoury and is due to be published in March 2016.

It's been five years since Carter Blake parted ways with top-secret government operation Winterlong. They brokered a deal at the time: he'd keep quiet about what they were doing, and in return he'd be left alone. But news that one of Blake's old allies, a man who agreed the same deal, is dead means only one thing - something has changed and Winterlong is coming for him. Emma Faraday, newly appointed head of the secret unit, is determined to tie up loose ends. And Blake is a very loose end. He's been evading them for years, but finally they've picked up his trace. Blake may be the best there is at tracking down people who don't want to be found, but Winterlong taught him everything he knows. If there's anyone who can find him - and kill him - it's them. It's time for Carter Blake to up his game.   Winterlong is by Mason Cross and is due to be published in May 2016.

Everything seems to be going right for brilliant young jockey Duncan Claymore. A career on the up, a beautiful wife, and all the trappings of wealth. But Duncan is haunted by the death of one of his arch-rivals. He may not have pulled the trigger, but he still has blood on his hands. As Duncan struggles to keep his focus on the job, Michelle O'Brien - a friend and talented fellow jockey - is killed and Duncan knows this was far from a tragic accident. He's never liked William Osborne, but now he will stop at nothing to avenge Michelle's death. With Duncan's seemingly perfect world starting to come apart at the seams, can he balance his desire for victory on the field with his desire to see justice served?  Narrowing the Field is by A P McCoy and is due to be published in January 2016. 

In Becky Masterman’s currently untitled novel Brigid Quinn faces a different kind of challenge.  Marcus Creighton is on Death Row, convicted of murdering his wife and three children, and with time running out for a reprieve.  But did he do it? Or is the truth even darker and more shocking? Her currently  untitled novel is due to be published in April 2016.

Burning Angels is by Bear Grylls and is due to be published in June 2016.  Having uncovered a terrifying secret dating back to the dark days of Nazi Germany, ex-SAS soldier Will Jaeger must face his toughest challenge yet as he attempts to unravel the mysteries of the past and discover what really happened to his long-lost wife and son

The Turning Tide is by Brooke Magnanti and is due to be published in February 2016.  Erykah Macdonald has a nice life - the kind of life you're meant to want. But on her twentieth wedding anniversary, she's about to cross a line. Several hundred miles away in the shallow waters of a Hebridean island, a body is found. It's been in the water long enough to make identification tricky but it's clear this is no accidental death. Erykah knows she's about to make a choice you can't reverse - but she's lived with secrets most of her life - she thinks she's ready. The trouble is, there are far worse secrets than her own about to emerge. From the gurney of a morgue in the Highlands, to the media circus of the national press, and from the seemingly calm suburbs of London to the powerplays in Westminster, a net is tightening. And those that find themselves caught in are willing to kill to get out with reputations intact. Erykah must work out what she's capable of if she's going to keep her head above water - she must leave behind her comfortable life and start breaking rules. She knows she should be scared...but sometimes, stepping over the line is the first step to freedom..

The Plea is by Steve Cavanagh and is due to be published in March 2016.  For years, respected New York law firm Harland & Sinton has been running a fraud of gargantuan proportions. The FBI are on to them, but they need witnesses to secure their case. When a major client of the firm, David Child, is arrested for murder, the FBI ask con-artist-turned-lawyer Eddie Flynn to secure Child as his client and force him to testify against the firm in exchange for a lesser sentence. Eddie's not a man to be forced into representing a guilty client, but the FBI have incriminating files on Eddie's wife, Christine, and if Eddie won't play ball, she'll pay the price. Eddie agrees, but when he meets David Child he knows this is going to be harder than it sounds. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Eddie is convinced that Child didn't kill his girlfriend and he refuses to send an innocent man to prison. With the FBI putting pressure on him to secure the plea and the formidable Gerry Sinton breathing down his neck, Eddie must find a way to prove Child's innocence while keeping his wife out of danger - not just from the FBI, but from the firm itself. But it's not long before Eddie realises he's part of a dangerous game, with each player willing to kill to get what they want.

Saul Black’s currently untitled novel is due to be published in April 2016.  Troubled San Francisco homicide detective Valerie Hart is planning a rare weekend away from the job when she gets the call. A body has been found. A woman, brutally murdered. And the cryptic note left by the body is addressed to Valerie.  The victim is unknown to her, but as Valerie analyses the scene, the clues begin to point in a deeply disturbing direction: to a maximum security prison where a woman called Katherine Glass is awaiting execution for a series of gruesome killings. And Valerie was the cop who put her there.  The last thing Valerie wants to do is re-enter Katherine's twisted world, but when a second body is discovered, with another puzzling clue, she realises she has no choice. Katherine Glass holds the key to the killings, and Valerie needs to find out what she knows before the murders come even closer to home.  Even if it means playing a deadly game where once again, the psychopathic killer holds all the cards.

The Hanging Tree was the Tyburn gallows which stood where Marble Arch stands today. Oxford Street was the last trip of the condemned. Somethings don't change. The place has a bloody and haunted legacy and now blood has returned to the empty Mayfair mansions of the world's super-rich. And blood mixed with magic is a job for Peter Grant. Peter Grant is back as are Nightingale et al at the Folly and the various river gods, ghosts and spirits who attach themselves to England's last wizard and the Met's reluctant investigator of all things supernatural.  The Hanging Tree is by Ben Aaronovitch and is due to be published in June 2016.

Having fled to New York following his involvement in a terrible crime, Irish-born Danny McCabe throws in his lot with Nicolas and Lucia Mariani, Italian siblings who have come to America to make their fortune. In New York the trio get by, earning money from fighting and - on Nicolas Mariani's part - increasingly illicit activity. Lucia has ambitions of becoming an actress and, following a fight that goes horribly wrong, the three of them head to Los Angeles, the city of dreams. Beneath the glitzy facade of 1940s Hollywood lies a world of corruption and organised crime, and it isn't long before Nicholas become entangled in it. As Lucia and McCabe's feelings for each other grow, McCabe is desperate to bury the dark secret of his past, while Lucia is torn between her loyalty to her brother and her loyalty to the man she loves. R J Ellory’s new novel Kings of American is due to be published in May 2015 and will span the Gold Age of Hollywood, from the 1930s to the 1960s, and will include appearances from Raymond Chandler, William Faulkner, Micky Cohen and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I was dead for 13 minutes. I don't remember how I ended up in the icy water but I do know this - it wasn't an accident and I wasn't suicidal. They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but when you're a teenage girl, it's hard to tell them apart. My friends love me, I'm sure of it. But that doesn't mean they didn't try to kill me. Does it?  13 Minutes is by Sarah Pinborough and is due to be published in February 2016.

Haunted by fears of recurring mental breakdown, obsessed with discovering her parentage and curiously comfortable with corpses, she makes an unusual and intuitive detective. Faced with a bizarre series of crimes that link the kidnapping of an oligarch’s daughter with the medieval practices of a remote monastery, Fiona Griffiths is plunged into a conspiracy that feeds into her darkest fears.  This currently untitled book by Harry Bingham is due to be published in June 2016.

Criminal Splatterings

Goldsboro Books and the Historical Writers' Association are pleased to announce that the shortlist has been selected for the inaugural HWA/Goldsboro Prize for Debut Historical fiction.  Four books were selected from a strong entry in our first year and the names of the authors and their titles will be announced on 14th July at the Festival of Historical Literature which is held at Kelmarsh as part of the Festival of History.  The winner of the £2,000 prize will be announced at History in the Court at Goldsboro Books in Cecil Court in London on the 28th of September.  More information can be found here.

According to Book2Book after 100 years Bram Stoker’s contract for Dracula is about to be made public.  The sprawling, archaic handwriting may be difficult to decipher, but a few of the key words are clear: "The Un-Dead".  The document, seals the publishing pact that gave the world what remains, more than 100 years later, its most celebrated horror novel: Bram Stoker's Dracula.  Publishers Constable & Robinson are to publish the novel in its original form along with the contract.  There is a full article in the Independent.

As reported earlier by Shotsblog Paramount are suing the Puzo Estate over the forthcoming prequel The Family Corleone.  Unsurprisingly, the Puzo Estate are now counter-suing claiming that Paramount interfered with a publishing contract and breached its 1969 copyright agreement with his father.  The Businessweek.com article goes into a bit more detail.

The first poster for one of the most anticipated films this summer the crime thriller Savages, which is adapted from the novel by Don Winslow,  has been released by the studio.  Directed by Oliver Stone from a screenplay co-written by Stone, Winslow, and Shane Salerno, the film features an all-star ensemble cast of Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek, Emile Hirsch and Demian Bichir.

Laguna Beach entrepreneurs Ben (Johnson), a peaceful and charitable Buddhist, and his closest friend Chon (Kitsch), a former Navy SEAL and ex-mercenary, run a lucrative, home-grown industry — raising some of the best marijuana ever developed.  They also share a one-of-a-kind love with the extraordinary beauty Ophelia (Lively).  Life is idyllic in their Southern California town … until the Mexican Baja Cartel decides to move in and demands that the trio partners with them.

When the merciless head of the cartel, Elena (Hayek), and her brutal enforcer, Lado (Del Toro), underestimate the unbreakable bond among these three friends, Ben and Chon — with the reluctant, slippery assistance of a dirty DEA agent played by Travolta — wage a seemingly unwinnable war against the cartel.  And so begins a series of increasingly vicious ploys and manoeuvres in a high stakes, savage battle of wills.  Savages opens in the US in July

According to the BBC they are to adapt James Herbert's best-selling ghost story The Secret of Crickley Hall for BBC One and it will star former Coronation Street star Suranne Jones who has been seen lately in the police drama Five Days.

The BBC are also set to do another four new feature length films of the Inspector George Gently police procedurals.  This time the year is 1968 and the first Gently with Class sees a darker side of 1968 as the social landscape of the Western World is being shaken to its core.  In Paris, riots rage as the workers and students take to the streets.  In the United States, thousands rally against the Vietnam War.  And in England, antipathy for the upper class’ outmoded social graces and their abuse of privilege is growing by the day.  The dramas are due to be shown later on this year.

According to The Hollywood Reporter,  Copper the BBC America is due to premier on 19^th  August 2012.  Copper is described as a gripping crime series set in 1860s New York City, and centres on Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones), an intense, rugged Irish-immigrant cop working the city’s notorious Five Points neighbourhood and grappling to maintain his moral compass in a tumultuous world.  He returns from the Civil War to discover his daughter is dead and his wife has disappeared, a storyline that will be explored during the series.  His friendship with two war compatriots — the wayward son of a wealthy industrialist and a physician who secretly assists Corcoran with his work — takes him to the opposing worlds of elegant Fifth Avenue and rural Harlem.  All three men share a secret from their experience on the battlefield that inextricably links their lives forever.

The 24^th Annual Lambada Literary Awards have been announced and the full list and press notice can be found here.  The nominees in the Lesbian Mystery Category are as follows –

Dying to Live, by Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou, Bold Strokes Books

Hostage Moon, by AJ Quinn, Bold Strokes Books

Rainey Nights: A Rainey Bell Thriller, by R.E. Bradshaw, R.E. Bradshaw Books

Retirement Plan, by Martha Miller, Bold Strokes Books

Trick of the Dark, by Val McDermid, Bywater Books

Congratulations to all the nominees.  Winners will be announced at a Monday evening, June 4th ceremony in New York at the CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Avenue) with an after-party at Slate (54 West 21st Street).

The Left Coast Crime Convention is an annual event sponsored by fans of mystery literature for fans of mystery literature, including both readers and authors and has recently taken place.  The following awards were given out:-

The Lefty for best humorous mystery novel: The Real Macaw by Donna Andrews (Minotaur) 

The Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award: Mercury's Rise by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)
The Golden Nugget is a special award given to the best mystery set in California, in recognition of the location of this year's convention: City of Secrets by Kelli Stanley (Minotaur)
Eureka!  is a special award this year for the best first mystery novel.  Nazareth Child by Darrell James, (Midnight Ink)
The Dilys Award given by the Independent Mystery Booksellers was also announced.  The winner was Ghost Hero by S.J. Rozan (Minotaur)

The nominees for the 2012 Thriller Awards  have been announced by the International Thriller Writers organization, recognizing the best in crime thriller fiction.  The winners will be announced during ThrillerFest VII in New York City this July, 2012.

The nominees are:
Best Hardcover Novel -

Buried Secrets by Joseph Finder (St. Martin’s Press)
A Hard Death by Jonathan Hayes (Harper)

11/22/63 by Stephen King (Scribner)

The Ridge by Michael Koryta (Little, Brown)
The Two Deaths Of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey (Dutton)

Best Paperback Original -
The Last Minute by Jeff Abbott (Sphere)
Threat Warning by John Gilstrap (Pinnacle)
The Glass Demon by Helen Grant (Delacorte Press)
The Queen by Steven James (Revell)   

Already Gone by John Rector (Thomas & Mercer)

Best First Novel -
The Genesis Key by James Barney (Harper)
She Can Run by Melinda Leigh (Montlake Romance)

Spiral by Paul McEuen (The Dial Press)
The Fund by H. T. Narea (Forge Books)

Midnight Caller by Leslie Tentler (Mira)

Best Short Story -
 "One More Lie" by James Scott Bell (Compendium Press)
"Anything to Win" by Michael Lewin (Strand Magazine)
"Happine$$" by Twist Phelan (Mystery Writers of America Presents The Rich and the Dead, Grand Central Publishing)

"Half-Lives" by Tim L. Williams (Dell Magazine)
"A Hostage Situation" by Dave Zeltserman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

According to Variety Inferno Entertainment has optioned Harlan Coben’s 2008 novel Hold Tight.  Hold Tight is the story of a concerned father who must shield his family from criminals and fight for their survival after his son accidentally exposes them via the internet.

Interested in seeing what the new Superman logo will look like?  Then look no further.  Superman: Man of Steel was due to originally be out in cinemas December 2012.  However the release date has been changed to June 2013.  I certainly hope that it will be worth the wait.

Not sure how I missed this originally, but there is an excellent blog post over at CriminalElement.Com where thriller writers Charles Cumming and Olen Steinhauer discuss espionage and especially John Le Carré’s  seminal novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy which has recently be remade into a film with Gary Oldman in the lead role of Smiley played originally by Alec Guinness.

Brilliant interview with Lee Child in the International Thriller Writers monthly webzine The Big Thrill where he talks about The Long Game: Lessons on Success.  A really good insight into what it takes to be a successful writer.

According to the Guardian there is to be a sequel to the successful film Woman in Black.  The sequel is to be called The Woman in Black: Angels of Death.  Furthermore, according to the Hollywood Reporter it will be the same team behind The Woman in Black that will be reuniting for the sequel.  The sequel is due to pick up the story 40 years later.  Author Susan Hill will be involved as well.

The Independent’s Invisible Ink No.117 has an excellent article by Christopher Fowler on Sexton Blake and Bulldog Drummond.

Want to know what distracts Donna Leon from writing, what she is currently reading and who her favourite author is?  If you do then read the Independent’s One minute with Donna Leon for the low down.

Elizabeth Haynes second novel Revenge of the Tide was published recently and she talks to Danuta Kean about swapping criminology for pole dancing in her latest thriller.

Interested in knowing how and why James Patterson’s books sell so well despite the fact that most of them are done with collaborators?  The Wall Street Journal’s online Arts and entertainment magazine Speakeasy talks to James Patterson, who explains how his collaborations work and why he has to have a colour coded calendar to keep track of the number of books that are being published each year.

Ahead of the London Book Fair editor Katherine Armstrong at Faber & Faber have acquired a major new crime thriller Playing Dead by American journalist Julia Heaberlin.  Faber will publish the book in two months’ time.  Faber will publish first as an e-book in June, before releasing the mass-market paperback in July 2012.

According to the Bookseller UK-based Reelart Media has bought film rights to Wilbur Smith's Those in Peril (Pan Macmillan), with plans for a release in 2014.  A sequel Vicious Circle is due to be published in 2013 and will once again feature Hector Cross first introduced to readers in Those in Peril.  Next year will mark Wilbur Smith’s 50^th anniversary as a novelist.

According to the BBC, former Dr Who star David Tennant is set to play a French spy in the BBC adaptation of Alan Furst’s best-selling novel The Spies of Warsaw.  The Spies of Warsaw is set in Berlin, Paris, London and Poland in the years leading up to the war.

In more comic news the sequel to Captain America, Captain America 2 is due to be released in 2014.  As opposed to Captain America, which took place in the 1940s, Captain America 2 will carry out in present day, taking place after the events of the upcoming The Avengers and continuing Steve Rogers difficult integration into modern society.  The Avengers movie opens in the US in May.