New Reviews: Broadfoot, Goddard, Lovesey, Neville, Perry, Redondo, Russell, Ward, Williams

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, five 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

Amanda Gillies reviews Neil Broadfoot's The Storm, the sequel to the acclaimed Falling Fast;


Geoff Jones reviews the final part of the World Wide trilogy by Robert Goddard, The Ends of the Earth;

Terry Halligan reviews Peter Lovesey's Down Among the Dead Men, the fifteenth in the Peter Diamond series [and if anyone knows the title of the book he refers to in his review, do drop me a line/comment on the blog and I'll pass it on];

Lynn Harvey reviews Stuart Neville's Those We Left Behind in which DCI Serena Flanagan from The Final Silence, is promoted to main protagonist;

Michelle Peckham reviews Karen Perry's Only We Know, their (two authors co-writing) second psychological drama;


Laura Root reviews the CWA International Dagger short-listed The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo tr. Isabelle Kaufeler;

After a four year absence, Jan Fabel is back in Craig Russell's The Ghosts of Altona, reviewed here by Ewa Sherman;


I review Sarah Ward's debut In Bitter Chill set in a chilly Derbyshire town

and Terry also reviews The Suicide Club by Andrew Williams, set during the First World War.


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

New Reviews: Black, Cross, Fossum, Harris, Holt, James, Kent, Radmann, Russell

The reviews are back after a break of a couple of weeks. (I've written up last weekend's Harrogate Crime Writing Festival.)

Settings this week include Brighton, London, Italy, Norway, Scotland, South Africa and the US.

Here are the new 9 reviews:

Terry Halligan reviews the third of Sean Black's US-set Ryan Lock series, Gridlock, which is now in paperback;

Amanda Gillies reviews Neil Cross's Luther prequel Luther: The Calling now out in paperback (complete with a quote from Sarah Hilary's review);

I review the first Inspector Sejer book from Karin Fossum In the Darkness, tr. James Anderson which was originally published in 1995 (in Norwegian);

Terry also reviews Oliver Harris's debut The Hollow Man which introduces amoral policeman Nick Belsey;

Anne Holt's first Hanne Wilhelmsen investigation is even older than In the Darkness but Maxine Clarke writes that The Blind Goddess, tr. Tom Geddes "remains fresh and engaging";

Mark Bailey reviews Peter James's new Roy Grace book, Not Dead Yet which he enjoyed, but it might be time to wrap up the series-long backstory mystery;

Susan White reviews Christobel Kent's The Dead Season the third in this Florence-based PI series;

Lynn Harvey reviews Christopher Radmann's striking debut set in South Africa: Held Up

and Geoff Jones reviews Craig Russell's Dead Men and Broken Hearts the fourth in the Lennox series set in 1950s Glasgow.

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.

New Reviews: James, Link, Persson, Russell, Ryan, Shepherd, Spedding, Steinhauer, Varesi

During April you can enter a competition to win a copy of Julia Crouch's Every Vow You Break. There are no geographical restrictions.

Answer the question and fill in the form here.

Here are this week's reviews of which there are 9 again this week as I'm taking next weekend off. There are also plenty of updates to the new releases pages (see below):

Susan White reviews Dan James's (aka Dan Waddell's) Unsinkable set on the Titanic;

Maxine Clarke reviews Charlotte Link's The Other Child, tr. Stefan Tobler set in Scarborough;

Laura Root reviews Leif GW Persson's Another Time, Another Life tr. Paul Norlen, the second in the "Story of a Crime" trilogy;

Amanda Gillies reviews the paperback release of Craig Russell's A Fear of Dark Water which is the latest in the Jan Fabel series;

Rich Westwood reviews William Ryan's The Holy Thief, the first in his Captain Alexei Dmitriyevich Korolev series, set in 1936;

Terry Halligan reviews Lloyd Shepherd's debut, a historical crime novel - The English Monster, calling it "superb";

Geoff Jones reviews Sally Spedding's creepy thriller Cold Remains;

Lynn Harvey reviews Olen Steinhauer's "gripping" globe-trotting spy thriller An American Spy

and Michelle Peckham reviews Valerio Varesi follow-up to his International Dagger short-listed River of Shadows, The Dark Valley tr. Joseph Farrell.

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. Titles by Elizabeth Bailey, M C Beaton, C C Benison, Rhys Bowen, Audrey Braun, Alison Bruce, Tania Carver, Kimberley Chambers, Lee Child, Sam Christer, Elizabeth J Duncan, Carola Dunn, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Charles Finch, Friis & Kaaberbol, Frances Fyfield, Eliza Graham, Susanna Gregory, Helene Gremillon, Penny Hancock, Anne Holt, Will Jordan, Ali Knight, Stephen Leather, M L Longworth, G M Malliet, Edward Marston, Peter May, Andy McNab, Fergus McNeill, Regina O’Melveny, Andrea Penrose, Anne Perry, Ann Purser, Rob Ryan, Lloyd Shepherd, A K Shevchenko, Eva Maria Staal, Nick Stone, Peter Tickler, Simon Tolkien, Lee Weeks, Jeri Westerson and Timothy Williams have been added to these pages this week.

New Reviews: Adams, Beckett, Cleeves, Eastland, Higashino, Kaaberbol & Friis, Leather, Rickman, Russell

As is vaguely customary, a 6 review week is followed by a 9 review week...making roughly a review a day.

Win 3 Richard Nottingham mysteries by Chris Nickson (UK only).

Here are this week's 9 new reviews:

Lizzie Hayes reviews Jane A Adams's sixth Naomi Blake outing, Blood Ties;

Geoff Jones reviews Simon Beckett's fourth David Hunter novel, The Calling of the Grave, now out in paperback;

Maxine Clarke reviews the fifth in Ann Cleeves's "Vera" series, The Glass Room;

Lynn Harvey reviews the third in Sam Eastland's Inspector Pekkala series, Siberian Red;

Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback release of The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino, translated by Alexander O Smith & Elye J Alexander;

I review The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis, tr. Lene Kaaberbol set in Copenhagen and which is the first in the Nina Borg series;

Terry Halligan reviews the third in the supernatural PI Jack Nightingale series from Stephen Leather Nightmare;

Rich Westwood reviews Phil Rickman's The Lamp of the Wicked which touches on some true-life crimes, and is the fifth in the Merrily Watkins series which is being issued in paperback by Atlantic Books;

and Amanda Gillies reviews Craig Russell's third book in the Lennox series, The Deep Dark Sleep, set in 1950s 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 Jane Adams, John Connolly, Sebastian Fitzek, Tony/Anthony Hays, Anne Holt, Fabrice Humbert, Susan Elia MacNeal, Danielle Ramsay and Simon Urban have been added to these pages this week.

Monumentally Similar

Gordon Ferris's The Hanging Shed out now and Craig Russell's next Lennox book, Dead Men and Broken Hearts will be out in June. Both books are set around 50 years ago, one in London, one in Glasgow.

New Reviews: Bauer, Fowler, Gomez-Jurado, Hannah, Leather, Russell, Walker, Walters

Here are this week's new reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews Belinda Bauer's sequel to the award-winning Blacklands, Darkside which is now out in paperback;

Rich Westwood reviews Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May off the Rails and catches up with London's oldest serving detectives...;

I review Juan Gomez-Jurado's The Traitor's Emblem, tr. Daniel Hahn which is more history than mystery;

Susan White reviews Sophie Hannah's Little Face and also reviews the "Flipback" format it came in;

Terry Halligan reviews Stephen Leather's sequel to Nightfall, Midnight which continues the story of Jack Nightingale with his sold-off soul;

Amanda Gillies adds Craig Russell's character "Lennox" to her list of favourites, here in in his second outing: The Long Glasgow Kiss;

Lynn Harvey reviews the fourth in Martin Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police series set in France: The Crowded Grave

and Maxine Clarke reviews Trust No One by Alex Walters (already known to Euro Crime readers as Michael Walters) which is set in Manchester (rather than Mongolia).

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 M K Bates, Laurent Binet, Patrick Easter, Karin Fossum, Christopher Fowler, Tom Grieves, Ewart Hutton, Arnaldur Indridason and Craig Russell have been added to these pages this week.

Publishing Deals - Bourne & Russell

A couple more brief reports of publishing deals - for established authors this time:

Quercus has commissioned two new Glasgow thrillers from Craig Russell. (The Bookseller)

and

HarperCollins has signed up three new books from journalist Jonathan Freedland writing as Sam Bourne.

[HarperCollins] said it had been a "superb team effort" to take the novelist "from a standing start to being the UK's bestselling thriller writer with sales of well over one million on TCM in less than five years". (The Bookseller)

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.

Publishing Deal - Craig Russell

More details of a new series by Craig Russell have been revealed on BookBrunch:

Craig Russell, author of the Jan Fabel detective series for Hutchinson, has joined Quercus for a concurrent series set in Glasgow in the 1950s. The series will star Lennox, a private detective whose clients are not always on the right side of the law.

Jane Wood and Ron Beard bought UK and Canadian rights in three novels, starting with Lennox in 2009, through Carole Blake of Blake Friedmann. Wood said: "At Quercus we’re all fans of the Fabel novels and we couldn’t be happier that Craig Russell has joined us. The Lennox books are very different in tone and confirm Craig’s amazing range and skill as a crime writer."

New Reviews: Fowler, Fox, Johnston, Russell, Sjowall & Wahloo, Vine

Here are this week's new reviews and the last chance to enter this month's competition:

Latest Reviews:

Amanda Brown is a convert to the Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler, she reviews the latest, The Victoria Vanishes, writing that she "enjoyed it immensely";

I leave Europe to visit Sydney where I review Kathryn Fox's Skin and Bone which I hope is the first of a new series starring Kate Farrer;

With the book cover that recently launched a 1000 blog entries (well at least three) - Paul Johnston's The Soul Collector is reviewed by Geoff Jones;

Terry Halligan reviews the latest from Craig Russell The Carnival Master which is the fourth outing for Hamburg detective Jan Fabel;

Maxine Clarke reviews Sjowall and Wahloo's The Laughing Policeman which she says "is another example of the controlled brilliance of this superb set of novels"

and in the second of a two part look at the latest from Baronesses James and Rendell, Fiona Walker reviews The Birthday Present by Barbara Vine (aka Ruth Rendell); check out her earlier review of The Private Patient by P D James.


Current Competition:

Win a copy of Our Lady of Pain by Elena Forbes*

* restrictions apply (ends 31 August)

Craig Russell's Jan Fabel series to be televised

Book2book are reporting that German tv will produce a series of films based on the Jan Fabel series by Craig Russell:

Craig Russell (represented by Julian Friedmann of the Blake Friedmann Agency, London) and The Lisa Filmproduktion GmbH in Vienna have today agreed a deal whereby the series of Jan Fabel novels will be made into feature length television films in German. They will start with Brother Grimm, published in German by Luebbe earlier this year.

The Lisa Filmproduktion GmbH specialises in the production of feature films and TV series. So far they have produced approximately 200 feature films and they are currently producing a series of up to ten TV movies each year (for ARD, ZDF, RTL Television). Apart from its production activities Lisa Filmproduktion holds a library of some 350 titles, available for worldwide licensing.

The novels – three published so far in English (BLOOD EAGLE, BROTHER GRIMM, ETERNAL) – have been licensed to publishers in 21 languages. The UK publisher, Hutchinson (an imprint of Random House) and the German publisher Luebbe have commissioned Russell to write books 4-6 in the series.

Read the whole article here.

More Jan Fabel books to come

Good news for fans of Craig Russell's Jan Fabel series. Book2Book reports the following deal:

Carole Blake of Blake Friedmann is delighted to announce the sale of UK rights in the books 4, 5 and 6 in Craig Russell's Hamburg-based Detective Jan Fabel series to Paul Sidey at Hutchinson in a significant deal.

The series so far comprises BLOOD EAGLE, 2005; BROTHER GRIMM, 2006; ETERNAL, 2007. The first book in the new contract, THE CARNIVAL MASTER, will be published in 2008.

BROTHER GRIMM was shortlisted by the Crime Writers' Association for the 2007 Duncan Lawrie Gold Dagger.

'I was so pleased when Craig was shortlisted. He has created a complex and original character in his detective hero, Jan Fabel. And the books are simply going from strength to strength.'

The series has been sold to 21 languages to date, achieving bestseller status, most notably in Germany where Craig has made numerous public appearances and been awarded the highly prestigious Polizeistern - the Police Star – presented by the Chief of Police and the Hamburg government's Interior Minister.

Luebbe have already contracted German rights in these titles and more territories are expected to follow in the run-up to and during the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Craig Russell wins the Hamburg Polizeistern Award

Book 2 Book reports that:

Craig Russell, author the series of thrillers featuring Jan Fabel of the Hamburg murder squad - Blood Eagle, Brother Grimm and the soon to be released Eternal (Hutchinson, 7th May) - has been awarded the Hamburg Polizeistern Award (the annual Police Star Award).

The award is given in recognition of the person who has done most to support the work of the Polizei Hamburg and to raise awareness of the force and its work. This is the only time a Hamburg Police award has been bestowed on a non-German.

The award was presented by Polizeipräsident Werner Jantosch, Chief of Police for Hamburg and there was an audience of 300 consisting of senior police officers, press, TV and radio, and politicians, including Udo Nagel, Hamburg’s Innensenator (Interior Minister)

In his speech, Herr Jantosch thanked Craig for his support of the Hamburg Police and the fact that the Jan Fabel series of thrillers had raised the profile of the Polizei Hamburg in more than twenty countries. Craig made his acceptance speech in German, thanking the Polizei Hamburg for their support and technical advice throughout the writing of the series, and explaining his goal to portray modern Germany to British and worldwide audience.

Find out more about the Jan Fabel series at Craig Russell's website.