Wallander Repeats on BBC4

The run of Swedish Wallander episodes was curtailed earlier this year with the remaining three episodes to appear around Christmas time. Presumably they will appear at the end of the upcoming series of repeats which begins on Wednesday 7 October at 11pm on BBC4. The first episode to be shown is Before The Frost


New policewoman Linda Wallander is waiting for her first big case at Ystad police station and her father, Inspector Kurt Wallander, is getting on her nerves. When her childhood friend Anna mysteriously disappears she is thrown in at the deep end and soon needs her father's help on a fascinating and very dangerous investigation.

Snaking into shops next February...The Serpent Pool

I've got my hands on the new Allison & Busby catalogue and one of the long awaited delights in it is Martin Edwards's new book in his Lake District series: The Serpent Pool. The cover below is from the US edition, published by Poison Pen Press and which is also published in February.

Synopsis: DCI Hannah Scarlett is determined to uncover the truth behind Emily Friend's mysterious drowning in the Serpent Pool.

But Hannah's distracted by a new sergeant with a troublesome reputation, a new house, and new cause to doubt her partner--second hand bookseller Marc Amos. One of Marc's best customers has been burned to death in the converted boathouse filled with priceless books.

Then Hannah meets Louise Kind, sister of the historian Daniel Kind, who has just returned from America to work on a book about Thomas De Quincey and the history of murder. How are all of these elements related?

Wallander on Radio 7

A re-run of the ten episodes of Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell starts today on Radio 7. Each 15 minute episode is on at 1.30pm and 8.30pm and 01.30am. Faceless Killers is the first in the Wallander series:

Swedish inspector Kurt Wallander investigates an attack on an elderly couple.

David Warner narrates and he also plays Wallander's father in the BBC tv show Wallander.

The BBC Radio 7 page is here.

Free e-book of Silent in the Grave

Mills and Boon have several novels available for free download and amongst them is the historical mystery Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn. (Reviewed here on Euro Crime).

It looks to be available in several formats.

Visit this Mills and Boon website to get your free book(s).

New Reviews: Hannah, Mieville, Nadelson, Noort, Russell, Thompson

There are two competitions running in September. One is for 2 children's adventure-thriller books by Andy Briggs and is open to the UK, and the other is for A Visible Darkness by Michael Gregorio which is open world-wide. Details on how to enter can be found on the competition page.

Here are this week's reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback release of The Other Half Lives by Sophie Hannah;

Laura Root reviews The City and The City by China Mieville which is an intriguing mix of detection and science fiction;

Terry Halligan is impressed with Londongrad by Reggie Nadelson the latest in the Artie Cohen series;

Maxine Clarke reviews Back to the Coast by Saskia Noort (and her review will make you rush out and buy the book);

Craig Sisterson reviews the first in a new series by Craig Russell: Lennox, set in 1950s Glasgow;

and Geoff Jones reviews The Captain's Table by Brian Thompson the second of the Bella Wallis series, which is set in Victorian England.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

The Crossing Places - Euro Crime review quote

Elly Griffiths's The Crossing Places has recently come out in paperback and I was delighted to spot a quote from a Euro Crime review inside a library copy:


The whole review, written by Pat Austin, can be read here.
(NB. At the time the review was posted it was not widely known that the author also writes as Domenica de Rosa.)

The sequel, The Janus Stone, will be published in February 2010. here's the synopsis:
Ruth Galloway is called in to investigate when builders, demolishing a large old house in Norwich to make way for a housing development, uncover the bones of a child beneath a doorway - minus the skull. Is it some ritual sacrifice or just plain straightforward murder? DCI Harry Nelson would like to find out - and fast. It turns out the house was once a children's home. Nelson traces the Catholic priest who used to run the home. Father Hennessey tells him that two children did go missing from the home forty years before - a boy and a girl. They were never found. When carbon dating proves that the child's bones predate the home and relate to a time when the house was privately owned, Ruth is drawn ever more deeply into the case. But as spring turns into summer it becomes clear that someone is trying very hard to put her off the scent by frightening her half to death...

2009 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award - shortlist

The shortlist for the 2009 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award has been announced:

Rennie Airth THE DEAD OF WINTER, Macmillan

Philip Kerr IF THE DEAD RISE NOT, Quercus

Shona MacLean THE REDEMPTION OF ALEXANDER SEATON, Quercus

Mark Mills THE INFORMATION OFFICER, HarperCollins

Andrew Williams THE INTERROGATOR, John Murray

Laura Wilson AN EMPTY DEATH, Orion

2009 CWA Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award - shortlist imminent

I've been asked by the CWA to remove the shortlist I posted earlier today as it pre-empted the official announcement which has not been checked etc. I'll repost the list once the press release has gone out, which will hopefully be tomorrow.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - sneak peek

The final part of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (translated by Reg Keeland) will be published on 1 October. Waterstone's in Picadilly is to open at 8am to sell copies. Here are the opening lines...

Chapter 1

Friday, 8.iv

Dr Jonasson was woken by Nurse Nicander five minutes before the helicopter was expected to land. It was just before 1.30 in the morning.

"What?" he said, confused.

"Rescue Service helicopter coming in. Two patients. An injured man and a younger woman. The woman has a gunshot wound."

"Alright," Jonasson said wearily.

Nesbos for young and old in 2010

On 4 March 2010, Jo Nesbo's seventh Harry Hole book, The Snowman, translated by Don Bartlett, will be published in the UK.

Synopsis: The night the first snow falls a young boy wakes to find his mother gone. He walks through the silent house, but finds only wet footprints on the stairs. In the garden looms a solitary figure: a snowman bathed in cold moonlight, its black eyes glaring up at the bedroom windows. Round its neck is his mother's pink scarf. Inspector Harry Hole is convinced there is a link between the disappearance and a menacing letter he received some months earlier. As Harry and his team delve into unsolved case files, they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years. When a second woman disappears Harry's suspicions are confirmed: he is a pawn in a deadly game. For the first time in his career Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his turf, a killer who will drive him to the brink of insanity. A brilliant thriller with a pace that never lets up, "The Snowman" confirms Jo Nesbo's position as an international star of crime fiction.

Watch the trailer below:



and on 1 April (?) (5 January in the US) Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder:

Dr Proctor is an ageing inventor just waiting for his big break. And when he teams up with his next-door neighbour Lise and her peculiar friend Nilli in making the world's most powerful fart powder, it seems his dream may be coming true. But the ruthless twins Truls and Trym Thrane are lurking in the background just waiting to spoil their plans. The drama that follows has repercussions that stretch beyond the imagination, inolving a wild chase through the sewer system of Oslo, anacondas and NASA. Full of humour and witty dialogue, Jo Nesbo creates wonderfully weird characters and lets his imagination run wild in this delightful children's book debut, reminiscent of Roald Dahl.

and further described by this press release as:

a Dahl-esque adventure full of wonderfully weird characters and inventions from bestselling international thriller writer, Jo Nesbo, writing his first book for children. Translated from the original Norwegian, where it was the biggest selling children's debut ever. Illustrated throughout by Mike Lowery.

More on the Kingston Killers Event

Rather than update the original post here is a repeat with the additional information I've received:

Event Title: KINGSTON KILLERS

DATE: Thursday 22nd October 2009

Waterstone's
Kingston Bentalls Centre
Wood Street
Kingston
KT1 1TR

Start of Event - 6.30pm
End of Event - 8.30/9pm.

The evening will consist of a short reading, a brief Q&A with each author followed by 'Any Questions' with the audience at the end of the session. Then a signing session.

Attending Authors:

Yaba Badoe
Chris Carter
N. J. Cooper
R. J. Ellory
Ariana Franklin
Johan Theorin
Cathi Unsworth
Nicola Upson
Laura Wilson

This is a FREE event but registration is ESSENTIAL. Please contact Anita, Ben or Chris at Waterstone's Kingston on 020 8974 6811.

For one night only, all books of the attending authors will be 3 for 2, both new titles and backlist. 

Kingston Killers - Event (22nd October)

Here's a very tempting event, on at Waterstone's in Kingston on 22 October:

Kingston Killers
R.J. Ellory, Johan Theorin, Ariana Franklin
WATERSTONE'S KINGSTON BENTALL
Thursday, 22 October 2009, 6:30PM - 9:00PM

Waterstone’s with Crimesquad.com invite you to ‘Kingston Killers’, an evening of murderous chat, Q&As and book signings with a host of crime authors; established names like R J Ellory and Ariana Franklin, and acclaimed newcomers including Swedish writer, Johan Theorin.
3 for 2 on all participating authors’ titles. Free event, but phone reservation essential.

Further details: 020 8974 6811

I wonder who else will be there? (According to Natasha "NJ" Cooper's website, she will also be there.)

The Gigolo Murder - sneak peek

I've finished this enjoyable tale at the weekend and I'll be reviewing it for the website very soon. The Gigolo Murder is the third in the Hop-Ciki Yaya series after The Prophet Murders and The Kiss Murder. The author, Mehmet Murat Somer, was kind enough to answer a few questions last year on the blog.

Chapter 1

Superhandsome Haluk was pale when he returned. Even in the dimly lit room, it was clear the color had drained from his face.

"That was Faruk on the phone. He's been arrested for murder."

We both looked at him in astonishment.

"I don't understand," gasped his wife, Canan, who was dressed as a stylish Nisantasi girl.

"On suspicion of killing a minibus driver."

He looked at me apologetically as he spoke, sorry for having ruined what had promised to be a pleasant evening with this news.

That's how it all started. While my dear friend Ponpon was on-stage, putting on a sensational show at one of the trendiest, hippest, and priciest nightclubs in Istanbul, yet another murder fell right into my lap. My passion for amateur sleuthing was suddenly inflamed, my stomach full of butterflies.

(translated by Kenneth Dakan)

Chiswick Book Festival - Crime Event

The first Chiswick Book Festival is next weekend. There's a good line-up of authors but of particular interest to crime readers is on the Sunday:

4.00pm: The Perfect Crime - from book to screen

Top crime writers discuss their craft, including Sophie Hannah (The Other Half Lives), Roy Mitchell (creator of BBC One’s New Tricks), Stav Sherez (The Black Monastery) and Dan Waddell (Blood Atonement). St Michael & All Angels Parish Hall upstairs. Refreshments available afterwards. Admission by Sunday Day Pass.

(Day passes are £5).

Catch-Up with Trinity

If (like me) there was too much on last night to watch/record then you can catch the first episode of Trinity on ITV2 on Wednesday at 9pm, though it's not available on the ITV player.

You can also watch the second episode at the Trinity website before it's showing next Sunday at 10pm on ITV2.

What is Trinity? Here's the summary from the website:

Set in the gothic, oak panelled halls of residence and lecture theatres of the fictional Bridgeford University, Trinity College, the ITV2 eight part series brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "first term nerves".

For over 900 years, Trinity has been an elite playground solely for the über rich and powerful. However, for the first time in its long and illustrious history, Trinity is about to throw open its doors to the hoi polloi!

As new girl Charlotte and her fellow students settle in, they begin to realise that all is not what it seems at Trinity.

Beneath the glamorous veneer of wealth and privilege lurks a much darker world, ruled by the mysterious Dandelion Club: a select group of over-privileged students used to getting their own way.

New Reviews: Carter, Leather, Medieval Murderers, Seymour, Templeton, Verhoef

There are two competitions running in September. One is for 2 children's adventure-thriller books by Andy Briggs and is open to the UK, and the other is for A Visible Darkness by Michael Gregorio which is open world-wide. Details on how to enter can be found on the competition page.

Here are this week's reviews:

Craig Sisterson reviews The Crucifix Killer by Chris Carter;

Terry Halligan reviews Live Fire by Stephen Leather and thinks it's his best yet;

Amanda Gillies reviews the paperback edition of The Lost Prophecies by The Medieval Murderers;

Norman Price reviews The Collaborator by Gerald Seymour - which tells what happens when you go against the Camorra;

Michelle Peckham reviews the latest in one of my favourite series: Dead in the Water by Aline Templeton;

and Maxine Clarke reviews Dutch author, Esther Verhoef's English translation debut - Close-Up concluding with "if you like your crime fiction suspenseful, erotically romantic, tense and pacy, this is definitely a book for you".

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

A rare-ish find in Hay today

I've been over to Hay on Wye today. Unfortunately the crime section in Richard Booth's shop is still roped off whilst renovations are in order however I did manage to pick up a gem in the specialist crime bookshop Murder & Mayhem: one of Swedish author Maria Lang's three novels translated into English - No More Murders (translated by Joan Tate) which was published in 1967.


If you click on the photo you should be able to read the synopsis. Also, inside there's a cast of characters which includes: Thotmes III - sacred white cat from Egypt...

More on Maxim's Imprint

I mentioned Maxim Jakubowski's new imprint a few days ago and predicted a Bookseller follow-up to the brief announcement on BookBrunch, and here it is:

Maxim Jakubowski, writer, editor and former proprietor of crime bookshop Murder One, is to launch a new crime fiction imprint, maXcrime, for John Blake Publishing in March.

Nine maXcrime titles will be published in 2010, all mass market paperbacks priced at £7.99, in what is described as a "commercial" but very varied list, covering hard-boiled, historical, cosy, women-oriented crime and crime in translation.

The lead title for 2010 will be Hit by Tara Moss, Australia's biggest-selling crime writer, which will launch the imprint in March alongside a crime novel by film director Mike Hodges. Moss, who sells in 20 languages and is a six-foot ex-model described in the maXcrime catalogue as "the most glamorous author in crime fiction", was an obvious purchase, says Jakubowski. "She's never been published in the UK, and I've never understood it." Hit is one of a series of five and maXcrime has the option on the other titles.

Also on the 2010 list is an Italian serial killer bestseller, The Girl with the Crystal Eyes by Barbara Baraldi (May), and a debut by a writer described as a Scottish Janet Evanovich, Donna Moore's Old Dogs (April).

Read the whole article, here.

NB. Old Dogs is Donna Moore's second book, her first being Go to Helena Handbasket.

Highlights from new Quercus Catalogue

The Spring catalogue has arrived from Quercus/MacLehose Press. The crime highlights include:

January

Peter Temple - Truth (Australian)

February

Elly Griffiths - The Janus Stone

March

Shona MacLean - A Game of Sorrows

April

Marjolijn Februari - The Book Club

May

Colin Cotterill - Love Songs from a Shallow Grave
Adrian Hyland - Gunshot Road (Australian)
Guillermo Orsi - No-One Loves a Policeman (Argentinian) (nb. says Oct on amazon)

June

Elena Forbes - Evil in Return
Valerio Varesi - River of Shadows

OT: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

This is another recent example of an excellent young adult novel (which due to the zombie content is also filed in adult horror in my library) and I recently reviewed on my teenage fiction blog.

It's a tense read but the biggest attraction to me was the world created by the author and all the questions that arose from that setting...

Publishing Deal - Jason Webster

Press release via Book2Book for a new series set in Valencia:

Chatto & Windus ... have acquired Or the Bull Kills You - a stunning detective novel by Jason Webster, author of the acclaimed books on Spain, Duende and Sacred Sierra.

...a two-book world rights deal, together with the second book in the series featuring the flawed and wonderfully realised Chief Inspector Alfredo Crespo. Set in Valencia (where the author lives) in a world of bullfighting, drugs and corruption, Or the Bull Kills You is intelligent, gripping detective fiction, in the tradition of Michael Dibdin.

The first novel shows Crespo struggling to solve the mystery of the violent death of Spain's leading matador amidst the shifting sands of corruption in the sport and the lethal local politics of his adopted home city, Valencia.

Samuel says: 'Jason is an immensely talented young writer and we are thrilled to be publishing his first novel. European crime fiction is more popular than ever, as we have seen with the success of writers such as Henning Mankell and Donna Leon. In Or the Bull Kills You, Jason shines a light on the dark world of Spanish crime, with a hugely compelling detective, exciting plot and fantastically authentic setting.'

Chatto & Windus will publish Or the Bull Kills You in February 2011.

Maxim's new imprint

This is a very brief snippet from the free bit at BookBrunch. I'm expecting a mention about it in The Bookseller tomorrow:

Maxim Jakubowski, publisher, author and bookseller, is poised to embark on a new venture. He is to launch a new imprint at John Blake Publishing, where his list will be called Max Crime.

One of the titles will be the eagerly awaited second book from Donna Moore, called Old Dogs. Donna's first book, Go to Helena Handbasket, is reviewed here on Euro Crime.

New Reviews: Egeland, Gregorio, MacBride, McDermid, Millar, Rankin, Smith

There are two competitions running in September. One is for 2 children's adventure-thriller books by Andy Briggs and is open to the UK, and the other is for A Visible Darkness by Michael Gregorio (reviewed below) which is open world-wide. Details on how to enter can be found on the competition page.

Here are this week's reviews:

Amanda Gillies reviews The Guardians of the Covenant by Tom Egeland concluding with "[it] should keep you hooked from cover to cover";

Norman Price reviews this month's competition prize, A Visible Darkness by Michael Gregorio;

Paul Blackburn reviews the futuristic crime novel Halfhead by Stuart B MacBride;

Maxine Clarke reviews the newest in the Tony Hill series by Val McDermid - Fever of the Bone - beginning her review by writing that "it is written with multi award-winning Val McDermid's usual professionalism, dependability, style and apparent effortlessness";

Michelle Peckham reviews Sam Millar's The Dark Place;

Pat Austin has no complaints about Ian Rankin's The Complaints

and I recently reviewed (on this blog), the audio book version of The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here.

OT: Caturday Photos

Noble Nimes at 18 and a bit years old:

What you looking at?, says Pippa Jones aged twelve:

Radio 4 - Agatha Christie's Life in Her Words

I've had a tip-off (thank you Alison) about this programme about Agatha Christie on Radio 4 tomorrow night. It lasts an hour and is on at 8pm and is also on Monday at 3pm and will no doubt be available on iplayer for a few days as well:

Crime writer Val McDermid listens to recordings made by Agatha Christie which have never before been broadcast.

A panel of guests, including dramatist Kevin Elyot, biographer Laura Thompson, archivist John Curran, who has recently deciphered Christie's notebooks, director Enyd Williams and writer Michael Bakewell, discuss their approach to dramatising her novels for TV and radio and the light that these recordings shed on Christie's working methods.

New Competition - 2 books by Andy Briggs

I've just set up another competition for September which has arisen via my teenage fiction blog. The prize is a set of the latest two books in the Hero.com/Villain.Net series by Andy Briggs. These are aimed at nine years old and upwards but of course can be read by anyone (or make great gifts!).

This competition's open to UK residents only. Details on how to enter are on the competition page on the Euro Crime website.

Whitechapel to return

ITV has announced that a second series of Whitechapel is going ahead:

Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis and Steve Pemberton will reprise their roles as Chandler, Miles and Buchan, to solve a series of copycat murders reminiscent of crimes committed by the infamous Krays.

ITV's Director of Drama Commissioning Laura Mackie, says: "Whitechapel II will be full of the history, texture and detail that gave the first series a distinctive personality.

"It will be as audacious and compelling as the first series, strengthened by further character development and very real personal jeopardy. We're delighted to be commissioning more episodes following the success of Whitechapel I."

Pre-production begins in autumn 2009.

Val McDermid Social Networking site

I received this press release yesterday, embargoed until today:

To tie in with the publication of Val McDermid’s first novel with her new publisher; Little, Brown are today Thursday 10 September launching Rigmarole, the social networking site featured in her new novel Fever of the Bone.

Emma Williams, Brand Manager at Little, Brown masterminded the site. She says, “We created the site as a fun, innovative and interactive way for Val McDermid fans and new readers alike to connect with each other discuss Val’s work and share information with each other as they would on any other social networking site. The site is already populated by scores of Val McDermid fans and be careful, there might be the unwanted profile of the killer on there soon…”

Val’s many fans who follow her current website have been invited to join on their e-newsletter, which has at the very least 4,700 loyal subscribers. The site is intended to be a place where Val’s fans feel at home and they will be encouraged to populate the site and interact with it and start using it as their social network.

All the victims from the book are on the site and are ‘played’ by various members of the Little, Brown marketing team.

Upon publication, the killer will also be introduced to the site.

Visit Rigmarole, here.

A review of Fever to the Bone will be available on Euro Crime very soon.

Whole Story Audio Books & Me

Regular blog visitors may know that I'm a huge fan of audio books and I always have one on the go. Currently it's Dead Line by Stella Rimington, narrated by Maggie Mash. So I was very chuffed to be asked by Whole Story Audio Books to be a guest reviewer. My bio is now online with links to my review(s).

My first two review books will be:

Cold in Hand by John Harvey.
The Draining Lake by Arnaldur Indridason

My previous blog posts on audio books, including reviews, can be found here.

The Book People - recent offers

The latest catalogue from The Book People has a couple of great offers:

Three Daisy Dalrymple novels by Carola Dunn for £4.99:

Death at Wentwater Court
The Winter Garden Mystery
Requim for a Mezzo

which are the first three in the series.

Carola Dunn's bibliography is here.

and

Ten Ian Rankin books for £9.99:

The Falls
The Flood
A Question of Blood
Watchman
The Naming of the Dead
A Good Hanging
Bleeding Hearts
Set In Darkness
Blood Hunt
Witch Hunt

Ian Rankin's bibliography can be found here.

More multi-titled sets can be found here including the Martin Beck series by Sjowall and Wahloo for £9.99. P & P is free when you spend over £25.

Laura Wilson - Publishing Deal

Laura Wilson's successful DI Stratton series is now to be published by Quercus:

Quercus is pleased to announce that crime writer Laura Wilson, winner of the 2008 Ellis Peters Award for her novel Stratton’s War, has moved to them from Orion for her next two books in the D.I. Stratton series. The books feature a London detective working in the West End during the 40s and 50s. Quercus will publish Austerity, a novel exploring the notorious Christie case, in 2010. The agent is Jane Gregory.

Laura Wilson said: I had a very happy ten years being published by Orion, who were incredibly supportive. I’m sad to be leaving, but I’m absolutely delighted to be reunited with my original editor, the incomparable Jane Wood, at Quercus.

Jane Wood said: I’ve published Laura since her first novel, A Little Death, appeared in 1999 and I’m thrilled to be working with her again The Stratton books are more than great crime novels; they chart the dramatic changes in people’s lives during and after the Second World War. We’re delighted to welcome Laura to the Quercus list.

Remaining CWA Dagger shortlists announced

The remaining 2009 CWA Dagger award shortlists have been announced today:

The CWA Gold Dagger

Kate Atkinson: When Will There Be Good News? (Black Swan/Transworld)
Mark Billingham: In the Dark (Little, Brown)
Lawrence Block: Hit and Run (Orion)
William Broderick: A Whispered Name (Little, Brown)
MR Hall: The Coroner (Pan Macmillan)
Gene Kerrigan: Dark Times In The City (Harvill Secker)

The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger

Michael Connelly: The Brass Verdict (Orion)
Gillian Flynn: Dark Places (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
John Hart: The Last Child (John Murray)
Charlie Newton: Calumet City (Bantam Press)
Daniel Silva: Moscow Rules (Michael Joseph)
Olen Steinhauer: The Tourist (HarperCollins)
Andrew Williams: The Interrogator (John Murray)

The CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger

David Fuller Sweetsmoke (Abacus)
James Green Bad Catholics (Luath Press)
Rod Madocks No Way To Say Goodbye (Five Leaves)
Robert Rotenberg Old City Hall (John Murray)
Johan Theorin Echoes from The Dead (Doubleday)
Dan Waddell The Blood Detective (Penguin)

Read more about the Daggers and other shortlists at the CWA website.

Spiral returns (at last!)

Wallander may have vanished for a few months but the very good news is that the second series of Spiral starts next Sunday.

The BBC4 website seems to be timing-out - no doubt as fans of Spiral click on it. I'll update this post when I can get through!

By my reckoning, this makes Waking the Dead, Marple, Harper's Island and Spiral all on one night...

Update: Spiral will be on BBC4 at 10pm, for 50 mins:

When a charred corpse is found in the boot of a car in the suburbs, Berthaud's police team are called to the scene along with the prosecutors Roban and Clement. So begins an investigation which forces the team into the broken, gang-ruled suburbs of Paris, and once more to the door of shady lawyer Josephine Karlsson.

Where's Wallander (BBC4)?

It seems enough people have been wondering where the remaining episodes of Wallander have got to. Well here's the official response:

Ten episodes of Wallander were recently broadcast on BBC Four. The remaining three episodes will be shown over the Christmas period.

Exact transmission dates/times will be available from mid-December 2009, and we'll publish the information here when confirmed.

Translated Crime Fiction Survey

I recently received an email from a student:

I'm a Publishing Masters student based in London. I'm writing a dissertation on translated crime fiction. As part of my research, I have created a reader survey. I am wondering whether you would be willing to flag it up on your blog.

The survey is quite painless and will only take a couple of minutes. This is the website to enter your answers.

New Competition - open World-Wide

September's competition prizes are 5 copies of A Visible Darkness by Michael Gregorio.

This month, the competition is open world-wide.

Just answer the question and the tie-breaker to go into the draw.

Details on how to enter can be found on the Euro Crime website Competition page.

Review: The Miracle at Speedy Motors (audio book)

The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith, read by Adjoa Andoh
(ISIS Audio Books, June 2008, CD ISBN:075312792X)

The Miracle at Speedy Motors is the ninth in the Mma Ramotswe, owner of Botswana's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, series. This time around Mma Ramotswe has the problem of who is sending her anonymous spiteful letters as well as tracking down the family of an orphan whilst associate detective, Mma Makutsi's problems are more domestic.

As usual this was a delightful listen, taking the listener straight into Botswanan culture and how people there are linked together; a story of family, friends and a country, hung over a framework of problems to solve. In the main, all ends happily though the author doesn't take the easy route with a matter concerning Mma Ramotswe's family.

I enjoy this series more with each passing book and have already ordered the next one, Tea Time for the Traditionally Built.

Adjoa Andoh has recently taken over the narration duties from Hilary Neville. Whereas the latter had a subtle way of distinguishing between the characters speaking, the former gives the characters much more easily identifiable voices. And, whether this is coincidence or not, to my ear her Mma Ramotswe does sound quite similar to the tv version of Mma Ramotswe played by Jill Scott.

(Adjoa Andoh is of course well known to Doctor Who fans as Martha's mother.)

The Euro Crime bibliography page for Alexander McCall Smith is here.

Loads more Dagger Award Categories...

The CWA have released a press statement today about their collaboration with ITV3, Cactus TV and Specsavers and details of new Dagger awards:

Specsavers, Cactus TV and ITV3 in partnership with the Crime Writers’ association (CWA) are pleased to announce they will join forces to celebrate the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2009. Following the success of last year’s naugural event on ITV3, the 2009 event will be merged with the Crime Writers’ Association Daggers and the new combined “Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards on ITV3” will take place on Wednesday, 21st October, 2009.

The exciting new partnership is a 3 year deal between the four parties. The initiative has the support of leading publishers and high street retailers and will have posters and stickered books in shops and supermarkets and coverage in the press, reinforcing the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards as a major industry event.

The culmination of a six-week season of ITV3 crime and drama programming, the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards (“Daggers”) will be a glittering occasion at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. The awards ceremony will celebrate the crème de la crème of Crime & Thriller fiction with awards focusing on the best of British and International crime thriller novels. Literary Awards presented will include the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller, the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger for a new author of note, and the Hall Of Fame Dagger, which honours the achievements of the genre’s greatest exponents, past and present. In addition, the evening will introduce a brand new award – the ITV3 Bestseller Dagger, sponsored by Specsavers – voted for by ITV3 viewers.

The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards will also celebrate crime fiction off the page with awards focusing on the greatest crime and thriller films and TV dramas of the year – along with the actors who brought the characters to life. Each award of the evening will be presented by celebrity faces with a connection to the world of crime fiction.

In the run-up to the glittering awards, ITV3 will broadcast weekly documentaries, profiling six of the greatest crime writers working today: Colin Dexter, Ian Rankin, P D James, Lynda La Plante, Val McDermid and Ruth Rendell. In 2008, the series reached 3.12m viewers. These documentaries will also highlight the shortlists for the new literary awards as well as interviews with the shortlisted writers for the ITV3/Specsavers Bestsellers Dagger.

The televised ceremony which will transmit on ITV3 later in October will combine the Crime Writers’ Association’s most prestigious awards with the major categories featured in 2009’s Thriller Awards:

· The CWA Gold Dagger for the best Crime Novel of the year.
· The CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger – for first books by previously unpublished writers, awarded in memory of CWA founder John Creasey.
· The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger – for the year’s best thriller.

· The ITV3 Bestseller Dagger, sponsored by Specsavers – voted for by ITV3 viewers.
· The Hall of Fame – honouring the achievements of the genre’s greatest exponents, past and present.
· The Film Dagger – for the best big-screen crime thriller story.
· The TV Dagger – for the best small-screen crime thriller drama.
· The International TV Dagger – for the best TV crime thriller drama from around the world.
· The Best Actress Dagger – for the female star of a crime thriller drama.
· The Best Actor Dagger - for the male star of a crime thriller drama.

The shortlists for each of these award categories will be announced to the public on 4th September, 2009.

The full press release can be read here (pdf format).

I can't say I'm completely clear about what's going on but I'm sure it'll become more obvious once the shortlists are out in a few days time. I wonder whether the other Daggers such as the International one will be integrated into the mainstream in 2010?