New Reviews: Billingham, Franklin & Norman, Jungstedt, O'Byrne, Spencer, Wilkinson

Here are six reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, two have appeared on the blog since last time, and four are completely new.

You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Craig Sisterson reviews Mark Billingham's Rush of Blood, a stand-alone from a couple of years ago;

Terry Halligan reviews Winter Siege, begun by Ariana Franklin and completed by her daughter Samantha Norman, which is now out in paperback;

Michelle Peckham reviews Mari Jungstedt's The Dangerous Game tr. Tiina Nunnally;


Amanda Gillies reviews The Crime Writer's Guide to Police Practice and Procedure, Second Edition by Michael O'Byrne;

Rich Westwood reviews I Nearly Died by Charles Spencer


and Susan White reviews Kerry Wilkinson's Scarred for Life, the latest in the Jessica Daniel series.



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

New Reviews: Brandreth, Cain, Franklin, Kallentoft, Leonard, Rimington, Smith

October's Competition: Win a copy of Strangled in Paris by Claude Izner (UK only)

Here are this week's new reviews:

Susan White reviews Gyles Brandreth's fourth book featuring Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde and the Nest of Vipers (US title is Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders);

Rich Westwood reviews Tom Cain's Dictator also the fourth in the series;

Lynn Harvey reviews the fourth and last Adelia Aguilar from the late Ariana Franklin which is now out in paperback, The Assassin's Prayer (US title is A Murderous Procession);

Maxine Clarke reviews the first in the Superintendent Malin Fors series from Mons Kallentoft: Midwinter Sacrifice, tr. Neil Smith;

Terry Halligan reviews Peter Leonard's All He Saw Was The Girl, set in Rome;

Lizzie Hayes reviews Stella Rimington's Rip Tide, the sixth in the Liz Carlyle MI5/6 series

and Amanda Gillies reviews the first of Anna Smith's new series, The Dead Won't Sleep, set in Glasgow.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here and new titles by Gordon Ferris, Mons Kallentoft, Matt Benyon Rees, Michael Ridpath, Anna Smith and Jan Wallentin have been added to these pages this week.

Publishing Deal - Ariana Franklin

News of the next book from Ariana Franklin, which is not an Adelia book. Not sure if it's a crime or a straight historical novel from this small snippet in today's Publishers Lunch Weekly email:

Mistress of the Art of Death series author Ariana Franklin's stand-alone medieval novel set during the chaotic and horrifying years of the war between Stephen and Matilda for the governance of England, to Putnam, for publication in 2012.

The Assassin's Prayer - Cover & Title opinions

This week's selection for "cover opinions" is the two titles and two covers for Ariana Franklin's latest book to feature 12th century 'doctor', Adelia Aguilar: A Murderous Procession (US) and The Assassin's Prayer (UK).

So what are you thoughts on the US and UK covers and titles? Which would entice you to pick the book up if you were not familiar with Ariana Franklin?

If you have read it, how does the cover/title match the story?

Here is the Euro Crime review, by Norman, of The Assassin's Prayer/A Murderous Procession.

New Reviews: Creed, Forrester, Franklin, Neville, Nickson, Sjowall & Wahloo

Two competitions for August and one is open internationally:
Win one of three sets of Lockdown and Deadlock by Sean Black (Worldwide)
Win one of five copies of Inspector Cataldo's Criminal Summer by Luigi Guicciardi, tr Iain Halliday (UK & Europe)

Here are this week's reviews, which this week include several historical novels:

I review Adam Creed's second outing for DI Staffe, Willing Flesh set in a seedy, modern-day London;

Terry Halligan goes back to the Elizabethan era for James Forrester's debut novel Sacred Treason;

Norman Price travels back to Henry II's time when he reviews Ariana Franklin's, fourth Adelia Aguilar outing, The Assassin's Prayer in which the leads traipse off to Sicily;

Back in modern-day, Laura Root reviews Collusion, Stuart Neville's follow-up to the very well-received The Twelve (apa The Ghosts of Belfast);

Michelle Peckham travels back to eighteenth century Leeds in The Broken Token by Chris Nickson

and Maxine Clarke reviews the penultimate title in the classic Martin Beck series by Sjowall and Wahloo, Cop Killer, tr. Thomas Teal.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

Reviews: Cordy, Edwardson, Franklin, Sapper, White, Winspear

There are three competitions running this month; the prizes are: The Third Pig Detective Agency by Bob Burke, Relics of the Dead by Ariana Franklin and Blood Law by Steven Hague (some restrictions apply).

Here are this week's reviews, which stick a bit closer to home this time round:

Michelle Peckham reviews the mass market paperback edition of The Source by Michael Cordy summing it up as "one for the beach";

Maxine Clarke reviews the paperback edition of Frozen Tracks by Ake Edwardson writing that it "a satisfying read, both in terms of plot and characterisation";

Norman Price reviews Relics of the Dead by Ariana Franklin (apa Grave Goods in the US). He finds lead character Adelia "a beguiling heroine in a fascinating historical setting" (Win a copy this month);

Rik Shepherd is unimpressed by Bulldog Drummond by Sapper wondering why it's such a 'classic';

Amanda Gillies reports that it's business as usual in Neil White's strong Garrett/McGanity series, of which Last Rites is the third

and Terry Halligan praises Jacqueline Winspear highly for her latest Maisie Dobbs outing, Among the Mad.

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

New Reviews: Bale, Bradby, Child, Fossum, Franklin, McKinty & New Competition

A new competition is now up and running (open to all!); win a copy of My Last Confession by Helen Fitzgerald.

This week's new reviews:

Paul Blackburn reviews Skin and Bones by Tom Bale;

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.

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

New Reviews: Black, Franklin, Hill, James, Lackberg, Stone & New Competition

A new competition is now up and running (UK only I'm afraid). Win a copy of The Library of Shadows by Mikkel Birkegaard, donated by the translator Tiina Nunnally.

The following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website:

Michelle Peckham reviews Murder in the Latin Quarter by Cara Black;

Laura Root reviews Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin;

Mike Ripley reviews the new Dalziel & Pascoe, Midnight Fugue by Reginald Hill;

Maxine Clarke reviews the new Roy Grace, Dead Tomorrow by Peter James;

Sunnie Gill reviews The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg

and Norman Price reviews The Jerusalem File by Joel Stone.

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

Publishing Deals - White & Franklin

From Publisher's Lunch:

Jenny White's third book in the KAMIL PASHA historical mystery series, set in Istanbul in the 1890s, about Armenian terrorists striking at Ottoman institutions, to Amy Cherry at Norton, by Al Zuckerman at Writers House (World).

Ariana Franklin's MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH, Book 4, featuring a 12th-century CSI, to Rachel Kahan at Putnam and Laura Shin at Penguin Canada, for publication in Spring 2010, by Helen Heller at Helen Heller Agency.

Ariana Franklin's third Adelia book, Grave Goods, is out in March (in the US).

New Reviews: Franklin, Furst, Izner, James, Seymour, Templeton

Here are this week's new reviews and details of the current competition:

Latest Reviews:

Norman Price reviews Ariana Franklin's follow-up to her prize winning Mistress and the Art of Death - Death Maze (aka The Serpent's Tale) and finds it good but not as good as the first in the series;

Mike Ripley reviews the latest excellent espionage thriller from Alan Furst - The Spies of Warsaw;

Terry Halligan reviews Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner, set during the Universal Exhibition of 1889;

Maxine Clarke reviews the newest from Peter James: Dead Man's Footsteps, a story that encompasses 9/11 in "a realistic, exciting yet dignified way";

Geoff Jones reviews E V Seymour's The Last Exile and his advice is to stick with it as it gets much better

and I review the latest available on audio book in the Marjory Fleming series by Aline Templeton: Lying Dead - it's a fine police procedural series coupled with a brilliant narrator in the shape of Cathleen McCarron.


Current Competitions:

Win a copy of The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin*

* no restrictions on entrants (ends 31 July)

New Reviews: Mike Ripley's Crime File, Hill, Krajewski, MacBride, Mills and Tursten

Here are this week's new reviews and details of an extra competition:

Latest Reviews:

In Mike Ripley's latest crime file he reviews: The Death Maze (aka The Serpent's Tale) by Ariana Franklin, Inspector Ghote's First Case by H R F Keating, Spider by Michael Morley and Death on a Branch Line by Andrew Martin (to win the latter see the competitions below);

Maxine Clarke reviews the newest in the Simon Serrailler series by Susan Hill, The Vows of Silence - a book which put her through the wringer, but was worth it;

Norman Price reviews Marek Krajewski's Death in Breslau writing that Krajewski is "a master at recreating an atmosphere of fear, darkness, creepiness and foreboding";

Pat Austin reviews the new offering from Aberdeen's Stuart MacBride Flesh House which manages to be both gruesome and funny;

Karen Chisholm was hooked by Crow Stone by Jenni Mills which is set in Bath

and Maxine has the highest of praise for Helene Tursten's Detective Inspector Huss (which I'm pleased about as I recommended her via my review of The Torso) saying that "this book is as near to perfection as you can get in this genre".


Current Competitions:

Win a copy of Death on a Branch Line by Andrew Martin*

* no restrictions on entrants


NEW: Win a copy of Blood Lines by Grace Monroe**

** UK/Europe only

New Reviews

Here are this week's new reviews and details of the new competition.

Latest Reviews:

In the latest Crime File from Mike Ripley, he reviews The Manor of Death by Bernard Knight, Murder's Immortal Mask by Paul Doherty, A Killing Frost by R D Wingfield and Dog Eats Dog by Iain Levison;

Norman Price reviews the paperback release of Cross by Ken Bruen saying that "If you haven't read Ken Bruen yet then you are missing some the finest crime fiction being written today";

Maxine Clarke reviews Black Seconds by Karin Fossum, which has also just come out in paperback, and believes it's even better than Calling Out for You/The Indian Bride;

Terry Halligan reviews the latest in the award winning series by Ariana Franklin, The Death Maze which was released in the US as The Serpent's Tale;

Maxine also reviews the second in the Gotland set series from Mari Jungstedt, Unspoken calling it "a great read"

and new reviewer Eve Olsen is less than impressed with Julia Navarro's The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud with its cardboard characters and lack of research.

Current Competition (closing date 31 May):

Win a signed copy of Spider by Michael Morley*

* UK/Europe only

Phil Rickman's radio show

Maybe the mystery of Caro Peacock will be revealed on Phil Rickman's radio show on BBC Radio Wales, later this evening...

17:32 Phil the Shelf

5/7. Phil Rickman talks to writers Ariana Franklin, Caro Peacock and Robert Goddard. The Shelf Starter comes from Sarah Hollins from Aberdare.

The show is "Phil Rickman's round-up of the best in new books, including the Shelf Starter slot where listeners' manuscripts get the big novel treatment."

More information on the programme is on Phil Rickman's website and you can listen again online here.

Phil Rickman writes the Merrily Watkins series, now published by the nice people at Quercus.

More on the Ellis Peters Award

It took a bit longer than I thought but the CWA website has now been updated to state that Ariana Franklin won the CWA Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award:

Mistress of the Art of Death, by Ariana Franklin, has won this year’s CWA Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award - the prestigious prize for the best historical crime novel of 2007. The winner was announced by the Chair of judges, Janet Laurence, at a party held in London on the evening of Wednesday, November 7th. More information shortly ...

Judges’ comments:
‘Ariana Franklin has found a unique female protagonist, an Italian doctor trained in the study of death and brought to England as assistant to a renowned investigator charged by Henry II with the solving of murder. In this seductive book, characters leap into life, scenes form a closely woven and colourful tapestry, the central figure of Adelia, the mistress of the art of death, has an unusual charm, and the plot darkens as the story progresses.’

Ellis Peters Award 2007 - Winner...

The word is that Ariana Franklin has won for Mistress of the Art of Death. Full details of the shortlist here. No doubt a press release will be available in the morning.

(link to) an interview of Ariana Franklin

The (free postage and packing) online book shop, Book Depository, has an interview with historical crime fiction writer, Ariana Franklin. The interview is here and the Euro Crime bibliography page is here where you can read reviews of her first two books (under this pseudonym) plus see the titles of the next two Adelia books.

More awards news

From the Random House website:

Mistress of The Art of Death by Ariana Franklin has won the award for Best Historical Crime Novel 2007 at the Gothenburgh Book Fair. The book has also been short-listed for the Ellis Peters Historical Crime Award.

Read the Euro Crime review, here.

New Reviews on Euro Crime

This week's new reviews are 'A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil' by Christopher Brookmyre and 'City of Shadows' by Ariana Franklin.