Showing posts with label Neil Cross. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neil Cross. Show all posts

Tuesday, 4 August 2020

An Audio Exclusive that didn’t fall ‘Far from the Tree’




As big fans of audio thrillers, Shots Magazine were excited to read that crime writer Rob Parker is penning an intriguing trilogy commissioned by Audible Studios.

The first title, Far from the Tree, will be released exclusively in audio on 2nd July 2020. Publication dates for the next two titles will follow in due course. 

Set in Warrington, Far from the Tree follows DI Foley, who finds himself in charge of one of the largest murder cases the country has ever seen. Twenty-seven bodies are found buried in a woodland trench, as the discoveries unfold, DI Foley must decide whether to solve the crime if it risks his family.

Parker commented: "To be able to write a crime trilogy set in the area I grew up in — an area which doesn’t receive much limelight or exposure — is a real delight, and I’m supremely thankful to Audible for giving me this opportunity. I’m taking this chance with both hands and aim to repay their faith in spades and I’m determined to show you ain’t seen nothing yet."

Read More from the Bookseller HERE

Audible UK are to be applauded for the support they provide the crime and thriller fiction genre, especially as the importance of audiobooks increases within publishing. They commission new work such as the pseudonymous Alex Callister’s thrillers and supporting the genre, including sponsoring one of Crimefest’s annual awards.

After listening to the start of this trilogy by Rob Parker, it came as no surprise to discover that Far from the Tree is July’s Audible thriller of the month.

So, what’s in store?

Brendan Foley has worked to balance the responsibilities of a demanding job and a troublesome family. He’s managed to keep these two worlds separate, until the discovery of a mass grave sends them into a headlong collision. When one of the dead turns out to be a familiar face, he’s taken off the case.

Iona Madison keeps everything under control. She works hard as a detective sergeant and trains harder as a boxer. But when her superior, DI Foley, is removed from the case, her certainties are tested like never before.

With stories of the Warrington 27 plastered over the news, they set out to solve the crime before anyone else. The local constabulary is small and under-funded – Brendan knows they can’t crack this case alone, and he’s not letting a rival force take over. Not with the secrets he fears are lurking. Their investigations lead them into the murky underworlds of Manchester and Liverpool, where one more murder means little to drug-dealing gangs, desperate to control their power bases.

But as Madison steps into the ring for the fight of her life, the criminals come to them. It’s no coincidence that the corpses have been buried in Foley’s hometown. The question is, why? Foley might not like the answer....



Not to be confused with the legendary creator of the Boston based Spenser and Hawk series, penned by the legendary Robert B Parker; the British Robert Parker, better known as “Rob” to his growing band of readers [and now listeners] hails from the British North West, where his acclaimed Ben Bracken thrillers are set - A Wanted Man, Morte Point, The Penny Black, Till Morning Is Nigh and the standalone post-Brexit country-noir Crook’s Hollow. A member of the Northern Crime Syndicate and a co-host of the For Your Reconsideration film podcast, Rob is also a regular voice on the Blood Brothers Crime Podcast. A champion of encouraging literacy and creative writing, Rob spends a lot of time travelling to schools giving talks across the country. Rob Parker lives in Warrington with his family.


Far from the Tree is the first in a trilogy, and narrated by actor Warren Brown. Currently he can be seen as 'Sergeant Thomas 'Mac' McAllister' in the highly anticipated reboot of the Emmy-nominated action series, Strike Back, for Sky/HBO Cinemax. Other television credits include Doctor Who, Liar, X Company and RTS Best Drama winning, Good Cop. Film credits include Cargo, Captain Webb and The Dark Knight Rises. Audio drama for Big Finish include multiple series of Doctor Who, U.N.I.T. and the standalone Audible series Transference. Through this former Thai-Boxer, is probably best known for his role of “DS Ripley”, in the BBC series Luther, co-starring with Idris Elba who plays the eponymous [and troubled] detective.


For the crime-fiction geeks a little digression –

Luther is written by Neil Cross, and when I interviewed him several years ago [for Jeff Peirce’s THE RAP SHEET] about his own writing, I indicated that I felt he had read the works of Patricia Highsmith..………

AK: I’m guessing you must have read Patricia Highsmith, then.

NC: I’m obsessed by Patricia Highsmith.

AK: [Laughing] So am I. I am totally obsessed with her Tom Ripley books. In fact, I have what my wife terms my white “Tom Ripley suit.” Coincidentally, a number of critics have described your first novel, Burial, as being distinctly Hitchcockian. And it was Hitchcock, of course, who made a movie from Highsmith’s 1950 debut novel, Strangers on a Train.

NC: Yes, there’s a psychological marriage between Hitchcock and Highsmith; they suit each other very well.

AK: So, going back to Highsmith, is it just her Tom Ripley novels that you enjoy, or do you find pleasure in her other amoral tales?

NC: I’ve read many of her books and short stories, though not all of her canon, and of course there are a few that are just not up to her best work. But one non-Ripley novel that sticks to my mind is Cry of the Owl [1962], which features a woman who falls in love with her own stalker. It would barely be publishable today, but in Highsmith’s world it makes perfect sense.

AK: The weird thing about Patricia Highsmith was that she was highly acclaimed in Europe, but rather less so in her native America; in fact, she lived for many years in the UK before making Switzerland her home. Maybe Tom Ripley was the precursor to Dr. Hannibal Lecter, the amoral, but charming psychopath/sociopath--the sort of figure who doesn’t settle as well in the American psyche as he does in the European one.

NC: That links to my theme of “free will exercised as sin,” [something that] must be punished. And Highsmith just doesn’t punish, she observes; in fact, she was known to sign books as Tom Ripley from time to time.

Read the full interview at THE RAP SHEET, from Theakstons Crime Writing Festival 2010 HERE

Neil Cross told me that he named DS Ripley, Idris Elba / Luther’s sidekick as played by Warren Brown as a personal homage to Patricia Highsmith’s amoral character, The Talented Mr Ripley.

End of digression


So with Warren Brown narrating Rob Parker’s FAR FROM THE TREE, what’s not to like? If like me, you are an Audible Member [on the £7.99 / month deal, which allows you one audio credit per month], you can have the start of the trilogy for just one credit – or for non-members it’s £21.41 – More information CLICK HERE

We’ll leave the last word to the author and his peers –

‘Working with Audible has been both a joy and a game-changer. I’m honoured and thrilled to have their faith with this canvas on which to tell a much larger, more complete story than I could ever have dreamed previously. Not only this, but to be able to write a crime trilogy set in the area I grew up in - an area which doesn’t receive much limelight or exposure - is a real delight, and I’m supremely thankful to Audible for giving me this opportunity. I’m taking this chance with both hands, aim to repay their faith in spades and I’m determined to show you ain’t seen nothing yet. 

"...A big departure from Rob’s previous work, I hope he won’t mind when I say it exceeds his already sky high standards. A dark, powerful & utterly compelling tale of Northern gangsters tied together by blood, it just drips with real life."

"Rob Parker doesn’t mess around. Far from the Tree is a gritty, propulsive [listen]. Drawn in shades of grey, DI Brendan Foley is a complex, morally ambiguous character I couldn’t stop rooting for. A punchy, powerful tale well told."

For more information on the work of Rob Parker – CLICK HERE



Monday, 8 February 2016

Giants of the Genre set for Harrogate

The crime writing industry’s self-appointed Annual General Meeting, with a twist, returns. Known as the friendliest festival with its feet firmly on Yorkshire ground, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival guarantees thrills, and a few spills at the hotel bar, as thousands descend for one, long summer weekend.

The 2016 Special Guest line-up has been announced.

‘King of the police procedural’ Peter James, who recently won the Crime Writers’ Association’s highest honour, the CWA Diamond Dagger award, takes the helm as Programming Chair.

Audiences are invited to grab a pint of Yorkshire’s finest ale, and dip into an intoxicating mix of comedy, heated debate and scintillating socialising.

Heading to Harrogate for the 14th festival are Jeffery Deaver, Martina Cole, Neil Cross, Linwood Barclay, Tess Gerritsen, Val McDermid and Gerald Seymour.

Best known for his Roy Grace detective series, Peter James promises an ambitious programme for what he calls ‘the biggest celebration of the genre in the world’. The programme will have an international flavour to celebrate the genres’ global dominance.

Peter said: “You can open up the world from your armchair, and so in 2016, I’d like to invite you all on a flight of fancy – an exploration of this enthralling genre that spans the globe…. There will be the Giants of the Genre we’ve come to expect from a Festival as brilliant as Harrogate and a wealth of stellar names will be announced over the coming weeks.”

Jeffery Deaver, the award-winning author of 33 internationally bestselling novels, will be Interviewed by BBC broadcaster and author Mark Lawson. One of the world's most successful thriller writers, Deaver is best known for his Lincoln Rhyme thrillers.

Continuing the success of injecting comedians into the mix, The ‘Queen of Crime’ and co-founder of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Val McDermid, will be in conversation with Edinburgh Festival hit, Susan Calman, a familiar face on shows such as Have I Got News for You, 8 out of 10 Cats and Would I Lie to You.

The hard-hitting author Martina Cole is a phenomenon, selling in excess of fourteen million books and the first British female novelist for adult audiences to surpass the £50 million sales mark. She’ll be in conversation with Peter James.

Award-winning novelist and screenwriter Neil Cross is best-known as the creator of the international hit BBC series, Luther, starring Idris Elba, as well as a writer on Spooks and Doctor Who. Tess Gerritsen, a physician turned author known as the ‘medical suspense queen’, is published in forty countries with more than 30 million copies of her books sold worldwide.

The American-born Canadian Linwood Barclay, a former journalist and columnist, is the bestselling author of 13 detective novels including Trust Your Eyes, A Tap on the Window and No Time for Goodbye. He’ll be in conversation with Mark Billingham.

Gerald Seymour was a high-profile reporter and foreign correspondent at ITN before becoming an acclaimed novelist. His ground-breaking thriller Harry’s Game was an instant hit in 1975; he recently published his 32nd book, No Mortal Things. He’ll be put under the forensic spotlight by Joe Haddow, Producer of the BBC Radio 2 Book Club.

The Festival is famed for its no barriers approach. Readers and authors alike meet their heroes, as well as the Next Big Things, thanks to McDermid’s annual New Blood panel, which cherry picks the best debut novels of the year.

Gemma Rowland, Literature Festivals Manager at Harrogate International Festivals – the arts charity that delivers the event - said:

Everyone says the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival just gets better and better, so it’s quite a pressure for each new Chair but there’s few people so perfect for the role than Peter James. Peter brings his unique flair, alongside his remarkable standing in the genre. The 2016 programme is ambitious: international in breadth, intelligent in design.

Audiences are welcomed to be inspired and join in the drama at Agatha Christie’s old haunt, the luxurious Old Swan Hotel, where up to 90 authors will gather from the 21-24 July.

The event features the 12th Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Awards in partnership with WHSmith and the Radio Times. The festival also sees the return of the day-long creative writing workshop for aspiring writers, Creative Thursday.

Last year, the Festival sold almost 14,000 tickets, staging over 30 events.

Tickets are now on sale for all Special Guest events, with Weekend Break Packages available from £350 per person for 3 nights’ B&;B accommodation, including a Weekend Rover Ticket, lunches at the Old Swan Hotel and a Festival Goody Bag. Day and Weekend Rover tickets without accommodation are also now available. For more information, or to book, visit www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com or call the team on 01423 562303.

Tuesday, 7 August 2012

2012 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel



The 2012 Ngaio Marsh Finalists have been announced and they are as follows –

Collecting Cooper by Paul Cleave (Simon & Schuster)
Luther: The Calling by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster)
By Any Means by Ben Sanders (HarperCollins)
Bound by Vanda Symon (Penguin)

It has been a very tough decision for the international expert judging panel, which this year included writers, reviewers, publishers, and festival organisers from New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.  

When the long list was announced back in early June, Craig Sisterston said, “There were some exceptional crime, mystery, and thriller fiction penned by New Zealanders last year.  It is great to see one of the world’s most popular forms of writing starting to flourish a little more on our own shores, though it makes our job harder.”  Having gone through the judging process that has certainly been borne out. 

On a related - and important - point, readers all around the world also still have the opportunity to win a full set of the seven long listed titles (see entry information here).  So if you would like to try the books for yourself, and see whether you agree with the expert judging panel's opinion, make sure to enter the draw.

The long list was as follows:-

Collecting Cooper by Paul Cleave (Simon & Schuster)
Luther: The Calling by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster)
Furt Bent From Aldaheit by Jack Eden (Pear Jam Books)
Traces of Red by Paddy Richardson (Penguin)
By Any Means by Ben Sanders (HarperCollins)
Bound by Vanda Symon (Penguin)
The Catastrophe by Ian Wedde (Victoria University Press)

So, who do you think will be amongst the finalists?  Which is your favourite?  Who would you like to see follow in the footsteps of Alix Bosco (Cut & Run) and Paul Cleave (Blood Men) to take home the impressive trophy - created and crafted by local sculptor Gina Ferguson?

Saturday, 7 May 2011

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Simon & Schuster

Meet Detective Chief Inspector John Luther. He's a murder detective. A near-genius. He's brilliant; he's intense; he's instinctive. He's obsessional. He's dangerous. DCI John Luther has an extraordinary clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty from friends and colleagues. Nobody who ever stood at his side has a bad word to say about him. And yet there are rumours that DCI Luther is bad - not corrupt, not on the take, but tormented. Luther seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness, making him do things he shouldn't; things way beyond the limits of the law. Luther: The Calling, the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther, takes us into Luther's past and into his mind. It is the story of the case that tore his personal and professional relationships apart and propelled him over the precipice. Beyond fury, beyond vengeance. All the way to murder... Luther: The Calling is by Neil Cross and is due to be published in August 2011.

Thieves Get Rich is by Jodi Compton and is due to be published in December 2011. Having defied a powerful mobster to protect a pregnant teenager, army dropout Hailey Cain has found herself on the wrong side of the law and is now in LA, second-in-command to her high school best friend turned rising gangster Serena 'Warchild' Delgadillo. Hailey is just beginning to settle into her unconventional new way of life when it is suddenly and violently overturned. A murder has been committed, and all fingers are pointing at her. Only Hailey herself, and the all-girl gang to which she belongs, know that this is a case of stolen identity with ruthless and dangerous motives. But how can they prove this, given that she'll be arrested as soon as she steps forward? Hailey must go on the run once more, risking her life to reclaim her name and chase down the murderer who has taken it...

Agent 6 is by the award wining author Tom Robb Smith and is due to be published in July 2011. Former Soviet Secret Service agent Leo Demidov has built himself a new life as a civilian with his wife Raisa, and their two teenage daughters, Elena and Zoya. The Soviet Union is a country trying to reassert itself after the murderous excesses of Stalin and the chaos of the following years, and as the Cold War continues powers inside Russia seek to topple their great enemy, the United States of America. Communist allies within the United States will prove vital players in this game of intrigue and revolution. Raisa and their two daughters travel to the United States on a diplomatic mission, but a horrifying tragedy destroys everything Leo and Raisa have built. Leo must get to the States somehow and find out what happened. Exiled from the Soviet Union and separated from his family, Leo's quest takes him through the stark wilderness of Afghanistan, reawakening all his old instincts and forcing him to confront his demons. But whatever it costs, wherever he must go, he will find Agent 6.

In the middle of a rainy Swedish summer, a little girl is abducted from a crowded train. Despite hundreds of potential witnesses, no one noticed when the girl was taken. Her mother had been left behind at the previous station in what seemed to be a coincidence. The train crew were alerted and kept a watchful eye on the sleeping child. But as the train pulled into Stockholm Central Station, the girl was nowhere to be seen. Inspector Alex Recht and his special team of federal investigators, assisted by the investigative analyst Frederika Bergman, are assigned to what at first appears to be a classic custody row. But when the child is found dead in the far north of Sweden with the word 'Unwanted' scribbled on her forehead, the case soon turns into the investigation team's worst nightmare - the pursuit of a brilliant and ruthless killer. Unwanted is by Kristina Ohlsson and is due to be published in November 2011.

Forensic investigator Reilly Steel, Quantico-trained and California-born and bred, imagined Dublin to be a far cry from bustling San Francisco, a sleepy backwater where she can lay past ghosts to rest and start anew. She's arrived in Ireland to drag the Irish crime lab into the 21st century, plus keep tabs on her Irish-born father who's increasingly seeking solace in the bottle after a past family tragedy. But a brutal serial killer soon puts paid to that. When a young man and woman are found dead in an apartment, the gunshot wounds on their naked bodies suggest a suicide pact. But Reilly's instincts are screaming that something's seriously amiss, and as more bodies are discovered, the team soon realises that a twisted murderer is at work, one who seeks to upset society's norms in the most sickening way imaginable... Taboo is by Casey Hill and is due to be published in July 2011.

When Detective Robert Hunter, of the Los Angeles Homicide Special Section, has to take over the investigation of an especially gruesome murder, he starts to suspect that the killer might be keeping several women hostage, not least because his inquiry collides with a missing persons’ case being investigated by the razor sharp Whitney Meyers. Soon Robert finds himself on the hunt for a predator with a terrible secret, who won’t stop until each of his victims has brought forth the awful truth that lies hidden deep inside them too. The Night Watcher is by Chris Carter and is due to be published in July 2011.

The Covenant is by Dean Crawford and is due to be published in November 2011. When archaeologist Lucy Morgan uncovers a 7000-year old tomb on a dig in a remote part of Israel, she realises she has stumbled across something that will re-write history. That’s before she’s knocked unconscious. Pastor Kelvin Patterson, head of one of America’s biggest fundamentalist churches, has known of such discoveries for some time but in his eyes these skeletons are not aliens but angels. In Washington DC, two detectives come across three bodies, rotting in a sweltering apartment. So why is it that they appear to have died of hypothermia. With so much at stake only one man can be called upon to help. Troubled Ethan Warner, war correspondent and former marine, had hoped to put his action days behind him. But when he is asked by Lucy’s mother to find her, he knows he cannot let her down.

Ali Reynolds' six week course at the Arizona Police Academy is abruptly interrupted when Brenda Riley, a colleague from Ali's old news broadcasting days in California, shows up in town with an alcohol problem and an unlikely story about a missing fiance. Ali is cynical, but reluctantly agrees to help out an old friend. It soon comes to light that the man posing as Brenda's fiance is Richard Lowensdale, a cyber-sociopath who has left a trail of broken hearts in his virtual wake. Now he has been viciously murdered, the women he once victimized are considered suspects. The police soon focus their investigation on Brenda, who is already known to have broken into Richard's home and computer before vanishing without a trace. Attempting to clear her friend's name, Ali is quickly drawn into a web of online intrigue that may lead to a real-world fatal error. Fatal Error is by J.A Jance and is due to be published in September 2011.

Face of the Devil is by N.J.Cooper and is due to be published in July 2011. Suzie Gray is only fifteen when she is stabbed to death within metres of her uncle's yacht on the Isle of Wight. Her body is found in the blood-smeared arms of Olly Matken, a family friend who grew up with her. Schizophrenic and vulnerable, he presents a serious challenge to the police. 'I didn't hurt her!' Olly protests. 'All I did was keep her from the devil.' DCI Charlie Trench turns to forensic psychologist Karen Taylor. She knows she should ignore his call, but she cannot. Curiosity and, although she would never admit it to her partner, Will, a dangerous attraction to the brooding detective, push her into a deeply troubling case. Is Olly capable of murder? His own psychologist doesn't think so, but his father does. The only way to find the truth is to identify Olly's devil. And Karen has demons of her own.

Jake Reese is an ordinary guy with an ordinary job, trying to block out the memory of his far from ordinary past by planning for a life with his new wife, Diane. When two men attack Jake in a car park and cut off his ring finger, he tries to dismiss it as a random incident: an unlucky case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But when events take a sinister turn and Diane goes missing, Jake finds he can dismiss his suspicions no longer. As he embarks on a mission to find her, Jake finds that his dark past refuses to stay buried, and his future begins to unfold in ways he could never have imagined….. Already Gone is by John Rector and is due to be published in December 2011.

Gideon Davis, whose behind-the-scenes negotiating skills have earned him the role of peacemaker in conflicts around the globe, knows more about hush-hush discussions in Capitol corridors than he does about hand-to-hand combat. But his more practical, tactical skills become vital when he's called upon by family friend and government big-wig Earl Parker to bring in a rogue agent - Gideon's own brother Tillman. Gideon is transported from a DC awards dinner to the jungles of the oil-rich nation of Mohan, where Tillman has promised to give himself up. But on his arrival the plan goes immediately awry. Gideon must evade hostile locals to make his way to The Obelisk - a multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art oil rig that has been seized by terrorists. Both Tillman, who doesn't seem to have surrender in mind, and Earl Parker are aboard the ill-fated rig - Tillman working undercover and Parker as a hostage. As tensions rise, Gideon launches a hazardous one-man rescue. The Obelisk is the debut novel by Howard Gordon and is due to be published in September 2011.

When Christopher Thomas, a curator at San Francisco's Museum of Fine Arts, is murdered and his decaying body is found in an iron maiden in Berlin, his wife Rosemary Thomas is the prime suspect. Long suffering under Christopher's unfaithful ways, Rosemary is tried, convicted and executed. Ten years later, Jon Nunn, the detective who cracked the case, becomes convinced that the wrong person was put to death. Along with financier Tony Olsen, he plans to gather everyone who was there the night Christopher died and finally uncover the truth about what happened that fateful evening. Could it have been the ne'er do well brother Peter Hausen, interested in his sister's trust fund having got through his own; the curatorial assistant Justine Olengard, used and betrayed by Christopher; the artist Belle who turned down his advances only to see her career suffer a setback; or someone else all together? No Rest for the Dead is a thrilling, page-turning accomplishment that features contributions from such authors as Jeffery Deaver, Kathy Reichs, Tess Gerristen, Jeff Lindsay, Alexander McCall Smith and Peter James with an introduction by David Baldacci. It is due to be published in November 2011.

When a whole block is torn down in central Minneapolis to make way for a new housing development, an unpleasant surprise is unearthed. The bodies of two girls, wrapped in plastic, are discovered underneath an old house. It looks like they've been down there a long time. Lucas Davenport knows exactly how long. In 1985, Davenport was a young cop just about to be promoted out of uniform, despite a reputation for playing fast and loose with the rules. A superb undercover guy, he was part of the massive police effort that followed the kidnapping of two girls who were never found again, dead or alive. The searches turned up nothing, so when the suspected kidnapper was killed in a shoot-out, the case was closed. But not for Davenport. He'd gotten deep into the case, and while he was convinced the suspect knew something, he didn't think he was the perpetrator - something just felt off. He argued hard about it to his bosses, but nobody wanted to hear. Until now. With the bodies discovered, the case is dusted off, just to tie a bow around it - but there's something wrong with the evidence. There are indications of tampering. Police tampering. And as Davenport investigates, it becomes clear: It wasn't just the bodies that were buried, but the truth - and there are a lot of people with a very strong stake in that truth never being uncovered. Buried Prey is by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist John Sandford and is due to be published in July 2011.

The Good Jihadist is by Bob Shepherd and is due to be published in August 2011. Disillusioned SAS veteran Matt Logan is struggling on civvy street. The life he dreams of can be his - if he takes a private security job with the American commander who ended his military career. But when a seemingly random act of terror destroys everything Matt holds dear, the only way to settle the score is to sell his soul. Matt returns to the murky world of Black Ops. But this time, he's not part of an elite crew. To find and kill an elusive insurgent leader, he must single-handedly unravel a jihadist network more complex than he realizes and closer than he knows. Stalked by fundamentalists and Pakistani intelligence, Matt ends up a pawn in a conspiracy to redraw the boundaries of global power; a secret war that is ripping a nation apart. But not the one he thinks ...

The Survivor is by Sean Slater and is due to be published in August 2011. It's every cop's worst nightmare. Especially when his daughter's in the line of fire. In his first hour back from a six-month leave of absence, Detective Jacob Striker's day quickly turns into a nightmare. He is barely on scene five minutes at his daughter's high school when he encounters an Active Shooter situation. Three men wearing hockey masks - Black, White, and Red - have stormed the school with firearms and are killing indiscriminately. Striker takes immediate action. Within minutes two of the gunmen are dead, and Striker is close to ending the violence. But then the last gunman, Red Mask, does something unexpected. He runs up to his fallen comrade, racks the shotgun, and unloads five rounds, obliterating the man's face and hands. And before Striker can react, Red Mask escapes. Against the clock, Striker investigates the killings for which there is no known motive and no known suspect. Soon his investigation takes him to darker places, and he realizes that not everything at Saint Patrick's High is as it seems. The closer he gets to the truth, the more dangerous his world becomes. Until Striker himself is in the line of fire. And the violence follows him home ....

When the village of Priors Bramley was closed off for chemical-weapons testing during the Cold War, a long history of dark secrets was also shut away. Now, more than fifty years later, the ghost village has been declared safe again, but there are those living nearby who would much rather that the past remains buried. Ella Haywood, who used to play in the village as a child, is haunted by the discovery of two bodies. All those years ago, something happened in the village, something so terrible that and she and her two oldest friends have vowed to this day never to tell a soul. But the past has a habit of forcing the truth to the surface. With the identity of the bodies and the mystery surrounding the now derelict Cadence Manor drawing increasing local interest, Ella fears that she will have to resort to ever more drastic measures if she is to make sure that no one discovers what really happened all those years ago. What Lies Beneath is by Sarah Rayne and is due to be published in August 2011.

The Beloved of Isis is by Christian Jacq and is due to be published in October 2011. Vienna 1789. A season of darkness has spread throughout Europe as the French Revolution stirs up civil unrest and provokes fear among the authorities. Struggling to makes ends meet, and plagued by a never-ending assault from his enemies, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is determined to fulfil his destiny, as foretold in the ancient secrets of the Pharaohs. Supported by his friend Thamos, Count of Thebes, and encouraged by the Masonic Lodge, Mozart finds the energy to accomplish his greatest work - The Magic Flute, which will reveal the Mysteries of Isis and Osiris to the world and pave the way to enlightenment. But the ultimate test approaches...

Cerdic, a young boy who has the ability to see into the future, has a mysterious treasure in his possession. A blind old woman once gave him a miniature knife with an ivory bear hilt - the symbol of King Arthur - and told him that when the time comes he will know what he has to do with it. But when he and his brother, Baradoc, are enlisted into King Arthur's army, he finds that trouble seems to follow him wherever he goes. When Baradoc dies fighting with King Arthur in an ambush of the Saxons on Solsbury Hill, Cerdic buries the dagger in the side of the hill as a personal tribute to his brother. Throughout history, Solsbury Hill continues to be the scene of murder, theft and the search for buried treasure. Religion, politics and the spirit of King Arthur reign over the region, wreaking havoc and leaving a trail of corpses and treasure buried in the hill as an indication of its turbulent past. Hill of Bones is by The Medieval Murderers and is due to be published in July 2011.

The Night Strangers is by Chris Bohjalian and is due to be published in November 2011. It begins with a door in a dusky corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire. A door that someone has sealed it shut with thirty-nine enormous carriage bolts. The home's new owners are Chip and Emily Linton and their twin daughters. Chip was an an airline pilot until he was forced to crash land on a remote lake the jet he was flying after double engine failure. Thirty-nine people aboard Flight 1611 died that day - a coincidence not lost on Chip when he discovers the number of bolts in that basement door ...Meanwhile, his wife is increasingly troubled about the women in this sparsely populated village, self-proclaimed 'herbalists'. Why do they seem excessively interested in her young daughters. Emily is terrified, too, that her husband's grip on sanity seems to have become increasingly tenuous, in the wake of the devastating plane accident.

Friday, 14 January 2011

Books to look forward to from Simon and Schuster

A master killer calling himself the Sandman is out for revenge in the USA. He's slaughtering not just one person but whole families and complete neighbourhoods, unleashing devastating explosions nationwide, and watching the horror unfold on a sophisticated network of surveillance cameras. No one know why he is committing his crimes. But Jack Casey - ex-FBI profiler and now cop in a posh Boston suburb - knows this: the Sandman wants him in the middle of the case, and wants him to suffer...even more than when a psychopath's unspeakable crime shattered his own life. Jack's lover knows nothing of his shocking past, but the Sandman has found him and his cutting-edge electronic devices are silently monitoring Jack's every move. Possible motivations for the Sandman's crimes come gradually to light, and Jack begins to wonder if the evil he is fighting emanated from his own side of the law. Deviant Ways is by Chris Mooney and is due to be published in May 2011.

Murder detective Chief Inspector John Luther is a near genius, he is brilliant, he is instinctive he’s obsessional and also dangerous! DCI John Luther has an exceptional clearance rate. He commands outstanding loyalty from both friends and colleagues. But there are rumours that he is bad. Not corrupt or on the take but tormented. Luther seethes with a hidden fury that at times he can barely control. Sometimes it sends him to the brink of madness making him do things that he should not; things that are way beyond the limits of the law. Luther: The Calling is by Neil Cross and is the first in a new series of novels featuring DCI John Luther as portrayed recently by Idris Elba. Luther: The Calling is due to be published in August 2011.

Charlie Howard, gentleman thief and famous crime-writer, has gone straight. But holing himself up in a crumbling palazzo in Venice in an attempt to concentrate on his next novel hasn't got rid of the itch in his fingers. And to make matters worse, a striking Italian beauty has just broken into his apartment and made off with his most prized possession, leaving a puzzling calling card in its place. It looks as though kicking the habit of a lifetime will be much more of a challenge than Charlie thought. Sneaking out into Venice's maze of murky canals, and trying not to relish being back on the job too much, Charlie's efforts to be reunited with his treasured first-edition of The Maltese Falcon quickly embroil him in a plot that is far bigger and more explosive than he could ever have imagined. But by the time he finds himself bundling his first ever hostage into a trunk on a speedboat and on the run from the polizia he has to admit that he is in way too deep. The Good Thief’s Guide to Venice is by Chris Ewan and is due to be published in April 2011.

Face of the Devil is by N J Cooper and is due to be published in April 2011. It is a ferociously stormy night on the Island when fifteen year old Suzie, as she hurries to board her uncle's boat after a secret meeting with her boyfriend, is brutally stabbed to death.. She is discovered by locals, held in the blood-smeared arms of Olly Matken, a schizophrenic teenager who grew up holidaying on the Island with Suzie's family. 'I didn't hurt her!' he says. 'All I did was protect her from the devil.' When psychologist Karen Taylor sees DCI Charlie Trench's name flash up on her mobile phone, she knows that she ought to ignore the call, but curiosity and, although she won't admit it, a dangerous attraction to the brooding detective, send her headlong into a deeply troubling case. Karen must decide; is Olly capable of murder? His psychologist doesn't think so, but the boy's own father seems to want to see his son charged. The only way to prove his innocence is to find out the identity of Olly's devil ...so long as Karen can keep the demons from her own past at bay too.

When a whole block is torn down in central Minneapolis to make way for a new housing development, an unpleasant surprise is unearthed. The bodies of two girls, wrapped in plastic, are discovered underneath an old house. It looks like they've been down there a long time. Lucas Davenport knows exactly how long. In 1985, Davenport was a young cop just about to be promoted out of uniform, despite a reputation for playing fast and loose with the rules. A superb undercover guy, he was part of the massive police effort that followed the kidnapping of two girls who were never found again, dead or alive. The searches turned up nothing, so when the suspected kidnapper was killed in a shoot-out, the case was closed. But not for Davenport. He'd gotten deep into the case, and while he was convinced the suspect knew something, he didn't think he was the perpetrator - something just felt off. He argued hard about it to his bosses, but nobody wanted to hear. Until now. With the bodies discovered, the case is dusted off, just to tie a bow around it - but there's something wrong with the evidence. There are indications of tampering. Police tampering. And as Davenport investigates, it becomes clear: It wasn't just the bodies that were buried, but the truth - and there are a lot of people with a very strong stake in that truth never being uncovered. Buried Prey is by John Sandford and is due to be published in July 2011.

King’s Gold is by Michael Jecks and is due to be published in May 2011. As the year 1326 draws to a close, London is in flames. King Edward II is a prisoner, and the forces of his vengeful queen, Isabella, and her lover Sir Roger Mortimer, are in the ascendant. The Bardi family, bankers who have funded the King, must look to their future with the Queen, steering a careful course between rival factions - if, that is, they can keep themselves alive. Others, too, find their loyalties torn. Guarding the deposed King on behalf of Mortimer, Sir Baldwin de Furnshill and Bailiff Simon Puttock find themselves entangled in a tightening net of conspiracy, greed, betrayal and murder.

Friday, 24 September 2010

IDRIS BELL to play ALEX CROSS

Idris Elba has signed to play Dr. Alex Cross in Cross, a new installment of James Patterson's bestselling murder mystery series that will be directed by David Twohy. Kerry Williamson wrote the script. Elba takes over the role originated by Morgan Freeman, who played the sleuth in the Paramount Pictures thrillers, 1997's Kiss the Girls and 2001's Along Came A Spider. Twohy is doing a rewrite.

In the novel, Cross tracks a serial rapist who may have murdered his pregnant wife years before. The film is being produced by Lloyd Levin, Belle Avery and Leopoldo Gout, along with the author and Steve Bowen.

Production will begin in 2011, likely in the spring. The film will be privately financed and distribution is being set. Paramount is a possibility.

The British actor starred as Stringer Bell in the HBO series The Wire also in films such as RocknRolla, American Gangster, Obsessed and The Losers. He just wrapped the role of Heimdall in Marvel's Thor, and next stars in the heist film Takers.

Elba has also kept his hand in TV. After a memorable arc in NBC's The Office last season, he played the title role in the British detective miniseries drama Luther, and will next be seen in an arc of episodes playing Laura Linney's love interest in the new Showtime series The C Word.

Wednesday, 8 September 2010

CRIMINAL ACTS September/Robin Jarossi

Law & Order: UK

Law & Order may have been gunned down in its home town of New York in May, but its London cousin is back for a third season, looking sharp and ready for action.

After 20 years and 451 shows, NBC pulled the trigger on the original for faltering ratings, but ITV is happy with 5.9 million viewers for its spin-off. Judging by the opening episode, Broken, a hard-hitting story of a child’s murder with echoes of the James Bulger case, Law & Order: UK will be one of the channel’s highlights this autumn.

The two detective sergeants, Brooks and Devlin (ex-Corrie man Bradley Walsh and Battlestar Galactica’s Jamie Bamber), are called to the grim scene of a derelict council flat containing the dead body of a six-year-old boy.

The murderer – a garage worker, or two young girls?
Child murder is obviously never a subject to be treated lightly, and the show emphasises how disturbing a moment this is for all the officers attending. ‘Just when you think you’ve seen it all,’ Brooks says.

The two investigators soon suspect that two older girls may be behind the boy’s killing, CCTV footage showing them leading him to the flat. Or could it be a guy who works in a garage, as the girls indicate?

Law & Order: UK works because it has all the major ingredients right. Bradley Walsh is not the greatest thesp in the world, but this part fits him beautifully. Ex-alky Brooks is the copper’s copper, the one who gives the show its moral ballast.

Ben Daniels, Harriet Walter and Jamie Bamber
Jamie Bamber is good as his foil. Harriet Walter (Broken Lines, Atonement) is totally believable as the guvnor not to be messed with, while on the prosecution side, Ben Daniels (The State Within, Cutting It) has a terrific scene here where he rips into the callous mother of one of the girls.

The format, with episodes split between the law and the order, worked well for all those years in the States, and ITV haven’t tried to fix it. And finally, the stories (borrowed from the originals too) can be compelling.

Broken is a powerful one that probes a divisive issue. If a child commits a serious crime, who is truly responsible – the child or those who have raised it? The tabloids bay for blood and the Director of Children on trial Public Prosecutions says, “The public don’t care about treating killers.” Meanwhile, the director of Crown Prosecutors, George Castle (actor Bill Paterson), demands to know why a child would kill another – not usually a priority for the courts.

With its careerist barristers, legal horse-trading and often ambiguous endings, Law & Order: UK is absorbing prime-time viewing.






Law & Order: UK, ITV1, Thursdays from 9 Sept, 9pm



Sherlock and Luther will return

As the Beeb announced the return of three new 90-minute adventures for Holmes and Watson, the creators of the hit revamp, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, were gently teasing fans: ‘We've been overwhelmed by the warmth of response to our new Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and can't wait to take them on three new adventures next year. There'll be baffling new puzzles, old friends and new enemies – whether on two or four legs. And we might well be seeing the cold master of logic and reason unexpectedly falling. But in love? Or over a precipice? Who can tell?’

Having launched its Holmes re-boot in the fairly odd month of July, when everyone’s on their hols, the BBC clearly is now sure it has a hit on its hands and will bring Sherlock back as part of its prized autumn line-up in 2011.

Luther creator and crime novelist Neil Cross promises the planned pair of two-hour specials about his troubled detective will ‘be even more intense’.

Which is hard to believe, seeing as the ‘near-genius’ copper played by Idris Elba found his estranged wife’s body, shot by his corrupt colleague, who in turn was shot by the ‘genius’ killer Alice, with whom Luther had somehow bonded…




And watch out for…

You wait years for a copy-cat serial killer in the East End, and two come along.

Having seen off a devotee of Jack the Ripper while watched by nine-million viewers in 2009, Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis and Steve Pemberton will be returning to ITV this autumn in Whitechapel – this time pursuing a killer with a taste for the murders of the Krays.

DCI Banks: Aftermath, on the same channel, stars Stephen Tompkinson as DCI Alan Banks, in a two-part drama, adapted from the novel by award-winning crime writer Peter Robinson. It tells the story of an ordinary house in an ordinary street which is about to become infamous.

For 2011, ITV have three new crime sagas in production: an Anthony Horowitz story called Injustice, starring James Purefoy; Scott and Bailey with Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp as homicide detectives with the Major Incident Team in Manchester (written by Sally Wainwright); and The Jury, written by Oscar-nominated Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon and The Damned United).

The Suspicions of Mr Whicher – the best-seller by Kate Summerscale – is also getting the ITV treatment. The two-hour drama about an infamous Victorian country house murder will star Paddy Considine (Red Riding Trilogy, The Bourne Ultimatum) in the lead role of Inspector Jonathan Whicher, and will be adapted by Neil McKay (Mo, See No Evil: The Moors Murders).

Friday, 13 November 2009

SKY 1 drops THE SEARCH with MARTINA COLE and Drama round up






News has reached me that Sky 1 had commissioned The Search With Martina Cole, which was scheduled for transmission in early 2010. The documentary planned to search for the remains of Moors Murder victim Keith Bennett but has now been dropped after his mother confirmed she was not prepared to take part.
Martina had been lined up to front the show, which would have investigated the whereabouts of Keith Bennett’s remains by revisiting existing evidence and interviewing new witnesses as well as those who were involved in the case.
A Sky 1 spokeswoman said: “The goal of this programme was to help Winifred Johnson conclude the search for her son, Keith Bennett. However, Mrs Johnson has made it clear that she prefers to pursue that search separately. There was never any question of going ahead without her full support, so we decided immediately to end the project.”


Other Small Screen Drama News


The Secret Life Of The Novel - BBC2 Documentary series presented by Sebastian Faulks. Explores the history of the novel through its characters, focusing on a different archetype and looking at the development over the centuries of The Hero, The Lover, The Snob and The Villain. Transmission date Spring 2010


The original ITV1 series Whitechapel, featured DI Chandler (Rupert Penry-Jones), an obsessive compulsive inspector who had to solve a series of Jack the Ripper copy cat killings. The second series ( Whitechapel II) looks at the gangster culture of the Krays and the faded glamour of the East End overlords, which haunted the East End, with plenty of maiming and murder thrown in the mix. It will be as sharp, intense and as visually distinctive as Whitechapel I with the gangster culture the Krays instilled never far away. Produced by Carnival Films, the new story will broadcast in mid 2010 as three episodes.



An adaptation of crime writer Ann Cleeves’ novel Hidden Depths is set in modern day Northumberland and Brenda Blethyn, star of Pride and Prejudice, Atonement and Secrets and Lies, will play the role of a lonely detective inspector investigating the murder of two young people found in the water. This will be a one-off two hour drama for ITV1 scheduled for 2010



Neil Cross - a writer on Spooks and The Fixer has penned Luther (working title), which will show detective John Luther struggling with his personal demons while attempting to track down a killer each week. In a twist on the traditional format, the killer’s identity will be known to the audience. The BBC series is set for transmission in 2010 and runs for 6 x 60 minute episodes.

Sherlock is a contemporary take on the classic stories, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the new Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as his loyal friend, Dr John Watson. Sherlock is a thrilling, funny, fast-paced adventure series set in present-day London.
3 x 90 minute episodes for BBC1 in 2010 .
Benedict Cumberbatch -










24 returns for its eighth, and possibly final, season in January 2010.
The real-time action drama impressed with its seventh outing, reaching a shock-filled finale. Turncoat Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) revealed his motives for heading up the terrorist campaign: he wanted to get close to and exact revenge on the man responsible for killing wife Michelle and their unborn child. Meanwhile, Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert) came to a pathogen-infected Jack’s (Kiefer Sutherland) rescue, volunteering to undergo a stem cell procedure.
Day 8 relocates from Washington DC to the mean streets of New York City where Bauer’s services are required to prevent an assassination plot against a visiting foreign leader (Slumdog Millionaire’s Anil Kapoor). 24’s return will also be bolstered by the turns of Battlestar Galactica’s Katee Sackhoff as brainy bombshell Dana Walsh and Freddie Prinze Jr’s CTU field agent Cole Ortiz. Returning cast members include Annie Wersching (Renee Walker), Mary-Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O’Brian) and Elisha Cuthbert.
Promising an explosive eighth day, 24 delivers high-impact television packing plenty of twists.
Transmittance is currently planned for January 2010