Table of Contents
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Hotlists 2008
Crime Fiction - embedded
Seeing Stars
Lists of (mostly) hardcover books which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist , Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus and Library Journal (LJ).
The review journal assigns the star.
Out and About. . .
I'm playing around at Shelfari, LibraryThing, and Good Reads. I've set up links to my pages on these sites. And, yes, I have a hard time keeping up-to-date on these sites...
I've set up "shelves" from these sites on Overbooked - here
Overbooked is spacing out: Myspace: Overbooked and Crime Space - and, facing out: Facebook profile.
Stellar All Stars
The Fault Tree by Louise Ure
Judas Horse by April Smith
The Importance of Music to Girls by Lavinia Greenlaw
Bonk by Mary Roach
A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
Overbooked specializes in providing timely information about fiction (all genres) and readable nonfiction. Overbooked has been online since 1994. Overbooked is a work in progress . . .
Overbooked is the winner of the 2008 Louis Shores - Greenwood Publishing Award: to recognize excellence in book reviewing and other media for libraries. The award recipient is selected for significant achievement related to a reviewing process that helps librarians make selection decisions.
Starred Reviews
Crime Fiction Stars of 2006: July - December
August 19, 2008
Titles are listed by approximate date of publication, then by alphabetically by author.
Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine - unless otherwise noted.
A 
indicates an Overbooked
Jump for Joy book.
December
- Brother Odd
Author: Koontz, Dean
Publisher: Bantam $ 27 ISBN: 0553804804 Date: 2006
Kirkus
Koontz's beloved hero, who triumphed in two "New York Times" bestsellers, leaves the small desert town of Pico Mundo for the solitude and peace of an isolated monastery as he tries to find a way to live fully again. But Odd Thomas has a knack for finding trouble and must confront an enemy who eclipses any he has yet encountered.
Updated 11.27.06 - Do-Re-Mi
Author: Kuhlken, Ken
Publisher: Poisoned Press $ 24.95 ISBN: 159058337x Date: 2006Kirkus
Clifford Hickey, scheduled to perform a guitar gig at a music festival, arrives at his brother Alvaro's peaceful woodland campsite, and within moments their camp is stormed by armed men who arrest the brothers for murder. Soon they are pitched into not just a murder but a duel between the Hickeys and a motorcycle gang, and the locals.
Updated 8.28.06 - The Adultress
Author: Margolin, Leslie
Publisher: Five Star $ 25.95 ISBN: 154144818 Date: 2006Kirkus
Updated 10.2.06 - Extraordinary People
Author: May, Peter
Publisher: Poisoned Pen $ 24.95 ISBN: 1590583353 Date: 2006Kirkus
What has happened to Jacques Gaillard? The brilliant teacher who trained some of France's best and brightest at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration as future Prime Ministers and Presidents vanished ten years ago, presumably from Paris. Talk about your cold case.
The mystery inspires a bet, one that Enzo Macleod, a biologist teaching in Toulouse instead of pursuing a brilliant career in forensics back home in Scotland can ill afford to lose. The wager is that Enzo can find out what happened to Jacques Gaillard by applying new science to an old case.
Enzo comes to Paris to meet journalist Roger Raffin, the author of a book on seven celebrated unsolved murders, the assumption being that Gaillard is dead. He needs Raffin's notes. And armed with these, he begins his quest. It quickly has him touring landmarks such as the Paris catacombs and a chateau in Champagne, digging up relics and bones. Yes, Enzo finds Jacques Gaillard's head. The artifacts buried with the skull set him to interpreting the clues they provide and to following in someone's footsteps--maybe more than one someone--after the rest of Gaillard. And to reviewing some ancient and recent history. As with a quest, it's as much discovery as detection. Enzo proves to be an ace investigator, scientific and intuitive, and, for all his missteps, one who hits his goals including a painful journey toward greater self-awareness. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 9.13.06 - Erased from Memory
Author: O'Hehir, Diana
Publisher: Berkely $ 23.95 ISBN: 0425212165 Date: 2006Kirkus
Updated 10.2.06 - Black Arrow
Author: Parker, I.J.
Publisher: Penguin $ 14 ISBN: 0143035614 Date: 2006PW
I. J. Parker's engrossing historical novels bring eleventh-century Japan to life in all its colorful, treacherous glory. As Black Arrow opens, Sugawara Akitada assumes his new post as provisional governor of Echigo, a frigid province in the far north notorious for its hostility to outsiders. But the snow that threatens to completely isolate the region is the least of his problems -- which include a local uprising, a series of brutal murders, and a mystery that's as old as the frozen hills and a lot more dangerous. Superbly written and rich in period detail, Black Arrow is another bravura performance from a master of the historical thriller. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 10.16.06 - Uncertain Endings: The World's Greatest Unsolved Mystery Stories
Author: Penzler, Otto (edt)
Publisher: Pegasus $ 23 ISBN: 1933648163 Date: 2006PW
An anthology of challenging riddle mysteries that leave the solution-if there is one-to a different kind of detective: the reader. Uncertain Endings collects the most para-doxical puzzle stories ever written and guarantees to baffle even the most astute aficionado. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 10.23.06 - Probable Cause
Author: Schwegel, Theresa
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312343167 Date: 2006Kirkus
This follow-up to Schwegel's phenomenal debut Officer Down is a gripping tale of a rookie cop who of does what he'd told by his superiors and finds a corpse instead of his promised reward. How far will they make him go to prove he's one of them? And will they get away with it?
Updated 8.28.06 - Ask the Parrot
Author: Stark, Richard
Publisher: Mysterious $ 23.99 ISBN: 089296068x Date: 2006Kirkus
In this follow-up to his acclaimed Nobody Runs Forever, Stark bring back master criminal Parker, who's now on the run from a heist gone terribly wrong.
Updated 8.28.06 - Hollywood Station
Author: Wambaugh, Joseph
Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.99 ISBN: 0316066141 Date: 2006BooklistPWLJ
The Grand Master of the police procedural returns to the LAPD in a gripping new novel about life in the country's most sensational police force.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 10.2.06 - A Case of Two Cities: Inspector Chen
Author: Xiaolong, Qiu
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312359853 Date: 2006PWLJ
At once a compelling crime novel and a moving portrayal of contemporary China, A Case of Two Cities is the finest novel in the award-winning Inspector Chen series.
Updated 11.1.06
November
- Murder 101
Author: Barbieri, Maggie
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312355378 Date: 2006PW
"Maggie Barbieri's debut, Murder 101, offers traditional mystery lovers a real treat in her heroine Alison Bergeron, a recently divorced, clog-wearing college professor . . . the perfect antidote to the oh-so-hip chick-lit protagonist. Oblivious to fashion, Ali's more concerned with keeping her nervous stomach in check when one of her students turns up dead . . . and a hot cop eyes her as the prime suspect."
---Susan McBride, author of the Debutante Dropout Mysteries
Updated 9.25.06 - The Book of Lost Things
Author: Connolly, John
Publisher: Atria $ 23 ISBN: 0743298853 Date: 2006LJ
In the tradition of C.S. Lewis and Gregory Maguire's Wicked, bestselling author Connolly (The Black Angel) offers a creative coming-of-age story about one boy's journey into adulthood by combining dramatic themes with edge-of-your-seat suspense and a fantastical imagination.
Updated 8.29.06 - Wild Fire
Author: DeMille, Nelson
Publisher: Warner $ 26.99 ISBN: 044657967X Date: 2006PWLJ
From #1 "New York Times" bestselling author Nelson DeMille comes a suspenseful new novel featuring Detective John Corey and an all-too-plausible conspiracy to detonate a nuclear bomb in two major cities.
Updated 10.2.06 - The Cleanup
Author: Doolittle, Sean
Publisher: Dell $ 6.99 ISBN: 0440242827 Date: 2006Booklist
Busted to night patrol at a robbery-prone Omaha supermarket, Matthew Worth is doing time, wearing his uniform, and asking shoppers if they want paper or plastic. If that isn't enough, he suspects he might be falling for Gwen, the shy checkout girl who may be an even bigger mess than he is. When Gwen comes to him one night scared and desperate for help, Worth discovers just how far he's willing to go to protect and serve.
Updated 10.2.06 - A Safe Place for Dying
Author: Fredrickson, Jack
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312351682 Date: 2006PW
An extortion letter arrives at Crystal Waters, one of Chicago's wealthiest gated communities. It makes no specific threats, gives no instructions, demands only that $50,000 be gotten ready---chump change for an enclave where the cheapest house is worth three million. It's easy to see it as harmless---a note from a nut.
Then a mansion explodes. The homeowners panic, and want it hushed up. If word gets out that a bomber is targeting Crystal Waters, their multimillion-dollar homes will become worthless, a last catastrophe for people strung out from living the good life too well. They hire Dek Elstrom to investigate.
Another bomb goes off, and Dek realizes the culprit must be someone who is angry, needs money, and used to live at Crystal Waters. Then he realizes something else. He himself is the prime suspect.
A sly and clever caper among the richest of the rich, A Safe Place for Dying is for fans of Carl Hiaasen and Robert Crais. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 10.23.06 - Berlin
Author: Frei, Pierre
Publisher: Grove $ 24 ISBN: 0802118321 Date: 2006LJ
Updated 9.18.06 - Blind Submission
Author: Ginsburg, Debra
Publisher: Shaye Areheart $ 23.95 ISBN: 0307346048 Date: 2006Booklist
Angel Robinson lands a job as the assistant to literary agent Lucy Fiamma, and soon discovers that working for Lucy is no picnic, particularly when she's ordered to whip a mysterious manuscript into shape. But when the chapters take a disturbing turn, Angel finds her sanity in danger.
Updated 10.23.06 - When God Dies: Sebastian St. Cyr
Author: Harris, C.S.
Publisher: New American $ 23.95 ISBN: 0451219686 Date: 2006KirkusPW
Following What Angels Fear comes the second masterful historical mystery featuring "troubled but compelling antihero" ("Booklist") Sebastian St. Cyr.
Updated 9.18.06 - The Lizard's Bite
Author: Hewson, David
Publisher: Delacorte $ 22 ISBN: 0385339550 Date: 2006PW
In this spellbinding new novel featuring Detective Nic Costa, author Hewson weaves together the rich fabric of Europe's most beguiling city with a riveting tale of passion, corruption, and the poisonous bite of betrayal.
Updated 9.18.06 - Nature Girl
Author: Hiassen, Carl
Publisher: Knopf $ 25.95 ISBN: 0307262995 Date: 2006PW
In his latest riotous and righteous, nonstop, hilarious novel, bestselling author Hiaasen introduces impassioned, willful, possibly bipolar, self-proclaimed "queen of lost causes" Honey Santana, who has a scheme to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference, and dinnertime sales calls.
Updated 9.18.06 - Critique of Criminal Reason
Author: Jacobs, Michael
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312349947 Date: 2006PWBooklist
"A sweeping and brilliantly detailed read. . . . Gregorio threads philosophical underpinnings through his dark narrative with genuine assurance."
---"Crime Time "(UK)
Updated 9.18.06 - Bloody Harvests
Author: Kunzmann, Richard
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312360339 Date: 2006LJ
"Bloody Harvests is a valuable addition to the South African canon. It is a brilliant first novel by an engaging author. It charts new ground for the thriller/crime genre in South African literature." ---The CapeTimes (South Africa) - Publisher Marketing
Updated 11.1.06 - Rumpole and the Reign of Terror
Author: Mortimer, John
Publisher: Viking $ 23.95 ISBN: 0670038040 Date: 2006Booklist
A Pakistani doctor has been imprisoned without charge or trial under suspicion of aiding al Qaeda in its plans for a terrorist attack. With the doctor's wife begging Rumpole to help her husband, the Great Defender is determined to bring the case before a jury.
Updated 9.18.06 - The Body in the Library
Author: Page, Katherine Hall
Publisher: Morrow $ 23.95 ISBN: 0060763655 Date: 2006LJ
In this fabulous reimagining of the Agatha Christie classic And Then There Were None, caterer and part-time sleuth Faith Fairchild is lured to a private island to help solve a very old murder.
Updated 10.18.06 - Red Chrysanthemum
Author: Rowland, Laura Joh
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312355327 Date: 2006PWLJ
When the heir to the shogun is found brutally murdered, with samurai sleuth Sano Ichiro's pregnant wife Reiko laying beside him naked and covered in blood, Sano seeks the truth behind the Rashomon-like accounts of the murder in this latest thriller set 17th-century Japan.
Updated 11.1.06 - The Blonde
Author: Swierczynski, Duane
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312343795 Date: 2006LJ
The night before a big meeting, Jack Eisley is sitting in an airport bar in Philadelphia, chatting up a pretty young blonde. Sure, Jack has a wife and daughter at home, but this is just a little harmless flirting. Harmless, that is, until the blonde leans forward and says, "I poisoned your drink."
She tells Jack that unless she can keep someone within ten feet of her at all times, she'll die. And if he wants the antidote, he'll have to take her back to his hotel room and promise to stay by her side.
Jack thinks: psycho. But as the violent night wears on, and he encounters a relentless government assassin, a threatening voice on a cell phone, a deadly waitress, dirty cops, and shady cab drivers . . .
He begins to believe her. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 10.18.06 - A Whole New Life
Author: Thornton, Betsy
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312357591 Date: 2006PW
Although Thornton introduces a new group of characters to her readers, they live in the same mountains and desert in which we met and loved the Victim's Advocate, Chloe Newcombe. Readers will be cheering for all these new friends as they do their best to clear Jackson's name---often at peril to themselves. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 9.18.06 - Master of Souls: A Mystery of Ancient Ireland
Author: Tremayne, Peter
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312348320 Date: 2006Kirkus
In this latest historical whodunit, Fidelma of Cashel faces one of her most perplexing mysteries when she is called to investigate the brutal murder of an abbess and the disappearance of six young female religieuse.
Updated 9.13.06 - Seeking Whom He May Devour: Chief Inspector Adamsberg Investigates
Author: Vargas, Fred
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 14 ISBN: 074328402x Date: 2006Kirkus
Each day, inhabitants of a small community in the French Alps find another of their ewes with its throat cut. When one of the villagers too is killed people begin to wonder: could it be the work of a werewolf? Soon suspicion falls on Massart, one of the villagers.
Updated 8.28.06 -
Author: Wilson, Robert
Publisher: Harcourt $ 25 ISBN: 0151012393 Date: 2006Kirkus
The discovery of a mosque in the basement of a devastated apartment building in Seville confirms everybody's terrorist fears. As more bodies are dragged from the rubble, the media interest and political pressure intensify, and Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon suspects that all is not what it appears to be.
Updated 9.13.06 - The Godfather's Revenge
Author: Winegardner, Mark
Publisher: Putnam $ 25.95 ISBN: 0399153845 Date: 2006Kirkus
The third and final installment in Puzo's epic chronicle of the Corleone crime family achieves a stunning crescendo with a story that imagines the role of the Mafia in the assassination of a young, charismatic president.
Updated 10.2.06
October
- One Good Turn
Author: Atkinson, Kate
Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.99 ISBN: 0316154849 Date: 2006LJ
From the author of 2005's breakout favorite Case Histories comes a brilliant new thriller featuring the irresistibly reluctant detective Jackson Brodie. A triumphant novel filled with wit and surprise, One Good Turn will delight the many fans who cheered Kate Atkinson's foray into thrillers.
Updated 7.10.06 - Chemistry of Death
Author: Beckett, Simon
Publisher: Delacorte $ 22 ISBN: 0385340044 Date: 2006LJ
Blending cutting-edge forensics with the psychological punch of an Ian Rankin thriller, this chiller is destined to be one of the most spine-tingling crimenovels of the year.
Updated 9.18.06 - The Hard Way: Rachel Alexander
Author: Benjamin, Carol Lea
Publisher: Morrow $ 23.95 ISBN: 0060539038 Date: 2006LJ
Private investigator Rachel Alexander and her pit bull Dashiell once again team up in this gritty mystery from a former detective and noted dog trainer turned acclaimed mystery writer.
Updated 8.29.06 - Death's Dark Abyss
Author: Carlotto, Massimo
Publisher: Europa $ 14.95 ISBN: 1933372184 Date: 2006Kirkus
A riveting drama of guilt, revenge, and justice, Massimo Carlotto's Death's Dark Abyss tells the story of two men and the savage crime that binds them. During a robbery, Raffaello Beggiato takes a young woman and her child hostage and later murders them. Beggiato is arrested, tried, and sentenced to life. The victims' father and husband, Silvano, is undone by his loss. He plunges into an ever-deepening abyss until the day, years later, when the murderer seeks his pardon, and the wounded Silvano turns predator as he ruthlessly plots his revenge. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 9.13.06 - A Corpse in the Koryo
Author: Church, James
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312352085 Date: 2006BooklistPWLibrary Journal
Like Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy and the Inspector Arkady Renko novels, A Corpse in the Koryo introduces another unfamiliar world (North Korea), a perplexing universe seemingly so alien that the rules are an enigma to the reader and even, sometimes, to Inspector O. Author James Church weaves a story with beautifully spare prose and layered descriptions of a country and a people he knows by heart after decades as an intelligence officer. This is a chilling portrayal that, in the end, leaves us wondering if what at first seemed unknowable may simply be too familiar for comfort. - Publisher Marketing
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 8.10.06 - Echo Park
Author: Connelly, Michael
Publisher: Little Brown $ 26.99 ISBN: 0316734950 Date: 2006KirkusBooklistLj
Detective Harry Bosch--"one of the most complex crime fighters around" ("People")--reopens one of his own unsolved cases and comes face to face with a psychotic killer he has been seeking for years, in this thrilling new novel by Michael Connellly, bestselling author of The Lincoln Lawyer.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 10.18.06 - A Single Eye
Author: Dunlap, Susan
Publisher: Garroll & Graf $ 24.95 ISBN: 0786718501 Date: 2006LJ
After a terrifying stunt gone wrong leaves her plummeting into the tops of forest trees, a shaken Darcy Lott is dispatched by her Zen master to a remote monastery in California's redwood forest to face her worst fear -- but also to deliver a message. This monastery has its own secrets. A student has disappeared and is feared dead. The leader of the monastery, Leo, Garson-roshi, is soon to leave under mysterious circumstances, and Darcy fears that trusting the likeable Leo will lead her into further danger. Yet, as Darcy struggles with her phobia, she becomes drawn further into this mystery, one she learns she must solve it in order to get out alive.
Updated 11.1.06 - Sharp Objects
Author: Flynn, Gillian
Publisher: Shambhala $ 24 ISBN: 0307341542 Date: 2006KirkusLJ
After eight years, the murders of two preteen girls--timed nearly a year apart--bring reporter Camille Preaker reluctantly back to her hometown. As she works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, Camille finds herself forced to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past.
Updated 8.10.06 - Stripped
Author: Freeman, Brian
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312340443 Date: 2006Booklist
In this stunning follow-up to Freeman's remarkable debut novel, Immoral, Detective Jonathan Stride discovers that there are only two ways to go in Las Vegas. You can hit the jackpot--or you can get "stripped."
Updated 8.7.06 - What Came Before He Shot Her
Author: George, Elizabeth
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 26.95 ISBN: 0060545623 Date: 2006KirkusBooklistLJ
In her compelling new mystery, George explores the unforgettable events leading up to a murder.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 8.28.06 - Cruel Sister: A Haunted Ballad
Author: Grabien, Deborah
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312357575 Date: 2006LJ
This is the fourth in Deborah Grabien's gripping and unusual Haunted Ballad series. Her stories pair two sophisticated and very likable people whose lives are invaded by tortured souls from England's history. With each encounter, Penny and Ringan are forced to find a way to lay a long-suffering ghost to rest. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 10.18.06 - Silence of the Grave
Author: Indridason, Arnaldur
Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312340710 Date: 2006PW
Downtrodden detective Erlendur and his team must once again look into Reykjavik's hidden past to unravel a case of human nastiness. Alive with tension and atmosphere and disturbingly real, this is an outstanding continuation of the Reykjavik Murder Mysteries.
Updated 6.28.06 - The Wrong Man
Author: Katzenbach, John
Publisher: Ballantine $ 25.95 ISBN: 0345464834 Date: 2006PW
"New York Times" bestselling author Katzenbach delivers his next major novel--a riveting tour-de-force of psychological suspense.
Updated 7.31.06 - Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense
Author: Landrigan, Linda (edt)
Publisher: Pegasus $ I 16.95 SBN: 1933648031 Date: 2006LJ
Updated 6.20.06 - The Mission Song
Author: Le Carre, John
Publisher: Little Brown $ 26.99 ISBN: 0316016748 Date: 2006PWLJ
A naive young interpreter stumbles into the heart of an outrageous British plot in the astonishing new novel by the master of the literary thriller.
Updated 8.10.06 - Vicious Circle
Author: Littell, Robert
Publisher: Harcourt $ 24.95 ISBN: 1585678554 Date: 2006KirkusBooklist
A well-known fundamentalist rabbi is taken hostage by a kidnapper who demands the release of several Palestinian prisoners. As Israel coaxes an aging Mossad officer out of retirement, the prisoner and captor find themselves building an extraordinary relationship.
Updated 8.4.06 - No Trace: Brock and Kolla
Author: Maitland, Barry
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 031235892x Date: 2006PWLJ
In a London neighborhood known for its artists and bohemian style, six year old Tracey Rudd is abducted from her home without any warning, or sign of violence. She is the third child abucted under similar circumstances in recent weeks. But this case is different. She is the daughter of notorious contemporary artist Gabriel Rudd, best known for the grotesque "Dead Puppies," a work centered around his wife's suicide five years earlier. While Rudd exploits Tracey's abduction as an inspiration for a major new work in his upcoming exhibit, D.C.I. David Brock and Detective Sergeant Kathy Kolla hunt for the missing girls' kidnapper, who is suspiciously connected to the eccentric community of artists, dealers, and collectors in the neighborhood. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 8.28.06 - The Best American Mystery Stories 2006
Author: Penzler, Otto (edt)
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin $28/14 ISBN: 0618517464/73 Date: 2006Booklist
This volume brings together the genre's finest from the past year. With stories from mystery veterans and newly discovered talents, this thrilling collection is sure to appeal to crime fiction fans of all tastes.
Updated 8.7.06 - Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime: Rat Pack
Author: Randisi, Robert J.
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312338627 Date: 2006Booklist
Robert J. Randisi, the man "Booklist" claims "may be the last of the true pulp writers," takes his readers on a vivid, neon-lit tour of back rooms, bars, and famed gambling dens of the desert mirage that was---and still is---Las Vegas. Broads, blackjack, and bourbon flow. Celebrities, from John F. Kennedy to Angie Dickinson, strut in and out of this amazing first in a series that Rat Pack fans and crime fiction lovers will not want to miss. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 8.7.06 - Chasing the Dead
Author: Schreiber, Joe
Publisher: Ballantine $ 16.95 ISBN: 0345487478 Date: 2006PW
In the hope of saving her daughter from a kidnapper whose origin seems darker than anything she could ever have imagined, Sue will discover just how much trauma and fright the human body is capable of absorbing.
Updated 8.16.06 - Mineral Spirits
Author: Sharfeddin, Heather
Publisher: Bridge Works $ 21.95 ISBN: 1882593987 Date: 2006Kirkus
Sheriff Kip Edelson investigates the story behind a woman's skeleton that a young boy stumbles across on a river bank. As he traces Mineral County residents and seeks clues to who might have killed her and why, a story evolves that includes drug dealers, a shootout, an abandoned boy, and the sheriff's own marital strains.
Updated 7.27.06 - All Mortal Flesh
Author: Spencer-Fleming, Julia
Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312312644 Date: 2006LJPWKirkus
One horrible murder. Two people destined for love or tragedy. Emotions explode in Spencer-Fleming's most accomplished mystery yet.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 8.16.06 - Missing in Precinct Puerto Rico
Author: Torres, Steven
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312321112 Date: 2006LJ
Angustias, Puerto Rico, 1982 "Even a tropical paradise can have its little murders..." In the early morning hours, a neighbor named Tomas Villareal knocks on the door of the home of Luis Gonzalo, the sheriff of Angustias, a small town in the mountains of Puerto Rico. Tomas reports that his son is missing, and the sheriff agrees to help search for the boy. Gonzalo is certain there is a simple explanation--that the child has just wandered off to visit a friend or fallen asleep in a field. But then a second child is reported missing, and there are no clues to her whereabouts either. Soon the sheriff, the parents, and the entire town are searching frantically, but the horrors have only just begun. Gonzalo begins to suspect an organized plot to harm the children of Angustias, and he races against the clock to prevent the town's children from disappearing one by one. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 8.29.06 - Sleep With the Fishes
Author: Wiprud, Brian M.
Publisher: Dell $ 6.99 ISBN: 0440243130 Date: 2006PW
Sid "Sleep" Bifulco, a mobster-turned-snitch who always put his victims gently to sleep before whacking them, did his time and has a new hideaway and new avocation--trout fishing--but the local yokels won't leave him alone.
Updated 8.28.06 - Short Straw
Author: Woods, Stuart
Publisher: Putnam $ 25.95 ISBN: 0399153683 Date: 2006Kirkus
Ed Eagle--first introduced in Santa Fe Rules--returns in this new, heart-stopping novel by "New York Times" bestselling author Stuart Woods.
Updated 7.27.06
September
- To Thine Own Self Be True
Author: Clemens, Judy
Publisher: Poisoned Pen $ 24.95 ISBN: 1590582985 Date: 2006LJ
Halfway through Stella's sitting at Wolf Ink, her tattoo artist and his wife disappear into the back room. Stella dozes off; when she awakes, and they've not come back, she drives home. Before long, the police arrive to inform her that Mandy has been discovered dead behind the tattoo parlor, while Wolf is nowhere to be found.
Updated 7.11.06 - Back to Bologna
Author: Dibdin, Michael
Publisher: Vintage $ 12.95 ISBN: 0307275884 Date: 2006Kirkus
When the corpse of the shady industrialist who owns the local football team is found both shot and stabbed, Italian police inspector Aurelio Zen is called to Bologna to oversee the investigation. Soon a world-famous university professor is shot with the same gun, immediately after publicly humiliating Italy's leading celebrity television chef.
Updated 7.11.06 - Playing God
Author: Flora, Kate
Publisher: Five Star $ 25.95 ISBN: 1594144613 Date: 2006PWLJ
Updated 8.2806 - Under Orders
Author: Francis, Dick
Publisher: Putnam $ 25.95 ISBN: 0399154000 Date: 2006BooklistLJ
Sid Halley, former jockey-turned-detective, returns. Death at the races is not uncommon, but three in one day--including a winning horse and champion jockey--are more than enough to raise Halley's suspicions.
Updated 8.28.06 - Mad Dogs
Author: Grady, James
Publisher: Forge $ 24.95 ISBN: 0765316498 Date: 2006LJ
James Grady revolutionized the political thriller with his first novel, Six Days of the Condor. Now Grady breaks fresh thriller territory with a brilliant novel launched from a totally original creation: the CIA's secret insane asylum for "retired" agents.
Updated 10.2.06 - Stamping Butterflies
Author: Grimwood, Jon Courtnenay
Publisher: Spectra $ 12 ISBN: 0553383779 Date: 2006KirkusLJ
From acclaimed author Jon Courtenay Grimwood comes an exotic new novel that defies expectation at every turn. A mystery, a thriller, and a cutting-edge sci-fi adventure all in one, Stamping Butterflies bends time, genre, and consciousness itself to tell the spellbinding story of two worlds, three lives, one future-and the question upon which everything depends: who is dreaming whom.... - Publisher Marketing
Updated 8.10.06 - Knights of the Cross: The Epic Novel of the Crusades
Author: Harper, Tom
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312338708 Date: 2006PW
Updated 6.20.06 - Why We Die
Author: Herron, Mick
Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 25.95 ISBN: 0786718277 Date: 2006PW
When Tim Whitby checks into a hotel, he's not intending to check out again -- but then he meets Katrina Blake, a woman in need of rescue. When Arkle, Baxter and Trent inherit the family business, they're not planning on making a go of it -- there are quicker ways of getting rich, if you're not squeamish about the violence involved. And when Zoe Boehm agrees to track down the the masked men who robbed Harold Sweeney's jewellery shop, she's hoping to pay off the taxes she's avoided. She's not expecting to wind up in a coffin. But Arkle has a crossbow; Tim has a life that's run out of purpose, and even battered Katrina has her secrets. And death, like taxes, can't be avoided forever.
Updated 8.16.06 - Chourmo
Author: Izzo, Jean-Claude
Publisher: Europa $ 14.95 ISBN: 1933372176 Date: 2006Kirkus
In this second installment of Izzo's legendary Marseilles Trilogy, Fabio Montale has left a police force riddled with corruption, racism, and greed to follow the ancient rhythms of his native town, but his cousin's son has gone missing, and Montale is dragged back onto the mean streets of a violent, crime-infested Marseilles.
Updated 6.28.06 - The One From the Other
Author: Kerr, Philip
Publisher: Putnam $ 26.95 ISBN: 0399152997 Date: 2006PWLJ
Bernie Gunther, Kerr's best-loved protagonist, takes center stage in this fast-paced, twist-filled thriller that turns his acclaimed German trilogy into a surprise-laden quartet.
Updated 9.18.06 - Copper River
Author: Krueger, William Kent
Publisher: Atria $ 24 ISBN: 0743278402 Date: 2006LJ
The sixth novel in Krueger's award-winning suspense series finds Cork O'Connor running for his life--straight into a murderous conspiracy involving teenage runaways.
Updated 8.10.06 - Damnation Street
Author: Klaven, Andrew
Publisher: Harcourt $ 24 ISBN: 0151012172 Date: 2006Booklist
Julie Wyant spent one night with John Foy--a night of psychopathic cruelty that Foy, a professional killer, called love. Desperate to get away from him, she vanishes. From a town called Paradise, through a wilderness that feels like hell, Private Detective Scott Weiss searches for Julie--and the killer follows, waiting for his chance.
Updated 6.28.06 - Coronando
Author: Lehane, Dennis
Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 006113967X Date: 2006 Kirkus
From Dennis Lehane, the award-winning author of Mystic River, Shutter Island, and the Kenzie-Gennaro series, comes a striking collection of five short stories and a play. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 6.9.06 - The Shadow of the Lords
Author: Levack, Simon
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 031234841x Date: 2006PW
Before he can solve the mystery of his son's disappearance, Yaotl discovers a murder and must use all his wits to stay alive for Lord Feathered-in-Black and his henchmen are never far away.
Updated 8.28.06 - Kill All the Lawyers
Author: Levine, Paul
Publisher: Bantam $ 6.99 ISBN: 0440242754 Date: 2006PW
The courtroom will never be the same when the legal world's oddest couple team up in their third mystery. "Levine writes some of the funniest--and most wickedly accurate--courthouse dramas you'll ever read."--Carl Hiassen
Updated 7.24.06 - Man Who Smiled: Kurt Wallander
Author: Mankell, Henning
Publisher: New $ 24.95 ISBN: 1565849930 Date: 2006PW
The long-awaited fourth mystery in the bestselling Kurt Wallander series finds the detective deep in crisis after killing a man in the line of duty. Vowing to quit the police force, he instead becomes involved in solving a friend's murder.
Updated 7.24.06 - Alibi Club
Author: Mathews, Francine
Publisher: Bantam $ 24 ISBN: 055380331x Date: 2006PW
Mathews weaves a web of betrayal, passion, espionage, and the foundations of atomic fusion against the backdrop of a stunning, little-known episode of early World War II. Four women, thrown together by chance, make a perilous attempt to smuggle a brilliant scientist and his lethal secrets away from Nazi control.
Updated 6.28.06 - Right Attitude to Rain: Isabel Dalhousie
Author: McCall Smith, Alexander
Publisher: Pantheon $ 21.95 ISBN: 0375423001 Date: 2006Booklist
When friends from Dallas arrive in Edinburgh and introduce Isabel Dalhousie to Tom Bruce--a bigwig at home in Texas--several confounding situations unfurl at once. Isabel is certain of the ethical basis for a little sleuthing now and again, especially when the problems involve matters of the heart.
Updated 10.2.06 - Boy Detective Fails
Author: Meno, Joe
Publisher: Akashic $ 14.95 ISBN: 1933354100 Date: 2006
KirkusLJ
After a mysterious childhood full of wonder, Billy Argo returns from an extended stay at St. Vitus's Hospital for the Mentally Ill to discover the world full of unimaginable strangeness: office buildings vanish without reason, small animals turn up without their heads, and cruel villains ride city buses to complete their evil schemes.
Updated 8.28.06 - Dark Water: The Strange Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes
Author: Pirie, David
Publisher: Pegasus $ 25 ISBN: 1933648112 Date: 2006PWKirkus
Pirie brings his rich familiarity with both the Doyle biography and the Sherlock Holmes canon to a mystifying Victorian tale of vengeance and villainy. The howling man on the heath, a gothic asylum, the walking dead, the legendary witch of Dunwich--perils lurk in every turn of the page throughout this ingenious pastiche.
Updated 8.16.06 - The Interpretation of Murder
Author: Rubenfeld, Jed
Publisher: Holt $ 26 ISBN: 0805080988 Date: 2006Booklist
In this ingenious, suspenseful historical thriller, Sigmund Freud is drawn into the mind of a sadistic killer who is savagely attacking Manhattan's wealthiest heiresses.
Updated 6.28.06 - Mineral Spirits
Author: Sharfeddin, Heather
Publisher: Bridge $ 21.95 ISBN: 1882593987 Date: 2006BooklistKirkus
Sheriff Kip Edelson investigates the story behind a woman's skeleton that a young boy stumbles across on a river bank. As he traces Mineral County residents and seeks clues to who might have killed her and why, a story evolves that includes drug dealers, a shootout, an abandoned boy, and the sheriff's own marital strains.
Updated 10.2.06 - Lights Out
Author: Starr, Jason
Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312359721 Date: 2006LJ
This razor-sharp crime novel combines biting social satire, explosive suspense, and revealing human drama. Both Ryan and Jake were Major League-bound til an injury sidelined Ryan. Returning home, Jake discovers Ryan's having an affair with his fiance, and none of the players in the triangle have any idea what's about to play out.
Updated 7.11.06 - Liberation Movements
Author: Steinhauer, Olen
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312332041 Date: 2006LJPW
The personal becomes political in the latest in Steinhauer's award-nominated, acclaimed Eastern European crime series.
Updated 5.15.06 - Long in the Tooth
Author: Turrill, David
Publisher: Toby $ 24.95 ISBN: 1592641660 Date: 2006Kirkus
Tin's brother Satchel was on the verge of his major league debut when he took his fiance to meet his brother. He couldn't have known that Tin and Wendy would fall in love and break his heart. Several years later, Wendy is murdered, bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat, and Satchel is the prime suspect.
Updated 6.28.06 - The Zero
Author: Walter, Jess
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 25.95 ISBN: 0060898658 Date: 2006Kirkus
In the tradition of Franz Kafka, Joseph Heller, and Don DeLillo, comes this extraordinary story of searing humor and sublime horror, of blindness, bewilderment, and that achingly familiar feeling that the world has suddenly stopped making sense.
Updated 7.11.06 - The Devil's Feather
Author: Walters, Minette
Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 0307264629 Date: 2006 Kirkus PW
When five woman are brutally murdered in Sierra Leone, Reuters correspondent Connie Burns suspects a British mercenary who seems to be using the chaos of war to act out sadistic, misogynist fantasies. Connie's suspicions fall on deaf ears, but she's determined to expose the man and his secret--a choice that causes devastating consequences.
Updated 6.28 .06 - The Devil's Backbone
Author: Wozencraft, Kim
Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312290632 Date: 2006PW
One sister's murder leads to the other's investigation of it and into a worldmore deadly than she can imagine.
Updated 7.10.06
August
- Frozen
Author: Ashford, Lindsay
Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312355815 Date: 2006LJ
Megan Rhys has been asked to advise on the murders of two young prostitutes, dumped like rubbish, seemingly the victims of two men working together. But there is something wrong with the information the police are giving her. Is someone is trying to manipulate Megan, or are her own prejudices clouding her judgment?
Updated 8.10.06 - Body Movers
Author: Bond, Stephanie
Publisher: Mira $ 13.95 ISBN: 0778323331 Date: 2006Booklist
When their parents abandoned them ten years ago, Carlotta Wren raised her younger brother, Wesley. Now a teenager in trouble, Wesley is ordered to get a job--and finds one moving bodies from crime scenes to the morgue. Carlotta is soon dragged into the sordid business herself.
Updated 8.7.06 - Calibre
Author: Bruen, Ken
Publisher: Minotaur $ 12.95 ISBN: 031234144x Date: 2006PW
Updated 6.5.06 - Rounding the Mark
Author: Camilleri, Andrea
Publisher: Penguin $ 13 ISBN: 014303478x Date: 2006Booklist
This dazzling new book in Andrea Camilleri's international bestselling mystery series brings back earthy and urbane Sicilian detective Inspector Montalbano, who must delve deeply into the secret world of illicit trafficking in human lives
Updated 8.7.06 - Disco for the Departed
Author: Cotterill, Colin
Publisher: Soho $ 23 ISBN: 1569474281 Date: 2006LJ
Dr Siri Paiboun, reluctant national coroner of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos, is summoned to a remote location in the mountains of Huaphan Province to supervise the disinterment of a body, identify the corpse, and discover how he died.
Updated 6.20.06 - Merlot Murders
Author: Crosby, Ellen
Publisher: Scribner $ 24 ISBN: 0743289900 Date: 2006Kirkus
The fascinating science and alchemy of winemaking take center stage in this unique mystery debut set at a family-run vineyard in Virginia's historic horse and hunt country.
Updated 5.10.06 - Never Fear
Author: Frost, Scott
Publisher: Putnam $ 24.95 ISBN: 0399153403 Date: 2006BooklistPWKirkus
Pasadena homicide detective Alex Delillo faces demons from the past in this chilling psychological suspense by the "L.A. Times" bestselling author of Run the Risk.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 5.10.06 - Dead Cat Bounce
Author: Green, Norman
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 13.95 ISBN: 0060851694 Date: 2006 KirkusBooklist
Updated 8.4.06 - Murder in Jerusalem: Michael Ohayon
Author: Gur, Batya
Publisher: HarperCollins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060852933 Date: 2006PWBooklist
The sixth and final novel from acclaimed Israeli crime novelist Gur is a stunning tale of a beautiful and secretive woman's murder set against the politically charged backdrop of the Israeli media.
Updated 8.7.06 - Spying in High Heels
Author: Halliday, Gemma
Publisher: Dorchester $ 6.99 ISBN: 0843957352 Date: 2006PW
High crime meets high fashion in this intriguing mystery as a Los Angeles shoe designer finds herself in over her head when murder, embezzlement, and a hot detective collide in her life.
Updated 6.28.06 - Dead Wrong
Author: Jance, J.A.
Publisher: Morrow $ 25.95 ISBN: 0060540907 Date: 2006LJ
Coping with the impending delivery of her second child as well as a staff shortage, the last thing Sheriff Joanna Brady needs are two murders with roots deep in the past.
Updated 7.11.06 - Coronado: Stories
Author: Lehane, Dennis
Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 006113967x Date: 2006LJKirkus
Updated 8.10.06 - Dying Light
Author: MacBride, Stuart
Publisher: Minotaur $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312339976 Date: 2006BooklistLJ
MacBride's impressive debut Cold Granite took reviewers by storm, but this follow-up realizes all of its potential--and more.
Updated 6.20.06 - Winter's Child
Author: Maron, Margaret
Publisher: Mysterious $ 24.99 ISBN: 0892968109 Date: 2006PWLJ
In the chilling 12th installment of this award-winning series, Judge Deborah Knott's new marriage will be tested as she and her new husband are drawn into an emotional hunt for his missing ex-wife and son.
Updated 7.11.06 - The Expected One
Author: McGowan, Kathleen
Publisher: Touchstone $ 25.95 ISBN: 0743299426 Date: 2006LJ
Updated 7.11.06 - The Night Gardener
Author: Pelecanos, George P.
Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.99 ISBN: 0316156507 Date: 2006BooklistLJPW
It's been 20 years since three teenagers were killed and their abused bodies were left in public parks. The case was never solved, but the two lead detectives on the case have pursued very different paths during the last two decades.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 6.20.06 - Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Author: Pessl, Marisha
Publisher: Viking $ 25.95 ISBN: 067003777x Date: 2006PW
Structured around a syllabus for a Great Works of Literature class, this mesmerizing debut, uncannily uniting the trials of a postmodern upbringing with a murder mystery, heralds the arrival of a vibrant new voice in literary fiction.
Updated 5.22.06 - Three Days to Never
Author: Powers, Tim
Publisher: Morrow $ 25.95 ISBN: 0380976536 Date: 2006PWKirkus
From the author of Declare and Last Call comes a standout literary thriller in which one man finds the discovery Einstein tried to keep hidden.
Updated 6.9.06 - The Messenger
Author: Silva, Daniel
Publisher: Putnam $ 25.95 ISBN: 0399153357 Date: 2006LJ
Israeli agent and art restorer Gabriel Allon faces terrorism once again in this follow-up to Prince of Fire, filled with remarkable characters and breathtaking double and triple turns of plot.
Updated 7.11.06 - Six To One Against
Author: Stacey, Lyndon
Publisher: Hutchinson $ 29.95/14.95 ISBN: 0091796652/9675x Date: 2006Kirkus
A fast-paced, exciting thriller from a talented new crime writer, guaranteed to appeal to all fans of Dick Francis, Jenny Pitman and John Francome. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 7.27.06 - Farthing
Author: Walton, Jo
Publisher: Tor $ 25.95 ISBN: 0765314215 Date: 2006PW
A stunning "what-if" in the manner of Fatherland and The Plot Against America.
Updated 6.28.06 - Orchid Shroud: A Novel of Death in the Dordogne
Author: Wan, Michelle
Publisher: Doubleday $ 23.95 ISBN: 0385514581 Date: 2006LJ
Two murders committed over a century apart in southwestern France draw amateur sleuths Mara Dunn and Julian Wood into the dark history of a prominent family in this captivating sequel to Deadly Slipper.
Updated 7.11.06 - Messenger of Truth: Maisie Dobbs
Author: Winspear, Jacqueline
Publisher: Holt $ 24 ISBN: 0505078983 Date: 2006PW
Maisie Dobbs investigates the mysterious death of a controversial artist--and World War I veteran--in the fourth entry in the bestselling series set in 1931 London.
Updated 2.12.07 - Winter's Bone
Author: Woodrell, Daniel
Publisher: Little Brown $ 22.99 ISBN: 031605755X Date: 2006BooklistKirkusLJ
When Ree Dolly's father skips bail, the 16-year-old knows if he doesn't show up to answer the drug charges against him, her family will lose their home. Her goal had been to leave her messy life of poverty and join the army, but first she must find her father, teach her little brothers to fend for themselves, and escape a downward spiral of misery.
Suggested Reading: All Stars
Updated 5.15.06
July
- Dark Gold
Author: Angsten, David
Publisher: Thomas Dunne $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312343736 Date: 2006Kirkus
Jack Duran embarks on a mission to Mexico in search of is incommunicado brother, Dan- with his college buddies Rock and Duff in tow. Following a trail of shady dealings, they soon discover that Dan was searching for an ancient shipwreck laden with gold-and the race to recover the treasure be-gins. Blinded by the prospect of ancient gold, they begin diving towards the shipwreck. Only, one by one, the divers being to disappear. Tension mounts when Jack witnesses a mysterious, and ghastly, sea creature who seems to be gurading the wreck. A fast-paced, high adventure thriller Dark Gold is an excicting tale of ancient gold, a deadly legend and a mythic creature.
Updated 5.10.06 - Pegasus Descending: Dave Robicheaux
Author: Burke, James Lee
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 26 ISBN: 0743277724 Date: 2006LJ
Bestselling author James Lee Burke takes listeners back to New Orleans where detective Dave Robicheaux becomes engulfed in a dangerous mystery surrounding a beautiful girl and stolen money.
Updated 6.20.06 - Sweet and the Dead
Author: Burton, Milton
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312343108 Date: 2006Booklist
A retired deputy sheriff goes undercover in Biloxi, Mississippi, to nail a group of criminals who have been tagged with the name "Dixie Mafia." Drawn into a plan that threatens to engulf him, he learns in the murky world of Southern professional crime, nothing is ever quite what it seems to be.
Updated 5.4.06 - Bee's Kiss
Author: Cleverly, Barbara
Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 25 ISBN: 078671736x Date: 2006PWLJ
It's 1926, and Joe Sandilands is back from Ranipur, yet there is a darkness behind all the postwar gaiety. Against the background of a looming general strike and pressure from an unseen governmental presence, Joe struggles to solve four murders, picking his way through the political panic and rebelling against authority.
Updated 7.11.06 - Claire Fontain Crime Fighter: A Novel of LIfe and Death and Shoes
Author: Enright, Tracey
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 0312319606 Date: 2006Kirkus
Claire Fontaine is sassy, sexy, sophisticated, and rich. Henry Bennett is fat, sloppy, slow, and a bad dresser. He's a private eye, and as far as he's concerned, she's his assistant. As far as she's concerned, he's her partner. Their entire relationship, in fact, is one big difference of opinion, and the results are hilarious. Now Henry has been hired to investigate the murder of a young woman who liked to party. Claire helps (or hinders, depending on your point of view) when she can drag herself away from her Brentwood mansion and the James Bond-like hunk who lives next door. As Claire and Henry try to trace the victim's last known companions, they stumble across streets that the rich and famous desperately try to hide. If you like sleuths who are stylish, seductive, and full of great fun, then Claire Fontaine is the crime fighter for you.
Updated 5.10.06 - The Prisoner of Guantanamo
Author: Fesperman, Dan
Publisher: Knopf $ 24 ISBN: 1400044669 Date: 2006LJ
Revere Falk--an FBI veteran and Arabic speaker--is an interrogator at "Gitmo," assigned to a Yemeni prisoner who may have valuable information about al Qaeda. But these duties are temporarily suspended when the body of an American soldier is found washed ashore in Cuban territory. Suddenly, Cold War tension is back and Falk finds himself at the heart of it.
Updated 5.15.06 - When the Devil Holds the Candle
Author: Fossum, Karin
Publisher: Harcourt $ 24 ISBN: 0151011885 Date: 2006LJ
When the theft of a purse from a stroller results in an infant's death, two teenagers are in trouble. Unaware of the enormity of their crime, Zipp and Andreas are intent on committing still another. They follow an elderly woman home, and Andreas enters her house with his ever-reliable switchblade. Motionless in the dark, Zipp waits for his friend to come out.
Inspector Konrad Sejer and his colleague Jacob Skarre see no connection between the infant's death and the reported disappearance of a local delinquent. And so while the confusion in the world outside mounts, the chilling, heart-stopping truth unfolds inside the old woman's home.
Unflappable as ever, Sejer digs below the surface of small-town tranquillity in an effort to understand how and why violence destroys everyday lives. Another brilliantly observed, precisely rendered psychological mystery from the highly acclaimed Karin Fossum. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 6.20.06 - Ten Second Staircase
Author: Fowler, Christopher
Publisher: Bantam $ 24 ISBN: 0553804499 Date: 2006BooklistPW
A bizarre killer nicknamed "The Highwayman" has turned London's blazing-hot summer into a ticking time bomb, but never fear, detectives John May and Arthur Bryant are on the case! " Christopher Fowler is a new master of the classical detective story."--"The Denver Post"
Updated 5.8.06 - Darkness & Light: Frank Elder
Author: Harvey, John
Publisher: Harcourt $ 25 ISBN: 0151011338 Date: 2006BooklistLJ
Former cop Frank Elder is drawn out of retirement by a request from his ex-wife to look into the disappearance of Claire, her friend's older, widowed sister. When Claire is found dead at home--unmarked and carefully dressed--Elder is surprised by the similarities to an old case.
Updated 6.20.06 - What Is Mine
Author: Holt, Anne
Publisher: Warner $ 24.99 ISBN: 0446578029 Date: 2006KirkusBooklist
This gripping American debut from the most popular crime writer in Norway delves into the twisted psyche of a child killer and follows in the bestselling tradition of thrillers by Ian Rankin and Thomas Harris. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 5.16.06 - Wolves of Memory: Harpur & Iles
Author: James, Bill
Publisher: Norton $ 23.95 ISBN: 0393061884 Date: 2006BooklistKirkus
A large, carefully plotted "cash-in-transit" raid goes hopelessly awry when armed policemen intervene to seize the perpetrators. Relatives and friends of the incarcerated are convinced that information--the date, the time--was leaked by the only man to escape before his arrest. Deputy Constable Colin Harpur and Assistant Constable Desmond Iles are delegated the job of hiding and protecting the informant and his family. - Publisher Marketing
Updated 5.10.06 - Dead and Buried
Author: Jardine, Quintin
Publisher: Headline $ 24.95 ISBN: 0755304098 Date: 2006LJ
Updated 11.1.06 - Garden of Vipers
Author: Kerley, Jack
Publisher: Dutton $ 24.95 ISBN: 0525949526 Date: 2006Booklist
Mobile, Alabama, detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus go on alert for further indications of a serial killer-in-the-making. When Ryder is abducted, his partner and his journalist girlfriend discover a dangerous web of secrets. The question becomes: What will the perfect family do to protect an image of perfection?
Updated 5.4.06 - Two Time
Author: Knopf, Chris
Publisher: Permanent $ 28 ISBN: 1579621295 Date: 2006PWLJ
Updated 5.16.06 - No Good Deeds
Author: Lippman, Laura
Publisher: Morrow $ 24.95 ISBN: 0060570725 Date: 2006Kirkus
The unsolved murder of a prosecutor becomes too personal when Tess's boyfriend brings home a street kid who holds an important key to the case. Tess finds out how far official authorities will go to get their way. Soon she's facing felony charges, and the boy has gone into hiding beyond her reach.
Updated 4.10.06 - Still Life
Author: Penny, Louise
Publisher: Minotaur $ 22.95 ISBN: 0312352557 Date: 2006BooklistPWKirkus
A Debut Dagger honor book in the U.K., this work introduces an engaging series hero in Inspector Armand Gamache who commands his forces with integrity and quiet courage. Locals are convinced a murder was no more than a tragic hunting accident, but Gamache uncovers something more sinister.
Suggested Reading: All Stars | Debuts
Updated 5.10.06 - Learning to Kill: Stories
Author: McBain, Ed
Publisher: Harcourt $ 25 ISBN: 0151012229 Date: 2006LJ
These are the 25 stories that prepared Evan Hunter to become Ed McBain, and that prepared McBain to write the beloved 87th Precinct novels. In individual introductions, McBain tells how and why he wrote these stories that were the start of his legendary career.
Updated 4.3.06 - Dead Hour
Author: Mina, Denise
Publisher: Little Brown $ 24.99 ISBN: 0316735949 Date: 2006PWKirkus
Paddy Meehan, a scrappy, self-doubting yet determined reporter, returns with a complex and deadly crime to investigate. Making a connection between a dead prosecutor and a suicide victim, Paddy follows her idea to its shocking--and deadly--conclusion.
Updated 5.24.06 - Vanishing Point
Author: Muller, Marcia
Publisher: Mysterious $ 24.99 ISBN: 0892968052 Date: 2006LJ
In the latest installment in this critically acclaimed series, McCone is hired to investigate one of San Luis Obispo County's most puzzling cold cases. New evidence suggests that a missing woman may have led a strange double life.
Updated 6.20.06 - Dark Companion
Author: Nisbet, Jim
Publisher: Dennis McMillan $ 30 ISBN: 0939767546 Date: 2006PW
Updated 5.22.06 - Iron Ties
Author: Parker, Ann
Publisher: Poisoned Pen $24.95 ISBN: 1590582624 Date: 2006
PW
In the Colorado boom town of Leadville in 1880, Inez Stannert has mixed feelings about President Ulysses S. Grant's upcoming visit to celebrate the arrival of the railroad. She fears that the actions of some folks with wicked memories of the war just might signal a return of lawlessness to the town.
Updated 4.24.06 - The Crimes of Jordan Wise
Author: Pronzini, Bill
Publisher: Walker $ 24 ISBN: 0802714935 Date: 2006 Kirkus LJ
This classic tale of love, greed, betrayal, and violence is told with Pronzini's characteristic twists and turns and his special brand of suspense. It is also a powerful psychological examination of a man, a woman, and the wages of sin.
Updated 6.28.06 - Impulse
Author: Ramsey, Frederick
Publisher: Poisoned Pen $ 24.95 ISBN: 1590582837 Date: 2006PW
As Frank Smith boards a plane headed for his 50th class reunion, he leaves behind him the highly suspicious disappearance of his wife four years before and the relentless quest of the investigator who thinks he had something to do with it.
Updated 4.17.06 - The Ruins
Author: Smith, Scott
Publisher: Knopf $ 24.95 ISBN: 1400043875 Date: 2006PW
From the author of A Simple Plan comes a new novel of unbearable suspense about four friends who slowly come to realize that one unfortunate decision made on their Mexican vacation is leading to an adventure gone horribly wrong.
Updated 5.15.06 - The Limehouse Text
Author: Thomas, Will
Publisher: Touchstone $ 14 ISBN: 0743273354 Date: 2006Booklist
Prowling through an underworld of opium dens, back-room blood sports, and sailors' penny hangs while avoiding the wrath of the district's powerful warlord, Mr. King, Barker and Llewelyn take readers on a perilous tour through the mean streets of turn-of-the-century London.
- Publisher Marketing
Updated 5.4.06 - 54
Author: Wu, Ming
Publisher: Harcourt $ 25 ISBN: 0151013802 Date: 2006Kirkus
Set during the height of the Cold War--with the world divided into East and West--this novel features Italian partisans, KGB agents, Parisian lowlifes, and cameos by David Niven, Marshal Tito, and Grace Kelly in a cinematic romp that is by turns edgy social satire and modern comic send up.
Updated 5.10.06 - The Highly Effective Detective
Author: Yancey, Rick
Publisher: Minotaur $ 23.95 ISBN: 00312347529 Date: 2006PWLJ
A bumbling but determined detective employs the help of his loyal secretary--formerly his favorite waitress at the diner--to unravel his first case, a hit-and-run of a family of geese. What can only be called a wild goose chase quickly evolves into an investigation of a vicious murder.
Suggested Reading: Debuts
Updated 5.16.06
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