French crime novels published in 2008/9/10
Italian crime novels published in 2008/9/10
Scandinavian Crime Fiction published in 2009
For the first time in 28 years, Tom Baker is returning to his role as the Fourth Doctor in a series of five thrilling audio adventures from BBC Audiobooks. Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest is written by the acclaimed Paul Magrs and stars Tom alongside a cast including Richard Franklin as Mike Yates, Susan Jameson as Mrs Wibbsey and Rula Lenska as the Hornet Queen.
The brand new series sees the Doctor on fighting form as he comes up against an enemy of unimaginable power and horrific intent.
The first story, The Stuff of Nightmares, will be available to buy from 3rd September 2009 priced at £9.78, with the remaining four stories due for release on:
2. The Dead Shoes – 8th October
3. The Circus of Doom – 5th November
4. A Sting in the Tale – 3rd December
5. Hive of Horror – 3rd December
Synopsis of The Stuff of Nightmares: ‘Wanted: retired army Captain for light household duties and fireside companionship. Must tolerate mild eccentricity and strong scientific advice. Knowledge of Giant Maggots, Super Intelligent Spiders and Prehistoric Monsters a positive boon.’ 
Maxine Clarke reviews August Heat by Andrea Camilleri, the tenth in the series and she thinks it may not be the best one to start with;Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.
Craig Sisterson reviews the paperback edition of Burial by Neil Cross concluding that the author "does weave an engrossing tale that is well worth reading";
Amanda Brown reviews the paperback edition of Unspoken by Mari Jungstedt saying that it is "a very sinister and complex book";
Going a bit farther afield than normal, Laura Root reviews the paperback edition of Paper Butterfly by Diane Wei Liang, the second in this Beijing set PI series, calling it "a little gem of a book";
Mike Ripley reviews Stuart Neville's 'Northern Ireland noir' debut The Twelve stating that it is a "frighteningly assured first novel"
and Geoff Jones reviews the first in the Bella Wallis series, The Widow's Secret by Brian Thompson, set in the 19th Century.
Sam Worthington will star in Summit Entertainment's remake of Danish thriller "The Candidate," with Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen producing through their Temple Hill Entertainment banner.
Beau Willimon will pen the adaptation, which follows an aspiring lawyer who wakes up in a hotel room with scant memories of the woman he met the night before, only to discover she's dead in the bathroom -- and he's about to be blackmailed for her murder.
The OverdoseEpisode 4, The Brothers, can be watched via iplayer for a few more days.
When an abandoned baby is found in a car, Kurt Wallander oversees a large operation to find the missing father. Meanwhile, Linda is visiting a school all week to educate the pupils about the dangers of drugs. When a girl at the school has an overdose, the team begin to see connections between the two cases.
...The Troubled Man from Anneli Hoier at the Leonhardt & Hoier literary agency and will publish it in hardback in February 2011.Read the whole article at The Bookseller.The Troubled Man tells the story of a retired naval officer who disappears during his daily walk in a forest near Stockholm. It is described as a "deeply personal" case for Wallander, because the missing man is the father-in-law of Wallander's daughter Linda. Clues point back to the Cold War, and to right-wing extremist groups, said the publisher.
Mankell said: "I really thought that I had written my last novel about Wallander, but then I had this distinct feeling that there was one more story to be told."
Constable and Robinson has bought the rights to a debut novel by crime fiction author Quentin Bates in a two-book deal.Read the whole article at The Bookseller.
Frozen Assets is the first title in the deal and will be published in 2011. The book is set in Iceland with Sergeant Gunnhildur, a police woman in her thirties as the central character. The novel starts on the eve of the financial collapse of the Icelandic banks. Bates has begun the second book, but it is yet to be titled.
Bates said: "I knew plenty about the country I wanted to set the story in but learning about police work is a whole new world for me, having never been nicked for anything more serious than breaking a speed limit."
Read the rest of the article at The Bookseller.The first book in the new contract, Dead Like You, will be published in June 2010, with the second and third following at yearly intervals.
In a separate deal in the US, St Martins Press crime thriller imprint Minotaur has also negotiated a contract for the same three books. James has not been published in the US since Carroll & Graf launched the Roy Grace series in 2005/6.
Read the rest of the article here.The deal for Murder at Mansfield Park, by Lynn Shepherd, was negotiated via Ben Mason at the Conville Walsh Agency for an undisclosed sum. The title will be published as a B-format paperback next April, and will include reading group discussion points.
In contrast with the original story, the character Fanny Price is "ambitious, scheming and relentlessly focused", while Mary Crawford "suffers great indignities from her mean neighbour". Shepherd explained: "What intrigues me about Mansfield Park is how unlike Jane Austen it actually is. One of the reasons so many readers are dissatisfied with the novel Austen did write is that they find her heroine at best insipid, and at worst, downright irritating."
Simon Petherick, managing director of Beautiful Books, described the book as "fantastic" and "tremendous fun". He added: "The really good thing about it is that linguistically, it's very accurate, and she picks up on all the key themes that appeared in the original . . . But whereas Fanny is quite a pain in the arse in Austen's version, Lynn's Fanny is an outrageous gold-digger."
When a murder takes place, mid-way through the story, the novel turns into a "literary version of Agatha Christie." Petherick said: "You cannot work out which character would, or could, commit the murder – everyone who has read it so far has failed to guess who did it."
Paul Blackburn reviews Assassin by Tom Cain, the third of the 'Sam Carver' thrillers;Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.
Maxine Clarke reviews Island of the Naked Women by Inger Frimansson writing that it is "a strong candidate for my "best of" list for this year";
Laura Root reviews The Salati Case by Tobias Jones the first of a new PI series set in Italy;
Craig Sisterson reviews Blind Eye by Stuart MacBride the fifth in the DS McRae series set in Aberdeen;
Amanda Gillies reviews The Doomsday Prophecy by Scott Mariani which is the third in the Ben Hope, ex-SAS, series
and Terry Halligan reviews the latest in the Turkish Cetim Ikman series from Barbara Nadel - River of the Dead - which is now out in paperback.
The BrothersEpisode 3, The Village Idiot, can be watched via iplayer for a few more days.
The army are in Ystad all week for a training exercise, and Wallander is called to the site of a grim and premeditated double murder, with emotional resonance for Kurt. As the murders continue, Wallander and his team investigate deeper and are forced to concede there may be a link with the troops.
NB. Neil Cross, author of Burial is behind Luther.Silence, is a 4 x 60-minute coming of age drama from Company Pictures, which was penned by Fiona Seres. The plot focuses on an 18-year-old deaf girl who unwittingly witnesses a murder and becomes the key witness.
There is a new detective on the beat from a writer on Spooks and The Fixer. Luther (working title), will show detective John Luther struggling with his personal demons while attempting to track down a killer each week. In a twist on the traditional format, the killer’s identity will be known to the audience. The 6 x 60-minute series has been written by Neil Cross and will be produced by BBC Drama Productions.
Sherlock Holmes will return to the screen in a new 3 x 90-minute series, created by Stephen Moffat and Mark Gattis and made by Hartswood Films.
A 5 x 60-minute series called The Deep, set in the Arctic. Written by Simon Donald, it focusses on the crew in an oceanographers submarine far below the ice who become trapped with no power, limited oxygen and no communication after catastrophe strikes. But it soon becomes apparent they are not alone.
Corvus Books has signed a deal for two new books from Michael Ridpath. Nicolas Cheetham bought world English rights from Oliver Munson of Blake Friedmann Literary Agency.
The books are part of a new series set in Iceland and the first title will be Fire and Ice. The book introduces Magnus Johnson, a homicide detective who becomes involved in a murder investigation after the body of a university professor is found. Corvus will publish Fire and Ice in spring 2010.
Cheetham said: "Fire and Ice opens an ambitious and ingenious crime series, which binds Iceland’s landscape and history, secrets and superstitions in a strikingly original plot that will span several volumes. It is an exercise in storytelling genius from an established international bestseller."
Paul Blackburn reviews Skin and Bones by Tom Bale;Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.
Terry Halligan reviews Blood Money by Tom Bradby;
Maxine Clarke reviews Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child;
Maxine also reviews The Water's Edge by Karin Fossum;
Pat Austin reviews the paperback edition of The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin (US: The Serpent's Tale)
and Michelle Peckham reviews Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty.
Read the whole article here.Hodder & Stoughton has signed a two-book deal with debut thriller writer Charlie Charters, for an undisclosed sum.
The first book, entitled Bolt Action, will be published in July next year as a paperback original, with the second - as-yet-untitled- following a year later.
Set on a plane - where, since the 9/11 attacks, the door between the cockpit and the cabin must be locked - Bolt Action tells the story of what happens when the pilot and crew have all been poisoned.
By chance, a renegade group of British ex-soldiers, fleeing the attentions of MI5, are on board.
Hodder described the novel as "the ultimate terrorist spectacular, played out as the world watches, blogs and tweets", which would appeal to fans of Tom Clancy, Jack Higgins, Duncan Falconer, Tom Cain and Andy McNab.
When a harmless former asylum resident holds up a bank for money and then blows himself up, Wallander, Linda and the Ystad team are forced to dig for leads to find reasons. Who could have persuaded him to do it, and why? Was the explosion an accident? The answers are unexpected.This is listed as episode 3 of 13 so fingers crossed that the rest of the series will be shown. The Village Idiot is repeated on Thursday 16th July at 10.30pm.
Old Street Publishing has bought a trio of crime books by South African author Mike Nicol.I don't know whether the 'turn of the 21st Century' bit is a misprint as that's quite a futuristic setting.
Managing director Ben Yarde-Buller acquired world English rights from literary agent Tina Betts at Andrew Mann.
The first book in the deal will be called Payback and is due to be published in spring 2010. The title will be set in Cape Town at the turn of the 21st Century with two main characters who become embroiled in drugs and violence.
The two following books are yet untitled and will be stand alone titles, but will be linked by the same characters.
Read the whole article here.Transworld has signed a deal to publish two new Jack Frost novels, written on behalf of the estate of R. D Wingfield, who died in 2007.
Sarah Turner, editorial Director, acquired the UK & Commonwealth rights from Philip Patterson at Marjacq Scripts.
Writing under the pseudonym James Henry, the books will be co-authored by James Gurbutt, who has just joined Constable & Robinson to found a new imprint, and Harvill Secker author Henry Sutton.
They will be prequels to the bestselling series written by Wingfield, which inspired the series A Touch Of Frost, and the first will be published by Bantam Press in early 2011.
Bodies in the Bookshop
Tuesday July 21st 6.00pm
Join us for a glass of wine and make murder your business at our annual crime fiction extravaganza for an evening free from speeches and readings - a great chance to meet both debut and established crime writers including:
Tom Bale, Stephen Booth, Alison Bruce, Maureen Carter, Clem Chambers, Cassandra Clark, Mary Andrea Clarke, Barbara Cleverly, Nick Connell, Adam Creed, Judith Cutler, R. S. Downie, Nick Drake, Jeremy Duns, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Roger Jon Ellory, Stewart Evans, Jane Finnis, Ariana Franklin, Meg Gardiner, Tony Gheeraert, Dolores Gordon Smith, Ann Granger, Steve Hague, Tarquin Hall, Matt Hilton, Veronica Heley, Kaye C. Hill, Suzette Hill, Seth Hunter, Jim Kelly, Christobel Kent, Deryn Lake, Patrick Lennon, James McCreet, George Mann, Edward Marston, Andrew Martin, Rose Melikan, Janet Neel, Malcolm Pryce, Ann Purser, Mike Ripley, David Roberts, Imogen Robertson, Leigh Russell, Alex Rutherford, E. V. Seymour, Stav Sherez, Harry Sidebottom, Yrsa Sigurdartottir, Roz Southey, Rebecca Tope, L. C. Tyler, Nicola Upson, Dan Waddell, Michael Walters, Paul Waters, John Wilcox and more.
This is a ticketed event ONLY. Tickets, value £5.00, can be obtained from the Ground Floor Payment Desk at Heffers Bookshop, 20 Trinity Street, Cambridge or by contacting Richard Reynolds 01223 568532 or by email on literature@heffers.co.uk
