Books to look Forward to from No Exit Press

October 2018

Autumn 1915. World War I is raging across Europe but Woodrow Wilson has kept Americans out of the trenches--though that hasn't stopped young men and women from crossing the Atlantic to volunteer at the front. Christopher "Kit" Cobb, a Chicago reporter with a second job as undercover agent for the U.S. government, is officially in Paris doing a story on American ambulance drivers, but his intelligence handler, James Polk Trask, soon broadens his mission. City-dwelling civilians are meeting death by dynamite in a new string of bombings, and the German-speaking Kit seems just the man to figure out who is behind them--possibly a German operative who has snuck in with the waves of refugees coming in from the provinces and across the border in Belgium. But there are elements in this pursuit that will test Kit Cobb, in all his roles, to the very limits of his principles, wits, and talents for survival.  Paris in the Dark is by Robert Olen Butler

Originally published by Gryphon Books in 1993, Difficult Lives was one of the earliest attempts to track the legacy of original paperback writers such as Jim Thompson, David Goodis and Chester Himes.  The individual essays on these three first appeared in literary magazines.  Difficult Lives visits a rare moment when daylight was showing around the seams of American society and visions quite in contrast to the sanctioned version drifted to the surface in books one bought off racks in drugstores and bus stations -- stark, bonelike, disturbing books.  No Exit Press are to make Difficult Lives available again, doubling our pleasure by pairing it with Hitching Rides, an equal volume of new essays on other crime writers including Derek Raymond, Jean-Patrick Manchette, Patricia Highsmith and Shirley Jackson.  Difficult Lives – Hitching Rides is by James Sallis.

The Lonely Witness is by William Boyle.  Amy was once a party girl, but now she lives a lonely life. Helping the house-bound to receive communion in the Gravesend neighbourhood of Brooklyn, she knows the community well.  When a local woman goes missing, Amy senses something isn’t right.  Tailing the woman’s suspicious son, she winds her way through Brooklyn’s streets. But before she can act, he is dead.  Captivated by the crime she’s witnessed and the murderer himself, Amy doesn’t call the cops. Instead, she collects the weapon from the sidewalk and soon finds herself on the trail of a killer.

November 2018

Death Rope is by Leigh Russell. Mark Abbott is dead. His sister refuses to believe it was suicide, but only Detective Sergeant Geraldine Steel will listen.  When other members of Mark’s family disappear, Geraldine’s suspicions are confirmed.  Taking a risk, Geraldine finds herself confronted by an adversary deadlier than any she has faced before… Her boss Ian is close, but will he arrive in time to save her, or is this the end for Geraldine Steel?

December 2018

One Law For The Rest of Us is by Peter Murphy.  Two generations of abuse... one shocking conspiracy... a woman determined to expose it all.  When Audrey Marshall sends her daughter Emily to the religious boarding school where she herself was educated a generation before, memories return – memories of a culture of child sexual abuse presided over by a highly-regarded priest.  Audrey turns to barrister Ben Schroeder in search of justice for Emily and herself.  But there are powerful men involved, men determined to protect themselves at all costs.

Heart Attacks is California’s last secret spot – the premier mysto surf haunt, the stuff of rumour and legend. The rumours say you must cross Indian land to get there. They tell of hostile locals and shark-infested waters where waves in excess of thirty feet break a mile from shore. For down-and-out photographer Jack Fletcher, the chance to shoot these waves in the company of surfing legend Drew Harmon offers the promise of new beginnings. But Drew is not alone in the northern reaches of the state. His young wife, Kendra, lives there with him. Obsessed with the unsolved murder of a local girl, Kendra has embarked upon a quest of her own, a search for truth – however dark that truth may prove to be.  In this desolate wasteland the search for the perfect wave becomes a quest for survival, as events lead inevitably to their final, tragic climax.  The Dogs of Winter is by Kem Nunn.

January 2019

On leave from Canada's Community Policing department, Esa Khattak is traveling in Iran, reconnecting with his cultural heritage and seeking peace in the country’s beautiful mosques and gardens. But Khattak’s supposed break from work is cut short when he’s approached by a Canadian government agent in Iran, asking him to look into the death of renowned Canadian-Iranian filmmaker Zahra Sobhani. Zahra was murdered at Iran’s notorious Evin prison, where she’d been seeking the release of a well-known political prisoner. Khattak quickly finds himself embroiled in Iran’s tumultuous politics and under surveillance by the regime, but when the trail leads back to Zahra’s family in Canada, Khattak calls on his partner, Detective Rachel Getty, for help.  Rachel uncovers a conspiracy linked to the Shah of Iran and the decades-old murders of a group of Iran’s most famous dissidents. Historic letters, a connection to the Royal Ontario Museum, and a smuggling operation on the Caspian Sea are just some of the threads Rachel and Khattak begin unraveling, while the list of suspects stretches from Tehran to Toronto. But as Khattak gets caught up in the fate of Iran’s political prisoners, Rachel sees through to the heart of the matter: Zahra’s murder may not have been a political crime at all.  Among the Ruins is by Ausma Zehanat Khan.

February 2019

Jack Harper isn’t a bad man, but he’s stuck in a loveless marriage with a mediocre job just trying to keep sober. The only good thing in his life is his son. When an old college friend introduces him to a new extramarital dating website, he tentatively reaches out to find a distraction from his misery. But when he goes to meet up with his steamy online date, he quickly realises it was a dire choice.  Soon, Jack finds himself desperately trying to prove his innocence for crimes he did not commit, and the life he once had – unhappy as it was – is nothing but a dream. Now, he’s living his worst nightmare. . .  Too Far is by Jason Starr.

Fade to Grey is by John Lincoln.  Gethin Grey is the man you call when there’s nowhere else to turn. His Last Resort Legals team investigates miscarriages of justice. But Gethin is running out of options himself: his gambling is out of control, his marriage is falling apart and there’s no money left to pay the wages…  Izma M was sent down years ago for the brutal murder of a young woman. In jail he’s written a bestseller and become a cult hero, and now the charismatic fading-film-star Amelia Laverne wants to bankroll Gethin to prove Izma's innocence. For Gethin – low on luck and cash – the job is heaven sent. But is Izma M really as blameless as his fans believe?  This seemingly cold case is about to turn very hot indeed…

March 2019

The Conviction of Cora Burns is by Carolyn Kirby.  Birmingham, 1885.  Born in a gaol and raised in a workhouse, Cora Burns has always struggled to control the violence inside her.  Haunted by memories of a terrible crime, she seeks a new life working as a servant in the house of scientist Thomas Jerwood.  Here, Cora befriends a young girl, Violet, who seems to be the subject of a living experiment. But is Jerwood also secretly studying Cora…?

After Brooklyn mob widow Rena Ruggiero hits her eighty-year-old neighbour Enzio in the head with an ashtray when he makes an unwanted move on her, she retreats to the Bronx home of her estranged daughter, Adrienne, and her granddaughter, Lucia, only to be turned away at the door. Their neighbour, Lacey “Wolfie” Wolfstein, a one-time Golden Age porn star and retired Florida Suncoast grifter, takes Rena in and befriends her. When Lucia discovers that Adrienne is planning to hit the road with her ex-boyfriend, she figures Rena is her only way out of a life on the run with a mother she can’t stand. The stage is set for an explosion that will propel Rena, Wolfie, and Lucia down a strange path, each woman running from their demons, no matter what the cost. A Friend is a Gift You Give Yourself is by William Boyle.

 

Iconic, tough-but-tender Boston PI Spenser delves into the black market art scene to investigate a decades-long unsolved crime of dangerous proportions.  The heist was legendary, still talked about twenty years after the priceless paintings disappeared from one of Boston's premier art museums. Most thought the art was lost forever, buried deep, sold off overseas, or, worse, destroyed as incriminating evidence. But when paint chips from the most valuable piece stolen, Gentlemen in Black by a Spanish master, arrives at the desk of a Boston journalist, the museum finds hope and enlists Spenser's help.  Soon the cold art case thrusts Spenser into the shady world of black market art dealers, aged Mafia bosses, and old vendettas. A five-million-dollar-reward by the museum's top benefactor, an aged, unlikable Boston socialite, sets Spenser and pals Vinnie Morris and Hawk onto a trail of hidden secrets, jailhouse confessions, murder, and double crosses.  Robert B Parker’s Old Black Magic is by Ace Atkins.

May 2019

Ungentlemanly Warfare is by Howard Linskey. A soldier and a spy, an officer but not quite a gentleman, Captain Harry Walsh is SOE’s secret weapon.  Loathed by his own commanding officer, haunted by the death of his closest friend and trapped in a loveless marriage, Harry Walsh is close to burn out when he is ordered to assassinate the man behind the ME 163 Komet, Hitler’s miracle jet fighter. If Walsh fails, there is no prospect of allied victory in Europe.  Harry Walsh is ruthless, unorthodox and ungentlemanly. He is about to wreak havoc.

November Book Reviews

Here's a list of the current November book reviews now online.
To see all reviews check it out here

Leigh Russell	Blood Axe
Tom Wood	The Darkest Day
Mari Hannah	The Silent Room
Michael Kurland	Too Soon Dead
John Connolly	Night Music: Nocturnes Volume 2
Lee Weeks	Cold Justice
William Ryan	Writing Crime Fiction: An introduction: A 60-Minute Masterclass
Esmahan Aykol	Divorce Turkish Style
J.B. Turner	Gone Bad
Jason Starr	Savage Lane
Boileau Narcejac	She Who Was No More
S.J. Bolton	Little Black Lies
Jo Nesbo	Midnight Sun
Jamie Doward	Toxic
David Leslie	Carstairs

Stav Sherez talks about The Ten Best Crime Novels You've (Probably) Never Heard Of:

Today’s guest blog is by author and journalist Stav Sherez.  His first novel The Devil’s Playground was published in 2004 and was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award.  His third novel A Dark Redemption was shortlisted for the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award 2013.  Today he talks about his ten best crime novels we probably have never heard of.

"If you've ever bumped into me at a launch or a festival then I've probably told you about one of these books.  I probably bored you senseless enumerating the merits of a novel you'd never heard of and had already forgotten the title to.  And I'll keep on doing it, because these are the books that made me want to write crime fiction.  They fused everything I liked about the literary novel with the energy and hypnotic storytelling of the crime novel.  I didn't pick them because they're obscure.  I picked them because they are perfect novels in their own way.  I picked them because they make my brain fizz, pop and crackle with ideas and possibilities.  I read most of these in the mid to late 1990s, before I'd written The Devil's Playground, and they mapped for me what a crime novel could be and what a crime novel should be.  These books are written in blood and grief and stone.  They will haunt your dreams and crack your brain.  They may even change your life.  They certainly did mine."

1. Eye of the Beholder - Marc Behm (No Exit)

Possibly the greatest PI novel ever written, certainly the saddest, most lovelorn, and poetic.  An unnamed private detective spends decades hunting a female serial killer.  Unfortunately, he falls in love with her.  The novel spans years and roams across the great empty spaces of the American West.  An existential shudder of a book, a ghost story and murder mystery with a last paragraph that will leave you bawling and broken.

2. The Dogs of Winter - Kem Nunn (No Exit)

If Cormac McCarthy and Robert Stone decided to collaborate on a crime novel about surfers then Dogs of Winter would be it.  An unforgettable journey through the wilderness of northern California following a washed-up surfer and a failed photojournalist as they try to find a mythical, hidden beach.  Lost girls, crazed Indians, old hauntings and a malevolent sense of landscape make this a Deliverance for the stoner generation.

3. God is a Bullet - Boston Teran

If Cormac McCarthy had written a Satanist-cult crime novel...  (And maybe he has, because no one knows who Boston Teran really is).  Electric prose and one of the darkest descents into hell ever put on the page.  A Dantescan nightmare in the scorch & sizzle of the American Southwest.  A small-town cop who's lost his daughter to a Satanist cult gets together with a woman who's escaped from its clutches.  Together they cross the desert searching for the cult, unleashing hell and bullets as they step into an existential blood storm.

4. Cutter and Bone - Newton Thornburg (Serpent's Tail)

To Die in California may be an even better Thornburg novel but this is the place to start.  Easy Rider crossed with Chandler.  The dregs of the American dream, Vietnam and the counter-culture, collide in this elegiac portrayal of two outsiders who come face to face with the realisation of the dream in what must be one of the most nihilistic endings to any novel ever.

5. Cold Caller - Jason Starr (No Exit)

Jason Starr writes lean, demonically dark noirs that leave you breathless and brain reeling.  There is not a hint of pastiche in his books.  If the definition of noir is "You're fucked on page one and it only gets worse from there" then Starr's books are the best exemplars of this.

6. A Coffin for Dimitrios - Eric Ambler (Penguin)

The best Ambler and perhaps the greatest spy novel of the classical period.  A bored crime writer living in Istanbul gets obsessed with the death of a famous brigand and crosses pre-war Europe in search of the story behind the man.  A deft meta-fictional exploration of the gap between reality and its representations, between being a crime writer and crime itself, and a scorched-earth history of Europe’s genocidal heart.

7. Legends - Robert Littell (Duckworth)

If Philip K Dick had written a spy novel the results may have been close to this.  Ranging across continents and decades, dropping into civil wars and revolutions, from the chill of Stalin's Moscow to a meeting with Bin Laden in Paraguay, this is a profound meditation on identity and lies, reality, narrative and how we make sense of the world, cocooned in an incredibly gripping and experimental structure.

8. Love Remains - Glen Duncan (Granta)

Not strictly a crime novel but its heart is as black as the blackest noir.  Duncan is perhaps Britain's foremost prose stylist and this descent into the hell of relationships, responsibilities, and casual violence rushes towards its gloriously bleak and bitter ending with the electric raw energy of the best crime fiction.  The dark heart of a relationship, mapped out decades before Gone Girl.

9. Tomato Red - Daniel Woodrell (No Exit)

A striking and poignant look at busted lives and the inevitabilities that we all succumb to.  Woodrell writes like a demented angel and delivers a last page that will leave you shaking and screaming in your seat.

10. Southern Nights - Barry Gifford (Canongate)

An insanely surreal addictive and funny and wild and crazed baton race of evil, depravity, blood, and dark longing, this trilogy has it all and much much more.

Agree?  Don't agree?  Find me @stavsherez

You can also find out more about Stav and his work at http://stavsherez.com/

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Penguin and Michael Joseph

Bloodline is the latest novel by Felix Francis and is due to be published in September.  When Mark Shilling ford commentates on a race in which his twin sister Clare, an accomplished and successful jockey, comes in third, he can't help but be suspicious.  As a professional race-caller, he knows she should have won.  Did she lose on purpose?  Was the race fixed?  Why on earth would she do something so out of character?  That night, Mark confronts Clare with his suspicions, but she storms off after an explosive argument.  It's the last time Mark sees her alive.  Hours later, Clare jumps to her death from the balcony of a London hotel ...or so it seems.  Devastated by her death, and almost overcome with guilt, Mark goes in search of answers.  What led Clare to take her own life?  Or was it not suicide at all?

Psychotherapist Frieda Klein is consulted on a grisly and seemingly unsolvable crime.  Sometimes the mind is a dangerous place to hide.  The rotting, naked corpse of a man is found amidst swarms of flies in the living room of a confused woman.  Who is he?  Why is Michelle Doyce trying to serve him afternoon tea?  And how did the dead body find its way into her flat?  DCI Karlsson needs an expert to delve inside Michelle's mind for answers and turns to former colleague, psychiatrist Frieda Klein.  Eventually Michelle's ramblings lead to a vital clue that in turn leads to a possible identity.  Robert Poole.  Jack of all trades and master conman.  The deeper Frieda and Karlsson dig, the more of Poole's victims they encounter ...and the more motives they uncover for his murder.  But is anyone telling them the truth except for poor, confused Michelle?  And when the past returns to haunt Frieda's present, she finds herself in danger.  Whoever set out to destroy Poole also seems determined to destroy Frieda Klein.  A gritty heroine, a gruesome crime and a terrifying hunt for a psychotic killer. Tuesday’s Gone is by Nicci French and is due to be published in July.

The Collini Case is by Ferdinand Von Schirach and is due to be published in September 2012.  From one of Europe's bestselling writers comes a spellbinding and utterly compelling court room drama, which will stay with you for a long time.  Ferdinand von Schirach's "The Collini Case" has been at the top of the German charts since publication.  A murder.  A murderer.  No motive.  For thirty-four years Fabrizio Collini has worked diligently for Mercedes Benz.  He is a quiet and respectable person until the day he visits one of Berlin's most luxurious hotels and kills an innocent man.  Young attorney Caspar Leinen takes the case.  Getting Collini a not-guilty verdict would make his name.  But too late he discovers that Collini's victim - an industrialist of some renown - is known to him.  Now Leinen is caught in a professional and personal dilemma.  Collini admits the murder but won't say why he did it, forcing Leinen to defend a man who won't put up a defence.  And worse, a close friend and relation of the victim insists that he give up the case.  His reputation, his career and this friendship are all at risk.  Then he makes a discovery that goes way beyond his own petty concerns and exposes a terrible and deadly truth at the heart of German justice.....

The year is 1539 and the Portuguese Inquisition ushers in an era of torture and murder.  When the Royal Falconer is imprisoned on false charges to remove him from the inner circle of the boy King, the Inquisitors strike an impossible deal with his daughter, Isabela.  Bring back two rare white falcons from Iceland within the year or her father dies.  Meanwhile in Iceland, a menacing stranger appears to have possessed the soul of a woman chained up in a volcanic cave and is threatening to destroy the community.  The woman's twin sister, Eydis, is desperate to intervene but vivid dreams suggest the twins' only salvation lies with a young girl from afar, travelling in search of white feathers ...Isabela's quest might hold a more crucial purpose then she could ever imagine and there are those among her travel companions who have an interest in doing her harm.  But in order to fulfil her destiny, first she must reach Iceland's shores alive!  The Falcons of Fire and Ice is by Karen Maitland and is due to be published in August 2012.

12-21 is by Dustin Thomason co-author of The Rule of Four and is due to be published in September 2012.  An ancient prophecy foretells that the world will end on 21 December 2012...In Central America, a treasure hunter discovers a Maya relic - a mysterious and ornate codex - but when he smuggles it into the US, he brings with him an old and deadly secret...Early in December 2012, the codex comes to Chel Manu, a Maya world authority.  She is torn between the chance to translate the codex herself and her duty to alert the authorities.  Meanwhile, in an LA hospital, an unknown man is dying of a rare, contagious disease.  When Dr Gabriel Stanton is called in, he realises that this is no ordinary infection - and it will spread uncontrollably.  Stanton and Chel must race to decipher the codex's secrets and prevent the prophesised apocalypse.

The Inside Job is the second book in the series by Felix Riley to feature Secret Service Agent Mike Byrne.  Secret Service Agent Mike Byrne is too late….. Too late to save the one man who knew the truth – the star witness who was about to blow the whistle on the biggest bank scandal in history.  Too late to stop an innocent man from dying, and so plunging the world of high finance into a death spiral of violence and murder.  Because payback for bankers who gambled with other people’s money is being handed out in bullets and bombs.  And now the only person who can keep the bankers alive is Agent Byrne, who finds himself having to protect the very people he swore to take down.  Before long Byrne is locked into a deadly fight with an unseen enemy – an enemy that will stop at nothing to get what they want….. The Inside Job is due to be published in August 2012.

Dark Revelations is the concluding book in the Level 26 trilogy.  In Dark Revelations, Steve Dark faces the most intricate, intense, and explosive case of his career.  The killer calls himself Labyrinth, and the riddles, puzzles, and wordplay with which he announces his new targets have caused worldwide media sensation.  The case has already claimed a number of high profile individuals as victims – not to mention several government agencies, which have tried and failed to stop a growing global panic.  But what point is Labyrinth trying to make?  Who will be his next victim?  It’s up to Dark to assemble a team from among the smoking rubble of the international crime solving community, find Labyrinth wherever he may be, and put a stop to the mayhem once and for all.  Can Steve Dark solve the biggest riddle of them all?  Only time will tell.  Dark Revelations is by Anthony E Zuiker and Duane Swierczynski and is due to be published in December 2012.

The Montsegur Medallion points the way to the most coveted relic, the Holy Grail.  In the wrong hands it could destroy civilisation.  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. Over seven centuries later, Templar expert and former MI5 operative Caedmon Aisquith is stunned to learn that his daughter has been kidnapped.  Receiving an ominous ransom demand - Find the Evangelium Gaspar or she dies – Caedmon is hurled into a dangerous labyrinth of Templar intrigues.  Racing against time, he must solve a series of clues involving esoteric symbols and artfully encoded riddles.  All the while being pursued by the bloodthirsty members of the satanic brotherhood Santa Muerte.  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.  In an epic quest to save his daughter, Caedmon crosses the globe, the clues leading him from the Malabar Coast of India to the Camino de Santiago in Spain, and finally to a Merovingian church in the heart of Paris.  There he discovers the most explosive secret of all – a two-thousand-year-old cover up of such magnitude that if it’s ever disclosed, it would forever change the course of history.  The Templar’s Secret is by C M Palov and is due to be published in November 2012.

"The Killing House" is the amazing first novel in a stunning new series by Chris Mooney.  It introduces fallen angel and former profiler Malcolm Fletcher who is forced to take the law into his own hands in order to uncover the truth in his terrifying first case.  Rule number1: Don't Scream - Four years ago, Theresa Herrera's ten-year-old son Rico was abducted.  The police found little evidence and the case went cold.  Theresa's husband has told her to move on, but she won't give up hope.  Rule number 2: Don't call the police - Today a mysterious woman invaded Theresa's home and told her that Rico is alive.  Theresa talks on the phone to a young man who is, without question, her son.  Rule number 3: Don't run.  Don't fight - The woman promises to reunite Theresa with Rico only if she will follow the rules.  But it is the last rule that fills Theresa with horror...Rule number 4: Kill your husband and your son will live...Malcolm Fletcher - a former FBI profiler and now the nation's Most Wanted fugitive - arrives in Colorado to help Theresa and her husband find their son.  But his arrival coincides with a dangerous and shocking twist in the case.  Barely surviving his first encounter with a suspect, Fletcher embarks on his own secret investigation, with the police just behind him every step of the way.  Behind every door in "The Killing House", death awaits you...  The Killing House is due to be published in August 2012.

 He Is Their Judge...In death, they are purified.  Holding his victims under water, he washes away their sins as they struggle for their last breath.  Then he stakes their bodies to the ground, exposing them for what they really are.  Witches, sent to tempt and to corrupt... Jury ...No one knows about defence attorney Charlotte Wellington's murdered sister, or about her childhood spent with the carnival that's just arrived in town.  For Charlotte, what's past is past.  But others don't agree.  And as a madman's body count rises, she and Detective Daniel Rokov are drawn into a mission that's become terrifyingly personal...  And Executioner.  At last, she is within his reach.  All his victims deserve their fate, but her guilt is greatest.  And with every scream, he will make her see what it means to suffer and repent.... Before She Dies is by Mary Burton and is due to be published in August 2012.

"Vanished" is the brilliant new missing person’s case in the "David Raker" series.  No life is perfect.  Everyone has secrets.  For millions of Londoners, the morning of 17 December is just like any other.  But not for Sam Wren.  An hour after leaving home, he gets onto a tube train - and never gets off again.  No eyewitnesses.  No trace of him on security cameras.  Six months later, he's still missing.  Out of options and desperate for answers, Sam's wife Julia hires David Raker to track him down.  Raker has made a career out of finding the lost.  He knows how they think.  And, in missing person cases, the only certainty is that everyone has something to hide.  But in this case the secrets go deeper than anyone imagined.  For, as Raker starts to suspect that even the police are lying to him, someone is watching.  Someone who knows what happened on the tube that day.  And, with Raker in his sights, he'll do anything to keep Sam's secrets to himself.  Vanished is by Tim Weaver and is due to be published in July 2012.

Once you're part of the pack, there's no getting out...Mild-mannered stay-at-home dad Simon Burns has undergone a life changing transformation - after being indoctrinated into the pack, he has become a werewolf. Fearing that the truth would end his marriage, Simon has told his wife Alison that he is suffering from a psychological condition called lycanthropic disorder, in which a person thinks he is a werewolf. For the moment, his secret remains safe. But NYPD homicide detective Geri Rodriguez has not forgotten about the mysterious wolf-like murders that remain unsolved,and when she hears that one of the witnesses, Diane Coles, was brutally murdered outside her parents' home in Michigan, she resumes her investigation. She's focused on a group of dads - Michael, Charlie, Ramon, and Simon - who had a connection to the unsolved murders. Simon had been trying to stay away from the pack, but he has been tipped off by Michael's father that there may be a cure hidden somewhere in the Brooklyn brewery where Michael lives. He wants to find the cure, and to see that Geri doesn't become another mystery death - but his own life and the lives of his wife and son may be in jeopardy. The Craving by Jason Starr is a hair-raising thriller with a supernatural twist.  It is the sequel to The Pack.  The Craving is due to be published in October 2012.

The Blood of Crows is the fourth book in her DI Anderson and DS Costello series by Caro Ramsay and is due to be published in September 2012.  For one Scottish cop the beat is about to get dark and very bloody ...DI Colin Anderson is having a bad week.  His conviction of paedophile Skelpie Fairbairn is declared unsafe - putting Fairbairn back on Glasgow's streets and leaving Anderson under investigation.  Add to this a gangster torched alive, a teenage boy tortured then dropped off a bridge and the suicide of a cop who worked an unsolved child kidnapping way back in 1996 and Anderson's got his hands full.  Then one night, a young girl is tied to the river bank and left for the tide.  Anderson gets there, but she dies in his arms.  Working round the clock his team discover these strange crimes are linked to an elusive criminal mastermind known as The Puppeteer.  But unable to find him, unable to stop the murders, Anderson is forced to follow the only lead he has - Skelpie Fairbairn ...But which is worse - the devil you don't know, or the one you do...?