Strand Critics Awards

The Strand Critics Awards, recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists. They were presented on 12^th July 2017 in New York City.

Best Novel 
The Trespasser by Tana French (Viking) 

Best Debut Novel: 
The Lost Girls by Heather Young (William Morrow)

Clive Cussler was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award

Congratulations to All!

Strand Critics Awards Nominees:

The Strand Critics Awards, recognising excellence in the field of mystery fiction, were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists.

Best Novel 
You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown and Company)
The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
The Trespasser by Tana French (Viking) 
What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin (William Morrow)
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press)
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (Gallery)

Best Debut Novel
The Widow by Fiona Barton (NAL)
IQ by Joe Ide (Mulholland)
The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell (Touchstone)
A Deadly Affection by Cuyler Overholt (Sourcebooks Landmark)
The Homeplace by Kevin Wolf (Minotaur)
The Lost Girls by Heather Young (William Morrow)

Clive Cussler will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The awards will be presented at an invitation-only cocktail party in New York City, hosted by The Strand on July 12, 2017. Congratulations to all the nominees.

Books to Look Forward to from Penguin and Michael Joseph

The Bootlegger is the seventh of Clive Cussler's bestselling Isaac Bell novels written with Justin Scott.  It is 1920.  Prohibition and bootlegging are in full swing.  When Joseph Van Dorn is shot and nearly killed while in pursuit of a rum-running vessel, his friend and employee, Isaac Bell, swears to him that he will hunt down the lawbreakers.  But Bell doesn’t know what he is getting into.  When a witness to the shooting is executed in a manner peculiar to the Russian secret police, it becomes clear that these were no ordinary bootleggers.  Bell is facing a team of Bolshevik assassins and saboteurs – and they are intent on overthrowing the government of the United States.  The Bootlegger is an adventure laced with secret cargo and assassins and is due to be published in March 2014.  Also due to be published in June 2014 by Clive Cussler with Graham Brown is Ghost Ship, which is the twelfth book in the Numa Files series.

Eeny Meeny is the serial-killer thriller debut from M. J. Arlidge and is due to be published in May 2014.  The girl emerged from the woods.  Traumatised and emaciated; close to death, but alive.  Her story seemed too terrible to be true.  But it was.  Every dreadful word of it.  When, days later, another desperate survivor is found, a pattern becomes clear.  Pairs of victims are being abducted, imprisoned then forced to make a terrible choice.  Which would you sacrifice - your life or your conscience?  For DI Helen Grace there is now an unseen killer to be hunted down.  And it may be the survivors - living calling cards - who hold the key to the case.  Haunted by the past, Grace has found unconventional ways to face down her own demons in her rise to the top.  Now though, there's a new monster to confront.  And unless she succeeds, more innocents will die...

The Hangman's Song is the third novel in James Oswald's Inspector McLean series set in Edinburgh and is due to be published in February 2014.  The body of a man is founding hanging in an empty house.  To the Edinburgh police force this appears to be a simple suicide case.  Days later another body is found.  The body is hanging from an identical rope and the noose has been tied using the same knot.  Then a third body is found.  As McLean digs deeper he descends into a world where the lines of reality are blurred and that the most irrational answers become the only explanations.

Don’t Look Back is by Gregg Hurwitz and is due to be published in September 2014.  After the breakup of her marriage Evie takes the holiday of a lifetime.  A few weeks of hiking, rafting and jungle adventure at an eco-lodge in Mexico sounded ideal.  But what should be the best pick me up soon turns into a nightmare.  Nothing is quite what it seems.  There are secrets hidden that can’t be allowed to leave their jungle hiding place.  And which their keeper will kill to protect.  If she is ever to see her son again, Evie will be forced to find reserves of strength, courage, and ingenuity she never dreamt existed.  Or die trying.

Mirage is the new heart-in-the-mouth adventure thriller in the Oregon Files from Clive Cussler with Jack Du Brul and is due to be published in January 2014.  October 1943.  A US Navy warship vanishes at sea off the coast of Philadelphia.  Its disappearance was rumoured to have been a result of a classified military experiment into the effects of electromagnetic radiation.  The story has long since been considered a hoax.  But Juan Cabrillo and his colleagues aboard the top-secret spy ship Oregon aren't convinced.  Now, a powerful new weapon is for sale - one linked to genius inventor Nikola Telsa, who was working with the Navy when he died in 1943.  Was he responsible for the original Philadelphia experiment?  Are his notes in the hands of his enemies?  As Cabrillo and his crew race to unearth the truth they discover that stakes are dangerously high.  And it may already be too late...

Scarred physically and mentally while serving with the army in Afghanistan, trainee detective Joseph Stark must endure the rigours of a murder investigation while battling his own demons and dealing with the suspicions and jealousies of his new colleagues.  But as it becomes clear that there is a great deal more at stake than the tragic killing of a South London down and out, it seems Stark’s formidable determination, courage and drive may not this time be enough to see him through.  Covenant is the debut novel by Matthew Frank and is due to be published in June 2014.

Guilt is by Jussi Adler-Olsen and is due to be published in February 2014.  1987: Nete Hermansen, a young woman brutally assaulted in her youth, sterilised without her consent by a fanatical surgeon, and banished to Sprogo, the island for outcast women is planning her escape and her vengeance.  And soon people begin to go missing and no one - certainly not the police - knows why, nor that individual cases are connected.  Today: Carl Morck and his assistants Assad and Rose in Department Q are examining old missing persons cases and spot a disturbing pattern from 1987.

The Devil’s Workshop is by Alex Grecian and is due to be published in July 2014.  Spring, 1890, and the escape of four prisoners casts a long shadow of fear over London.  The escapees are all convicted murderers who have vowed to return to their grisly work.  Walter Day and the Scotland Yard Murder Squad now face a desperate race to re-capture these vicious men before they vanish into the dark alleyways of London’s criminal underworld overnight.  And in the midst of this mayhem and fear, the city’s worst nightmare is realised: Jack the Ripper haunts the streets of London once more.

When Detective Petra Westman finds an unconscious child in an undergrowth, and shortly after stumbles upon the mother’s dead body hidden inside a grit bin, the Hammarby Police team is shocked by the gruesomeness of this case.  And the strangest thing is that nobody seems to missing the victims….  But just an investigation is launched; chief Investigator Conny Sjøberg is faced with yet another murder.  A teenage girl has been killed aboard the cruise ship Cinderella and her younger sister will be next if Sjøberg can’t uncover the killer.  Cinderella Girl is by Carin Gerhardsen and is due to be published in April 2014.

Also due to be published in April is Thursday’s Children by Nicci French.

Last Judgement is the debut novel by John Carter and is due to be published in June 2014.  In a dark chamber a single decision is taken.  After almost three hundred years, a protocol is sent to the leadership of secluded collectives all across Europe.  Groups shrouded in mystery are united by a force older than them all: a fellowship with an almost unfathomable aim: the fall of an empire, and the creation of another.  University student Katie Languerac’s research has taken a remarkable turn – she has found a man willing to break the silence and secrecy that has marked out the Guilds for centuries.  But Katie is soon drawn into a deeply powerful world and going any further could mean the end of her life.

Retired Army Ranger turned historian John Holliday has thwarted the plots of Rex Deus, the twenty-first-century incarnation of the Templars, all over the world.  Now, the lost journal of explorer Percy Fawcett leads Holliday deep into the South American jungles on a quest to uncover the greatest mystery of the Middle Ages...Trailed by an infamous tomb raider and menaced by a tribe of hostile natives, Holliday and his crew uncover a five-hundred-year-old society hidden in the cauldron of the Amazon.  Descendants of the Templar Knights, they exist for one reason: to hide and protect the holy artefact taken from the original Temple of Jerusalem by the first Templars: the legendary Ark of the Covenant.  Will Holliday's obsession with the truth finally kill him?  Lost City of the Templars is by Paul Christopher and is due to be published in January 2014.

Garrett Reilly has a rare talent.  He discerns the patterns in large amounts of information.  He understands what's happening before others.  He's ahead of the game.  This makes Reilly very good at his Wall Street job, but it also makes him immensely valuable to the secretive government agencies charged with keeping America safe.  Mourning the death of his brother in a pointless overseas war, Reilly doesn't want anything to do with them.  And in any case, his gifts can only help pull the world back from the brink of annihilation if he can stay alive long enough to figure out what's going on . . . As a result he is a wanted man.  The trouble is knowing who wants him alive and who wants him dead.  And, inducted into a secret world of deception and misdirection where nothing is what it seems, Reilly is forced to trust his own abilities or die.  Because numbers don’t lie but governments do.  The Pattern of Fear is the debut novel by Andrew Chapman and is due to be published in March 2014.

After the Silence is the debut novel by Jake Woodhouse and is due to be published in April 2014.  A murdered policeman, a dead businessman hanging from a hook, a building burnt to the ground in an arson attack and a missing girl – identity unknown.  It’d up to damaged, world-weary Inspector Jaap Rykel of Amsterdam’s finest to piece it all together.  Alongside him he’s got an inexperienced female detective wrestling with the ghosts of her past, and a Sergeant with a drugs habit.  And then there’s the internal affairs investigation.

When ex-SF operator Sam Dryden instinctively protects a young girl fleeing a squad of well-armed pursuers, he gets a lot more than he bargained for.  The girl, suffered from drug-induced amnesia, is at the centre of a conspiracy that reaches some of the government’s most powerful, secretive organisations.  And as her memory returns, so do the qualities that have made her so precious.  And powerful.  On the run, Dryden has to employ every trick he learned in his career to try and save himself and his charges.  But against overwhelming odds, even his considerable skills may not be enough.  Runner is by Patrick Lee and is due to be published in June 2014.

Books to look forward to from Penguin and Michael Joseph

 Two Evils is by P J Tracy and is due to be published in January 2013.  A missing teenage girl lies dead in a parking lot.  Two young immigrants are killed in their apartment.  Three men are found dead in the street nearby.  As the police struggle to establish what's happened, they realise that the deaths may not be as random as they first appear.  As the killings continue, homicide detectives Magozzi and Rolseath turn to maverick computer analyst Grace McBride for help, drawing her into an investigation that will threaten her life.  And as the evidence mounts, it reveals terrifying intent.  Ultimately, it forces the two detectives to make a dreadful choice: down which path does the lesser of two evils lie . . .

The one who got away - is the only one he wants.  It's been seven years since the Seattle Strangler terrorized the city.  His victims were all young, pretty, their lifeless bodies found wrapped in a white dress.  But there was one who miraculously escaped death. . .  Lara Church has only hazy memories of her long-ago attack.  What she does have is a home in Austin, a job, and a chance at a normal life at last.  Then Texas Ranger James Beck arrives on her doorstep with shattering news: The Strangler is back.  And this time, he's in Austin.  The 7^th Victim is by Mary Burton and is due to be published in March 2013.

  

The Bone Prophet is by Ted Kosmataka and is due to be published in April 2013.  'Bone is a text.  It writes its history for those able to read it...'His was the only name on their list.  But for brilliant young anthropologist Paul Carlsson, asked to examine a cache of bones found on a remote island, fascination soon turns to fear.  Waiting for him is evidence of something that shouldn't exist; a revelation that could turn scientific and religious orthodoxy on its head.  If Carlsson discovers the truth, too many powerful interests have too much to lose.  But not every prophet is without honour.  Carlsson, alone and on the run, is determined to reveal the discovery to the world.  A world, which is only 5,800 years old... 

When Grace and her brother Andrew inherit their grandmother's house in Hampstead, they decide to move in together.  It seems the obvious thing to do: they've always got on well, the house is large enough to split down the middle, and neither of them likes partying or loud music.  There's one thing they've forgotten though: what if one of them wants to bring a lover into the house?  When Andrew's partner James moves in, it alters the balance – with almost fatal consequences.  Grace tries to concentrate on writing her thesis, on illegitimacy in English fiction.  During the day, she ponders the fate of Hardy's Tess and the unfortunate Hetty Sorrell.  So she's happy to oblige a friend when he asks her to read an unpublished manuscript about a young unmarried mother in Devon between the wars.  Except the book begins to seem remarkably, and uncomfortably, close to home.  The Child’s Child is by Barbara Vine and is due to be published in March 2013.

  

If a decade of diplomatic life had taught Toby Bell one thing, it was to treat every crisis as normal and soluble.  2008. A covert counter terror operation codenamed "Wildlife" to be mounted on the Rock of Gibraltar.  This one is right off the books.  The target codenamed "PUNTER".  Our boys on land, the American mercenaries by sea.  Kit Probyn, Foreign Office upright veteran with a safe pair of hands and no previous experience of the dark arts, to be the Minister's eyes and ears on the ground.  His "red telephone".  Toby Bell, rising Foreign Office star and the Minister's Personal Private Secretary, has been kept out of the loop.  Why?  Whispers of private armies, bounty, dicey intelligence, corporate wars.  2011. A disgraced Special Forces Soldier who took part in "Wildlife" delivers a message from the dead.  The worlds of Toby Bell and Kit Probyn collide.  If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, at what point do these two good men become guilty bystanders?  A Delicate Truth is a furiously paced story of moral dilemma, personal guilt, bold action and unexpected love.  A Delicate Truth is by John Le Carré and is due to be published in May 2013.

The Striker is the sixth book in the Isaac Bell series by Clive Cussler and is due to be published in March 2013.  Detective Isaac Bell returns in the remarkable new adventure.  It is 1902, and a bright, inexperience’s young man named Isaac Bell, only two years out of his apprenticeship at the Van Dorn Detective Agency, has an urgent message for his boss.  Hired to hunt for radical saboteurs in the coalmines, he is witness to a terrible accident that makes him think that something else is going on, that provocateurs are at work and bigger stakes are in play.  Little does he know just how big they are.  Given exactly one week to prove his case, Bell quickly finds himself pitted against two of the most ruthless opponents he has ever known, men of staggering ambition and cold-bloodedness...

When the brutally beaten dead body of health visitor Ruth Lennox is found at her home in Chalk Farm, her family as well as the police are desperately looking for clues as to who wanted to kill the young woman.  The initial conclusion that everyone makes, is that the murder was an average burglary gone terribly wrong.  But then Detective Chief Inspector Malcolm Karlsson and his team discover that the mother of three had secrets of her own which may have lead to her tragic death.  Desperate for all the answers, Karlsson asks psychotherapist Frieda Klein for help, who has barely recovered from the previous case the pair had teamed up on . . . Meanwhile, Frieda has to fight for survival on many other fronts – her own inner demons are haunting her, as well as work rival Hal Bradshaw is all set to destroy her reputation.  And just when she thinks things can't get any worse, the man of her darkest nightmares has got back in contact . . .  Waiting For Wednesday is the third book in the Frida Klein series by Nicci French.

The Tombs is the fourth book in the Fargo Adventures by Clive Cussler and Thomas Perry.  It is due to be published in January 2013.  It's a prize beyond imagination.  When an archaeologist excavating a top-secret historical site realizes the magnitude of his discovery, he requests help from treasure hunters Sam and Remi Fargo.  And in rushing to join him, the husband and wife team are thrown into their most daring quest to date.  The clues point to the hidden tomb of Attila the Hun, the High King who was reportedly buried with a vast fortune of gold and jewels and plunder, a bounty that has never been found.  But as Sam and Remi piece together the puzzle, the trail takes them through Hungary, Italy, France, Russia, and Kazakhstan and not to a single tomb, but five.  And into the path of deadly danger.  They are not the only ones hunting for the High King's riches.  The Fargos will find themselves pitted against a thieving group of amateur treasure hunters, a cunning Russian businessman, and a ruthless Hungarian who claims direct descent from Attila himself . . . and will stop at nothing to claim the tombs' riches as his own.

Redemption is the third book in the Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen and is due to be published in April 2013.  Two boys, brothers, wake tied and bound in a boathouse by the sea.  Their kidnapper has gone, but soon he will return.  Their bonds are inescapable.  But there is a bottle and tar to seal it.  Paper and a splinter for writing; blood for ink.  A message begging for help.  In Copenhagen's cold cases division Carl Mørck has received a bottle.  It holds an old and decayed message, written in blood.  It is a cry for help from two boys.  Is it real?  Who are they and why weren't they reported missing?  Can they possibly still be alive?

Ten years ago, a serial killer went quiet - now he's back.  Dave Gurney, a retired NYPD homicide detective, agrees to meet a young woman making a documentary on The Good Shepherd.  A decade ago a series of roadside shootings made The Good Shepherd killer headline news.  But then the killings stopped, and nobody could say for sure why.  Finding himself drawn back into the case, Gurney soon discovers new facts the original investigation missed and literally stakes his life on finding The Good Shepherd.  He makes himself a target so that the killer will come for him.  Let The Devil Sleep is by John Verdon and is due to be published in January 2013.

The Hiding Place is by David Bell and is due to be published in February 2013.  Sometimes it's easier to believe a lie . . . Twenty-five-years ago, the disappearance of four-year-old Justin Manning rocked the small town of Dove Point, Ohio. When his body was found in the woods two months later, the repercussions were felt for years. Janet Manning has been haunted by the murder since the day she lost sight of her brother in the park. The twenty-fifth anniversary of Justin's death looming, a detective and a newspaper reporter have begun asking questions, opening old wounds and raising new suspicions. Could the man jailed for murder be innocent?  And then a stranger appears at Janet's door in the night, claiming to know the truth.

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Penguin and Michael Joseph

Isaac Bell is back in another nerve-shredding historical thriller from the international bestselling author Clive Cussler and Justin Scott. Intrepid detective Isaac Bell engages in his most dangerous case yet. It is the early years of the twentieth century, air travel is in its infancy, and newspaper publisher Preston Whiteway is offering $50,000 for the first flier to cross America in less than fifty days. He is even sponsoring one of the candidates a barnstorming woman flier named Josephine Frost and that's where Isaac Bell comes in. Frost's violent tempered business magnate husband, Harry, has just killed her lover and tried to kill her and now he's on the run but Whiteway is sure he'll try again. Not that that's news to Bell. He tangled with Harry Frost ten years before, and lost badly. He knows that Frost has access to thieves, murderers and thugs in every city in the country. He knows Frost won't just be coming after his wife, but after Whiteway. And Bell knows that if he takes the case, Frost will be after him, too. Yes, Bell knows all that . . . but he still has no idea what he has just gotten himself into. Things are not quite what they seem to him and that will prove to be a very fatal mistake indeed. The Race is due to be published in October 2011.


Gamble is the latest novel by Dick and Felix Francis. It is due to be published in September 2011. As one of the youngest ever winners of the Grand National, Nick 'Foxy' Foxton's career as a world-class jockey is on perfect track until a near fatal accident cuts his dream brutally short. But when he returns to Aintree as a spectator years later, nothing can prepare him for what unfolds. Minutes before the biggest event on the racing calendar, Nick's affable American colleague Herb Kovak is shot at point-blank range, the gunman disappearing among the stunned crowd. Along with the police, Nick is left baffled as to why anyone would want to kill such an apparently gentle soul. With the press speculating about links to gangland crime and a crumpled note containing a threatening message found in the dead man's coat, Nick begins to doubt how well he really knew Herb. And on discovering Herb had named him as the benefactor of his will, Nick questions why he has been entrusted with the legacy. Is this a generous gift from a friend or is it, in fact, a poisoned chalice?

AD 262 and the Imperium is in turmoil after the struggle for the throne. Furthermore, Ephesus, Asia's metropolis, lies in ruins, shattered by a mighty earthquake. Its citizens live in fear as the mob overwhelms the city, baying for blood to avenge the gods who have punished them. Yet an even greater threat to the Empire advances from the North. The barbaric Goth tribes sail towards Ephesus, determined to pillage the city. Only Ballista, Warrior of Rome, knows the ways of the barbarians, and only he can defeat them. The Goths' appetite for brutality and destruction is limitless and before long Ballista is locked into a deadly blood feud, with an enemy that has sworn to destroy him and the Imperium at all costs. The Caspian Gates is the latest novel in the Warrior of Rome series by Harry Sidebottom and it is due to be published in July 2011.

Disgrace is the latest novel by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and is due to be published in January 2012. It is 1987. A brother and sister are brutally killed in a summer house in the north of Denmark. The police investigation suggests that the murderer is to be found within a group of young boarding school students who are known for their addiction to gang violence. But the evidence is not strong enough to prove this theory, and the case is shelved. Twenty years later, Carl Moerck and his assistant Assad stumble over the file documenting the murders. No one really knows why it has reappeared, but someone seems to be interested in revisiting the events surrounding the case. When Moerck's bosses strictly forbid the Department Q team to reopen the file, both he and Assad know there is something terribly wrong and get hooked on the story. The first lead they uncover takes them to the very top of Danish high society the world of stockbrokers, businessmen and plastic surgeons. But it also takes them to the very bottom: to Kimmie, a young homeless woman who lives on the streets of Copenhagen and who seems to know a secret that could seriously threaten three incredibly powerful men.


The Death Relic is the new action-adventure thriller set amidst Mexico's ancient Mayan ruins by Chris Kuzneski. The New World, 1545 . . . Vanquished by the Spanish Empire, little remains of the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. From the ashes of their cities, a unified legend emerges: the Christians who conquered them possessed a mysterious object, an artefact so powerful so deadly that it was known throughout the Americas as 'the death relic'. Yucatan Peninsula, present day . . . When Maria Pelati's research team disappears in Mexico, Jonathon Payne and David Jones embark on a perilous mission to find the missing archaeologists. The duo quickly finds a link between the group's work and its recent disappearance. Following the clues left behind, the pair try to solve one of the darkest mysteries of the New World, but their quest for the relic might cost them their lives. The Death Relic is due to be published in September 2011.

It’s 1640, and the pall of war hangs over France . . . The young Chevalier de Roland has scarcely set foot in the city before he crosses swords with a cruel nobleman to defend a young woman's honour. Too late he learns he has stumbled on a conspiracy within the King's own household to seize power by secret alliance with Spain. Accused of treason and forced to flee into hiding, André must fight on alone, staking both his life and his honour in the battle to save France. Blood and Steel is an epic swashbuckling page turner that sweeps from the political intrigues of Cardinal Richelieu to the great battlefields of the Thirty Years War. Blood and Steel is by A L Berridge and is due to be published in August 2011.


The Chill of Night is by James Hyman and is due to be published in October 2011. It is the second book in the series to feature Detective Michael McCabe. Lainie Goff thinks she has it all. A glamorous young Portland attorney with the brains and looks to match her ambitions, she's on the fast track to a partnership. Until one cold winter night she discovers that her belief in her ability to handle any situation was misplaced. Now she's just a frozen corpse in the boot of a car at the end of Portland Fish Pier. And a problem for homicide detective Michael McCabe. Luckily for McCabe, there's a witness. A mentally disturbed young woman named Abby Quinn saw what happened to Lainie. Unfortunately, Abby mysteriously goes missing the very same night. With a victim who'd known more than her share of bad guys, a list of suspects that seems to get longer and longer and his only witness missing, McCabe has got his work cut out. But it's only a matter of time before the killer strikes again . . .


Every Serial Killer Knows . . . The vicious burns scarring the victims' flesh reveal the agony of their last moments. Each woman was branded with a star, then stabbed through the heart. With every death, a vengeful killer finds a brief, blissful moment of calm . . . The Perfect Time . . . Ten years ago, Eva Rayburn and her sorority sisters were celebrating the end of the school year. That party turned into a nightmare Eva can't forget. Now she's trying to start over in her Virginia hometown, but a new nightmare has begun. Every victim is linked to her. And Detective Deacon Garrison isn't sure whether this mysterious woman needs investigating or protecting . . . To Make His Mark Only Eva's death will bring peace. Only her tortured screams will silence the rage that has been building for ten long years. Because what started that night at the sorority can never be stopped not until the last victim has been marked for death . . . Senseless is by Mary Burton and is due to be published in September 2011.


The Templar's Quest is by C M Palov and is due to be published in November 2011. The Montségur Medallion points the way to the most coveted relic, the Holy Grail. In the wrong hands it could destroy civilization . . . Finn McGuire finds himself framed for a string of murders moments after he uncovers the legendary Medallion in an ancient Syrian chapel. The culprits are a group of Nazi SS descendants known as The Seven who will stop at nothing to possess the pendant . . . and the Holy Grail. Their wish? To resurrect the Third Reich. Former MI5 operative Caedmon Aisquith is an expert in the Knights Templar and the Grail; he knows the Seven can only desire it for evil and when Finn approaches him, the two join forces in a quest to find the deadly relic and halt the bloodshed. Their race takes them from the Louvre to a medieval citadel in the Pyrenees. But the stakes are high, for the fate of mankind hangs in the balance if they fail . . .


The Thousand by Kevin Guilfoile is due to be published in September 2011. Long ago, a thousand men and women abandoned their lives to follow a stranger. Now their legacy threatens modern existence . . . Long ago, a thousand men and women abandoned their lives to follow a stranger. Now their legacy threatens modern existence . . . In 530 BC a mysterious ship appeared off the rainy shores of Croton in what is now Italy. After three days, a man disembarked to address the curious and frightened crowd that had gathered. He called himself Pythagoras. Exactly what he said that day is unknown, but afterwards a thousand men and women abandoned their lives and families to follow him. Over the centuries they became a secret society of powerful individuals safeguarding the teachings of one of history's most brilliant mathematicians. But now, triggered by a brutal murder in Chicago, the brotherhood erupts into civil war, and a young woman finds herself at the centre of ancient revelations that could not only become instruments of terror but could jeopardize civilization itself . . .


The Rembrandt Affair is by Daniel Silva and sees the return of Gabriel Allon. Glastonbury, an art restorer, has been brutally murdered, and the newly discovered Rembrandt he was working on has disappeared. Spy turned art restorer Gabriel Allon has only one thing in mind: recovery. But this unspeakable act of violence once again draws Allon into a world of danger he thought he had left behind forever. Allon is persuaded to use his unique skills to trace the painting and those responsible for the crimes. As he investigates, he discovers there are terrible secrets connected to the painting, and terrible men behind them. Before he is done, he will have undertaken a journey through some of the twentieth century's darkest history - and come face to face with some of the same darkness within himself. The Rembrandt Affair is due to be published in August 2011.

Books to look forward to from Penguin and Michael Joseph

Death Toll is by CWA Dagger in the Library winner Jim Kelly. Bodies are being exhumed at King's Lynn's cemetery, the bones moved to higher ground to avoid flooding. But when the coffin of murdered pub landlady Nora Tilden is hauled up into the light there's a grim discovery: the twisted corpse of a young black man, killed by a billhook blow to the head, and dumped in the grave on the night Nora was buried twenty-eight years earlier. The police are baffled by a bewildering and brutal murder. Who was this young man? Was he the victim of a racist crime? When DI Peter Shaw, DS George Valentine and their team are put on the case their investigation first leads them to The Flask, Nora's pub just along the riverbank, where her family hides more than one dark secret and it's soon clear no one can be trusted. Will Shaw and Valentine be able to get to the shocking truth behind the murder before it's too late and the ghosts from the past claim another victim? Death Toll is due to be published in January 2011.

The Papal Decree is by Luis Miguel Rocha and is due to be published in July 2011. The Catholic Church's best-kept secret. The ancient scrolls which threaten that secret. And a journalist prepared to discover the truth at any cost. 1947, the Qumran Valley. Ancient scrolls are discovered that the Vatican desperately tries to suppress. Only five men know of their existence. But now four of the men have been found dead . . . Priest and double agent, Rafael, is sent to investigate. The evidence he discovers may implicate journalist Sarah Monteiro, who already knows too many of the Church’s secrets. Finding themselves dangerously entangled in a life-threatening conspiracy that the church will go to any length to protect, Rafael and Sarah must uncover the truth before the killers do .

The Dead Tracks is the second David Raker novel. A serial killer more terrifying than you could ever imagine … Seventeen-year-old Megan Carver was an unlikely runaway. A straight-A student from a happy home, she studied hard and rarely got into trouble. Six months on, she's never been found. Missing persons investigator David Raker knows what it's like to grieve. He knows the shadowy world of the lost too. So, when he's hired by Megan's parents to find out what happened, he recognizes their pain - but knows that the darkest secrets can be buried deep. And Megan's secrets could cost him his life. Because as Raker investigates her disappearance, he realizes everything is a lie. People close to her are dead. Others are too terrified to talk. And soon the conspiracy of silence leads Raker towards a forest on the edge of the city. A place with a horrifying history - which was once the hunting ground for a brutal, twisted serial killer. A place known as the Dead Tracks. The Dead Tracks is by Tim Weaver and is due to be published in February 2011.

The Sword of the Templars is by Paul Christopher and is due to be published in March 2011. After a lifetime on the front lines, Army Ranger John Holliday has resigned himself to ending his career teaching at West Point Military Academy. But when his uncle passes away, Holliday discovers a medieval sword among his things - sinisterly wrapped in Adolf Hitler's personal battle standard. Then someone viciously burns down his uncle's house and Holliday's secret fears about the mysterious sword ring alarmingly true. Holliday must delve into the past and piece together the puzzle that was his uncle's life - his involvement with the enigmatic warriors known as the Knights Templar. But his search for answers soon becomes a race against a ruthless and cunning opponent, willing to die for their cause. Can Holliday live long enough to reveal the treacherous but critical truth?

Ruso and the River of Darkness by R S Downie is the fourth book in the series. Gaius Petreius Ruso and his newlywed wife Tilla have moved back to Britannia, where Ruso's old friend and colleague Valens has promised to help him find work. But it isn't the kind of work he'd had in mind - Ruso's tasked to hunt down a missing taxman named Julius Asper. Of course there's something else missing: money. And the Council of the town of Verulamium is bickering over what's become of it. Compelled to delve deeper by a threat from his old sparring-partner Metellus, Ruso discovers that the good townsfolk may not be as loyal to Rome as they like to appear. While Tilla tries to comfort Asper's wife, an anonymous well-wisher warns the couple to flee before they get hurt. But it doesn't take long until Ruso and Tilla find themselves trapped at the heart of an increasingly treacherous conspiracy. Ruso and the River of Darkness is due to be published in March 2011.

NO ONE WILL FIND YOU -
An aspiring artist. A high-school senior. A stripper. Three women who seemed to have nothing in common except their sudden disappearance. But one man knew them all. Wealthy, privileged Craig Thornton even claimed to love them. And for that, they paid the ultimate price. NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU- When Adrianna Barrington receives an anniversary card from her husband Craig, she assumes it's a sick joke. After all, Craig is dead. But then come the whispered phone calls and beautiful flowers, all reminding her how much Craig misses her. While Adrianna begins to doubt her sanity, grisly remains are found on the Thornton estate. Detective Gage Hudson is convinced the bodies are linked to Craig. But the biggest shocks are yet to come. NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU -
A psychopath has taken up his chilling work again, each death a prelude to the moment when Adrianna is under his control at last. And the only way for Gage and Adrianna to stop him is to uncover the truth about a family's dark past and a twisted love that someone will kill for again and 
again … Dying Scream is by Mary Burton and is due to be published in May 2011.

The Templar Cross is also by Paul Christopher. Retired Army Ranger Lt. Col. John Holliday has reluctantly settled into his teaching position at West Point when young Israeli archaeologist Rafi Wanounou comes to him with desperate news. Holliday's niece - and Rafi's fiancé - Peggy has been kidnapped. Holliday sets out with Rafi to find the only family he has left. But their search for Peggy will lead them to a trail of clues that spans across the globe, and into the heart of a conspiracy involving an ancient Egyptian legend and the darkest secrets of the Order of Templar Knights. Secrets that, once known, cannot be survived … The Templar Cross is due for publication in July 2011.

The Cutting i

s one of the scariest debuts of the year. And the first in a great new series by James Hayman. It is due to be published in January 2011. Someone is stealing the hearts of beautiful women … Portland, Maine. A missing high-school athlete's mutilated body is found in a scrap metal yard. Her heart has been surgically removed. The same day a young businesswoman is abducted … Former NYPD detective Michael McCabe believes both crimes are the work of one man. A k

iller with surgical expertise who is targeting young women. Now McCabe and his team face a race against time to rescue the missing woman and unmask this sadistic killer - before it is too late.

The Chill of the Night is also by James Hayman. Glamorous young Portland attorney Lainie Goff thought she had it all. Brains. Beauty. And a fast-track to a partnership in a top-ranked firm. But then one cold winter night she pushed things too far. And very soon her nude and frozen body is found in the sub-zero temperatures at the end of the Portland Fish Pier.

 The only witness to the crime? A mentally disturbed young woman named Abby Quinn who mysteriously goes missing the very same night. 

With the discovery of Lainie Goff's frozen body and the disappearance of Abby Quinn, Portland homicide detective Michael McCabe finds himself, once again, on the trail of a relentless and clever killer. A killer he must find before another life is lost. The Chill of the Night is by June 2011.

The Temple Mount Code is by Charles Brokaw. One of the world's holiest sites holds a secret that once discovered will set our life as we know it in complete turmoil … When Thomas Lourds, the world's foremost scholar of ancient languages, is contacted by his old friend Dr Lev Strauss about the findings of a long lost ancient scripture, Lourds rushes immediately to Jerusalem to meet with Strauss. The document holds the key to one of the world's biggest treasures, which is hidden under the legendary Temple Mount. But when Lourds arrives in Israel, his friend has been murdered and the book has vanished. Deeply infuriated by Strauss'

death he is determined to seek the truth behind the murder and track down the manuscript before others can decipher the code it contains. The hunt forone of the best-kept secrets begins but will Lourds make it in time before his dangerous opponents close in? The legends promise the code's owner the power to rule over mankind … The Temple Mount Code is due to be published in June 2011.

When everything has been taken from you … 
There's nothing left to lose. Martin Harris has been in a coma for three days … when he wakes up, otherwise unharmed, he is shocked to discover that no one knows who he is - he no longer exists. Worse still, another man is living Martin's life. His identity, his home, even his wife have been stolen. He has lost everything. Except his memory …will anyone believe that he is the real Martin Harris? If not, is he mad? Or is there a far darker explanation? Out of my Head is by Didier van Cauwelaert and due to be published in February 2011

The Set Up is the debut novel by Felix Riley. In three days time it will all be too late … New York City - present day. Mike Byrne wants to know who framed him for murder. The New York Police Department 
Want Byrne locked up. The United States Secret Service 
Want Byrne dead. Detective Jenni Martinez 
Wants her gun and her badge back. Thing is, you don't always get what you want. 
So begins a life or death race against time to prevent an attack on the heart of the United States of America. Only one man can stop it - and he's just been set up. The Set Up is due to be

published in April 2011

Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen is due to be published in May 2011. On a beautiful winter's day the young, ambitious politician Merete Lynggaard

disappears without a trace. The media are all over the story with their headlines suggesting everything from murder and suicide to a planned voluntary disappearance. The police immediately commence a large-scale investigation - alas with no result. Merete Lynggaard has vanished from the face of the earth. Years later, Deputy Detective Superintendent Carl Mørck, who is known for his unconventional work practices, is put in charge of the new Department Q, which deals with 'cases of special focus'. Soon Carl and his assistant Assad stumble over new evidence in Merete's case and end up tracing a reckless criminal who, driven by hate, has set up an insane scheme.

It is 1210 and a black force is sweeping England. For a vengeful King John has seized control other Church, leaving corpses to lie in unconsecrated ground, babies unbaptized in their cradles

and the people terrified of dying in sin. And in the village of Gastmere, the consequences grow darker still when Elena, a servant girl, is dragged into a conspiracy to absolve the sins of the lord of the manor. As the terrors that soon begin to plague Elena's sleep grow darker, in desperation she visits the

cunning woman, who has been waiting for just such an opportunity to

fulf

il an ancient curse co

njured at the gallows. Elena, haunted by this curse and threatened with death for a crime she didn't commit, flees the village … only to find her nightmare has barely begun. For treachery lurks in every shadow as King John's brutal reign makes enemies of brothers, murderers of virgins and sinners of us all.The Gallows Curse is by Karen Maitland and is due to be published in March 2011.

Blue Monday by Nicci French is the first in a new series featuring Freida Klein. Psychotherapist Frieda Klein is facing a moral dilemma. One of her patients has revealed disturbing dreams in which he abducts a child, whose appearance he can describe in minute detail. And when Matthew, a five-year-old boy who matches that description, goes missing Frieda experiences a shudder of unease and contacts the police.

Detective Chief Inspector Karlsson doesn't take her seriously, but when a link emerges to an abduction going back twenty years, he brings Frieda in to interview the victim's sister. And so she becomes ensnared in a desperate hunt to find Matthew's kidnapper … but Frieda's chase isn't physical: she must race through the dark paths of a psychopath's mind to unearth the answers that lie within. Your darkest thoughts. Your secret desires. Your murderous impulses. Frieda Klein can see them all. Blue Monday is due to be published in June 2011.

Lost Empire by Clive Cussler (with Grant Blackwood) is the second book in the Fargo series. While scuba diving in Tanzania, Sam and Remi Fargo come upon a relic belonging to a long-lost Confederate ship. An anomaly about the relic sets them off chasing a mystery - but unknown to them, a much more powerful force is engaged in the same chase. Mexico's ruling party, the ultranationalist Mexica Tenochca, is intent on finding that artefact as well, because it contains a secret that could destroy the party utterly. 

Through Tanzania and Zanzibar, into the rainforests of Madagascar, and across the Indian Ocean to Indonesia and the legendary site of the 1883 Krakatoa explosion, the Fargos and their ruthless opponents pursue the hunt - but only one can win. Lost Empire is due to be published in January 2011.

The Kingdom is another installment in the Fargo Series by Clive Cussler (with Grant Blackwood) The husband-and-wife team of Sam and Remi Fargo are used to hunting for treasure, but they aren't used to hunting for people — until an investigator friend of theirs goes missing, and they promise to search for him. What they find, however, will be beyond anything they could have imagined. 

On a journey that will take them to Tibet, Nepal, China, Venice, and Siberia, the Fargos will find themselves embroiled with black market fossils, an ancient Tibetan kingdom, a lost landmass in the North Sea, stone-age ostrich egg shards inscribed in a cryptic language, a pair of battles separated by thousands of miles and hundreds of years…and a skeleton that could just turn the history of human evolution on its head. The Kingdom is due to be published in June 2011.

Clive Cussler (with Jack Du Brul) also return with another novel in The Oregon Files. A devastating new weapon unleashed in thirteenth-century China; a daring rescue mission in the snowbound mountains along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border; a woman gone missing in the jungles of northern Thailand and Myanmar. For Juan Cabrillo, intrepid captain of state-of-the-art fighting ship Oregon, all of the above will come together and lead to the discovery of the greatest threat against US security that the world has ever known. and all that stands between this threat and terrible destruction are Cabrillo and The Oregon. The Jungle is due to be published in March 2011.