Peter James Opens Doors

Recently, we’ve been enthused by creator of the Roy Grace crime-thrillers recently diversion into Techno-Thriller Territory with his standalone “Perfect People” –

With clipped chapters, the pace ratchets up when the couple discover at the scan that they are expecting twins, a boy and a girl – but once the children arrive, then Klaesson’s problems really begin, because these two babies are not what their parents expected. With unearthly intelligence, the Klaesson children are ‘more than human’, and soon the dangers that John and Naomi had been dodging are far closer to home. A surreal journey of ethics, science, and religion – and as far away from the dark alleyways of Roy Grace’s Brighton as one could get, but a blindingly hot read set at the edges of our reality and indicative that Peter James can carve a thriller as tortuous as the DNA Double-Helix – In a word, remarkable.

Read the Full Review Here

We were impressed to hear that Peter James will be the inaugural author for Dubai’s new ground-breaking year-long literature program, The Open Door Series. This is a very prestigious honour that proves how hard James, the current Crime Writers Association Chair is opening-doors for his fellow genre writers. Peter James has been a staunch advocate in opposing the snobbery that genre writers sometimes face from “the literati”.

He will be the first international author to embrace the series of events at the Dar Al Adaab, Dubai’s new home of literature, recently opened by the organisers of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. This marks the beginning of a new direction for the festival and the literary life of the city.

As well as the full five day Festival which takes place in Dubai 6-10 March 2012, literature lovers will now be able to look forward to sessions, master-classes and work-shops on a broad range of topics. The events will play an integral part in supporting the festival’s core mission of education and its aim to touch at least 20,000 young people this year.

Festival organisers have already attracted world class authors, writers, poets and journalists including David Nicholls, Michael Portillo, Darren Shan, Jacqueline Wilson and Terry Wogan for the 2012 programme which was previewed last week. The author list and programme is expected to develop every week.

Director of Emirates Airline Festival of Literature Isobel Abulhoul said:
“We are thrilled and grateful to have this lovely historic house to call home and to start our programme of inclusive, open door year round events with the wonderful Peter James, who was one of our founding Festival authors,” she added.

Dar Al Adaab (House of Literature)’ is a traditional ‘bakheel’ (wind tower) house and is one of the first permanent structures to be built in Dubai in the late 19th century. It is located in the Bastakiya heritage area of Dubai, the oldest part of the city.

Built around a traditional courtyard and retaining many of its original features, the house has been refurbished to provide offices for festival staff, reading rooms, workshop rooms, speaking platforms and two bedrooms for visiting authors and authors-in-residence. It has been given to the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature by Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), partners of the LitFest.

Author updates and all other information regarding the 2012 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is available here and more information about Peter James’ work can be found here

Photo © 2011 Ali Karim “Peter James with his US publisher Hector De-Jean of Minotaur Books” at Bouchercon St Louis.

Forthcoming books to look forward to from Headline

A woman is dead and her fiance is serving a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit. Now PI Paige Holden holds the only piece of evidence that could see him freed, and she cannot take it to the police. With the help of disarming state attorney, Grayson Smith, Paige is determined to avenge the murdered woman and set an innocent man free. But Paige has only scratched the surface of a cover-up far deadlier than she could ever imagine. A string of mysterious deaths of women with a shared past sets Paige on the trail of a ruthless killer. The problem is, the killer's on her trail too ... No One Left To Tell is by Karen Rose and is due to be published in January 2012.

The Gods of Gotham is the debut novel by Lyndsay Faye and is due to be published in March 2012. August 1845 in New York; enter the dark, unforgiving city underworld of the legendary Five Points...After a fire decimated a swathe of lower Manhattan, and following years of passionate political dispute, New York City at long last formed an official Police Department. That same summer, the great potato famine hit Ireland. These events would change the city of New York for ever. Timothy Wilde hadn't wanted to be a copper star. On the night of August 21st, on his way home from the Tombs defeated and disgusted, he is plotting his resignation, when a young girl who has escaped from a nearby brothel, crashes into him; she wears only a nightdress and is covered from head to toe in blood. Searching out the truth in the child's wild stories, Timothy soon finds himself on the trail of a brutal killer, seemingly hell bent on fanning the flames of anti-Irish immigrant sentiment and threatening chaos in a city already in the midst of social upheaval. But his fight for justice could cost him the woman he loves, his brother and ultimately his life...

September 1566. William Harley, Clarenceux King of Arms, lives quietly with his family in London, with a document in his possession that could destroy the state. The aged Lady Percy, Countess of Northumberland, has not given up trying to find it. Nor has she forgotten how he betrayed her and the Catholic cause - she has spent the last two years planning her revenge. But then eloquent and adventurous courtier, John Greystoke suddenly seems most concerned for Clarenceux's safety. And why, on behalf of the government, does Francis Walsingham have spies watching Clarenceux's house day and night? When his wife and his daughter go missing, Clarenceux finds himself on the run with his other young daughter, hunted by Lady Percy's agents. He knows he must finally destroy the document, even if it should cost him his life - but how can he, until he has renuited his family? The Final Sacrament is by James Forrester and is due to be published in July 2012.

Catch Me is the latest novel in the D.D. Warren series by Lisa Gardner. IN FOUR DAYS, SOMEONE IS GOING TO KILL ME...At 8pm on 21st January, twenty-eight year old Charlie Grant believes she is going to be murdered and she wants Boston's top homicide detective, D.D. Warren, to handle her death investigation. Confronting D.D. at her latest crime scene, Charlie lays her cards on the table. For each of the last two years, one of her childhood friends has been murdered leaving Charlie as the only one of the three friends to remain alive. But as D.D. delves deeper in to the details of Charlie's case, she begins to question the young woman's story. Because Charlie can now outfight and outrun anyone she meets and D.D.'s instinct is that she's hiding a secret. A secret so explosive that Charlie herself may turn out to be the biggest danger of all...BUT THE SON OF A BITCH HAS GOT TO CATCH ME FIRST. Catch Me is due to be published in February 2012.

Ice Force is the fourth book in the Death Force series plunges the elite squad of hardened mercenaries into a deadly battle for survival in the frozen wastelands of the Arctic. A plane carrying a Russian oil billionaire has crashed mysteriously in the Arctic in the middle of a brutal winter. Nobody knows why, nor can they locate the aircraft's black box. With only days left before the signal switches itself off, the men from 'Death Force' are hired by a rival billionaire to make one last desperate bid to find the black box. But when they finally locate the plane, they also uncover a deadly secret. This was no ordinary crash. There's a reason why the black box went missing. And soon they find themselves on the run for their lives, battling an unseen enemy, across the world's most terrifying landscape. Caught up in a vast conspiracy to control the world's last great reserves of oil, the men from 'Death Force' must fight the most overwhelming odds they have ever faced just to stay alive. Ice Force by Matt Lynn is due to be published in January 2012.

Protection is by G J Moffatt and is due to be published in July 2012. Denver PD Homicide Detective Jake Hunter stands at the gates of the County Jail and watches as Chase Black, the man he is certain is guilty of the brutal serial murder of five families, walks free on a technicality. Ignoring the directions of his superiors, and with the help of contacts at the FBI in Quantico, Hunter embarks on an investigation that leads him to the sleepy Colorado town of Dillon and the killing of a prominent local family. The killer's methods bear an uncanny resemblance to the murders Black was accused of. But Black is in London promoting the book he wrote while in prison. So who is the copycat killer that Hunter and the local cops are chasing in Dillon? After an assault at a book signing, Black's lawyer hires the UK's best bodyguards - Alex Cahill and Logan Finch. Yet the more time Logan spends on the security detail with the charismatic Black, the less convinced he becomes of his guilt. As the net closes on the killer in Dillon, it becomes clear that a violent psychopath is hunting Black and Logan finds himself caught between his duty to a client who may be a notorious serial killer and the instinct to survive the increasingly deranged individual that wants him dead.

The Chalk Girl is by Carol O’Connell and is due to be published in January 2011. The little girl appeared in Central Park: red-haired, blue-eyed, smiling, perfect - except for the blood on her shoulder. It fell from the sky, she said, while she was looking for her uncle, who turned into a tree. Poor child, people thought. And then they found the body in the tree. For NYPD detective, Kathy Mallory, there is something about the girl that she understands. Mallory is damaged, they say, but she can tell a kindred spirit. And this one will lead her to a story of extraordinary crimes; murders stretching back fifteen years, blackmail and complicity and a particular cruelty that only someone with Mallory's history could fully recognise. In the next few weeks, Kathy Mallory will deal with them all...in her own way.

What would you do if the man you love was accused of murder? Bad things never happen to Charlotte. She's living the life she's always wanted and about to marry wealthy banker, Dan. But Dan's been hiding a secret, and the pressure is pushing him over the edge. After he's arrested for the vicious killing of a nightclub owner, Charlotte's future is shattered. Then she opens her door to Keisha, an angry and frustrated stranger with a story to tell. Convinced of Dan's innocence, Charlotte must fight for him - even if it means destroying her perfect life. But what Keisha knows threatens everyone she loves, and puts her own life in danger. DC Matthew Hegarty is riding high on the success of Dan's arrest. But he's finding it difficult to ignore his growing doubts as well as the beautiful and vulnerable Charlotte. Can he really risk it all for what's right? Three stories. One truth. They all need to brace themselves for the fall. The Fall is a debut novel by Claire McGowan and is due to be published in February 2012.

Nine hundred and seventy three days. Thinking. Planning. Waiting for the perfect moment. Former Marine James Bishop will only have one opportunity to make his prison break. And one chance to prove that he isn't responsible for the murders that put him inside. Three years ago Bishop was the leader of an elite close protection team hired to protect a millionaire and his daughter. After being attacked, Bishop regained consciousness to find seven bodies strewn throughout the millionaire's Long Island mansion - including those of his two charges - and a mountain of evidence guaranteed to send him down for murder. But to find out who set him up and why, Bishop needs to be free. After three years of wrongful imprisonment, James Bishop makes a daring escape with only one thing on his mind: to find the member of his team who set him up and make him pay. But when the man he’s hunting snatches Jenna Falstaff, the only person who believes in his innocence, Bishop must stay one step ahead of everybody in order to rescue her. After which he’ll inflict his own brand of justice on the man responsible. And now the time has come to make his move. The Wrong Man is the debut novel by Jason Dean and is due to be published in May 2012.

Evil stalks an idyllic retreat...A tranquil Spanish village by the sea is the perfect place for Primavera Blackstone to raise her ten-year-old Tom, son of the late lamented Oz, especially when they are joined by his nephew, tyro pro golfer Jonny Sinclair. But when her best friend Shirley introduces her new man, Patterson Cowling, he seems to be a trouble magnet. A casual thief tries to pick his pocket and is found a few days later with his face blown off. A bloody coincidence, or does Patterson Cowling have a past to protect? As the body count rises, and Primavera becomes den mother to an extended golfing family, it seems that homicide is par for the course, and that hazards lie in wait for everyone. Can she save the day, or is the game just too rough? As Easy as Murder is by Quintin Jardine. And is due to be published in January 2012. Also due to be published in June 2012 by Quintin Jardine is Funeral Note the latest book in the Bob Skinner series. After a tip-off, a man's body is exhumed from a shallow grave in Edinburgh. Murder surely, yet he died from natural causes, so, case closed? Indeed was there ever a case? But Chief Constable Skinner and his people keep on digging. Who was the man, why was he buried so reverentially, and by whom? Meanwhile corruption is discovered within the force, and an investigation launched. Immersed in crises, his marriage heading for the rocks, Skinner finds his very career hanging in the balance, its fate beyond his control. In a tale seen through the eyes of each of its leading players, Quintin Jardine, lays mystery upon mystery until the greatest threat of all those facing the Chief is revealed, and a deadly race begins. Can he win out, or will his life implode?

Every Vow You Break is by Julia Crouch and is due to be published in March 2012. The Wayland family - Lara and Marcus and their three children - leave England to spend a long, hot summer in Trout Island, Upstate New York. Lara, still reeling from an abortion that Marcus insisted on, hopes the summer away from home will give her time to learn to love her husband again. A chance meeting at a party reacquaints the family with Marcus's old actor friend, Stephen, with whom Lara once had an affair. Lara feels herself drawn towards Stephen and they pick up their secret relationship where they left off. Lara knows she's playing a dangerous game; what she doesn't know is that it's also a deadly one.

Payback Time is by Geraint Anderson and is due to be published in June 2012. When City high-flyer Bridget, recently fired from her bank, is found dead outside her high rise apartment, her colleagues assume she's committed suicide. Cityboy Steve Jones is outraged and he and five City workmates decide to take revenge. They hatch an ingenious plan to sabotage her firm and succeed in bringing it to its knees. After wildly celebrating their success, Bridget's boyfriend Fergus insists they take down a much more prominent bank. But soon the gang are being targeted by the police and financial regulators. There must be a rat in their midst but, if so, who? Steve investigates and digging deeper realises he could be on the trail of a murderer. Suddenly there's a distinct possibility that an even bigger revenge is being planned and this time the pay back is heading in his direction...

Temple of the Gods is by Andy McDermott and is due to be published in January 2012. Archaeologist Nina Wilde's life has fallen apart. Her husband, ex-SAS soldier Eddie Chase is on the run, falsely accused of murder, and her only distraction has been investigating the origin of three strange statues stolen from her just before Eddie's disappearance. When Nina discovers they may be relics from the lost civilisation of Atlantis, it's clear that she has to get her head back in the game, and fast. Eddie, meanwhile, tries to stay ahead of the authorities as he hunts the man responsible for his fugitive status across the globe. A mysterious benefactor offers the information he needs - but the price will put him in direct conflict with his wife. When Nina learns that a Japanese industrialist has obtained the statues on the black market she immediately heads to Tokyo meet him, unaware that Eddie is already on his way. Their arrival unleashes a chain of events that could have devastating consequences for the world, setting Nina and Eddie on their most dangerous quest ever - with the future of humanity itself at stake...

A killer is on the loose ...In 2010, the CIA officers in Afghanistan's Kabul Station received information from a reliable source regarding the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. But when they followed the informant to bin Laden's apparent location, they discovered it was a deadly trap. The man blew himself up, taking the chief of station and several senior officers with him. Two years later, the station still hasn't recovered and the situation has deteriorated. Every initiative meets with failure. No one knows who to trust. In desperation, John Wells' old CIA bosses ask him to go over and investigate. Reluctantly, Wells agrees but what he finds when he gets there is more than a station in disarray. There is a full-blown military drug-smuggling operation underway, and worse, a traitor is leaking information to the Taliban. Americans are dying, and an American is responsible - and this is just the beginning. Only Wells stands in the traitor's way ...for now. The Shadow Patrol is by Alex Berenson due to be published in April 2012.

How far do you go to rescue your child? Paul van Niekirk, a successful white South African is held up at gun-point when driving his new BMW. He's dragged out and his abductor drives off in his car. It's an everyday car jacking. Except his nine-month old daughter is in the back seat. As a pacifist, Paul is reluctant to carry a gun, but he descends into the heart of darkness of his country determined to find his child. He uncovers a criminal gang involved in people trafficking and discovers in himself a capacity for violence. When the trail goes cold, he is on the verge of losing everything but finds redemption in the most unlikely circumstances. Moving from the enclaves of Johannesburg's northern suburbs to the throbbing heart of Soweto's informal settlements, Paul is forced to confront the changing political and social landscape of the new South Africa, questioning his own values as his perfect life crumbles around him. Held Up is by Christopher Radmann and is due to be published in July 2012.

Barbara Nadel's gripping new Turkish crime novel Dead of Night tackles the treacherous and seedy underworld of Detroit's gang warfare. Inspectors Cetin Ikmen and Mehmet Suleyman from Istanbul are sent to a policing conference in Detroit, but little can prepare them for the corruption that lies at its heart. When Ezekial Goins, an elderly man of Turkish descent approaches them to crack the long-unsolved murder of his son, a quiet trip takes a far more sinister turn. As they delve deeper into the case, the pair find themselves immersed in a terrifying world of inter-gang drug war and racial prejudice that puts them in mortal danger, and forces Ikmen to confront some demons of his own... Dead of Night is due to be published in January 2012.

Circle of Shadows is by Imogen Robertson and is due to be published in April 2012 A locked room. A dark threat. A place of poisonous lies. Germany, 1784. Daniel Clode cannot say whether or not he killed the woman. They were found together in a locked room, dressed for the Carnival. But what of the strange madness he feels, and how did she drown on dry land? Harriet Westerman knows Daniel is not a murderer; her sister would not have married such a man. She and the reclusive anatomist Gabriel Crowther must travel to the Duke of Maulberg's Court to save him from the silken, venal plotting of the castle, and from the axeman's steel. But their journey across Europe brings them to an alien and capricious land, full of lies and shadows, where no one can be trusted.

Not since Jack the Ripper terrorised London has there been such a gruesome crime scene. By all accounts acid-tongued Vita Berlin had not a friend in the world, but who did she cross so badly to end up arranged in such a grotesque tableau? One look at her apartment turned charnel house is enough for hard-bitten LAPD detective Milo Sturgis to summon The Crime Reader. But even Alex Delaware's finely honed skills may be stymied when more slayings occur in the same ghastly fashion . . . yet with no apparent connection between the victims. And the only clue left behind--a blank page bearing a question mark. Milo is under pressure to end the bloody spree and prevent a citywide panic when he discovers a link between the victims. Meanwhile, Alex navigates the secretive world of mental health treatment, from the sleek office of a Beverly Hills therapist to a shuttered mental institution where he once honed his craft; and where an unholy alliance between the mad and the monstrous may have been sealed in blood. As each jagged piece of the puzzle fits into place, an ever more horrific portrait emerges of a sinister mind at its most unimaginable - and an evil soul at its most unspeakable. 'This one was different,' Alex observes at the start. This one will haunt The Crime Reader's waking life, and his darkest dreams, long after its end. Victims is by Jonathan Kellerman and is due to be published in March 2012.

Deity is by Steven Dunne and is due to be published in May 2012. When four Derby College students are reported missing, few in Derby CID, least of all DI Damen Brook, pay much attention. But then a film on the internet is discovered purporting to show the students committing mass suicide. If it's real, why did they kill themselves when they had such bright futures ahead of them? If the suicides are faked, why the set up and where are the students? And if they're dead and have been murdered, who on earth could have planned such a bizarre and tragic end to their promising lives? Combining intricate forensics with meticulous detection and the warped psychology of a psychopath.

Mike Ford was following his father into a life of crime, when he chose to go straight and instead worked his way through Harvard Law School. Now he's landed the ultimate job with the Davies Group, a powerful political consulting firm run by the charismatic Henry Davies. Rubbing shoulders with Washington's heavyweights and with more money and privileges than he's ever imagined, Mike believes that everything has finally come right. But he's about to discover that power comes with a price. Henry Davies is looking for a protege for a crucial deal that must go right at any price. Mike soon learns that being on the side of the lawmakers doesn't mean your work is legal. And there's no place for a moral code when you're on the devil's payroll. The 500 is by Matthew Quirk and is due to be published in June 2012. It is a fast-paced thriller that takes the reader on a journey through the corridors of power to the crack dens of Washington and the corrupt underbelly of American politics. The screen rights to The 500 have been acquired by 20th Century Fox.

A Particular Eye for Villainy is the fourth book in the Victorian crime series to feature Inspector Ben Ross and his wife Lizzie. When one of Ben's neighbours is bludgeoned to death in his sitting room, Ben and Lizzie discover that there is a lot more to Mr Thomas Tapley than meets the eye - and more than one person who would benefit from his death... A Particular Eye for Villainy is by Ann Granger and is due to be published in June 2012.

Books to look forward to from Orion

All I Did Was Shoot My Man is the fourth instalment in Mosley’s soon-to-be classic Leonid McGill series In the shadow worlds of New York, PI Leonid McGill is still struggling to ‘go from crooked to slightly bent’. When Zelda Grisham, a woman falsely imprisoned by evidence McGill had planted, reappears in his life, the detective hires a hotshot attorney to help clear her name. Little does he know that powerful enemies are still watching Zelda’s every move. All I Did Was Shoot My Man is due to be published in March 2012.

If someone rich wants you dead, nothing can protect you Lauren Cawley disappears days before her second birthday but she is never found, leaving James Lomax, the lead investigator, broken. Twenty years on, Lomax has retired, and his son Tom, a private investigator, receives a mysterious phone call: heiress Sara Eaton’s mother has just passed away, and moments before her death Sara’s mother whispered something to her: Lomax. Tom alone can unlock the terrible secret that Sara’s mother hid. The new but currently untitled novel by Tim Winship is due to be published in July 2012.

Sean Reilly and Tess Chaykin return in an edge-of-your-seat story that reaches from the present day back to 1800s Mexico. Sean and Tess find themselves in a race against the clock, against drug kingpins, and even against the DEA, to merge two divergent trails; one several hundred years old, the other as current as a heartbeat, which together may lead humanity to the brink of annihilation. The Devil's Elixir is by Raymond Khoury and is due to be published in January 2012.

The author of Spies of the Balkans returns Paris, 1939. Europe is in the clutches of the Phoney War and behind closed doors, operatives are engaged in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Frederick Stahl, an American matinee idol, arrives in Paris to shoot a film. His celebrity allows him to cross Europe’s closed borders, and as the continent teeters on the verge of destruction, he becomes a man very much in demand…The Spies of Paris is by Alan Furst and is due to be published in June 2012.

Misery Bay: it’s a beautiful place to die Set amidst the lakes and woods of Northern Michigan, Misery Bay is an icily gripping thriller of murder, madness and revenge. An old mystery re-emerges when what seems like a tragic suicide turns out to be the first of a bizarre series of killings. A dark family history is gradually uncovered and the hunt for a very unusual killer begins...Misery Bay is by Steve Hamilton and is due to be published in January 2012.

A top nuclear scientist turns homicidal, taking an innocent family hostage. Gideon Crew is called in to talk the man down. When the authorities discover the scientist’s body is radioactive, and that he had recently embraced Islamic extremism, all hell breaks loose, and Gideon is charged with tracking down a rogue nuclear device...or something even worse. Gideon's Corpse is by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child and is due to be published in January 2012.

Stay Close is by Harlan Coben and is due to be published in April 2012. On an unremarkable suburban street a seemingly ordinary woman quietly despairs of the fantasy she has woven around herself, and wonders why we must choose just one life. Close by, a paparazzo looks through some photographs and sees something he shouldn’t. And a cop investigating the mysterious disappearance of a number of men begins to see a pattern..

It’s the week before Christmas when a lone robber, armed with an AK-47, bursts into a busy Glasgow post office. He is aided by one of the customers who, as if by prior arrangement, he then guns down. Searching for a connection between the two men, Detective Alex Morrow discovers that no corner of the city is safe, and her involvement will go deeper than she could ever have imagined... The new but currently untitled Denise Mina novel is due to be published in June 2012.

Joe Pike is back with a vengeance in the new thriller from the international bestseller When the police tell a wealthy industrialist that her missing son has faked his own kidnapping, she hires Elvis and Joe, who find out the boy and his secret girlfriend have been taken. When Cole goes undercover to try to return them, he himself is taken. Now it is up to Pike to retrace Cole’s steps, through the murderous world of human traffickers… Taken is by Robert Crais and is due to be published in March 2012.

Joe Byrne is an army bomb disposal expert whose addiction to risk almost cost him his life on numerous occasions. Miracuously, he survived his final tour in Afghanistan, but his luck had already run out. The day before he arrived home for good, his wife Kate was killed in a car crash. Left to bring up their daughter Chloe on his own, Joe is determined to be an ordinary father and take no more risks with what is precious to him. Until an ambitious CIA operative he knew in Afghanistan makes him an offer he can't refuse. Intelligence picked up in Afghanistan suggests that the security services' worst nightmare could be a reality: the existence of a white, Anglo-saxon suicide bomber. The most likely suspect seems to be an embittered and unbalanced Army vet, with experiences not dissimilar from Joe's, and he is therefore the perfect choice to enroll in a clinic for soldiers who have suffered psychological damage in Afghanistan in order to discover the bomber - especially since if he doesn't, he could find Chloe has been taken away from him. But as Joe's investigation takes him from London to Milan, to Bagram, and Gaza, it becomes clear that a plan much more shocking and ingenious than even the CIA could have imagined is underway, and Joe - and Chloe - have become an integral part of it. If he wants to save his daughter, Joe is going to have to learn to gamble with people's lives once again. The new but currently untitled Peter Grimsdale novel is due to be published in July 2012.

Flesh and Blood is the debut novel by Mark Peterson. When ambitious young Detective Sergeant Minter joins Brighton’s elite crime squad, his new boss makes it very clear he’s not welcome. Meanwhile, their biggest case is going belly-up, and when an undercover cop is shot dead it soon becomes clear that the problem with the investigation lies close to home. As past and present converge, Minter must fight to uncover the truth, and bring a betrayer to justice. Flesh and Blood is due to be published in March 2012.

Happy Days is the 12th and final Faraday & Winter novel and brings the series to a devastating and exciting close DI Faraday is gone, and Portsmouth’s embattled police force attempts once and for all to nail the one man he was always desperate to bring to justice – violent drug baron Bazza McKenzie. Happy Days is by Graham Hurley and is due to be published in February 2012.

The stunning new historical thriller from Alex Scarrow the author of October Skies. Locked in an eerily quiet room on the sinking Titanic, a dying man tells a young girl his life story as the ship begins to sink. It all starts in Whitechapel, London in 1888, as the Ripper murders begin… The Candle Man is due to be published in April 2012.

An exciting new voice in crime from one of Germany’s most popular authors. In the tranquil northern seaside town of Scarborough, a student is found murdered. For months, the investigators are in the dark, until they are faced with a copy-cat crime. Detective Valerie Almond is on the case, but all is it not as it first appeared and she is led towards a dark secret. Horrified at her discovery, Valerie realises that she may be too late... The Other Child is by Charlotte Link and is due to be published in March 2012

Paul Garrison Robert Ludlum’s The Janson Command is the first book in an exciting new series featuring Paul Janson, the hero of The Janson Directive. Reformed from his days of assassination and international conspiracy, Paul Janson has a new mission. Working with kickass sharpshooter Jessica Kincaid, he helps rehabilitate disenchanted covert operatives. Janson takes a job to rescue a kidnapped doctor, but when his plans go haywire, Janson realises he may have been fighting for the wrong side... The Janson Command is due to be published in May 2012.

The Followers is by Michael Marshall. An intelligent and page-turning thriller from the international bestseller It should have been the greatest day of David’s life. A trip to New York, wife by his side, to visit his new publisher. But on the way back to Penn Station, a chance encounter changes all of that. He bumps into a stranger who covertly follows him, and then, just before they board their train home, passes by him close enough to whisper: 'Remember me'. The stranger follows them back to where they live, and it isn't long before David realises that this man wants something from him...something very personal, that he may have no choice but to surrender. Meanwhile, back in New York, ex-lawyer John Henderson does his girlfriend Kristina a favour and agrees to talk to Catherine Warren, an acquaintance of hers who believes she's being stalked by en ex-lover. But soon John realizes that Catherine's problem is more complex than anyone realized... There are people out there in the shadows, watching. They are the followers. And they’re about to turn. The Followers is due to be published in June 2012.

How well do you really know your own child? When a teenaged boy is discovered stabbed to death in the woods adjoining the local high school, a wave of shock ripples through the suburban community of Newton. District attorney Andy Barber is used to dealing with murder and its after-effects, but when evidence emerges that ties his son Jacob to the crime, suddenly Andy faces a very different challenge: preventing his son from being convicted of murder. Defending Jacob is by William Landay and is due to be published in February 2012.

Down the Darkest Road is by Tami Hoag and is due to be published in January 2012. Dr Ethan Stark has made his living studying murderers. Is it nature or nurture that makes a monster? It’s a trip that will bring him back into the life of Tony Mendez, a retired cop who can’t give up on cold cases, and Anne Leone, the victim who survived Ethan’s father. As the key players gather, it seems that one way or another, a monster is about to be unleashed...

‘Whatever happens, don’t go to war.’ The message received by MI6 and the CIA is clear. The reasons for it unknown. And so Will Cochrane, the West’s most capable intelligence operative, is despatched to infiltrate a remote Siberian submarine base to uncover the truth. The enemy, though, were warned of his arrival. Will is pitched against the most dangerous adversary he has ever faced, spy vs spy. And he will need all of his unique skills, strength and ruthlessness to prevail. Sentinel is by Matthew Dunn and is due to be published in July 2012.

The star of hit television series Justified and the novels, Riding the Rap, Pronto and the story Fire in the Hole returns. Raylan Givens is back, this time with a federal warrant to serve on a dealer named Angel Arenas. The state troopers are impressed when he struts into the convict’s hotel room without drawing his gun, but Raylan soon finds that Angel’s already been the victim of a bigger crime… Raylan is by Elmore Leonard and is due to be

Gone Girl is by Gillian Flynn and is due to be published in May 2012. On the morning of their third wedding anniversary, Charlie walks downstairs to discover his wife is missing. Charlie considers Amy a missing person and is terrified for her life. But the police see the scene a different way. Charlie must clear his name, but what he doesn’t tell the authorities is that their lives were not as perfect as they seemed.

The Dark Room...It’s the place where fear comes from... DI Andrew Hicks thinks he knows all about murder. For Hicks, however horrific the act is, the reasons for one human being to kill another are ultimately all too explicable. But soon he realises that he is dealing with a type of killer he has never faced before, and he must confront the truth about himself – and the fact that some murders begin in much darker rooms than he ever imagined. Dark Room is by Steve Mosby and is due to be published in May 2012.

Madigan is a good cop – the only problem is he’s heavily in hock to drugs kingpin Sandia. He concocts a plot to repay him – with his own money – but when he is forced to kill his co-conspirators, and a child gets caught in the crossfire, Madigan is in over his head. But the one piece of luck he gets is the person assigned to investigate the whole mess... A Dark and Broken Heart is by RJ Ellory and is due to be published in May 2012.

Talking to the Dead is by Harry Bingham and is the first in a new crime series due to be published in June 2012. For rookie detective constable Fiona Griffiths, her first major investigation promises to be a tough initiation. Fiona, however, has secrets of her own. She is still recovering from a crushing psychological breakdown, and the feelings which haunt her are constantly threatening to undermine her mask of normality. In solving the murders of Janet and April Mancini, can she begin to start solving the riddles of her own past?

The Child Thief by Dan Smith and is due to be published in April 2012. In the snow, death is not the coldest thing out there... December 1930, Western Ukraine. A stranger arrives in Luka’s village, pulling a sled bearing the bodies of two children. In a fervour, the villagers lynch the stranger, but when calm is restored one of the village children has vanished. Luka sets out to find her, but it soon becomes clear the man who took her is a skilful hunter using the kidnapped child as bait in his violent game.

Gone in Seconds is debut crime thriller written by British forensic psychologist A J Cross. When the skeleton of a young woman is found, evidence suggests that it is that of teenager Molly James, who went missing five years ago. Forensic psychologist Dr Kate Hudson is called in to investigate, and the deeper she digs the dirtier the clues get. When a second set of remains is unearthed Kate suspects they’re looking for a repeater, a killer who will not stop until they are caught…Gone in Seconds is due to be published in July 2012.

Asbury Park is by Rob Scott and is due to be published in January 2012. A twisted supernatural thriller from a master storyteller Homicide Detective Sailor Doyle is recuperating after the events of 15 Miles. Struggling to overcome his drug addiction and rebuild his marriage, Doyle seeks refuge in a century-old hotel. There he begins to investigate a mysterious drowning from years ago...

The Chosen Seed, the final book in The Dog-Faced Gods trilogy by Sarah Pinborough and comes to its thrilling conclusion in February 2012. Former DI Cass Jones is on the run and moving closer to finding the truth about The Bank and the mysterious Mr Bright. But for both sides the net is closing in. Sarah Pinborough’s series combines the streetwise grime of a George Pelecanos mystery with the near-future dystopian setting of Richard Morgan.

When Dragon Island is seized by a brutal terrorist force, the Army of Thieves, the fate of the world hangs in the balance. But there are no crack units close enough to get to Dragon in time. Except for a small equipment-testing team up in the Arctic led by a Marine captain named Schofield, call-sign Scarecrow. The ultimate hero is back, facing the ultimate army of villains. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves is by Matthew Reilly and is due to be published in February 2012.