Upgrade or die...

It seems I finally had no choice but to upgrade to beta blogger. In my tired state last night I couldn't work out why it wouldn't let me login. Anyway this morning I've taken tentative steps to move with the times. I would like to change the look slightly but it informs me I'd lose all my changes and I'm a bit woried about that so will stay with the classic look for a while longer.

What I tried to sign in to post last night, is that I've updated the News page on Euro Crime with links to the last few days' crime fiction related items in the UK papers. The regular new reviews update will follow later on today.

Another Spanish crime writer

I've stumbled over another Spanish crime writer to add to my database - Francisco García Pavon. According to 'G J Demko's Landscapes of Crime':

In the 1950s and 60s Francisco Garcia Pavon wrote a number of mysteries that featured Chief of Munincipal Guard Manual Gonzalez "Plinio". The "Plinio" books were very popular and won a number of prizes and even some acclaim abroad ( see Los Liberales — in English- Barcelona, Ediciones Destino,1971). Plinio is a very non-heroic detective working in a small city who’s premonitions and hunches are more important than scientific and logical deduction. Pavon has been referred to as the Spanish Proust of the common people.

The only crime book of his translated into English and vaguely in print is, 'The Crimson Twins', published by Allison & Busby in 2000.

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk:

The Pelaez sisters, both spinsters in their 60s, disappear following a telephone call. Chief of the local police force, Plinio, finds bizarre clues in the sister's flat - a foetus in a specimen jar, a room full of dolls - and realises there is more to the case than meets the eye.

Is it me or is this one creepy cover....

More Spanish authors translated into English are listed here on Euro Crime.

Michael Dibdin RIP

I'm shocked and saddened to learn that the talented writer Michael Dibdin has died aged 60. The Telegraph's obituary sums up his life and his Aurelio Zen books. I remember seeing him on the tv as one of the pundits on the programme announcing the Booker prize awards - someone whose name I recognised and had read. I haven't yet read his Zen books but I do recommend 'A Rich Full Death'. The final (presumably) Zen book is due out in July, aptly called 'End Games'.

Winners of Euro Crime's March Competitions

Here are the winners of March's Euro Crime competitions (and the correct answers):

1. Haggard Hawk by Marcus Barr

Midsomer Murders are based on the books of which author:
c)Caroline Graham

Winners:
Chris Connor
Harold Jones
Margaret Payne
Helen Thurston
Denise Whiteside

2. Cross by Ken Bruen

Which one of the following books was not written by Ken Bruen:
b) Darkhouse

Winners:
Alan Bailey
Garry Chambers
William Plimley
Pat Reid, USA
Fred Zackel, USA

3. A Greater Evil/Evil is Done by Natasha Cooper

Which Festival is Natasha chairing this year?
b) Harrogate Crime Writing Festival

Winners (A Greater Evil):
Julie Clark
Rhiannon Harrison
Sharon Lake
Rachel Ringwood
Caroline Stanley

Winners (Evil is Done):
Sarah Bewley, FL
Eleanor Flatley, CA
Carol Hutton, MD
Emelia Parker, Michigan
B. J. Simon, TX

4. Wire in the Blood DVDs

Which one of the following books is not part of the Tony Hill/Carol Jordan series:
a) The Distant Echo

Winners:
Sarah Bewley, FL
Julie Campbell, MI

Enter this month's competitions here.

All Hail Spartapuss!

I have one of our younger borrowers (at the library) to thank for my recent discovery, as she ordered in all three books in this hitherto unknown series to me. The books are aimed at 8+ and may also appeal to cat lovers a few decades older than that. I haven't read them yet but I'm keen to try one.

From the publisher's website (Mogzilla, I kid you not):

The Spartapuss novels are a unique series of books set in an ancient Rome ruled entirely by cats. The plots are based partly on historical events as recorded by the great classical writers Tacitus and Suetonius. Each short but perfectly formed book is crammed with silliness. Kids and critics are warming to the cleverly drawn characters, accurate historical description (as far as you can be given the cat aspect) and most importantly, page turning plots that can inspire the most reluctant of readers to finish a book.

The first book is 'I am Spartapuss'. All synopses are from the publisher's website:

"Spartapuss' diary tells of how a Kiton slave became a prisoner, the prisoner became a gladiator. But will the gladiator become history?

Rome AD 36. The mighty Feline Empire rules the world. A ginger cat is comfortable managing Rome’s finest Bath and Spa complex. But Fortune has other plans for him. There’s a nasty incident in the Vomitarium. He’s arrested and imprisoned by Catligula, the Emperor’s heir and favourite. Released into a school for gladiators, our Fraidipuss hero must fight and win his freedom in the Arena - before his opponents make mouse-meat of him."

The second book is 'Catligula':

"In the second book in the Spartapuss series, history takes a terrible turn for the worse as Catligula takes control. Rome’s new ruler toys with his empire like a captured mouse. He’s mad, bad and dangerous to stroke.

When Spartapuss starts a new job at the Imperial Palace, Catligula wants him as his new best friend. The Spraetorian Guard plot to tame the power-crazed puss before he ruins the empire. But will Spartapuss play ball?"

The third and latest book is 'Die Clawdius':

"The most gripping adventure yet in the acclaimed Spartapuss series... Clawdius, the least likely Emperor in Roman history, needs to show his enemies who’s boss. So he decides to invade Spartapuss’ home – The Land of the Kitons. As battle lines are drawn, Spartapuss must take sides. Can the magic of the Mewids help him to make the right choice?"



The first chapter of each book can be downloaded at the website.

New Reviews and New Competitions (no kidding)

Firstly, April's competitions have been uploaded. All four competitions are open world-wide:

Win one of three copies of 'Strangers' by Carla Banks

Win one of five copies of 'Relentless' by Simon Kernick

Win a copy of 'Go to Helena Handbasket' by Donna Moore

Win one of three copies of 'What Was Lost' by Catherine O'Flynn

(The winners of March's competitions will be announced tomorrow.)

This week's new reviews are linked to the competitions. Carla Banks' latest book 'Strangers' is one of this month's prizes and Terry Halligan has just reviewed her previous title, 'The Forest of Souls' which left him keen to read more.

Last month's prize, 'Haggard Hawk' by Marcus Barr has been reviewed by Geoff Jones and Petrona's Maxine Clarke. One of them liked it more than the other, but I'm not telling which :-).

Finally, Mike Ripley's March round-up reviews another of last month's prizes, 'Cross' by Ken Bruen as well as 'The Death of Dalziel' by Reginald Hill and 'The Accidental American' by Alex Carr (Jenny Siler).

Other Updates:

The 'Authors' (537 sites) page has been updated.

The 'New Releases' pages have been updated.

In 'Books' - I've added bibliographies for the following: Sara Banerji and Tom Rob Smith and updated the bibliographies for: Gianrico Carofiglio, Susan Hill, John Lawton, Perihan Magden, Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Scarlett Thomas.

The 'News' page has been updated.

Rebus's last case?

The Evening News ran an interview with Ian Rankin on Friday. Some hints about where Rebus is going are forthcoming:

But for now, Rankin is firmly in the present, having just finished the first draft of his final Rebus novel. So is this the last for Inspector Rebus?

"Yes. Well, no. Well, yes. It's the last novel of him as a serving police officer," he teases.

"It would have been horrible to have killed him off. I've lived with this guy for 20 years and it would be an injustice too far - he's been beaten up, he's lost friends and family. I spoke to Colin Dexter and asked him why he killed off Morse, which was because he was bored of writing the books.

"I'm not saying this is the final Rebus book, but he does retire at the end of this book. Siobhan could take over and Rebus could continue privately, but, to be honest, I've not really thought about it. I wasn't tired of him but I'd got myself in the situation where he lived in real time. I suddenly couldn't not make him age."

and

Rankin's publishers have also signed him up to write two new books, but he's adamant he's taking a long overdue rest in 2008.

"I've published around 24 books in 20-odd years, sometimes two a year. I just need a break, to recharge the batteries."

But for Rankin fans, there will be a novel published in 2008. "In January, I wrote a novella about a heist in Edinburgh for the New York Times - I wanted to call it Ocean's Terminal 11 - but they didn't see the joke. It was great fun - a new character, lighter crime. Luckily this novella can be published in the UK next year so I'll flesh it out and publish it then."

Read the full article here.

Who Is Lou Sciortino?: A Novel about Murder, the Movies, and Mafia Family Values

Here's one to interest Camilleri fan, Uriah at Crime Scraps. This will be out in May in the US and June in the UK.

Synopsis (from amazon.co.uk):
Lou Sciortino, grandson of the most feared boss of the L.A. mafia, has Prozac in his pocket and the Godfather in his blood. He knows he can't escape The Family but settles for laundering their money in peace - or so he thinks. When a bomb explodes at his film company's offices he's sent to Sicily 'for some sunshine' but ends up on the trail of a wannabe rock star who may or may not be linked to the shooting of a policeman in Uncle Mimmo's shop. In this crazy world where your friends are not your friends, killers are glamorous in black Armani, and grandfathers to be feared above all men, can the inimitable Lou solve the murder? Ottavio Cappellani's mesmerizing debut is punchy, pacy and truly stylish: a page-turner that takes Italy's biggest cliche and explodes it from every angle.

You can read more at the author's agent's page.

The website's back!/Competitions

I discovered when I got home from work half hour ago that the Euro Crime website had been disabled earlier today. A victim of its own success it had exceeded the monthly bandwidth allowance. I've coughed up and upgraded, so all is well again.

It's almost the last chance to enter March's competitions. If there any Americans reading who'd like to win some Wire in the Blood DVDs do have a look at the easy peasy competition.

And now it's time for tea!

The Cairo Diary by Maxim Chattam

One to look out for in June. From Minotaur's Spring catalogue:

A bestselling historical thriller from France, set in meticulously researched locales with a healthy dose of mystery and intrigue.

Cairo, 1928: Several children disappear and are found horribly mutilated in the tombs just outside the city. Has a ghoul from the Arabian Nights come to life? British inspector Jeremy Matheson follows the trail of the monster while grappling with his own past as well as with the charged political situation in British-occupied Cairo.

Mont-Saint-Michel, 2005: Marion has been spirited away from Paris and brought to a remote monastery by the French Secret Service.When she finds a diary dating from 1928 in the monastery library hidden inside an Edgar Allan Poe jacket and penned by Jeremy Matheson, she is inexorably pulled into the past as she follows his investigation.The two stories intertwine and culminate in an absolutely baffling climax and will leave the reader questioning his sense of the truth.

“One of the best contemporary thriller authors…there is a toughness to his stories, a truth to his characters and a writing style that, even though it flirts with the fantastical, always stays realistic. Chattam knows how to make the most of his readers’ fears and phobias.” —LE MONDE

After stints as an actor, night watchman and bookseller, MAXIM CHATTAM studied criminology in Paris. He is also the author of several plays and a well-received trilogy (The Soul of Evil, In Darkness and Evil Spells). He lives in Poissy, France.

Update: Read the Euro Crime review of The Cairo Diary.

British Book Awards - results

The full results are here but the winner of the BCA Crime Thriller of the year was Ian Rankin's 'The Naming of the Dead'.

The 6000...

The Guardian has a lengthy article on first time novelists and includes some interesting statistics at the end:

· Around 70,000 titles are published a year in Britain, of which 6,000 are novels

· Any large UK publisher will receive 2,000 unsolicited novel manuscripts in a year

· The average sale of a hardback book by a first-time writer is 400 copies

· Many publishers use this rule of thumb to work out advances: they pay 50 per cent of the royalty earnings expected from the first print run

· According to the latest edition of Private Eye, first novel The Thirteenth Tale by ex-teacher Diane Setterfield (author's advance £800,000) has sold 13,487 copies to date. Only 516,129 to go and the book's paid for itself...

One of the debut novelists mentioned is Ivo Stourton whose first (crime) novel is set in Cambridge and will be out in June. Read the whole article here.

The new Robert Harris?

From the Publisher's Lunch newsletter:

28-year-old screenwriter Tom Rob Smith's debut novel CHILD 44, pitched as in the tradition of Robert Harris and Martin Cruz Smith, set in the Soviet Union on the eve of Stalin's death, and based in part on real events, to Suzanne Baboneau at Simon & Schuster UK, at auction, for publication in spring 2008, by James Gill at PFD.

From his agent's page:

Tom Rob Smith is 28. He graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2001 with a First-class degree in English Literature and in the same year was awarded the Harper-Wood Creative Writing scholarship to the Italian University of Pavia. He has worked as a screenwriter ever since. His UK television work includes Doctors and Dream Team, and he also storylined Cambodia's first ever soap opera for the BBC World Service Trust. He has a number of feature-film screenplays in development, including Somewhere in the Shadow, adapted from a short story by Jeff Noon, as well as a number of projects for television. His debut novel Child 44 will be published in 2008. Rights have been sold in the UK, US, France, Netherlands, and Italy.

Born in England to a Swedish mother and an English father, Tom lives and works in London.

Mini Update to Euro Crime

As I'm going to be away for a few days from tomorrow, I'm just doing a mini update this weekend.

The four new reviews this week are:

HARRIS, JOANNE - Gentlemen and Players (reviewed by Yvonne Klein)

JACKSON, LEE - The Welfare of the Dead (audio book) (reviewed by me)

LEVACK, SIMON - Aztec: City of Spies (reviewed by Terry Halligan)

NOORT, SASKIA - The Dinner Club (reviewed by Karen Chisholm)


Just one more week to enter March's competitions:

Win one of five copies of 'Haggard Hawk' by Marcus Barr (UK & Europe)

Win one of five copies of 'Cross' by Ken Bruen (No restrictions)

Win one of ten copies of A Greater Evil/Evil is Done by Natasha Cooper (US, UK & Europe)

Win one of two sets of Seasons 1-3 of Wire in the Blood on DVD (R1) (US only)

Next month's prizes will include an award winner and a title recently longlisted for the Orange prize.

Gumshoe Awards - 2006

The nominees for the Best European Crime Novel in 2006 are:

Ken Bruen - The Dramatist
Gianrico Carofiglio - A Walk in the Dark
Philippe Claudel - By a Slow River (UK: Grey Souls)
Karin Fossum - When the Devil Holds the Candle
Barbara Vine - The Minotaur

(The Gumshoe Awards are given by Mystery Ink each year to recognize the best achievements in the world of crime fiction. The nominated books were chosen from those published for the first time in the United States in 2006. The winners will be announced on May 1, 2007.)

Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series on tv?

There's just a bit on Susan Hill's website that says:

The three current crime novels have been bought for TV by Bentley Productions, Maker of the top ITV drama series MIDSOMER MURDERS and JUDGE JOHN DEED.

The first three being, 'The Various Haunts of Men', 'Pure in the Heart' and 'The Risk of Darkness'.

A fourth, 'The Going Down of the Sun' will be published either June 2007 or June 2008 according to amazon!

Gentlemen & Players

According to Book2Book, Joanne Harris's 'Gentlemen & Players' has been optioned for tv.

The agent Brie Burkeman in association with Serafina Clarke has just concluded an option on the television rights in GENTLEMEN & PLAYERS by Joanne Harris (Chocolat, Five Quarters Of The Orange) to Bentley Productions.

Peter Ransley (Fallen Angel, Fingersmith) is attached to adapt.

The Euro Crime review of 'Gentlemen & Players' (by Yvonne Klein) will be uploaded at the weekend and given the little I know about the plot, I think this will be quite a tricky proposition to stay true to the book.

Orion Newsletter

The second edition of the Orion newsletter - Most Wanted - has now been released. It covers Lisa Gardner, Boris Akunin and June Hampson. You can read it and subscribe here.

It includes the following snippet:

STOP PRESS: THE WINTER QUEEN is to be made into a film.

Paul Verhoeven will begin shooting in summer, 07 in St. Petersburg and in London. Milla Jovavich and Dan Stevens are to star.

A crime novel from Transita

I blogged about non crime author Christine Coleman back in October when she made an author visit to Mere Green library. She's published by Transita, a company which features main characters in the more mature age group.

I was pleased to see in London's Murder One, that they've recently published a crime novel - 'Blood Precious' by Sara Banerji - which came out in January.

Synopsis:

Snobbish, aloof and eighty years old, Lady Arabella Cunningham-Smythe wishes she were dead. Then at least she could join her late husband as they had planned so meticulously before he died.

But a band of well meaning friends and relations are determined to thwart her wishes. It is only when her beloved four year old granddaughter Naomi - who has magical powers - is kidnapped that things change. Lady Arabella must regain the will to live if she is to turn detective, successfully outwit a mass murderer – and learn to master her mobile phone.

You can read about the author and an extract from the book at the Transita website.

Casino Royale on DVD

The eagerly awaited two-disc collector's edition (R2) of Casino Royale comes out tomorrow (19th).

Special features:

Becoming Bond (30 mins)
James Bond For Real (30 mins)
Death in Venice (30 mins)
Bond Girls are Forever ( 50+ mins)
5 News wraps
Music Video

Amazon.co.uk have the trailer on their page, whereas Play has a teensy clip from the extras.

MI6 review the R1 version in terms of the 'technical merits of the disc and the special features'.

There will be less of Daniel Craig's flesh on show in the follow up according to a report on Digital Spy, in which the actor says that he doesn't want any more nude scenes.

The Mothering Sunday Updates to Euro Crime

A reminder of this month's competitions:

Win one of five copies of 'Haggard Hawk' by Marcus Barr (UK & Europe)

Win one of five copies of 'Cross' by Ken Bruen (No restrictions)

Win one of ten copies of A Greater Evil/Evil is Done by Natasha Cooper (US, UK & Europe)

Win one of two sets of Seasons 1-3 of Wire in the Blood on DVD (R1) (US only)

This week's new reviews are:

Players by Paul McAuley reviewed by Pat Austin
The Prone Gunman by Jean-Patrick Manchette reviewed by me

and revisiting the latest books by a couple of European masters:

Voices by Arnaldur Indridason, reviewed by Maxine (Petrona) Clarke,
Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand by Fred Vargas, reviewed by Karen Chisholm

Bibliographies have been added for - Anthea Cohen, Vangelis Hatziyannidis, Alan Hunter, Peter Lengyel, Lee Martin, Sophia McDougall, Laura Spinney, Carl Storm, Jerry Sykes and Brian Thompson - and updated for - Jan Kjaerstad, Scott Mariani and Sue Walker.

There is now a list of authors born in Scotland. (Any additions appreciated).

The news page was updated yesterday with links to the previous week's reviews and articles in the UK papers.

Details of all the updates can be found on the site progress page.

More Blue Murder episodes

TV Scoop reports that ITV will shortly begin filming three 90 minute episodes of Blue Murder. Blue Murder stars Caroline Quentin as DCI Janine Lewis and like Life on Mars, is set in Manchester.

Sunnie Gill recently reviewed the book of the second episode, Hit and Run, written by Cath Staincliffe.

Roger Jon Ellory at Mere Green Library

Last night Roger Jon Ellory braved the cross-city train line to come up to Mere Green library to give a talk and read from his forthcoming book. Though a native of Birmingham he has chosen to set his books in America. His new book, out in August, is 'A Quiet Belief in Angels' and is set both in Augusta Falls and New York and covers a time span of over fifty years. The audience got a sneak preview as Mr Ellory read out the prologue and the first chapter. There were many gasps from the audience when Mr Ellory revealed that he had ony spent six short visits in the US and most of his research was from maps. Nonetheless a friend of his has told him that he'd captured a New York neighbourhood perfectly, even though he hadn't been there. Mr Ellory hopes that he writes crime novels that leaving people thinking and remembering them unlike the quick thrill reads you can devour and remember nothing of a day later.

When asked if he had any specific writing schedule he replied that his was ridiculous as he worked an 85 hour week as a drug rehabilitation counsellor and would do a few hours writing after getting home at 10pm. At the weekend he would write 9-6pm, Sat and 9-8pm Sun and he rarely goes on holiday.

Mr Ellory didn't bring any books to sign but I hope he notices a surge in his public lending rights money as we commandeered every copy in Birmingham library for our display and every copy went out swiftly.

(The above is from memory, so I apologise if there're any errors. Mysterious Yarns also came and I hope she enjoyed it too.)

Mid month reminder of the competitions

Everybody can enter at least one of the competitions, no matter where they live. The geographical restrictions are in brackets.

--Win one of five copies of 'Haggard Hawk' by Marcus Barr (UK & Europe)
--Win one of five copies of 'Cross' by Ken Bruen (No restrictions)
--Win one of ten copies of A Greater Evil/Evil is Done by Natasha Cooper (US, UK & Europe)
--Win one of two sets of Seasons 1-3 of Wire in the Blood on DVD (R1) (US only)

This way lies competitions

The Return of Resnick?

From John Harvey's Winter newsletter, which you can read in full and sign up for here:

The Nottingham-based Five Leaves Press have commissioned a new story from me for their new Crime Express series of single, longish stories which will be issued in editions of around 1,000 copies. Some of you out there will be pleased to know that this features none other than Charlie Resnick, still labouring on within Notts CID and living, happily enough, with his former sergeant Lynn Kellogg, now an inspector in the Force Crime Directorate [and making a brief appearance as such in the aforementioned Gone to Ground]. My plan is for Charlie to meet up with another of my fictional characters, former police officer and professional soccer player and currently private eye, Jack Kiley, who makes the short journey from north London to Nottingham in the course of his investigation into the disappearance of a Iraq veteran who has gone missing with some unaccounted for arms and ammunition.

Jack and Charlie will find some common ground in Kiley’s one appearance at the Notts County ground, coming off the bench for Charlton Athletic in what was then the League Cup, and after a few shared pints and a few more reminiscences, proceed from a basis of mutual respect.

If all goes well, and the partnership feels right, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they might both feature in the next-to-be-written novel. Not a full-scale Resnick novel as such, perhaps, but one in which he has far more than the walk-on role the Elder books allowed.

Alatriste film to be released in the UK?

I've been surfing away trying to find a release date for the film or dvd of Alatriste - the most expensive Spanish film ever, starring Viggo Mortensen, which is based on several Captain Alatriste books by Arturo Perez-Reverte. I've found mention of a release date of the film as May 2007. Meanwhile, residents of the Manchester area can go along to the Cornerhouse which is showing Alatriste on the 23rd, 24th and 25th March.


Read the Euro Crime review of the audio version of Captain Alatriste, the first book in the five book series.

Lewis on DVD (R2)

As of yesterday, the pilot and the three episodes of season 1 of Lewis became available on R2 DVD. Online, the set costs about £16.

From Play.com:

Kevin Whately returns in this new drama. Picking up five years after his mentor Inspector Morse's death, it sees Lewis, now an inspector himself, returning to Oxford after two years overseas. Back in his old stomping ground, he is teamed with a new sidekick Det Sgt. James Hathaway, and is anxious to prove himself!

Episodes Comprise:

1. Whom The Gods Would Destroy
2. Old School Ties
3. Expiation

Special Features

The Pilot Episode
"Behind the Scenes" Featurette

Get a proof of Paul Johnston's new book

Paul Johnston's new book, 'The Death List', now has a release date - 15 June 2007. Proof copies are being offered via the book trade site.

Synopsis:
Crime novelist Matt Wells has more fantasies of revenge than most...dumped by his agent, his publisher and his wife, he is crippled by writer's block. Then a fan emails him, and seems to know everything about Matt, his family and his loved ones. The fan, calling himself the White Devil, is a serial killer who has chosen Matt to tell his story. Horrifying though this is, it's also exciting...but will Matt's ego and the chance of a blockbuster story keep him from doing the right thing? Then the killing begins, but the White Devil isn't only killing his own enemies. He has a Death List for Matt too; all those people Matt really hates are about to meet a nasty fate...

There's a personal element to the writing of 'The Death List' which Paul explains on his website.

Paul mentions using the Jacobean revenge tragedies as inspiration and at last year's Left Coast Crime convention in Bristol, I definitely remember a couple of authors also mentioning them - possibly Ray Banks and ???.

New Reviews on Euro Crime

As usual, a quick reminder of this month's competitions:

Win one of five copies of 'Haggard Hawk' by Marcus Barr (UK & Europe)

Win one of five copies of 'Cross' by Ken Bruen (No restrictions)

Win one of ten copies of A Greater Evil/Evil is Done by Natasha Cooper (US, UK & Europe)

Win one of two sets of Seasons 1-3 of Wire in the Blood on DVD (R1) (US only)

This week's new reviews are:

The Death of Dalziel by Reginald Hill, reviewed by Karen Chisholm, Dead Simple by Peter James, reviewed by Geoff Jones, Carte Blanche by Carlo Lucarelli reviewed by me and Hit and Run by Cath Staincliffe, reviewed by Sunnie Gill.

Bibliographies have been added for - Fred Johnston, John McAllister, Joe Stein and Camilla Way - and updated for - Michael Dibdin, Ian Rankin and Ruth Rendell.

The news page was updated yesterday with links to the previous week's UK reviews and articles.

Details of all the updates can be found on the site progress page.

Lee Child book offer in Woolworths

Woolworths are currently offering a free Lee Child paperback when you buy a copy of the newly released paperback of 'The Hard Way.' The free book can be one of 'Die Trying', 'The Killing Floor' or 'Tripwire'.

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk
Late at night, in a New York cafe, Jack Reacher orders coffee in a cup made of foam, not china. So he can move on at a moment's notice. He owns nothing, carries less. He has never met a woman who said no or a case he couldn't solve. But now Reacher faces a new case so disturbing that the truth eludes him. He has to sweat the details and work the clues. Doing it the hard way, until what started on a busy New York street explodes three thousand miles away, in the sleepy English countryside. With Reacher striding alone in the shadows, armed and dangerous.

The new Reacher, 'Bad Luck and Trouble', is out in the UK on 2nd April.

British Book Awards

The shortlists are out and ready to be voted on. For the BCA Crime Thriller of the Year, the nominees are:

Looking Good Dead by Peter James
The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin
One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne

The links take you to the Euro Crime reviews except for Sam Bourne which is linked to a blog post from a while ago as we haven't reviewed the book ourselves but I like Michael Dibdin's comments!

Closing date for voting and to enter the competition is midnight, 26th March 2007.

The next Ruth Rendell book...

is the 21st in the Chief Inspector Wexford series. 'Not in the Flesh' is out in the UK on 2nd August 2007.

The synopsis from amazon.co.uk:

Searching for truffles in a wood, a man and his dog unearth something less savoury - a human hand. The body, as Chief Inspector Wexford is informed later, has lain buried for ten years or so, wrapped in a purple cotton shroud. The post mortem can not reveal the precise cause of death. The only clue is a crack in one of the dead man's ribs. Although it covers a relatively short period of time, the computer stores a long list of Missing Persons. Men, women and children disappear at an alarming rate, nationwide something like 500 every day. So Wexford knows he is going to have a job on his hands to identify the corpse. And then, only about twenty yards away from the woodland burial site, in the cellar of a disused cottage, another body is discovered. The detection skills of Wexford, Burden and the other investigating officers of the Kingsmarkham Police Force are tested to the utmost to discover whether the murders are connected and to track down whoever is responsible.

ITV1 - Fallen Angel (the wait is almost over)

Andrew Taylor's 'Roth Trilogy' has been made into a 3 part tv drama called Fallen Angel, starring Emilia Fox and Charles Dance. It will be on ITV1, next Sun - Tue (11-13th March) with a behind the scenes documentary on ITV3 on 14th March.

There is an an article here about the story plus more on Andrew Taylor's website and you can watch a sneak preview here.

If you miss the tv show, the DVD is out on the 19th and of course there's always the omnibus edition of the books!

Orion New Blood - John Connor

I realise I never did get round to finishing a recap on the Orion New Blood authors so the next one is John Connor.

He doesn't appear to have a website but I found a small amount of information:

The author is a barrister with the Crown Prosecution Service, based in West Yorkshire. During 14 years with the CPS he has been involved in the prosecution of over 40 homicide cases, many undercover drugs enquiries, massive child abuse investigations and, of course, run of the mill volume crime. Most recently, he led a team prosecuting organised and major crime in the Leeds area. He lives in West Yorkshire and Belgium.

This experience stood him in good stead for his writing career which will soon number four books all featuring maverick policewoman, Karen Sharpe.

'Phoenix' was the first book and I've reviewed the audio version for Euro Crime.

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk:
The 8th April 1996 was a bad day for Karen Sharpe, the eighth anniversary of something so deeply buried she had hoped to forget it ever happened. Each year, she tries to cope in whatever way she can. Most years she turns to booze. But, this year that wasn't going to work. Sometime after midnight Phil Leech, her DS and partner, is executed in a military style killing, whilst Fiona Mitchell, his pretty 21-year-old informant, ends up on a South Pennine moor with bullets through her face and chest. Karen had been due to meet both when drink and memories intervened, preventing her from getting there. As the investigation begins, odd details keep forcing Karen to examine her own unclear memories. As she follows her instincts, and some very disturbing clues embedded in her own secret history, she must confront her past and act quickly if she is to prevent the seed of destruction planted eight years before from wreaking devastating and brutal consequences.

This was followed in 2004 with 'The Playroom'.

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk:
On her thirteenth birthday the daughter of a Bradford judge is kidnapped in West Yorkshire, sparking Operation Shade - a massive fifty-strong detective investigation working against the clock to try to locate and save her. Knowing the chances of Sophie Kenyon surviving will diminish dramatically after the first twenty-four hours, Detective Chief Superintendent John Munro begins to crack under the pressure of holding together an enquiry swamped with leads. Meanwhile, left off the Shade investigation because of her past encounters with Munro, DC Karen Sharpe is pursuing her own single-handed enquiry into historic child abuse allegations. Twenty-three-year-old Pamela Mathews says a local MP raped her ten years before. The task of finding corroboration looks hopeless, but Sharpe keeps at it. Anything rather than face up to her own tangled personal life. She lives with a lawyer she doesn't love and is trying to care for a child who thinks she is her aunt. The truth is more complex and frightening, leading back to still unresolved events from a year before. Karen's enquiry uncovers connections with the present day disappearance of Sophie Kenyon. As the true nature and extent of the conspiracy are uncovered, Karen realises that there are powerful interests at work - men who have plotted for ten years to conceal the truth. Her investigation becomes a race to find clues that will save Sophie's life. But violence interrupts. Events spiral out of control and drag her towards a terrifying confrontation with a man who will stop at nothing to keep the past hidden. In an explosion of violence and bloodshed, she is left fighting not just to locate Sophie Kenyon, but to save herself.

'A Child's Game' came out in 2006.

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk

Friday 31 December, 1999. During the early hours of the morning in a luxury central Leeds penthouse, intruders douse a terrified victim with petrol, set him alight and throw him burning from the ninth floor roof garden. DS Pete Bains is on night duty with CID when the call comes in. The body is quickly identified as Nicholas Hanley, a wealthy property developer, but Bains' attempts to pull together an enquiry stall when he cannot locate Hanley's lover, Anna Hart. Unknown to Bains, Hart and her daughter are less than five miles away, kidnapped at gunpoint and struggling to stay alive. Meanwhile, the security services are looking for DC Karen Sharpe. Eighteen months ago she walked out on Bains without a word of explanation. Now she has disappeared for real. What Sharpe has been doing not only connects her to Hanley's death, but has placed her at the disposal of men for whom human life means nothing. The danger is greater than anything she has faced before. If she cannot pull her shattered personality together, the last day of the millennium will be the last day of her life.

The fourth Karen Sharpe, 'Falling', will be out in November 2007.

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk:

Terror is only a footstep away... DC Karen Sharpe is on an emotional precipice. A year and a half ago she was the victim of a terrifying crime. Desperately trying to shelter from its effects she has been working simple fraud and theft cases in West Yorkshire CID. But the brutal murder of a young pregnant woman threatens the precarious wall she has built around herself. Drafted onto the squad to deal with the victim's six-year-old child, Karen finds herself overwhelmed by the devastating nature of the attack. As nightmares from her past start to reoccur, her relationships with those closest to her - her partner, Pete Bains, and her thirteen year old daughter, Mairead - begin to crack under the strain. An illicit relationship with her boss promises excitement and escape - a new beginning without the trappings of past horrors and guilt. But life has a savage lesson in store for her. As West Yorkshire erupts in a summer of explosive race riots, events tip Karen into the depths of the very world she has been fleeing.

My reading group recently discussed 'Phoenix' and the book really polarised opinion. More people loved it, including me, than loathed it and the audio version is marvellous. I'm scratching round for my next audio book so maybe I should order 'The Playroom'?

New Reviews & Competitions

March's competitions cover the spectrum of crime fiction from cozy-ish, to semi-professional sleuth to noir - plus Wire in the Blood DVDs!

In detail, the prizes are:

- five copies of 'Haggard Hawk' by Marcus Barr

- five copies of 'Cross' by Ken Bruen

- ten copies of A Greater Evil/Evil is Done by Natasha Cooper

- two sets of Seasons 1-3 of Wire in the Blood on DVD (R1)

Check them out on the Competition page
(NB. There are geographical restrictions on entry on all but 'Cross')

The new reviews are:

The Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards, reviewed by me, Death by Chocolate by Toby Moore, reviewed by Karen Chisholm, The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin, reviewed by Sunnie Gill plus Mike Ripley's February crime file.

The Authors list of homepages is up to 529 sites.

The New Releases pages have been updated.

In Books there are now bibliographies for 1046 authors. I've added bibliographies for: Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre, Martin Amis, Anicet Bourgeois, David Callinan and Andy McNab and updated the bibliographies for: Ruth Dudley Edwards. Richard Gwyn, Toby Moore, Stuart Pawson, Javier Sierra and Jose Carlos Somoza.

Also in Books I've added a list of authors born in Northern Ireland and Wales. (Scotland to follow shortly!)

Book at Bedtime - Christine Falls

The current Radio 4 Book at Bedtime is Christine Falls by Benjamin Black.

Monday 26 - Friday 8 March 2007

Christine Falls

By John Banville, writing as Benjamin Black; abridged by Doreen Estall; read by Jim Norton.

When Quirke, a Dublin pathologist, discovers his brother-in-law has tampered with the file of a young woman who has been brought to the morgue (Christine Falls), he decides to delve further into the woman's life, but the investigation he decides to lead into the way she lived - and the reason she died - disturbs a dark secret that has been festering at the core of 1950s Dublin high Catholic society, a secret ready to destabilize the very heart and soul of Quirke's own family.

The previous seven days programmes can be listened to here.

February's Competition winners announced

Names of the lucky winners of last month's competitions are up on the Competition page. March's competitions will be up on Sunday with the rest of the weekly updates.

Radio Interview with Reginald Hill - but be quick!

Last Friday's Radio 4 Front Row programme featuring an interview with Reginald Hill can still be listened to for a few more hours:

Friday 23 February
Mark Lawson presenting

Reginald Hill
Superintendent Andy Dalziel and Detective Chief Inspector Peter Pascoe have become inseparable household names in the manner of that other great fictional police double act, Morse and Lewis. As their creator, Reginald Hill, prepares to publish his 22nd Dalziel and Pascoe thriller—The Death of Dalziel—he talks to Mark Lawson about how to create a great police partnership.

The Death of Dalziel is published on 5th March by HarperCollins

Crime TV this week - from Dexter to Rankin

It's been a good week for crime fiction on tv this week. ITV1 with Lewis (a spin-off from 'Morse' based on Colin Dexter's books) on Sunday followed by two part drama Instinct on Monday and Tuesday, from the writer of Messiah.

The BBC follows up with Andy McNab's The Grey Man on BBC1 Thursday afternoon and BBC4 showing Ian Rankin's Reichenbach Falls in the evening of the same day.

Reichenbach Falls was previously known as 'The Acid Test' when I blogged about it back in September and will be showing at 9pm-10.15pm and repeated at 1.55am-3.15am and Saturday at 9.05pm-10.25pm.

You can read more and watch a couple of video clips at the BBC website.

Final Call for February's Competitions

In a few hours time I'll be closing the shutters on February's excellent competitions. The lucky winners should be announced tomorrow night/Friday and the new competitions for March will go live on Sunday.

Click on http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/Competition.html to view the prizes and how to enter.

Ruth Dudley Edwards' new book

It's been a six-year wait but Ruth Dudley Edwards' Baroness Troutbeck and Robert Amiss are back. Poisoned Pen Press are publishing the eleventh Amiss, 'Murdering Americans' in April.

Synopsis from Amazon.com:
Academia (n.): a profession filled with bad food, knee-jerk liberalism, and murder...

Being a member of the House of Lords and Mistress of St Martha’s College in Cambridge might seem enough to keep anyone busy, but Baroness (Jack) Troutbeck likes new challenges. When a combination of weddings, work, and spookery deprives her of five of her closest allies, she leaps at an invitation to become a Distinguished Visiting Professor on an American campus.

With her head full of romantic fantasies inspired by 1950s Hollywood, and accompanied by Horace, her loquacious and disconcerting parrot, this intellectually-rigorous right-winger sets off from England blissfully unaware that academia in the United States is dominated by knee-jerk liberalism, contempt for Western civilization, and the institutionalisation of a form of insane political-correctness.

Will the bon viveuse Baroness Troutbeck be able to cope with the culinary and vinous desert that is New Paddington, Indiana? Can this insensitive and tactless human battering-ram defeat the thought-police who run Freeman State University like a gulag? Does she believe the late Provost was murdered? If so, what should she do about it? And will she manage to persuade Robert Amiss—who describes himself bitterly as Watson to her Holmes and Goodwin to her Nero Wolfe—to abandon his honeymoon and fly to her side?

Set the recorder for...

...The Grey Man by Andy McNab on BBC1, Thursday 1 Mar at 2:35 pm - 3:20 pm.

From the BBC listings page:

"The Grey Man is a sweet story of a downtrodden bank clerk, Kevin Dodds who eventually fights back; giving his wife the perfect anniversary present and exacting mild revenge on his tyrannical boss at the same time.

Written by Andrew Rattenbury based on a 'quick read' by Andy McNab for World Book Day 2007. Daniel Ryan and Olivia Colman play Kevin and Linda Dodds, Christopher Fulford, the uncompromising bank manager and Nitin Ganatra is Gary, Kevin's 'fool' of a best friend. Daisy Donovan and Billy Murray also appear."

Information on the ex-SAS author can be found here on wikipedia.

Euro Crime News-page updated

I updated the Euro Crime News page yesterday with links to the latest reviews in the UK papers and the NY Times.

ITV's Instinct - is it any good?

I've noticed a number of hits on the blog to do with Instinct which I blogged about recently. I've recorded the first part - is it worth watching and shall I tape part 2. It's all very complicated with Instinct/Life on Mars/CSI/Battlestar Galactica all being on at the same time tomorrow.

The Unexpected Guest on tour in the UK

Agatha Christie's, The Unexpected Guest, starring Simon MacCorkindale, is currently touring the UK. The full list of dates and venues is here.

"Following widespread critical acclaim for their star-studded production of The Hollow, the second production from The Agatha Christie Theatre Company promises to be another “beautifully staged and executed murder-mystery... a killer production of classic Christie class” (The Argus).

Lost in the fog on a lonely road, a stranger seeks refuge in a nearby house, only to find that he has stumbled onto the scene of a murder! When the dead man’s wife confesses to killing her much despised husband, the stranger agrees to provide her with an alibi. But, who is he really protecting? And, in a house full of suspects, whose are the unidentified fingerprints found at the scene?

Credited as one of Agatha Christie’s most mischievous and chilling whodunnits, The Unexpected Guest is filled with all the suspense, intrigue and surprise twists that make Christie one of the world’s best-loved authors and the undisputed first lady of crime."

If you can't make the play, Charles Osbourne wrote it up as a novel in 1999 and it is available most recently as a 2003 paperback.

Competition reminder, New Reviews & Updates

Only a few days left to enter February's competitions to win books by A C Baantjer, Simon Levack and K O Dahl.

The latest reviews are:
'Shooting Elvis' by Stuart Pawson, reviewed by Sunnie Gill
'Roots of Evil' by Sarah Rayne, reviewed by Terry Halligan
'The Three Evangelists' by Fred Vargas, reviewed by Maxine (Petrona) Clarke.

The 'Authors' list of homepages has been updated.

The 'New Releases' pages have been updated.

In 'Books' there are now bibliographies for 1041 authors (5681 titles with links to 888 reviews). I've added bibliographies for the following: Anne Brooke, Mary Rose Callaghan, Arnauld Delalande, Mike Duff, Chris Ewan, J G Goodhind, Cora Harrison, Sam Hayes, Juan Gómez Jurado, Ian Macpherson, Jenni Mills, Frank Muir, Malcolm Noble, Catherine O'Flynn, Olivier Pauvert, Jay Rayner, Patrick Redmond, Ivo Stourton, Nicola Upson, Andrew Wilson, Tom Wilson, Mark Worrall.

In 'Books' I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Jane Adams, Tessa Barclay, Tony Cornberg, Duncan Falconer, Lesley Glaister, Susanna Gregory, Quintin Jardine, Andrew Martin, Brian McGilloway, Natasha Mostert, Tony Saint, Roger Silverwood.

Meet Josephine Tey, amateur sleuth

From Publishing News:

London theatreland in the 1930s is the setting for a new series of detective novels by Nicola Upson, who has worked in theatre management and been crime fiction reviewer for the New Statesman. Faber's Walter Donohue clinched a two-book deal for UK/ Commonwealth rights from Karolina Sutton at ICM. An Expert in Murder features real-life playwright Josephine Tey, who divided her time between Scotland and the West End, enjoying extraordinary success and launching the career of John Gielgud, among others. Already, P D James is a fan, and Donohue believes the novel is “an exhilarating read and a remarkably authentic tribute to the golden age of British crime fiction”.

...your father has been reading too much Dante

Giulio Leoni has written a trilogy *starring* Dante Alighieri. Naturally the first one to be translated was the middle part, published in January 2007 as 'The Third Heaven Conspiracy'(UK)/'The Mosaic Crimes'(US).

However a recent snippet from Publisher's Lunch-

Giulio Leoni's second novel (I DELITTI DELLA LUCE) in his medieval literary thriller series featuring Prior Dante Aligheri, to James Gurbutt at Harvill Secker, by Philip Patterson of Marjacq Scripts, on behalf of Piergiorgio Nicolazzini.

-reveals that (in fact) the final part of the trilogy is to be translated next.

The information about the order of the books is given on the English part of Leoni's website:

In 2000 I won the Premio Alberto Tedeschi, a prestigious Italian award for mystery novels. The book was Dante Alighieri e i delitti della Medusa (The Medusa Crimes), a historical tale in which the unexpected investigations of the great poet Dante Alighieri were unveiled for the first time. A famous singer, Vana del Moggio, is found slain and beheaded. And in place of the head, is a horrible image of Medusa, the work of the accursed Guido Bigarelli, the mad sculptor who has been banned

In 2004 I delitti del mosaico (The Mosaic Crimes) was published, a new investigation by Dante Alighieri, followed the next year by I delitti della luce (The Crimes of the Light), another novel set in the early 14th century that completes the trilogy inspired by the three parts of the Divine Comedy.

And the first part will be translated when.....?

Euro Crime 'news' page updated

I've updated the News page on Euro Crime to include links to recent reviews in the UK's papers.

PS. Do check out the Book Competitions which will close at the end of the month.

A Reginald Hill appreciation by Mike Ripley

Newly posted on the Shots website, a "meandering appreciation over fell and under hill" of Reginald Hill, by Mike Ripley.

The latest Dalziel and Pascoe is out on the 12th March as 'The Death of Dalziel' in the UK and is pre-empted by its US release on the 1st March - retitled as 'Death Comes for the Fat Man'.

Passport to Crime

This appears to be out in the US and will be out in the UK in March, according to the relevant Amazons. I hope to get my hands on it at some point:

From Carroll & Graf:

Description:
Derived from a series launched in 2003 by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, called Passports to Crime, this volume collects stories from some of the world's most popular and talented crime writers. Originally published monthly in Ellery Queen, these stories are appearing for the first time in book form. Authors include: Boris Akunin, a major bestseller in Russia, who has many other works translated in the U.S.; Ingrid Noll, Germany's “Queen of Crime,” whose books have been translated into 23 languages and adapted for German television; Ruben Fonseca, one of Brazil's best-known literary figures; Baantjer, the most widely read author in the Netherlands, with over 5 million books sold in a country with a population of 15 million; Paul Halter, the winner of two of France's coveted literary awards; France's most admired author of traditional mysteries — Dominic Manotti, a winner of the French Crime Writers Association prize for best thriller; and Rene Appel, three-time winner of the Netherlands' Jouden Strop Prize

New Reviews & Competition reminder (early!)

This weekend's new reviews are:

'Gone to Ground' by John Harvey, reviewed by Geoff Jones, 'Living on a Prayer' by Sheila Quigley, reviewed by Pat Austin and 'Ice Trap' by Kitty Sewell, reviewed by Rhian "It's a Crime (or a mystery)..." Davies.

You can still enter this month's very exciting competitions - win:

- 5 copies of Aztec: City of Spies by Simon Levack
- 5 copies of The Fourth Man by K O Dahl
- 5 copies of a set of three Dekok books by A C Baantjer.

http://www.eurocrime.co.uk/Competition.html

Actress who plays Linda Wallander has died

From the official Henning Mankell website:

The actress Johanna Sällström is dead. She was found lifeless in her apartment in Malmö late at night at the 12th of February. According to the police, there is no suspicion of crime related to her death.

Johanna Sällström was born in 1974 and grew up in Hässelby in Stockholm. She became famous at the age of 13 when she stared in the TV-series Tre Kronor, and she had her big break through in 1997 as she was awarded a guldbagge, the Swedish film prize, for her part in Daniel Fridells movie Under ytan. The last few years Johanna Sällström became internationally famous for her part as the daughter Linda in the 13 movies based on Henning Mankell's character Kurt Wallander.

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.

A Dublin PI called Leo

For the visitor to Euro Crime wanting to know the author of a series featuring a Dublin PI called Leo, I believe it's Pauline McLynn. She's written three books in that series:

Something for the Weekend
Better Than a Rest
Right on Time

Thierry Jonquet's Tarantula to be filmed

From Serpent's Tail:

Leading Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is adapting Thierry Jonquet's novel Tarantula - to star Penelope Cruz.

The project sees the director reunited with Cruz, who has won rave reviews for her performance in Volver.

A deftly-constructed noir thriller - with an explosive twist in the tale - Tarantula touches on familiar Almodóvar territory of sexual identity and desire. A plastic surgeon's daughter is raped, leading him to seek revenge on her attackers. Cruz has been cast as the daughter, with Antonio Banderas mooted for the role of surgeon.

The film, which is based on Jonquet's 1995 novel, goes into production in 2007, under the working title of 'The Skin I Live In'.

New ITV Drama - Instinct

From Digital Spy:

Take a look below at our exclusive clip from new ITV murder drama Instinct.

The show - airing soon - stars Anthony Flanagan as troubled DCI Thomas Flynn hunting a serial killer, with the shady Ian Stanford (actor Tom Ward) his chief suspect.

Both the leads have a crime pedigree. Anthony Flanagan was in the last Cracker, as the murderous policeman, as well as Life on Mars. The Manchester Evening News has more details and Tom Ward appears in Silent Witness.

You can watch another trailer here

Harrogate Crime Writing Festival - some programme information

From Natasha Cooper's new website:

"The programme is in place now, and we have a terrific line up of authors and stellar interviewers: Jenni Murray will be interviewing Val McDermid; Mark Lawson will take on Frederick Forsyth; Paul Blezard will talk to Lee Child; and Laura Lippman will cross-question Harlan Coben. With more than fifty other fantastic crime writers discussing everything from Country Matters and Crime in the City to Snobbery with Violence, and Secrets, Spies and Foreign Affairs the scene is set for a great time."

and from the Festival website:

"Val McDermid who will be in conversation with Jenni Murray, Lee Child is set to be interviewed by Paul Blezard and Frederick Forsyth will be discussing his characters and crime fiction with BBC Radio 4 Front Row presenter and Arts Journalist, Mark Lawson.

Other events include Harlan Coben who will be in conversation with Laura Lippman. Panel discussions will include the hilarious What Really Gets Me Going covering the panel’s lives, loves, crime writing and other people’s novels and Plumbing The Depths getting to the bottom of psychological crime. Plus Daphne du Maurier Centenary Panel, which celebrates the centenary of Daphne Du Maurier’s birth.

Firm Festival favourites also include, New Blood, championing new authors, as well as the hysterical Foul Play and the Late Night Quiz Show, which, in fine tradition will be hosted by our present Programming Chair Natasha Cooper and the 2008 Programming Chair, Simon Kernick.

The 2007 Festival also sees the announcement of the 3rd Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, the only literary award of its kind to be voted for by readers. Won in 2006 by Val McDermid for The Torment of Others. The shortlisted authors will be interviewed on Thurs 19th July in a panel chaired by Jenni Murray, followed by the announcement of the winner at 8.30pm.

The Theakston’s Old Peculier Harrogate Crime Writing Festival takes place at the Crown Hotel, Harrogate from 19 – 22 July 2007. Accommodation and Weekend Rover ticket packages are available now on 01423 562303. Individual tickets and Day Passes available from April 2007.

The full programme is due to be posted shortly.

Blood Ties by Sam Hayes

I know it's common in Hollywood to pitch a new film as X meets Y but it's not that common in books (or is it?) so I was amused to see the blurb for 'Blood Ties' by Sam Hayes which is out in April:

From amazon.co.uk: "Jodi Picoult meets Martina Cole in this shocking, gritty novel from a stunning new British voice A mother searches frantically for her missing baby. A few streets away, a teenager gives birth in her bedroom, frightened and alone. Thirteen years later, Robert Knight, a solicitor, wonders why his new wife is so cagey about her past, and so strangely protective of her thirteen-year-old daughter. Three separate lives, bound by one shocking secret. The past is about to catch up with the present..."

I believe Picoult is more at the literary end of popular fiction and her novels are set in America whereas Cole writes gritty, down to earth East End crime novels, based on experience. Interesting hybrid!

New Reviews & Updates on Euro Crime

Firstly, the competions are still open. Lots of free books on offer.

This week's new reviews are 'Betrayal' by Paul Carson reviewed by Maxine Clarke aka Petrona, 'He Who Fears The Wolf' by Karin Fossum (audio) reviewed by Karen Meek and 'The Sword of Shame' by The Medieval Murderers reviewed by Terry Halligan.

The 'Authors' page has been updated (510 author homepages currently listed).

The 'New Releases' pages have been updated.

In 'Books' there are now bibliographies for 1019 authors (5634 titles with links to 886 reviews). I've added bibliographies for the following: Jill Dawson, James Fleming, Paul Halter, Martin Langfield and Stef Penney. Also in 'Books' I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Henning Mankell, David McKeowen and Minette Walters.

Judge John Deed DVD out on Monday

Series 2 is out on Monday 12th Feb. The episodes included are:

1. Political Expediency
2. Abuse Of Power
3. Nobody's Fool
4. Everyone's Child

News-page updated on Euro Crime

I've updated the 'News' page on Euro Crime with links to the latest reviews and news including The Independent's interview of Fred Vargas.

Another Life on Mars Trailer - Gene Hunt being blunt

As d-day draws near, a second trailer for Life on Mars series 2 has been released. Watch it at Digital Spy.

Stef Penney wins Costa Book of the Year

An unknown British writer shook the book world last night, winning the first £30,000 Costa Book of the Year Award (for 35 years it was the Whitbread Award) for her debut novel about Canada - despite a severe medical condition that made it impossible for her to go there.

Stef Penney’s portrait of a small Canadian settlement in deep midwinter was so authentic that when her winning novel, The Tenderness of Wolves, was published in north America, Canadians were convinced that she had spent weeks researching the book there.

In fact, the author who lives in east London, did all her research at the British Library. Acute agoraphobia meant that she could not travel by aeroplane or train for 15 years.

The Tenderness of Wolves is a murder mystery that takes place in 1967 on Dove River, a lonely snowbound town on the Hudson Bay.

More in today's Telegraph.

For some reason I had either not considered the author Euro or the subject crime. It's been remedied now and Stef Penney will appear on the next upload to the website.

Free Books! An early midweek reminder of the competitions running on Euro Crime

As I'll be away from the pc tomorrow I'd just like to remind blog visitors that there are three competitions running until the end of February on the website and that everyone is welcome to enter, no matter where they reside.

Win one of five copies of 'AZTEC City of Spies' by Simon Levack

Win one of five copies of 'The Fourth Man' by K O Dahl

Win one of five sets of three DeKok books by A C Baantjer.

See the Henning Mankell-Wallander films in New York

From the Inspector Wallander website:

Scandinavia House is offering audiences in New York another chance to see films from Yellow Bird's Wallander series. They have lined up three films to be shown during the three weeks between January 31-February 17th.

As with previous screenings, each film will be presented with the original Swedish dialog and English subtitles. The schedule is as follows:

The Castle Ruins / Luftslottet
Wednesday, January 31, 6:30 pm & Saturday, February 3, 3 pm

A bulldozer careens wildly down a sandy road and tips over on the beach—the driver is dead, and the cab stinks of gin. The man is a confirmed alcoholic, but the autopsy shows that he was sober when he died. Kurt, Linda, and Stefan start their investigation by examining the background of the victim, who had made a career of digging. They are led to a ruined castle where they discover a buried clue integral to the case. The team is working together better than ever, but beneath the surface something remains unspoken, and it could thwart justice.


The Black King / Blodsband
Wednesday, February 7, 6:30 pm & Saturday, February 10, 3 pm

A woman is dead, and for once there is a suspect with an obvious motive. But Linda, Wallander's daughter, knows the suspect and is not convinced of his guilt. Stefan, Linda's lover and colleague, is certain, however, and with Kurt's backing digs into the man's background—with grave consequences. To prove the suspect’s innocence Linda must solve the case herself. Is the murdered woman's interest in chess the key to solving the mystery?


The Forger / Jokern
Thursday (not Wednesday), February 15, 6:30 pm & Saturday, February 17, 3 pm

Hans Wiman's remains are revealed when a house burns to the ground. When the initial investigation shows that he was dead before the fire, the police start looking for a murderer. Wiman, however, proves to be a master of mystery. Detective Wallander is drawn into the case when he finds a warehouse, rented in Wiman's name, filled with counterfeit paintings. When he engages the help of Katrin, a local art expert, both the investigation and Kurt's pulse move into high gear as the detective finds himself taking a personal interest in his new colleague. However, Kurt risks overstepping boundaries and taking things into his own hands as he tries to determine what is real and what is not.

Tickets are $8 and can be purchased in advance or at the event. For more information visit the Scandinavia House web site.

I expect you to win, Mr Bond

The name's Craig. The award-winning Daniel Craig.

The Bond star won best actor for Casino Royale at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. Celebrating a vintage 12 months for British cinema, other winners included United 93, Dame Judi Dench and Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen.

News that Craig, 38, would become the sixth James Bond provoked a mixed reception from Bond fans when it was first announced. But with Casino Royale taking £55 million in Britain alone, the attention paid to Craig's performance has been overwhelmingly positive.

At the ceremony at the Ivy, Craig said he was delighted at being the first actor to win a major award for playing 007.

He said: "This is tremendous. It makes you think that the success of the film might not be a fluke. We wanted to make an exciting and sexy Bond and tell a good yarn at the same time."

More details on Bond and the other award winners at This is London1 and This is London2.

New Competitions, Reviews & Updates to the Euro Crime website

There's still time for US residents to chance their arm at winning a DVD of Proof (ends at midnight today). In addition there are three new competitions for books which are open to *all*:

- 5 copies of 'Aztec: City of Spies' by Simon Levack
- 5 copies of 'The Fourth Man' by K O Dahl
- 5 copies of a set of three 'Dekok' books by A C Baantjer.

These competitions will run until the end of February.

The new reviews are :

'Saturnalia' by Lindsey Davis reviewed by Pat Austin.
The 18th in the much loved Falco series, set in Ancient Rome

'The Savage Garden' by Mark Mills, reviewed by Terry Halligan
Another Italian setting. The second book from the author of Amagansett (apa The Whaleboat House)

Mike Ripley's January Crime File.
He also reviews 'Saturnalia' and 'The Savage Garden' plus 'A Gentle Axe' by
R N Morris and 'Redcap' by Brian Callison

Finally, Carla McKay's January roundup has been updated to include 'The Dinner Club' by Saskia Noort.

Other Updates:

The 'Authors' (505 sites) page has been increased.

The 'New Releases' pages have been updated.

In 'Books' there are now bibliographies for 1015 authors. I've added bibliographies for the following: Ken Begg, Diego De Silva, Elena Ferrante, Stephen Hunt, Romilly & Katherine John, Maureen Martellas, Ken McClure, Simon Spurrier and Sam Taylor. Also in 'Books' I've updated the bibliographies (ie added new titles) for: Kate Ellis, Reginald Hill, Susanna Jones and Martin O'Brien.

Donna Moore wins the Lefty at LCC

The word from Left Coast Crime is that Donna Moore's won the Lefty for 'Go to Helena Handbasket'.

The Lefty Award is for the year's most humorous mystery. The nominees were:

Murder Unleashed by Elaine Viets (NAL)
Go to Helena Handbasket by Donna Moore (Point Blank)
47 Rules of Highly Effective Robbers by Troy Cook (Capital Crimes Press)
Monkey Man by Steve Brewer (Intrigue Press)
No Nest for the Wicket by Donna Andrews (St. Martins Press)

Another thriller about Princess Di's crash

From the Guardian today,

More writers are to join the fray that will surround the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death this summer. Aside from a conspiracy thriller from Transworld (Tom Cain's The Accident Man), Faber will publish Eoin McNamee's 12:23, which uncovers the "stirrings in the covert world" that apparently surrounded the fatal crash. And Century will handle the UK release of former New Yorker editor Tina Brown's The Diana Chronicles. Brown, who was paid $2m by Doubleday US for the book, will "penetrate Diana's world with a keen eye for its rich gallery of characters and veiled truths, its sexual peccadilloes and social politics"

12:23 Synopsis:
August 1997. Diana Spencer and her Egyptian lover are rumoured to be about to visit Paris. According to some accounts they will become engaged. And according to some accounts there are those who will go to any lengths to put an end to Spencer`s unpredictable trajectory. There are stirrings in the covert world. As the Harrods Gulfstream bearing the lovers nears Paris, an international fixer with an interest to protect puts in place a team to watch the Princess. Former Special Branch operative John Harper is recruited by the man who was once his handler. They are joined by an old flame of Harper's, Grace, who also has a background in espionage. Their surveillance targets are the Deputy Director of Security at the Ritz Hotel, Henri Paul, and paparazzo supreme James Andanson. But they are not the only ones watching Spencer, and their street-level chicanery doesn’t appear to be equal to the events unfolding around them.

12:23 is due out in July 2007.

A little bit more on Life on Mars Series 2

The BBC's press release reveals not surprisingly that:

The second series marks the thrilling finale of the smash hit show and viewers will finally learn the truth about time travelling DI Sam Tyler (John Simm) and how he came to be stuck in 1973. However, fans will have to keep watching until the end of the series on BBC One before their speculative theories are laid to rest.

Executive producer, and joint MD of Kudos, Jane Featherstone, says: "Obviously, we will not be revealing in advance what eventually happens to Sam, as we wouldn't want to spoil everyone's enjoyment of the second half of his story when they watch series two.

"But they can certainly expect some shocking revelations along the way. We have even filmed two endings because we want to keep everyone guessing until the very end."

Synopses of the first four episodes are also available.

What I'm Reading...

I'm 70 pages or so into 'The Arsenic Labyrinth' by Martin Edwards. This is the third of his marvellous Lake District mysteries following on from The Coffin Trail and The Cipher Garden. This series features historian Daniel Kind and head of the cold case review team, Hannah Scarlett. Both currently have partners but it seems inevitable that eventually they'll end up together. As well as strong plots these books have a great sense of place which makes me want to explore the Lakes much more than I have so far.

Synopsis from amazon.co.uk:
'You'd never believe it to look at me now, but once upon a time I killed a man.' Daniel Kind is finding the long winter months at Brackdale tough, especially as his relationship with Miranda is also going through a dark time. Far from the bright lights of London and beginning to feel isolated in their rural idyll, Miranda has a bad case of itchy feet. The fear that she may just get up and leave isn't far from his thoughts. And Miranda wouldn't be the first: ten years ago a solitary woman called Emma Bestwick left her cottage and never came back. Police at the time were unable to establish whether she left of her own accord or was the victim of suicide, accident or murder. Her disappearance went unaccounted for, and the unresolved case has always irked DCI Hannah Scarlett, who heads the local Cold Case Review Team. But in a small, rural community, someone is bound to know something. And that someone has recently started calling the local newspaper and dropping hints about Emma's death. With the case reopened, Hannah and Daniel are drawn together again, and discover to their cost that one person will preserve the secrets of the past at any price.

The US edition by Poisoned Press came out in January whereas the UK edition by Allison & Busby is out on the 15th.

Over on The Rap Sheet Ali has a lengthy post on Martin Edwards and lawyers and it being a small world!

Life on Mars & Harry Potter important dates

Just saw the posters in London today. Life on Mars is back on 13th February on BBC1 and also today, an email from Waterstones informs me that 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' will be out on 21st July. (I'm probably the last person in the world to know this having been incommunicado all day).