Books to Look Forward to From Orion Publishing

 

July 2021

Claire Griffith seems to have it all, a thriving career, a gorgeous, successful boyfriend, a glamorous circle of friends. She always knew she was destined for more than the life her deeply conservative parents preached to her. Arriving in Los Angeles as a flat broke teenager, she has risen to become a popular fitness coach and social media influencer. Having rebranded herself as Cleo Ray, she stands on the threshold of achieving her most cherished dreams. One summer day, Cleo and a young woman named Beck Alden set off in a canoe on a quiet, picture-perfect mountain lake. An hour later, Beck is found dead in the water, her face cut and bruised, and Cleo is missing. Authorities suspect foul play and news about Cleo's involvement goes viral. Who was Beck and what was the nature of her and Cleo's relationship? Was Beck an infatuated follower who took things too far? If Cleo is innocent, why did she run? Was it an accident? Or was it murder? As evidence of Cleo's secret life surfaces, the world begins to see just how hard she strived to get to the top- and how fast and far the fall is from celebrity to infamy. The Anatomy of Desire is by L R Dorn. 

The Lying Squad is by Adam Simcox.. Dying is hell... Solving your own murder is purgatory. When Detective Inspector Joe Lazarus storms a Lincolnshire farmhouse, he expects to bring down a notorious drug gang; instead, he discovers his own dead body and a spirit guide called Daisy-May. She's there to enlist him to the Dying Squad, a spectral police force made up of the recently deceased. Joe soon realises there are fates far worse than death. To escape being stuck in purgatory, he must solve his own murder. A task made all the more impossible when his memories start to fade. Reluctantly partnering with Daisy-May, Joe faces dangers from both the living and the dead in the quest to find his killer - before they kill again.

August 2021

The Guide is by Peter Heller and is about a young man escaping his own grief and an elite fishing lodge in Colorado hiding a plot of shocking menace. Kingfisher Lodge, nestled in a canyon on a mile and a half of the most pristine river water on the planet, is known by locals as 'Billionaire's Mile.' Sandwiched between barbed wire and a meadow with a sign that reads 'Don't Get Shot,' the Colorado resort boasts boutique fishing at its finest and a respite for wealthy clients. Now, it also promises a second chance for Jack, a return to normalcy after a young life filled with loss. When he is assigned to guide a well-known singer, his only job is to rig her line, carry her gear and steer her to the best trout he can find. But then a human scream pierces the night, and Jack soon realizes that this idyllic fishing lodge may be merely a cover for a far more sinister operation.

The Manic is by Daniel Cole. In life she was his muse . In death she'll be his masterpiece. 1989: DS Benjamin Chambers and DC Adam Winters are on the trail of a serial killer with a twisted passion for recreating the world's greatest works of art through the bodies of his victims. After Chambers nearly loses his life, the case goes cold due to lack of evidence. The killer lies dormant, his collection unfinished. 2006: DS Marshall has excelled through the ranks of the Metropolitan Police Service, despite being haunted by the case that defined her teenage years. Having obtained new evidence, she joins Chambers and Winters to reopen the case. However, their resurrected investigation brings about a fresh reign of terror, the team treading a fine line between delivering justice and becoming vigilantes in their pursuit of a monster far more dangerous and intelligent than any of them had anticipate.

Now I'm in charge, the gates are my gates. The rules are my rule sIt's an incendiary moment for St Oswald's school. For the first time in its history, a headmistress is in power, the gates opening to girls. Rebecca Buckfast has spilled blood to reach this position. Barely forty, she is just starting to reap the harvest of her ambition. As the new regime takes on the old guard, the ground shifts. And with it, the remains of a body are discovered. But Rebecca is here to make her mark. She'll bury the past so deep it will evade even her own memory, just like she has done before. After all... You can't keep a good woman down. A Narrow Room is by Joanne Harris.

Another Kind of Eden is by James Lee Burke.. The American West in the early 1960s appears to be a pastoral paradise: golden wheat fields, mist-filled canyons, frolicking animals. Aspiring novelist Aaron Holland Broussard has observed it from the open door of a boxcar, riding the rails for both inspiration and odd jobs. Jumping off in Denver, he finds work on a farm and meets Joanne McDuffy, an articulate and fierce college student and gifted painter. Their soul connection is immediate, but their romance is complicated by Joanne's involvement with a shady professor who is mixed up with a drug-addled cult. When a sinister businessman and his son who wield their influence through vicious cruelty set their sights on Aaron, drawing him into an investigation of grotesque murders, it is clear that this idyllic landscape harbors tremendous power-and evil. Followed by a mysterious shrouded figure who might not be human, Aaron will have to face down all these foes to save the life of the woman he loves and his own. 

Shirley Steadman, a 70 year old living in a small town in the North East of England, loves her volunteer work at the local hospital radio. She likes giving back to the community, and even more so, she likes getting out of the house. Haunted by the presence of her son, a reluctant Royal Navy officer who was lost at sea, and still in the shadow of her long dead abusive husband, she doesn't like being alone much. One day, at the radio station, she is playing around with the equipment and finds a frequency that was never there before. It is a pirate radio station, and as she listens as the presenter starts reading the news. But there is one problem - the news being reported is tomorrows. Shirley first thinks it is a mere misunderstanding - a wrong date. But she watches as everything reported comes true. At first, Shirley is in awe of the station, and happily tunes in to hear the news. But then the presenter starts reporting murders - murders that happen just the way they were reported. Half Past Tomorrow is by Chris McGeorge. 

If we remove all our natural impulses, how long do we have before our true personalities bite back? Trapped inside a secure hospital after what may not be her first suicide attempt, Mya Dala's only contact with the outside world is a TV screen. One day it starts to show videos of her sweet, gentle boyfriend Marco - hand-in-hand with her doppelganger. Convinced she has been replaced by a perfect clone, Mya plots how to get back to Marco with the help of a violently troubled inmate known as the Madboy. But as she plans her escape, her memories of Marco become conflicted. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a long-forgotten version of Marco is emerging...Has his personality been replaced - or is this all in her head? A clever speculative thriller for fans that asks whether one day technology could perfect our brains, just as plastic surgery perfects our bodies. And whether we should let it.. Replace You is by Andrew Ewart.

Running from her past, Rachel answers an advert to be a live-in assistant to glamorous and eccentric author Dorothy Winters. But behind the closed doors of Dorothy's house, she quickly discovers that nothing is as it seems. When Dorothy's manuscript throws up striking similarities to events in Rachel's own life, she becomes convinced that the pasts he's tried to hide is catching up with her.Then the phone calls start. The parcel arrives. The blood shows up in the bathroom.And Dorothy's friend disappears.Terrified of being blamed for murder, Rachel has nobody left to turn to. Because who can she believe when she doesn't even trust herself...? The Vacancy is by Elizabeth Carpenter.

September 2021

The Shadowing is by Rhiannon Ward. When well-to-do Hester learns of her sister Mercy's death at a Nottinghamshire workhouse, she travels to Southwell to find out how her sister ended up at such a place. Haunted by her sister's ghost, Hester sets out to uncover the truth, when the official story reported by the workhouse master proves to be untrue. Mercy was pregnant - both her and the baby are said to be dead of cholera, but the workhouse hasn't had an outbreak for years. Hester discovers a strange trend in the workhouse of children going missing. One woman tells her about the Pale Lady, a ghostly figure that steals babies in the night. Is this lady a myth or is something more sinister afoot at the Southwell poorhouse? As Hester investigates, she uncovers a conspiracy, one that someone is determined to keep a secret, no matter the cost...

November 2021

A missing child. Ten years ago, the disappearance of firearms police officer Jonah Colley’s young son almost destroyed him. A gruesome discovery. A plea for help from an old friend leads Jonah to Slaughter Quay, and the discovery of four bodies. Brutally attacked and left for dead, he is the only survivor. A search for the truth. Under suspicion himself, he uncovers a network of secrets and lies about the people he thought he knew — forcing him to question what really happened all those years ago. No one is safe. And there are some very dangerous people watching him... The Lost is by Simon Beckett.

December 2021

We are all Liars is by Carys Jones. We're best friends. We trust each other. But... We are all liars. Allie, Stacie, Diana, Emily and Gail have been by each other's sides for as long as they can remember. The Fierce Five. Best friends forever. But growing up has meant growing apart. And little white lies have grown into devastating secrets. When Gail invites the increasingly estranged friends to reunite at her Scottish cabin, it could be the opportunity to mend old wounds and heal the cracks in their friendship. But when a freak snowstorm rocks the cabin and one of the girls is found dead on the ice, their weekend away becomes a race against time - and each other - to get off the mountain alive. And in the end, whose story can you trust, when everything was founded on lies to begin with?

Simon Beckett and his Stone Bruises

Today’s guest blog is by Simon Beckett.  He has worked as a freelance journalist, writing for national newspapers and color supplements.  He is the author of four international bestselling crime thrillers featuring his forensic anthropologist hero, Dr David Hunter: The Chemistry of Death, Written in Bone, Whispers of the Dead and The Calling of the Grave.  He lives in Sheffield.

“Stone Bruises  isn't part of a series, it's a standalone thriller, the first I've written since before the David Hunter series.  I've always tried to keep a sense of freshness and unpredictability about the David Hunter books, because I think that's important for any thriller, whether it's a standalone or not.  The Calling of the Grave was the fourth in the David Hunter series, and I wanted to take time to decide where Hunter would go next.  It wasn't my intention at first to write a completely different novel, but while I was planning the fifth Hunter I found that ideas kept falling into place for Stone Bruises.  It felt like the book I should write next, and that's what happened.  Although Stone Bruises doesn't involve forensics, I think it's a tense and gripping story that will keep people on the edge of their seats.  So I hope David Hunter readers will enjoy it and I'm very excited about it.

Will there be more David Hunter novels in the future?  Yes, there will be.  In fact

I've already started work on the next one.

Stone Bruises -

‘Somebody!’  I half-sob and then, more quietly, ‘Please.’  The words seem absorbed by the afternoon heat, lost amongst the trees.  In their aftermath, the silence descends again.  I know then that I’m not going anywhere...  Sean is on the run.  We don’t know why and we don’t know from whom, but we do know he’s abandoned his battered, bloodstained car in the middle of an isolated, lonely part of rural France at the height of a sweltering summer.  Desperate to avoid the police, he takes to the parched fields and country lanes only to be caught in the vicious jaws of a trap.  Near unconscious from pain and loss of blood, he is freed and taken in by two women - daughters of the owner of a rundown local farm with its ramshackle barn, blighted vineyard and the brooding lake.  And it’s then that Sean’s problems really start...

Books To Look Forward to From Transworld Publishers

In this second instalment of Persson's trilogy of police procedurals featuring the "small, fat and primitive" Evert Backstrom, the grand master's most appallingly repulsive (and funniest) character is finally given his fifteen minutes of fame by way of his patented combination of laziness, luck, and an unbelievable sense of timing. A seemingly ordinary murder puzzles Backstrom, who is struggling with strict orders from his doctor to lead a healthier life. His gut feeling proves him right: within days, his team has another murder linked to the first on their hands, and reports of alleged ties to a Securicor heist gone out of control, killing two. The nation needs a hero, and the newly appointed head of the Vasterort police force Anna Holt needs somebody to kill the dragon for her. Who better to heed to the task than Evert Backstrom: self-sufficient, ostentatious, devoid of moral, Hawaii shirt-clad, and, latterly, armed?  He Who Kills the Dragon is by Leif G W Persson and is due to be published in October 2013.

 Kings’s Return is by Andrew Swanston and is due to be published in April 2014.  Spring 1661: Thomas Hill travels from his home in Romsey to London to attend the coronation of King Charles II.  His sister Margaret has died and both his nieces are now married.  At a dinner party after the Coronation, Thomas meets the charming Chandle Stoner, and Sir Joseph Williamson, security advisor to His Majesty, and in charge of the newly restored Post Office.  Learning of Thomas’s skill with code, Williamson asks him to take charge of deciphering coded letters intercepted at the Post Office.  Reluctantly Thomas agrees.  A spate of murders take place in London – including two employees of the Post Office.  Thomas finds himself dragged into the search for the murderer – or murderers.  It soon becomes apparent that those responsible are closer to Thomas  - and his loved ones – than he imagined. But can he ensure that they are apprehended for their crimes before it’s too late?

A young woman has been found dead and covered in snow behind a nursery school in a Stockholm suburb.  She is the fourth murder victim in a short time and with the same characteristics: a young mother, stabbed from behind.  The offices of the Evening Standard are awash with rumours of a serial killer, but journalist Annika Bengtzon dismisses it as wild fantasy.  As the murder spree continues in Stockholm, the police too begin to think that they have a serial killer on their hands.  Meanwhile Annika is dragged into a violent hostage situation in Nairobi that involves her husband – a situation that shakes both Europe and East Africa.  The demands of the kidnappers are both impossible and unreasonable.  But when the demands are rejected, the kidnapper begins to execute the hostages, one by one…. Borderline is by Liza Marklund and is due to be published in February 2014.

There are no other women on earth like Angela Lassey. That’s not her real name, of course. In her purse there are six different drivers’ licenses and twelve different passports, each with a different name and photograph. Over the course of twenty years she's pulled robberies on five continents and stolen things more valuable then many people could even imagine. She speaks four languages with the clarity and confidence of a native speaker and racks up stratospheric shopping bills where ever she goes.  She's been a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead. She's been dark-skinned and light, blue-eyed and brown, young and old. She's gained weight and lost it again, she's worn platform shoes and slouched to conceal her height, and she's smoked like a chimney and bleached her teeth. She’s never the same woman from one week to the next.  She doesn’t call any place home.  There's no real term for what Angela Lassey does for a living. She is a bank robber, sure, and a crook and a thief and a heister, but Angela's particular talent has no proper, accepted name. In Sweden someone had called her a skyggemannen. In the Netherlands they'd called her a spook. In South America she was a desaparecido.  In America, she was simply a ghostman.  She is the master of the disappearing act. She can make anything or anyone disappear, for the right price. She has worked with some of the best crooks in the world, the best boxmen and jugmarkers and hacks, but she's never met anyone better at disappearing then she was.  Angela Lassey is like human mist.  So she’s the perfect person to call when you need to hide. Like Sabo Park does after unexpectedly stumbling across treasure during a sapphire heist on the China Sea. What he has is so valuable that those who know of its existence will never stop their search. He has to vanish, like a ghost. Because now he has it, he is the richest criminal in the world.  Vanshing Games is by Roger Hobbs and is due to be published in July 2014.

Morning Frost is the third book in the D I Jack Frost prequel by James Henry and it is due to be published in November 2014.  It's been one of the worst days of Detective Sergeant Jack Frost's life. He has buried his wife Mary, and must now endure the wake, attended by all of Denton's finest. All, that is, apart from DC Sue Clark, who spends the night pursuing a bogus tip-off, before being summoned to the discovery of a human hand. And things get worse. Local entrepreneur Harry Baskin is shot inside his nightclub, fake fivers are being circulated, and a famous painting goes missing. As the week goes on, a cyclist is found dead in suspicious circumstances, and the more body parts appear. Frost is on the case, but another disaster - one he is entirely unprepared for - is about to strike...

 'Call your mother.' In the Devonshire countryside, a masked stranger is preying on young women - luring them into his car, taking them to a place they can never be found, and then ordering them to call home. At first he doesn't kill. His motive for terrifying the women seems unclear. But every killer has to start somewhere, and soon enough he will get a taste for something even more sinister. Meanwhile 10-year-old Ruby Trick, living with her parents in a damp, crumbling house by the sea, is about to come of age in the most terrifying way possible...  The Facts of Life and Death is by Belinda Bauer and is due to be published in March 2014

'Somebody!' I half-sob and then, more quietly, 'Please.' The words seem  absorbed by the afternoon heat, lost amongst the trees. In their aftermath, the silence descends again. I know then that I'm not going anywhere...Sean is on the run. We don't know why and we don't know from whom, but we do know he's abandoned his battered, blood-stained car in the middle of an isolated, lonely part of rural France at the height of a sweltering summer. Desperate to avoid the police, he takes to the parched fields and country lanes only to be caught in the vicious jaws of a trap. Near unconscious from pain and loss of blood, he is freed and taken in by two women - daughters of the owner of a rundown local farm with its ramshackle barn, blighted vineyard and the brooding lake. And it's then that Sean's problems really start...Stone Bruises is by Simon Beckett and is due to be published in January 2014

 Silencer is the latest book in the Nick Stone series by Andy McNab and is due to be published in October 2013.  1993: Under deep cover, Nick Stone and a specialist surveillance team have spent weeks in the jungles and city streets of Colombia. Their mission: to locate the boss of the world's most murderous drugs cartel - and terminate him with extreme prejudice. Now they can strike. But to get close enough to fire the fatal shot, Nick must reveal his face. It's a risk he's willing to take - since only the man who is about to die will see him. Or so he thinks... 2012: Nick is in Moscow; semi-retired; semi-married to Anna; very much the devoted father of their newborn son. But when the boy falls dangerously ill and the doctor who saves him comes under threat, Nick finds himself back in the firing line. To stop his cover being terminally blown, he must follow a trail that begins in Triad-controlled Hong Kong and propels him back into the even more brutal world he thought he'd left behind. The forces ranged against him have guns, helicopters, private armies and a terrified population in their vice-like grip. Nick Stone has two decades of operational skills that may no longer be deniable - and a fierce desire to protect a woman and a child who now mean more to him than life itself.

Young policewoman Lacey Flint knows that the Thames is a dangerous place – after all, she lives on it and works on it – but she’s always been lucky. Until one day, when she finds a body floating in the water. Who was this woman and why was she wrapped so carefully in white burial cloths before being hidden in the fast flowing depths.  DCI Dana Tulloch hates to admit it, but she’s fond of the mysterious Lacey. Even if she keeps on interfering in her investigations, and is meddling with the latest floater case. But now she's got to break some terrible news to her - news that could destroy Lacey's fragile state of mind.   And Lacey will need to keep her wits about her because there's a killer that's lurking around her boat, leaving her gifts she'd rather not receive . . .  A Dark and Twisted Tide is by Sharon (SJ) Bolton and is due to be published in May 2014.

The Sisters - Easter and her little sister Ruby are waiting it out in a foster home. Their mum died after a drug overdose, and their dad is a loser who walked out on them all. The Dad - Wade has no claim to them - he signed away his rights years ago, and Easter doesn't even want a father who'd give them up that easily. But one night he turns up unannounced and takes them anyway. The Psychopath - Robert Pruitt is just out of prison when he gets the chance to settle an old score with the man who ruined his life. He's got to find him first, but luckily the trail is easy to follow. Because the guy's just kidnapped his two girls...  The Dark Road to Mercy is by Wiley Cash and is due to be published in January 2014.

 When Jenny, an ordinary schoolgirl on the island of Gotland, is discovered by a modelling agency, her life changes overnight.  Soon she is considered one of the hottest stars and is thrown into a world of VIP parties and glamour.  While Jenny is enjoying her new exciting life in Stockholm, Agnes, a few years her junior, has been hospitalised due to a serious eating disorder.  She too dreamt of living in the limelight, but is now fading away.  Watching at Agnes’ beside is her worried father.  Since Agnes’ mother and brother were tragically killed in a car accident a few years previously, his daughter is all he has. But tragedy also lies in wait for successful Jenny.  During a lavish fashion shoot on Gotland’s barren isolated peninsula, Furillen, her new boyfriend, the fashion photographer Markus falls victim to a murder attempt.  He is found in an isolated spot, covered in blood and brutally assaulted – but alive.  Will he be able to tell police inspector Anders Knutas anything that will lead the police to the perpetrator before it’s too late?  For along time Jenny and Agnes remain unaware that their lives are entwined.  But someone is keeping an eye on them.  Someone with plans to intervene in their lives an deliver their own kind of Justice.  The Dangerous Game is by Mari Jungstedt and is due to be published in March 2014.

Don’t Stand So Close is the debut novel by Luana Lewis and is due to be published in February 2014.  What would you do if a young girl knocked on your door and asked for your help? If it was snowing and she was freezing cold, but you were afraid and alone? What would you do if you let her in, but couldn't make her leave? What if she told you terrible lies about someone you love, but the truth was even worse? Stella has been cocooned in her home for three years. Severely agoraphobic, she knows she is safe in the stark, isolated house she shares with her husband, Max. The traumatic memories of her final case as a psychologist are that much easier to keep at a distance, too. But the night that Blue arrives on her doorstep with her frightened eyes and sad stories, Stella's carefully controlled world begins to unravel around her. Don't Stand So Close is a chilling and suspenseful read.

 For thousands of years we guarded it. But now it has been found. This could be the end - for us; for our organisation; for the world. You must destroy it, and those who have taken it. An ancient object is discovered in a Cairo souk. Hours later, the market trader who sold it is tortured to death. As the bodies begin to pile up, a request for help is sent to British Museum historian Angela Lewis. Angela travels to Spain with her ex-husband, undercover police officer Chris Bronson. There they discover the key to the greatest secret in the history of Christianity. Their only problem is deciphering it before they are brutally murdered like those before them... The Lost Testament is by James Becker and is due to be published in November 2013.  The Brotherhood of the Skull also by James Becker will be published in July 2014. At the turn of the 13th century the religious order known as the Knights Templar was ruthlessly chased down, tortured and eliminated. Fast-forward to the present day, where we are thrust into a nail-biting chase for the truth behind the myth of the Templar Treasure.

A Pleasure and a Calling is by Phil Hogan and is due to be published in February 2014.  You won't remember Mr Heming. He showed you round your comfortable home, suggested a sustainable financial package, negotiated a price with the owner and called you with the good news. The less good news is that, all these years later, he still has the key. That's absurd, you laugh. Of all the many hundreds of houses he has sold, why would he still have the key to mine? The answer to that is, he has the keys to them all. William Heming's every pleasure is in his leafy community. He loves and knows every inch of it, feels nurtured by it, and would defend it - perhaps not with his life but if it came to it, with yours...

On a cold December morning in 1841, a small boy is enticed away from his mother and his throat savagely cut. But when the people of Dublin learn why John Delahunt committed this vile crime, the outcry leaves no room for compassion. His fate is sealed, but this feckless Trinity College student and secret informer for the authorities in Dublin Castle seems neither to regret what he did nor fear his punishment. Sitting in Kilmainham Gaol in the days leading up to his execution, Delahunt tells his story in a final, deeply unsettling statement...Dublin in the mid-19th century was a city on the edge - a turbulent time of suspicion and mistrust and the scent of rebellion against the Crown in the air. Beautifully written, brilliantly researched and with a seductive sense of period and place, this unnervingly compelling novel boasts a colourful assortment of characters: from carousing Trinity students, unscrupulous lowlifes and blackmailers to dissectionists, phrenologists and sinister agents of Dublin Castle who are operating according to their own twisted rules. And at its heart lie the doomed John Delahunt and Helen, his wife. Unconventional, an aspiring-writer and daughter of an eminent surgeon, she pursued Delahunt, married him and thereby ruined her own life. And as for Delahunt himself, we follow him from elegant ballrooms and tenement houses to taverns, courtrooms and to the impoverished alleyways where John Delahunt readily betrays his friends, his society and ultimately, himself.  The Convictions of John Delahunt is by Andrew Hughes and is due to be published in March 2014.

The Day Before You Came is by Paula Daly and is due to be published in April 2014.  Natty and Sean Wainwright are happily married.  Rock solid in fact.  So when Natty’s oldest school friend, Eve Dalladay appears – just as their daughter’s appendix explodes on a school trip in France – Natty has no qualms about leaving Eve helping Sean out at home.  Two weeks later and Natty finds Eve has slotted into family life too well.  Natty’s husband has fallen in love with Eve.  He’s sorry, he tells her, but their marriage is over.  With no option but to put a brave face on things for the sake of the children, Natty embarks on building a new life for herself.  And then she receives a note.  Eve has done this before, more than one and with fatal consequences …..

I believe, from what I can hear, that either my daughter or my wife has just been attacked. I don't know the outcome. The house is silent. Fourteen years ago two teenage lovers were brutally murdered in a patch of remote woodland. The prime suspect confessed to the crimes and was imprisoned. Now, one family is still trying to put the memory of the killings behind them. But at their isolated hilltop house...the nightmare is about to return.  Wolf is the seventh novel in the Jack Caffery series by Mo Hayder and it is due to be published in February 2014.

 Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart is the latest book in the Bryant & May series by Christopher Fowler and is due to be published in March 2014. It's a fresh start for the Met's oddest investigation team, the Peculiar Crimes Unit. Their first case involves two teenagers who see a dead man rising from his grave in a London park. And if that's not alarming enough, one of them is killed in a hit and run accident. Stranger still, in the moments between when he was last seen alive and found dead on the pavement, someone has changed his shirt...Much to his frustration, Arthur Bryant is not allowed to investigate. Instead, he has been tasked with finding out how someone could have stolen the ravens from the Tower of London. All seven birds have vanished from one of the most secure fortresses in the city. And, as the legend has it, when the ravens leave, the nation falls. Soon it seems death is all around and Bryant and May must confront a group of latter-day bodysnatchers, explore an eerie funeral parlour and unearth the gruesome legend of Bleeding Heart Yard. More graves are desecrated, further deaths occur, and the symbol of the Bleeding Heart seems to turn up everywhere - it's even discovered hidden in the PCU's offices. And when Bryant is blindfolded and taken to the headquarters of a secret society, he realises that this case is more complex than even he had imagined, and that everyone is hiding something. The Grim Reaper walks abroad and seems to be stalking him, playing on his fears of premature burial. Rich in strange characters and steeped in London's true history, this is Bryant & May's most peculiar and disturbing case of all.

 'I don’t like killing, but I’m good at it. Murder isn’t so bad from a distance, just shapes in my scope. Close up work though, the garrotte around the neck, the knife in the heart, it’s not for me. Too much empathy, that’s my problem. Usually. But not today. Today is different…’ The year is 1955 and something is very wrong with the world: Churchill is dead and WW2 didn’t happen. Europe is in thrall to a nuclear-armed Nazi Germany. Only Britain and its Empire holds out, bound by an uneasy truce and all the while German scientists are experimenting with terrifying forces beyond their understanding - forces that are driving them to the brink of insanity and beyond. Berlin is a hotbed of suspicion and betrayal - a lone British assassin is fighting a private war with the Nazis; the Gestapo are on the trail of a beautiful young resistance fighter and the head of the SS plots to dispose of an increasingly decrepit Adolf Hitler and become Fuhrer. While in London, a sinister and treacherous cabal will stop at nothing to conceal the conspiracy of the century.  Four desperate scenarios that are destined to collide with catastrophic effect. And it all hinges on a single kill in the morning . . .  A Kill in the Morning is by Graeme Shimmin and is due to be published in June 2014.

Criminal splatterings

The long list for the Daggers in the Library has been announced. The authors are as followers –

Simon Beckett

Belinda Bauer

S J Bolton

Gordon Ferris

Frances Brody

Elena Forbes

Nicci French

Elly Griffiths

John Harvey

Susan Hill

Shona MacLean

Peter May

Steve Mosby

Imogen Robertson

M J Trow

Congratulations to all the authors on the long list!

Over at Indiewire there is an interesting post with Don Winslow talking about Satori and the film adaptation with Leonardo DiCaprio

If you haven’t seen it yet then have a look at the cool trailer for John Connolly’s The Killing Kind that was done by Cautious Train Productions.

John Connolly's "The Killing Kind" Book Trailer from Cautious Train on Vimeo.

Want to read an interview between to extremely interesting crime writers?  If so then hop on over on to the Indigo blog where you can read and interview between Michael Connelly and Lynsday Faye.

Crimefest Day 2 Part 2

Well my decision not to buy any more books did not last very long. In fact it did not last 24 hours. I managed to miss the first panel I had a feeling that I would. I did not manage to get up on time. I ended up having breakfast with other Shotsmag members, Mike Stotter, Ali Karim and Kirstie Long.

(L-R Janet Laurence, Deryn Lake, Steven Saylor, Shona MacLean & Carola Dunn)

(Pictures Ayo Onatade)

The first panel that I went to was An Affair to Remember: A Walk Through History, which was moderated by Janet Laurence. The panel members were Deryn Lake, Shona MacLean, Carola Dunn and Steven Saylor. It was a really good panel and like all the previous panels that I have attended so far very well attended. One of the questions that the panel members were asked was what drew them to the period that they wrote about. For Carola Dunn it was the increase in freedom for women that appealed to her. Shona MacLean explained that for her as a historian she found her training helped her. However, she also explained that her editor sometimes felt that it was a hindrance. Steven Saylor explained that he loved the history of Rome and that he series grew out of his fascination of the ancient world. For Deryn Lake, her character came about as a result of some research that she had been doing on behalf of a drinks company. The question of how morals fitted into their stories was also discussed. Shona MacLean explained that for her character it was difficult, whilst for Carola Dunn her character Daisy Dalrymple has she explained her own morals and sometimes they did not equate with everybody else’s. Steven Saylor said that he did in fact have to tone down his material because of the somewhat foulness of the language during the period. There was a very different mindset.

The second panel that I managed to get to was I was a Male Warbride: Confessions of a Crime Fiction Author. This panel consisted of Chris Ewan, Douglas Lindsay, Helen Fitzgerald and Steve Mosby along with Donna Moore as moderator. Panels moderated by Donna Moore are always a joy to attend and this was no exception. We had confessions coming out of our ears from the various panel members ranging from the panellists worse reviews, most embarrassing events that have taken place in their lives and whether or not they had in fact done anything criminal. I am sure you would like to know which author tried to steal a lamp post, which author used to catch a train without buying a ticket, and which author managed to embarrass himself in front of his future in laws quite spectacularly. However, I am not telling! It was a really interesting panel and the audience members were in fits of laughter but I am sure that if any of the members of the panel learnt anything it was that Donna knows too much about them and that they should be wary as to what they say to Donna Moore as it would most likely always come back to haunt them one way or another.

Lunch was good fun. I ended up going out to lunch with Sam Eades from Headline, Kirstie Long, Helen Fitzgerald, the delightful Christopher Wakling and Katherine Armstrong from Faber who kindly paid for lunch!

Even though I was not sure which panel I was going to attend, I some how managed to miss both of the panels first thing after lunch. They were None but the Lonely Heart: The Lone Wolf P.I Notorious: Making People Shiver. I did attend The Last Laugh Award Shortlist Panel. Robert Lewis who has also been shortlisted was unable to attend. It was once again a highly amusing panel, and Donna Moore made sure that she got the best out her fellow panel members who once again elicited and which was moderated by Donna Moore (a shortlisted author) and included Colin Bateman (who won the award last year), LC Tyler, Chris Ewan and Colin Cotterill fits of laughter from those in attendance. It will be interesting to see who wins the award as they are all worthy winners in my opinion.

(L-R Jake Kerridge, S J Bolton & Simon Beckett)

Watching S J Bolton and Simon Beckett being interviewed by Jake Kerridge was really good. It was a shame that it was up against Born to Be Bad: The Nature of Evil as it could have done with more people in attendance. The only other issue that I would comment on was that I would like to have seen Jake ask the two authors slightly more probing questions. However, one of the questions that did get everyone talking was how did they feel about the BBC television programme on genre fiction which has as I am sure that many of you are aware caused a quite a furore. Whilst Simon Beckett was in my opinion rather sanguine in his response, S J Bolton was quite firm in how she felt. She was one of the signatories to the letter that was sent to the BBC in complaint.

Anyway, this blog is running late at the moment. I have to go and get changed for the Dagger announcements that are due to take place around 5:30pm and then dinner with the every lovely Nicci Praca from Quercus Books. Should be good fun!

New books to look forward to from Transworld

In the cathedral tower lives a strange boy with a limp who talks about bells. In a luxury penthouse lives a high class prostitute who is in mortal danger. And in a low-rent hotel lives a private investigator who has no idea how she got there. Jay Harper finds himself in Switzerland on the trail of a missing Olympic athlete. A hard drinker he is unsure why he accepted the job. But when he meets the stunning Katherine a high-class hooker he realises that he is not the only one for hire. In the meantime Marc Rochat spends his time in the belfry talking to the statutes, his cat and the occasional ghost. When he sees Katherine as he watches over Lausanne at night he believes that she is the angel that his mother told him that one day he will save, but not in a good way. The Watchers is by Jon Steele and is due to be published in June 2011.

Seven days. Three killings. And one woman who knows too much. Crime reporter Annika Bengtzon is woken by a phonecall in the early hours of a wintry morning. An explosion has ripped apart the Olympic Stadium. And a victim has been blown to pieces. As Annika delves into the details of the bombing and the background of the victim, there is a second explosion. These chilling crimes could be her biggest news story yet. When her police source reveals they are hot on the heels of the bomber, Annika is guaranteed an exclusive with her name on it. But she is uncovering too much, and soon finds herself the target of a deranged serial killer. The Bomber is by Liza Marklund and is due to be published in June 2011.

2010 CWA International Dagger Award winner Johan Theorin returns with his latest novel A Place of Blood. 81 year old Gerlof Davidsson has moved back to his summer cottage at the old quarry but his peace is soon disturbed when he discovers his wife's diaries and discovers secrets from the past that have never been told before. Per Morner also lives at the old quarry with his ill daughter but when his estranged father turns up suddenly asking for help Per is determined to find out who would want to kill his father. Along the way he makes some rather disturbing discoveries. A Place of Blood is due to be published in May 2011.

In Now You See Me Lacey Flint is a London Policewoman with a secret past and an unusual social life. She also has a morbid fascination about serial killers. One evening she finds a woman fatally stabbed beside her car and finds herself taken in for questioning. But when a letter is hand delivered it appears the killer's focus is in fact Lacey. She soon finds herself in the middle of a rather dangerous murder hunt with a smart but damaged Detective Inspector Tulloch and DI Mark Joesbury whose interest in her she is wary of. Will Lacey be able to cope with the limelight and will the team be able to track down a nasty serial killer. Now You See Me is by S J Bolton and is due to be published in May 2011.

It is AD65 and Sebastos Pantera spy to the Emperor Nero has undertaken his most dangerous mission. He must find Saulos who is considered to be the most dangerous person in the Roman Empire and bring him to justice. Saulos has only one thought in mind and that is to bring about the destruction of the Roman Empire. He is not bothered about the devastation and death that it will bring along the way. Standing between them is the huntress Ikshara who must decide which of the two men she will support if she is to avenge her father's death. Rome: The Coming of the King is by M C Scott and is due to be published in May 2011.

Detective Jo Birmingham returns in Between the Lies the second novel by Niamh O'Connor. Thinking that she is attending a routine domestic murder in an upscale part of Dublin Detective Jo Birminghamgets a shock when she recognises the murder victim. A sex tape had recently been delivered to Birmingham with the victim on the tape. However, there is also an anonymous note with the tape implicating her boss the Justice Minister as the unidentified male also on the tape. As she investigates the matter results point to the victim's husband but she can't ignore the letter and it looks as if the cover-up goes right to the top. Between the Lies is due for publication in April 2011.

Before I go to Sleep is the debut novel by S J Watson and it is due to be published in April 2011.

'As I sleep, my mind will erase everything that I did today. I will wake up tomorrow as I did this morning. Thinking I'm still a

child. Thinking I have a whole lifetime of choices ahead of me..' Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep and the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story? Welcome to Christine's life. Before I go to Sleep has also been acquired for film by Ridley Scott's production company with filming scheduled to start in 2011.

Summertime is the fifth book in the series by Mari Jungstedt to feature Inspector Anders Knutas. The murder of a young jogger on the beach at Faro - executed with a single bullet to the back of the head is an opportunity for Anders Knuta's newly appointed deputy Jacobsson to prove her worth whilst her boss is away on holiday. But when a second body is discovered, murdered in the same way, Jacobsson's investigation point to a horrifying conclusion. Summertime is due to be published in April 2011.

Cal, married to a successful businessman has always been a bit of a dreamer and has never had to worry about anything until her teenage daughter gets into difficulty and she needs to get her hands on some cash fast. Zoe (the sister) on the other hand is a detective inspector with a good career but a secret that goes back twenty years and if revealed could destroy everything that she has built up. Two sisters bent on survival until one of them does something terrifying that there is no way back. Hanging Hill is by Mo Hayder and is due to be published in April 2011.

Thirteen years ago surgeon Edward Hammond performed a life saving operation on Serbian gangster Dragan Gazi. Gazi is now standing trial for

war crimes and his family want Hammond's help in exchange for keeping his secret. They want Hammond to find the man who

has the mone

y that has been salted away. But Marco Piravani does not want to be found by anyone especially not Hammond. Tracking him takes

Gazi to the Hague, Milan and on to Belgrade where

everything started. It is there were where he must confront his decisions he once took so easily. Blood Count is by Robert Goddard and is due to be published in March 2011.

Charles Webster i

s an improverished photographer working for the famed actor-manager Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre. He finds himself sucked into a shadowy demi-monde which exists beneath the surface of civilised society. It is a world of pornographers and prostitutes where Webster is unwittingly being manipulated by the sinister Marlow. The knowledge of this enterprise comes to the attention of Lyceum's upright theatre manager Bram Stoker who suspects Webster's involvement. As the net tightens around Marlow and his cohorts, a member of the aristocracy is accused of killing a child prostitute and public outrage sweeps the capital. It is not the best time for Webster's wife to become a professional medium. The London Satyr is due to be published in March 2011 and is by Robert Edric.

John Tanner is the wheelman, an undercover cop with an awesome driving ability. He earned his stripes racing stock cars through city streets and now he is the best in the business. But his legendary skills are about to be put to the ultimate test. Tanner must infiltrate the criminal under world of The Indian, the most feared gang leader in New Orleans - a man so terrifying that people claimed he has voodoo powers. But when a figure from his past appears, Tanner must face an even more deadly enemy. Driver is by Alex Sharp and is due to be published in February 2011.

In Safe Hands is by Abbie Taylor and is due to be published in February 2011. Nursing is everything to Dawn. Having lost her beloved grandmother to cancer, it breaks her heart to see a terminally ill patient suffering in the same way. So when an old lady begs Dawn to end her life, Dawns knows it is the kindest thing to do. What she does not realise is that someone in the

hospital is watching her. Someone who is intent on making her pay for what she has done. Wracked with guilt, dawn struggles to meet her tormentor's demands. But she is already way out of her depth. Things are about to take a very sinister turn.

Payback sees the return of Dennis Milne. A former cop, he's earned his living killing the bad guys - those who in his opinion deserve to die. For the last two days he has been in Manila waiting for his next target: a young woman who's made some bad life choices and enemies. DI Boyd is a woman on a mission. She is looking for the man she holds responsible for the death of her lover. She knows he is dangerous and he is in Manila. She is determined to find him and kill him before he kills her. These are two cops with pasts that haunt them and a present that could see them both dead. They are about to meet. Payback is by Simon Kernick and is due to be published in February 2011.

The Calling of the Grave is the latest book in the series to feature forensic anthropologist Dr David Hunter. Eight years ago a body was found buried on the moor. At the time it was certain that this was one of the victims of psychotic rapist and multiple murderer Jerome Monk. But that left two bodies to be found. The search ended badly with them gradually being forgotten and Monk is behind bars. However, Monk has managed to escape and seems to be targeting all those involved in the original investigation. Persuaded to go back to the moors, Hunter soon realises that neither the current events taking place nor the events that took place eight years ago are what they seem. The past is not really dead and buried. The Calling of the Grave is by Simon Beckett and is due to be published in February 2011.

The death of an unknown American in Stockholm, though tragic, should be an open-and-shut case, a simple. But when Superintendent Lars Martin Johansson begins to delve beneath the layers of corruption, incompetence and violence currently strangling the Stockholm police department, he

uncovers a complex web of treachery, politics and espionage. Johansson quickly realises that there is nothing routine about this little death as it quickly catapults him from mere domestic drama straight to the rotten heart of Sweden's government. Between Summer's Longing and Winter's End is by Leif G W Persson and is due to be published in February 2011.

First Frost is a prequel to the bestselling police procedural series by the late RD Wingfield. It is 1981 in Denton and Britain is in a recession, the IRA are becoming increasingly active and the country is on alert for an outbreak of rabies. Detective Sergeant Jack Frost is working under his mentor and inspiration DI Bert Williams whilst just about coping with his strained marriage. But when DI Williams cannot be found and DI Allen fails to return from his walking holiday, Superintendent Mullett whois trying to cope with depleted ranks finds himself putting DS Frost in charge when a 12 year-old girl goes missing. First Frost is by James Henry and will be published in January 2011.

Darkside is the second novel by CWA Gold Dagger winner by Belinda Bauer. Shipcott in bleak mid-winter: a close knit community where no stranger goes unnoticed. So when an elderly

woman is murdered in her bed, village policeman Jonas Holly is doubly shocked. How could someone have killed and left no trace. Jonas finds himself sidelined by an abrasive senior detective. But this is not the end for Jonas. Someone in the village is taunting him, blaming him for the tragedy, and watching every move that he makes. But when the killer claims another victim, the taunts turn into sinister threats. Darkside will be published in January 2011.

America in 1963 is a country at a crossroads: Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the Cuban missile crisis, the sexual revolution, FBI, CIA, LSD - and a promise of a change offered by a new president, John F Kennedy. Some people believe in the future. Other conspire to control it. Chandler Forrestal is a man whose life is changed for ever when he is unwittingly dragged into a CIA mind-control experiment. After being given a massive dose of LSD, Chandler develops a frightening array of mental powers. With his heightened perception he uncovers a plot to assassinate President Kennedy. Chased by the dark powers of world government, will Chandler be able to harness his 'shift' and rewrite history? Shift is by Tim Kring and Dale Peck and is due to be published in January 2011.