Wow! Can anyone tell me where the majority of 2010 has gone? Already we are knocking on the door of September and we are already seeing the line-up of ‘big hitters’ for Christmas 2010 and it is looking very good indeed. For all you crime fans out there - we have the best in crime fiction coming up in the next few months. We have already had Kate Atkinson and Frederick Forsyth arrive this month along with the latest Ruth Rendell, ‘Tigerlily’s Orchids’. In September we have the arrival of the latest standalone novel from Val McDermid, ‘Trick of the Dark’ and the new John le Carre, ‘Our Kind of Traitor’. Needless to say we have the new James Patterson with best-selling Swedish writer, Liza Marklund, in the new ‘Postcard Killers’ which I have been told is extremely good. Sad to say that we have the last ever Dick Francis novel written with his son, Felix called ‘Crossfire’ out now. The end of an era, indeed.
Others I am waiting for include ‘The Anatomy of Ghosts’ by Andrew Taylor who wrote ‘The American Boy’ and a new supernatural thriller by Michael Koryta called ‘So Cold the River’ which is literally crying out for me to read it. And then we have other gems: ‘The Attenbury Emeralds’ the new mystery featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, written by Jill Paton Walsh, who sets Sayers’ characters as if the great lady herself was writing today. ‘Death on the Marais’ is the new thriller from Adrian Magson, giving us a new set of characters and set in 1960’s France - and if you are in Larsson mode and need a Swedish ‘fix’ then ‘Three Seconds’ by Roslund and Hellstrom will certainly keep you transfixed. And I couldn’t leave out Patricia Cornwell and her latest Scarpetta coming out in October, ‘Port Mortuary’, or the new Lee Child, ‘Worth Dying For’ which concludes his earlier novel of 2010, ‘61 Hours’. And, of course, Martina Cole's latest, The Family. So, these are a just a handful of books that we will be reviewed in the coming months. Boy! You crime fiction reading folk are so lucky – you won’t know which book to read first! I know, ‘cos I have that problem too!
This month’s Author of the Month has become a great star in such a short time. He has turned around the ‘Hostorical Crime’ genre, pumped it with blood and guts and made it his own. There is a great buzz here, as ‘Heartstone’ by CJ Sansom has been a long time coming – but it is finally here and his readers can’t wait to get more of Shardlake. So, click on the Author of the Month link and read this great man’s answers to our exclusive Crimesquad.com Q&A.
And because we like to spoil our readers, you have not one, but two fantastic Historical thrillers this month. Our Fresh Blood author is James Forrester’s novel, ‘Sacred Treason’ which is based during the reign of Elizabeth I and is a superb thriller that I absolutely loved. Given a chronicle of the time, Forrester’s hero has to find out its secret before he is hung, drawn and quartered…
Again, we have loads of Reviews for you to read and choose from in September. There are some amazing books that we know you will want to buy and read. Keep checking the website during the month as we will be adding more to the Reviews section.
Sadly, this year we heard about the loss of a great crime writer who wrote about one of the most iconic women in crime fiction. Peter O’Donnell created Modesty Blaise firstly for a strip cartoon and then she was to feature in 13 bestselling books, alongside her trusted lieutenant, Willie Garvin. In Classic Crime we will pay tribute to this man and his creations this month.
COMPETITION TIME!
As I mentioned last month, PD James celebrated her ninetieth year. To keep the celebrations rolling we have got together with her publishers at Faber and they have very kindly given two sets of Baroness James’ backlist as prizes. All you need to do is answer a simple question and you could be the winner of a set of PD James novels. The question is VERY easy: ‘What is the title of PD James’ very first Dalgliesh novel?’ There, it couldn’t be any easier, could it? Just send the answer with your name and address to me at the e-mail link below. The competition will be on until the end of September. Winners will be chosen at random and we will publish the names next month.
I think that is just about everything – we are so busy sending you the best in crime fiction writing. Wishing you all the best crime reading and see you all next month! |
