EIGHTH SERIES II April, 2009

Hasn’t April been full of weather surprises? Take your choice freezing or 90 degrees, storming or passover rain. Never the less, baseball is here and the Cardinals are off to a fantastic start. And the Blues had a great comeback! St Louis is grooving again. To keep up with the trend Big Sleep Books brings Michael Connelly to the store on Saturday, May 30, to sign THE SCARECROW, a new reporter Jack McEvoy (THE POET). We are most excited to host good friend Michael. Local writer Laura Bradford writing as Elizabeth Lynne Casey has published a prime crime Berkley paperback, SEW DEADLY, and will be signing Saturday, August 8. Returning this summer are two friends who are always welcome-Eric Stone and Theresa Schwegel. Eric will sign his new Ray Sharpe mystery SHANGHAIED and, of course, we will take in a Cardinal game; everyone wants to see Albert Pujols. Theresa signs her Chicago based mystery, LAST KNOWN ADDRESS and brings with her Michael Koryta, who signs his new Lincoln Perry addition, THE SILENT HOUR, and has just won the LA Times Book Award.

Congratulations to you, Michael. We look forward to your visit on Saturday, August 1. This year our hardback sale begins August 15th and runs till September 30. Well, that’s the summer and here are the new titles for your summer reading. Get out you pencils and make up your list.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

To the best sellers list add THE SCARECROW a reporter Jack McEvoy (Michael Connelly), see recommendations, WICKED PREY, a Lucas Davenport (John Sanford), GONE TOMORROW, a Reacher (Lee Child), THE DEFECTOR (Daniel Silva), THE 8TH CONFESSION, the Women’s Murder Club (James Patterson & Maxine Paetro), FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN, a Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich), THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WOODS (Dean Koontz), GENESIS (Karen Slaughter), ROAD DOGS (Elmore Leonard), and IN THE VALLEY OF ANCIENT RAIN GODS, Texas sheriff Hack Holland (James Lee Burke).

Ladies are contributing only a precious few this quarter, but I am sure you can find some favorites. Reggie Nadelson broadens her New York horizons in LONDON GRAD. Her Artie Cohen always entertains. Please mark your calendar for the Theresa Schwegel appearance. She will be signing LAST KNOWN ADDRESS on August 1. Elaine Viets is seeing better days and has produced KILLER CUTS (the dead end job series) on schedule. From Arkansas comes MERRY WIVES OF MAGGODY by Joan Hess. From Carolina, Judge Deborah Knotts is very much alive in Margaret Maron’s SAND SHARKS. And two with a clever twist: CAT IN A TOPAZ TANGO, a Midnight Louie (Carole Nelson Douglas) and SWAN FOR THE MONEY, a Meg Langslow (Donna Andrews). There are only two with foreign settings. THE COLD LIGHT OF MORNING, set in northern Wales, written by Elizabeth J Duncan, winner of Minotaur Best First Traditional Mystery Award, and Karen Fossum’s THE WATER’S EDGE, the 6th Norway Insp Seger.

There are a choice few British offerings, all can please. Robert Barnard, a favorite of Chris King’s, writes a genuine mystery, THE KILLING AT JUBILEE TERRACE. Here are three sure hits: SANCTUARY, a Jack Taylor, (Ken Bruen), THE COLD HAND OF MALICE, a Neil Paget (Frank Smith), and THE DEAD OF WINTER, a Jon Madden (Rennie Airth). Mark Mynheir took the Silver Dagger Award with his debut novel, THE NIGHT WATCHMAN. And veteran Giles Blunt rounds off the list with NO SUCH CREATURE.

There seem to be an abundance of thriller-International intrigue titles, it’s hard to keep up with all of them. This list is far from complete: THE INCREMENT (David Ignatius), AN HONORABLE GERMAN (Charles McCain), LAST TESTAMENT (Sam Bourne), THE GENESIS SECRET (Tom Knox), THE SIGN (Raymond Khoury), TRUST NO ONE, (Gregg Hurwitz), THE GERMAN WOMAN (Paul Griner), THE TEHRAN CONVICTION (Tom Gabbay), THE HUNTED (Brian Haig), and THE LAST EMBER (Daniel Levin).

Far Eastern series favorites will be welcomed. Always popular Colin Cotterill‘s Laosian coroner Dr Siri up to some new tricks in THE MERRY MISOGYNIST. Ray Sharp sticks with Hong Kong after the turnover in Eric Stone’s SHANGHAIED. Eric will visit Big Sleep on Sat, July 18. More from exotic Tibet with the Shan series, THE LORD OF DEATH (Eliot Pattison). Robert Wilson takes us to Seville, Spain for a new Insp Falco (IGNORANCE OF BLOOD). Spain is the setting for veteran author Roderic Jeffries’s Insp Alvarez in SUN, SEA, AND MURDER. We’ll round off this group with a trip to Rio for Luis Alfredo Garcia-Roza’s ALONE IN THE CROWD.

There is a healthy choice of male author titles this quarter, both series and stand alones. Leading off is Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, CEMETARY DANCE. Not far behind are James Patrick Hunt, THE ASSAILANT, St Louis cop George Hastings, Joe Lansdale, VANILA RIDE, a Hap & Leonard East Texas adventure, Simon Beckett, WHISPERS OF THE DEAD, forensic anthropologist David Hunter, Peter deJong, SHADOWS STILL REMAIN, female PI, Brett Battles, SHADOW OF BETRAYAL, cleaner Jonathan Quinn, C J Box, BELOW ZERO, Joe Pickett, and Michael Koryta, THE SILENT HOUR, PI Lincoln Perry. GET REAL may be the last Dortmunder as unfortunately Donald Westlake has passed away. He will be greatly missed.

Some are for fun, some, not. NOBODY MOVES (Denis Johnson), MARINE ONE (James Huston), THE LAST CHILD (Edgar winner John Hart), REALITY CHECK (Peter Abrahams), KILLER SUMMER (Ridley Pearson), THE FATE OF KATHERINE CARR, (the writer’s writer Thomas Cook), ALL THE DEAD VOICES, (Declan Hughes), TRUST ME ( Jeff Abbott). And back after so many years from his successful CAVEMAN’S VALENTINE, George Dawes Green with RAVENS. Add TOTAL IMMUNITY, Robert Ward and GUARDIAN OF LIES, Steve Martini. Steven M Thomas completes the list with his debut novel, CRIMINAL KARMA, featuring ethical thief Robert River.

HISTORICALS

ALEXANDRIA Lindsey Davis Marcus Didius Falco anc Rome

ORDER IN CHAOS Jack Whyte III of Templar Trilogy Eur 1300s

FREE AGENT Jeremy Duns Paul Mark MI6 Eur/Afr 1970

A TRACE OF SMOKE Rebecca Cantrell reporter Hannah Vogel Berlin 1930s

PERSONA NON GRATA Ruth Downe Gauis Peteius Russo anc Rome

THE CRACK IN THE LENS S Hochensmith Old Red& Big Red US Old West

THE INNOCENT SPY Laura Wilson Det Stratton/MI5 Calthop London 1940

THE MAGICIAN’S DEATH P C Doherty Hugh Corbet Med Eng

THE FRIGHTENED MAN Kenneth Cameron Novelist Denton London 1900

AN HONORABLE GERMAN Chas McCain U boat Captain WWII

THE SECRET SPEECH Tom Rob Smith Denidov MGB Russia ‘50s

STONE’S FALL Iain Pears Eur 1909 back to1867 SISTER PELAGIA & Boris Akunin Sister Pelagia 1900s Russia

THE RED COCKERELL

SHERLOCK HOLMES & Donald Thomas SH vic Eng

THE KING’S EVIL & OTHER TALES FEATURING THE WORLD’S GREATEST

DETECTIVE

STARRING SHERLOCK HOLMES, THE DEFINITIVE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO SH’S ON-SCREEN APPEARANCES David Stuart Davies RE-ISSUE

MURDER ON WAVERLY PLACE Victoria Thompson Sarah Brandt gaslight

Sgt Malloy NYC

RECOMMENDATIONS

THE SCARECROW by Michael Connelly. Reporter Jack McEvoy of THE POET fame, hopes to go out with a headline story as he has been laid off by the LA Times. He certainly hits pay dirt when the story he’s chosen of a murder/rape of an exotic dancer develops into a hunt for a serial killer. And not just an ordinary criminal, this is a mastermind of a futuristic data-hosting facility, known by his associates as The Scarecrow. Get your personalized signed copy on Saturday, May 30.

THE WAY HOME by George Pelecanos. Christopher Flynn’s rebellious teenage years landed him a term in a juvenile facility where as the white boy he gained his “high school” education. His “Way Home” is a difficult road after years of disconnecting with his father and dealing with a found bag of money ($50,000) that shows up unexpectedly. The stash provides a temptation for him and his fellow juvenile graduates. No one cares about his challenged characters like George Pelecanos, as he pens his way through this very modern novel about father and son, trust and character.

TOTAL CHAOS by Jean-Claude Izzo (trade paperback). TOTAL CHAOS is the first book of the Marseilles trilogy that depicts the beauty and passion of Izzo’s beloved native city. We grow up with Manu, Ug, and Fabio on the mean streets where survival is the rule of life. Years later, it is left to Fabio, the disenchanted cop, to find the killers of his long lost friends whose choice of the wrong side of the law led to their tragic demise. Alain Delon stars as Fabio in the film version of the trilogy entitled FABIO MONTALE.

THE BLACK PATH by Asa Larsson (trade paperback). This is the third entry of the series featuring Rebecca Martenson, top-notch Swedish attorney, who is desperate to get back to work after a case that almost destroyed her. She is on the road to recovery as the chief prosecutor’s assistant when Insp Anna Marie Mella enlists her legal expertise in a case of a murdered woman who was a key player in Kallis Mining. Kallis Mining, a homegrown financial success, proves to have international connections that involve an attempt to bring down an African government. Don’t miss SUN STORM, best first novel Swedish crime award winner, and her second, BLOOD SPILT, also Swedish crime award winner.

REDBREAST by Jo Nesbo (trade paperback). Oslo’s Neo-Nazis have planned their parade on Oslo’s National holiday. Disgraced Detective Hole is assigned to monitor their activities. The discovery that a rare German banned rifle has been smuggled into the country puts the police on the alert. Then Norway’s dark past of WWII days crops up when old soldiers who survived the Russian Front are being murdered, one by one. A real page turner! Highly recommended.

THE FOURTH MAN by K O Dahl. Another exciting police procedural from Norway! Det Insp Frank Froelich of the Oslo police saves Elizabeth Faremo from getting caught in cross fire, and this encounter leads to an unfortunate passionate affair with this woman who is sister to a member of a larceny gang. Winner of Norway’s Riverton Prize for best crime novel.

NOBODY MOVE by Dennis Johnson. National Book Award-winning author Johnson has fun with this assortment of lowlifes of Bakersfield, California as they play a cat and mouse game over $2.3 million. A quick read and an utter delight!

THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine. Bachelor Ivor Tresham, a rising conservative member of Parliament during the Thatcher Era, sets up a special birthday surprise for Hebe Furnal, a married woman with whom he is having an affair. She will be abducted, bound and gagged, thrown into a car, and brought to him. This cute game goes awry when the car crashes in traffic and Hebe is killed. Ivor’s efforts to conceal his connection to Hebe set off a chain of events that reveal the true character of this “English Gentleman.”

THE SLEEPING AND THE DEAD by Anne Cleeves. A drought has caused the water level of Cranwell Lake to drop, exposing just beneath the surface, a male body, dead 30 years. When homicide is determined, Det Chief Insp Porteous takes on the case. Porteous is new in town after escaping his questionable past, he is determined to forget the panic attacks and depression that plagued him. His investigation focuses on Hannah Meek, recently divorced and vulnerable prison librarian as she was involved in a youthful romance with the victim. Cleeves is a master of subtlety and her intense plot, littered with quiet clues keeps you guessing till the end. Other gems: RAVEN BLACK and WHITE NIGHTS set in the Shetlands.

A DARKER DOMAIN by Val McDermid. In Fife, Scotland, Detective Karin Kirie, head of Cold Case Team, has her hands full with 2 cases-the Catriona MacLennan Grant and son kidnapping and Nick Prentice missing person. She carefully balances her investigation leaving no stone unturned (actually uses an archaeological student group to unearth remains) to bring this tale of loyalty and greed to its brilliant conclusion.. Visit V McDermid’s Tony Hill series for more satisfying suspense.

THE READER by Bernhard Schlink. After seeing the film and not liking the ending-R Fiennes sets out to tell his daughter of his affair of his youth (to get closure?)-I had to read the book. Great book, different ending. Bernard Schlink has a great narrative style and I discovered his PI Gerhard Self mysteries. Self was a lawyer during the Nazi regime and can no longer practice in his latter years, so he has turned to investigation on a limited basis. SELF’S PUNISHMENT originally published in 1987, and SELF’S DECEPTION in 1992, are now in Black Lizard trade paperback, with a promise of another.

SHANGHAIED by Eric Stone. It’s the time when the British are leaving Hong Kong and the Chinese are taking over. Ex-pat Ray Sharp has decided to stay and takes on a case with sidekick Lei Yue of due diligence of Bank Central East Asia. The clients are Tibetan monks who have their money invested with the bank. When a missing monk, the accountant for the monastery, turns up murdered, Sharp must move quickly. Follow this twosome as they probe the veneer of Shanghai’s financial world with all the danger, sex, drugs that the back streets can provide.

CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE FOR AUTHOR PHOTOS FROM B’CON

www.bigsleepbooks.com

MARK’S REVIEWS

Olen Steinhauer, THE TOURIST. The Bucharest series-five brilliant examinations of the Romanian militia, decade by decade-is a history of postwar communism in the satellite states, and it was Steinhauer’s equivalent of the Karla trilogy. THE TOURIST is Steinhauer’s SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, telling the story of Milo Weaver, now, a CIA administrator, who once “toured” as a fast gun for hire for the Agency. But a long-time colleague’s been identified as a problem, and Weaver will need to draw upon all his old skills in this ingenious rollicking thriller. George Clooney’s acquired the story as an acting/producing opportunity.

Jack Higgins, A DARKER PLACE. This winter’s Prime Minister’s irregulars episode picks up with Lady Monica’s brother on the disabled list and the beautiful academic in love with Dillon. Putin, who’s characterized in this series as a KGB thug of the past, has decided to organize a phony defection featuring an internationally-beloved Russian war hero/novelist about to receive the French Medal of Honor.

Michael Koryta, ENVY THE NIGHT. In his first stand alone, Koryta’s designed a 2009 take on an old western, set in the Wisconsin lake resort country. Frank Temple III’s been called back to his family’s property, because the man who betrayed his father (and his gang) apparently are headed in that direction. A pretty young daughter of that town’s auto-body garage owner is in danger. Frank, gunfighter quick, has an old hunting guide to help him, while the pretty daughter has a more bumbling sidekick. And there’s a distrustful sheriff-type FBI agent in residence. Lots of action and excitement, and foreboding are in store for Temple. Michael will visit Big Sleep August 1 with Theresa Schwegel.

David Fulmer, LOST RIVER. Fulmer’s returned to his Valentin St Cyr 1913 Storyville series-wonderful writing and special precision in his period detail. St Cyr, since RAMPART STREET, has left Storyville to work for downtown law firms, but Justine has that propensity for restlessness, Tom Anderson’s rule over Storyville seems shakier, and a serial killer has shot four customers of four different brothels. St Cyr seems ready to reevaluate his exile.

Laurie R King, TOUCHSTONE.. In 1926, in a London on the brink of a possible General Strike, Harris Stuyvesant, who works for J Edgar Hoover’s Bureau of Investigation, has arrived on the trail of a bomber who struck three times for radical causes in the United States. The most likely perpetrator is a charismatic labor politician who had been a sapper during World War I. The action takes place at one of those Cliveden Set/Milford family estates during a weekend in the country.

Richard North Patterson, ECLIPSE. This Patterson pursues his social justice issues by highlighting legal thrillers with their elements. ECLIPSE is about liberation movements among the poor in places like Nigeria (places with oil valuable to the US). SF attorney Damon Pierce once worked on Serbian war crimes cases in the Hague; now he is defending the leader of an ethnic minority being tried by a tribunal established by that country’s Idi Amin-level psychotic military dictator.

C S Harris, WHERE SERPENTS SLEEP. Viscount Devlin, in his 4th case, searches for the killer of 8 prostitutes at a burnt-out shelter. It’s 1812, and there is a lot of talk about opportunistic Americans with a longing for acquiring Canada, while the British are busy with Bonaparte. Harris has easy reading writing skills-fans of regencies, Sharpe, and Ethan Gage shouldn’t miss the Harris series.

Anthony Flacco, THE HIDDEN MAN. The screenwriter Flacco has developed a very Patricia Cornwell-like psychotic melodrama set, in this sequel, in 1915 San Francisco at the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Homicide Detective Randall Blackburn’s been asked to bodyguard a world class mesmerist (brought to town for the world’s fair season) who had visited Dr Alzheimer and been prescribed lots of amphetamines. Blackburn’s two young wards (survivors of the earthquake) help, but a maniac is on the loose.

John Grisham, THE ASSOCIATE. What’s especially interesting here is the depiction of the worklife of the new associate at a Wall Street firm, paid $200,000 annually. Consistant with that salary, a lot is expected in billable hours to pay these salaries ((100 new associates at the largest firms). There’s also a suspense/espionage plot, but Grisham’s attacking the bloated extravagance of how we currently do corporate business, and the President’s economists should be required to read this, but to do something about it.

T Jefferson Parker, THE RENEGADES Charlie Hood is the LA Sheriff who loved Allison Murrieta, and now is the partner of “Mr Wonderful,” a sheriff famous for his good deeds as well as his weight-lifting. Then there’s the departmental history from the 80s of the Renegades, a clique of sheriffs who operated on their own (with a shared ankle tattoo). Parker brings these threads together in the newly developing and reclaimed from the desert areas of Antelope Valley, and THE RENEGADES is another example of his gifted storytelling.

C J Sansom, REVELATION. Shardlake, the Tutor era lawyer, returns for a1543 Eastertime story, in which he seeks a friend’s killer only to find a serial killer emulating the work of the seven Revelation angels providing nightmarish deaths to sinners. While bordering on the horror genre at times, Sansom’s genius for historical fiction illuminates that period's bedlam and its patients, and the religious war between fundamentalism/early puritanism, and the traditionalists in the evolving Anglican church. Also lots of London rain, and HenryVIII’s efforts to convince Catharine Parr to become his 6th wife-predecessors after all had lost their heads over him (April’s new HBO Tudor series is up to wife no 3).

David Liss, THE WHISKEY REBELS. Lest we think the manipulation of the US banking system by corrupt speculators is a new 2008 phenomenon, we learn here about the founding of the First National Bank by Hamilton and the Federalists. At stake: the possibility of a panic or depression or the collapse of the 1791 American national economy. A discredited Revolutionary War spy in Philadelphia and a brilliant Pittsburgh area housewife are the two protagonists of this story. And it turns out that Hamilton came up with a Hillary Clinton-like sin tax on frontier whiskey to finance the machinations of the Eastern aristocracy. This is great fun as historical fiction a la William Dietrich.

SIGNINGS AND PORTENTS

Sat, May 30 1:00 pm Michael Connelly signs THE SCARECROW.

Sat, July 18 1:00 pm Eric Stone signs SHANGHAIED.

Sat, Aug 1 1:00 pm Theresa Schwegel signs LAST KNOWN ADDRESS.

Michael Koryta signs THE SILENT HOUR.

Sat, Aug 8 1:00 pm Laura Bradford writing as Elizabeth Lynn Casey

signs SEW DEADLY.

May 15-24 MURDER ON THE NILE Florissant Civic Theatre

Thurs, June 11 7:30 pm THE PARALLEL CASE OF ST LOUIS

Sherlockian meeting at Big Sleep Books

HARDBACK SALE 25%-75% 0FF

AUGUST 15 thru SEPTEMBER 30

Ed and I wish you an enjoyable summer. Come join us for our signings, if you can, but be sure to load up on your leisure reading materials, enjoyed here at home or so fantastic vacation trip. See you at Big Sleep!