Awards News (III) - Theakstons 2017 Shortlist

And finally, the Theakston 2017 Shortlist was also announced on Saturday. From their website:

Six Suspects Announced on the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award Shortlist

The shortlist for crime writing’s most wanted accolade, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, has been announced.

The most prestigious prize in the crime genre is now entering its 13th year. The shortlisted six were whittled down from a longlist of 18 titles published by British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback between 1 May 2016 and 30 April 2017.

The 2017 Award is run in partnership with title sponsor T&R Theakston Ltd, WHSmith, and The Mail on Sunday.

Essex-based writer Eva Dolan returns to the shortlist for the second year; Tell No Tales was shortlisted in 2016. Her follow-up After You Die is the third book from the author BBC Radio 4 marked as a ‘rising star of crime fiction’. Shortlisted for the CWA Dagger for unpublished authors when she was just a teenager, her debut novel Long Way Home, was the start of a major new crime series starring two detectives from the Peterborough Hate Crimes Unit.

Mick Herron’s espionage thriller, Real Tigers, is the third in his Jackson Lamb series. It received critical acclaim, with The Spectator saying the novel ‘explodes like a firecracker in all directions’. The series is based on an MI5 department of ‘rejects’ – intelligent services’ misfits and screw-ups, featuring anti-hero Jackson Lamb. Herron’s writing was praised by critic Barry Forshaw for ‘the spycraft of le Carré refracted through the blackly comic vision of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.’

Lie With Me, the psychological thriller by Sabine Durrant was a Richard and Judy book pick. Durrant, also a feature writer, is a former assistant editor of The Guardian and former literary editor at The Sunday Times. Full of violent twists, her roguish charmer, Paul Morris, a once acclaimed author now living off friends and feeding them lies, is invited on a Greek holiday and events take a sinister turn. The Guardian praised it as a ‘thriller worthy of Ruth Rendell or Patricia Highsmith.’

Susie Steiner is also a former Guardian journalist. Her first crime novel introduces Detective Manon Bradshaw, working on the high profile missing person’s case of Cambridge post-grad Edith Hind, daughter of Sir Ian and Lady Hind. Can DS Manon Bradshaw wade through the evidence before a missing person inquiry becomes a murder investigation? Missing, Presumed, was a Sunday Times bestseller, a Richard & Judy pick and was praised for its stylish, witty and compelling writing.

Chris Brookmyre beat stiff competition to win the Scottish crime book of the year award with his novel, Black Widow, a story of cyber-abuse, where ‘even the twists have twists’. It features his long-time character, reporter Jack Parlabane. Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that she had been given the novel as an early Valentine’s Day present by her husband, declaring it ‘brilliant’.

Val McDermid, acknowledged as the ‘Queen of Crime’ has sold over 15m books to date. Her latest number one bestseller, Out of Bounds, features DCI Karen Pirie unlocking the mystery of a 20 year-old murder inquiry. The book is her 30th novel.

The shortlist was selected by an academy of crime writing authors, agents, editors, reviewers and members of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival Programming Committee.

The titles will now be promoted in a seven-week promotion in over 1,500 libraries and WHSmith stores nationwide throughout June and July.

The overall winner will be decided by the panel of Judges, alongside a public vote. The public vote opens on 1 July and closes 14 July at www.theakstons.co.uk.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony hosted by broadcaster Mark Lawson on 20 July on the opening night of the 15th Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate. They’ll receive a £3,000 cash prize, as well as a handmade, engraved beer barrel provided by Theakston Old Peculier.

It’s also been announced that the awards night will honour Lee Child. The Jack Reacher creator will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award, joining past winners Val McDermid, Sara Paretsky, Lynda La Plante, Ruth Rendell, PD James, Colin Dexter and Reginald Hill.

Can't get enough of Reacher?

A few years ago I mentioned Diane Capri's series, the Hunt for Reacher in which the FBI try to track down Jack Reacher (the character created by Lee Child), well there's another series which might be of interest to Reacher's many fans, the Get Jack Reacher series by Scott Blade:

The series begins with Gone Forever which came out a few days ago. The blurb from amazon:

"I am the only Reacher--as far as I know." - Jack Reacher.
With special permission from #1 International Bestseller, Lee Child. 
In The Affair, Jack Reacher was sent into a small town to solve a crime. As usual, he snuffed out the bad guys and said goodbye to a beautiful woman. But this time Reacher left something behind--a son. Cameron Reacher. A new generation of Reacher. Cameron learns on his mother's deathbed that his father is a mysterious drifter named Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher is out there somewhere. In order to know his father; Cameron follows in his footsteps--literally. With one thumb out, he hits the road to track down Jack Reacher, but what he gets instead is a town with a deadly secret and a distraught husband fighting to find his missing wife. The need for justice drives Cameron. Like father, like son. (With a special preview of Winter Territory. Book 2 in the Get Jack Reacher Series)

CrimeFest 2015: Lee Child Interviews Maj Sjöwall

Lee Child interviews Maj Sjöwall.

[Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö wrote the highly influential ten book Martin Beck series (published in English 1965-1975).]

LC read the books in the '70s and hoped he wouldn't come over too fanboy-y in his interview.

Does she mind talking about a ten year period which happened about 50 years ago? Not at all as in this situation she is crime writer.

She was aged between 4 and 9 during WW2, everything stopped during the war. Jazz smuggled in, in '40s' and rock and roll in '50s, smuggled in via England, eg Cliff Richard and then the Beatles.

LC: Image of Sweden at the time as a paradise, all the girls were pretty and would sleep with you! What was wrong with Sweden?

MS: You're right about the girls!

Sweden was turning from social democratic country to a more right wing country. They wrote books during the time the Vietnam war was on. Olav Palme – a great pr man, painted picture of idealistic society but we didn't see that – country more and more right wing and capitalistic. Police were portrayed as more militaristic than civil.

Met Per, both working in same publishing house and MS needed a translator of two Father Brown stories and was introduced to Per. Met again and again.

Per had written 3 political novels (inc 1 about football) and wanted to write something entertaining and bake into it what they wanted to talk about. At the time there were no police novels in Sweden.

Both fond of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Simenon. But didn't want to write like someone else. It was hard to get information about the police then. Our idea was to have not just a single hero but a team.

LC: Introduction to Roseanna is pages of admin about organising the dredger – radically different approach.

MS: Crime novels in Sweden were very bourgeois, wanted it to be realistic – people say their books are slow – but it is realistic. Started series before they had read Ed McBain even though they are often compared and went on to bring McBain books to Sweden.

Book 1 did ok, not fantastic, got good reviews, after books 2 and 3 young people began to react.

Martin Beck is a typical civil servant, rather boring, dutiful, has empathy (Lee Child said he is lovely).

LC: Is she pissed off that people are doing the same as what they did?

MS: Not pissed off that people are doing the same but can't they find some other way to write about society? Books are now half about romance and private life and this stems from Martin Beck as he had a private life - MS said we didn't mean to do it! They won an Edgar for book 3 – only non anglo-saxons to win an Edgar.

Every year there are 10 new Swedish authors...publishers buy at Frankfurt because it's Swedish, Scandinavian noir. Has no explanation for success...it's not that fantastic is it?

They decided on a ten book series, no more no less. One novel, split into ten: Novel of a crime. Wouldn't have carried on for anything.

LC: Here you have integrity on legs.

PW: Per was to planning to write next about modern warships.

Didn't want to write 300 pages on own – too lonely so wrote short things, poetry.

Sat face to face with Per working over a table. Talked a lot about the story and the language and for the first book – the characters.

In Roseanna, a US character was not chosen to open up another market but just to show how Swedish, Swedish police were, and how they could hardly communicate with the US.

They did the voyage through Sweden for fun and there was a beautiful American woman on the trip, Per was watching her, so I said we'll kill her!

Books don't change the world very much but can change thinking. S & W opened the market – half the population writes crime fiction now! Doesn't read much but likes Leif GW Persson who sticks close to real life.

When asked about the Matthau film - said we needed the money!.

Her favourite is The Locked Room.

Doesn't do much writing for publication, though will write for friends, as publishing means things like CrimeFest – ok in England but not in Sweden. Doesn't want to talk about self, or be looked at.

New Reviews: Child, Churton, French, Juul, Nickson, Rimington, Ryan, Slan, Thorpe

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

JF reviews Lee Child's seventeenth Jack Reacher adventure: A Wanted Man;

Terry Halligan reviews Alex Churton's debut, The Babylon Gene;

Michelle Peckham reviews Tana French's Broken Harbour, the fourth in the Dublin Murder Squad series;

Maxine Clarke reviews Pia Juul's The Murder of Halland tr. Martin Aitken;

Geoff Jones reviews the fourth in the historical Richard Nottingham series by Chris Nickson: Come the Fear;

Susan White reviews Stella Rimington's The Geneva Trap, the seventh in the Liz Carlyle series;

Amanda Gillies reviews William Ryan's The Bloody Meadow the second in the Korolev series set in 1930s Russia;

I review the first in the Jane Eyre Chronicles by Joanna Campbell Slan, Death of a Schoolgirl

and Lynn Harvey reviews Adam Thorpe's Flight.

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.

Reacher's Rules

As well as the books, the film and the e-novellas there is:

Reacher's Rules: Life Lessons From Jack Reacher

"Prefaced" by Lee Child and published in November.

My name is Jack Reacher. No middle name, no address.
I've got a rule. People mess with me at their own risk.

Rule 1. If in doubt drink coffee

Rule 2. Never volunteer for anything. Soldier's basic rule.

Rule 3. Don't break the furniture

Rule 4. Only have one woman at a time

Rule 5. Be on your feet and ready

Rule 6. Show them what they're messing with

*Hand-to-hand combat * Travelling light * Cracking codes *Handling weapons * Conquering your deepest fears * Understanding women

CrimeFest - Lee Child Interview

Peter Guttridge interviews Lee Child at Crimefest 2012

Peter opens the interview with the Tom Cruise issue to get it out of the way (takes 15 minutes to answer but of course very interesting stuff)


At the first meeting with Hollywood people LC is
mostly obsessed about 8 dollar water from Norway. How can it be $8? Used it in a later book.

Many big stars have been interested in playing Reacher, LC recounts time he was on train from Manchester to Norwich (these are small trains) and he had George Clooney on the phone! However through working in tv from a young age he is somewhat jaded - met Laurence Olivier when he was 22/23.

Reacher is defined by three things; physicality, intelligent and lacking inhibitions - so very difficult to find actor that fit. Keanu Reeves was interested at one point. They had assumed physicality would be a deal breaker but a year ago they had an epiphany - lose physicality and that meant TC could do the role as he is a good actor and could convey the other two important elements. Need a director who can boss stars around and Christopher McQuarry who wrote The Unusual Suspects, though he is younger than TC he can control him. Film shot in Pittsburgh. You have to have "people" with you in Hollywood so took daughter with him to meet Tom Cruise and they spent a bit of time with Katie and Suri. LC had built up height difference in his mind and then found TC is just a normal sized guy! Werner Hertzog who plays the villain is outrageous, stealing any scene he's within a mile of.

As a movie [One Shot] is going to be a terrific crime movie especially if you've not not read Reacher. If you have read Reacher you may have a WTF feeling for a few minutes but hopefully will enjoy it.

LC makes you two promises - he won't force you to go to the movies and TC won't come to your house and steal your books.

There is some feeling that a book is not thought good enough unless its been on tv/film.Writers are often asked whether a person would have seen their books on tv or film.

LC is happy with possibly two or three films but worries quality will go down eg Prime Suspect. Bad Luck and Trouble could be the third film. Stumbling block is the second one, possibly The Hard Way.

LC in movie as the desk sergeant giving Reacher back his toothbrush.

[I've heard since that the title has changed to Reacher (rather than One Shot)]

A Polish band have done a thrash album with each track a Reacher novel.This didn't affect Reacher nor will film. Unlike with Morse where the books changed and even Bond got Scottish ancestors.In the next book, A Wanted Man - LC re-emphasises Reacher's size as a statement of intent.

LC was a talent spotter in old job, knew Michael Connelly would be big. Sue Grafton was a massive influence on LC. Kinsey Milhone and VI W were first detectives who were real - did laundry. Reacher's Laundry issue a direct result of KM laundry. Reacher was to have no job, no location, no cutesy name eg Hieronymous, Elvis. Liberating. LC loves first few pages as knows he hasn't screwed it up yet. The Western (as in cowboys) hero is adapted from medieval European tradition. Great if they come in fix problem and crucially... move on! Made Reacher a Major, like a knight, but his experience doesn't really fit with being a Major, done for dramatic effect rather than plausible. Majors and below love Reacher in military above hate him as what a nightmare he would be to manage.

Q: Reacher inherits house in fourth book, was he tempted to settle him down?
Shows how respected Reacher is by old boss giving him house. LC hates houses but has bought one in England for anglophile wife and is bemused to find himself Life Member of National Trust.

Q: Any more e-novellas?
Second Son was a down and dirty commercial thing to remind readers of Reacher's brother as he hadn't been mentioned for several books and to drive preorders for new book. A second novella. Deep Down is being written at the moment.

Q: Appeal of Reacher to women?

1. Women more visceral reaction to injustice. Reacher has a feminine type of justice, the arc of the book is turning unfair to fair.
2. Women find it hard to express outrage (still called shrill rather than assertive)
3. Reacher respects and likes women; equal, competent characters.
4. Want to get laid, Reacher is ultimate safe affair: never write, never call, never return. Older women want to look after him, younger 48hrs leg over.

Q: Unresolved phantom from 61 Hours
61 Hours was the the last book in his contract; never takes it for granted that he will get renewed contract so was writing to let it stand as end of series. All the information is in the book as to how he escaped. Not as obvious as in a tv programme. The "to be continued" was not in his original manuscript, but put in by publisher. Worth Dying For is not supposed to be a sequel, rather a separate story.

Lee Child's bibliography on Euro Crime (with reviews).

Paying Homage: Jack Reacher

American author, M Diane Vogt has released some of her early books as e-books (under the name Diane Capri) along with the e-book release of the first in "The Hunt for Reacher" series. Don't Know Jack is an e-book exclusive and can be bought in the UK as well as the US.

Diane explains how this new series came about on her blog.

Follow her on twitter: @DianeCapri


Blurb: It’s been a while since we first met Lee Child’s Jack Reacher in Killing Floor. Fifteen years and sixteen novels later, Reacher still lives off the grid, until trouble finds him, and then he does whatever it takes, much to the delight of readers and the dismay of villains. Now someone big is looking for him. Who? And why? Hunting Jack Reacher is a dangerous business, as FBI Special Agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar are about to find out. Otto and Gaspar are by-the-book hunters who know when to break the rules, but they Don’t Know Jack. Reacher is a stone cold killer. Is he their friend or their enemy? Only the secrets hidden in Margrave, Georgia will tell them

New Reviews: Birkegaard, Briscoe, Child, Dugdall, Fleming, McCrery

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

Here are this week's new reviews:

With the first of two books this week which may not be for the squeamish is Rich Westwood with his review of Mikkel Birkegaard's Death Sentence, tr. Charlotte Barslund;

Susan White reviews The Accused by Constance Briscoe her crime debut, already well-known as the author of the autobiographical Ugly;

Lynn Harvey reviews Lee Child's The Affair which takes Jack Reacher back to the beginning of his loner career;

Maxine Clarke reviews the CWA Award Winner, Ruth Dugdall's The Sacrificial Man;

Terry Halligan reviews James Fleming's conclusion to his Charlie Doig trilogy, Rising Blood

and Amanda Gillies reviews the second of the two books not for the faint-hearted: Nigel McCrery's Scream the third in the DCI Lapslie series set in Essex which is 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 David Belbin, Alex Connor, Ruth Dugdall, Paulus Hochgatterer, Bill Kitson, Alexander McCall Smith, Alexander Soderberg, Dag Solstad, Ferdinand von Schirach and Tom Winship have been added to these pages this week.

New Reviews: Child, Cross, Edwards, Ellis, French, Kristian, Seymour, Theorin

Here are this week's reviews, which include visits to Iraq, Ireland, Sweden, USA and the age of the Vikings(!) as well as the UK:

Lynn Harvey joins the review team with her review of Lee Child's fifteenth Reacher novel, Worth Dying For, which has just come out in paperback;

Sarah Hilary reviews Neil Cross's prequel to his tv series Luther, Luther: The Calling;

I reviewed Martin Edwards's The Serpent Pool on the blog last week (do read the comments as well!);

Lizzie Hayes reviews another fifteenth in the series - Kate Ellis's The Jackal Man the latest in the Wesley Peterson series just out in paperback;

Geoff Jones reviews Tana French's third book in a connected series of books, Faithful Place;

Amanda Gillies reviews the last in the Raven Trilogy by Giles Kristian , Raven: Odin's Wolves (but hopes for more!);

Terry Halligan reviews the recently released new thriller from Gerald Seymour A Deniable Death

and Maxine Clarke reviews double CWA Dagger winner Johan Theorin's third book in the Oland Quartet: The Quarry, tr. Marlaine Delargy.

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

Jack Reacher - the early years

I received a press release today from Transworld about a new Jack Reacher book from Lee Child (in addition to the upcoming The Affair) which will be digital only:

Second Son by Lee Child will be published as an exclusive, specially priced eBook globally on 15th August 2011. It will also be released as an audio digital download. This is the first time Transworld has published a major author in digital exclusive format.

Ever wondered what early experiences shaped Reacher’s explosive career as butt-kicker supreme, the oneman guided missile battler for justice?

Lee Child takes his millions of readers back in time, to a family living on a military base in the Pacific, and to its youngest son – a quiet, brilliant, and already heroic thirteen year old named Jack Reacher.

It's been reported on The Bookseller that there are no plans to release it as a print book.

The press release also states that "Paramount has confirmed that One Shot will be filmed with Tom Cruise in the starring role as Jack Reacher".

New Reviews: Bateman, Becker, Child, Dunne, Kolczynski, McCleary

One competition for October and it is open internationally closes 31st:
Win one of five copies of Someone Else's Son by Sam Hayes

Here are this week's reviews:

Geoff Jones reviews the second in the "mystery man" series from (Colin) Bateman: The Day of the Jack Russell now available in paperback;

Amanda Gillies reviews the third in the globe-trotting Chris Bronson series by James Becker: The Messiah Secret;

Maxine Clarke reviews the eagerly awaited sequel to Lee Child's 61 Hours - Worth Dying For;

Paul Blackburn reviews the first in 'the Reaper' series by Steven Dunne: The Reaper set in Derby;

Laura Root reviews The Oxford Virus by debut author Adam Kolczynski

and Terry Halligan reviews Carol McCleary's The Illusion of Murder in which Nellie Bly aims to go round the world in 75 days.

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

New Reviews: Cameron, Child, Grace, Hilton, Macken, Zeh

This month's competition:
Win a copy of Daisychain by G J Moffat (UK only) - closing very soon (look out for a new competition to replace this one shortly)
and a new one for May (open now):
Win a copy of Bad Penny Blues by Cathi Unsworth (UK only).

This week's reviews are mostly a mixture of thriller and science based crime fiction:

Pat Austin reviews Kenneth Cameron's The Second Woman set in 1900s London;

Maxine Clarke reviews 61 Hours by Lee Child;

Amanda Gillies reviews globe-trotting thriller Quantum by Tom Grace;

Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback edition of Matt Hilton's second Joe Hunter novel, Judgement and Wrath, set in Miami;

Terry Halligan reviews the fourth in the GeneCrime series from John Macken: Control

and Maxine also reviews the "philosophical thriller", Dark Matter by Juli Zeh, translated by Christine Lo.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, 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: Barclay, Child, Forbes, Mills, Stock, Weeks

Just one week left in May's competition - win a copy of Suffer the Children by Adam Creed. (There are no geographical restrictions on entrants.) Enter here.

The following reviews have been added to the review archive over on the main Euro Crime website. The theme this week is thrillers:

New Reviews:

A big welcome to New Zealand based writer/reviewer Craig Sisterson who joins the review team today. His opening review is of Alex Barclay's Blood Runs Cold;

Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback edition of Nothing to Lose by Lee Child;

Amanda Brown reviews the last of Colin Forbes's Tweed books - The Savage Gorge;

Book of the week is Mark Mills's The Information Officer reviewed here by Mike Ripley;

I review the audio book version of Dead Spy Running by Jon Stock (the audio version pre-dates the print version by about a month);

Maxine Clarke reviews the second in the Johnny Mann series by Lee Weeks: The Trafficked

and finally for a bit of non-euro crime, Amanda Gillies reviews Library of the Dead by Glenn Cooper.

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

The queue for Gone Tomorrow...

I noticed today that Lee Child's Gone Tomorrow has 185 reservations on it at Birmingham Library. They don't come much more popular than that. J K Rowling and Martina Cole being the only real contenders. James Patterson's 8th Confession which has been out slightly longer (I think) has 127.

The Face of Jack Reacher?

Simon Mayo's Book Review podcast on 23 April reviewed Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child. The reviewers were joined by Lee and he dropped a few nuggets of info:

Though he is careful not to describe his main character Jack Reacher (other than large and invulnerable) in the books his mental image of Reacher is rugby star, Lawrence Dallaglio (pictured below).


One of the books has been scripted and there's the possibility of a film in the next couple of years.

One of the actors that keeps being linked with Reacher is Hugh Jackman:


One of the next two or three books will revisit Reacher's past in the same way as The Enemy did.

The only other person he could think of who wrote a series with some books in 3rd person and some in 1st was Barbara Kingsolver.

The current Book Review podcast (covering The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith and Heartland by Anthony Cartwright, with Joel Morris, Boyd Hilton and Stella Duffy) can be listened to or downloaded at the BBC website. It's possible that earlier editions can be retrieved via iTunes (or similar)...

Lee Child interview in the New York Times

This interview with Lee Child ran a couple of weeks ago but UK visitors may not have come across it. It concludes with the 4 possible reasons women might like Reacher:

“First, even in the 21st century women find it hard to express anger or disapproval, and so they get tremendous vicarious satisfaction from watching Jack knock some heads off. Second, women, much more than men, are concerned about basic injustice, and they like that Reacher puts things right. They also like that the female characters in the books are all genuine, fully fledged, capable women, not decorative bimbos, and Reacher treats them well. He’s kind of a post-feminist.

“And finally, reason No. 4, what makes Jack so attractive is the absolute impossibility of his sticking around. Affairs in the real world are messy — you get found out, you get divorced, you lose your house. But what if you could absolutely guarantee that the guy would stick around for two or three days and then he’d disappear? He’ll never phone, he’ll never write, and you’ll never see him again. That makes him the irresistible boyfriend.”

Read the whole article here.

A more recent interview appeared in The Observer at the weekend.

We at Euro Crime are big Lee Child/Reacher fans and you can read our reviews (all written by women strangely enough) via the bibliography page.

New Reviews

Here are this week's new reviews and details of an extra competition to the two mentioned last weekend:

Latest Reviews:

This week we go to America, Norway, France, Russia and Botswana in our reviews, starting with Lee Child's Jack Reacher in his latest paperback incarnation - Bad Luck and Trouble reviewed by sock knitter extraordinaire Pat Austin;

I review the second of the Vik-Stubo series by Anne Holt which is set in Norway and France - The Final Murder (US: What Never Happens) - I preferred this to the first book enormously;

Continuing in France, Laura Root reviews the first book to feature Nicholas Le Floch - The Chatelet Apprentice by Jean-Francois Parot set in pre-revolutionary Paris;

Karen Chisholm reviews the much publicised Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith set in Stalinist Russia;

Moving onto Botswana, Maxine Clarke calls - A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley a "rip-roaring read"

and back in France, Maxine has good things to say about Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker.


Current Competitions (closing date 30 April):

Win a copy of The Trophy Taker by Lee Weeks*

Win a copy of The Death Maze by Ariana Franklin**

Win a copy of An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson**


* UK/Europe only
**No geographical restrictions on entrants

Lee Child interviewed at Evil E

In case you missed it, Lee Child was grilled by several well known 'faces' at Evil E the other day.

Lee Child on Radio 4's Front Row

Lee Child was on last Wednesday's Front Row programme:

Bestselling British writer Lee Child on creating one of the most popular heroes of current crime thrillers: Jack Reacher, ex US army special investigator, who returns in Child's new novel Nothing to Lose.

You can listen again to Wednesday's programme (for a couple more days) or you can download the podcast in which he also 'appears'.

Tomorrow's programme (19.15-19.45) has:

Mark Lawson investigating the life and work of the leading Victorian detective Jack Whicher, in the light of a new book by Kate Summerscale. Whicher's most famous case inspired novelists such as Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.