New Reviews: Bruen, Fossum, Haynes, Hilton, Kelly, le Carre, Ridpath, Tyler

July's competition: Win a set of 3 books by Armand Cabasson (UK only)

Here are this week's reviews, which visit Egypt, Iceland, Norway, Russia, USA as well as the UK:

Terry Halligan reviews the movie-tie-in release of Ken Bruen's London Boulevard;

I review Karin Fossum's latest Inspector Sejer, The Caller, tr. K E Semmel;

Amanda Gillies reviews Elizabeth Haynes debut, Into the Darkest Corner which has just been shortlisted for the "New Blood" Dagger;

Michelle Peckham reviews the fifth Joe Hunter from Matt Hilton, Blood and Ashes which is just out in paperback;

Susan White reviews the paperback release of Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree which has also been shortlisted for the "New Blood" Dagger;

I review the radio play version of John le Carre's The Russia House on the blog;

Maxine Clarke reviews Michael Ridpath's second Icelandic novel, 66 Degrees North which sounds bang up to date politically

and Lizzie Hayes reviews L C Tyler's Herring on the Nile which she says is more fun than a certain other crime book set on the Nile!

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

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.

New Reviews: Davidsen, George, Hilton, Markaris, Morris, Nova

This month's competitions:
Win a copy of Deadly Trade by Michael Stanley (Worldwide)
Win a copy of Bad Penny Blues by Cathi Unsworth (UK only).

Here are this week's reviews, (lots of third books this week!):

Maxine Clarke reviews The Woman from Bratislava by Leif Davidsen, tr Barbara J Haveland;

Terry Halligan says that Elizabeth George is back on form with This Body of Death;

Michelle Peckham continues to enjoy the Joe Hunter series by Matt Hilton, now on its third entry: Slash and Burn;

Maxine also reviews Che Committed Suicide by Petros Markaris, tr. David Connolly, the third in this Athens based series;

Pat Austin reviews the third of R N Morris's Porfiry Petrovich series, A Razor Wrapped in Silk calling it "a little gem"

and Norman Price reviews The Informer by Craig Nova set in 1930s Berlin.

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: Black, Cabasson, Clark, Fox, Hilton, McCrery

January competition reminder: 3 copies of A K Shevchenko's Bequest are up for grabs. There are no geographical restrictions. Details of how to enter can be found here.

Here are this week's reviews:

Paul Blackburn reviews the third in Tony Black's Edinburgh based Gus Dury series - Loss;

Laura Root reviews Memory of Flames by Armand Cabasson, tr. Isabel Reid the most recent in this series of Napoleonic thrillers;

Amanda Brown catches up with the 14th century Abbess Hildegard in the paperback edition of The Red Velvet Turnshoe by Cassandra Clark;

Terry Halligan reviews the latest in the Anya Crichton, forensic pathologist series from Australian author Kathryn Fox: Blood Born;

Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback edition of the first of Matt Hilton's Joe Hunter thrillers: Dead Men's Dust

and Maxine Clarke reviews the second in Nigel McCrery's DCI Mark Lapslie series, Tooth and Claw.

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

Bits and Pieces

A few things I've learnt recently:

Bernard Knight is writing a second series along with his 12th Century Crowner John series. The first book is called Where Death Delights and is set in 1955. It'll be published by Severn House next February.

Nigel McCrery's Still Waters has just been published in paperback under the title Core of Evil.

Michael Morley is now also writing as Jon Trace and his first book under this name is The Venice Conspiracy out in February.

There's a special Taggart v Rebus confrontation on Children in Need next Friday.

The current podcast for Simon Mayo's Book Review show features Black Water Rising by Attica Locke and Judgement and Wrath by Matt Hilton.

On Radio 4's Open Book programme on Sunday 15 November at 4pm, Mariella Frostrup talks to Frances Fyfield.

Matt Hilton

You may remember Matt Hilton from the press coverage last year after he received a publishing deal of £800,000 for five books. The first book, Dead Men's Dust, will be out next month and as the covers below show, the target audience is probably the fan-base of Lee Child.

A new website www.joehuntervigilante.com has recently been set up which includes a trailer and a 'shooting' game. The author's website is at www.matthiltonbooks.com.



Synopsis for Dead Men's Dust: ‘Some may call me a vigilante. I think I’ve just got problems to fix.’

Right now, Joe Hunter’s big problem is a missing little brother, last seen fleeing the site of a gruesome killing. Hunter needs the help of an old army buddy, a whole lot of hardware and a trip to Little Rock, Arkansas, to fix this particular problem.

A brutal encounter with some very nasty criminals leaves Hunter fighting for his life. And that’s before he comes up against America’s most feared serial killer, ‘The Harvestman’, and his grisly souvenirs of death.

But blood is thicker than water. And a lot of blood will be spilt . . .

DEAD MEN'S DUST introduces Joe Hunter, an all action hero with a strong moral code. Like the gunslingers of the Wild West, Hunter is not afraid to use his weapons and his fists – but only to save the victims from the bad guys.

US publishing deal for Matt Hilton

Matt Hilton's UK deal was revealed a few days ago, and now the US rights have been sold. From Publisher's Lunch:

Matt Hilton's DEAD MEN'S DUST, about an ex-military officer hunting for a serial killer who may have taken his brother, to David Highfill at William Morrow, for publication in June 2009, plus two more Joe Hunter thrillers, by George Lucas at Inkwell Management (US).

Publishing Deal for Police Officer

From the BBC website:

A police officer has quit his job after landing a £800,000 publishing deal to write crime thrillers.

PC Matt Hilton worked as a beat officer in Cumbria before securing the five novel deal with Hodder and Stoughton.

The 42-year-old, of Carlisle, says he has finally achieved his dream after working for the police and in security.

His first book, Dead Men's Dust, will be published in June next year and the later novels will be released at six-monthly intervals.

He said: "As a police constable I primarily answered 999 calls, and often dealt with violence, theft, robbery and road traffic collisions.

"Although I enjoyed my work, I never felt that I was achieving my ambition, so when the publishing deal came along I resigned from the force immediately, allowing me to do what I've always dreamed of.

"I've been existing on adrenalin since I heard the news."

He has been writing novels since the age of 13 and has had non-fiction magazine articles published before.

After 18 years working in the private security industry he joined Cumbria Police in 2004.