New Reviews: Becker, Bruce, Dahl, Ferris, Griffiths, Tallis & Reviewers' Top 5s

As well as 6 new reviews, I have uploaded the Euro Crime reviewers' favourite reads of 2011, by reviewer. Tomorrow I will announce the favourite book, favourite author and favourite translator of 2011 (based on the aforementioned submissions!).

The competition's still open: win Death of the Mantis by Michael Stanley (no geographical restrictions).

Here are this week's reviews:

Amanda Gillies reviews the latest from James Becker, The Nosferatu Scroll (or The Vampires of Venice for Dr Who fans...?) which continues the high standard of the earlier books;

Alison Bruce's, third DC Goodhew book, The Calling is listed in Susan White's 5 favourite reads of 2011;

Laura Root reviews K O Dahl's Lethal Investments, tr. Don Bartlett which is the first in the Oslo-based Gunnarstranda and Frohlich series;

Terry Halligan reviews Gordon Ferris's post World War II set Truth Dare Kill the first in the Danny McRae series;

Maxine Clarke reviews the fourth and latest in the increasingly popular Ruth Galloway series by Elly Griffiths: A Room Full of Bones set in North Norfolk

and Lynn Harvey reviews Frank Tallis's Death and the Maiden the sixth in this historical series set in Vienna, which is now available in paperback.

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 Patti Battison, Rhys Bowen, Gyles Brandreth, C S Challinor, Cassandra Clark, Rory Clements, Julie Corbin, Peter James, Cottrell Howard Cunnell, Maurizio De Giovanni, Diego De Silva, Mark Douglas-Home, Nicci French, Alex Grecian, J M Gregson, Patricia Hall, C S Harris, Elizabeth Haynes, Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson, Roderic Jeffries, Laurie R King, Bernard Knight, Peter Lovesey, Faith Martin, Susan Moody, Amy Myers, Chris Nickson, Chris Pavone, Caro Peacock, Anne Perry, Oliver Potzsch, Jutta Profijt, Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, Linda Regan, Eileen Robertson, Rosemary Rowe, Pauline Rowson, Kate Sedley, Frank Smith, James Thompson, Rebecca Tope, Louise Welsh, Andrew Williams and Simon Wood have been added to these pages this week.

New Reviews: Cleeves, Cumming, Henry, Hilton, McDermid, Robertson, Tallis

Here are this week's new reviews:

Maxine Clarke reviews the new Vera Stanhope novel from Ann Cleeves: Silent Voices;

Geoff Jones reviews Charles Cumming's The Trinity Six;

Amanda Gillies enjoyed the return of Jack Frost in James Henry's First Frost;

Michelle Peckham review the fourth in the Joe Hunter series by Matt Hilton: Cut and Run, now out in paperback;

Lizzie Hayes reviews the paperback release of Val McDermid's Trick of the Dark;

Terry Halligan reviews Random by Craig Robertson now out in paperback (both EC reviewers have loved it);

and Laura Root reviews Death and the Maiden by Frank Tallis, the newest and sixth in his historical, Vienna based Dr Liebermann series.

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

Deadly Communion - Cover Opinions

This week's selection for "cover opinions" is the US and UK titles and covers for Frank Tallis's Deadly Communion which came out in mass market paperback in August. The US edition, due in April 2011, will be entitled Vienna Twilight (keeping with the "Vienna" theme in the US titles).

So what are you thoughts on the US (LHS) and UK (RHS & below) covers? Which would entice you to pick the book up if you were not familiar with Frank Tallis?

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

Here is the Euro Crime review by Michelle of Deadly Communion.

US_____________________________________UK (trade paperback)

UK (mass market paperback)

New Reviews: Charles, Cross, Holt, McCleary, Tallis, Woodrow

Two of this week's review books are published this week, two are from December and two from September; they range geographically from Norway to Paris, Ireland to Austria and the UK to South America:

Geoff Jones reviews Family Life by Paul Charles the second in this Garda Inspector series;

Maxine Clarke reviews Captured by Spooks' writer Neil Cross and she recommends you have a cat or blanket nearby to cuddle;

I review the latest Vik/Stubo outing from Anne Holt, tr. Kara Dickson, Death in Oslo in which the pair get involved in finding the kidnapped female President of the United States;

Terry Halligan follows Nellie Bly to 1889 Paris in Carol McCleary's lengthy The Alchemy of Murder;

Michelle Peckham joins psychologist Dr Liebermann for his fifth investigation in Frank Tallis's Deadly Communion

and Amanda Gillies loved Patrick Woodrow's thriller First Contact.

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

New Reviews: Kirino, Larsson, Navarro, Tallis

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

New Reviews:

Going slightly farther afield, Rik Shepherd reviews Japan's Natsuo Kirino's Real World;

Maxine Clarke reviews the long awaited follow-up to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Played With Fire;

Terry Halligan reviews Julia Navarro's The Bible of Clay which he found to be one of his favourite reads of 2008

and Norman Price was similarly enamoured of Frank Tallis's Darkness Rising which is the fourth outing for Vienna's Dr Max Liebermann.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found here plus for those still thinking about their favourite books of 2008, there's a list (generated from my database) of British/European crime novels (written by British/Europeans) published in the UK in 2008, here. (I haven't yet updated it to include non-Europeans writing about Europe).

The competition is back - go here to see how you can win a copy of The Paper Moon by Andrea Camilleri.

New Reviews: Mike Ripley's crime file, Scott, Tallis, Wingfield

This week, Mike Ripley reviews some new releases whilst the rest of the reviews cover some recent paperbacks that we can recommend:

New Reviews:

In Mike Ripley's Crime File he reviews When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson, A Darker Domain by Val McDermid and Lost in Juarez by Douglas Lindsay;

Amanda Gillies enthuses about The Crystal Skull by Manda Scott;

Terry Halligan thoroughly enjoyed his time in 1903 Austria in Fatal Lies by Frank Tallis

and Maxine Clarke reviews the last ever Frost book, A Killing Frost by R D Wingfield which sees Inspector Frost juggling many cases whilst trying to stay put in Denton CID.

Frank Tallis on the Radio

Yesterday's subject of Radio 3's Private Passions was psychologist and author Frank Tallis:

Michael Berkeley meets Dr Frank Tallis, a clinical psychologist specialising in obsessive-compulsive disorders who has also achieved success as a writer of detective novels. His Liebermann series of books is set in Vienna at the turn of the 20th century, where his young doctor hero, a disciple of Freud, helps to solve complex crimes through the use of radical analytical techniques.

Frank is interested in all the arts of the period, but particularly music, and pieces by Mahler and Zemlinsky feature among his choices, as well as vocal music by Gesualdo and Rachmaninov and a Viennese-sounding waltz from a film score by Takemitsu.

You can listen again for the next six days.

(Many thanks to Alison for the tip.)

Frank Tallis's Vienna Blood now available in the US

The trade paperback of the second of Frank Tallis's historical psychological crime novels, Vienna Blood has recently been published in the US.

Synopsis: In the grip of a Siberian winter in 1902, a serial killer in Vienna embarks upon a bizarre campaign of murder. Vicious mutilation, a penchant for arcane symbols, and a seemingly random choice of victim are his most distinctive peculiarities. Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt summons a young disciple of Freud - his friend Dr. Max Liebermann — to assist him with the case. The investigation draws them into the sphere of Vienna’s secret societies — a murky underworld of German literary scholars, race theorists, and scientists inspired by the new evolutionary theories coming out of England. At first, the killer’s mind seems impenetrable — his behaviour and cryptic clues impervious to psychoanalytic interpretation; however, gradually, it becomes apparent that an extraordinary and shocking rationale underlies his actions. . . .

Against this backdrop of mystery and terror, Liebermann struggles with his own demons. The treatment of a patient suffering from paranoia erotica (a delusion of love) and his own fascination with the enigmatic Englishwoman Amelia Lydgate raises doubts concerning the propriety of his imminent marriage. To resolve the dilemma, he must entertain the unthinkable — risking opprobrium and accusations of cowardice.

Read an excerpt on the Random House website.

New Reviews and Updates

Here are this week's new reviews, website updates and a reminder of January's competition:

Latest Reviews:

Maxine Clarke reviews The Dark Eye by Ingrid Black - a book which starts well but ultimately disappoints;

Maxine is also disappointed with the debut novel from Elena Forbes - Die With Me and gives the writer a tip for the next book...;

Terry Halligan rose to the challenge of the monumental girth of Elizabeth George's What Came Before He Shot Her and enjoyed it enormously;

I took on the minuscule girth of the middle part of the amazing De Luca series by Carlo Lucarelli - The Damned Season - a short book but with a lot packed into it

and Laura Root reviews Frank Tallis' Fatal Lies and finds it continues his high standard.


Other Website Updates

The News page has been updated.

The Authors page (a list of author homepages) now has 608 entries.

The New Releases pages have been updated.


Current Competition (closing date 31 January):

Win a copy of Bad Traffic by Simon Lewis (UK & Europe only)

(geographical restrictions are in brackets)

Frank Tallis Publishing News

Book2Book reports that:

Century Editorial Director, Hannah Black has acquired the next three books of the Liebermann series by Frank Tallis in a three book deal from agent Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander Associates Limited.

Set in fin-de-siecle Vienna, Frank Tallis - author and Harley Street psychologist - vividly brings to life Freud's world of coffee shops and salons abuzz with intellectual debate and cultural ferment. The first three books in the stylish and atmospheric psychoanalytic detective series (Mortal Mischief, Vienna Blood and Fatal Lies - published next January 2008) featuring Dr Max Liebermann, received wide critical acclaim. The Times: 'Tallis's writing and feel for the period are top class'; And the Literary Review: 'smart detection and a mouth-watering view of Viennese café society...good prospects for the Liebermann series..."

Translation rights have been sold into 11 languages to date. MORTAL MISCHIEF and VIENNA BLOOD have already achieved bestseller status in France.

The BBC has bought the TV rights to the Liebermann series to transmit in 2009.

The first in this next series, THE KABBALIST, will be published by Century in January 2009 and in Arrow paperback in July 2009.

So who could play Liebermann? Tom Ward?