Wednesday, 7 May 2014

Midnight Crossroad with Charlaine Harris


©The Guardian.com
Charlaine Harris is the author of the bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series (also known as the Southern Vampire Mysteries) which led to the television series True Blood.  She is also the author of the Aurora Teagarden Series, the Lily Bard (Shakespeare) series and the Harper Connelly series.  She has also written a number of standalone novels and shorts stories as well as being the co-editor of 4 anthologies and the sole editor of one. She has won an Agatha Award for Best Novel and an Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original.  She has also been nominated for a Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and a Dilys Award.


Ayo Onatade:  How difficult was it to end the Sookie Stackhouse series and do you miss her?

Charlaine Harris:  I lived with Sookie for a long, long, time. I did her justice and told her story. It cost me a pang or two, sure. Sookie made me famous. But continuing her story after I’d reached my creative end would have been awful. I miss the world, but I’m excited about doing something different.

AO:  Midnight Crossroad is the first book in A Novel of Midnight, Texas trilogy, what was the impetus for the series and what made you decide that you wanted to revisit characters from others and older series specifically Manfred Bernardo?

CH:  I decided to write about a world quite different from Bon Temps, and tell its story in a very different way. I’d been writing in the first person for a while, and it’s been a real stretch writing from multiple points of view. There were people I’d written in the past that I wanted to check in with. I wondered what they were doing now, especially Manfred. 

AO:  Why did you decide to only make it a trilogy?

CH:  I didn’t want to sign for any more than three books because I had no idea how many ideas I’d have for the world of Midnight, and I didn’t want to tie myself to a long series without first seeing how Book One went. There may be more books. I just don’t plan to commit myself.

AO:  Midnight Crossroad whilst having supernatural elements also sees you returning a lot more to your mystery roots. How exciting was it for you to return to your mystery roots and are you likely to continue this once you have finished the trilogy.

CH:  It was fun to return to the mystery format, since I was doing so much else that was new with the book. There were a lot of mysteries in the Sookie series. I love detection. Yes, I’m sure most of my future work will contain at least a hint of mystery.

AO:  Readers are used to you writing in first person.  What made you decide to switch to third person and how challenging did you find this?

CH:  VERY challenging. I really want to shake up my creative life. 

AO:  Are you able to tell us a bit of what we might expect in the second book?

CH:  I tell the story of the second book from the viewpoint of different characters from the first book. It suited the story better. There are deaths in the second book, too.

AO:  What is the best thing about writing the new series?

CH:  No expectations!

More information about Charlaine Harris and her work can be found on her website.





Tuesday, 6 May 2014

The 2014 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Long list





Giants of the genre are pitted against each other as the longlist is announced for the tenth Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

One of the most prestigious crime writing prizes in the country, 2014 sees past winners Lee Child, Mark Billingham and Denise Mina in the running.
Lee Child who won the Award in 2011 returns to the longlist with his 17th Jack Reacher novel, A Wanted Man. Sizing up to the phenomenal bestseller is two-time award winner, Mark Billingham for his Tom Thorne novel, The Dying Hours.

Denise Mina, who has won the past two years’ could make it a hat trick and defend her title with her brilliantly plotted The Red Road, said to rival Ian Rankin’s best. Number one bestseller Ian Rankin also represents Tartan Noir, with Standing in Another Man’s Grave, his first new Rebus novel in five years.

A new Scot is on the block to take on the old guard, Malcolm Mackay is also the only debut author to feature on the longlist with The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter. The first in a trilogy, it’s been praised as an intriguingly odd, remarkably original debut.
South African author Lauren Beukes’ The Shining Girls was a phenomenal bestseller and after being praised by Stephen King, it’s a hot contender.

Irish author Stuart Neville’s first three novels were previously longlisted for this award, and he’s back this year with his hugely gripping thriller, Ratlines. Stav Sherez is also back on the longlist with Eleven Days, his superior police procedural and sequel to A Dark Redemption.
No stranger to awards Belinda Bauer is the CWA 2010 Gold Dagger Award-winning author; her latest novel Rubbernecker has received glowing reviews.
Elly Griffiths also makes an appearance with her intriguing crime story, Dying Fall, which effortlessly brings together neo-Nazis, New Age hippies in Blackpool Pleasure Beach.
Now in its tenth year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to crime authors whose novels were published in paperback from 1 May 2013 to 30 April 2014. The 2014 Award is run in partnership with T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and Radio Times.
The long list, comprising 18 titles, is selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers, members of the Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee and representatives from T&R Theakston Ltd and WHSmith.


The books and authors are as follows -

Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
The Dying Hours by Mark Billingham
Like This, For Ever by Sharon Bolton
A Wanted Man by Lee Child
The Honey Guide by Richard Crompton
The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald
Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths
Until You’re Mine by Samantha Hayes
The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay
The Chessmen by Peter May
I Hear The Sirens In The Street by Adrian McKinty
The Red Road by Denise Mina
Ratlines by Stuart Neville
Standing in Another Man’s Grave by Ian Rankin
Children of the Revolution by Peter Robinson
Eleven Days by Stav Sherez
Weirdo by Cathi Unsworth

The award, run in partnership with T & R Theakston, WHSmith and Radio Times, was created to celebrate the very best in crime writing and is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback over the previous twelve months.  The winning author receives a cash prize of £3000 and a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakstons Old Peculier.

The names of the six short listed titles will be announced on 1 July and readers – will be able to help decide which of the six short listed authors will take home the most coveted title in crime fiction, a prize of £3,000 and a hand-carved Theakstons cask, by casting your vote online at: www.theakstons.co.uk.

The result of the online vote will be counted alongside the votes of the expert judging panel in order to determine the 2014 winner.

The Judges
Forming the 2014 judging panel are 2014 Festival Programming Chair Steve Mosby, WHSmith’s Head of Fiction David Swillman and Executive Director of title sponsor, T&R Theakston Simon Theakston and TV Editor at Radio Times, Alison Graham.

Nationwide crime spree hits WHSmith!
The 18 long listed books will be available to buy in WHSmith stores nationwide from 22 May – 19 June, and the 6 short listed books will feature in all stores from 3 July –31 July.

Books to Look Forward to from Penguin and Michael Joseph

Fall From Grace is the latest missing persons case in the David Raker series by Tim Weaver.  It is due to be published in August 2014.  You don't really know anybody.  Not even the ones you love...When Leonard Franks and his wife Ellie leave the clamour of London for a dream retirement on the seclusion of Dartmoor, everything seems perfect.  But then the dream shatters.  Late on a January afternoon, only two years into their new life, Leonard leaves the house to fetch firewood - and never returns.  Nine months later, he's still missing.  With the police investigation dead in the water, Ellie and her family turn to David Raker.  Raker tracks down missing people for a living.  He knows how they think.  But nothing can prepare him for what he's about to find.  Because, behind Leonard Franks' disappearance, lies a deadly secret, buried so deep it was never meant to be found.  And, by the time Raker starts to uncover the truth, it's not just him in danger - it's everyone he's ever cared about...

The stakes are higher than ever in Damage.  Jeff Hinkley, undercover investigator for the British
Horseracing Authority, is looking into the shady activities of a racehorse trainer.  But as he's tailing his quarry through the Cheltenham Racing Festival, the last thing he expects to witness is a gruesome murder.  Could it have something to do with the reason the trainer was banned in the first place - the administration of illegal drugs to his horses?  Days later, it's discovered that many more horses test positive for prohibited stimulants, a scandal that could throw horse-racing into disrepute.  It's no surprise when the BHA receives a demand - pay up or face the consequences.  In order to limit the damage to the sport, it's critical that Jeff find the perpetrator ...but he'll soon learn he's up against someone who will stop at nothing to prevail...  Damage is by Felix Francis and is due to be published in September 2014.

Death or Glory IV is by Michael Asher and is due to be published  in November 2014.  Italy, 1943 – SAS Captain, Tom Caine, is being held captive by Nazis forces.  Whilst imprisoned he befriends another member of the SAS – one who has heard a rumour.  The operative knows the location of an ancient codex.  A codex he claims will lead them to the location of the original texts of Tacitus’s Germania.  Caine is deployed by the Nazis to find the codex and retrieve the texts on a mission that will most certainly bring about his death, and refusal is not an option.  Caine has little choice but to begin his most deadly campaign yet.

The Eye of Heaven is the outstanding new Fargo Adventure from Clive Cussler and is due to be published in September 2014.  Baffin Island: Husband-and-wife team Sam and Remi Fargo are on a climate-control expedition in the Arctic, when to their astonishment they discover a Viking ship in the ice, perfectly preserved - and filled with pre-Columbian artifacts from Mexico.  How can that be?  As they plunge into their research, tantalizing clues about a link between the Vikings and the legendary Toltec feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl - and a fabled object known as the Eye of Heaven - begin to emerge.  But so do many dangerous people.  Soon the Fargos find themselves on the run through jungles, temples, and secret tombs, caught between treasure hunters, crime cartels, and those with a far more personal motivation for stopping them.  At the end of the road will be the solution to a thousand-year-old mystery - or death. 

The brilliant retelling of the Wars of the Roses continues with Trinity, the second gripping novel in the new series from historical fiction master, Conn Iggulden.  1454: King Henry VI has remained all but exiled in Windsor Castle, struck down by his illness for over a year, his eyes vacant, his mind a blank.  His fiercely loyal wife and Queen, Margaret of Anjou, safeguards her husband's interests, hoping that her son Edward will one day know the love of his father.  Richard Duke of York, Protector of the Realm, extends his influence throughout the kingdom with each month that Henry slumbers.  The Earls of Salisbury and Warwick make up a formidable trinity with Richard, and together they seek to break the support of those who would raise their colours in the name of Henry and his Queen.  But when the King unexpectedly recovers his senses and returns to London to reclaim his throne, the balance of power is once again thrown into turmoil.  The clash of the Houses of Lancaster and York will surely mean a war to tear England apart.  Trinity is due to be published in September 2014.

Havana Storm is by Clive Cussler and is due to be published in November 2014.  While investigating a toxic outbreak in the Caribbean Sea that may ultimately threaten the United States, Pitt unwittingly becomes involved in something even more dangerous—a post-Castro power struggle for the control of Cuba.  Meanwhile, Pitt’s children, marine engineer Dirk and oceanographer Summer, are on an investigation of their own, chasing an Aztec stone that may reveal the whereabouts of a vast historical Aztec treasure.  The problem is, that stone was believed to have been destroyed on the battleship Maine in Havana Harbour in 1898, which brings them both to Cuba as well—and squarely into harm’s way. The three of them have been in desperate situations before . . . but perhaps never quite as dire as the one facing them now. 

Dead Men's Bones is the fourth novel in James Oswald's phenomenal Inspector Mclean series set in Edinburgh.  A family lies slaughtered in an isolated house in North East Fife ...Morag Weatherly and her two young daughters have been shot by husband Andrew, an influential politician, before he turned the gun on himself.  But what would cause a rich, successful man to snap so suddenly?  For Inspector Tony McLean, this apparently simple but high profile case leads him into a world of power and privilege.  And the deeper he digs, the more he realises he's being manipulated by shadowy factions.  Under pressure to wrap up the case, McLean instead seeks to uncover layers of truth - putting the lives of everyone he cares about at risk.  Dead Men’s Bones is by James Oswald and is due to be published in July 2014.

DI Helen Grace returns in Pop Goes the Weasel, the new thriller from M. J. Arlidge.  The body of a middle-aged man is discovered in Southampton's red light district - horrifically mutilated, with his heart removed.  Hours later - and barely cold - the heart arrives with his wife and children by courier.  A pattern emerges when another male victim is found dead and eviscerated, his heart delivered soon afterwards.  The media call it Jack the Ripper in reverse; revenge against the men who lead sordid double lives visiting prostitutes.  For Grace, only one thing is certain: there's a vicious serial killer at large who must be halted at all costs...  Pop Goes the Weasel is due to be published in September 2014.

Gone for Good is a suspense-filled mystery from David Bell.  No secret is ever truly gone for
good...Elizabeth Hampton has not spoken to her family in weeks when she gets the phone call.  Her mother has been found dead under suspicious circumstances.  But who would want to kill a kind old woman who stayed at home to care for her son Ronnie's special needs?  And just why did her mother recently change her Will?  The police tell Elizabeth that this is not only a murder investigation - but that her brother Ronnie is the prime suspect.  Desperate to prove her brother's innocence, Elizabeth begins to unravel family secrets and dark double lives - leading to the dangerous truth behind her own identity...  Gone for Good is due to be published in August 2014.

The Devil's Workshop is the third historical thriller in Alex Grecian's Scotland Yard Murder Squad series.  April, 1890.  London wakes to the shocking news of a mass prison escape.  Walter Day and the Scotland Yard Murder Squad now face a desperate race against time: if they don't re-capture the four convicted murderers before night settles, they'll vanish into the dark alleys of the London's criminal underworld for ever.  And in the midst of this mayhem and fear, the city's worst nightmare is realised: Jack the Ripper haunts the streets of London once more... The Devil’s Workshop is due to be published in July 2014.

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

Phantom Instinct is the new thriller from the acclaimed Edgar Award-winning writer, M. G. Gardiner and is due to be published in October 2014.  Harper Flynn nearly died when gunmen attacked the L.A. club where she worked.  A year later, Harper tries to rebuild her life - but is failing.  Because not only is she convinced there was a third gunman who escaped, but she also believes that he is targeting the survivors.  The only person who will listen is Sherriff Deputy Aiden Garrison, who tried to save her life that night.  But Harper's only ally has a secret of his own - one that makes him suspicious and highly volatile..


Monday, 5 May 2014

Books to Look Forward to from Head of Zeus

Klara Walldeen, orphaned as a child and brought up by her grandparents on a remote Swedish archipelago, is now a political aide in Brussels.  And she has just seen something she shouldn't: something people will kill to keep hidden.  On the other side of the world, an old spy hides from his past.  Once, he was a man of action: so dedicated to the cause that he abandoned his baby daughter to keep his cover.  Now the only thing he lives for is swimming in the local pool.  Then, on Christmas eve, Klara is thrown into a terrifying chase through Europe. Only the Swimmer can save her.  But time is running out...  The Swimmer is the debut novel by Joakim Zander and is due to be published in July 2014.

The Moon Pool is by Sophie Littlefield and is due to be published in October 2014.  North Dakota is like nowhere Colleen has ever seen.  Vast rolling plains of silvery snow, studded with shimmering black pools, lit by occasional flares of orange light.  It is a landscape both beautiful and terrible.  It is the landscape that swallowed her son.  Across town, another mother also searches for her missing boy.  He too went missing from the oilfields where he worked.  And no one - not his employers, not the police - seems to care that he is gone.  As long as they are alone, these two women will never find out the truth.  But if they team up, and help each other, then maybe, just maybe, this freezing wilderness will give them back their sons.

C.J. Box has been consistently hailed for his brilliant storytelling and his extraordinary skills at creating character, suspense, and a deep sense of place.  All of those strengths can be found in the ten riveting stories - three of them written especially for this book - that make up Shots Fired.  In 'One-Car Bridge,' one of four Joe Pickett stories, Pickett goes up against a 'plain mean' landowner, with disastrous consequences, and in 'Shots Fired,' his investigation into the radio call of the title nearly ends up being the last thing he ever does.  In 'Pirates of Yellowstone,' two Eastern Europeans, strangers in a strange land, hear that American tough guys can be ruthless, but it's not till they try strong-arming one that they discover the real truth of the statement; and in 'Le Sauvage Noble,' a Lakota Indian takes a job in the Wild West Show at Disneyland Paris and finds its perks to be pleasant - good wages, decent food, and French women who find his 'noble savage' act to be pretty exotic - that is, until he meets Sophie.  Then he finds out what 'savage' really means.  Shots Fired is due to be published in July 2014.

Disappeared is by Anthony Quinn and is due to be published in August 2014.  In Northern Ireland’s darkest corner, the Troubles have never ended.  Though bombs no longer rock Belfast, for some the fight goes on.  Retired Special Branch agent David Hughes disappears after looking into the previously closed case of Oliver Jordan, who went missing at the hands of the IRA decades ago.  Soon after, a former spy is found bludgeoned to death, the day after placing his own obituary in the newspaper.  Beneath Northern Ireland’s modern calm, ancient jealousies threaten to rend the country asunder once more.  A Catholic detective in a Protestant nation, Celcius Daly knows too well the agonies of sectarian strife.  To solve this string of murders, he must reach decades into the past, confronting a painful history that Ireland would prefer to forget. 

Two books by Phillip Hunter are due to be published in September 2014.  The first is To Die For, which is the first book in The Killing Machine series.  To Die For is a novel of vengeance and betrayal about a runaway twelve-year-old girl and her protector, Joe, a broken down ex-soldier who has turned his face from the world.  It is easy to be anonymous in the city.  Make no ties.  Work, on one side of the law or the other. Drift from place to place.  Keep your head down.  Hide when you must.  It was the life ex-soldier Joe threw himself into when the woman he loved was murdered.  The life that has ultimately betrayed him. But in all this, Joe does have one thing left worth protecting in his care.  Something he would sacrifice himself for gladly.  A twelve-year-old girl called Kid. And now the life he chose is coming for them both...  To Kill For is the second book in the series.  Ex-boxer, ex-paratrooper, Joe once had meaning in his life.  People, who cared for him, people who needed him.  Then he lost everything, and now he is a hitman for London's most vicious criminals.  Brenda was the only woman who ever loved him.  The only woman who believed he could escape the underworld.  She died protecting others: now Joe wants revenge on her killers.  With nothing left to lose, Joe prepares for the fight of his life...

Bravo Shaw always knew his father had secrets, he just didn't realise how dangerous they were...When Bravo's father dies in mysterious circumstances, his hidden life is laid bare.  Dexter Shaw belonged to a secret religious order long thought extinct.  For centuries, the sect has guarded a lost Testament that could end Christianity, as we know it.  Dexter was the Keeper of the Testament - now his son must take his place.  Bravo has to solve the clues his father left behind, locate this precious document, and ward off those who want it destroyed.  But his enemies are powerful, and will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried...  The Testament is by Eric Van Lustbader and is due to be published in August 2014.

In Death Sentences: Stories of Deathly Books, Murderous Booksellers and Lethal Literature Sigmund Freud deals with an unwelcome visitor; Columbo confronts a murderous bookseller; a Mexican cartel kingpin with a fatal weakness for rare books; deadly secrets deep in the London Library: who knew literature could be so lethal?  Here are 15 short stories to die for from the world's best crime writers.  With an introduction from Ian Rankin, Death Sentences includes original, specially commissioned stories about deadly books from Jeffrey Deaver, Andrew Taylor, Laura Lippman, C.J. Box, Anne Perry, Ken Bruen, Thomas H. Cook, Micky Spillaine & Max Adam Collins, Nelson DeMille and John Connolly.  Death Sentences is edited by Otto Penzler and is due to be published in October 2014.