New Titles from Faber - Jan-June 2013

Taken from the Faber catalogue, here are all their new crime titles for January to June 2013 (all of which are relevant to Euro Crime):

January

Back from the Dead by Peter Leonard (#2 Harry Levin)

A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez (paperback) (#1 DI Jack Carrigan and DS Geneva Miller, London)

February

The Red Moth by Sam Eastland (#4 Inspector Pekkala, Revolutionary Russia)

The Baghdad Railway Club by Andrew Martin (paperback) (#8 Jim Stringer, Train Fireman)

Norwegian By Night by Derek B Miller

The Expats by Chris Pavone (paperback)

March

Safe House by Chris Ewan (paperback)

Gone Again by Doug Johnstone

April

Death of a Showgirl by Tobias Jones (#3 Castagnetti, PI, Italy)

Seventy Times Seven by John Gordon Sinclair (paperback)

May

Eleven Days by Stav Sherez (#2 DI Jack Carrigan and DS Geneva Miller, London)

June

Graveland by Alan Glynn

New Titles from Constable & Robinson - Jan-June 2013

Taken from the Constable & Robinson catalogue, here are new titles for January to June 2013 that are relevant to Euro Crime, plus anything translated or a bit unusual...:

Corsair

 

February

A Treacherous Likeness by Lynn Shepherd (#3 Charles Maddox, private detective, 1800s)

May

The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura (tr. Satoko Izumo and Stephen Coates) (paperback)

June

Generation Loss & Available Dark by Elizabeth Hand (#1 & #2 in Cass Neary series, set in Maine and Iceland respectively)

C & R Crime 

 

January

Death at the Jesus Hospital by David Dickinson (paperback) (#11 Lord Francis Powerscourt, Victorian era)

February

The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 10 (paperback) (edited by Maxim Jakubowski)

Death of Yesterday by M C Beaton (#29 PC Hamish Macbeth, Lochdubh, Scotland)

Death of a Kingfisher by M C Beaton (paperback) (#28 PC Hamish Macbeth, Lochdubh, Scotland)

The Circus by James Craig (#4 Inspector John Carlyle)

March

The reissue of some of Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy books: Gold from Gemini; The Grail Tree; The Judas Pair; Spend Game.

April

Chilled to the Bone by Quentin Bates (#3 Gunnhildur, Police Sergeant, Hvalvik, Iceland)

Agatha Raisin: Hiss and Hers by M C Beaton (paperback) (#23 Agatha Raisin, Retired PR person, Cotswolds)

Dark Spaces by Helen Black (#5 Lilly Valentine, Family care lawyer)

Reissue of Alan Hunter's Gently with the Innocents and Gently at a Gallop.

Dark Dawn by Matt McGuire (paperback)

Blink of an Eye by Cath Staincliffe plus reissues of Looking for Trouble and Go Not Gently, the first two books in her Sal Kilkenny, PI, Manchester, series in May.

and Australian but...the first three Phryne Fisher books get their UK paperback debut: Miss Phryne Fisher Ivestigates/Flying Too High/Murder on the Ballarat Train.

May

The Seven Wonders by Steven Saylor (paperback) (#1 Gordanius the Finder (prequel))

June

Manna From Hades/A Colourful Death/Valley of the Shadow by Carola Dunn - the first three books in the Eleanor Trewyn, Port Mabyn, Cornwall series get their UK paperback release.

Everyone Lies by A D Garrett (aka Margaret Murphy & Professor Dave Barclay)(#1 DI Kate Simms, Manchester)

Killman by G W Kent (#3 Sergeant Kella & Sister Conchita, Solomon Islands)

New Titles from Quercus - Jan-June 2013

Taken from the Quercus Spring catalogue, here are new titles for January to June 2013 that are relevant to Euro Crime, plus anything translated or a bit unusual...:

January

The Chessman by Peter May (already available in ebook) (#3 Fin Macleod, Police Officer, Edinburgh)

Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths (available in ebook on 20 Dec.)(#5 Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist and DCI Harry Nelson)

Dark Winter by David Mark (paperback) (#1 Detective Sergeant McAvoy of Humberside CID)

Screams in the Dark by Anna Smith (#3 Rosie Gilmour, Crime Journalist, 1990s)

The Woman Who Wouldn't Die by Colin Cotterill (#9 Dr Siri Paiboun, Laos)

The Dark Valley by Valerio Varesi (tr. Joseph Farrell) (paperback) (#2 Commissario Soneri, Italy)

The Low Road by Chris Womersley (Australian noir)

February

Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach by Colin Cotterill (paperback) (#2 Jimm Juree, Crime Reporter, Thailand)

Sleepwalkers by Tom Grieves (paperback)

The Mattress House by Paulus Hochgaterrer (tr. Jamie Bulloch) (paperback) (#2 Psychiatrist Raffael Horn & Criminal Commissioner Kovacs)

Alex by Pierre Lemaitre (tr. Frank Wynne) (#2 Police Commandant Camille Verhoeven trilogy)

March

The Deliverance of Evil by Roberto Costantini (tr. N S Thompson) (#1 Commissario Michele Balistreri, Rome)

The River of Fire by Patrick Easter (paperback) (#2 Tom Pascoe, River Surveyor, 18thC)

The Devil's Recruit by S G MacLean (#4 Alexander Seaton, 17thC Aberdeen)

Holy City by Guillermo Orsi (tr. Nick Caistor) (paperback)

Killer at the End of the Line by David Thomas

The Crowded Grave by Martin Walker (paperback) (#4 Bruno, Chief of Police, France)

April

The Garden of Burning Sand by Corban Addison (set in Zambia)

The Voice of the Spirits by Xavier-Marie Bonnot (tr. Justin Phipps) ( #3 Police Captain Michel de Palma, Marseille)

Isle of the Dead by Alex Connor

Original Skin by David Mark (available in ebook on 28 Feb.)(#2 Detective Sergeant McAvoy of Humberside CID)

The Missing File by D A Mishani (tr. Steven Cohen) (set in Tel Aviv)

Two Soldiers by Roslund & Hellstrom (tr. Kari Dickson) (#6 Detective Inspector Ewert Grens)

May

Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths (paperback) (#5 Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist and DCI Harry Nelson)

Until the Wrath Be Past by Asa Larsson (tr. Laurie Thompson) (paperback)

A Willing Victim by Laura Wilson (paperback) (#4 Inspector Ted Stratton, CID, WW2 London)

June

Killing Range by Phil Campion (#2 Steve Range, Ex-Special Forces operative)

The Lullaby of Polish Girls by Dagmara Dominczyk

The Gift of Darkness by V M Giambanco (#1 Detective Alice Madison, Seattle)

A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr (#9 Private Detective Bernhard Gunther, 1930s Berlin)

Limit by Frank Schatzing (tr. Shaun Whiteside, Jamie Searle & Samuel Willcocks) (futuristic thriller)

Bed of Nails by Antonin Varenne (tr. Sian Reynolds) (#1 Guerin, Paris)

The Devil's Cave by Martin Walker (paperback) (#5 Bruno, Chief of Police, France)

The Resistance Man by Martin Walker (#6 Bruno, Chief of Police, France)

Review: The Nightmare by Lars Kepler

The Nightmare by Lars Kepler translated by Laura A Wideburg, September 2012, 500 pages, Blue Door, ISBN: 0007414471

THE NIGHTMARE is the follow-up to the best-selling THE HYPNOTIST and sees the return of Stockholm Police Detective Joona Linna, now as the lead character.

Joona is drawn into two separate cases. Firstly through a friend on the force he's invited to the possible crime-scene of the death of a Government official, Palmcrona, who has the final responsibility for overseeing Sweden's sale of arms to foreign countries. The death looks suspicious but could be suicide.

When Joona goes to the pathology department, the expert, nicknamed The Needle, shows him the body of a young woman who died of drowning but whose body was found in the bedroom of an abandoned boat. Joona begins to investigate. The reader knows who the dead girl is and what's happened and that two people are in mortal danger but it takes the police longer to raise the alarm and organise a proper search.

Eventually Joona who is joined by the security service's (Sapo) Saga Bauer (a fey looking woman who boxes but is nevertheless not taken seriously enough by her male colleagues) and they begin to unravel the reason why so many people are dying.

This is a big book - 500 pages - and several characters are introduced and the plotting makes good use of their personalities and talents, though an enormous suspension of disbelief is required at times. The Swedish authorities fare slightly better in this book than they did in the previous one in terms of competency (but not body count) though they make a couple of significant, plot-driven errors; even Sapo swiftly drop their silly ideas regarding terrorism and toe the Joona-line.

Ultimately, THE NIGHTMARE is a nail-biting thriller, with chase after chase after chase and tense situations, which culminates in a slightly implausible showdown with the main bad guy. It's told in present tense which adds urgency and the shortish chapters end on cliffhangers.

The likeable Joona is still a mystery, he has an uncanny ability to read crime scenes and know what's gone on and is a bit of a hero in the force. There are some small teasers regarding his personal history dropped in, but two tantalising threads regarding his love-life, past and current, are left dangling; I believe a ten-book series is planned so maybe they'll be answered by the end.

Despite some other minor issues – slight repetition of facts, over-detailed descriptions and a US/UK English hybrid of a translation, I was completely enthralled by THE NIGHTMARE. I'm very much looking forward to book three, THE FIRE WITNESS.

New Reviews: Black, Ewan, Jordan, McGilloway, Meyer, Nesbo, Perry, Quigley, Simms

Here are 9 new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today:

Susan White reviews Helen Black's Blood Rush, the fourth in the Lilly Valentine, family care lawyer, series;

Terry Halligan reviews Chris Ewan's first standalone novel, Safe House set on the Isle of Man [& currently 20p as an e-book in the UK];

Amanda Gillies reviews the first in Will Jordan's Ryan Drake series set in the US: Redemption which is now out in paperback;

Brian McGilloway's latest Garda Inspector Ben Devlin book is also out in paperback, The Nameless Dead, reviewed here by JF;

We conclude our reviews of Deon Meyer's superb collection of South African crime novels with Lynn Harvey's review of Dead at Daybreak tr. Madeleine van Biljon;

Maxine Clarke reviews Harry Hole's first case, in Jo Nesbo's The Bat tr. Don Bartlett set in Australia;

Terry also reviews the paperback release of Anne Perry's Dorchester Terrace starring Thomas Pitt;

Lizzie Hayes reviews the first in a new series by Sheila Quigley, Thorn in My Side

and Mark Bailey reviews Chris Simms' Scratch Deeper the first in a new series, featuring Detective Constable Iona Khan and set in Manchester.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

TV News: Trailer for The Spies of Warsaw (with David Tennant)

Alan Furst's The Spies of Warsaw is expected to be shown on BBC Four early in 2013 and BBC America in January.

It stars David Tennant and Janet Montgomery and is adapted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. The supporting cast includes Ann Eleonora Jørgensen (Pernille from The Killing). From the BBC's website:

A thrilling spy story set in Poland, Paris, London & Berlin in the years leading up to the Second World War. French and German intelligence operatives are locked in a life-and-death struggle on the espionage battlefield.

At the French embassy, the new military attaché, Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier (Tennant), a decorated war hero of the 1914 war, is drawn into a world of abduction, betrayal and intrigue in the diplomatic salons and back alleys of Warsaw.

At the same time, the handsome aristocrat finds himself in a passionate love affair with Anna (Montgomery), a Parisian lawyer for the League of Nations. Their complicated love affair intensifies as German tanks drive through the Black Forest.

Two 90-minute film adaptations of one of Furst’s most acclaimed novels will bring to BBC Four a combination of historically located, intelligent narratives, interlaced with flawed, romantic and utterly compelling characters.

BBC America have released a brief trailer: 

Radio News: Crime Writers on Front Row

Three recent programmes on Radio 4's Front Row presented by Foreign Bodies' Mark Lawson, have segments related to crime-fiction:

Last night's episode (Wed 21):

Agatha Christie's classic murder mystery play The Mousetrap has now been continuously in performance in London for 60 years, and the first ever touring production of the show is currently on a 60 date tour. Front Row sent three crime writers - Frances Fyfield, Mark Billingham and Suzette A Hill - to see The Mousetrap at three different locations. All three join Mark to debate whether the production has aged well.

and Monday's (19th):

Crime writer Denise Mina discusses how she has worked on a graphic novel version of Stieg Larsson's best seller The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and plans to adapt all three volumes of the Millennium Trilogy - each in two parts.

and last Wednesday's (14th):

The Heresy of Dr Dee is the latest in a series of novels about the Tudor astrologer and magician Dr John Dee by writer Phil Rickman. The novel explores the mysterious death of Amy Dudley, wife of Elizabeth I's favourite Lord Robert Dudley. Phil Rickman explains his fascination with Dee and why self-publishing is a temptation he's keen to resist.

[The links are to Euro Crime bibliographies and reviews.]

You can download the podcasts or listen again here.

TV News: Hinterland & Young Montalbano

BBC Four has two more crime dramas lined up, they've announced today: Hinterland and Young Montalbano.

Hinterland:

Hinterland is a gripping new detective series based in the coastal Welsh town of Aberystwyth - set against the backdrop of mountainous hinterland, isolated farms and close-knit villages. A natural crucible of colliding worlds, where history, myth and tradition come face to face with the modern and contemporary - its panoramic vistas and quaint facade hide a multitude of sins - this is a place that lives according to its own rules, a place where grudges fester, where the secrets of the past are buried deep.

DCI Tom Mathias (Richard Harrington, Lark Rise To Candleford) is a brilliant but troubled man on the run from his past. Having abandoned his life in London, he finds himself holed up in a trailer park on the outskirts of town – a place filled with secrets as dark and destructive as his own. Together with hometime girl DI Mared Rhys, he forms an engaging partnership in a thrilling new drama with pace, poetry and scale.

And this from This is South Wales:

A NEW television detective series that will be shown in both Welsh and English is to film in Ceredigion.

Mathias, starring Richard Harrington in the lead role of DCI Tom Mathias, will start shooting this autumn.

It is the first back-to-back drama series to be made in both languages and will first be shown in Welsh on S4C and then in English on BBC Wales under the title Hinterland.

Young Montalbano:

The Inspector Montalbano drama series have been a popular fixture of the BBC Four schedule for the past year. Now, in Young Montalbano, viewers will get the opportunity to learn how both the private life and career of the Sicilian detective developed in this new series which gives an insight into his youth. Set in the early 1990s and starring Michele Riondino in the title role, this prequel series, also written by Andrea Camilleri was recently shown to critical acclaim in Italy.

So far 6 episodes of 100 minutes have been filmed. It stars younger versions of all the regular characters -  Fazio, Mimi, Catarella, Livia, Pasquano and Zito.

Free Kindle Short Story (UK) - Edie Kiglatuk's Christmas

This short story by M J McGrath has recently become available for free on UK Kindle:

Blurb from Amazon: An exclusive free edition of this stunning short mystery set in the frozen high Arctic and featuring the most compelling new heroine in crime fiction: ex polar bear hunter Edie Kiglatuk. Also includes the opening chapters of M. J. McGrath's new book The Boy in the Snow.

The shortest day of the year didn’t count for much up on Ellesmere Island. By the time 21 December arrived, the sun hadn’t come up for two months and it would be another two before it managed to scramble over the High Arctic horizon. Objects, animals and even people could disappear during the Great Dark without anyone much noticing. Which was why no one reported Tommy Qataq missing . . . Christmas is fast approaching on Ellesmere Island, in the vast frozen landscape of the High Arctic, and half Inuit ex polar bear hunter Edie Kiglatuk is drawn into a mystery when a young man dies in suspicious circumstances. A stunning short mystery with a magical and heart-wrenching twist, Edie Kiglatuk's Christmas is from the CWA Dagger Award nominated author of White Heat and The Boy In the Snow and will be enjoyed by fans of Miss Smilla's Feeling For Snow by Peter Hoeg and Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie series.

TV News: The Poison Tree on ITV soon

Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree has been made into two one-hour episodes, the first of which will be shown on 10 December at 9pm on ITV1:

Karen Clarke (MyAnna Buring) has spent twelve years waiting for her partner Rex (Matthew Goode) to be released from prison. Now he is free, she is looking forward to settling down to normal family life in their remote seaside cottage with their 11 year old daughter Alice (Hebe Johnson). But then Karen starts to receive silent phone calls and anonymous text messages and she can’t shake the feeling that she and her family are constantly being watched. It seems that despite her best efforts to keep their past a secret, someone somewhere knows the truth about what she and Rex did.
 
Flash backs to the long, hot summer of 1999, when Karen was a student and first met Rex and his impossibly glamorous sister Biba (Ophelia Lovibond), gradually reveal Karen, Rex and Biba’s shared history in the crumbling Highgate mansion that they share – their intense, almost incestuous relationships, and the hedonistic party lifestyle that culminates in the tragic events that leave two people dead.
 
As the threat to Karen draws ever nearer, gradually the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, and the truth of what happened that fateful day emerges. But it seems that Karen is concealing deeper, darker secrets than even Rex realises. If he wasn’t guilty of murder, then who was? And how far will Karen go to protect the family that she has sacrificed so much for?

MyAnna Buring & Matthew Goode

Free Kindle Book (UK) - The Storm Without

Tony Black's The Storm Without is currently free on UK Kindle. I'm not sure how long the offer will last.
Update 21/11/12, it's now 99p.

Still recovering from the harrowing case that ended his police career, Doug Michie returns to his boyhood home of Ayr on Scotland’s wind-scarred west coast. He hopes to rebuild his shattered life, get over the recent failure of his marriage and shed his demons, but the years have changed the birthplace of the poet Robert Burns.

When Doug meets an old school-days flame, Lyn, he feels his past may offer the salvation of a future. But Lyn’s son has been accused of murder and she begs Doug to find the truth.

Soon Doug is tangled in a complicated crimeweb of corrupt politicians, frightened journalists and a police force in cahoots with criminals. As he uncovers illicit smuggling activities at the town’s port and falls firmly on the wrong side of eastern European ganglords, the problems he left behind in Ulster are now the least of his worries. Only Burns’ philosophical musings offer Doug some shelter as he wanders the streets of Auld Ayr battling The Storm Without.

THE STORM WITHOUT is a 43,000-word novella, first serialised in the Ayrshire Post.

New Reviews: Cutler, Forrester, Macbain, Morgan, Nesser, Preston, Rankin, Von Schirach, Welsh

Here are 9 new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today:

Lizzie Hayes reviews Judith Cutler's Burying the Past, the fourth in the Chief Superintendent Fran Harman series;

Terry Halligan reviews James Forrester's second in the Clarenceaux, Elizabethan series, The Roots of Betrayal;

Amanda Gillies reviews the first in the Pliny the Younger series by Bruce Macbain: Roman Games which now has a UK release;

Fidelis Morgan, author of a well-loved historical series, switches to modern day with The Murder Quadrille, reviewed here by Susan White;

Lynn Harvey reviews the paperback release of Hakan Nesser's Hour of the Wolf, tr. Laurie Thompson, the seventh in the Van Veeteren (and team) series;

JF reviews Australian author Luke Preston's Dark City Blue an ebook from Momentum, the digital-only wing of Pan Macmillan Australia;

Maxine Clarke reviews Ian Rankin's Standing in Another Man's Grave which sees the return of Rebus;

Earlier this week I reviewed on the blog, Ferdinand von Schirach's The Collini Case, tr. Anthea Bell

and Michelle Peckham reviews Louise Welsh's: The Girl on the Stairs set in Berlin.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

OT: It's Cat-urday

Along with more than 10,000 viewers I've become hooked on watching the Spice Kittens: four kittens, who are being looked after, along with their mum, at PurrfectPals. Their activities are livestreamed (they are currently asleep at the time of writing) - watch here.

Here is a screen-shot of the four in action:

Thanks to @crimeficreader for the tip.

Christmas Present Ideas

Here are a few Christmas present suggestions for the crime-fiction lover in your family:

This is from 2010 so won't reference the new TV shows like Sherlock & Elementary:

Get a comprehensive guide to this important literary figure and his author. A classic literary character, Sherlock Holmes has fascinated readers for decades –– from his repartee with Dr. Watson and his unparalleled powers of deduction to the settings, themes, and villains of the stories. Now, this friendly guide offers a clear introduction to this beloved figure and his author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, presenting new insight into the detective stories and crime scene analysis that have has made Sherlock Holmes famous. Inside you′ll find easy–to–understand yet thorough information on the characters, recurring themes, and locations, and social context of the Sherlock Holmes stories, the relationship of these stories to literature, and the forensics and detective work they feature. You′ll also learn about the life of the author. Better understand and enjoy this influential literary character with this plain–English guide. Gain insight on these classic Doyle tales –– from the classic Hound of the Baskervilles to the lesser–known short stories to Holmes stories written by other mystery writers. Explore the appearance of Sherlock Holmes on film, TV, and stage. Examine Holmes today –– from the ever–expanding network of fans worldwide to story locations that fans can visit. It′s elementary! Sherlock Holmes For Dummies is an indispensable guide for students and fans alike!

However if you want to know more about Sherlock then, just released is The Casebook:

This book is my humble attempt to shine a light on the work of the best and wisest I have ever known. He has, I think it is safe to say, elevated the science of detection into an art form. Having been at his side during some of his most remarkable cases, it has fallen to me to bring his achievements to the attention of the wider public. He is, quite simply, the Mozart of criminal investigation. I would say more, but I am flattered and delighted to say that Sherlock Holmes himself has agreed to write a piece for the cover. The author has transformed what should have been a series of lectures into a gross and tasteless entertainment. The science of deduction is a branch of human achievement requiring serious analysis and yet here I find it lavishly illustrated, disfigured with humour and infested with gossip. Apparently, this kind of sensationalism is required to engage the interest of the reading public, but it is rather like working an office romance into a paper on quantum physics. Only an idiot would be impressed. Help yourself. Sherlock Holmes

Want something more social, then how about, Cluedo: Sherlock Edition:

The enigmatic series Sherlock retells the tale of England’s most celebrated detective – and now Sherlock Holmes and John Watson’s adventures in 21st century London are the centrepiece for their own version of the classic game of Cluedo! Who killed Moriarty? Was it Mrs. Hudson, in the Tower of London with the Wrench, or Irene Adler, in 221B, with a Candlestick? You’ll need all your wits about you to find out!

and if you get overcome with emotion after receiving one of these splendid gifts then why not wipe your eyes with a Cluedo tissue?

Review: The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach

The Collini Case by Ferdinand von Schirach translated by Anthea Bell, September 2012, 190 pages, Michael Joseph, ISBN: 0718159195

THE COLLINI CASE is a short, powerful and important crime novel, one that has played a part in the setting up of a (German) Ministry of Justice committee into looking at the effects of the past on the current state of the Ministry.

The book opens in Berlin with the clinical description of a murder and the subsequent surrender of the murderer to the police. The killer, Herr Collini, originally from Italy, admits his guilt but refuses to say any more. The public defender on call is the young, newly trained but enthusiastic Caspar Leinen and he accepts the case. He then finds, however, that he has a personal connection to the victim, nonetheless his mentor says he must be a lawyer and defend the man irrespective of his feelings.

Caspar however has an uncooperative client and is left on the brink of a disastrous trial but a chance remark puts him on the right track to defending his client.

After the rather chilly start, a la Andrea Maria Schenkel, the story moves into warmer territory and becomes extremely moving with the horrific and inexplicable murder becoming more understandable. The reader and Caspar see two sides to the victim and murderer. The latter half of the story is a gripping courtroom drama and a reminder of what must not ever be forgotten.

Also worth seeking out is the thematically related film, Music Box, starring Jessica Lange and Armin Muller-Stahl which made a huge impression on me in 1989 and is available on DVD (2007).

Foreign Bodies - the Bibliographies (week 3)

I've now listened to the final 5 of the 15 episodes of Radio 4's European Crime Fiction (Foreign Bodies) programme presented by Mark Lawson. Most of the episodes have interviews with or references to other authors and I've put their names and a link to their bibliography on Euro Crime:

11. Germany: Jakob Arjouni (Featured: Mrs Peabody (see her article on Kemal Kayankaya here, also interviewed: Esmaham Aykol)

12. Scotland: Ian Rankin [Mentioned: Andrea Camilleri; Interviewed: Ann Cleeves]

13. Sweden: Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson [Interviewed: Liza Marklund, Camilla Lackberg, Kenneth Branagh; Mentioned: Andrea Camilleri, Ian Rankin, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Arthur Conan Doyle]

14. Norway: Jo Nesbo (parts of the interview came from his Harrogate event) [Also interviewed: Gunnar Staalesen]

15. Russia: Boris Akunin [Mentioned: Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Georges Simenon, Martin Cruz Smith, Robert Harris's Archangel, Tom Rob Smith, Antonio Hill; Interviewed: Ian Rankin, Andrey Kurkov]
    

The bibliographical links for the first five episodes are here and week two's are here. Alternatively see all posts tagged as Foreign Bodies.

The podcasts/programmes can be listened to/downloaded  for another few days at Radio 4's Foreign Bodies website.

Many more bibliographies (by nationality) can be found via the Euro Crime Books page.

Specsavers Crime & Thriller of the Year Shortlist

The shortlists for the National Book Awards, now sponsored by Specsavers, have been released and the pertinent one for crime readers is:

Crime & Thriller of the Year

For a novel in this genre from a UK author which has made an outstanding impact in bookselling outlets in terms of acclaim and sales.

Lee Child - A Wanted Man
Sophie Hannah - Kind of Cruel
Susan Hill - A Question of Identity
Anthony Horowitz - The House of Silk
Peter James - Perfect People
Denise Mina - Gods and Beasts

The winner will be announced on 4 December 2012.

New Reviews: Adler-Olsen, Hunter, Kallentoft, Larsson, Sigurdardottir, Sussman, Thomson

Apologies for the slight delay and fewer reviews than usual this week.

Here are 7 new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today:

Last week I reviewed on the blog, Jussi Adler-Olsen's Disgrace tr. K E Semmel the sequel to Mercy;

Rich Westwood reviews Alan Hunter's Gently with the Ladies [the books only sharing a name with the Martin Shaw tv series];

Maxine Clarke reviews Mons Kallentoft's third Malin Fors book, Autumn Killing tr. Neil Smith;

Susan White reviews Asa Larsson's The Black Path tr. Marlaine Delargy now out in paperback;

Amanda Gillies reviews Yrsa Sigurdardottir's standalone ghost-crime thriller I Remember You tr. Philip Roughton;

Lynn Harvey reviews Paul Sussman's third book in his Yusuf Khalifa series, The Labyrinth of Osiris which is the last due to the author's untimely death this year

and Terry Halligan reviews June Thomson's latest collection of Sherlock Holmes stories: The Secret Archives of Sherlock Holmes.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

TV News: Falcón starts next week

Sky Atlantic have snapped up Falcón, a four-part series based on the first two of Robert Wilson's Seville-based, Detective Javier Falcon books.

The series begins at 10pm on Thursday, 15 November and stars Marton Csokas [from The Debt] as Falcón, Emilia Fox as his wife Ines. Guest stars include Bernard Hill and Robert Lindsay.

From Sky Atlantic:

The first story to be adapted is The Blind Man of Seville, which follows Falcón‘s investigation into a brutal killing which stirs long forgotten memories. As Falcón investigates the crime, and finds himself drawn to the widow of the victim, he discovers the secret truth about his artist father’s violent history in Tangier and the Spanish Civil War.

The second story to be adapted is The Silent and the Damned, in which a double suicide takes Falcón to an exclusive area of Seville where wealthy neighbours keep their secrets well hidden and there’s more in the freezer than just food.

Review: Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen translated by K E Semmel, June 2012, 215 pages, Penguin, ISBN: 0141399988

DISGRACE is the eagerly awaited sequel to the popular MERCY, the debut of Jussi Adler-Olsen; both are set in Copenhagen. MERCY introduced Detective Superintendent Carl Morck who is assigned to work cold cases in Department Q. His only colleague is a civilian, the mysterious Assad. They are joined in DISGRACE by a forthright police secretary, Rose.

Someone wants Carl and co to reopen a case that's been solved. The investigation into the brutal murder of a brother and sister was closed nine years later when the murderer confessed however someone thinks that that's not the whole story. They link those deaths to a number of other assaults and disappearances and believe the culprits to be a group of now prominent businessmen.

Alongside the Department Q investigation are chapters from the point of view of Kimmie who has been on the streets in hiding from the same businessmen and chapters from the businessmen themselves. Eventually all three narratives coincide in a dangerous situation.

After the success of MERCY it would be hard for DISGRACE to reach the same height and unfortunately for me it didn't. There are plenty of things to like still, the humour, the conversations between the three disparate members of Department Q and Carl's attempts to woo his psychologist, and a solid police investigation. On the negative side are the bits which don't involve Carl. The people Carl is chasing and their activities are so unpleasant – both animal and human cruelty abound - that I found their, at times quite lengthy, sections hard going. Whereas MERCY's second narrative strand came from the strong and sympathetic victim of Merete, DISGRACE has Kimmie who is also strong, but unlikeable and unbalanced and though there is an attempt to explain her abnormal and violent behaviours by a terrible childhood it's hard to feel anything for her plight. For me this was at times a difficult read but those less squeamish than I, may get more out of it.

I'd also recommend reading MERCY beforehand to get up to speed with Carl's work and personal situation.

Foreign Bodies - the Bibliographies (week 2)

I've now listened to episodes 6 to 10 of the 15 daily episodes of Radio 4's European Crime Fiction (Foreign Bodies) programme presented by Mark Lawson. Most of the episodes have interviews with or references to other authors and I've put their names and a link to their bibliography on Euro Crime:

6. England: PD James, Ruth Rendell [also mentioned: Dorothy L Sayers]

7. Italy: Leonardo Sciascia [Interviewed: Andrea Camilleri, Gianrico Carofiglio]

8. Spain: Manuel Vazquez Montalban [Interviewed: Antonio Hill and Jason Webster [also mentioned re Northern Ireland: Stuart Neville]

9. England: Lynda La Plante [Interviewed: Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Saskia Noort (briefly), Henning Mankell]

10. Italy: Andrea Camilleri [Mentioned and/or influenced by: Manuel Vazquez Montalban, Georges Simenon, Ian Rankin, Leonardo Sciascia] [Not mentioned but fitting in with the apolitical policeman requirement mentioned near the end of the podcast: the Inspector De Luca series by Carlo Lucarelli]

The bibliographical links for the first five episodes are here.

The podcasts/programmes can be listened to for another few weeks at Radio 4's Foreign Bodies website.

Many more bibliographies (by nationality) can be found via the Euro Crime Books page.

Tweets from Severn House

A couple of recent publishing deal snippets from @KateLyallGrant (Commercial fiction editor, publisher of the Creme de la Crime imprint at Severn House):

Thrilled to have signed up David Wishart's Marcus Corvinus Roman mystery series for Creme de la Crime

Delighted to have signed up acclaimed SF writer Eric Brown whose historical crime novel takes him in an exciting new direction 

The Return of The Killing

Though it's sad to lose Inspector Montalbano we now have ten episodes of the final series of The Killing to look forward to. It begins on 17 November at 9pm on BBC4 with a double episode.

Here's the blurb for episode 1:

Denmark is the midst of a fiercely contested election race, set against the backdrop of the financial crisis. With ten days to go to the election, Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Lund prepares to celebrate her 25th year in the police force and looks forward to the prospect of a new job in the force. But her relative peace is shattered when body parts are found at Copenhagen dock only hours before a scheduled visit by the prime minister.

and a teaser trailer:

The Final (for now) Episode of Inspector Montalbano

The final episode in the current run of Inspector Montalbano, at 9pm on 10 November, is Treasure Hunt, based on Andrea Camilleri's as yet untranslated (into English) La Caccia al Tesoro:

An elderly couple, both religious fanatics, barricade themselves in their home and begin shooting from the windows for no apparent reason, until Montalbano's men finally succeed in disarming them.

There seems to be no justification for the couple's insane actions, but police find a strangely disfigured inflatable doll inside their home. A few days later, an identical doll is discovered in a rubbish bin and Montalbano has a bad premonition.

Soon enough, a series of strange occurrences develops - disquieting letters bearing riddles are delivered to Montalbano at Vigata police station, while a young woman is reported missing. A disturbed maniac is playing a macabre game of treasure hunt with the inspector and the riddle must be solved before it's too late.

The good news is that there are 4 more episodes in the pipeline and that the third series of The Killing will take Inspector Montalbano's place on BBC4 from the 17th.

Cited on The Winter of the Lions

The paperback release of Jan Costin Wagner's The Winter of the Lions, translated by Anthea Bell, has just been published and my local library was very swift to get it. There is a quote from Maxine's review of the trade paperback edition on the back:

You can read her full review here.

New Reviews: Bourland, Dean, Dryden, Hill, Kelly, Meredith, Rickman, Seymour, Winspear

Here are 9 new reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today:

Earlier this week I reviewed on the blog, Fabrice Bourland's The Dream Killer of Paris tr. Morag Young the second in the Singleton and Trelawney series set in the 1930s;

Amanda Gillies reviews A M Dean's debut The Lost Library;

Lynn Harvey reviews Alex Dryden's thriller Death in Siberia the fourth in the Anna Resnikov series but Lynn says also works well as a standalone;

Maxine Clarke reviews Antonio Hill's The Summer of Dead Toys tr. Laura McGoughlin set in a steamy Barcelona [this will be in my top ten reads of 2012];

Geoff Jones reviews Jim Kelly's Death's Door, the fourth in his Valentine/Shaw series set in Norfolk [fans of his Dryden series please note that a new book in that series, Nightrise, has just come out];

Terry Halligan reviews the UK release of D E Meredith's debut Devoured which introduces Victorian forensic pathologists Hatton and Roumande;

Rich Westwood reviews Phil Rickman's The Heresy of Dr Dee the second in his Elizabethan series;

Terry also reviews E V Seymour's fourth 'Paul Tallis' thriller Resolution to Kill available on Kindle

and Susan White reviews the newest Maisie Dobbs from Jacqueline Winspear Elegy for Eddie - "a real joy".

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

Foreign Bodies - the Bibliographies (week 1)

I've now listened to the first 5 of the 15 daily episodes of Radio 4's European Crime Fiction (Foreign Bodies) programme presented by Mark Lawson. Most of the episodes have interviewed or referred to other authors and I've put their names and a link to their bibliography on Euro Crime:

1. Belgium: Agatha Christie, Georges Simenon

2. Germany: Friedrich Durrenmatt [also mentioned: (by Mrs Peabody): Friedrich Glauser; Ferdinand von Schirach]

3. Czechoslovakia : Josef Skvorecky

4. Netherlands: Nicholas Freeling [Interviewed: Saskia Noort who mentioned A C Baantjer]

5. Sweden: Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo [Interviewed: Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankell, Val McDermid, Asa Larsson, Gunnar Staalesen, Jens Lapidus, Camilla Lackberg]

The podcasts/programmes can be listened to for another few weeks at Radio 4's Foreign Bodies website.

Many more bibliographies (by nationality) can be found via the Euro Crime Books page.

Review: The Dream Killer of Paris by Fabrice Bourland

The Dream Killer of Paris by Fabrice Bourland translated by Morag Young, August 2012, 215 pages, Gallic Books, ISBN: 190604032X

"We sat in a cafe on Rue de Rivoli. Through the window I could see the vast form of the Hotel de Ville and, in front, the old Place de Greve where so many villains had been quartered in the Middle Ages and much of the nobility had been decapitated during the Revolution."

THE DREAM KILLER OF PARIS is the second in the Singleton and Trelawney series after THE BAKER STREET PHANTOM. Andrew Singleton (Canadian) and James Trelawney (American) are private detectives working out of London. It's 1934 and in a quiet period of work, Singleton decides to go to Paris and investigate the apparent suicide of the poet Gerard de Nerval, which took place 70 odd years before.

On the cross-Channel ferry however Singleton is assailed by a vision. He sees the picture of a country scene hanging in the air over the sea and what's more the woman next to him can see it too. Both the vision and the woman disappear leaving Singleton bewildered.

Singleton's not been in Paris long when his friend Superintendent Fourier of the Sûreté intercepts him and asks for his help (again). Two deaths have occurred in locked rooms with no sign of foul play except for the look of terror on the victims' faces.

The victims both had an interest in dreams and the supernatural and both had received a visit beforehand by a mysterious Austrian gentleman. Singleton is joined by his friend Trelawney and along with the police they try to track down the Austrian before he visits anyone else.

On the back of the book, there is the categorisation of Crime/Fantasy which is quite accurate as this is not a crime novel where the usual rules apply; clues come via dreams, a medium and the solution to the crime is fantastical. So long as you're happy with that approach then this is an interesting read with the inclusion of real-life figures: historians, scientists, artists, adding weight to the increasingly otherworldly storyline. Plus there's the bonus of an evocative Parisian setting.

THE DREAM KILLER OF PARIS is a quick read and Singleton alludes to many other cases that they have solved so I expect there are a few more Singleton and Trelawney books in the pipeline, which I look forward to reading.