Books to Look Forward to from Pan Macmillan

July 2019

A Nearly Normal Family is a psychological thriller from M. T. Edvardsson and asks what would you do if your child was suspected of murder, how far would you go to protect them? Do you want to know the truth? Every murder case starts with a suspect. What if the suspect is your daughter?   Would you believe her, or the evidence against her?  The Father - Believes his daughter has been framed.  The Mother - Believes she is hiding something.  The Daughter - Believes they have no idea what she's truly capable of . . . There are three sides to the story.  And the truth will shatter this family to pieces.

It is 1949 and handsome, young ex-soldier Aloysius Archer arrives in Poca City, Oklahoma. On parole following a stint in prison back east when he was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, Archer is looking for a fresh start and a peaceful life after his wartime experiences in Italy. However, he soon understands that there’s a lot more going on in this town than he’d bargained for as he meets some very colourful, extremely intriguing and often dangerous residents living above and below the law. All seem to have deeply buried secrets which he must uncover if he’s to avoid going back behind bars.  One Good Deed is by David Baldacci.

August 2019

Time for the Dead is by Lin Anderson and sees forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod discover that a terrifying war is unfolding on Scotland's Isle of Skye.  When forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod returns to her roots on Scotland's Isle of Skye, a chance encounter in the woods behind a nearby activities centre leads her to what seems to be a crime scene, but without a victim. Could this be linked to a group of army medics, who visited the centre while on leave from Afghanistan and can no longer be located on the island?  Enlisting the help of local tracker dog Blaze, Rhona starts searching for a connection. Two days later a body is found at the base of the famous cliff known as Kilt Rock, face and identity obliterated by the fall, which leads Rhona to suspect the missing medics may be on the island for reasons other than relaxation. Furthermore, elements of the case suggests a link with an ongoing operation in Glasgow, which draws DS Michael McNab into the investigation.  As the island's unforgiving conditions close in, Rhona must find out what really happened to the group in Afghanistan, as the consequences may be being played out in brutal killings on Skye . . .

Has the killer in DC Maggie Neville's cold case returned after a decade of silence?  Katy Pope was seventeen when she was brutally murdered on a family holiday in Majorca. Despite her mother's high rank in the Met and the joint major investigation between the British and Spanish police, Katy's killer was never caught. Ten years later, Katy's family return to the Spanish island to launch a fresh appeal for information, taking with them the now skeletal team of investigating Met detectives, and newly seconded Maggie as the family liaison officer.  But Maggie's first international investigation quickly goes from being more than just a press conference when another British girl there on holiday goes missing, and Katy's killer announces that it's time for an encore . . .  Dead Guilty is by Michelle Davies.

Desperate to put her past in the rearview mirror, Finn Hunt leaves the Midwest for Phoenix, Arizona, where no one knows her story.  While she's working a dead-end job, a chance meeting with Philip Martin, son of a prominent US Senator, leads Finn to a position as nanny for Amabel, his precocious four-year-old daughter. Quickly seduced into the Martins' privileged world, Finn can almost believe she belongs there, almost forget the dark past that haunts her.  Then, in the stifling heat of a desert summer as the Senator's re-election looms, a strange woman begins to follow Finn, claiming a connection to Philip and threatening to expose the family to scandal. As Finn tries to protect Amabel, and shield the Martins, she's inadvertently drawn deeper and deeper into their buried secrets.  The family trusts Finn, for now, but it will only take one mistake for everything she holds dear - the Martins' world, her new life - to fall apart . . .  Girl in the Rear View Mirror is by Kelsey Rae Dimberg

September 2019

Blood in the Water by Jack Flynn is a thriller set in Boston in the gritty world of mob bosses, con artists and gangs, where allegiances are formed with law enforcement and criminals just as easily as they are broken.   Homeland Security agent, Kit Steel, is committed to avenge terrorism. And she's after the blood of her nemesis, one of world's most ruthless and dangerous criminals, Vincente Carpio. He has the blood of her husband and young son on his hands, and Kit is unwavering in her determination to see him kept behind bars forever. Clever, calculating, and manipulative, Carpio has aid and influence on the outside, and he's waiting for the perfect moment when the final pieces of the jigsaw fall into place.  Harbour Union chief, Cormack McConnell, has lived his life close to the wire above and below the law, and he controls everything that happens on Boston's waterfront. Someone wants him out of the way, fast. After he narrowly survives a brutal attack on his bar, The Mariner, complications arise when Cormack believes he's been betrayed by one of his crew - a young man, Buddy Cavanaugh, who he's shocked to discover is the love of his precious nineteen-year-old daughter, Diamond.  Everyone has a game to play until it becomes apparent that there are much darker, far-reaching forces of evil at work which look to be preparing for the international stage. What follows is a gripping race against time, a rollercoaster action-packed story with international terrorism at its core and family at its heart.

The Long Call is the first book in a brand new series by Anne Cleeves.  In North Devon, where the rivers Taw and Torridge converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father's funeral takes place. The day Matthew turned his back on the strict evangelical community in which he grew up, he lost his family too.  Now he's back, not just to mourn his father at a distance, but to take charge of his first major case in the Two Rivers region; a complex place not quite as idyllic as tourists suppose.  A body has been found on the beach near to Matthew's new home: a man with the tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.  Finding the killer is Venn's only focus, and his team's investigation will take him straight back into the community he left behind, and the deadly secrets that lurk there.

This is not a detective story, this is a story about the making of a detective . . .  William Warwick has always wanted to be a detective, and decides, much to his father's dismay, that rather than become a barrister like his father, Sir Julian Warwick QC, and his sister Grace, he will join London's Metropolitan Police Force.  After graduating from university, William begins a career that will define his life: from his early months on the beat under the watchful eye of his first mentor, Constable Fred Yates, to his first high-stakes case as a fledgling detective in Scotland Yard's arts and antiquities squad. Investigating the theft of a priceless Rembrandt painting from the Fitzmolean Museum, he meets Beth Rainsford, a research assistant at the gallery who he falls hopelessly in love with, even as Beth guards a secret of her own that she's terrified will come to light.  While William follows the trail of the missing masterpiece, he comes up against suave art collector Miles Faulkner and his brilliant lawyer, Booth Watson QC, who are willing to bend the law to breaking point to stay one step ahead of William. Meanwhile, Miles Faulkner's wife, Christina, befriends William, but whose side is she really on?  Nothing Ventured is by Jeffrey Archer.

The Fifth Column is a novel about the only man who can thwart a Nazi sympathizer uprising in New York during the Second World War, by Andrew Gross.  A Man in Trouble - February 1939 and Europe is on the brink of war. Charles Mossman is in a bar in Hell's Kitchen, New York, reeling from the loss of his job and his failing marriage, whilst outside thousands of Nazi sympathizers are attending a hate-spewing rally. As he confronts one, Charles makes a horrendous mistake with deadly consequences.  A City of Secrets - Two years later, Charles is released from prison and tries to reunite with his family. The US has kept out of the war for now but the pressure in the city is rising as those sympathetic to the Nazi cause lay the foundations for what lies ahead.  The Enemy Within -   As he tries to make amends with his wife and daughter, Charles starts to understand that surrounding them there are forces that will use any means necessary to bring about the downfall of his nation. And when his daughter is befriended by a seemingly amiable Swiss couple, it brings to the surface his fears of a 'Fifth Column' of embedded German spies in their new neighbourhood. All Charles wants is to redeem himself as a husband and father, but sometimes a man must do questionable things to stand up for his family and what he believes, even sacrificing his life to do so . . .

Solomon knew that he had one advantage. A pawn ticket belonging to a dead man tucked into his top pocket - the only clue to the truth . . .  An old soldier dies alone in his Edinburgh nursing home. No known relatives, and no Will to enact. Just a pawn ticket found amongst his belongings, and fifty thousand pounds in used notes sewn into the lining of his burial suit . . . Heir Hunter, Solomon Farthing - down on his luck, until, perhaps, now - is tipped off on this unexplained fortune. Armed with only the deceased's name and the crumpled pawn ticket, he must find the dead man's closest living relative if he is to get a cut of this much-needed cash.  But in trawling through the deceased's family tree, Solomon uncovers a mystery that goes back to 1918 and a group of eleven soldiers abandoned in a farmhouse billet in France in the weeks leading up to the armistice.  Set between contemporary Edinburgh and the final brutal days of the First World War as the soldiers await their orders, The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing is Mary Paulson-Ellis and shows us how the debts of the present can never be settled unless those of the past have been paid first . . .

The Other End of The Line is by Andrea Camilleri.  In Inspector Montalbano's coastal town of Vigata, a surge of migrants have been coming in by boat, and all the town's hands are on deck to help the arrivals. At the heart of the scene are the police - on the lookout for the people smugglers responsible - and long night-shifts are rendering Inspector Montalbano and his officers exhausted.  Then one night, while Montalbano is enduring yet another gruelling stint at the port, a separate crime is committed - unexplained, unexpected, and unpleasant. Elena, the dressmaker at the town's famous tailors, has been found dead - slaughtered by her own scissors . . .   As a swell of desperate people arrive in search of a better life, Inspector Montalbano finds himself trying to unravel the mystery of who murdered the dressmaker. But as he makes his enquiries, the Inspector can't help but wonder: what will happen if he keeps tugging on this thread? And what will he find at the end of the line?

December 2019

When the body of twenty-nine-year-old social worker Gloria Montoya, seven weeks pregnant with her first child, shows up on Chief New York City Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery’s autopsy table, she’s baffled to find no apparent causes of death. With no clues to go on, Laurie enlists the help of Dr Tricia Albanese, a forensic pathology resident with a background in genetic science, to help her trace the identity of the unborn baby’s father using DNA from the mother and child. But when Tricia is found dead in her apartment in a manner strikingly similar to Gloria’s death, Laurie realizes she might have two linked homicides on her hands . . . and now it’s up to her, with the help of her husband, ME Jack Stapleton, to continue the tracking work Tricia had begun before a killer can strike again.  Genesis is by Robin Cook

Andrew Gross and The Saboteurs

I often quote a line from Stephen King’s ON WRITING that always resonates in my consciousness –

“Life is not a support system for the arts, it’s the other way around”

For I find “reading fiction” my way of coping with what the random nature of reality throws at me. I find it helps reduce the anxiety that is inherent in the human condition. I can always find succor, distraction as well as enlightenment from my fiction reading. Reality and Fiction are interrelated, especially when it comes to Thriller Novels - and the latest narrative from Andrew Gross is just such an animal.

The Saboteur is a heroic historical thriller set during WWII in Norway, where we see Gross research an espionage operation that took place by the Allied Special Operations Executive [SOE] to destroy the Norsk Hydro [which now trades as the Norwegian Chemical Company YARA] fertilizer plant that the occupying Nazi’s converted to the production of ‘D20 : Heavy Water’ – a pre-requisite [at that time] for the enrichment of Uranium; which was required for Hitler’s dream of building a Nuclear Device ahead of the US Manhattan Project. 

Gross took a conscious [and brave] decision several years ago to change direction in thematic terms of his bestselling contemporary thrillers toward the historical end of the genre. Though if you reflect upon Gross’s writing, you’ll realize that he in fact has come full circle, for he debuted as a fiction writer by penning [in-concert] with James Patterson a historical thriller, a novel that dazzled me, and many others - THE JESTER.

Mike Stotter and I first met Andrew Gross [and Jim Patterson] in New York during Thrillerfest 2006 in New York. At that time Gross had penned several other work with Jim Patterson, but eventually published thrillers alone - which he recounted for Shots HERE.

Over the years I would bump into Andrew at various conventions and conferences – and as I loved THE JESTER so much, I would often tease him to return to penning historical thrillers, and last year my wish was realized when Gross did just that. He left HarperCollins US and HarperCollins UK joining Macmillan UK and St Martin’s Press / Minotaur US with a WWII Thriller that literarily sucked the air from my lungs - THE ONE MAN.  I would interview Gross at the time, as I was floored by not only the ambition of this novel, but also its execution.

The interview was hosted at Jeff Peirce’s The Rap Sheet and for me, very enlightening regarding not only the work of Gross, Patterson but also about the world of thriller writing – and it can be accessed by clicking here.

Gross followed up The One Man with an extraordinary thriller, again a WWII adventure tale entitled THE SABOTEUR which will have a title change in the UK for its upcoming Paperback Release to THE SPY.  

For the record, The One Man became one of my favorite thriller novels of 2016, and in 2017, The Saboteur also makes my top thriller novels of the year listing. I naturally called Andrew up, as I had a few questions I needed to ask as his writing has become very important to me, to help me cope with the alarming reality I see surrounding us, with this rise of the so-called populism and lurch toward the Right-Wing in geopolitics.

As the world needs heroes, and heroic deeds - I would urge you to seek out The Saboteur; because the excitement of ‘doing the right thing’, as well as seeing the compassion for humanity [and care for the weakest members of society] is important to me – as well as the bare knuckle action of defeating the bad guys, truly inspirational.

The Saboteur is all the more exciting because at the spine of this novel, lies the real life heroism of men and women; a tale of truly inspirational bravery that defeated evil – click here to read about the real life events that helped defeat the evil of Nazism.

Ali : After your decision to change the direction of your writing from contemporary thrillers to a WWII historical setting, can you tell us how that decision has affected you – both mentally as well as commercially?

Andrew : Mentally, it gave me a renewed sense of purpose in my work. Writing about the Holocaust in THE ONE MAN, I was doing something heftier than simply writing a thriller. I was dealing in themes and leitmotifs that were larger than clues or motives, or even suspense. I was creating something that spoke to the Jewish tradition, culture, family, and loss. Even in THE SABOTEUR, it was really about heroism and sacrifice, and the moral choice between duty and feeling. So it’s been galvanizing for me. Commercially, I was lucky that THE ONE MAN was my largest book to date, in the U.S., even though it didn’t get high on the bestseller lists like previous books. It had a tremendously long tale and continues to sell. So I’m pleased with the new direction.

AK : And what about your new publishers, Macmillan in the UK and St Martins / Minotaur in the US – how supportive have they been?

AG : Well, completely supportive. They bought into the change—literally. I told them before they purchased THE ONE MAN that I was putting traditional, “suburban” thrillers behind and intended to focus on moments in time where a pivotal choice had to be made. Once you try and change the brand, there’s no going back.

AK : So after the startling THE ONE MAN, we see the shadow of Nazi aspirations for perfecting a Nuclear device again appear in THE SABOTEUR, was this planned as it seems you have an interest in Nuclear Chemistry / Uranium Enrichment?

AG : This question comes from a man with a scientific background and I’m a guy who could barely get through eighth grade Earth Science. Even though both books are linked by the thread of the Allies frantic to beat the Germans to the atomic bomb in WWII, that was really only the delivery system, so to speak, for what I was trying to do, which as I said, was transport people in time to moments where selfless courage defeated overwhelming force and power. And of course it didn’t hurt that in each, the stakes of failure were so high that it ratcheted up the suspense to the highest level. And I did layer in just a little science just to show high school friends how I’ve evolved. No, just kidding. To give a sense of what the stakes were, I thought it important to make the reader invest in the science just a bit, as my characters had to invest in what they were trying to overcome.

AK : And you mention Kirk Douglas and “The Heroes of Telemark” so I am assuming you have researched this period of WWII in detail; though I am impressed that you didn’t allow the science to slow the narrative’s velocity. What’s your take on research in thriller fiction as opposed to “I make shit up” ethos in the writer?

AG  : Well, books set historically, especially WWII and even more so, the Holocaust, can’t get too far in the “I make this shit up” zone. I’m not a believer in over-researching. I don’t like to smother a reader in how much work I’ve done to prepare. But just enough to “sell” the scene effectively. You notice Alfred grilling Leo on the science in THE ONE MAN, but the back and forth in the teacher-student dynamic, or better, the arrogant young genius and the desperate, dying professor made it entertaining, as it was peppered with humor.  In THE SABOTEUR, teaching a bit of atomic science to commandos who were more at home trudging through storms than sitting in classrooms, made it an easy lesson for the reader too.

AK : I enjoyed The Saboteur immensely, as it embodies how important it is do what is right, which is best illustrated by Kurt Nordstrum the leader of the Saboteurs – so tell us how you shape ‘character’ as a novelist.

AG : Well, that’s not the easiest of questions, but I suppose in my heroes, I start with an idealized version of what I think is heroic, (courage, an innate sense of what is right, selflessness and romantic), then carve and whittle it down into an identifiable regular person who has to convince themselves to measure up. I like unassuming, wry, quiet and unafraid, but someone who grows much larger in taking on what is required of him. I suspect somewhere these people are generally an idealized version of myself, who I would want to be, given that I sit all day behind a computer and the biggest moral courage I show in a day is whether to feed the dogs lunch meat from my sandwich or not.

AK : There is much tragedy in the lives of the protagonists and antagonists in The Saboteur, and from there springs motivation. How important is ensuring the characters have the requisite level of motivation? But being conscious that too much back-story [as to the origins of the motivation] could slow the narrative, or too little makes characters one dimensional

AG : Yes, well, being a hero because one is brave or a bad guy because he is mean, or insane, have never been very satisfying for me. A hero must have weakness and frailty too. And there has to be something that pushes them to stand ahead of others, and things like guilt and shame can be part of that too. In the case of Nordstrum in THE SABOTEUR, since he is a last survivor so to speak, and the things he loved gone, that gives him both a nothing to lose fatalism and lost love to give him moral courage. 

Even the bad guys have to have depth too, depth of motive. When you write Nazis, or in the case of SABOTEUR, Fascists or sympathizers, it can’t just be that when they put on the uniform they’re bad. In the case of Lund, my Quisling officer, he was an outcast from the time he was ten, and the false sense of power he received from obsequiously climbing his way up the ladder in the secret police, made his battle with Nordstrum a match of showing his superiority, to someone who had made him feel small from his youth.

AK : There’s an Alistair MacLean feeling in The Saboteur, a Scottish writer whose work dominated the thriller genre in novels and films in the 1970s. I know many writers such as Dennis Lehane and Lee Child were avid readers of his work. Were you also a reader of Alistair MacLean; and if so, can you name your favourite work from his canon [both novel as well as film adaptation]?

AG : Yep. The Guns of Navarone or Where Eagles Dare. Both, excellent movies from my youth too. I wanted to write a big, sprawling action-suspense WWII story, and McLean was the master. I used his name (brand) in my pitch to the publisher before I wrote a word. No one’s writing these kind of stories now. Of course in WWII, there was such a defined sense of good and evil that every story fits into our own ingrained values of good overcoming evil and as long as you make them believable and root-able, letting the good guys win.

AK : I was highly impressed by Edoardo Ballerini’s reading of the Audible version of The Saboteur [as well as The One Man] as he is an excellent vocal artist – so tell me if you’ve heard it also, and what are your thoughts about the audio versions of your work?

AG : I think he’s brilliant. I couldn’t be happier. To tell you a story, I never listened to one of my own books before, since THE BLUE ZONE, my first. Whoever did that book was so bad I never listened to another, even though I got to approve the readers. Ballerini changed my view! We had a long drive to a wedding I said, what the hell, everyone tells me the guy’s pretty good, let’s see. My wife and I were mesmerized. He handles accents and suspense superbly. And if you had asked me how many I sold of any audio recording before I couldn’t have told you, because it was such a rounding error, but THE ONE MAN sold almost 20,000 downloads in the U.S.  And THE SABOTEUR is following in suit.

AK : In Britain some thrillers are sometimes termed “Blokey” referring to their appeal to be steered toward male readers. Your work however often features strong women, and their presence is far from stage dressing – so what’s your thoughts about gender in thriller fiction?

AG : Ahem, gender, at this particular moment in the U.S. is very much in the news. And politicized. And I always feel that no matter what I say on this subject, I say the wrong thing. But I have always admired and found attractive strong-willed women. I come from a family of them. (I also spent 15 years in the women’s apparel biz before writing.) I find nothing sexier than a women who stands up to do the courageous thing. My original contract dating back to working with James Patterson, was because... “This guy does women well!” So even my WWII books are read by as many women as men. In THE SABOTEUR, there are two principal women, both who arrive in the second half of the book. One has that measure of heroism. The other becomes a believable love interest for Nordstrum in a short amount of time. They are different, but both succeed, I’m told. I don’t know, I just have a knack. Trust me, my wife would tell you, it’s not because I pay much attention to her……smiling carefully……

AK : Speaking of those two strong female characters, Hella and later Natalie Ritter who were adroitly evoked despite resting in the shadow of Kurt’s late wife Anna-Lissette. How do you write inside the mind of a woman?

AG : Well, I kind of started this above, but there is always a bit of the underdog in women, because, in thrillers as in life, they are always trying to impose sense and order on a crazy world run by stronger men. I guess I start with what I like in a women: boldness, wit, guile, firm footing, and brains. There could not be two more different people in the SABOTEUR than Hella (the resistance fighter) and Natalie (who sees in Nordstrum the heart and decency he has inside) and throws aside that she is Austrian and he is Norwegian. But both pick up on these qualities and work, I think, and, in a very short amount of time. By the way, even Nordstrum’s shortlived girlfriend Anna-Lissette comes off as convincing, I think, and she doesn’t even get a whole scene!

AK : I thought the dénouement was elegantly realized with the Austrian Cellist August Ritter of the Vienna Philharmonic, and his daughter Natalie. I enjoy endings that allow the reader to project their own thoughts onto the narrative rather than the author wrap up the climax with bows and ribbons. I know some editors favor the clear ending, with no trailing cables – while others allow a little wriggle-room for the reader’s thoughts – so what’s your take on endings?

AG ; They just have to be satisfying. What are the emotional stakes you’ve created in the book and how does the ending back that up and resolve it? I generally don’t like bleak. Or un-resolved. But I don’t like the fairy tale either. It has to be totally believable because that is the lasting message you get from the book. It’s what you carry with you as a reader. In THE SABOTEUR, you don’t know till the last page how it resolves. (The last line even! But don’t look….laughing…….) The stakes there—Nordstrum, a hardened warrior who has taken on a critical mission that to achieve it endangers the one person he has opened himself to love, Then there’s the “ does he survive or not?”, as well as the different feelings in the reader with each possible outcome. So excitement, believability, and resolution. That’s my three take-home points of an ending.

AK : I consider your work to sit at the top of the heroic edge of the thriller genre, and Kurt’s Father Alois, has a slogan  “a true man goes on until he can go no further, and then he goes twice as far” – tell me where did this line come from?

AG : Sadly, I didn’t make it up. It’s a Norwegian saying I came upon. But it illuminates the center of the Norwegian heart, of sturdy, dedicated, selfless men of the outdoors who rise to every challenge. In THE ONE MAN it was easy to touch upon Jewish archetypes to give meaning to Nathan’s character. In THE SABOTEUR, this one line is the heart of Nordstrum’s character and that of the Hillmen of Norway.

In a sentence, you know who these men and women are, and what’s at their core – they never give in.

AK : So what’s next for Andrew Gross? More Nuclear Chemistry and Adventure? Or are you tempted to team up with Jim Patterson, for a historical ‘Bookshot’? Perhaps even a coda to The Jester? As you know I had to ask……….

AG : No, I know you’ve wanted to reprise on JESTER since we first met over a decade ago, But I just finished something pretty good, I think. And personal. Built of my own family’s stories and legacy. It takes place in NYC between 1905-35, during the early stages of the women’s clothing business [when it was populated by gruff, tough characters]. Back then, the union was taken over by the Jewish mob (who trust me were much more violent than the Italian mob—they all grew up on the Lower East Side without a dime and faced ridicule and prejudice. So it’s the story of a brash, young garment entrepreneur who rises from nothing and has to go head to head against the mob-run union, and one murderous crime boss in particular who he was standing up to since his youth. Provisionally, I’m calling it, UNDER MANHATTAN BRIDGE. It’s kind of a cross between GREAT EXPECTATIONS and THE GODFATHER.

AK : Well that is intriguing me, and so I looking forward to it – and many thanks for your time.

AG : Always fun being with you, Ali!

For more information about the thriller writing of Andrew Gross click here and to read about the real-life hero of Telemark, Joachim Ronnenberg, Leader of Operation "Gunnerside" click here

I thoroughly recommend THE ONE MAN as well as THE SABOTEUR as outstanding thriller novels that will make you take stock of life, as well as make you think as they entertain and make the heart pump, like a Uranium enrichment centrifuge.

Ideal for Christmas presents for those who like to think, while being entertained.

Macmillan's Thin Blue Spine

Late last year Literary Publicist Francesca Pearce had been busy contacting various literary commentators with an interest in the darkest edge of literature, Crime, Mystery and Thriller [namely Journalists, Reviewers, Bloggers, Editors, Writers, Booksellers and Literary Agents] - asking us to ‘save a date’ in our busy diaries. Many of us have known Francesca from her days with Penguin UK; as she had recently arrived at Macmillan Publishing;  and as Sherlock Holmes has once remarked to Dr John Watson M.D. ‘the games’ afoot’.

Macmillan [with its various publishing imprints] were planning their first Crime and Thriller Literary Party, one that would showcase some of their 2017 publication list., and also to highlight their web resource The Thin Blue Spine. The venue selected was somewhat apt, the Hunterian Museum within the London’s Royal College of Surgeons., adjacent to The London School of Economics.

Like any party host, as the time approaches one gets nervous as to attendance; for we all lead busy lives but the Macmillan team needn’t have worried for on arrival, it seemed the majority of London’s literary community had arrived. The Museum was decked out with advance copies of their 2017 output, promotional material, fine wine and canapes all in a convivial and surreal venue.

Macmillan’s Crime and Thriller List had grown to become one of the most intriguing, so it was of little surprise that the invited guests came in significant numbers. Many of Macmillan’s authors were present, and they mingled with the guests. It was good to meet up with Mandasue Heller, who had recently joined the Macmillan stable and had her novel RUN out on release. Mandasue and I laughed recalling the times we would bump into each other at Waterstones Deansgate, Manchester when Lee Child started publishing his Jack Reacher novels nearly two decades ago. It was also great to congratulate Ann Cleeves for her CWA Diamond Dagger that was to be awarded to her from the Crime Writers Association. For Macmillan, this would be the second consecutive year that one of their authors received the highest accolade in crime writing, as in 2016, the CWA Diamond Dagger was awarded to Peter James, a writer also at the top of his game after much hard work, developing his Roy Grace Thrillers. 

I chatted with Ann and was delighted that she would be recognised by her peers made even more wonderful after so many years of her championing the work of other writers. I reminded her that much of the fascination and popularity for Scandinavian and Nordic Crime Fiction in the UK was ignited during the inaugural Theakstons’ Crime-Writing Festival hosted in Harrogate in 2003; when she with colleagues showcased translated work. During that event her out-reach work with libraries was much applauded. I too share Ann’s enthusiasm for promoting libraries in this post-fact world.

I was also delighted to meet author Chris Morgan-Jones again as we first met at Crimefest Bristol when he debuted with An Agent of Deceit which he quickly followed up with this book. I told him that I enjoyed his latest novel The Searcher as had fellow writer David Edgerley Gates who I recently interviewed, and who was also a fan of his work.

So it was time to mingle again; and the canapes were excellent as was the wine selection which helped lubricate the proceedings. It was good to see Macmillan’s renowned senior team arrive, including Philippa McEwan, Maria Rejt, Wayne Brookes among many others.

I mentioned to Jeremy Trevathan of my unbridled enthusiasm for the new direction that Andrew Gross’ writing had taken upon joining Macmillan after many years with HarperCollins - with last year’s The One Man, and was looking forward with impatience for the follow-up.

It was soon time for Macmillan’s renowned publisher Jeremy Trevathan to welcome the assembled to the Party, which we have recorded for our readers here –

For more information about the upcoming work in 2017, click here and for The Thin Blue Spine click here

And here we present a selection of photos taken at Macmillan’s first Crime & Thriller Party -

Books to look forward to from HarperCollins

Stuart MacBride’s new novel Shatter the Bones is published in January. Mother and daughter singing sensation have been kidnapped just as they have got through to the semi-finals of a reality television style programme. With the ransom demand appearing via different media outlets it is up to DS Logan McRae to solve the kidnapping but with not much to go on time is running out.

The Floating Admiral by The Detection Club. This is a re-issue of an 80-year old novel written by 12 members of The Detection Club. Each member has written a chapter and tells the tale of Inspector Rudge as he investigates the death of a man whose corpse is brought ashore by a sailor. Even with the clues, not everything is as straightforward or clear, as it should be. A unique novel of its time The Floating Admiral is due to be re-published in March 2011.

The Gallows Bird by Camila Läckberg is the fourth psychological Swedish thriller to be translated into English and is due to be published in March 2011. When a woman is found dead in what seems to be a tragic accident it is soon followed by a number of other unexplainable incidents. At the same time a reality television programme is been shot in the town and an unpopular contestant is killed. But as the crew and cast come under suspicion could there in fact be a serial killer on the loose?

Europe is still littered with the darkest secrets of the Cold War. And the most deadly revelation of them all is about to be made. Hard-up Russia expert Dr Sam Gaddis finally has a lead for a book that could set his career back on track. He has staggering new information about an unknown sixth member of the infamous Cambridge spy ring – a man who has evaded detection for his entire life. But when his source suddenly dies, Gaddis is left with just shreds of his investigation, and no idea that he is already in too deep. He is threatened, betrayed, hunted – and alone. To get his life back, he must scour a continent still laced with lies to find the truth behind the Trinity Six. Both Moscow and MI6 will use everything in their power to keep their fragile peace intact. But why murder people to hide secrets that should by now be history? Gaddis starts to understand – far too late – that he is closing in on a discovery that will shake Europe to its foundations. The Trinity Six is by Charles Cumming and is due to be published in February 2011.

The third thriller by Tom Knox following The Genesis Secret and The Marks of Cain is called the Bible of the Dead. When archeologist Julia Kerrigan finds a skull with a hole in its head she shows it to a colleague who is subsequently killed in suspicious circumstances. Meanwhile photographer Jake Thursby whilst in the jungles of south-east Asia is offered a curious assignment by a lawyer who is investigating finds at the 2000-year old Plain of Jars. Finds which the authorities are trying hard to conceal. Meanwhile back in England a professor is brutally and elaborately murdered. The murder remains unsolved but soon the archeologist, lawyer and photographer find that as they pursue their separate quests to discover the truth an underlying pattern begins to emerge which connects all the events. The Bible of the Dead is due to be published in March 2011.

Prophecy the second book in the series to feature philosopher, scientist and heretic Giordano Bruno is due to be published in March 2011. It is Autumn 1583 and also the year of the Great Conjunction where an astrological phen

omenon is believed to herald the death of one age and the dawn of another. When a young maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth I is found murdered inside the palace walls with astrological symbols carved into her flesh it is up to Bruno to track down the killer especially since the Queen refuses to believe that it could be someone from her own court. Prophecy is by S J Parris whose first book in the series Heresy was shortlisted for the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger in 2010.

House of the Hanged by Mark Mills is a tale of patriotism, passion and murder, unfolding on the French Riviera. Former British intelligence operative Tom Wyndham is currently living quietly in La Rayol, France. But it is 1935 and the war is on the horizon and when someone tries to murder him in his sleep he realizes that his past has come back to haunt him with a vengeance. House of the Hanged is due to be published in July 2011.

In The Whispering Gallery journalist John Steadman finds himself investigating a murder when he witnesses a man falling to his death from the Whisper Gallery also killing a priest in the process. When he subsequently begins to receive parcels in the post containing the body parts of a woman along with enigmatic notes one of which states that he will be the killer’s final victim he ends up setting himself up as bait. The Whispering Gallery is by Mark Sanderson and is due for publication in July 2011.

What the Night Knows is by Dean Koontz and is due to be published in January 2011. When fourteen-year old Billy Lucas confesses to a shocking crime Detective John Calvino who interviews him senses a greater danger. This feeling does not go away and when another killing spree happens Calvino is left wondering how the past is affecting the present.

Autumn Reiniger is celebrating her 21st birthday with a “crime spree weekend” which is an urban reality weekend courtesy of her father. However, unbeknown to him one of the characters is in fact a psychopath who along with a motley crew is determined to turn what was supposed to be a lovely weekend into a nightmare. It is soon up to Jo Beckett and Gabe Quintana to keep everyone safe from the gang. The Nightmare Thief is by Meg Gardiner and is due to be published in June 2011.

The Last Chance is the sequel to The Bricklayer by Noah Boyd. Steve Vali’s attempt to have a romantic getaway with FBI Agent Kate Bannon is thwarted when he becomes involved in helping the FBI track down some rouge agents before the Russians get their hands on them. Unfortunately this is not going to be done quickly or quietly. The Last Chance is due to be published in May 2011.

When a whole family is found murdered in Stockholm Detective Inspector Linna knows that there is only one person who can help. That person is retired hypnotist Erik Maria Bark. Erik is reluctant to return to this line of work due to accusations made against him. He agrees to do so but as he digs deeper into the case it soon becomes clear that the one person who may hold all the answers may also be the culprit. The Hypnotist is by Lars Kepler and is due to be published in May 2011.

Claire Seeber is the author of Fragile Minds. When a bomb explodes outside the Royal Academy of Ballet DCI Silver is finding it hard to come up with and suspects. Meanwhile, for Claudie who is suffering blackouts, when her friend Tess is killed in the explosion she believes that there is a link to her. It is up to Claudie and DCI Silver to get to the bottom of what is happening as soon as possible. Fragile Minds is due to be published in April 2011.

The Killing Hour by Andrew Gross is due to be published in April 2011. When Dr Jay Handler is told of the death of his nephew Evan he is furious because Evan did not get the help that he needed but he also knew that Evan would never commit suicide. As he digs deep to find out the truth he finds himself battling a cult devastating its way through the country.

Games Traitors Play is by Jon Stock. The CIA is under pressure to hunt down Salim Dhar the world’s most wanted terrorist especially since he narrowly fails to kill the US President. It is down to MI6 Officer Daniel Marchant to track him down. But with Dhar disregarding modern technology old customs are being used to pass messages. To discover what is going on an who is shielding Dhar, Marchant must become a double agent but does he have the ability and how far will his loyalties be tested. Games Traitors Play is due to be published in March 2011.

In Sanctus a man throws himself to death. It is not however a suicide but a symbolic act witnessed by the whole world. For some it is what they have been waiting for a they will do anything to stop the citadel from being taken apart. For Liv Adamsen a New York Crime Reporter it is the start of a journey into the heart of her own identity.Sanctus is by Simon Toyne and is due for publication in April 2011.

The savage murder of 8-year old Lauren’s mother turns her world upside down. Her beloved father is imprisoned. As an adult she has a number of problems one of them being her brother Alex’s insistence that their father is innocent. Meanwhile, Sylvia Hall is running away from her boyfriend determined to keep the baby he does not want. Her only help is her best friend Victoria but, Victoria has her own problems to contend with. All three women are connected by tragedy and betrayal. Close Your Eyes is by Amanda Eyre-Ward and is due to be published in March 2011.

Rebellion is the fourth book in the Matthew Hawkwood series. It is October 1812 and both Britain and France are at war but there is also a rebellion brewing. Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood has been seconded to the foreign arm of the Secret Service. He’s to join a colleague in Paris on a special mission that needs his help. If the plan is successful it could lead to a negotiated peace treaty between France and the allies. Failure would mean prison, torture and a meeting with the guillotine. Rebellion is by James McGee and is due to be published in February 2011.

Beverley Barton’s If looks Could Kill is due to be published in February 2011. A number of victims have been found faced down in a river in Tennessee naked except for a black ribbon found around their necks. They are all also redheads. Meanwhile Reve Sorrell (also a redhead) has come to Tennessee seeking answers. As the serial killer leaves another calling card Reve turns to Sheriff Butler to help her with her past unknowing that there is someone close determined to stop her.

Ben Hope has a desperate fight on his hands: to uphold justice, evade capture and prove his own innocence. Whilst visiting a former SAS comrade in Italy, Ben Hope almost runs over a young boy -- and unwittingly walks into his deadliest mission yet. Persuaded by the boy's family to attend a valuable gallery exhibition, Ben is witness to a ruthless attack by a gang of criminals seeking to steal a relatively worthless Goya sketch. In the ensuing bloodbath Ben evades the criminals, but tragically, the young boy is killed. Vowing to track down the criminals, Ben is quickly drawn into a world of treachery and danger where nothing is what it seems. Unwittingly caught up in the machinations of secret political forces, Ben finds himself wrongly accused of the murder of an Italian politician and becomes a fugitive, pursued by the combined forces of Europe's police. The Lost Relic by Scott Mariani is the sixth book in the Ben Hope series and is due to be published in January 2011.

Married

with

one child and a career: Lydia has her life in perfect order – if only everyone else around her could be

as organised as she is. Her unmarried twin sister Elisa is still struggling to find what she wants to do. And her colleagues at the school where she teaches often fail to reach her high standards. But one day, it all falls apart f

rom Lydia. When she is threatened by one of her pupils, her sister is the first person she turns to. But Elisa is powerless to stop the campaign of intimidation that follows. How far will it go? Or is someone else taking advantage of the situation? And what is Elisa’s part in all of this? Twins are close. Aren’t they. Shadow Sister is by Dutch author Simone Van Der Vlgut and is due to be published in January 2011.

Cold Kill is by Neil White and is due to be published in June 2011. When a young woman, Jane Roberts, is strangled and murdered, the police discover that her orifices have been assaulted in a most disturbing way. She is the second woman to be killed in this way within a month and terrifyingly, it seems there is a new serial killer on the loose. Crime reporter Jack Garrett is covering the story for the local paper while his fiancée, Laura McGanity, is one of the detectives on the case. The stresses of both their jobs have taken their toll and recently they have started to grow apart. When Jack starts to receive sinister emails from someone disclosing details of the case, he initially thinks that there is a leak in the murder squad. Meanwhile, retired child psychologist, Rupert Barker, recognises aspects of the murder from his own work and thinks that there are alarming parallels with a young boy that used to be in his care. Barker is murdered before he can share his suspicions with the police. Jack realises that the emails he has been receiving are from the killer. The messages have become more and more explicit and it is clear that his appetite for mayhem and destruction have not been sated – now, he tells Jack, he wants Laura. Caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Jack and Laura must unlock the past if they are to find the killer – but someone out there will do anything to stop them, even if that means killing again and again and again.