EIGHT SERIES IV November, 2009

Hasn’t November been delightful? After all that October rain and Cardinal disappointment we needed a good cheering up. Although I must say October was a good month for reading, and thus Mark and I have found a few extra gems for your consideration. We hope you enjoy them as much as we did. At Big Sleep, local author Claire Applegate will be signing on December 12 and John Lutz and Bob Randisi will appear during the holidays. We begin with December releases, which are always scant, and then proceed with the New Year’s first quarter. So get out your pencils and check off your choices.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Best sellers forthcoming begin with Sue Grafton’s U IS FOR UNDERTOW, only 5 to go. And in the 1st quarter of the new year: IRON RIVER, a Charlie Hood (T Jefferson Parker), WOLF AT THE DOOR (Jack Higgins), WORSE CASE, a Det Michael Bennett (James Patterson), SPLIT IMAGE, a Jesse Stone (Robert B Parker), THE LAST SURGEON (Michael Palmer), THE BLACK CAT, a Richard Jury (Martha Grimes), CAUGHT (Harlan Coben), KNOWN TO EVIL, a Leonid McGill (Walter Mosley), and DECEPTION (Jonathan Kellerman).

Jonathan Gash returns after a long respite with his rogue character Lovejoy. You may remember him from the TV series starring Ian McShane (DEADWOOD). Now that rascal’s out of jail and back in print in THE FACES IN THE POOL. Ken Bruen’s gone Hollywood, placing a darker twist to the classic Sunset Boulevard renamed LONDON BOULEVARD. With the exit of Insp Rebus, Ian Rankin turns to the art world for his thriller DOORS OPEN. Nigel McCrery contributes a police procedural TOOTH AND CLAW; Det Chief Insp Mark Lapslie and Sgt Emma Bradberry will be performing the official duties. Mark Mills, whose debut AMAGANSETT was so well received, offers THE INFORMATION OFFICER. In March, Denise Mina’s STILL MIDNIGHT will be released and she introduces a new female character, Alex Morrow, a Glasglow policewoman. A new Hamish Macbeth comes out earlier for you Scottish fans-M C Beaton’s DEATH OF A VALENTINE.

Away from the shores of the British Isles, Anne Perry sets her new stand-alone in 1300 Constantinople, also noted in Historicals, entitled THE SHEEN OF THE SILK. Another stand-alone comes from Henning Mankell, THE MAN FROM BEIJING. A new Scandinavian voice is to be heard, refer to Recommendations, that of James Thompson, an American living in Finland. SNOW ANGELS opens the door to those isolated villages of the north and provided insight into their culture. THE 4TH ASSASSIN is the 4th Omar Yussef penned by Matt Beynon Rees, and promises to be as good as the first three. Conn Fitzgerald takes a stab at contemporary Italy, THE UNDERDOG, And Cara Black continues her good work with MURDER IN THE PALAIS ROYAL, the charming Aimee LeDuc series. Spies and intrigue are produced by Alex Berenson, THE MIDNIGHT HOUSE, and Eric Van Lustbader, LAST SNOW. And coming in January, for the Bangkok fans of John Burdett, GODFATHER OF KATHMANDU.

We are most grieved by the passing of Stuart Kaminsky, he will be sorely missed. It is with great pleasure that we announce a new Rostnikov, A WHISPER TO THE LIVING.

Always on the mark are Laura Lippman with her award-winning Tess Monaghan series. IN BIG TROUBLE is sure to be a hit. As is TRIAL BY FIRE by J A Jance, an Ali Reynolds case. Joan Hess adds humor with THE MERRY WIVES OF MAGGODY. Also in the humor business Nancy Martin begins a new series with do-gooder Roxy Abruzzo, a reluctant Mafia princess, in OUR LADY OF IMMACULATE DECEPTION. We wish her success, but we’re still selling the Blackbird sisters that are ever so popular. Claire Sieber gives us LULLABY, while Dana Stabenow adds A NIGHT TOO DARK to the Kate Shugat series. C E Lawrence of Carole Buggge SH novels fame enters the thriller business with SILENT SCREAMS. Cornelia Read’s third novel is INVISIBLE BOY. If you wish to start at the beginning, try THE CRAZY SCHOOL and FIELD OF DARKNESS.

Stephen Hunter starts off the American males with I, SNIPER. Fans of Bob Lee Swagger know what that will be like. Veteran mystery writer Loren Estleman is always a pleasure, try some of his old Detroit novels if you’ve never read them, they’re tops in their field. His new one is a Valentino, ALONE. Those other continuing characters in a series are back: Joe Pike takes the lead over Elvis Cole as he did in THE WATCHMAN, THE FIRST RULE will please many a Robert Crais reader and from Florida, James Hall’s Thorn series in SILENCER and Tim Dorsey’s GATOR-A-GO-GO. We expect the usual competence from John Lescroat, TREASURE CHEST, and Joseph Wambaugh, HOLLYWOOD MOON. Still in California, North Beach this time, Dante Mancuso struggles to stay afloat in Domenic Stansberry’s NAKED MOON. Hector Lassiter of earlier Craig McDonald novels attempts to recover compromising materials from the late Hemingway surviving manuscripts and uncovers a decade-long plot of astronomical dimensions. For fans of forensic anthropology, there’s THE BONE THIEF by Jefferson Bass. Doc Ford’s diving skills are required by unsavory characters in Randy Wayne White’s DEEP SHADOW. And Parnell Hall’s new cozy pits THE PUZZLE LADY VS THE SUDOKU LADY.

THE LOCK ARTIST, a stand-alone by Steve Hamilton is about a young man with the talent to become a perfect criminal. Steve Berry is back with another page-turner, THE PARIS VENDETTA. WAKE UP DEAD is the second Cape Town, South Africa thriller; MIXED BLOOD was Roger Smith’s first. The always unusual Charlie Huston poses LA cop Parker Haas with the problem of SLEEPLESS, a different kind of case. Former St Louis professor David Carkeet shows us how a car wreck on an out-of-town highway can comically? do more damage than just your car. Two familiar candidates for possible best sellers: THE TRIALS OF ZION, a Middle East courtroom drama, by Alan Dershowitz and DIMITER, an American agent, by William Peter Blatt, author of the EXORCIST. And for the Noir Collector: FILM NOIR ENCYCLOPEDIA by Alain Silver.

HISTORICALS

Clark, Cassandra THE RED VELVET TURNSHOE Sr Hildegard med Europe
Kerr, Philip IF THE DEAD RISE NOT B Gunther postwar Germany
Franklin Ariana A MURDEROUS PROCESSION Adele Aguilar 1176 Palermo
Pattison, Eliot EYE OF THE RAVEN D McCallum col America
sequel to BONE RATTLER
Fowler, Chrisopher BRYANT AND MAY ON THE LOOSE postwar London
Gordon, Alan THE PARISIAN PRODIGAL Theo. the Fool med Europe
Kurland, Michael SH, THS AMERICAN YEARS Holmes Vic America
Roberts John M SPQR XIII: THE YEAR OF Dedius anc Rome
CONFUSION
Doherty, P C THE SPIES OF SOBECK Ameroke anc Egypt
Bowen, Rhys THE LAST ILLUSION Molly Murphy 20th cent NYC
Perry, Anne THE SHEEN ON THE SILK 1300 Constantinople

RECOMMENDATIONS

BLOOD SAFARI by Deon Meyer. Meyer’s thriller delivers muscular prose with a hero to match. Bodyguard Lemmer, a true original, tough with a checkered past, is hired by Emma Le Roux as she looks for her brother, a dedicated conservationist, believed to have died 20 years ago. South Africa’s game preserves are at constant risk and play a major role in this puzzle where the struggle of greed and power blocks every avenue of solution.

THE INNOCENT SPY by Laura Wilson. INNOCENT SPY is Laura Wilson’s first experience in the spy world and it won her the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award. Set in 1940 London, Det Insp Ted Stratton investigates an apparent suicide that leads him into the sacred corridors of MI5 and the old boys club. Wilson deftly contrasts spying and policing British style, set in the background of the war-besieged capitol.
Highly recommended.

A TRACE OF SMOKE by Rebecca Cantrell. 1931 Germany. The Weimar Republic has begun to crumble, the decadence of that era will soon be replaced by the new order. Crime reporter for the Berlin Tageblatt, Hannah Vogel, recognizes the naked corpse of her brother Ernst in a photo posted in the Hall of the Unnamed Dead. Ernst was a cross-dresser cabaret star whose lovers included at least one Nazi leader. Hannah sets out to find his killer. Cantrell, in this debut, has captured Berlin at a time about which we yearn to know and understand.

NEMESIS by Jo Nesbo. Insp Harry Hole (Hole refers to the hole in his memory because of weakness for alcohol) of the highly successful REDBREAST, teams with Beate Lonn, a young detective who is gifted with perfect memory, to crack a bank robbery case. And when Harry meets up with an old girlfriend it doesn’t just complicate his current relationship with out- of-town Rahal, it lands him the status of prime suspect when the old girlfriend is later found dead. Nesbo is another of the intriguing Scandinavian writers who should appear on American bookshelves.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Steig Larsson. Best-selling author Steig Larsson, not to be confused with Asa Larsson, pens an overly long interesting plot of the investigation of the disappearance of a distinguished Swedish family member that is 4 decades old. The investigator, B Blomkvist , a reporter of late, enlist the aid of Lisbeth Salender (the girl with the dragon tattoo), a unique character of misunderstood genius, who steals the show, as they uncover the horror of family secrets. Good, but I prefer Asa.

SNOW ANGELS by James Thompson. James Thompson, an American living in Finland, introduces us in this debut novel to the land of endless night that can drive anyone to murder or suicide. Insp Kara Vaara is faced with the murder, not manslaughter, of a beautiful Somali, sometimes actress, immigrant whose mutilated body is found in a snowfield, a racial slur carved on her chest. Vaara takes on this explosive case in his small village that will make national headlines while his domestic life includes the 1st pregnancy of his young American wife who is struggling to adapt to the Finnish way of life.

BLIND EYE by Stuart MacBride. Logan McRae seeks a vicious serial killer whose targets are Aberdeen’s growing Polish community. Enter the murder of Simon McLeod, owner of Turf ‘n Track, and the underbelly of the city’s crime world becomes involved. McRae must bounce off the demands of his two bosses, while we enjoy DI Steele, a true symbol of black humor.

THE BRUTAL TELLING by Louise Perry. Louise Penny’s writing grows with each entry. Number 4, A RULE AGAINST MURDER perfected the Agatha Christie style with its host of suspects. BRUTAL TELLING takes the mystery a step further. The village of Three Pines’s peace and tranquility is shattered by the discovery of a body (from the woods) placed on the floor in the beloved bistro where “the family” of the village congregates. Ah, but this is more than just a simple whodunit mystery. I think I must read it again to enjoy all the riches.

RED BONES by Ann Cleeves. Another true English village whodunit. The murderer lurks among the townspeople and in the end, his or her identity comes as a surprise. Ann Cleeves, in ladylike fashion, writes with charming delight this Shetland Island setting (#3) where Jimmy Perez politely investigates the murder of a kind of matriarchal figure, Mima Wilson, whose land has been the site of an archaeological excavation. An excellent cozy.

THE HIDDEN MAN by David Ellis. Edgar winner and prosecutor at Governor Blagojevich’s impeachment trial, David Ellis begins a new series set in a mid-western city where attorney Jason Kolarich is hired by a mysterious Mr Smith to defend old friend Sammy Cutler. Cutler is accused of killing a convicted sex offender, whom Cutler believes kidnapped his two-year-old sister years ago. Smith demands an acquittal for Sammy and fixes some of the evidence. Kolarich is set on exposing the truth, a goal that puts him in danger from unknown sources.

LONDONGRAD by Reggie Nadelson. This is the eighth novel featuring NYC police detective and son of a former KGB officer Artie Cohen and it’s really a good one. Artie is godfather to Valentina Sverdloff, daughter of his best friend Tolya. When Valentina is smothered to death, Artie is devastated and his search for Val’s killer leads him to the shady side of Tolya’s club businesses here and abroad and, of course, the Russian Mafia. Other titles in the series: RED HOOK, FRESH KILLS, DISTURBED EARTH.

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MARK’S REVIEWS

Robert J Randisi, YOU’RE NOBODY TIL SOMEBODY KILLS YOU. Apart from the amazing ear Randisi has for the Rat Pack personalities’ dialogue, the other memorable aspect of the series is the affection and the heart we experience in meeting them one more time. In this story, the 4th in the series, Dean Martin brings a special problem to the series’ “detective”; it’s 1962 and Marilyn Monroe believes that she’s being stalked. Is there some way for her life to be returned to “normal”?

Colin Cotterill, THE MERRY MISOGYNIST. In this masterful series set in 1978 Laos, Chief Coroner Siri Paiboun, the septuagenarian selected by the party for his lifework with the revolutionary army, is challenged by a serial killer who preys on beautiful country girls seeking favorable marriages. Siri’s also trying to find the seemingly crazed naked Indian homeless fellow who’s been missing for weeks. And Siri’s life has been enriched by his marriage to the proprietor of the best noodle restaurant in Vientianne.

Robert Littell, THE STALIN EPIGRAM. In 1934 Moscow, Russia’s preeminent 20th century poet Mandelstam chooses to stand against Stalin, who has charmed, bribed and intimidated the rest of the intelligentsia into groveling at the dictator’s feet. Littell himself is a great student of the compromises made throughout the Soviet bloc before and after World War II, and dark humor is one of Littell’s strengths. Together with Olen Steinhauer, Littell provides us with a brilliant chronicle of what has proven fortunately to become history rather than current events.

Paul Griner, THE GERMAN WOMAN. Griner’s 2nd novel is a powerful story of espionage centering around love and romance for a “German”-born English woman named Kate Zweig, who Griner depicts during two hellish periods: just after the collapse of Germany in 1918-19, as she and her husband, a nurse and a doctor, survive violence and poverty; and the month after D-Day, when London is beaten to its knees by Hitler’s retaliatory V-1 rockets. In 1944 Kate falls in love with a half-German American filmmaker and spy, a double agent for the British.

Daniel Silva, THE DEFECTOR. The Israeli art restorer Allon previously had defeated the Russian oligarch (arms dealer to Al Qaeda) Kharkov, winning over his wife, child and now, Bulganov, the defecting FSB officer who’d made Allen’s victory possible, has been abducted from the streets of London. Silva’s a master of the easy reading, page-turning thriller, writing well about the tradecraft, and plotting the tricks and twists of the spies’ profession.

Jeremy Duns, FREE AGENT. For fans of action and good writing, Duns has channeled the spirit of 007 for a 1969 MI 6 story. There’s the mandarins of MI 6 in London puzzling (post-Philby) over the possibility of another senior mole, in the tradition of LeCarre, Deighton, and Egleton. And a lot of excitement in Lagos, during the Ibo secession in Biafra, for the readers of Richard North Patterson and Chris Cleave looking for more about Nigerian military despots.

Brent Ghelfi, THE VENONA CABLE. Volk (in this 3rd book in its series), is a Russian gangster whose father seemed to have defected to the U S during the Cold War, who now himself works for a Russian general and powerbroker. When an American film director seeking to find him in Moscow is found dead in one of his warehouses, he’s on the road between Russia and the U S to sort out the story of his father, somehow tied to a Venoma cable about a World War II meeting between FDR and Churchill, furnished to the KBG perhaps by Henry Wallace or Henry Hopkin or one of Edward Benes’s Czechs. Ghelfi provides exciting contemporary Russian espionage adventure.

Craig McDonald, TOROS AND TORSOS. If TOROS somehow doesn’t prove to be one of the breakout books of the year, then, next year, everyone’s going to go back to find it. Readers of HEAD GAME, the wild road thriller of the decade, may have wondered how crime master pulp writer Hecter Lassiter developed into the character depicted in that story. TOROS provides lots of answers: surrealist serial killers tracking through the 1935 Keys hurricane, 1937 in wartime Madrid, and 1947 Hollywood under siege by the HUAC. And Lassiter always hangs out with the most interesting people-Hemingway, Dos Passos, Orson Welles. This is lots of (dark) fun.

Megan Abbott, BURY ME DEEP. Abbott is an amazing talent-she has the gift of noir surpassing many of the original novelists, which is to say that her precision in employing the form is so correct that she’s simultaneously emulating and enriching it. Her first look at the 1931 middle class also echoes Sinclair Lewis; she’s paying homage to the Winnie Ruth Judd trunk murderess case from Phoenix, all about wild parties and transgressive women and the alcoholic, drugged sexual frenzy of prohibition. But, if you have a heart, plan on finding each of her stories occasionally upsetting.

Declan Hughes, ALL THE DEAD VOICES. Hardboiled Dublin P I Ed Loy belongs to the 1st rank of the small current group of PI’s, with Crais’s Elvis Cole, Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone, and Koryta’s Lincoln Perry. Dublin and 2009 Ireland are particularly well characterized by Hughes (a nice contrast to Benjamin Black’s 1950s series in Dublin). DEAD VOICES begins with a gunman firing shots at star soccer players, as they compete. Soon thereafter, Loy’s attacked in an alley by thugs with knives and baseball bats. And this is just the beginning; in an Easter Week to be highlighted by the opening of a new bridge across the Liffey to celebrate the Easter Rebellion, independence and peace.

James Lee Burke, RAIN GODS. Burke offers us original material of an especially high order, a new character-Sheriff Hackberry Holland, cousin of Billy Bob, a very rugged and straight-shooting (an septuagenarian) Korean War veteran. And a new setting: Texas, between Austin and San Antonio, gritty, but not west Texas. He has a sinful crime to introduce this story, the massacre of nine Thai prostitutes, and a Burke-like cast of bad guys: pimps and fundamentalist killers, the Russian mob, New Orleans 9th Ward crooks, bikers, and feds who may or may not be part or all bad.

Robert B Parker, THE PROFESSIONAL. Spenser represents four women, each married to a wealthy older man and are all being blackmailed by the same lover, whom Spenser decides to help (remember also how Spenser helped a madam of a Back Bay brothel-go figure). One of the older men is a mobster, so there’s some homage to Chandler (explicit in Parker’s earlier writing). While Susan Silverman’s involved, she’s helpful, and the banter isn’t overpowering. This is one of the Spensers in which he gets to ponder ethical questions (more interestingly than his being a soft touch for the philanderers).

SIGNINGS AND PORTENTS

Sat, Dec 12, 1:00 PM Claire Applegate signs THE WRONG SIDE OF MEMPHIS.

Holiday signings with John Lutz and Bob Randisi: to be announced.

FEBRUARY HARDBACK SALE
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REMINDER: please send email inquiries to helensimpsom@bigsleepbooks.com or edking@bigsleepbooks.com

Merriest of holidays and best in the New Year to you and yours from Ed and me at the Big Sleep.