Different covers for The Postcard Killers

The James Patterson, Liza Marklund collaboration, tr Neil Smith will be published soon in the US. The UK edition is out in September. I thought it might be interesting to see the different approaches taken by the different countries, in particular US and Sweden given the relative fames of the two writers. I rather like the Danish cover.

US/UK-----------------------------------------Swedish (Norwegian & Finnish are very similar)

Danish---------------------------------------------------German

Dutch-----------------------------------------------Italian

Publishing Deal - Thomas Enger

The crime in translation wave continues with Faber announcing a deal for two books from Norwegian author Thomas Enger. In the Bookseller:

Faber has signed a new crime series by Norwegian author Thomas Enger, including his debut Burned, which has been sold into 12 other territories so far. Acquiring Editor Angus Cargill bought UK and Commonwealth rights from Norwegian publisher Gyldendal.

Burned opens with the arrest of a Pakistani immigrant, accused of the Sharia style killing of a Norwegian woman. Cargill said it was a significant acquisition for Faber’s growing crime list, and described Burned as a novel that "combined the thrill of the best page-turner, with a deep psychological portrait of this wonderful character".

Faber will publish Burned in July 2011, to be followed by Phantom Pain in July 2012.

Update: the translator will be Charlotte Barslund who also translates Karin Fossum.

Deadline - cover opinions

Stella Rimington's Deadline is the fourth in her Liz Carlyle series set in Britain's MI5/MI6 milieu.

There are three covers to consider today: the US one on the left which came out in June 2010 (hardback) (the white text says "a novel from the former head of Britain's MI5"), the UK hardback on the right (2008) or the UK paperback (2009, below).

So what are you thoughts on the US and UK covers? Which would entice you to pick the book up if you were not familiar with Stella Rimington? (I think she's probably better known in the UK than US.)

Here is the Euro Crime review, by Norman, of Dead Line.

Green Alley Showdown - Copycat Covers

Spotted this the other day when I was updating the new releases page:



All the Dead Voices came out in 2009 and The Case of the Naught Wife is out 1 November.

New Reviews: Black, Bruce, Cottam, Downie, Leather, Strachan

Two competitions for July and one is open internationally:
Win one of ten copies of Jail Bird by Jessie Keane (Worldwide)
Win one of five copies of The Assassin's Prayer by Ariana Franklin (UK & Republic of Ireland only)

Here are this week's reviews, including 3 debut novels:

Michelle Peckham reviews Sean Black's Lockdown the first in a series of thrillers set in America;

Maxine Clarke reviews Alison Bruce's Cambridge Blue the debut appearance for DC Goodhew;

Amanda Gillies reviews, ghost story The Waiting Room by F G Cottam;

Paul Blackburn reviews Ruso and the Root of all Evils by R S (Ruth) Downie published as Persona Non Grata in the US;

Terry Halligan finds himself appearing in Stephen Leather's Rough Justice the latest in the "Spider" series

and don't miss Laura Root's thoughtful review of The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and (a recently expanded list of) forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

International Dagger 2010 - winner

Johan Theorin's The Darkest Room, translated by Marlaine Delargy, which came third on the Euro Crime blog polls, was announced tonight as the winner of the 2010 CWA International Dagger.



The judges said: ‘Four plot strands whorl around the vortex of an unexplained death. It is impossible to reduce this mysterious novel to ghost story, a police procedural or a gothic tale.’

The Euro Crime review is here.

2010 Gold, Fleming & Creasey Awards - Shortlists

The shortlists for the CWA's Gold, Ian Fleming and John Creasey Awards have been announced this afternoon (links are to Euro Crime reviews). More information on each title and the judges can be found on the newly revamped CWA website:

CWA GOLD DAGGER 2010

Conman - Richard Asplin
Blacklands - Belinda Bauer
Blood Harvest - S J Bolton
Rain Gods - James Lee Burke
Shadowplay - Karen Campbell
The Strange Case of the Composer and his Judge - Patricia Duncker
Still Midnight - Denise Mina
The Way Home - George Pelecanos

CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER 2010, SPONSORED BY IAN FLEMING PUBLICATIONS LTD

61 Hours - Lee Child
A Loyal Spy - Simon Conway
Gone - Mo Hayder
Slow Horses - Mick Herron
The Dying Light - Henry Porter
Innocent - Scott Turow
The Gentlemen’s Hour - Don Winslow

CWA JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER 2010

Martyr - Rory Clements
Acts of Violence - Ryan David Jahn
The Pull of the Moon - Diane Janes
Rupture - Simon Lelic
Stop Me - Richard Jay Parker
Random - Craig Robertson
Cut Short - Leigh Russell
The Holy Thief - William Ryan

The finalists in each category will be announced on Monday 9th August to coincide with the launch of the completely integrated Crime Thriller promotional period which will see posters and stickered books in shops and supermarkets, coverage in the press, and trailers on ITV1 and ITV3. The initiative has the support of leading publishers and highstreet retailers and is now well established as a major industry-wide event.

Ian Rankin news

One of Euro Crime's loyal blog/website followers has written to me asking about the next Ian Rankin book. A look on amazon shows "Untitled Rankin 2 of 2" for 20 October 2011. I then trundled over to Ian's website and found the following information in his latest newsletter.:

Oh, and I need to start thinking of my next book. I owe my publisher a brand new novel by mid-2011, so I need to get my head together for October/November. 2011 should also see some TV activity - both The Complaints and Doors Open have picked up significant interest (scripts for both are underway as I write - but not scripted by me). One’s for BBC, the other ITV. I should have a bit of a say in the casting and the way the scripts pan out - lessons have been learned from the TV version(s) of Rebus.

So no details about the new book but some encouraging tv news.

Poll Results on International Dagger - 2010

The poll have now closed for voting on who you want to and think will win this year's CWA International Dagger. The Dagger winner will be announced tomorrow evening at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. There were around 50% more votes this year compared to 2009.

There were 222 votes in the "want to win" and 157 votes in the "think will win". In both cases the winner was The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson followed by Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indridason though the margin is small in the "want to win" and huge in the "think will win".

The other titles, which are a bit obscured in the snapshot below, are Badfellas (Benacquista), August Heat (Camilleri), Thirteen Hours (Meyer) and The Darkest Room (Theorin).


I will remove the polls in the next couple of days. Many thanks to all those who took part and read the shortlist.

Inspector Morse takes to the Stage

I've just received my Malvern Theatre Autumn brochure and what do I find? That there is an Inspector Morse play - House of Ghosts with Morse played by the former Doctor Colin Baker.

Exactly 35 years after a certain grumpy super-sleuth with an eye for the ladies and a thirst for beer made his first appearance in Colin Dexter's novel Last Bus to Woodstock, he's back…

Inspector Morse takes to the stage in Autumn 2010 in an all-new murder mystery, House of Ghosts. By special arrangement with Colin Dexter and starring Colin Baker (Dr Who) as Morse, Alma Cullen – the writer behind four of the hugely successful ITV episodes and Director Robin Herford (Woman in Black) – bring the inscrutable detective to audiences across the UK in what promises to be one of the theatrical events of the year.

Since Oxford undergraduate days, Morse has regarded theatre director Laurence Baxter as the only truly evil man he has ever met. So what happens when, twenty-odd years later, Morse finds Baxter at the centre of a murder case that involves the on-stage death of a young actress?

A list of tour dates can be found on this Colin Baker website (scroll down to 7.05). The production runs from late August to early December and the venues include (but are not limited to) Richmond, Oxford, Cardiff, Coventry, Malvern, Wolverhampton.

The Merry Misogynist - cover opinions

Colin Cotterill's The Merry Misogynist is the sixth in his Dr Siri Paiboun series set in 1970's Laos.

There are three covers to consider today: the US one on the left which is to be published on 1 August, the UK hardback in purple or the recent UK paperback (below) which marks the beginning of a new look for this series.

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

Here is the Euro Crime review, by Michelle, of The Merry Misogynist.

US -------------------------------------------------UK (HB)

---------------------------------------------UK (PB)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo DVD

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has just been released on R2 DVD. At the moment amazon.co.uk and play.com have it at £10.99.


Official synopsis:
From the literary phenomenon by Stieg Larsson comes this gripping new thriller which will have you guessing right until the very end.

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared off the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family. There was no corpse, no witnesses, no evidence. Nearly forty years later a journalist by the name of Mikael Blomqvist gets an unusual assignment. He's contacted by Harriet's uncle, Henrik Vanger, who wants him to find out what really happened to Harriet. Mikael takes on the job, with help from mysterious biker girl and computer hacker Lisbeth Salander. This unlikely pair form a fragile bond as they dig into the sinister past of this family and find out just how far they're prepared to go to protect themselves - and each other.

On the Bench - cover theme

I didn't realise when I put these together that there's a pair of copy-cat covers (Borkmann's Point and Run for Home). Never End is a US cover the others are UK.

The Hammett Prize 2010

The Hammett Prize 2010 has just been awarded at Semana Negra, from Reuters:

"the best crime novel written in Spanish, the Hammett Prize - named after U.S. author Dashiel Hammett - went to Argentine novelist Guillermo Orsi, for his book "La Ciudad Santa" (The Holy City).

Orsi's book tells of a cruise ship which runs aground in the wide but shallow River Plate, forcing the wealthy passengers to disembark in Buenos Aires, who then become bait for kidnappers.

"A city which, like many another megalopolis, but above all in South America, is riddled with corruption and violence, makes the perfect setting for a crime writer," Orsi said of the Argentine capital, where he lives.

Though this title is not yet available in English, Orsi's No-One Loves a Policeman tr. Nick Caistor was published in April by MacLehose Press so there is hope that The Holy City will follow.

TV News - Silk & Sherlock

A couple of bits of tv news from last week. Firstly, the BBC announced Silk a new legal drama starring Maxine Peake and Rupert Penry-Jones:

Maxine Peake, Rupert Penry-Jones, Natalie Dormer, Tom Hughes and Neil Stuke star in Silk, a thrilling new drama series for BBC One about the lives, loves and hard cases facing barristers on the front line of criminal law, written by Bafta award-winning writer Peter Moffat.

Maxine Peake is Martha Costello, in her thirties, single, passionate and a defence barrister applying for silk. Innocent until proven guilty are four words she lives by. But how does this fundamental principle stand up to examination by clients who are sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes evil?

Martha is faced with challenging cases and surprising clients. Her beliefs and prejudices, her conscience and her faith in the criminal justice system are tested to the limit over the course of the series.

Former barrister Peter Moffat makes a return to BBC One, providing an insider's view into this exciting, morally complex, highly-charged world.

Peter says: "Silk is based on my experience at the bar. I want to tell it as it really is. The extreme pressure, the hard choices, the ethical dilemmas, the overlap between the personal and the professional, principles fought for and principles sacrificed, the Machiavellian politics, the sex, the drinking, the whole story – life at the bar is the richest possible drama territory."

Joining Martha is Clive Reader, played by Rupert Penry-Jones. He's funny, gifted and dangerous. The same age as Martha, they're called to the bar together. Both are applying for silk – how they perform in court is vital to this process and Clive knows how to play the game.

Read the rest of the press release here.

And Steven Moffat's Sherlock starts on BBC1 next Sunday, "featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, Martin Freeman as Dr John Watson and Rupert Graves as Detective Inspector Lestrade". (For once Rupert Graves isn't playing a baddie!)

New Reviews: Cotterill, Fossum, Glynn, McKinty, Russell, Southey

Two competitions for July and one is open internationally:
Win one of ten copies of Jail Bird by Jessie Keane (Worldwide)
Win one of five copies of The Assassin's Prayer by Ariana Franklin (UK & Republic of Ireland only)

Here are this week's reviews:

Michelle Peckham reviews Colin Cotterill's The Merry Misogynist in which Dr Siri Paiboun has a serial killer to catch;

I take a look at the new Karin Fossum, Bad Intentions, tr. Charlotte Barslund which covers some familiar Fossum themes;

Maxine Clarke is very impressed with Winterland by Alan Glynn;

Terry Halligan reviews Adrian McKinty's Fifty Grand which has a Cuban detective searching for her father's killer, in Colorado;

Amanda Gillies reviews Leigh Russell's Road Closed, the second in her DI Geraldine Steel series

and Rik Shepherd reviews Secret Lament by Roz Southey set in an 18th century Newcastle whose population includes spirits of the dead.

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

Publishing Deal - Camilla Lackberg

Good news for US readers of Camilla Lackberg's series, translated by Steven T Murray, as the paperback deal has been agree. From Publishers Weekly:

Pegasus Books has sold paperback rights to Swedish international bestseller Camilla Lackberg’s first three books to Simon & Schuster. S&S’s Free Press and Pocket Books imprints acquired trade paperback and mass market rights to The Ice Princess and Lackberg’s next two books, The Preacher and The Stonecutter. Pegasus released Princess, a bestseller across Europe, in June (and Lackberg was featured in the June 28 PW). The two paperback editions will be released simultaneously by S&S next April.

The UK paperback edition of The Stonecutter will be released in March 2011 along with the hardback release of The Gallows Bird.

Summer read? The Toff at Butlin's

I've been having a clear out of some books that I know I'm never going to read. My tastes have changed over the last 10-15 years so what I bought then, often no longer appeals. I discovered this one and I just love the cover and I'm going to keep it though the pages are brown with age. My edition is 1958 but The Toff at Butlin's came out in 1954. Mr Butlin appears in it apparently and there is also a map of the camp!

In the gay atmosphere of a Holiday Camp, the Toff sets out to find three missing men - and quickly discovers an exciting and eventful trails leading to...murder!

Trailer Thursday - The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

I featured The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant recently on cover opinions. (The cover featured at the end of the trailer below is a third version.) This title is classed as adult in the US and teenage in the UK and my review is here. The UK trailer has just been released:



(One of my cats reacted to the cat miaow in the trailer!)

August Heat - cover opinions

Andrea Camilleri's August Heat tr. Stephen Sartarelli is the final 2010 International Dagger contender to have its covers scrutinised as Badfellas has the same cover for both the US and UK editions. (Previous cover opinion posts can be found here).

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

Here is the Euro Crime review, by Maxine, of August Heat.



I like both styles of covers but I do feel the UK ones can give too much of the plot away.