Not content with a brilliant glut of April reading in my previous post, here is news (via the same source, The Bookseller) of upcoming paperbacks in the UK.
March:
Losing You by Nicci French (Penguin, £6.99). Can't wait, I love these books, written by husband and wife Sean French and Nicci Gerard.
Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter (Arrow, £6.99). Ditto. She's fantastic, and this one is a return to her Grant County series.
The Woods by Harlan Coben (Orion, £6.99). Completes the hat-trick for my March must-reads.
Beneath the Bleeding by Val McDermid (Harper, £6.99). She's always good. Make that four.
Also: Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child, the usual exciting outing for Jack Reacher; Trouble by Jesse Kellerman, son of Jonathan and Faye - I still have his first to read; Stalin's Ghost by Martin Cruz Smith (Ian Hocking has recently been reading Gorky Park, the author's sensational debut, which I adored when I read it all those years ago); and Suffer the Little Children by Donna Leon -- not up to her usual standards but a lovely read nonetheless.
April:
Borderlands by Brian McGilloway (Pan, £7.99). One of Euro Crime's three best reads of 2007, it is brilliant, as well as short. Please read it.
The Pool of Unease by Catherine Sampson (Pan, £6.99). I shall definitely be reading this, having loved her first two. The blurb says "the shadowy underbelly of modern China, depicted in a fast-paced thriller". The Chinese aspect is a departure from the domestic themes of the first two books in the series.
Friend of the Devil by Peter Robinson (Hodder, £6.99). More Inspector Banks, "delayed from March in an attempt to find more "space" ", whatever that means.
God's Spy by Juan Gomez Jurado (Orion, £6.99). Apparently a hugely successful Spanish novel about a serial killer in the Vatican after the death of Pope John Paul II. Said to be an "excellent, grisly, galloping thriller", but it has passed me by, possibly because of the theme.
Absolution by Caro Ramsay (Penguin, £6.99). "Introduces a Glasgow-based duo, Anderson and Costello, for the Rankin/Billingham market". They forgot to include the adjective "overworked" before "market". Nonetheless, could be good.
Cross by Ken Bruen (Corgi, £6.99). Obviously I have to read this, given that everyone who reads crime fiction rates him as one of the best, if not the best.
The Good Thief's Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan (Pocket, £6.99). Winner of Susan Hill's Long Barn Books competition last year, and one I am keen to read - even though the Bookseller calls it "Christopher Brookmyre territory" (which isn't mine), it also says it is "about a delightful character caught up here in a crazy caper".
Other April paperbacks: The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag; The Burnt House by Faye Kellerman; Creation in Death by J D Robb (they are quite good but come out more quickly than you can read them, at two per year as well as at least that many non-Eve Dallas books under her Nora Roberts name); Citizen One by Andy Oakes, an Olympic-set thriller that follows-up Dragon's Eye, winner of the 2004 European Crime and Mystery award, apparently; The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey, being compared by the publisher to Simon Kernick, only American; A Thousand Bones by P. J. Parrish; Stalked by Brian Freeman (said to be for the Patterson market).
No more, please, screams my credit card!
What a wonderful selection of books awaits us.
The Marcus Sakey has been rated very highly in the US. Peter Robinson and Ken Bruen are always producing top notch material, and Borderlands is one that I must read.
Thanks Maxine.
Posted by: Norm | 16 January 2008 at 09:17
April also sees the simultaneous publication in hardback of the follow up to Borderlands: Gallows Lane. I'm currently reading this and it's proving as enjoyable as the first in the series.
Posted by: cfr | 16 January 2008 at 11:15
Maxine, I'd ignore the Bookseller's comparison on the Chris Ewan novel. Personally, I think it's more like a Lovejoy for this millennium.
Posted by: cfr | 16 January 2008 at 11:17
Thanks, Norm and CrimeFic, for the feedback, all good to know. The Bookseller missed Gallows Lane, but I think I did know about it now you remind me, either via It's a Crime! or Crime Always Pays. I shall definitely hope to read that one very soon.
Posted by: Maxine | 16 January 2008 at 11:42
Okay, I have to get "Borderlands" if you say it's excellent. Also "The Coroner's Lunch," which you've also praised so highly. I hope they're already out in the U.S.
Posted by: Susan Balée | 16 January 2008 at 13:39
Hi Susan, nice to see you here. I am pretty sure you are further along with the Cotterill (Coroner's Lunch) series in the US than we are here in the UK, based on Peter R's blog. I think there are 5 or 6 books, only 2 of which are so far out in the UK.
Posted by: Maxine | 16 January 2008 at 16:02