Clues Unlimited

       New and Forthcoming in Historical Mysteries

April/May 2008

Adamson, Gil. The Outlander (HC, 25.95) May. Set in the nineteenth-century American west, this well-reviewed debut novel follows a young woman who murders her husband and flees his family who are bent on vengeance.

Akunin, Boris. Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk (RH, 14.00) May. When a disheveled monk arrives at the bishop’s residence in the middle of the night claiming that a black monk is haunting the monastery of New Ararat, Sister Pelagia goes undercover to find out what is going on.

Alexander, Robert. The Romanov Bride (Vik, 24.95) May. The third in the trilogy set during the Russian Revolution, where the fate of the last of the Romanovs, Grand Duchess Elisavyeta, who had retreated to a monastery after the assassination of her husband, is to be decided by the young Bolshevik who killed him.

Atkins, Ace. Wicked City (Put, 24.95) Apr. Set in 1954 in Phoenix City, Alabama—called the “wickedest city in America” by Look Magazine—where the killing of a crime-fighting attorney leads the citizenry to rise up and challenge the organized crime machine that had ruled the town.

Benioff, David. City of Thieves (Vik, 24.95) May. Based on the experiences of the author’s grandfather’s experience as a young man during the Siege of Leningrad, this is the story of two young men’s search for a dozen eggs in the midst of death and deprivation during WWII.

Bohjalian, Chris. Skeletons at the Feast (RH, 25.00) May. A novel that captures the tragedy and terror of war as a group of German refugees attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich to reach the British and American lines. Bohjalian was inspired by an actual WWII diary.

Chance, Megan. The Spiritualist (RH, 14.95) May. A suspenseful mystery set in New York in1856 where a woman whose Knickerbocker husband is murdered begins to investigate his involvement in spiritualism and séances, and an influential medium who may be a charlatan. Nicely creepy.

Clark, Clare. The Nature of Monsters (Har, 14.00) May. A young woman who is sent to London in the early eighteenth century to protect the father of her unborn child from scandal takes a post with a mysterious apothecary.

Cleverly, Barbara. Tug of War (BDD, 13.00) May. The Joe Sandilands series set right after the Great War is a particular favorite of mine, and this may be the best of them all. In the French wine country, a wealthy widow claims a shell-shocked soldier as her husband, but Sandilands is sent to investigate because it appears he may be an Englishman.

Coffey, Tom. Blood Alley (Toby, 24.95) May. In the 1940’s a WWII veteran who is a reporter on the graveyard shift becomes involved in the murder of a beautiful young socialite whose body is found in a squalid area by the East River in Manhattan. PW gave this a starred review for its sterling prose and intelligent and suspenseful plotting.

Collins, Max Allan. Strip for Murder (Brk, 14.00) May. Set in New York in 1953, comic syndicator Jack Starr must intervene when one of his most popular comic artists is murdered and a rival artist suspected of the crime.

Crabbe, Richard E. Hell’s Gate (STM, 24.95) May. A historical thriller set in New York in 1904 involving gang wars, river piracy, and smuggling that climaxes in a showdown during the catastrophic General Slocum ferry disaster.

Culhane, Patrick. Black Hats (HC, 7.99) May. A debut historical thriller featuring Al Capone and Wyatt Earp.

D’Almeida, Sarah. A Death in Gascony (Brk, 7.99) Apr. D’Artagnan returns to Gascony when he receives word that his father has been killed in a duel, but it becomes clear that his father was murdered and the killer is after D’Artagnan.

Davies, David Stuart. Forests of the Night (F&M, 14.95) Apr. A London PI who lost an eye during basic training is hired by a family to find their missing daughter who disappeared during the Blitz. A strong wartime setting.

Davis, Lindsey. Saturnalia (STM, 7.99) May. Falco is pitted against an old rival when he is enlisted to track down an escaped traitor during the midwinter festival of Saturnalia.

Dietrich, William. The Rosetta Key (25.95) Apr. American Ethan Gage follows Napoleon through the Holy Land in dogged pursuit of an ancient Egyptian scroll that could save the world—or destroy it if it fell into the wrong hands.

Downing, David. Silesian Station (SOHO, 24.00) May. Journalist John Russell returns to Berlin in 1939 after agreeing to work for American intelligence to discover that his actress girlfriend has been arrested, and the Germans will release her only if he agrees to work for Nazi intelligence passing on false information to the Soviets.

_____. Zoo Station (SOHO, 13.00) May. An Anglo-American journalist working in Berlin, in the late 1930’s attempts to remain neutral for the sake of his son and girlfriend, but when he is recruited by German, Soviet, and British intelligence services he begins to wonder how long he can remain neutral. A powerful and compelling thriller with a serious moral heart.

Falcones, Ildefonso. Cathedral of the Sea (Dut, 26.95) Apr. A mesmerizing historical novel set in medieval Barcelona where a stonemason working on the cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar falls in love with a Jewish woman and is brought before the Inquisition where he must face his own brother.

Fortes, Susana. Quattrocentro (HC, 14.95) Apr. A Florentine graduate student working on a thesis about a painter finds out about a fifteenth-century plot to assassinate Lorenzo the Magnificent implicating  Pope Sixto IV that plunges her into danger as Vatican hitmen and the police pursue her.

Frost, Mark. The Second Objective (Hyp, 14.95) May. A debut historical thriller set in 1944 with a group of German commandos fluent in English and American culture sent behind Allied lines to change the outcome of the war. I enjoyed this.

Gabbay, Tom. Lisbon Crossing (HC, 7.99) Apr. A thriller set in pre-World War II Lisbon, a city teeming with Nazis and spies from all over Europe.

Gordon, Alan. The Lark’s Lament (STM, 13.95) May.  Set in the thirteenth century, this mystery finds Theophilos forced to solve the murder of a monk and the cryptic message written in blood in order to get papal protection for the Fool’s Guild.

_____. The Moneylender of Toulouse (STM, 24.95) May. Theophilos, agent for the Fool’s Guild, is in Toulouse to urge the Bishop to resign so that a bishop more sympathetic to the guild can be appointed, but the murder of the Bishop’s moneylender sends him on a new mission.

Grant, Tracy. Beneath a Silent Moon (HC, 13.95) May. A noble couple returns to Regency London from the continent, but they discover that this glittering world holds dangers as deadly as those they left behind. This is billed as a collaboration between Jane Austen and Len Deighton.

Greenwood, Kerry. Raisins and Almonds (PP, 14.95) May. Phryne agrees to help a bookshop owner when she is charged with murder, and finds herself learning about the world of Jewish life in Melbourne.

Gregorio, Michael. Critique of Criminal Reason (STM, 14.95) Apr. A Konigsberg detective, whose mentor is the great Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant, must solve a series of murders that may be part of a plot by Napoleon’s spies or may be the work of a solitary madman.

_____. Days of Atonement (STM, 24.95) Apr. Prussian magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis is asked by a detective from the occupying French army to investigate the death of a woman and her children in a case that is tied to the resistance movement against Napoleonic imperialism.

Holland, Travis. The Archivist’s Story (BDD, 13.00) May. In Moscow in 1939, a young archivist is sent to Lubyanka prison to authenticate an unsigned story written by a political prisoner—who turns out to be Isaac Babel—and destroy it.

Leonard, Elmore. Up in Honey’s Room (HC, 9.99) May. Set during WWII, with US Marshal Carl Webster investigating a German-American who may be a Nazi sympathizer and his very sexy American wife.

McIntosh, Pat. The Rough Collier (SOHO, 24.95) May. In the fifth in the series set in medieval Glasgow, notary Gil Cunningham is accused of causing a man’s death by witchcraft.

McNally, Brendan. Germania (SS, 26.00) May. Set during the final days of the Third Reich, this debut thriller focuses on Jewish quadruplets who made up a famous and popular cabaret act, and who are being hunted down as the Allies are establishing control.

Morris, R. N. The Gentle Ax (Png, 14.00) Apr. St. Petersburg detective Porfiry Petrovich, the detective who solved the mystery of the deranged student who murdered his landlady has a grisly double murder to solve that has roots in genteel society in a historical mystery based on Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, set in tsarist Russia.

Morton, Kate. The House at Riverton (SS, 24.95) Apr. An elderly woman who was in service to an aristocratic family at an English country house beginning before WWI is asked about the mysterious death that occurred at a house party in the summer of 1924, and her reminiscences provide a glimpse into a vanished world in this elegantly written debut.

Pastor, Ben. The Fire Waker (STM, 23.95) Apr. The second in the Roman series featuring Aelius Spartianus, official historian to Diocletian, who investigates tales of a miracle worker who was able to resurrect a man in a plot that intertwines the complicated political and social undercurrents in Rome.

Pearce, Michael. Mark of the Pasha (PP, 24.95) May. The latest in the series featuring the Mamur Zapt, the head of the Egyptian Khedive’s Secret Police who must protect his boss against political terrorists who have become more active now that the Great War is over.

Pitman, Joanna. The Dragon’s Trail (SS, 15.00) Apr. An original work that traces the major historical events of Europe through the history of Raphael’s masterpiece St. George and the Dragon, which was originally a gift to Henry VII of England, and which passed from owner to owner over the years reflecting the political turmoil of the times, eventually ending up as secret contraband owned by an American politician.

Pressfield, Steven. Killing Rommel (BDD, 24.95) Apr. An historical thriller set in North Africa in 1942 based on the elite British commando unit that took on the German Afrika Korps and its legendary commander, Rommel, “the Desert Fox.”

Reed, Mary and Eric Mayer. Seven for a Secret (PP, 24.95) Apr. John, the Lord Chamberlain for the emperor Justinian meets a woman who claims to be the model for a mosaic that he admires, but she is murdered shortly afterward in the latest in the series set in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire.

______. Six for Gold (PP, 14.95) Apr. Emperor Justinian send John to a remote Egyptian village that is a pilgrim destination for its ancient shrine to the snake deity where the sheep appear to be slitting their own throats.

Saylor, Steven. The Triumph of Caesar (STM, 24.95) May. Julius Caesar’s wife calls in Gordianus when his friend is murdered while investigating conspiracy rumors against Caesar to protect the Dictator from assassination attempts.

Smith, Tom Rob. Child 44 (GC, 24.99) May. A serial killer is on the loose in Stalinist Soviet Union, and the state security officer must find out who is trying to wreck the worker’s paradise before he himself is arrested in this debut thriller for fans of Martin Cruz Smith.

Soos, Troy. Streets of Fire (Kens, 6.99) May. A historical mystery set in Brooklyn in 1895 where anarchy during a labor dispute hides the work of a ruthless killer.

Summerscale, Kate. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective (STM. 24.95) Apr. The discovery in 1860 of the body of a 3-year-old child with his throat slit horrified Victorian England and led to a national obsession with detection after Scotland Yard sent detective Whicher to investigate the crime. As the author reveals in this history that reads like a thriller, the case inspired the birth of modern detective fiction.

Taylor, D.J. Kept (HC, 14.95) May. A page-turning historical mystery set in nineteenth-century England with a failed landowner, his beautiful widow, debt-collectors, and the Scotland Yard policeman who tries to unravel the mystery.

Utley, Robert M. Sitting Bull: The Life and Times of an American Patriot (HH, 18.00) May. The definitive biography of the legendary and ultimately tragic Lakota chief who defended the traditional ways of his people against the westward expansion of the United States.

Wallner, Michael. April in Paris (Rh, 13.95) Apr. This suspenseful debut thriller set in occupied Paris during WWII is the story of a young SS translator who falls in love with the daughter of an antiquarian bookseller who is a member of the resistance.
 

February/March 2008

Abbott, Megan. The Song Is You (SS, 14.00) Feb. A noir Hollywood thriller set in the late 1940’s is a smart, sexy novel dealing with the unsolved disappearance of a starlet.

Akunin, Boris. Special Assignments (RH, 13.95) Feb. Two new adventures for Erast Fandorin as he uncovers a witty swindler in one, and in the second, hunts a murderer who seems to have a lot in common with Jack the Ripper.

Banks, Russell. The Reserve (HC, 24.95) Feb. A hauntingly beautiful novel set in an Adirondack mountain enclave in the 1930's with a beautiful heiress whose father is found dead and a leftist local artist who falls in love with her.

Barron, Stephanie. A Flaw in the Blood (BDD, 24.00) Mar. An elegant historical thriller centered on Queen Victoria’s court in 1861, when as her beloved consort, Prince Albert, is dying of typhoid fever, the queen calls in an Irish barrister to help her uncover intrigue and betrayal at the court.

Black, Benjamin. Christine Falls (STM, 14.00) Feb. The first in a crime series written by John Banville, and featuring a forensic pathologist named Quirke, who must come to grips with his past when he discovers a conspiracy that begins with his brother-in-law and reaches deep into 1950’s Dublin’s Catholic society.

_____. The Silver Swan (STM, 25.00) Mar. Quirke investigates when a friend’s young wife apparently commits suicide in Dublin in a case that places those he loves in grave danger.

Bowen, Rhys. In Dublin’s Fair City (STM, 6.99) Mar. Molly Murphy sets sail for her native Ireland, and finds herself immersed in a mystery when a leading Broadway actress disappears and her maid is found dead in her cabin.

_____. Tell Me, Pretty Maiden (STM, 23.95) Mar. In the latest in this series set in New York at the turn of the twentieth century, Irish immigrant Molly Murphy stumbles upon an unconscious, unidentified woman in Central Park and takes up her case.

Boyne, John. Next of Kin (STM, 24.95) Feb. Set in London in 1936, just before the abdication of Edward VIII, a ne’er-do-well aristocrat who is counting on inheriting his uncle’s estate discovers that a royal crisis can provide a means for murder when he discovers that his cousin has inherited everything.

_____. The Thief of Time (STM, 14.95) Feb. A fascinating look at modern history told from the point of view of a Parisian man who stops ageing at the end of the eighteenth century in a story of love and murder.

Chupack, Edward. Silver (STM, 23.95) Feb. As a fan of Treasure Island, I couldn’t resist ordering this novel which is not only the memoir of the murderous Long John Silver, but also a hidden code that reveals the location of his legacy—the world’s greatest treasure.

Dallas, Sandra. Tallgrass (STM, 13.95) Mar. A young girl in a small Colorado town during WWII  learns about  the secrets that affect her life when a murder occurs in the town right after a Japanese internment camp is opened.

Doherty, Paul. The Poisoner of Ptah (STM, 24.95) Feb. Judge Amerotke investigates when three of Egypt’s leading spies are killed during the signing of a peace treaty between Pharaoh Hatusu and the Libyans at Thebes.

Downie, Ruth. Medicus (STM, 14.95) Mar. A down-on-his luck Roman physician signs up a tour of duty in Britannia, then he rescues an injured slave girl which in turn embroils him in an investigation of the deaths of prostitutes in this debut mystery that combines historical accuracy with well-drawn characters, and a great sense of humor.

_____. Terra Incognita (STM, 23.95) Mar. Roman physician, Gaius Petreius Ruso, is transferred with the army to an isolated northern outpost of Britannia, where he and his slave girl become involved in the investigation of a plot to rebel against the Roman Empire that leads to the murder of a soldier.

Drake, Nick. Nefertiti (HC, 13.95) Mar. When Nefertiti, the beautiful wife of the pharaoh, disappears mysteriously, a detective who is fascinated with forensic work is assigned to find her in the first of a trilogy set in ancient Egypt.

Ford, Jeffrey. The Shadow Year (HC, 25.95) Mar. A literary mystery that is also a coming-of-age story about two brothers who live in small-town 1960’s suburbia, and who, along with their younger sister with psychic powers, investigate the disappearance of a neighborhood boy.

Goldstone, Lawrence. The Anatomy of Deception (BDD, 24.00) Feb. A debut historical thriller set in Philadelphia in the late nineteenth century, where a young doctor suspects he knows the identity of a beautiful young woman whose body is in the morgue, in a case that leads him to more murders and unspeakable crimes. A fascinating look at the beginnings of modern medicine.

Hockensmith, Steve. The Black Dove (STM, 23.95) Feb. Cowboys Big Red and Old Red are in San Francisco looking for jobs as detectives, but all they attract is a gang of hatchet-wielding Chinese tong members.

Kuhlken, Ken. The Do-Re-Mi (PP, 14.95) Feb. Continuing the story of the Hickey clan, this novel focuses on Clifford who goes to Northern California for a musical gig before law school and discovers that his brother is the main suspect in a killing.

_____. The Vagabond Virgins (PP, 24.95) Feb. San Diego PI Alvaro Hickey agrees to help a beautiful woman who is deeply involved in the 1979 Mexican elections, which have been thrown into turmoil by various sightings of the Virgin exhorting the campesinos to reject the corrupt ruling political party PRI. Signing.

Lake, Deryn. Death in Hellfire (A&B, 25.95) Mar. John Rawlings is asked to investigate wicked doings at a notorious men’s club and finds himself in danger when he goes undercover to discover what is going on.

Langley-Hawthorne, Clare. Consequences of Sin (Png, 14.00) Feb. An Edwardian heiress—who is also a graduate of Oxford and a suffragette—turns sleuth when a friend is accused of murder, and discovers that her father is connected to the victim.

Leoni, Giulio. Mosaic Crimes (Har, 14.00) Feb. The poet Dante Alighieri, appointed prior of the city of Florence, must investigate the murder of an artist, found with his face covered in quicklime by his almost-finished mosaic in a case involving art and alchemy.

Marston, Edward. The Painted Lady (A&B, 11.95) Mar. Restoration architect Christopher Redmayne meets a society beauty whose elderly husband is murdered shortly thereafter, and agrees to investigate along with his brother who is in love with the lady.

_____. Soldier of Fortune (A&B, 25.95) Mar. The first in a new series set in 1688 featuring a young English soldier in the Dutch army of William of Orange who returns to England during the Glorious Revolution a time of intense private feuds and public scandals.

Mertz, Barbara. Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt (HC, 26.95) Mar. A revised edition of the classic history of ancient Egyptians across the social strata by the creator of the Amelia Peabody series.

Myers, Beverle Graves. The Iron Tongue of Midnight (PP, 24.95) Mar. A German composer invites singer Tito Amato to star in a new opera being produced in an isolated villa, but when the soprano trips over a corpse, music is put aside for murder.

Newman, Sharan. The Shanghai Tunnel (STM, 24.95) Feb. Set in Portland in 1868, this first in a new series features the widow of a businessman in Shanghai, who returns with her son after her husband’s death, and discovers that she needs to delve into her husband’s disreputable past in order to save herself in a strange and alien land.

Penman, Sharon Kay. The Sunne in Splendour (STM, 16.95) Feb. The 25th anniversary edition of the novel of England’s Richard III, transformed by Penman’s research and storytelling from Shakespeare’s villainous hunchback to a gifted and courageous soldier and loyal brother to Edward IV.

Rizollo, S. K. Blood for Blood (PP, 14.95) Feb. Set in London in 1812, and featuring a lady's companion and a bow street runner who investigate the murder of a footman in the fashionable household, this mystery is filled with period detail and a strong sense of the dark side of the Regency period.

Robbins, David L. The Betrayal Game (BDD, 25.00) Feb. Set in Cuba in 1961, this historical thriller features an American professor who is in the middle of failed assassination attempts against Castro, by the CIA, the American Mafia, and theCuban exiles. As we know, however, it’s not easy to kill Castro.

Rowland, Laura Joh. The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë (Overlook, 24.95) Mar. Hearing that she has been accused of plagiarism, Charlotte sets off to London to clear her name, but when she witnesses a murder she becomes embroiled in a deadly web of intrigue threatening to endanger her and her family in an adventure that moves from the Yorkshire moors, to London, to Canton.

Sansom, C.J. Sovereign (Png, 15.00) Mar. The third in the Matthew Shardlake series finds the lawyer and his assistant embroiled in royal intrigue when a plot against Henry VIII is uncovered in York.

Saylor, Stephen. Roma (STM, 15.95) Mar. An epic story that tells the story of Rome from its founding to the most powerful city in the ancient world using the triumphs and tragedies of two intertwined  families to show the major events of history.

Smith, Anne Easter. Daughter of York (SS, 16.95) Feb. The story of Margaret, the learned and powerful sister of Edward of York who ascended to the English throne in 1461, and promptly married her off to the Duke of Burgundy in a loveless marriage.

Smith, Wilbur. The Quest (STM, 9.99) Feb. The pharaoh sends his most trusted man into the unexplored wilds of Africa to discover what has happened when the Nile fails to flood causing famine and panic.

Starling, Boris. Visibility (NAL, 7.99) Feb. A Scotland Yard detective searches for the murderer of a prominent biochemist during the intense fog in London in 1952 in a case that ties to the gruesome experiments of the Third Reich in an atmospheric combination of spy novel and detective novel.  Highly recommended.

Vyleta, Dan. Pavel & I (STM, 24.95) Feb. Set in Berlin in 1946 the beginning of the Cold War, this debut mystery features deceptions within deceptions when a decommissioned GI finds himself at odds with both the British and Soviet forces when an American friend leaves the body of a dead Russian spy in his room.

Winspear, Jacqueline. An Incomplete Revenge (STM, 24.00) Feb. Maisie accepts an assignment to delve into the mysterious doings in a village in Kent during hop-picking season where she discovers that the picturesque village has peculiar secrets that may relate to a wartime Zeppelin raid.
 
 

December 2007/January 2008

Alexander, Tasha. A Poisoned Season (HC, 13.95) Jan. Lady Emily Ashton must protect herself from a man who is stalking her during London’s social season, and unmask a murderer in the second in this early Victorian series.

Arruda, Suzanne. The Serpent’s Daughter (NAL, 23.95) Jan. Jade del Cameron joins her mother in Tangier for a holiday only to find herself arrested for the murder of a man whose body she discovers, and, to make matters worse, her mother disappears—victim of an apparent kidnapping in the third in this adventure series set in 1920’s Africa.

_____. Stalking Ivory (NAL, 14.00) Dec. On a photo assignment to film the colossal elephants of Mount Marsabit, Jade del Cameron finds four mutilated elephants and a dead man in her second African adventure.

Ash, Maureen. Death of a Squire (Brk, 6.99) Jan. In the second in the medieval series featuring a Templar Knight who must solve the murder of a squire before a royal meeting at Lincoln Castle.

Barker, Pat. Life Class (BDD, 23.95) Jan. A novel of artists and lovers caught in the maelstrom of the Great War, an experience that marks them in devastating ways as they struggle to find a place for art in the midst of human devastation.

Brandreth, Gyles. Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance (SS, 14.00) Jan. When an artist’s model is murdered, Oscar Wilde and Conan Doyle investigate the gruesome murder in a mystery based on the Victorian case of Billy Wood, whose brutal murder served as inspiration for The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Chiaverini, Jennifer. The Quilter’s Homecoming (SS, 14.00) Jan. Sent in the 1920’s in California, newlyweds Elizabeth and Harry Nelson discover that they have been conned, and their deed to a California ranch is worthless.

Cornwell, Bernard. Lords of the North (HC, 13.95) Jan. Uhtred leaves Alfred after achieving victory, but on his way home to the North of England, he meets the self-proclaimed King of Northumbria only to find that his fighting days are far from over.

_____.  Sword Song (HC, 25.95) Jan. Alfred of Wessex uses the Saxon warrior Uhtred in his fight against the Vikings, but neither Alfred’s wisdom nor Uhtred’s power can save Wessex.

Dietrich, William. Napoleon’s Pyramids (HC, 7.99) Jan. An American adventurer traveling with Napoleon’s Egyptian Expedition solves a 6,000 year-old puzzle with the help of a mysterious medallion.

Druett, Joan. Deadly Shoals (STM, 24.95) Dec. In Argentina on the Rio Negro Wiki Coffin takes over the role of an unofficial sheriff when a schooner is stolen in the latest seafaring mystery set in the early nineteenth century.

Franklin, Ariana. Mistress of the Art of Death (Brk, 14.00) Jan. Set in medieval Cambridge, and featuring a female forensics expert from Spain, this debut is an expertly researched, well-plotted historical mystery.

_____. The Serpent’s Tale (Put, 25.95) Jan. King Henry II turns to medieval physician Adelia Aguilar when his mistress is murdered and he fears that her death was part of a plot by Eleanor of Aquitaine to overthrow him in the second in this highly-praised series.

Frazer, Margaret. The Apostate’s Tale (Brk, 24.95) Jan. Dame Frevisse is suspicious when an apostate nun returns with her illegitimate child and claims penitence because she is not revealing the whole truth and violence soon follows.

_____. The Traitor’s Tale (Brk, 7.99) Jan. Dame Frevisse fears that her cousin may the target of an assassin conspiring with the French against the English.

Fulmer, David. The Blue Door (Har, 25.00) Jan. A young boxer is hired by a Philadelphia PI and becomes involved in a case of a missing soul singer, a case that is all about sex and drugs and rock and roll—and murder.

_____. The Dying Crapshooter’s Blues (Har, 14.00) Jan. A professional thief arrives in Atlanta in the 1920’s to find himself caught between a corrupt cop, a gambler, and a beautiful woman in the richest city in the south.

Greenwood, Kerry. Death Before Wicket (PP, 24.95) Jan. Phryne Fisher goes to Sydney for vacation, but the trip is far from restful when a woman disappears and University students ask her to clear an innocent friend from stealing a priceless manuscript from an administrator’s safe.

Harper, Karen. The Hooded Hawke (STM, 6.99) Dec. Elizabeth I and her entourage leave London for the summer and are attacked by a group shooting long bows.

Harper, Tom. Siege of Heaven (STM, 24.95) Dec. The final volume in the trilogy set during the First Crusade finds Demetrios Askiates accompanying the army from the plague-bound city of Antioch through Muslim Egypt to the gates of Jerusalem where the crusade climaxes in pillage and slaughter. And we wonder why Muslims hate us!

Hills, Kathleen. The Kingdom Where Nobody Dies (PP, 24.95) Dec. Constable John McIntire must solve the death of a man who had recently moved to the small Michigan town, but further investigation reveals that the man had spent the war in a Civilian Public Service camp for conscientious objectors nearby.

_____. Witch Cradle (PP, 14.95) Dec. Constable John McIntire struggles to find out who killed a young couple while his investigation brings him to the attention of a red-hunting government agent in the third of the series set in a small Michigan town in 1951.

Johnson, Deborah. The Air Between Us (HC, 23.95) Jan. Set in a small Mississippi town in the 1950’s the suspicious death of an African-American hunter in the “whites only” hospital lays bare the contradictions in the relationships between the races at the beginning of integration.

King, Laurie R. Touchstone (BDD, 24.00) Jan. A man whose experiences in the Great War left him excruciatingly sensitive to lies and deceit is recruited by the British government during the days leading up to the Great Strike to determine who is a terrorist.

Kingston, Beryl. Gates of Paradise (A&B, 9.95) Dec. A fascinating mystery about the poet William Blake set in the small Sussex village  where in 1803 he was charged with sedition.

Martin, Andrew. The Lost Luggage Porter (Har, 14.00) Jan. Railway detective Jim Stringer goes undercover with a group of thieves who plan to make their getaway across the English Channel in 1906, and soon finds himself in Paris, while is wife is threatened by the thieves back in England.

Richards, Linda L. Death Was the Other Woman (STM, 23.95) Jan. A pitch-perfect depiction of Depression-era L.A. with a hard-boiled dame who finds that her PI boss has gotten in over his head when he takes a job with the mistress of a corrupt businessman.

Riley, Judith Merkle. The Serpent Garden (RH, 14.95) Jan. A widow who is a portrait painter at the court of Henry VIII is targeted by a secret society that is after a manuscript that she was left by her murdered husband—a manuscript that contains secrets that they will kill to have.

Roberts, John Maddox. SPQR XI: Under Vesuvius (STM, 23.95) Dec. Decius must find a murderer when a priest’s daughter is murdered in a village near Vesuvius.

Ryan, P. B. A Bucket of Ashes (Brk, 7.99) Dec. The latest in the Gilded Age mysteries finds Nell’s reputation as a model governess in jeopardy when she discovers that the body of her only brother has been found—and he’s an accused murderer.

Sansom, C.J. Winter in Madrid (Vik, 25.95) Jan. A haunting mystery set in post-Civil War Spain in 1940 where a reluctant British spy and an ex-Red Cross nurse are caught in a devastated city while Franco is deciding whether or not to enter the war on the side of the Nazis.

Stuckart, Diane A.S. The Queen’s Gambit (Brk, 23.95) Jan. The first in a new series set in the fifteenth century in Italy and featuring Leonardo da Vinci who must solve the murder of the ambassador to France in the court of the Duke of Milan.

Tallis, Frank. Vienna Blood (RH, 13.95) Jan. The second case set in Vienna in 1902 features Detective Oscar Reinhardt and Freudian psychologist Max Liebermann searching for a serial killer whose bloody work reminds them of Jack the Ripper.

Todd, Charles. A False Mirror (HC, 6.99) Jan. Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge is faced with a deadly love triangle in a small English village.

_____. A Pale Horse (HC, 23.95) Jan. Scotland Yard’s Inspector Rutledge is sent to the scene when an unidentified body is found in an ancient Yorkshire abbey wearing a gas mask and a cloak.

Walker, Robert W. City of the Absent (HC, 7.99) Dec. In 1893 Chicago, in the final days of the World’s Fair Inspector Alistair Ransom returns to hunt down a murderer who has killed two acquaintances.

Whyte, Jack. The Eagle (STM, 7.99) Dec. The conclusion of Whyte’s retelling of the Arthurian legend that began with The Skystone.

Woods, Stuart. Beverly Hills Dead (Put, 25.95) Jan. Former Beverly Hills cop Rick Barron is now the head of production at a large studio when the House Un-American Activities Committee starts hunting for commies in Tinseltown in a thriller of murder, political intrigue, and betrayal set in 1940’s Hollywood.
 

October/November 2007

Adair, Gilbert. The Act of Roger Murgatroyd (C&G, 23.99) Oct. A wonderful homage to the Golden Age of English mysteries set in a snowed-in manor house on Boxing Day in 1935, with a locked-room puzzle when the body of a gossip columnist/blackmailer is found in the attic. The local constable manages to arrive to question the guests—who all have dark secrets—but when he is baffled it is up to Evadne Mount, successful author of whodunits, to find the murderer.

Ashley, Mike, ed. The Mammoth Book of Dickensian Whodunnits (C&G, 13.99) Nov. Thirty tales of murder and mystery set in the height of the Victorian Age.

Barone, Sam. Empire Rising (HC, 25.95) Oct. The second in the series set in Bronze Age Mesopotamia, features the king of Akkad, whose city is attacked while he is away conquering new worlds to enlarge his empire. The first in the series, Dawn of Empire (HC, 7.99) is available in paperback.

Barron, Stephanie. Jane and the Barque of Frailty (BDD, 6.99) Nov. Jane Austen finds herself the main suspect in a high society murder investigation.

Bennett, Ronan. Zugzwang (STM, 24.95) Nov. A thriller set in St. Petersburg in 1914 during an international chess tournament, with a psychoanalyst who is implicated in a series of murders. I really liked this.

Brightwell, Emily. Mrs. Jeffries & the Feast of St. Stephen (Brk, 22.95) Oct. Inspector Witherspoon must solve the death of a wealthy businessman at a festive holiday dinner before Christmas, so the household pitches in to help.

Casey, Donis. The Drop Edge of Yonder (PP, 24.95) Oct. Alafair Tucker’s daughter has been wounded in an attack and Alafair aims to help the sheriff find the attacker in the latest in this award-winning series set in Oklahoma before WWI.

_____. Hornswoggled (PP, 14.95) Oct. Alafair is suspicious of her daughter’s new beau, whose first wife was murdered.

Cleverly, Barbara. The Tomb of Zeus (RH, 13.00) Nov. The first of a new series for Cleverly set in the 1920’s, featuring an aspiring archaeologist, Laetitia Talbot, who arrives in Crete to work for a famous and unpleasant archaeologist whose wife dies mysteriously. I really liked this.

Cornwell, Bernard. Heretic (HC, 13.95) Oct. The third book in the Grail quest series finds Thomas of Hookton fighting to save a beautiful young woman from a charge of heresy.

Cussler, Clive. The Chase (Png, 26.95) Nov. A historical thriller set in 1906 with a detective brought in by the US government who must track the murderous “Butcher Bandit” through Arizona, Colorado, and California using both his intuition and the new science of detection.

Cutler, Judith. The Keeper of Secrets (A&B, 25.95) Oct. A Regency-period mystery set in a small Warwickshire parish where the new rector begins his tenure by rescuing a young housemaid from an assault, and soon the mysterious deaths of a poacher and the local aristocrat show him that all is not well in the village.

Davis, Lindsey. Shadows in Bronze (STM, 6.99) Oct. The second in the series featuring Marcus Didius Falco in a welcome reissue.

Dickinson, David. Death and the Jubilee (C&G, 14.99) Oct. The second in the Lord Powerscourt series is now reissued. This is a series for those who enjoy the Carola Dunn and Barbara Cleverly mysteries.

Druett, Joan. Run Afoul (STM, 13.95) Nov. During a trip to Brazil with the US    Exploring Expedition, linguist Wiki Coffin meets his Yankee ship-captain father, who is charged with murder.

Duffy, Peter. The Killing of Major Denis Mahon (HC, 25.95) Oct. The murder of an Anglo-Irish landlord at the height of the Great Irish Famine in the nineteenth century led to repercussions in both Ireland and America. This study of the truth about the murder and the role that Mahon played in the starvation of his tenants sheds light on the suffering of the impoverished Irish people.

Dunn, Carola. Gunpowder Plot (Ken, 6.99) Nov. Daisy’s simple magazine assignment turns murderous in the latest in this delightful series set in 1920’s England.

_____. Mistletoe and Murder (Ken, 5.99) Nov. Reissue of a Christmas-themed mystery set in Cornwall.

Follett, Ken. World Without End (Dutton, 35.00) Oct. The long awaiting sequel to Follett’s medieval thriller set in the cathedral town of Kingsbridge in the fourteenth century where a group of characters must confront the dramatic changes in politics, science, and the idea of justice that herald the Renaissance.

Gallagher, Stephen. The Kingdom of Bones (RH, 24.95) Oct. Set in Victorian England in the shadowy world of music halls, boxing booths, and traveling theatrical shows, this compelling mystery features a former boxing champion accused of the murder of pauper children, one step ahead of the detective who thinks he’s guilty, in search of the real killer.

Gray, John Maclachlan. Not Quite Dead (STM, 24.95) Nov. An inventive tale set in Baltimore in 1849 with Edgar Allen Poe, who faked his death to escape the Irish Mafia, meeting up with Charles Dickens, in the US for on his first reading tour.

Harris, C.S. When Gods Die (NAL, 6.99) Nov. St. Cyr investigates when the young wife of an aging marquis is found dead in the arms of the Prince Regent, wearing a necklace that had belonged to St. Cyr’s mother.

_____. Why Mermaids Sing (NAL, 23.95) Nov. The third in the Sebastian St. Cyr series set in Regency London finds St. Cyr vows to track down the murderer of a number of sons of prominent families found dead in public places with their bodies grotesquely mutilated. Publisher’s Weekly compares this to Bruce Alexander’s eighteenth-century series. Yep, that good.

Hollingshead, Greg. Bedlam (STM, 14.00) Nov. A novel based on real events at the end of the eighteenth century in London where a man who is unjustly locked up in the city’s madhouse becomes a pawn in a grand political conspiracy.

Household, Geoffrey. Rogue Male (NYRB, 14.00) Nov. A reissue of one of the best suspense/adventure stories of the twentieth century about an ardent hunter who is captured and tortured after an assassination attempt against a dictator, and, when he escapes and flees to England, the pursuit continues, forcing him to utilize all his hunting knowledge against his relentless pursuers.

King, Laurie R. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice (STM, 14.00), A Monstrous Regiment of Women (STM, 14.00), A Letter of Mary (STM, 14.00), and The Moor (STM, 14.00) Nov. The first four novels in the award-winning series featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.

Kingsbury, Kate. Shrouds of Holly (Brk, 13.00) Nov. In a new Pennyfoot Hotel mystery, Cecily is horrified when Baxter and Samuel disappear on an errand to cut holly boughs, and the carriage comes back with a dead body.

Knight, Bernard. The Elixer of Death (TSP, 7.99) Oct. Crowner John investigates murders committed with an unusual knife and a crossbow with Arabic letters.

______. The Noble Outlaw (TSP, 24.95) Nov. Crowner John is called in when a the skeleton of a missing treasurer for the guild of Cordwainers is found at the site of a new school financed by his brother-in-law, and then when another guild-master is killed the blame falls on a young outlaw.

Larson, Erik. Thunderstruck (RH, 14.95) Oct. The intertwined stories of Hawley Crippen, an unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the wireless, whose stories converge during a transatlantic criminal chase.

Lellenberg, Jon, Daniel Stashower, and Chris Foley. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters (Png, 37.95) Nov. An annotated collection of Conan Doyle’s personal correspondence offering a complete portrait of one of the world’s most beloved writers.

McDonald, Craig. Head Games (BH, 24.95 or 14.95TP) Sept. A wonderful debut novel set in the America of the 1950’s and 60’s with an aging crime writer who recovers Pancho Villa’s head, making him the target of competing fraternities, Mexican bandits, and US intelligence agencies. A wonderful, wistful romp through the borderland areas of the US and Mexico.

Murphy, Yannick. Signed Mata Hari (LB, 23.99) Nov. In her prison cell in Paris in 1917 awaiting her trial for espionage, the mysterious, exotic dancer Mata Hari tells stories of her life, beginning as a Dutch naval officer’s wife, and then after experiencing the magical world of Indonesia, reinventing herself as an exotic dancer and possibly a spy.

Parker, I.J. Island of Exiles (Png, 14.00) Oct. Akitada is called upon to pose as a prisoner at a penal colony on Sado after the exiled Prince Okisado is poisoned.

Pearce, Michael. A Dead Man in Tangier (C&G, 24.99) Oct. Seymour of Scotland Yard is sent to Tangier in 1912 to investigate a murder, and because the local police are less-than-helpful, he finds himself in danger.

Rennison, Nick. Sherlock Holmes: The Unauthorized Biography (ATM, 14.00) Oct. Rennison goes beyond the man presented by Dr. John Watso, who was hobbled by Victorian mores, to present the greatest character in fiction.

Roberts, David. The Quality of Mercy (C&G, 14.99) Nov. Verity Browne is deported from Austria in 1938 when the Nazis arrive, but manages to help a young Jew to escape, only to see him murdered in London.

______. Something Wicked (C&G, 24.99) Nov. Verity Browne and Lord Edward Corinth investigate the murder of a dentist and three of his elderly patients and discover a connection with a private clinic.

Rowland, Laura Joh. Red Chrysanthemum (STM, 6.99) Oct. Sano must clear his wife when she is found beside the body of the shogun’s heir.

____. The Snow Empress (STM, 24.95) Nov. Samurai detective Sano Ichito agrees to find the killer of a nobleman’s mistress in order to free the village where his son has been kidnapped. A standout addition to a first-rate series.

Rowse, Sharon. The Silk Train Murder (C&G, 24.99) Nov. A debut mystery set in the 1890’s Yukon features a gentleman adventurer who has no luck finding gold and takes a job guarding the train from Vancouver to New York carrying silk from the Orient, where he comes across a murdered gangster.

Skinner, Robert. The Righteous Cut (PP, 14.95) Oct. Wesley Farrell agrees to help find the kidnapped daughter of a councilman in this atmospheric mystery set in 1940’s New Orleans.

Starling, Belinda. The Journal of Dora Damage (STM, 24.95) Oct. A young woman takes over her ailing husband’s bookbinding business, producing expensive volumes of pornography for aristocratic roués, but she is forced to take as apprentice a fugitive American slave, and finds herself immersed in the illegal trade of sex, money, and deceit in a brilliant historical debut set in Victorian London.

Tremayne, Peter. Master of Souls (STM, 13.95) Oct. Fidelma is called to investigate the brutal murder of an abbess and the mysterious disappearance of six young religieuses in seventh century Ireland.

_____. A Prayer for the Damned (STM, 24.95) Nov. On the eve of Fidelma’s wedding to Eadulf, an unpopular Abbot is found murdered, and Fidelma must find the killer so that the wedding can proceed.

Wishart, David. In at the Death (TSP, 24.95) Oct. Marcus Corvinus takes on the case of the suicide of young man from an important family, a case that becomes dangerously political.

Worsley, Lucy. Cavalier (STM, 29.95) Oct. A vivid portrait of the seventeenth-century nobleman focusing on William Cavendish, a master of manège, who taught Charles I’s son to ride and was a general in the king’s army during the English Civil War, and the intrigues both political and sexual of the century.
 

August/September 2007

Albert, Susan Wittig. The Tale of Hawthorn House (Brk, 23.95) Sept. Beatrix Potter must find out who left an infant girl in a basket on her doorstep, and her sleuthing leads her to a manor house that is reputed to be haunted.

Ash, Maureen. The Alehouse Murders: A Templar Knight Mystery (Brk, 6.99) Sept. The first in a new medieval series set in Lincoln where a Templar newly released from captivity in the Holy Land is recovering from his ordeal only to find himself investigating a baffling crime.

Bebris, Carrie. Suspense and Sensibility (STM, 12.95) Sept. Mr. and Mrs. Darcy investigate when Elizabeth’s younger sister’s fiancé begins behaving strangely.

Benn, James R. Billy Boyle (SOHO, 12.00) Sept. This debut set during WWII is a gem with a Boston Irish cop who is assigned to be the personal investigator for Eisenhower whose wife is a distant cousin, and must catch a Norwegian spy. I enjoyed this for its characterization and vivid period detail.

_____. The First Wave (SOHO, 24.00) Sept. Lt Billy Boyle is on the first boat to land in Algeria during the Allied invasion assigned to the task of arranging the surrender of the Vichy French forces, when he is assigned to investigate a series of murders occurring in the Casbah.

Booth, Nicholas. ZigZag (LB, 26.99) Sept. The true story of the most remarkable double agent in WWII, Eddie Chapman, who so thoroughly fooled the Germans that he received the Iron Cross for spying for the Reich.

Cleverly, Barbara. Tug of War (C&G, 24.95) Aug. Joe Sandilands travels to France to help identify a soldier with amnesia who may be an Englishman. This may be my favorite of the series. Highly recommended.

Cornwell, Bernard. Sharpe’s Fury (HC, 13.95) Sept. Richard Sharpe is sent to Cadiz by Wellington to rescue the British ambassador and finds himself fighting the French at the Battle of Barrosa.

D’Almeida, Sarah. The Musketeer’s Apprentice (Brk, 6.99) Sept. Porthos rallies his friends to find the killer of his apprentice  in this swashbuckling series.

Downing, David. Zoo Station (SOHO, 23.00) Aug. An American journalist who has lived in Berlin since 1929 agrees to do some work for the Soviets on the eve of WWII which involves him in the murky world of warring intelligence services.

Dunn, Carola. The Bloody Tower (STM, 23.95) Sept. Daisy Dalrymple is doing a journalistic piece on the Tower of London, when she trips over the body of one of the yeoman guards in this light series set in the 1920’s.

Eccles, Marjorie. Shadows and Lies (STM, 24.95) Aug. The discovery of a body at an estate in Shropshire is tied to events in South Africa during the Boer War and a young woman who lost her memory after an attack twelve years earlier. A wonderful English cozy set at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Follett, Ken. The Pillars of the Earth (NAL, 7.99) Sept. A reissue of the historical epic set in the twelfth century about the building of a Gothic cathedral.

Frazer, Margaret. A Play of Lords (Brk, 7.99) Aug. Joliffe and his company of players begin to fear for their lives when members of the clergy and the aristocracy vie for the position of regent to the young King Henry VI.

Grant, Richard. Another Green World (RH, 15.95) Sept. A WWII thriller that begins with four young Americans meeting in 1929 at the Weimar Republic international youth summit and coming back together when a document from Heinrich Himmler is found detailing the Final Solution.

Grant, Tracy. Secrets of a Lady (HC, 13.95) Sept. A Regency couple’s lives are torn apart when their child is abducted and the kidnappers demand a magic ring that bestows power on its owner as ransom. The search for the ring takes them on a journey through London’s underworld.

Greenwood, Kerry. The Green Mill Murder (PP, 14.95) Sept. A murder in a Melbourne jazz club sends Phryne Fisher on an investigation of a crime that goes back to the Great War.

_____. Murder on the Ballarat Train (PP, 14.95) Sept. Phryne Fisher’s train trip to Ballarat turns into a nightmare when she and a friend have to save themselves from an attack while the other passengers are poisoned with chloroform.

_____. Raisins and Almonds (PP, 24.95) Sept. When a friend’s father asks her to investigate the murder of a student, Phryne Fisher is led into the exotic world of the Jewish community  with a case that is tied to politics.

Harrison, Cora. My Lady Judge (STM, 24.95) Sept. A dazzling debut set in the sixteenth-century the independent Celtic kingdom on the western seaboard of Ireland featuring a female judge appointed by the king, who investigates when her assistant is murdered during the May Day festivities. Mara is a worthy descendent of Sister Fidelma and the novel is exceedingly well-researched.

Kuhlken, Ken. The Angel Gang (PP, 14.95) Sept. In 1949 Tom and Wendy Hickey are awaiting the birth of their first child at a Lake Tahoe cabin. When Wendy is abducted, Tom must find out who did it and why.

Low, Robert. The Whale Road (STM, 24.95) Sept. Set in tenth-century Europe a band of Viking mercenaries are hired to find the long lost treasure of Attila, an accursed treasure that leads them from the Baltic to Istanbul.

McIntosh, Pat. The Nicholas Feast (C&G, 14.95) Aug. In Glasgow in 1492, Gil Cunningham returns to his college for an evening of revelry when he discovers a corpse, leading him to a case of espionage in the second in the series.

McPherson, Catriona. The Burry Man’s Day (C&G, 14.99) Sept. Dandy Gliver returns in another mystery when murder occurs at the annual village fête.

Onselen, Charles van. The Fox and the Flies (Walker, 32.50) Sept. In researching this biography of an international master criminal in the decades before WWI, the author came across powerful evidence that he was, in fact, Jack the Ripper.

Pattison, Eliot. Bone Rattler (C&G, 24.99) Sept. The exiled chief of a near-extinct Scottish clan is sent to America aboard a British prison ship with other Highland Scots who were rounded up after the Battle of Culloden when he realizes that someone is killing his fellow prisoners in the manner of the American “savages.” After they reach America it becomes clear that they have been sent to a place where the savages are not all indigenous people.

Ross, Joel N. White Flag Down (BDD, 24.95) Aug. A WWII thriller set in Switzerland in 1942 with an American airman, a Swiss journalist, and a Russian officer joining forces to subvert a Nazi-Soviet alliance.

Rudolph, Penny. Listen to the Mockingbird (PP, 14.95) Sept. A stand-alone novel set in the New Mexico Territory in 1861.

Shaw, Catherine. The Riddle of the River (A&B, 25.95) Sept. Vanessa is asked by a journalist friend to help discover the identity of the beautiful woman found floating in the River Cam in the fourth in this academic series set in Cambridge in the 1890’s.

Turner, Nancy. The Star Garden (STM, 24.95) Sept. The third installment in the diaries of a pioneer woman in the Arizona Territory at the turn of the twentieth-century by a Tucson writer.

Walton, Jo. Farthing (STM, 6.99) Sept. First in a trilogy set in an alternate 1949 in England after a group of aristocrats overthrew Churchill and negotiated peace with Hitler. The estranged daughter of two politician members of the group and her Jewish husband are invited to a country house for the weekend, but realize that they have been set up when a murder occurs and they are the chief suspects.

Whyte, Jack. Standard of Honor (Put, 25.95) Aug. The second in the Templar Trilogy finds Sir Henry St Clair and his son unwillingly joining Richard the Lionhearted on his Crusade against Saladin and the Saracens.

Wishart, David. Germanicus (F&M, 14.95) Sept. The Empress Livia calls on Marcus Corvinus to investigate the murder of her grandson—and heir presumptive to the throne—but rumor has it that she may have ordered her grandson’s death.
 

June/July 2007

Abbott, Megan. Queenpin (SS, 13.00) June. A hardboiled thriller set in Las Vegas with a young bookkeeper for a casino who is taken under the wing of a woman who was an associate of the golden era of the Mob.

Ackroyd, Peter. The Lambs of London (RH, 12.95) July. Charles and Mary Lamb (most famous for “A Dissertation on Roast Pork”) become involved with a bookseller who claims to have a lost Shakespearean play, which they agree to produce in nineteenth-century London.

Baron, Aileen G. The Torch of Tangier (PP, 14.95) July. An American archaeologist in Tangier during the Second World War is recruited by the OSS, but a murder takes place, making her job even more dangerous.

Bayard, Louis. The Pale Blue Eye (HC, 14.95) June. When a cadet is found murdered at West Point with his heart torn from his body, the New York detective in charge of the case turns for help from a moody young cadet named Edgar Allan Poe. A wonderfully plotted, evocative historical novel. Highly recommended.

Bowen, Rhys. Her Royal Spyness (Brk, 23.95) July. The first in a new series set in the 1930’s features a minor royal who leaves her home in Scotland to go to London where the Queen asks her to spy on her playboy son, and she soon finds that a royal title doesn’t help much when she finds the body of a Frenchman in the bathtub.

Chesney, Marion. Our Lady of Pain (STM, 6.99) June. The fourth Edwardian mystery set in the scandalous world of the aristocracy.

Claudel, Phillippe. By a Slow River (RH, 12.95) June. A beautifully written tale of three deaths in an isolated village during World War I, recollected by a policeman whose beloved wife died in childbirth while he was hunting for the murderer of a young girl. Describing a novel as atmospheric or haunting has become clichéd, but this novel really is both.

Cleverly, Barbara. Tug of War (15.95) June. Joe Sandilands is sent to France to investigate the case of an amnesiac French soldier who may be an Englishman missing from WWI. Highly recommended.

Delalande, Arnaud. The Dante Trap (27.95) June. Set in Venice in the eighteenth century, the Doge asks a friend of Casanova to help find the murderer of an actor.

Downie, Ruth. Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls (15.95) July. Military doctor Gaius Petraeus Ruso, unwilling posted to Britain investigates a serial killer who’s targeting barmaids.

Flacco, Anthony. The Last Nightingale (RH, 12.95) June. A maniacal serial killer appears in San Francisco in the rubble of the devastating earthquake of 1906 seeking to destroy the entire Nightingale family line, comprised of one twelve year old orphan, who joins with the policeman sent to protect him to find the killer in the midst of chaos.

Furst, Alan. The Foreign Correspondent (RH, 13.95) June. An Italian journalist in Paris in 1938 becomes involved with a clandestine émigré newspaper after Mussolini’s secret police murder the previous editor.

Goddard, Robert. In Pale Battalions (BDD, 12.00) June. A classic historical thriller now reissued about a woman who goes with her mother to Paris where she discovers a family secret dating back to WWI with murder and accusations of cowardice destroying an aristocratic family.

Goodwin, Jason. The Janissary Tree (STM, 14.00) July. A exotic, Edgar-winning, historical mystery set at the court of the Ottoman Empire in 1836, a place on the verge of sweeping modernization, but a series of murders threatens the sultan’s plans, and he must call in his trusted advisor to investigate.

Gordon-Smith, Dolores. A Fête Worse than Death (C&G, 14.95) July. An engaging cozy set in 1922, with a murder at the village fête that has its roots in the Battle of the Somme.

Greenwood, Kerry. Blood and Circuses (PP, 24.95) July. Phryne Fisher goes undercover in a circus when an old friend asks her to help investigate strange happenings, and then a former performer is charged with murder.

______. Flying Too High (PP, 14.95) July Phryne Fisher, Australia’s most talented flapper/detective handles Flying Moth aircraft as easily as she handles kidnapping and murder in the second in the 1920’s series.

Gregory, Susanna. To Kill or Cure (40.95) June. The latest Matthew Bartholomew mystery set in medieval Cambridge.

_____. Tarnished Chalice (15.95) June. A Matthew Bartholomew mystery.

Haines, Kathryn Miller. The War Against Miss Winter (HC, 13.95) June. Set in 1943 in New York, actress Rosie Winter must take a job at a seedy detective agency to make ends meet. When her boss is killed, she is caught up in a mystery involving the theatre crowd, high society, and a missing script.

Jecks, Michael.  Dispensation of Death (42.95) June Murder at the court of Edward II has increased the already high level of suspicion among the courtiers.

______. The Malice of Unnatural Death (15.95) June. Mortimer is plotting to assassinate the king, but Sir Baldwin and Simon  find more than one murder plot at the court.

Layton, Clare. Clutch of Phantoms (PP, 14.95) July. When a woman discovers that the grandmother she thought was dead is a celebrated murderess she goes to visit her in a remote Cumbrian village, where she discovers that she was convicted unjustly.

Malmont, Paul. The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril (SS, 14.00) June. The Depression-era’s greatest writers of pulp fiction are plunged into an adventure wilder than anything they have imagined in this funny tour-de-force.

Marlette, Doug. Magic Time (STM, 14.00) July. A New York journalist returns to his Mississippi home just as a 25-year-old civil rights case is re-opened, a case where his father served as the judge, reopening old family wounds as well.

Martin, Andrew. The Blackpool Highflyer (Har, 14.00) July. Set in the Edwardian Age, this is the second of the series featuring Jim Stringer, railway worker and amateur sleuth who debuted in The Necropolis Railway.

Martin, Rosemary. Secret Agent Girl (NAL, 6.99) June. In groovy NYC in 1964. Bebe Bennett uses her secret agent skills, learned from watching James Bond movies to find the killer of Mr. Skidoo the clown.

Mathews, Francine. The Alibi Club (BDD, 7.99) June. A first-rate thriller about four remarkable characters who work to keep a deadly weapon out of the hands of the Nazis following the fall of Paris. Highly recommended.

Medieval Murderers, The. House of Shadows (25.95) June. Five interlinked novellas featuring the series characters of Philip Gooden, Susanna Gregory, Ian Morson, Michael Jecks, and Bernard Knight.

O’Brien, Charles. Black Gold (PP, 14.95) July. Three Frenchman arrive in Bath in 1787 looking for a fugitive from French justice, and they become involved with an English slavetrader and his very unhappy household filled with betrayal, passion, and murder.

Pearl, Matthew. The Poe Shadow (RH, 13.95) July. An investigation into the mysterious death in Baltimore in 1849 of Edgar Allan Poe, who was vilified in the press for dying of drunkenness, led a young clerk who finds himself enmeshed in international political secrets and hunted by a female assassin.

Penney, Stef. The Tenderness of Wolves (SS, 25.00) July. A debut mystery set in the nineteenth century with a mother frantically trying to find her fugitive son in the forest during a stormy winter before the vigilantes get him.

Paige, Robin. Death on the Lizard (Brk, 7.99) July. Charles and Kate become involved in foreign espionage and malicious intrigue when they accept two cases of supposedly accidental death.

Quick, Barbara. Vivaldi Virgins (HC, 24.95) July. A foundling in Venice is a violin prodigy and student of the master Antonio Vivaldi, but her quest to find out her identity leads her through a splendid and decadent city.

Robbins, David L. The Assassins Gallery (BDD, 7.50) July. A suspenseful thriller that is an alternative history of World War II with an assassination attempt on Roosevelt.

Rubenfeld, Jed. The Interpretation of Murder (STM, 14.00) June. Set in New York in 1909 during Sigmund Freud’s visit to America, Freud and a young physician attempt to psychoanalyze an amnesiac young woman who survived an attack by a murderer.

Ross, Joel N. White Flag Down (BDD, 24.95) July. A fast-paced thriller set during 1942 with an American pilot, a Russian army officer, and a Swiss journalist working together to upset negotiations between the USSR and Nazi Germany that could change the course of the war.

Royal, Priscilla. Justice for the Damned (PP, 24.95) June. Prioress Eleanor goes to visit her aunt at Amesbury Priory, but finds the Priory haunted by the vengeful ghost of a pregnant novice who committed suicide, which soon turns murderous.

______. Sorrow Without End (PP, 14.95) June. The Prioress Eleanor of Wynthorpe must protect the monastery hospital from a murderer, when a brutally slain soldier is brought to the Priory in the third in the medieval series.

Shaw, Catherine. The Library Paradox (A&B, 9.95) June. A Cambridge detective in 1896 is asked by three professors to look into a colleague’s murder in the third in this charming academic series.

Standiford, Les. Bone Key (PP, 14.95) July. John Deal rescues a hustler who is later found dead and it appears that he had something to do with a tale of piracy and murder. This Florida-based series is first-rate.

Steinhauer, Olen. Liberation Moments (STM, 13.95) June. When one of the People’s Militia investigators is killed in an airplane hijacking, his fellow investigators feel that their enigmatic superior is keeping something from them. This is the fourth in an intelligent series set in Eastern Europe under Soviet rule.

Thomas, Will. The Hellfire Conspiracy (SS, 14.00) July. Hired to find a missing girl Barker and Llewelyn discover that five girls have been murdered in Bethnal Green in a series of murders that suggest Satanic rituals and they suspect the members of the Hellfire Club.

Thompson, Victoria. Murder in Chinatown (Brk, 23.95) June. Midwife Sarah Brandt has a patient in Chinatown, an Irish woman who like many others is married to a Chinese man, and agrees to help when the woman’s mixed race niece is missing and later found dead.
______. Murder in Little Italy (Brk, 7.99) June. Midwife Sarah Brandt vows to find out who killed her patient in the latest mystery set in turn-of the century New York.

Whyte, Jack. Knights of the Black and White: A Templar Novel (Brk, 9.99) July. The first in a trilogy set after the First Crusade with Sir Hugh de Payens who must uncover a deadly secret that threatens the Order.

Winspear, Jacqueline. Messenger of Truth (STM, 14.00) July. Maisie is asked to help investigate the accidental death of an artist on the eve of his exhibition, a case that leads her into the sinister underworld of the London art scene in the 1930’s.

Young, Robin. Brethren (Png, 15.00) July. A young English knight risks his life to recover the stolen Book of the Grail for the Knights Templar while a former slave has conquered Egypt and Turkey and is planning a new Holy War against the Crusaders.

______.Crusade (Dut, 25.95) July. The second volume of the trilogy finds the mysterious medieval group known as the Brethren preparing for a new Crusade against the Muslims, the Muslims preparing for a universal uprising against the Christians, and both sides manipulated by an insidious group who will profit from the conflagration.

April/May 2007

Alexander, Tasha. A Poisoned Season (HC, 23.95) Apr. Another early Victorian mystery filled with stolen jewels, secret identities, and murder as Lady Emily Ashton moves through the London social season.

Alleyn, Susanne. A Treasury of Regret (STM, 24.95) Apr. The second in the series set in post-Revolutionary Paris where freelance investigator Aristide Ravel is asked to help an illiterate servant girl who is accused of murdering her master.

Ashton, David. Shadow of the Serpent (15.95) May. The first in a new series set in 1880’s Edinburgh, where Inspector McLevy hunts for the murderer of a prostitute amidst the hoopla of the election.

Atkins, Ace. White Shadow (Brk, 7.99) Apr. An atmospheric thriller based on the true story of the 1950’s murder of a Tampa criminal kingpin.

Bebris, Carrie. North by Northanger (STM, 6.99) Apr. The Darcys are awaiting the birth of their first child when a family heirloom reveals a family secret.

_____. Pride and Prescience (STM, 12.95) May. Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy are newly married when Caroline Bingley’s fiancé begins behaving strangely. A combination historical romance, mystery, and a touch of the occult.

Brandwreth, Gyles. The Oscar Wilde Murders (27.95) May. First in a new series set in Victorian England with the witty Wilde as sleuth.

Brightwell, Emily. Mrs. Jeffries and the Best Laid Plans (Brk, 6.99) May. When a friendless old miser is found dead at home, Inspector Witherspoon needs Mrs. Jeffries to help him find out which of the man’s enemies did him in.

Butler, Gwendoline. Dread Murder (STM, 23.95) Apr. Butler returns with an Edwardian mystery, featuring Major Mearns who begins to receive parcels containing body parts and must discover who murdered his fellow soldier.

Clark, Clare. The Nature of Monsters (HBJ, 25.00) May. A young, pregnant housemaid enters in service in the London house of a mysterious veiled apothecary in the early eighteenth century, and discovers that his scientific obsessions could harm her unborn child.

Cleverly, Barbara. The Bee’s Kiss (BDD, 13.00) Apr. Set in 1920’s London, Joe Sandilands is asked to investigate the brutal murder of a founding member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

Culhane, Patrick. Black Hats(HC, 24.95) Apr. This thriller pits the aging Wyatt Earp against a young, up-coming Chicago mobster who is trying to take over the popular speakeasy owned by Doc Holliday’s son. The mobster is Al Capone.

Dallas, Sandra. Tallgrass (STM, 23.95) Apr. A coming-of-age novel set during WWII in a  Colorado town where the government opens a Japanese internment camp, and when a woman is murdered, suspicion falls on the newcomers.

D’Almeida, Sarah. The Musketeer’s Seamstress (Brk, 6.99) Apr. Aramis’ lover, a Spanish noblewoman who was a childhood friend of the Queen, is murdered and the other musketeers must save him from hanging for her murder.

Davis, Lindsey. Saturnalia (STM, 23.95) May. Falco is hired to find an enemy of Rome who disappeared while under house arrest, leaving behind the body a  young man, a task made more difficult by the midwinter holiday of Saturnalia.

_____. See Delphi and Die (STM, 6.99) May. A Falco mystery.

Dickinson, David. Death Called to the Bar (C&G, 15.95) Apr. Victorian investigator Lord Francis Powerscourt is called in when one barrister dies during a feast and another is shot shortly after.

_____. Goodnight Sweet Prince (C&G, 14.95) Apr. Powerscourt is called in to investigate the mysterious death of Prince Eddy.

Dietz, Laura. In the Tenth House (RH, 24.95) May. A Victorian doctor who specializes in madness befriends a successful medium in order to expose her, but she involves his family in spiritualism in a riveting debut historical thriller.

Doherty, Paul. The Poisoner of Ptah (25.95) Apr. The ancient Egyptian series.

_____. The Waxman Murders (15.95) Apr. Hugh Corbett returns.

Doig, Ivan. The Whistling Season (HBJ, 14.00) Apr. A Montana widower hires a woman to be his housekeeper, who arrives with her brother and changes life in the small western town.

Drake, Nick. Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead (HC, 24.95) Apr. A young chief detective in ancient Thebes must solve the mysterious disappearance of Nefertiti on the eve of a great celebration.

Frost, Mark. The Second Objective (Hachette, 24.95) May. A thriller set during WWII based on a real German plan to put together 2000 English-speaking commandos to infiltrate Allied lines.

Gabbay, Tom. Lisbon Crossing (HC, 24.95) Apr. A Hollywood actress and friend arrive in Lisbon in 1940, in search of the actress’s childhood friend, a German exile who may be in Portugal to escape the Nazis.

Gordon, Alan. A Death in the Venetian Quarter (STM, 13.95) May. Feste, a member of the Fool’s Guild in Constantinople, is caught within the city’s Venetian Quarter when it is besieged by the ships of the Fourth Crusade, and must solve the murder of a mysterious merchant that may determine if the city survives.

_____. The Lark’s Lament (STM, 24.95) May. The Fool’s Guild is under attack by the Pope, so Feste asks for help from his friend who is now an abbot, but the abbot will help only if Feste can solve a murder.

Greenwood, Kerry. Cocaine Blues (PP, 14.95) Apr. The Hon. Phryne Fisher leaves her constricted life as a London socialite to move to Australia and become a detective in the first of this comic series set in the 1920’s.

_____. The Green Mill Murder (PP, 24.95) Apr. In the middle of “Bye Bye Blackbird” at Melbourne’s premier nightclub, Phryne is shocked to see a dancer slump to the floor, leading to a case that sends her back to the Great War and as far as the Australian Alps.

______. Urn Burial (PP, 14.95) Apr. In an Australian country house mystery,  Phryne investigates death threats to the owner of a Gothic mansion turned hotel.

Harrison, Cora. My Lady Judge (36.95) Apr. A new series set in Tudor Ireland.

Iggluden, Conn. Emperor: The Gods of War (BDD, 6.99) Apr. The conclusion to the Emperor series featuring the epic rivalries and battles of Julius Caesar.

James, Reina. This Time of Dying (STM, 24.95) Apr. An undertaker in a small English village and a recently-widowed schoolteacher began a friendship in a world of despair during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918.

Kagen, Lesley. Whistling in the Dark (NAL, 13.95) May. A funny, bittersweet debut about a little girl who must protect herself and her little sister when a sexual predator is loose in their small town in 1959.

Liesche, Margit. Lipstick and Lies (PP, 24.95) Apr. A WAFS pilot during WWII who is also an undercover US spy goes to jail to help unmask a German countess, suspected of being a triple agent in an atmospheric debut mystery.

Lovesey, Peter. Bertie and the Crime of Passion (F&M, 14.95) Apr. When the future Edward VII goes to Paris in 1889, he gets to put his sleuthing skills to workwhen a murder occurs at a fashionable nightclub.

McCarry, Charles. The Tears of Autumn (Png, 13.95) Apr. American spy Paul Christopher develops a theory about the assassination of John F. Kennedy that forces him to resign from the Agency.

McIntosh, Pat. The Harper’s Quine (C&G, 14.95) May. The first in a medieval series set in Glasgow featuring a young lawyer who investigates the murder of a young woman whose body is found in a cathedral.

Mrazek, Robert J. The Deadly Embrace (Png, 13.00) Apr. Set on the eve of D-Day and moving from London to English country-houses, this suspenseful thriller features a WAC and a former NYPD homicide detective investigating the deaths of two women who had sexual relationships with Allied commanders.

Perry, Anne. We Shall Not Sleep (BDD, 21.95) Apr. The final volume of the WWI series begins as the guns fall silent in November 1918 and the Reavley siblings finally learn the identity of the man who murdered their parents.

Peters, Elizabeth. Tomb of the Golden Bird (HC, 9.99) Apr. Amelia and Emerson are close to unearthing the tomb of King Tut, but will lies, kidnappers, and an old family nemesis stand in their way?

Phillips, Arthur. Angelica (RH, 24.95) Apr. A brilliant, original novel that is part psychological puzzle, part Victorian ghost story, and part murder mystery, told in the voices of the four main characters: a biological researcher, his hysterical wife, a spiritualist medium, and the couple’s daughter.

Pitman, Joanna. The Dragon’s Trail (SS, 25.00) Apr. A micro-history of Raphael’s St. George and the Dragon, commissioned in 1506 by Duke Guidobaldo da Montefeltro who sent it to England as a gift to Henry VII. After the English Civil War, the painting made its way to the continent and later to Russia, until it was sold in 1930 by Joseph Stalin to Andrew Mellon.

Rachlin, Harvey. Scandals, Vandals, and da Vincis (Png, 14.00) Apr. A fascinating history of 30 of Europe’s greatest paintings and how they have survived burglary, forgery, revolutions, vandals, scandals, and shipwrecks.

Rice, Eva. The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets (Png, 14.00) Apr. Set in London in the 1950’s, this is a beautifully written novel about a family struggling to maintain the ancestral home after the father was killed in the war. I loved this.

Roberts, John Maddox. SPQR X: A Point of Law (STM, 14.95) May. Decius Caecilius Metellus is publicly accused of corruption by a man who is later found murdered and must find the killer or his political career will be ruined.

Rowe, Rosemary. Coin for the Ferryman (40.95) Apr. A Libertus mystery.

Sansom, C.J. Sovereign (Png, 25.95) Apr. Attorney Matthew Sheldrake is investigating the murder of a glazier when the discovery of a cache of secret papers questioning the legitimacy of the Tudor line places him in jeopardy.

Scoppetone, Sandra. Too Darn Hot (BDD, 7.99) May. Wise-cracking 1940’s gumshoe Faye Quick returns for another case in New York City.

Scott, Manda. Dreaming the Hound (BDD, 14.00) Apr. The Celtic warrior queen Boudica fights an epic fight against the Roman invaders of her country.

_____. Dreaming the Serpent-Spear (BDD, 14.00) May. In the final volume of the series, Boudica must protect her culture and her children from the Romans.

Siegel, Robert Anthony. All Will Be Revealed (McC, 24.00) Apr. An eccentric photographer who has gotten wealthy from pornography becomes obsessed with a spiritual medium who feels that she is losing her powers in a novel set at the end of the nineteenth century.

Sierra, Javier. The Secret Supper (SS, 14.00) Apr. A novel of historical suspense by a prizewinning Spanish novelist who shows Leonardo’s painting of the Last Supper  as blasphemous, putting Leonardo in mortal danger from the Pope.

Silver, Mitch. In Secret Service (SS, 25.00) May. A debut novel about an American academic who finds an undiscovered manuscript by Ian Fleming detailing his experiences as a spy during WWII, filled with so many explosive secrets that she must run for her life as assassins hunt her.

Smith, Wilbur. The Quest (STM, 27.95) May. Set in ancient Egypt, this adventure follows the search for the headwaters of the Nile in the unexplored reaches of Africa when the waters that nourish the Kingdom dry up.

Taylor, D.J. Kept (HC, 24.95) May. Set at an English country house in the mid 1800’s where the mysterious death of the local impecunious squire brings in Capt. McTurk of Scotland Yard who is faced with a plethora of suspects.

Tallis, Frank. A Death in Vienna (RH, 12.95) May. The first in a new series set in early twentieth-century Vienna, where a follower of Sigmund Freud helps a police detective solve a locked-room mystery. Highly recommended.

Walker, Robert W. Shadows in the White City (HC, 6.99) Apr. Chicago Police Inspector Alastair Ransom returns to hunt for the killer who is targeting children.

Wallner, Michael.   April in Paris (BDD, 21.95) Apr. Set in Paris in 1943 a German soldier  assigned to Gestapo headquarters interrogating Resistance fighters, falls in love with a French woman and after a Resistance attack that kills several German officers, he himself becomes a suspect. A beautiful love story that is also a suspenseful page-turner by a German screenwriter.

Willocks, Tim. The Religion (FSG, 26.00) May. A sprawling historical novel set in 1565 during Suleiman the Magnificent’s jihad against the Knights of Malta.. During the siege of Malta, a French countess and a soldier of fortune are there searching for her son who was taken from her twelve years before.

February/March 2007

Aidan, Pamela. These Three Remain (SS, 14.00) Jan. The final volume in the trilogy to feature Fitzwilliam Darcy finds Darcy humbled after Elizabeth Bennett’s rejection, but determined to press his suit.

Akunin, Boris. Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog (RH, 9.95) Jan. The first in a new series for the most popular crime writer in Russia, featuring a seemingly befuddled, but fantastically resourceful Sister Pelagia who is called in by the orthodox bishop of a remote Russian province on the Volga when one of his aunt’s rare white bulldogs is poisoned.

Albert, Susan Wittig. The Tale of Cuckoo Brow Wood (Brk, 6.99) Feb. Three of Beatrix Potter’s favorite children are counting on the fairies of Cuckoo Brow Wood to help with the problems of Holly How.

Allen, Conrad. Murder on the Celtic (STM, 23.95) Feb. George and Genevieve are thrilled that they will be sailing with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and wonder if he will help them with their cases.

Biddle, Cordelia Frances. The Conjurer (STM, 23.95) Feb. The first in a new series set in Philadelphia in 1842, featuring a financier’s daughter who is trying to find her missing father, a quest that leads her to an assistant to the mayor who’s been investigating the ritual murder of prostitutes, and suspects a renowned conjurer and clairvoyant.

Bowen, Rhys. In Dublin’s Fair City (STM, 23.95) Mar. Molly Murphy sails back to Ireland in search of the sister of an Irish-American impresario, who was left behind in Ireland fifty years before, but events on shipboard show her that someone else is on the trail of the missing woman.

______. Oh Danny Boy (STM, 6.99) Mar. Set in turn-of-the-century lower eastside Manhattan, this cozy series features Irish immigrant Molly Murphy.

Boyne, John. The Thief of Time (STM, 24.95) Mar. A fascinating novel about sex, love, family, murder, and immortality about a man whose body stops aging at the end of the eighteenth century.

Dietrich, William. Napoleon’s Pyramid’s (HC, 24.95) Feb. An expatriate American in post-Revolutionary  Paris joins Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt, where he discovers that a medallion may hold the key to the builders of the pyramids.

Downie, Ruth. Medicus (STM, 23.95) Mar. A debut novel set in Roman-occupied Britain, where an army doctor succumbs to a moment of weakness and rescues an abused slave girl, leading him to an investigation of murdered prostitutes. A good mystery plot and a nicely ironic voice.

Dunant, Sarah. In the Company of the Courtesan (RH, 13.95) Feb. Escaping the sack of Rome in 1527 a courtesan and her companion travel to Venice in a story of deception that paints a portrait of a great city at the height of its glory.

Gill, Anton. City of the Dead (F&M, 14.95) Feb. The exiled Egyptian scribe Huy has been hired to find out how the young Pharaoh Tutankhamun really died in the third of the trilogy.

Haines, Carolyn. Fever Moon (STM, 23.95) Feb. Another literary mystery set in post-WWII Louisiana, where a young woman claims to have murdered a plantation owner because she is a loup garou, a Cajun werewolf.

Hockensmith, Steve. Holmes on the Range (STM, 12.95) Feb. A very funny, very clever tour-de-force as two cowboys in the Wild West use Sherlockian “deductifyin” to solve the murder of another ranch hand.

_____. On the Wrong Track (STM, 23.95) Feb. Big Red and Old Red go to work as guards on the railroad with bandits somewhere around the next bend and a killer among the passengers. It’s clearly time for some deductifyin’.

Hyde, Christopher. A Gathering of Saints (F&M, 14.95) Feb. A madman who is killing Londoners during the Blitz in 1940 seems to know the Luftwaffe’s schedule, which means that DI Black must confront a Gestapo spy.

Lawton, John. A Little White Death (Grove, 12.00) Mar. DI Troy investigates a case of double suicide in 1963 during the height of the Cold War that is related to the case of a doctor with a penchant for young girls and voyeurism.

Morrow, James. The Last Witchfinder (HC, 15.95) Mar. A picaresque novel about the daughter of an English “witchfinder” who vows to stop the persecution of sorceresses in a novel that follows her from England to the American colonies to a Caribbean island where she is on trial for witchcraft.

Pastor, Ben. The Water Thief (STM, 23.95) Feb. In 304 AD a Roman historian is investigating the centuries-old unresolved drowning of the Emperor Hadrian’s favorite, Antoninus, when he comes across a reference to a mysterious manuscript hidden in Anoninus’ tomb.

Pawel, Rebecca. The Summer Snow (Soho, 12.00) Feb. In 1945 Lt. Carlos Tejada y Leon is sent to Granada to investigate the death of his elderly great-aunt, only to discover that his father is a suspect.

Perry, Anne. At Some Disputed Barricade (BDD, 21.95) Mar. Set on the Western front in 1917, the fourth in the wartime saga of the Reavley family is a tale of political intrigue and espionage.

_____. Dark Assassin (BDD, 7.99) March. Monk investigates a mysterious double death on the Thames.

Saylor, Steven. Roma (STM, 25.95) Mar. A family saga that is really the history of Rome from its beginnings in prehistory as a way station along a trade route to the center of the most extensive empire in the ancient world.

Thorpe, Adam. The Rules of Perspective (STM, 14.00) Mar. A novel about art in the face of war set in Germany in 1943, where a museum curator tries to save a Van Gogh from rogue Nazis while an American soldier finds an eighteenth-century painting and must confront his desire to steal it.

Tremayne, Peter. Prayer For the Damned (15.95) Feb. Having been joined together for one year as is the Irish custom, Fidelma and Eadwulf are planning on exchanging marriage vows, but Abbott Ulan is found murdered just before the ceremony.
 
 
 
 

December 2006/January 2007

Abbott, Megan. The Song is You (SS, 23.00) Jan. A gritty take on post-war Hollywood, this uses a real-life crime, the disappearance of actress Jean Spangler in 1949, to offer a possible solution to a forgotten crime.

Alexander, Robert. Rasputin’s Daughter (Png, 14.00) Jan. The eldest daughter of the infamous Russian monk narrates her father’s final days.

Arruda, Suzanne. Mark of the Lion (NAL, 14.00) Dec. The first in a wonderful series set in 1919 in East Africa, with Jade del Cameron, an ambulance driver during WWI who goes to Africa to fulfill a dying wish.

_____. Stalking Ivory (NAL, 23.95) Jan. The second in the series set in 1920’s East Africa whose quest to film the magnificent elephants of Mount Marsabit puts them in danger from poachers, slavers, and gun-runners.

Barron, Stephanie. Jane and the Barque of Frailty (BDD, 24.00) Dec. Jane is in London awaiting the publication of Sense and Sensibility when she realizes that what appears a possible society scandal really leads to the heart of a conspiracy dating from the French Revolution.

Boyne, John. Crippen (STM, 13.95) Jan. The 1910 murder of the wife of Dr. Crippen and his transatlantic escape attempt has fascinated crime writers for almost a century, and this well-written mystery based on the story is a dark comedy that combines true crime and an old-fashioned murder mystery.

Collins, Max Allen. The Road to Paradise (HC, 7.99) Dec. The third in a trilogy, a saga of crime and family that spans decades.

Cornwell, Bernard. Lords of the North (HC, 25.95) Jan. In the third volume of the Saxon chronicles, Uhtred journeys to Northumbria.

_____. The Pale Horseman (HC, 13.95) Divided loyalties and desperate heroism unite Alfred the Great and the dispossessed young nobleman Uhtred in their fight against the Vikings.

Costello, Peter. Conan Doyle, Detective (C&G, 15.95) Dec. The author argues that many of the Sherlock Holmes’s stories were based on actually based on real investigations and that what we think of as Holmes’ methods of deduction were actually used by Conan Doyle.

Douglas, Carole Nelson. A Soul of Steel (STM, 7.99) Dec. A reissue of the third in the Sherlock Holmes/Irene Adler series, originally published as Irene at Large.

Davies, David Stuart. Forests of the Night (STM, 23.95) Jan. The first in a series set in London during the dark days of WWII with a PI who agrees to look into the death of a woman who led a double life and her connection to a fading film star.

Dickinson, David. Death at the Bar (15.95) Jan. Lord Francis Powerscourt is called in to investigate discreetly the murders of two barristers in London’s Inns of Court.

Doherty, Paul. Queen of the Night (15.95) Dec. In fourth century Rome Empress Helena has her secret agent investigate a series of abductions.

_____. The Waxman Murders (29.95) Dec. An English warship is taken over by ships bearing the flags of the Hanseatic League, and the loss of its cargo of rare maps is felt in fourteenth-century Cambidge as Hugh Corbett investigates.

Dunn, Carola. Fall of a Philanderer (Kens, 6.99) Dec. A seaside vacation turns into a busman’s holiday for Daisy and her husband when a local Lothario is murdered.

Fleming, James. White Blood (SS, 25.00) Jan. An epic novel of suspense set in Russia on the eve of the Revolution with an aristocratic naturalist who has withdrawn to his country house near Smolensk with his wife and other aristocrats when the uprising intrudes during a snowstorm. Fleming, the son of Ian Fleming, has received praise for his elegant prose and period detail.

Frazer, Margaret. The Sempster’s Tale (Brk, 7.99) Jan. Dame Frevisse uncovers an anti-Semitic conspiracy in London.

_____.The Traitor’s Tale (Brk, 24.95) Jan. Dame Frevisse joins a wandering player who is in London on a mission for the Duk