CLUES UNLIMITED

A mystery bookstore
Located in Broadway Village • 123 South Eastbourne
Tucson, AZ 85716-5317
(520) 326-8533 (voice) • (520) 326-9001 (fax)

Books we particularly recommend are in red

June/July 2009

New and Forthcoming in Hardcover

Abbott, Jeff. Trust Me (Dut, 25.95) July. When a man who works undercover on the Internet monitoring home-grown terror networks is kidnapped and beaten, he escapes but with a deadly, well-organized group of terrorists on his heels in a fast-moving novel of suspense.

Andrews, Mary Kay. The Fixer Upper (HC, 25.95) July. When a fledgling lobbyist is left jobless after her boss at a high-powered Washington public relations firm is caught in a political scandal, she returns home to Georgia to fix up the old family homeplace recently inherited by her father, a job that requires a lot more than just a little paint—including removing a driveway full of junk cars and a murderously grumpy distant relation.

Axinn, Donald Everett. Allan, Burning (LB, 25.00) June. An architect who is a family man and amateur aviator crash lands in the Everglades where he inadvertently kills the Native American man who rescues him and finds himself in a nightmare situation when he is caught by a local lawman.

Baden, Michael and Linda Kenney Baden. Skeleton Justice (RH, 24.95) June. NYC forensic pathologist Jake Rosen is working on the case of a man who attacks women to drain some blood from their arms, while his attorney wife is working on defending a young man accused of setting a bomb in a mailbox, almost killing a judge, but soon the two cases intersect as they search for a vicious killer.

Balmaseda, Liz. Sweet Mary (SS, 24.95) July. A Cuban-American Miami realtor is arrested after she is mistaken for another Latina woman with a similar name who is a notorious cocaine queen, and despite the fact that the charges are dropped, she loses both her job and custody of her son, leaving her no option but to find the woman who has destroyed her life. I liked this debut which combines a chick-lit sensibility with a paranoia-inducing sense that once the DEA comes after you, you are guilty until proven innocent, and you don’t get as much as a “sorry” for the wrecking of your life.

Beckett, Simon. Whispers of the Dead (BDD, 24.00) May. Dr. David Hunter journeys from England to Tennessee’s Body Farm where he is enlisted to help find a serial killer who has abducted a member of the investigative team in the latest in this top-notch forensic series.

Bell, James Scott. Try Fear (Hach, 21.99) July. Los Angeles attorney Ty Buchanan who provides legal services for St. Monica’s, a small Benedictine community, accepts the case of a man charged with a DUI, and when the man’s brother is accused of murdering him shortly afterwards Ty agrees to defend him, along with the help of an attractive prosecuting attorney. This is a very good, very thoughtful series with a sympathetic protagonist and clever plotting.

Block, Lawrence. Step by Step (HC, 24.95) June. A humorous memoir of an aging racewalker who also happens to be a famous mystery novelist.

Bolton, S.J. Awakening (STM, 25.95) June. A wildlife veterinarian is called in after a man is killed by snake venom in a small English village, but when an autopsy reveals that the amount of venom was too highly concentrated for a snakebite, she joins forces with a noted herpetologist in a hunt for a killer with links to an ancient ritual, an abandoned house, and a fifty-year-old tragedy. A slithery, scary thriller.

Box, C. J. Below Zero (Put, 24.95) June. Joe Pickett and his family are horrified when their daughter gets a phone call allegedly from Pickett’s foster daughter who was killed during a murder spree six years earlier and he discovers that a young girl has been seen traveling with an older man.

Bunn, Davis. Gold of Kings (SS, 24.00) June. The first of a new adventure series featuring an art historian and an ex-con who join forces to uncover a conspiracy that led to the death of an old treasure hunter in a smooth blend of archaeology, romance, and murder mystery.

Burke, James Lee. Rain Gods (SS, 24.95) July. I have absolutely no information on this because the catalogues got lost in transit, but I will have signed copies.

Carey, Mike. Dead Men’s Boots (LB, 25.99) July. Felix Castor, a freelance exorcist, must solve the mystery when a killing in London’s King’s Cross bears all the hallmarks of an American serial killer supposedly dead for forty years. Spooky fun.

Casey, Kathryn. Blood Lines (STM, 24.95) July. In a new thriller featuring Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong she is working on two cases at the same time: a suicide that just might be a murder and the protection of a teenaged pop star who has been receiving escalating threats before a scheduled concert in Houston.

Castillo, Linda. Sworn to Silence (STM, 24.95) June. A series debut set in the Ohio Amish country about a woman who returns to the community as the chief of police, hiding a terrible secret—that she had killed a serial killer in self-defense years before—but when someone begins an orgy of violent copycat killings, she must discover who is behind the new murders and how he is connected to her past.

Clemans, Judy. Embrace the Grim Reaper (PP, 24.95) May. The first in a new series featuring a woman grieving the loss of her loved ones in a car accident and accompanied by the Grim Reaper who investigates the death of a young mother who supposedly committed suicide.

Cole, Martina. Faces (LB, 24.99) July. Another gritty crime novel set in London’s criminal gangland, where the leader of a gang since childhood is safe from betrayal—unless his abused wife decides to break her silence.

Connolly, John. The Lovers (SS, 26.00) June. Having had his PI license revoked, Charlie Parker takes a job as bartender in Portland, but in the meantime he decides to look into the death of his father who apparently committed suicide after shooting two unarmed teenagers, and what he discovers makes him question everything he believed about his parents. Signed copies.

Cook, Thomas H. The Fate of Katherine Carr (HMH, 25.00) June. A travel writer who still grieves for his murdered son meets a retired missing-persons detective who interests him in the 20-year-old unsolved disappearance of a local woman in a compelling novel of guilt and redemption by an award-winning mystery writer.

Cottam, F.G. The House of Lost Souls (STM, 24.95) July. A debut novel of `mystery and horror about a man who must save his sister from the madness that has afflicted her since she entered a derelict house, but his only clue is a secret journal from the 1920’s that reveals the hideous crime that has haunted the house for decades.

Coulter, Catherine. Knockout (Put, 26.95) June. FBI agent Dillon Savich rushes to Georgia when a young girl with a telepathic gift contacts him for help and then disappears with her mother, fleeing her abusive uncle.

Crosby, Ellen. The Riesling Retribution (SS, 25.00) Aug. In the latest in the series set in Virginia’s wine country Lucie Montgomery investigates an old, but no longer cold, homicide when she discovers a skull in her vineyard.

Crouch, Blake. Abandon (STM, 24.95) July. A history professor and his journalist daughter put together an expedition in the Colorado along with a psychic and a paranormal photographer to investigate a mystery from 1893 when the entire population of a mining town completely disappeared leaving their belongings behind and food on the table.

Cussler, Clive with Paul Kemprecos. Medusa (Put, 27.95) June. The NUMA team faces not only an ambitious Chinese criminal organization, but also a secret new virus that could set off a worldwide pandemic.

Daheim, Mary. Alpine Uproar (BDD, 24.00) June. Random occurrences are all connected when former newspaper editor Emma Lord investigates an altercation at a local tavern that left one person dead and the other in jail in the small Washington town of Alpine.

_____. Loco Motive (HC, 23.95) July. Judith and Renie, taking a train trip cross-country to Boston, are stranded in a small Montana town after the train hits a truck, but their tedium turns to terror when an annoying fellow guest is found murdered.

Deaver, Jeffrey. Roadside Crosses (SS, 26.95) June. The third mystery to feature Kathryn Dance, an agent with the California Bureau of Investigation who investigates when a teenaged driver responsible for the deaths of two other teens in an accident is smeared in a popular blog, the bloggers are viciously attacked.

Del Toro, Guillermo and Chuck Hogan. The Strain (HC, 26.95) June. The first in a trilogy, this thriller is an epic battle between humans and vampires that reaches from Eastern Europe during WWII to contemporary New York.

Deutermann, P.T. Nightwalkers (STM, 24.95) June. PI Cam Richter buys a rundown North Carolina plantation, but his eccentric neighbors can’t help him when someone tries to kill him in a fast-moving, suspenseful thriller. I like Richter as a character because he has three German shepherds who are always central to the action.

Dolan, Harry. Bad Things Happen (Put, 24.95) July. When a college professor with a violent past befriends the publisher of a mystery magazine, he begins an affair with the publisher’s wife, but when the publisher is found murdered, he joins forces with a homicide detective from the Ann Arbor Police Department and they discover that this murder and the ones that follow eerily echo stories from the magazine. A tightly-plotted, highly readable noir debut.

Duns, Jeremy. Free Agent (Vik, 25.95) July. A debut spy thriller featuring a man who is suspected of being a British double agent after a KGB officer in Nigeria accuses him of having been recruited 25 years earlier, so he returns to Africa to search for the truth.

Evanovich, Janet. Finger Lickin’ Fifteen (STM, 27.95) June 23^rd. The newest Stephanie Plum filled with complications, cliffhangers, and donuts, for fifteen years the only way to usher in summer.

Evans, Mary Anna. Floodgates (PP, 24.95) July. Archaeologist Faye Longchamp and her team are excavating a plantation site outside of New Orleans when the discovery of a body begins an investigation into the death of an archaeologist who had worked on post-Katrina reconstruction.

Flynn, Gillian. Dark Places (RH, 24.00) May. When a woman who witnessed the murder of her mother and two older sisters as a child, and whose testimony sent her brother to jail for the crime, is hard-up for money years later, she agrees to meet with members of a club of true crime enthusiasts whose belief in her brother’s innocence causes her to re-examine what she really saw the night of the tragedy.

Ford, Clyde. Whiskey Gulf (Per, 24.95) July. Maritime PI Charlie Noble looks into the disappearance of a couple who sailed into a live-fire naval exercise area, a disappearance that may be tied to terrorism.

Gardiner, Meg. The Memory Collector (Dut, 25.95) June. Forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett is called in to examine a passenger arriving in San Francisco from London who is suffering from anterograde amnesia and can’t form new memories, but the clues that she gathers from his nonsensical statements lead her to suspect that he is involved with a super-deadly biological agent and possibly involved in an attack on the city.

Gardner, Lisa. The Neighbor (BDD, 25.00) June. When a teacher disappears, leaving her purse and keys, with her beloved four-year-old daughter sleeping upstairs, suspicion falls on her husband because he appears to have destroyed evidence in a inventive thriller by a master of the shocking ending.

George, Kathleen. The Odds (STM, 24.95) June. Colleen Greer of the Pittsburgh homicide department is called in when a young boy dies of a suspicious overdose and become involved with four abandoned children and the ex-con who has helped them.

Goldberg, Lee. Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop (NAL, 22.95) July. After the San Francisco police chief uses budget cuts as an excuse to let Monk go, he is framed for the murder of another cop and must turn to the only one who can save him—the obsessive-compulsive Mr. Monk.

Goldstein, Jan. The Bride Will Keep her Name (RH, 24.00) June. A young woman who works in a SoHo art gallery is getting ready for her wedding to a British journalist, but she begins receiving mysterious messages about her fiancé, and her concern increases when he becomes the suspect in the murder of a call girl. Naturally she must investigate to save her wedding day in this madcap mystery of art, murder, and politics.

Grabenstein, Chris. Mind Scrambler (STM, 24.95) June. Ceepak and Boyle visit Atlantic City for a vacation, but when Boyle discovers that a former girlfriend who is working as a magician’s assistant has been strangled, they must hunt for a killer in the casinos.

Graham, Mitchell. Dead Docket (STM, 24.95) July. When New York attorney John Delaney goes to Atlanta after his father’s police partner’s daughter is killed in a horrific accident, he plans to settle her affairs and spend time with his girlfriend, an Atlanta attorney, but he discovers that the death was anything but an accident and must discover what happened.

Grant, Andrew. Even (STM, 24.95) June. A debut thriller by the younger brother of Lee Child, this is a fast moving story of a Royal Intelligence agent who finds himself set-up and facing a murder charge in New York only to discover that as far as the British Consulate is concerned he’s on his own as he penetrates a deadly international conspiracy in an attempt to vindicate himself.

Green, George Daws. Ravens (LB, 24.99) July. After a family wins the lottery, they become the victims of two men who hold them hostage in order to get half the winnings in a novel of psychological suspense by an Edgar-winning author.

Haines, Carolyn. Greedy Bones (STM, 24.95) July. Sarah Booth Delaney returns home to Mississippi to find that her friend’s husband has fallen ill with a mysterious illness that has baffled even the CDC, and when more and more townspeople fall ill, the whole town is quarantined.

Hayman, James. The Cutting (STM, 24.95) July. A debut thriller about a policeman who moves from New York City to the slower pace of Portland, Maine, only to face a horrific killer who mutilates his victims with surgical precision.

Hilton, Matt. Dead Men’s Dust (HC, 24.95) June. A series debut featuring an ex-military officer and former CIA agent looking for his missing brother, who made the seriously bad mistake of stealing from a professional killer as the three men engage in a high-octane, cross-country chase.

Howe, Katherine. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane (Hyp, 25.95) June. When a graduate student goes to Salem to handle the sale of her grandmother’s abandoned house, she discovers a key hidden in an old bible, leading her on a search for the mysterious woman whose name is written there in a gripping supernatural mystery debut.

Howell, Dorothy. Purses and Poison (Kens, 22.00) July. Accessory-obsessed Haley Randolph is working at a fashionable department store when she discovers a fashion model dead in the restroom, poisoned by fruit from a gift basket from Haley’s mother’s store, so to eliminate her mother as a suspect she investigates.

Hughes, Declan. All the Dead Voices (HC, 24.95) July. Dublin PI Ed Loy accepts the case of a revenue inspector killed fifteen years ago whose daughter believes was murdered by IRA members that he had testified against in a case where the Celtic Tiger and Ireland’s bloody past are intertwined.

Hunt, James Patrick. The Assailant (STM, 24.95) June. St. Louis Police Lt. George Hastings receives a call about a strangled call girl, but has few leads and little to go on when the body of another woman is found with the same M.O.

Hurley, Graham. The Price of Darkness (IPG, 22.95) May. In the latest in this Portsmouth police procedural series, DC Winter has gone undercover to infiltrate the inner circle of a drug lord, but two vicious murders find DI Faraday caught in a maelstrom of conspiracy with political overtones that has placed Winter in a dangerous position.

Hurwitz, Gregg. Trust No One (STM, 24.95) June. A gripping novel of suspense about a man who is forced to deal with a nuclear-armed terrorist by the DHS because of a connection between them from the past—a past that must be confronted to save his life and the lives of those he loves.

Iles, Greg. The Devil’s Punchbowl (SS, 26.95) July. This was announced a while ago, but will finally be coming out this summer. Penn Cage returns in a case involving illegal dog fighting and sexual abuse connected to a floating casino outside of Natchez. Highly recommended.

Jance, J.A. Fire and Ice (HC, 25.95) July. Beaumont and Brady team up again in a thriller set in Southern Arizona.

Jardine, Quintin. Inhuman Remains (IPG, 24.95) May. When her elderly aunt needs her help finding her missing son, Primavera Blackstone must travel all over Spain to keep the family safe.

Johansen, Iris and Roy Johansen. Storm Cycle (STM, 26.95) July. A computer genius with a chronically-ill sister is contacted by an Egyptologist who has made a discovery that has implications for a cure for her sister, but a dangerous web of deceit and murder entangles her as she seeks to help the Egyptologist unravel the ancient mystery.

Johnson, Craig. The Dark Horse (Vik, 24.95) June. When a woman confesses to the murder of her husband after he burned her horses alive, Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire has a feeling that something isn’t quite right, so he goes undercover and discovers that there are many people who wanted the victim dead. Signed copies.

Jordan, R.T. A Talent for Murder (Kens, 22.00) June. The third in the funny series featuring Hollywood actress Polly Pepper who looks for a killer when somebody plunges a knife into a nasty fellow judge on a reality show.

Joven, Enrique. The Book of God and Physics (HC, 25.95) July. A young Jesuit science teacher discovers a possible key to breaking the code of the Voynich manuscript, a mysterious book written in an unknown language that surfaced four hundred years ago, hidden in his church, but powerful forces conspire to keep the manuscript from being decoded in an ingenious debut filled with ideas pulled from philosophy and science.

Kelly, Jim. Death Wore White (STM, 24.95) June. CWA Dagger winner Kelly has written a superb police procedural set in Norfolk featuring a rookie detective paired with a hard-bitten veteran who find themselves stuck in a blizzard with a line of other cars blocked by a fallen tree, during which someone kills the driver of the first car and manages to escape without leaving any tracks in the snow.

Klein, Zoë. Drawing in the Dust (Pkt, 25.00) July. A debut thriller about an American archaeologist who is persuaded by an Arab couple to excavate under their house just outside of Jerusalem where she uncovers what appears to be the grave of the prophet Jeremiah, a discovery that sets off an international uproar and violent attacks.

Knox, Tom. The Genesis Secret (Vik, 26.95) June. A series of murders in London appear to be linked to an archaeological site in Kurdistan where the most ancient civilization has just been discovered.

Konrath, J.A. Cherry Bomb (Hyp, 25.95) July. Jack Daniels is attending the funeral of a loved one, when the maniacal killer calls her, taunting her into a twisted game of cat and mouse. Has Jack met her match in this female serial killer?

Kramer, Julie. Missing Mark (BDD, 23.95) July. Minneapolis TV reporter Riley Spartz is intrigued when she sees a for-sale ad for a never-worn wedding dress, and further inquiry reveals that comedian left his wealthy bride at the altar and disappeared, and when the missing bridegroom’s mother commits suicide, the mystery deepens. I loved the first in this series.

Lansdale, Joe R. Vanilla Ride (RH, 23.95) July. The East Texas twosome of Hap and Leonard rescue a friend’s daughter from the clutches of drug dealers, who in turn send waves of assassins in retaliation, and finally the lethal Vanilla Ride, a beautiful hit-woman. Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard novels are a wonderful combination of humor, violence, and down-home philosophizing that makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Lange, Richard. This Wicked World (LB, 23.99) June. A debut novel set in Southern California about an ex-con trying to go straight who agrees to help a buddy and look into a young Guatemalan immigrant’s death, but his investigation plunges him into a world of drug dealers, dog-fighting, and counterfeit money, all on the dark margins of Los Angeles.

Lawson, Mike. House Secrets (Atl, 22.00) July. Joe DeMarco is assigned by the Speaker of the House to check into the death of a Boston reporter, who was the son of a politician and who had just happened on a hot story before he died, a story that is tied to a squeaky-clean rising politician in New York with some nasty secrets.

Lescroart, John. A Plague of Secrets (Dut, 26.95) July. Dismas Hardy investigates when the owner of a San Francisco coffee shop is murdered and it becomes apparent that he was selling marijuana along with coffee beans, but a further murder makes it clear that the dead man’s celebrity-studded customer list, a list that includes both politicians and law enforcement officials may be part of a cover-up conspiracy.

Locke, Attica. Black Water Rising (HC, 25.99) June. A debut novel about a black lawyer in Houston who is reluctant to come forward when a body is found near one of the city’s bayous, even though what he knows could possibly save an innocent man from conviction because he fears that revealing his criminal past will destroy the comfortable life he has created for his family.

Margolin, Phillip. Fugitive (HC, 26.95) June. Oregon criminal attorney Amanda Jaffe agrees to defend a man accused of murdering a U.S. Congressman, but her job is made more difficult when she discovers that he is on the run from the henchman of the dictator of the African country where he has been hiding out from the law.

Martini, Steve. Guardian of Lies (HC, 26.99) July. Attorney Paul Madriani helps a Costa Rican beauty on the run in a fast-paced suspense thriller that involves Guantánamo prisoners, a Colombian rebel base, and a Mexican drug cartel.

McAdam, Colin. Fall (Png, 25.95) June. A beautifully-written literary mystery set at a prestigious Canadian boarding school, where the girlfriend of a popular athlete at the school disappears.

McMahon, Jennifer. Dismantled (HC, 24.95) June. A gripping debut about a group of college friends who find that a terrible secret will not stay buried a decade after one of them is killed in the Vermont woods.

Moore, Laurie. Woman Strangled—News at Ten (5Star, 25.95) June. First in a funny new series features a newly-minted journalism-school grad who lands a plum job on a television news show, where her colleague refers to her as “Investigative Reporter Barbie,” but when she comes upon a strangled corpse while researching the disappearance of a university student, she learns quickly that she has to be tough and smart to save herself.

Morrell, David. The Shimmer (Vngd, 25.95) July. When a Santa Fe police officer realizes that his wife has disappeared, he discovers that she has gone to a remote town in Texas where unexplained nighttime phenomena compel people to come from all over to witness, and when one of the witnesses shoots into the crowd, the whole thing turns from creepy to deadly.

Nadelson, Reggie. Londongrad (STM, 25.00) June. NYPD detective Artie Cohen, first generation Russian-American, flies to London to warn his girlfriend when a NYC girl is mistakenly murdered by the Russian Mafya, targeting her daughter, and becomes embroiled in a maelstrom of Russian money and crime.

Ocean, T. Lynn. Southern Peril (STM, 24.95) July. Another funny southern mystery featuring Jersey Barnes who gets called in when a state supreme judge asks her to investigate his brother, which turns into a major DEA investigation with ties to a twenty-year-old mystery.

Pearson, Ridley. Killer Summer (Put, 24.95) June. Sun Valley, Idaho’s annual wine auction attracts wealthy wine connoisseurs from all over, and as Blaine County Sheriff Walt Fleming discovers, sophisticated thieves who have covered all the bases, including the way the sheriff’s office will react.

Persons, Terri. Blind Sight (BDD, 24.95) May. FBI agent Bernadette St. Clair who has the ability to see through the eyes of killers is faced with a case that may involve witchcraft when a pregnant teenager is found butchered in the woods with a red pentagram marked on her head, a case similar to a murder in Wisconsin.

Phillips, Christi. The Devlin Diary (Pkt, 25.00) May. A skillfully-written combination of a present-day academic whodunit set at Cambridge with a seventeenth-century mystery about the death of Charles II’s sister Princess Henriette-Anne.

Raichev, R.T. The Little Victim (Soho, 25.00) June. Antonia Darcy and Hugh Payne are on holiday in Goa at an elegant inn, but the arrival of an uninvited guest with a tale of murder that implicates their host sets them on an investigation. This is a wonderful cozy series that hearkens back to the Golden Age.

Ramsay, Frederick. Choker (PP, 24.95) June. Ike Schwartz is asked to return to his CIA roots and investigate the disappearance of a pilot and ex-navy man over Chesapeake Bay, where he may have witnessed terrorist activities, while at the same time he investigates satanic rituals as sheriff of a small Virginia town.

Robertson, Michael. The Baker Street Letters (STM, 24.95) June. A debut novel about two brothers who lease office space in London’s Baker Street, with the odd stipulation that they must respond to letters that arrive for Sherlock Holmes, but when one of the brothers disappears after becoming intrigued by a letter, leaving a dead body in his wake, the other brother finds himself embroiled in a transatlantic mystery.

Rosenberg, Nancy Taylor. The Cheater (STM, 24.95) June. When Lily Forrester’s husband calls and says he has been arrested in Las Vegas for attempted rape, she discovers that his accuser is an enigmatic woman with an eerie past, and when she joins forces with an FBI agent, they discover a trail leading to a Web service that provides alibis for cheating spouses.

Schwegel, Theresa. Last Known Address (STM, 24.95) July. Chicago police detective Sloane Pearson has the increasingly frustrating case of a serial rapist and when victims are reluctant to testify against the criminal, her superiors threaten to shut down the investigation in the fourth of an award-winning police procedural series.

Sefton, Maggie. Dropped Dead Stitch (Brk, 24.95) June. When a friend of Kelly’s is attacked by a stranger, the knitting group takes her under their wing at a ranch retreat in the mountains, but when the ranch owner turns out to be the girl’s attacker, and then is found dead, they must pick up the stitches to find a killer.

Silva, Daniel. The Defector (Put, 26.95) July. Gabriel Allon returns to London looking for the man who had saved his life in Moscow and who has disappeared under suspicious circumstances in order to investigate whether or not he was a double agent, but he discovers a greater conspiracy led by Russian spies and dissidents that threatens his life.

Simms, Christopher. Hell’s Fire (Pegasus, 25.00) June. Manchester DI Jon Spicer is called in when an arson fire of a church reveals a charred corpse and satanic symbols and the members of a horrific religious underworld prepared to kill again.

Sims, Elizabeth. The Extra (STM, 24.95) June. Part-time actress Rita Farmer returns in the second in this well-plotted series and becomes involved in a mystery at a South Central Los Angeles urban mission when she rescues the grandson of the mission’s founder from a vicious attack and finds that the grandmother herself appears to be under threat. Strong characterization and a good recreation of the southern California milieu make this a stand-out series.

Sokoloff, Alexandra. The Unseen (STM, 24.95) June. A terrifying novel based on the Rhine parapsychology experiments at Duke University, with a team of researchers who decide to replicate the experiments in a haunted house, unaware that the entire original research team ended up insane or dead.

Strohmeyer, Sarah. The Penny Pinchers Club (Dut, 24.95) July. A suburban New Jersey woman who discovers that her husband has a secret bank account and fears that he may be preparing to divorce her, joins a group dedicated to saving money and becomes as obsessed with saving as she formerly was with spending.

Tanenbaum, Robert K. Capture (Pkt, 26.00) June. NY DA Butch Karp and his wife Marlene Ciampi must fight against an array of villains as Butch prosecutes a perverted Broadway producer who killed a beautiful actress.

Tesh, Jane. A Little Learning (PP, 24.95) June. North Carolina PI Madeline Maclin is hard at work trying to solve a case that would mean a large inheritance for a client, but she can’t resist guest-teaching art at a local school where the murder of a universally loathed teacher takes place.

Thomas, Steven M. Criminal Karma (Ball, 25.00) July. Southern California crook Robert Rivers returns in the second in the entertaining series, looking to steal a $250,000 diamond necklace belonging to a socialite who has become a follower of a charismatic guru, but someone else has his eye on the necklace and Rivers must move quickly and intelligently to gain the prize.

Thurlo, Aimée and David. Bad Samaritan (STM, 24.95) June. Sister Agatha must bring her sleuthing skills to bear when the Bernalillo sheriff is the main suspect in the brutal murder of his rival in the upcoming election.

Unger, Lisa. Die for You (RH, 24.00) June. A bestselling novelist begins an investigation when her husband disappears only to discover that he is not the man she thinks he is—he stole another man’s identity years before—but she insists on finding him nonetheless.

Vasquez, Ian. Lonesome Point (STM, 24.95) June. Two brothers, one a Miami mayoral candidate, find that their family’s dangerous past is resurrected when an old friend asks for a favor and makes very clear that refusal is not an option. Vazquez has a flair for Caribbean noir.

Ward, Robert. Total Immunity (HMH, 26.00) July. Two Los Angeles FBI agents are in the sights of a killer when they arrest a diamond smuggler who is able to achieve his vengeance from behind prison bars, and, when he is released and given immunity by the Department of Homeland Security, he is even more dangerous.

Westlake, Donald. Get Real (LB, 23.99) July. Dortmunder and the gang return in their final outing, having been persuaded to appear in a reality television show as robbers by a quick-talking producer who is willing to pay them to steal. A very funny finale to a very funny series.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Reprint

Abbott, Jeff. Collision (NAL, 7.99) July.

Alexander, Lawence. Rubicon (HC, 7.99) July.

Andrews, Donna. Cockatiels at Seven (STM, 6.99) July.

Battles, Brett. The Deceived (BDD, 6.99) July.

Black, Lisa. Takeover (HC, 7.99) July.

Block, Lawrence. Hit and Run (HC, 7.99) July.

Brockmann, Suzanne. Dark of Night (BDD, 7.99) July.

Burke, Alafair. Angel’s Tip (HC, 7.99) June.

Burke, James Lee. Swan Peak (Pkt, 7.99) July.

Cannell, Stephen J. At First Sight (Vngd, 9.99) June.

Carey, Mike. Vicious Circle (GC, 7.99) July.

Cole, Martina. Close (GC, 7.99) June.

Cornwell, Patricia. The Front (Brk, 7.99) June.

Coulter, Catherine. Tail Spin (Brk, 7.99) July.

Crombie, Deborah. Where Memories Lie (HC, 7.99) July.

Douglas, Carole Nelson. Cat in a Sapphire Slipper (STM, 7.99) July.

Evanovich, Janet. Fearless Fourteen (STM, 7.99) July.

Ford, Clyde. Precious Cargo (Vngd, 7.99) June.

Galenorn, Yasmine. Murder under a Mystic Moon (Brk, 7.99) July.

Gardiner, Meg. The Dirty Secrets Club (NAL, 7.99) June.

Gardner, Lisa. Say Goodbye (BDD, 7.99) June.

Haines, Carolyn. Wishbones (STM, 6.99) June.

Harris, Charlaine. Poppy Done to Death (Brk, 7.99) July.

Higgins, Jack. Rough Justice (Brk, 9.99) July.

Jance, J.A. Damage Control (HC, 9.99) July.

Johansen, Iris. The Killing Game (BDD, 7.99) July. Reissue.

Judson, Daniel. The Water’s Edge (STM, 7.99) July.

Konrath, J.A. Fuzzy Navel (Hyp, 7.99) June.

Kramer, Julie. Stalking Susan (BDD, 7.99) July.

Land, Jon. The Seven Sins (STM, 7.99) June.

Lawson, Mike. House Rules (Atl, 7.99) July.

Lescroart, John. Sunburn (NAL, 9.99) June. Reissue.

Maron, Margaret. Death’s Half Acre (GC, 7.99) July.

Meltzer, Brad. The Book of Lies (GC, 7.99) June.

Neville, Katherine. The Fire (BDD, 7.99) June.

Ocean, T. Lynn. Southern Poison (STM, 6.99) June.

Pearson, Ridley. Killer View (Brk, 9.99) July.

Perry, Thomas. Silence (Vngd, 7.99) June. Reissue.

Reich, Christopher. Rules of Deception (BDD, 7.99) June.

Reichs, Kathy. Devil’s Bones (Pkt, 7.99) July.

Robb, J.D. Salvation in Death (Brk, 7.99) June.

Rose, Karen. Kill for Me (GC, 6.99) July.

Sefton, Maggie. Dyer Consequences (Brk, 7.99) June.

Shuman, George. Lost Girls (Pkt, 7.99) July.

Silva, Daniel. Moscow Rules (NAL, 9.99) July.

Slaughter, Karin. Fractured (BDD, 7.99) July.

Smiley, Patricia. Cool Cache (NAL, 7.99) June.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Original

Alt, Madelyn. Where There’s a Witch (Brk, 7.99) July. When a construction worker is suspected of killing a young woman at a carnival, Maggie and the N.I.G.H.T.S. ghost-hunting team go to work to uncover the negative spiritual energy leaking into their town.

Barant, D.D. Dying Bites (STM, 6.99) July. The first in a new series featuring an FBI profiler who teams up with a member of the vampire elite to stop a series of gruesome murders that are tearing up the streets of D.C.

Blackwell, Juliet. Secondhand Spirits (NAL, 6.99) July. When a witch sets up shop selling vintage clothing in San Francisco, she hopes to finally have a way to conceal her witchiness and to outfit her customers both spiritually and stylistically, but when a customer is murdered and children begin to disappear, she knows that she may have to come out of the closet to stop some very bad phantoms in the first in an enchanting new series.

Brady, Kate. One Scream Away (GC, 6.99) July. An antiques expert who was responsible for putting a killer behind bars begins receiving antique dolls in the mail, each showing marks of violence, and realizes that the recently-paroled killer may be coming after her in a debut novel of romantic suspense.

Brennan, Alison. Fatal Secrets (BDD, 7.99) June. The second in the trilogy that began with Playing Dead.

Brown, Robert Gregory. Kill Her Again (STM, 7.99) July. A disgraced FBI agent battles disturbing nightmares that lead her to a psychotic killer in a thriller that combines suspense and the supernatural.

Carter, Sammi. Sucker Punch (Brk, 6.99) June. Candy shop owner Abby Shaw has a sweet life until her friend is suspected of killing an actor, but Abby is no marshmallow when it comes to finding out how the truth has been fudged.

Causey, Toni Mcgee. Girls Just Wanna Have Guns (STM, 6.99) July. The second in the saga of Bobbie Faye Sumrall, the Cajun girl who has to help her crazy cousin, find the missing family diamonds, and deal with a sexy undercover FBI agent. The first in the series has been retitled Charmed and Dangerous (STM, 6.99) and is appearing in mass market in June. This is a funny series—think Stephanie Plum in the bayou.

Christofferson, April. Alpha Female (STM, 7.99) July. A recently-divorced judge moves to Yellowstone where she clashes with a local park ranger, but with whom she must join forces when they discover a group of poachers who are shooting wolves in defiance of federal law.

Connolly, Sheila. Rotten to the Core (Brk, 6.99) July. In the second in this cozy series, orchard owner Meg Corey must clear her name after a body is discovered in her springhouse—poisoned by pesticide.

Davidson, Eileen. Dial Emmy for Murder (NAL, 6.99) June. The second in the series featuring daytime soap opera star Alexis Peterson who must discover who wanted to kill her co-presenter at the Daytime Emmy Awards, before the show must go on.

Davis, Krista. The Diva Takes the Cake (Brk, 6.99) June. The Domestic Diva’s wedding advice to her soon-to-be-married sister is to keep the cake and lose the groom, especially after his ex-wife is found murdered.

Davis, Pierre. A Breed Apart (BDD, 6.99) June. A science-based thriller about a dog with extraordinary abilities that goes missing, with two men on her trail—one a private detective and the other a hired assassin.

Goldberg, Lee. Mr. Monk is Miserable (NAL, 7.99) June. In Paris with his assistant, Monk is touring the catacombs when he discovers a recent skull and vows to find the murderer.

Hechtman, Betty. By Hook or By Crook (Brk, 6.99) June. Molly Pink’s crochet group finds a new mystery when they discover a series of clues leading to a murdered crocheter done in by a box of poisoned candy.

Hewson, David. The Promised Land (IPG, 8.95) May. Inexplicably released just hours before his execution for the murder of his wife and child, a former policeman with amnesia who has spent 23 years in prison teams up with a beautiful young woman to find out what actually happened to his family.

Jardine, Quintin. Aftershock (IPG, 8.95) May. Edinburgh DCC Bob Skinner finds that the discovery of a woman’s body on a golf course shows all the earmarks of a serial killer case, and, worse, the trail leads to an investigation of the son of a Tory MP creating a political firestorm.

Kuzneski, Chris. The Plantation (Brk, 7.99) July. A scary thriller about a man who traces his girlfriend’s disappearance to a New Orleans plantation where the secrets he discovers are truly horrifying.

Mariotte, Jeffrey J. Cold Black Hearts (Brk, 7.99) June. In a new southwestern mystery, a murder investigation brings a former police detective in contact with the supernatural forces that destroyed a town nearly 100 years earlier. Mariotte writes great supernatural suspense.

Mathews, Francine. Death in the Off-Season (BDD, 7.99) July. A reissue of the first in a series set in Nantucket with a police detective who must deal with her first murder under the watchful eye of her father, the police chief, while one of the island’s wealthiest and most powerful families scrutinize her every move. A first-rate mystery by the author who also writes historical mysteries as Stephanie Barron.

McGee, Chaz. Desolate Angel (Brk, 6.99) July. The first in a new series featuring a cop who was killed in a drug-bust gone bad and who has been a lost soul in limbo until he comes across a dead victim whose murder he thought he’d solved, but when the victim points out another, fresh victim he realizes that he put away the wrong man.

Morgan, Kaye. Killer Sudoku (Brk, 6.99) July. It’s only natural that the contestants at the West Coast Sudoku Summit would be eliminated—but not by dropping dead—so Sudoku maven Liza Kelly must figure out the murderer’s pattern before she’s the next one down.

Myers, Tamar. Poison Ivory (HC, 7.99) June. A new cozy mystery of antiques and murder set in the South.

Olson, Karen E. The Missing Ink (NAL, 6.99) July. The first in a new series featuring a tattoo artist in Las Vegas caught up in a murder case after a potential client who wanted the name of her fiancé tattooed in a heart fails to turn up, and when the police show up looking for her, it turns out that the name she wanted isn’t her fiance’s.

Parsons, Julie. I Saw You (IPG, 8.95) May. A retired Dublin policeman agrees to help a woman whose young daughter was found drowned in a lake under suspicious circumstances that remind him of a murder case he had years ago in a compelling novel of revenge and atonement.

Pratt, Scott. In Good Faith (NAL, 7.99) June. A Tennessee prosecutor must risk everything when the woman who inspired two goth teenagers to slaughter a rural family is walking free because they are afraid to implicate her.

Rayne, Sarah. Roots of Evil (IPG, 9.95) May. A woman whose glamorous grandmother was murdered at a London film studio in 1952, starts investigating her family’s past in 1920’s Vienna when another body is found at the derelict studios.

_____. Tower of Silence (IPG, 9.95) July. A crime writer’s visit to a small English village near an asylum for the criminally insane is the catalyst for a villager’s discovery that she shares a past tragedy, a tragedy that occurred 50 years ago in India with a convicted child murderess. Rayne does creepy very well.

Reece, Christy. Return to Me (BDD, 6.99) June. An organization that hunts missing teenaged girls tangles with an online predator in the second thriller to feature the Last Chance Rescue group. In July, the third in the series, Run to Me (BDD, 6.99) will feature a former LCR operative who must return to action when his ex-partner—and former lover--is kidnapped and programmed to kill.

Russell, Leigh. Cut Short (IPG, 9.95) May. DS Geraldine Steel expects the quiet village of Woolsmarsh to be very dull, but a predator is prowling the local park and when a witness comes forward to testify, both women’s lives are placed in jeopardy in the first in a new police procedural series.

Stanton, Mary. Angel’s Advocate (Brk, 7.99) June. Southern attorney Bree Beaufort decides to turn the haunted legal firm she inherited from her family toward some paying clients, but when she accepts the case of a spoiled girl accused of stealing Girl Scout cookie money, she discovers that her client’s departed grandfather needs her help too. An inventive paranormal mystery series.

Starr, Jason. Fake I.D. (Hard Case, 6.99) June. When a New York bar bouncer wants into the deal of a lifetime—purchasing a racehorse with several other backers—he decides to raise the money by stealing from first his girlfriend and then his boss.

Twining, James. The Gilded Seal (HC, 7.99) June. Tom Kirk discovers a secret that dates back to the Napoleonic Wars and is plunged into the dark world of fine art dealers, thieves, and counterfeiters.

Webb, Debra. Everywhere She Turns (STM, 7.99) July. When a physician returns to her Alabama hometown after her sister died mysteriously, she finds herself surrounded by deadly secrets and a killer who will stop at nothing.

New and Forthcoming in Quality Paperback

Bajo, David. The 351 Books of Irma Arcuri (Png, 15.00) June. A man follows the disappearance of the woman he has loved all of his life by reading the 351 books that she leaves him when she vanishes in a mysterious love story.

Bolton, S. J. Sacrifice (STM, 14.95) June. A wonderfully-plotted debut mystery set on the Shetland Islands, where a physician married to the son of one of the islands’ old families discovers a woman’s body, leading her to uncover a pattern of missing woman, abandoned children, and murderous secrets. I loved this.

Cleeves, Ann. White Nights (STM, 13.95) June. Inspector Jimmy Perez of the Shetland Islands police force investigates when a stranger who crashes the opening of an art exhibition is later found dead, wearing a clown mask.

Davis, Kyra. Lust, Loathing, and a little Lip Gloss (Mira, 13.95) June. San Francisco amateur sleuth Sophie Katz finds the house of her dreams with an unbelievably low price, but the owner stipulates that she must regularly attend séances at the Spectre Society where a locked-room murder of a society member causes her to investigate along with her PI boyfriend.

Dickinson, Peter. Sleep and his Brother (F&M, 14.95) July. Jimmy Pibble, newly laid off from Scotland Yard, visits a charitable institution for children with a rare metabolic disorder, but his detective instincts kick in and he senses that something is wrong.

Dicks, Matthew. Something Missing (BDD, 14.00) July. An expert thief who concentrates on stealing only what his victims won’t notice, accidentally finds himself breaking in to people’s houses to improve their lives, but the crook with a heart of gold is at risk of being caught in this debut crime novel.

Dorst, Doug. Alive in Necropolis (NAL, 16.00) July. A darkly funny debut that is a police procedural with ghosts as a rookie policeman in the “cemetery city” of Colma, California becomes obsessed with the fate of his predecessor and becomes aware that the dead may not be resting in peace as they should.

Estep, Maggie. Alice Fantastic (Akashic, 15.95) May. A professional gambler in New York must turn to her eccentric family when her oafish boyfriend turns abusive, leading to the revelation of a shocking family secret.

French, Tana. The Likeness (Png, 15.00) June. Dublin police detective Cassie Maddox goes undercover when a dead woman is found who looks just like her and who is using an alias that Cassie herself once used.

Goddard, Robert. Name to a Face (RH, 12.00) June. When a man is asked by a wealthy friend to go to Penzance to purchase an antique ring from an estate sale, he meets an enigmatic young woman who later disappears when the ring is stolen in a mystery filled with superstition and family secrets.

Grabenstein, Chris. Hell Hole (13.95) June. Ceepak and his partner investigate the alleged suicide of a soldier recently returned from Iraq in the fourth in the police procedural series set in set in a New Jersey beach town.

Greeley, Andrew M. Thy Brother’s Wife (STM, 14.95) June. A reissue of a classic tale of two brothers—one a priest and one a politician—who love the same woman.

Harrison, Colin. The Finder (STM, 14.00) June. A tale of avarice and financial corruption about a man who must find his former lover, a Chinese woman on the run after two of her coworkers are murdered when a pharmaceutical company discovers that she has been trading insider information.

Hughes, Declan. The Price of Blood (13.95) June. Ed Loy is hired by a priest to find a missing racehorse trainer in a case that ends in a double murder right before Ireland’s most anticipated sporting events, the four-day Leopardstown Racecourse Christmas Festival.

Hutchins, J.C. and Jordan Weisman. Personal Effects: Dark Art (STM, 24.95) June. An interactive detective story where the reader becomes the detective as he follows the extensive notes of a therapist who is investigating the life of a serial killer who claims to have foreseen, but not caused, his victims’ deaths.

Jenkins, Emyl. The Big Steal (Algonquin, 13.95) July. Antiques expert Sterling Glass investigates the aftermath of a museum robbery in a small private museum in Virginia and discovers that many of the objects in the museum’s collections, particularly a collection of Tang horses, may be replicas. This is the second in a series written by an antiques appraiser.

Johnson, Craig. Another Man’s Moccasins (Png, 14.00) June. Walt Longmire investigates when the body of a Vietnamese woman is found alongside the Wyoming interstate, and is shocked when a photograph in her purse ties her to a murder that he investigated forty years earlier in Vietnam. The fourth in a first-rate Western series.

Kane, Cornelius. The Unscratchables (SS, 14.00) July. A hard-boiled satire filled with bestial behavior and political chicanery as DI Max McNash a bull terrier in the slaughter unit of the San Bernardo police dog force must reluctantly join forces with special agent Cassius Lap a Siamese from the Feline Bureau of Investigation when the fur begins to fly as two rottweilers are torn apart, and later movie star Jack Russell Crowe becomes a victim.

Klavan, Andrew. Empire of Lies (HMH, 13.95) July. When he receives a call from a woman from his past, a man who has built a solid and stable life in the Midwest returns to New York and finds himself on the run from both terrorists and the police as he tries to unravel his former lover’s lies.

LaPlante, Linda. Deadly Intent (SS, 15.00) July. DI Anna Travis goes after a drug kingpin newly returned to England after plastic surgery in Mexico whose homecoming has left a trail of bodies, including a former cop.

Levien, David. Where the Dead Lay (BDD, 24.95) July. Indianapolis PI Frank Behr is asked by a high-powered PI firm to track down two missing investigators who disappeared in the middle of a case involving the use of derelict properties for gambling dens.

Lewis, Robert. The Last Llanelli Train (Serpent’s Tail, 14.95) June. A darkly funny, very noir private eye tale set in Wales as a down-on-his luck PI gets the case that reeks of money and just might turn his life around.

Loehfelm, Bill. Fresh Kills (Brk, 15.00) July A debut mystery about a man who, despite anger at his father for a lifetime of abuse, becomes obsessed with finding his killer and wreaking revenge.

Lovesey, Peter. The Headhunters (Soho, 13.00) June. A plan to commit the perfect crime goes awry when more bodies appear, and Inspector Hen Mallin begins an investigation.

Mack, David. The Calling (Pkt, 15.00) July. A man with telepathic ability receives a cry for help from a kidnapped 11-year-old girl and rushes to New York City where he persuades the girl’s mother to let him find her.

MacKenzie, Ian. City of Strangers (Png, 14.00) July. A debut novel set in New York about two estranged brothers who must come to terms with their Nazi-sympathizer father, whose death leads to violence and unexpected truths about their lives.

O’Hehir, Diana. Dark Aura (Brk, 14.00) June. Deputy Sheriff Carla Day turns to her father, an elderly Egyptologist when a missing “indigo baby”—super intelligent children with a distinctive blue aura--falls off a hillside to her death

Perry, Thomas. Fidelity (HMH, 14.95) June. When her husband is killed a woman is left with an empty bank account and a lot of questions in a well-plotted, suspenseful thriller.

Rendell, Ruth. Not in the Flesh (RH, 15.00) June. Wexford investigates when a human hand is discovered in the woods by a truffle hound in a case that leads to the discovery of yet another body from the past in an area where feuding land-owners may hold the key to the puzzle.

Sansom, Ian. The Bad Book Affair (HC, 13.95) July. Mobile librarian Israel Armstrong finds himself forced to find a missing teenaged daughter of a local politician from the north coast of Ireland before her father finds out what kind of books she’s been borrowing from the library.

Slan, Joanna Campbell. Cut, Crop & Die (MidInk, 14.95) June. Scrapbooker Kiki Lowenstein investigates when a very nasty woman dies from an allergy to the icing on her scone, and must fight anti-Semitic threats to the store and her growing attraction to the dreamy detective in the second in this crafty series.

Wellen, Alex. Lovesick (RH, 13.95) July. A funny debut novel about a young college dropout who moves back to his hometown and falls in love with his boss’ daughter, but things become complicated when he stumbles upon an illicit senior citizen drug ring.

Willett, Jincy. The Writing Class (STM, 14.00) June. A funny and elegant literary mystery about a university extension writing workshop where threatening calls and obscene threats to the instructor lead to a murder where everyone in the class is suspect. Highly recommended.

Wilson, F. Paul. The Touch (STM, 14.95) July. A family physician discovers that he has the ability to cure any illness through the touch of his hand, but his power comes with a great price as he soon discovers in this gripping medical thriller.

Wright, L. R. A Chill Rain in January (F&M, 14.95) July. The second in the series set in western Canada finds Staff Sergeant Karl Alberg faced with problems both personal and professional when his lover Cassandra Mitchell disappears and a woman in a nearby village explodes in angry violence.

New and Forthcoming in International Mysteries

Baantjer, A. C. DeKok and the Mask of Death (Speck, 24.00) July. Amsterdam’s Inspector DeKok is approached by a distraught young man whose fiancée disappeared from a respected hospital, and his investigation reveals that she is one of a series of disappearing patients.

Blundy, Anna. Breaking Faith (STM, 24.95) July. War correspondent Faith Zanetti is sent to investigate a bombing of an airliner over a small village in Scotland that appears to be the work of Libyan terrorists, but her investigation leads her to the suspicion that it may be a crime closer to home.

_____. Vodka Neat (F&M, 14.95) July. Foreign correspondent Faith Zanetti returns to Moscow and finds that her past as the teenaged bride of a Russian bootlegger has put her in danger from former KGB thugs.

Brownlee, Nick. Bait (STM, 24.95) July. A debut set in Kenya featuring a retired Scotland Yard detective who is asked for help by a Mombasa detective in solving a baffling murder case that draws them into a conspiracy involving murderous ex-pats, local hoodlums, and a psychopathic kingpin who presides over a human trafficking ring.

Cataldo, Giancarlo de. The Father and the Foreigner (Europa, 15.00) June. A man who works in the ministry of Justice in Rome becomes friends with a mysterious Middle Eastern man whose nocturnal odysseys point to sinister dealings—international crime? terrorism? espionage?--that threaten them both.

Eriksson, Kjell. The Demon of Dakar (STM, 13.95) July. Inspector Ann Lindell investigates when a restaurant owner in Uppsala is killed by a man seeking revenge in the third in the Swedish crime series.

Faletti, Giorgio. I Kill (MC, 16.50) June. A widowed FBI special agent visiting his friend in Monaco is pulled into the investigation when an American race-car driver and his girlfriend are killed by a serial killer.

Florato, Marina. The Glassblower of Murano (STM, 13.95) June. An enjoyable mixture of intrigue and European history set in contemporary Venice, but reaching back to the seventeenth-century, as centuries-old jealousies lead to contemporary betrayals when an English artist is hired as an apprentice glass blower.

Florian, Filip. Little Fingers (HMH, 24.00) July. A brilliant debut novel set in Romania where the discovery of a mass grave during the construction of a church leads to the local police chief, the local priest, and a local archaeologist all laying claim to the bones to further their agendas.

Frimansson, Inger. Island of the Naked Women (SPD, 18.00) May. A Hitchcockian tale of suspense by an award-winning Swedish crime writer about a man who commits a murder while visiting his family’s farm.

Gabbay, Tom. The Tehran Conviction (HC, 24.95) June. A thriller set in Tehran that moves back and forth in time from 1953 to 1979 as CIA agent Jack Teller returns to save a friend who is in trouble with Islamic justice during the Iranian Revolution and discovers that the 25-year-old attempt to shape Iranian politics has devastating consequences for the country, the region, and him personally.

Garcia-Roza, Luiz Alfredo. Alone in the Crowd (HH, 23.00) July. When an elderly lady dies after unsuccessfully waiting to speak to Inspector Espinosa, he investigates the death and discovers a suspect with whom he has an unsettling link from the past in the latest in this first-rate series set in the Copacabana section of Rio de Janeiro.

_____. Blackout (STM, 14.00) July. DCI Espinosa of Rio police is haunted by the death of an anonymous beggar who is killed in a wealthy area of Copacabana while a dinner party was taking place in the mansion next to the crime scene.

Genelin, Michael. Dark Dreams (Soho, 24.00) July. After finding an enormous diamond mysteriously left in her house, Slovak police commander Jana Matinova is plunged into an international investigation of a murderous conspiracy that has entangled her childhood friend in its web.

_____. Siren of the Waters (Soho, 13.00) July. Slovak police commander Jana Matinova must liaise with colleagues across Europe in order to stop a deadly human trafficking ring. Genelin offers a look into a part of Europe that is little-known by Westerners combined with a compelling protagonist and suspenseful plotting.

Gilling, Tom. Seven Mile Beach (Grove, 14.00) June. A former reporter in Sydney agrees to claim responsibility for speeding down the street on New Year’s Eve, taking the fall for a millionaire’s son, but little does he know that he will be plunged into a dangerous world of drugs, corruption, and murder from which he cannot extricate himself even by changing his identity.

Hall, Tarquin. The Case of the Missing Servant: From the Files of Vish Puri, India’s “Most Private Investigator (SS, 24.00) June. The first in a new series set in Delhi, featuring Vish Puri who is hired by a lawyer whose maid is missing. When the maid is found murdered and rumors swirl that the attorney may have killed her because she was pregnant, Vish investigates and discovers that his client’s cases against corrupt government officials may lie behind the crime.

Hallinan, Timothy. The Fourth Watcher (HC, 13.95) July. American ex-pat Poke Rafferty decides to settle down in Bangkok, but his life becomes complicated when his long-lost father appears on the run from the vengeful Colonel Chu whose retirement funds have disappeared.

Larsson, Stieg. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (BDD, 14.95) June. The first in a Swedish trilogy that is a spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, and financial intrigue.

Manotti, Dominique. Lorraine Connection (IPG, 11.95) May. An international electronics firm sends in its head of security to investigate when a rival company in France is hit by a suspicious fire, and he discovers a trail of murder, blackmail, and corporate malfeasance.

Nabb, Magdalen. The Marshall at the Villa Torrini (Soho, 12.00) and Vita Nuova (Soho, 13.00) July. The final two novels in the Florence-based series featuring the Marshal Guarnaccia of the carabinieri.

Nadel, Barbara. Arabesk (F&M, 14.95) July. Istanbul police Inspector Ikmen is confined to home by illness and must leave his case involving a murdered bride, a secret marriage, and a father driven mad by grief and guilt in a mystery set to Arabesk, the sentimental music adored by the Turkish working class.

Noort, Saskia. Back to the Coast (BL, 14.95) June. After she has an abortion a woman begins to receive threatening letters, and even after she goes into hiding the threats continue, causing her to fear for both her life and her sanity in a masterpiece of psychological suspense and clever plotting by the Dutch thriller writer.

Padura, Leonardo. Havana Fever (BL, 14.95) May. A former policeman who has turned antiquarian book dealer in Havana discovers an article from the 1950’s about a beautiful bolero singer who disappeared mysteriously in a novel that brings to life the Havana of Batista and Meyer Lansky with all the glittering corruption that was Cuba before the Revolution.

Pattison, Eliot. The Lord of Death (Soho, 24.00) June. Former Beijing police detective Inspector Shan, newly freed from the Tibetan gulag comes across a shooting of a Chinese tourist minister and a Western woman, but the authorities deny that she has died, forcing him to investigate the mysterious incident.

Preston, Douglas and Mario Spezi. The Monster of Florence (LB, 14.99) June. When Douglas Preston moved to a villa in Florence with his family, he never suspected that he would discover the identity of a serial killer and be asked to leave Italy and never return. A chilling tale of serial murder and police corruption that is all true.

Quartey, Kwei. Wife of the Gods (RH, 24.00) July. The first in an award-winning police procedural series set in Ghana, where detective Darko Dawson leaves the capital city of Accra to investigate a murder in a remote area, where the victim was the mistress of a married man and a controversial crusader against certain traditional beliefs.

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos. The Angel’s Game (BDD, 26.95) June. A writer of sensationalist novels, who lives in an old house in Barcelona where the previous owner died mysteriously is offered a fortune by a reclusive French editor to write a novel that will change “hearts and minds”, and as he begins to write he finds that the history of his house is coloring the novel he is writing in an atmospheric, gothic mystery about books.

Stanley, Michael. The Second Death of Goodluck Tinubu (HC, 24.95) June. Botswana detective Bengu must investigate the murder of a Zimbabwean teacher and a South African tourist at a bush camp in the north of Botswana, and things become more difficult when another bush camp guest disappears in a case tied to Zimbabwean politics.

Steiner, Peter. L’Assassin (STM, 13.95) July. A former American intelligence agent living in Provence becomes embroiled in a case with far-reaching consequences when his house is broken into in the second in a series that is a cross between Life in Provence and a Lee Child thriller. I love this series.

Suter, Martin. A Deal with the Devil (IPG, 14.95) May. A divorced woman who suffers from synaesthesia moves to an Alpine village to find peace, but a series of unusual happenings—happenings that parallel local folklore tales of the supernatural—force her to confront a deepening mystery in a German mystery shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger Award.

Swarup, Vikas. Six Suspects (STM, 24.99) July. When a New Delhi industrialist celebrating his acquittal for a particularly callous murder is shot to death, the authorities zero in on six guests who have firearms in a satirical crime novel by the author of the book that was the basis for Slumdog Millionaire.

Vargas, Fred. The Chalk Circle Man (Png, 15.00) July. The first novel in the series (but not the first to be translated) introducing Comissaire Adamsberg who becomes uneasy when blue chalk circles begin to appear in neighborhoods around Paris, filled with bizarre objects—trombones, a pigeon’s foot, a doll’s head—and when a woman’s body is found in a chalk circle, he knows that he must find a cruel killer who has only just begun.

Wilson, Robert. The Ignorance of Blood (HMH, 27.00) June. The final in the four police procedurals set in Seville finds Inspector Javier Falcón struggling to find those responsible for a deadly terrorist attack, an investigation that quickly leads him to the Russian mob and a violent turf war over drugs and prostitution.

Zama, Farahad. Marriage Bureau for Rich People (Put, 24.95) June. An entertaining debut novel about a retired Indian gentleman who opens a marriage bureau and discovers that his assistant has a secret tragedy in her past that only he can resolve.

April/May 2009

Albert, Susan Wittig. Wormwood (Brk, 24.95) Apr. Looking for a chance to rest and relax, China goes to a Kentucky Shaker village to give a series of herbal workshops, but the tension that she senses beneath the serene exterior erupts in murder, a murder with ties to past sins.

Baldacci, David. First Family (GC, 27.99) Apr. After a daring kidnapping at a children’s birthday party at Camp David, the First Lady turns to Sean King and Michelle Maxwell to help release the hostage in another unstoppable thriller.

Barcomb, Wayne. The Hunted (STM, 24.95) Apr. A fast-paced police procedural about a child whose testimony puts her mother’s killer behind bars, and who years later becomes the target of the newly-released killer vowing revenge.

Barr, Nevada. Borderline (Putnam, 25.95) Apr. Anna Pigeon and her new husband go to Texas’ Big Bend National Park for a much-needed vacation, but the discovery of the body of a pregnant woman finds them investigating murder and intrigue that leads from the desert of Chihuahua to the Texas Governor’s Mansion.

Barnard, Robert. The Killings at Jubilee Terrace (SS, 24.00) May. DI Charlie Peace is called in when one of the actors on a long-running daytime television show has died under suspicious circumstances and finds that ferreting out a killer among trained actors in an environment where fact and fiction blur is no easy task. Vintage Barnard.

Blunt, Giles. No Such Creature (Holt, 25.00) May. A pair of gentleman thieves, a Shakespearean actor and his young ward, who travel the country during the summers pulling off elaborate heists find that they have attracted the attention of a gang of thieves who prey on other thieves in a suspenseful, funny, and thoroughly enjoyable caper novel.

Briant, Shane. Worst Nightmares (Vngd, 22.95) May. An award-winning writer who is suffering from writer’s block receives an anonymous manuscript about a man who snares his victims via his website, inducing them to reveal their worst nightmares and then killing them in the manner of their nightmares, and when he investigates further, he discovers that the novel may not be entirely fiction.

Bruen, Ken. Sanctuary (STM, 24.95) May. Irish PI Jack Taylor receives a letter containing a list of victims, including the name of a child forcing him on a hunt for a killer who is much closer than he realizes in the latest in this darkly funny noir series.

Caldwell, Joseph. The Pig Comes to Dinner (HC, 22.99) May. The second whimsical Irish tale is a ghost story, as newly-married Kitty McCloud and Kieran Sweeney stave off specters at Castle Kissane, but when the lord of the castle returns after his family’s two-century absence to reclaim the castle, it is the pig whose ramblings and rootings help to save the day. Sophie finds the eponymous pig an especially well-rounded character.

Cannell, Dorothy. She Shoots to Conquer (STM, 24.95) Apr. Ellie Haskell finds herself stranded at a delightfully Gothic estate on the Yorkshire moors where Mrs. Malloy has joined a TV reality show in which the prize is matrimony with the impecunious lord of the manor, but when a potential bride is shot during an archery contest, things become less delightful and more lethal.

Child, Lee. Gone Tomorrow (BDD, 27.00) May. Jack Reacher sees a woman on the New York subway who looks like a suicide bomber, and the deadly confrontation puts him on the trail that leads back to the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism today.

Clark, Carol Higgins. Cursed (SS, 25.00) Apr. Regan Reilly returns to Los Angeles where Regan had worked as a PI to help out a former neighbor who is sure her former boyfriend is out to get her, but when she begins to investigate she makes some startling discoveries about her neighbor as well as the creepy ex-boyfriend.

Clark, Mary Higgins. Just Take my Heart (SS, 25.95) Apr. With two of her childhood friends near death—one from an accident and the other needing a heart transplant—a Boston college professor discovers that the accident was no accident in a suspenseful thriller.

Cleland, Jane K. Killer Keepsakes (STM, 24.95) Apr. When her assistant fails to show up for work, and a dead body is found in her house, antiques dealer Josie Prescott realizes that she knows very little about her, but nonetheless she vows to find the killer and bring her assistant home safely.

Connelly, Michael. The Scarecrow (LB, 27.99) May. Newspaperman Jack McEvoy, who appeared in The Poet, returns and while he is working on a story about a sixteen-year-old drug dealer in jail for a brutal murder, he comes to believe that the confession was bogus and that another killer is operating under the police radar—with perfect knowledge of any move against him.

Davidson, Diane Mott. Fatally Flaky ( HC, 25.95) Apr. Colorado caterer Goldy Sculz has a run-in with Bridezilla that leads to murder in the latest in this delicious series.

Dugoni, Robert. Wrongful Death (SS, 25.00) Apr. Attorney David Sloane is hired by a woman whose husband was killed in Iraq due to faulty body armor, a case that may be impossible to bring due to a fifty-year-old law called the Feres doctrine, but while he is looking for a loophole to the law, he uncovers evidence of a dangerous enemy who will commit murder to keep the case out of the courts. This is a fast-paced legal thriller that combines interesting legal theory with white-knuckle suspense. Highly recommended.

Duncan, Elizabeth J. The Cold Light of Mourning (STM, 24.95) May. When an unpopular bride goes missing on her wedding day in a picturesque Welsh market town, the last person to have seen her is manicurist Penny Brannigan who investigates when she discovers that the woman who came in to her salon was an imposter in a prize-winning cozy debut.

Egan, K.J. Where it Lies (STM, 24.95) May. A debut mystery set in a golf club where the assistant pro decides to investigate after she finds the body of a groundskeeper hanging in the cart barn.

Eglin, Anthony. The Trail of the Wild Rose (STM, 24.95) Apr. In the latest in this English gardening series, Kingston finds himself at the center of a murder case when the search for an ancient Chinese rose turns deadly. For fans of John Sherwood.

Eisler, Barry. Fault Line (Ball, 25.00) Apr. A stand-alone thriller set in the San Francisco area featuring two estranged brothers—one a high-powered Silicon Valley attorney and the other a US government special-ops agent—who join together when the attorney’s client is murdered and he is attacked by someone who’ll go to any lengths to stop a new encryption application. I loved this for the character development and the suspenseful plotting. It is a tribute to Eisler’s skill as a novelist that even a techno-idiot like me could understand the high-tech elements.

Emery, Anne. Cecilian Vespers (IPG, 24.95) May. Lawyer and bluesman Monty Collins investigates the murder of a controversial German theologian at a choir school in Nova Scotia dedicated to preserving the traditional music of the Roman Catholic Church in a case that sends him to the Vatican searching for answers in the latest by the Arthur Ellis Award-winning author.

Fielding, Joy. Still Life (SS, 25.00) Apr. A very creepy novel of suspense about a successful woman who is comatose after a car accident, but who can hear everything, even though she cannot speak, and realizes that nothing in her life is what she thought—including the accident that may have been no accident at all…. Fielding is a favorite because she accomplishes the difficult task of writing very edgy cozies.

Fletcher, Jessica and Donald Bain. Murder She Wrote: Madison Avenue Shoot (NAL, 21.95) Apr. At the behest of her nephew, Jessica goes to New York to appear in a commercial, but when one of the creative directors is killed, Jessica must turn to sleuthing to find the killer.

Freeman, Brian. In the Dark (STM, 24.95) Apr. The reopening of a brutal unsolved murder from his past, has Minnesota police officer Jonathan Stride questioning his entire past even as he works to solve the murder of a young girl and to investigate the suicide of a witness to the past crime.

Freveletti, Jamie. Running from the Devil (HC, 24.95) May. A debut thriller that begins with a plane crashing in the jungles of Colombia and leads to a high octane pursuit as an elite military contractor, guerillas, an undercover spy, and a beautiful villain pursue one another and a volatile biological weapon set to be auctioned to the highest bidder.

George, Elizabeth, ed. Two of the Deadliest (HC, 25.95) Apr. A collection of new short stories written by outstanding women of mystery, concentrated on the two deadly sins of lust and greed.

Gilman, Keith. Father’s Day (STM, 24.95) May. A PI follows a runaway teenager to Philadelphia where he finds himself in the middle of a Chinese drug operation in this prizewinning debut.

Goldenbaum, Sally. Patterns in the Sand (NAL, 23.95) May. When a gallery owner is killed in a seaside village in Massachusetts and leaves his entire estate to a newly-arrived fiber artist, the Seaside knitters discover that both the owner and the artist have been keeping some very dark secrets indeed. `

Green, Tim. Above the Law (GC, 24.99) Mar. Casey Jordan has left her high-powered law firm and has opened a legal aid clinic, and when she accepts the case of an illegal Mexican immigrant shot by a Texas senator who claims it was a hunting accident despite damning evidence from the wife of the immigrant, she discovers that some powerful people believe that they can get away with murder.

Greenwood, Kerry. Devil’s Food (PP, 24.95) May. Australian baker Corinna Chapman returns to sleuth once more when her hippie mother arrives on her doorstep announcing that her father has disappeared during a midlife crisis, but things are complicated when two of her employees are poisoned by a toxic tea in two cases that are tied together by a sinister cult.

Grippando, James. Intent to Kill (HC, 25.95) May. A stand-alone thriller about a grief-stricken husband who suddenly discovers that the hit-and-run that killed his wife was no accident.

Gunn, Elizabeth. New River Blues (SH, 28.95) Apr. TPD officer Sarah Burke is called to a horrific double murder in a wealthy Tucson neighborhood that reveals the tragic destiny of a troubled family while at the same time, she must deal with her own dysfunctional family in the second in this excellent Tucson-based series.

Haddam, Jane. Living Witness (STM, 25.95) Apr. Former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian is asked by the police chief of a small Pennsylvania town to investigate when an elderly school-board member is seriously wounded in an attack after joining in a lawsuit against the teaching of “intelligent design.”

Hall, Parnell. Dead Man’s Puzzle (STM, 24.95) Apr. Puzzle Lady Cora Felton is in over her head when the local police chief asks for her help to solve a crossword puzzle found on a dead man, but she starts snooping around anyway and discovers a portfolio of reasons to kill the old man.

Harris, Charlaine. Dead and Gone (Brk, 25.95) May. Sookie Stackhouse investigates when the corpse of a were-panther is found near the bar where she works in Bon Temps, Louisiana, and discovers that an inhuman conspiracy is at work.

Harris, Paul. The Secret Keeper (Png, 24.95) Apr. A journalist who was a war correspondent in Sierra Leone receives a letter from a beautiful American woman he knew there years ago only to discover that she has been murdered in Freetown, and when he returns to find out what happened, he uncovers secrets that could destroy those now in power.

Hart, Carolyn. Dare to Die (HC, 23.95) Apr. When Annie and Max Darling invite a beautiful young woman who has newly returned to Broward’s Rock to a party, they never expect her to arrive accompanied by Death, in a case that has them under attack from one of their friends.

Hart, John. The Last Child (STM, 24.95) May. In another suspenseful thriller with an emotional force and depth of characterization that one expects from literary fiction, two people in a North Carolina town—a thirteen-year-old boy and a police detective—search for a missing teenaged girl in a quest that reveals the dark secrets of their hometown.

Hayes, J. M. Server Down (PP, 24.95) May. While Sheriff English is in Benteen County, Kansas investigating the bombing of Mad Dog’s house, Mad Dog is in Tucson attending the Yaqui Easter ceremonies in Tucson, and framed for the murder of a policeman.

Henry, Sue. The End of the Road (NAL, 23.95) Apr. Maxie and Stretch are back in Alaska, but the quiet of their hometown is shattered by a murder, and the two—elderly woman and mini-dachshund—vow to find the killer.

Herron, Mick. Smoke & Whispers (Soho, 25.00) Apr. Publisher Sarah Tucker heads to Newcastle when a PI friend is found dead in the Tyne, an apparent suicide, but she is doubtful because her friend had been investigating a killer whose modus operandi was to murder in ways that suggested suicide or accident. Intricate plotting with lots of surprises is Herron’s forte.

Hoffman, Jilliane. Plea of Insanity (Vngd, 25.95) Apr. A Miami prosecutor is assigned to the case of a successful surgeon charged with killing his wife and young children who is pleading Guilty by Reason of Insanity, claiming that paranoid delusions caused by schizophrenia drove him to murder his family, but she finds that the case has personal ramifications as it brings up her own past

Housewright, David. Jelly’s Gold (STM, 24.95) May. When two graduate students ask unofficial St Paul PI Rushmore McKenzie to help them find $8 million in gold missing since the 1930’s, he doesn’t realize that some of the other treasure hunters are murderously determined to get the gold first.

Jackson, Lisa. Malice (Ken, 25.00) Apr. When he recovers consciousness after a serious accident, a New Orleans detective sees his first wife standing in the doorway of his hospital room—but she died in a car wreck twelve years ago—so soon he is following a trail that leads him to Los Angeles and a series of murders committed by someone who wants him to suffer for what happened.

Johansen, Iris. Deadlock (STM, 26.95) Apr. A woman whose job is to protect archaeological treasures in war zones is kidnapped along with her team, but when the mercenary who’s called in by the CIA to rescue her finds her, he discovers that she is bent on revenge against her captors.

Johnson, Denis. Nobody Move (FSG, 22.00) May. A provocative thriller set in the American West, the story of an assortment of low-lifes and their cat-and-mouse game over $2.3 million. Darkly, outrageously funny homage to Hammett and Chandler.

Jonge, Peter de. Shadows Still Remain (HC, 25.95) May. An NYC Detective becomes obsessed with the case of a missing NYU student whose body is later found encased in plastic, and even after the case is assigned to a legendary Homicide detective, she continues to investigate secretly in a world of cold-blooded depravity.

Karp, Marshall. Flipping Out (STM, 24.95) Apr. When the wife of a fellow cop is murdered, LAPD detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs investigate a house-flipping group whose success is tied to the participation of a best-selling mystery novelist whose series features a murder in the renovated houses. This is a funny series with very clever plotting.

Kellerman, Jonathan. True Detectives (Ball, 27.00) Apr. Two brothers, one a PI and one an LAPD detective, take center stage when the disappearance of a young girl with ties to the movie industry finds them pursuing the same leads.

Koslow, Sally. The Late, Lamented Molly Marx (Ball, 23.00) May. Narrating the novel from an afterworld limbo, Molly follows the investigation into her death as the police check out a plethora of suspects, from her philandering husband, her controlling mother-in-law, her lover, to the many wifely hopefuls wanting to fill her place in a poignantly funny debut.

Land, Jon. Strong Enough to Die (STM, 24.95) May. A fifth-generation Texas Ranger questions her calling after a deadly shoot-out, but she discovers a terrifying plot against the U.S., and her only hope for survival is to team up with an outlaw who holds the key to the truth.

Leonard, Elmore. Road Dogs (HC, 26.95) May. Jack Foley from Out of Sight returns in a new caper novel by the master of the fast-paced comic mystery.

Leonard, Peter. Trust Me (STM, 24.95) Apr. A caper novel set in Detroit and Chicago about a woman who mistakenly entrusts $300,000 to her bookmaker boyfriend only to find herself–and the money—the target of thieves, hit men, and her now-ex-boyfriend.

Leroy, Margaret. Yes, My Darling Daughter (FSG, 25.00) Apr. An old-fashioned, atmospheric gothic tale of betrayal and death that begins when a child begins behaving oddly and aggressively and her mother, at her wit’s end but believing that her child is exhibiting past-life experiences, takes her to a university professor who specializes in the paranormal only to discover a disturbing murder mystery.

Levine, Laura. Killer Cruise (Ken, 22.00) May. Freelance writer Jaine Austen is conducting a writing workshop on a cruise from LA to Mexico when she finds that her cat Prozac has stowed away in the luggage, leading to her being blackmailed into editing the 900-page thriller written by the room steward to keep her secret, but little does she know that she’ll have a non-literary use for the weighty tome when a gold-digging “gentleman escort” is found murdered and she discovers the killer.

Lindsay, Frederick. My Life as a Man (STM, 24.95) Apr. One of the best of the Scottish mystery writers is finally available in an American edition with this dark thriller about a young man who impulsively steals his former boss’ car with his boss’ older wife inside, setting off an unlikely romance and a chilling chase that becomes increasingly sinister.

Listfield, Emily. Best Intentions (SS, 26.00) May. A Manhattan woman begins to have doubts about her husband’s fidelity, suspecting that he may be having an affair with a close friend from college, and when the friend is found murdered, she begins to wonder if he isn’t a murderer as well.

Loomis, Jon. Mating Season (STM, 24.95) May. The second in the series set in Provincetown featuring Detective Frank Coffin is a delight—laugh-out-loud comedy is mixed with suspenseful plotting when Coffin investigates the murder of a beautiful heiress who slept with most of the local men, married or not. Highly recommended.

Lowe, Tom. A False Dawn (STM, 24.95) Apr. A burnt-out Miami cop who has retired to a small town in central Florida stumbles across a young woman who has been beaten and raped, plunging him into the nightmare world of human trafficking and sexual slavery in a powerful debut.

Lowry, Elizabeth. The Bellini Madonna (FSG, 25.00) May. A debut literary thriller about a an over-the-hill art historian who believes that a lost masterpiece by Bellini is hidden in a crumbling English manor house, and while attempting to gull the eccentric women who live there out of the painting, he comes across a Victorian diary that may provide the key to the whereabouts of the painting.

Marshall, Michael. Bad Things (HC, 24.95) May. A man whose young son disappeared four years ago is contacted by a man who claims to know the truth, but when he decides to return he unleashes a terrifying sequence of events in a psychological thriller.

Martinez, A. Lee. Monster (GC, 19.99) May. A funny tale of a pest control expert whose job is removing mythological creatures from suburbia and who finds himself in over his head when a supermarket clerk calls him to remove a Yeti from the frozen food aisle where it’s eating all the rocky road ice cream. (If you ever wondered, Yetis loathe vanilla).

Masters, Priscilla. Buried in Clay (A&B, 29.95) Mar. When an antiques dealer bids for an eighteenth-century clay jug at auction, she becomes involved in a mystery that has its roots in the past and the dark history of an ancestral manor house.

Meier, Leslie. Mother’s Day Murder (Ken, 22.00) Apr. Two feuding mothers team up to host an after-prom party for their teenaged daughters, but afterwards one is found dead, leading Lucy Stone to investigate a killer who has a lot to learn about motherly love.

Moerk, Christian. Darling Jim (Holt, 25.00) Apr. A modern Irish gothic novel where a murdered woman’s diary provides the clues to her death and the beguiling stranger that she and her sisters fall in love with.

Mostert, Natasha. Keeper of Light and Dark (Png, 25.95) Apr. A supernatural thriller blending science, magic, and martial arts, featuring a martial artist in South London who must protect herself and her lover from a martial artist who is a vampire, a brilliant scientist who uses the secrets in an ancient Chinese medical text to drain others of their chi.

Neme, Laurel. Animal Investigators (SS, 25.00) Apr. The true-life story of the first forensics lab dedicated to solving animal cases in a combination of science, mystery, and wildlife conservation. Fascinating reading.

Patterson, James and Maxine Paetro. The 8^th Confession (LB, 27.99) Apr. The murder of a popular minister who preached a message of hope to the homeless and the mysterious death of a wealthy couple are the two cases that bring the Women’s Murder Club together to unravel the dark secrets that lie behind the killings.

Pennie, Ross. Tainted (IPG, 24.95) Apr. A debut featuring an Ontario public health officer and former chef who must race to find the truth behind three mysterious deaths from mad cow disease without provoking a panic. Canadian Pennie is an infectious disease specialist.

Preston, Douglas and Lincoln Child. Cemetery Dance (GC, 26.99) May. Agent Pendergast undertakes a private quest for the truth when a New York Times reporter and an archaeologist are brutally attacked and witnesses say that the assailant was a neighbor who had died two weeks before, in a case that leads him to a Manhattan enclave and a cult of Zombi.

Pronzini, Bill. Schemers (STM, 24.95) Apr. Nameless Detective takes on the puzzling case of the theft of rare books from a multimillionaire collector who left them in a locked room.

Riggs, Cynthia. Death and Honesty (STM, 24.95) May. An entertaining mystery set on Martha’s Vineyard featuring ninety-two-year-old poet/sleuth Victoria Turnbull who discovers three bodies in a case that’s tied to the town assessor’s office, where the three assessors have been skimming off tax money to fund their retirement.

Rosett, Sara. Magnolias, Moonlight, and Murder (Ken, 22.00) Apr. Stationed in Georgia with her military husband, Ellie Avery investigates the year-old murder of a journalist whose notebooks contain nasty secrets about everyone in town.

Ross, Ann B. Miss Julia Delivers the Goods (Vik, 24.95) Apr. Miss Julia hires J.D. Pickens PI not only because she knows that he’s the only one who can solve the crime when a heist takes place in Abbottsville, but also because he is the father of the twins that Hazel Marie is expecting. If you like your mystery very cozy and as southern as sweet tea, you’ll love this series.

Sandford, John. Wicked Prey (Putnam, 26.95) May. Lucas Davenport is beset with problems with the Republican party arriving in St. Paul for their convention, but the most serious is personal—a psycho with a grudge is planning to get his revenge against Davenport by attacking his fourteen-year-old daughter.

Scottoline, Lisa. Look Again (STM, 26.95) Apr. A stand-alone thriller about a journalist who sees a missing child flyer with a photographic that looks suspiciously like her adopted son, and when she investigates she risks losing both her son and her life.

Siegel, Sheldon. Perfect Alibi (McAdam, 26.00) May. Attorney Mike Daley and Rosie, his ex-wife law partner are appalled to learn that their teenaged daughter’s boyfriend has been arrested for killing his father, and that she is his alibi, in a case that leads them to a sex scandal among San Francisco’s most powerful families.

Simon, Clea. Probable Claws (PP, 24.95) Apr. When cats at a shelter begin getting sick and the shelter owner claims the kibble was poisoned, journalist Theda Krakow investigates and discovers that shelter politics is a cat-fight with different groups scratching and clawing for power, and when a murderer pounces, she knows that she must work fast to save herself and her cat Musetta.

Tafoya, Dennis. Dope Thief (STM, 24.95) May. A hard-boiled debut about two friends who specialize in scamming small-time drug dealers, posing as DEA agents to confiscate their money and drugs, a perfect sting that works beautifully until they choose the wrong target—someone who will kill to get back his hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Talton, Jon. The Pain Nurse (PP, 24.95) Apr. A former homicide detective and a nurse at a large Cincinnati hospital join forces when a doctor is murdered in a case that has all the marks of a serial killer case that had supposedly been solved years before.

Tope, Rebecca. Slaughter in the Cotswolds (A&B, 29.95) May. Thea is housesitting in Lower Slaughter following her father’s death, but when her sister shows up after witnessing a horrific murder, it appears that the village is living up to its name.

Trow, M.J. Maxwell’s Revenge (A&B, 29.95) May. Schoolmaster Peter Maxwell is thrust into an investigation when a party for the new head teacher sends the faculty to the hospital, and he and his policewoman fiancée must unravel the mystery.

Ure, Louise. Liars Anonymous (STM. 25.95) Apr. Publisher’s Weekly gave this Tucson-based thriller a starred review for its suspenseful plotting and brilliant characterization of roadside assistance operator Jessie Dancing, a woman with dark secrets and a violent past, who thinks she hears a man being killed while he’s on the phone with her, but when she visits his wife, she claims that he’s alive and well. Highly recommended.

Viets, Elaine. Killer Cuts (NAL, 22.95) May. Helen’s latest dead-end job is at an elegant hair salon and when a celebrity client is murdered, her boss is the prime suspect, so she must find the murderer to keep her job.

Waiwaiole, Lono. Dark Paradise (Dennis McMillan, 35.00) Apr. Set on Hawaii’s Big Island this fast-moving stand-alone thriller focuses on the battles between those who want to control the island’s lucrative drug trade from locals to Japanese suppliers to ambitious Mexican dealers, while criminal investigator Geronimo Souza struggles to keep the carnage to a minimum.

Wall, Kathryn R. Covenant Hall (STM, 24.95) May. When South Carolina PI Bay Tanner agrees to help a desperate woman who is looking for her estranged family when her daughter needs a bone-marrow transplant, little does she realize that an old murder and a woman from her own past may hold the key to the mystery.

Wells, Shirley. Where Petals Fall (Soho, 25.00) May. When a woman’s body is found in a quarry, the murder points to a series of murders that occurred five years ago, but Forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy and DCI Trentham know that the killer is dead…or is he?

Wiehl, Liz and April Henry. Face of Betrayal (Thomas Nelson, 24.99) Apr. Wiehl, a Fox News commentator has teamed up with Henry on a political thriller with a twisty plot about three friends, an FBI agent, a crime reporter, and a federal prosecutor, who team up to find out what happened to a teenaged Senate page who has disappeared from her home.

Woods, Stuart. Loitering with Intent (Putnam, 25.95) Apr. Stone Barrington is hired to locate the missing son of a wealthy man, who has disappeared in the Florida keys, but the job is not as easy as it first appears when it becomes evident that the young man may not want to be found.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Reprint

Abrahams, Peter. Delusion (HC, 7.99) Apr.

Albert, Susan Wittig. Nightshade (Brk, 7.99) Apr.

Barr, Nevada. Winter Study (Brk, 9.99) Apr.

Booth, Stephen. Scared to Live (BDD, 7.50) May.

Box, C.J. Blood Trail (Brk, 7.99) May.

Braver, Gary. Skin Deep (STM, 7.99) Apr.

Child, Lee. Nothing to Lose (BDD, 7.99) Apr.

Clark, Mary Higgins. Where Are You Now (Pkt, 7.99) Apr.

Crais, Robert. Chasing Darkness (Pkt, 9.99) Apr.

Daheim, Mary. Alpine Traitor (BDD, 6.99) Apr.

Deaver, Jeffery. The Broken Window (Pkt, 9.99) May.

Deutermann, P.T. The Moonpool (STM, 7.99) May.

Galenorn, Yasmine. Legend of the Jade Dragon (Brk, 7.99) May. Reissue of the second Chintz ‘n China mystery.

George, Elizabeth. Careless in Red (HC, 7.99) May.

Gerritsen, Tess. The Sinner (BDD, 7.99) May. Reissue.

Greenlaw, Linda. Fisherman’s Bend (HC, 7.99) May.

Haddam, Jane. Cheating at Solitaire (STM, 7.99) Apr.

Harris, Charlaine. From Dead to Worse (Brk, 7.99) Apr.

_____. Last Scene Alive (Brk, 7.99) May. Reissue.

Hart, Carolyn. Death Walked In (HC, 7.99) Apr.

Henry, Sue. Degrees of Separation (NAL, 6.99) Apr.

Hess, Joan. Busy Bodies (STM, 6.99) May. Reissue.

Howard, Linda. Death Angel (BDD, 7.99) May.

Isaacs, Susan. Past Perfect (Pkt, 7.99) May.

Johansen, Iris. Dark Summer (STM, 7.99) May.

Logan, Chuck. South of Shiloh (HC, 7.99) Apr.

Lowell, Elizabeth. Blue Smoke and Murder (HC, 7.99) Apr.

Margolin, Phillip. Executive Privilege (HC, 9.99) May.

Martini, Steve. Shadow of Power (HC, 7.99) Apr.

Page, Katherine Hall. The Body in the Gallery (HC, 7.99) May.

Parker, Barbara. The Dark of Day (Vngd, 7.99) May.

Parsons, Terri. Blind Rage (Brk, 7.99) Apr.

Patterson, James with Howard Roughan. Sail (GC, 9.99) May.

Robards, Karen. Guilty (NAL, 7.99) Apr.

Robbins, David L. The Betrayal Game (BDD, 7.50) Apr.

Sandford, John. Phantom Prey (Brk, 9.99) May.

Sims, Elizabeth. The Actress (STM, 6.99) Apr.

Spencer-Fleming, Julia. I Shall Not Want (STM, 7.99) May.

Terrell, Heather. The Map Thief (BDD, 7.99) May.

Thomas, Steven M. Criminal Paradise (BDD, 7.99) Apr.

Unger, Lisa. Black Out (BDD, 7.99) May.

Viets, Elaine. Clubbed to Death (NAL, 6.99) May.

White, Randy Wayne, writing as Randy Striker. Grand Cayman Slam (NAL, 6.99) Apr. Reissue.

Woods, Stuart. Hot Mahogany (NAL, 9.99) May.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Original

Baxter, Cynthia. Too Rich and too Dead (BDD, 6.99) Apr. Travel writer and inadvertent amateur sleuth Mallory Marlowe must find a killer on the slopes of Aspen in the second in this cozy series.

Benedict, Lyn. Sins & Shadows (Brk, 7.99) May. First in a new fantasy/mystery series featuring a PI specializing in cases in a world where magic is real and she is forced by the God of Justice to find his missing lover despite her desire to close up shop after an employee is murdered.

Cohen, Jeffrey. A Night at the Operation (Brk, 7.99) Apr. Theater-owner Elliott Freed turns his focus on murder when his ex-wife disappears, accused of murdering her patient in the third in this funny cozy series.

Cutler, Judith. Still Waters (A&B, 15.95) May. DCS Fran Horman is facing personal problems when she is handed the case of a man who falls from a fifth floor of a hotel in Hythe. It’s unlikely he jumped because if he wanted to commit suicide, he had a perfectly good balcony at home.

Harlin, Christina. My Boss is a Serial Killer (Sourcebks, 6.99) Apr. A funny, romantic mystery debut featuring a legal secretary in Kansas City who adores her boss, only to begin to suspect him when a handsome police detective investigating the suspicious death of one of his female clients uncovers evidence that a number of his female clients have died under mysterious circumstances.

Johnston, Linda O. Never Say Sty (Brk, 7.99) Apr. L.A. attorney and pet-sitter Kendra takes on a job masterminding a new reality show for animals, which turns messier that a herd of potbellied pigs when the producer is suspected of murder. Naturally she goes hog-wild rooting out clues.

Kelner, Toni L.P. Curse of the Kissing Cousins (Brk, 6.99) May. Agatha Award-winning author Kelner with a new series featuring a Boston freelance reporter who specializes in articles about former stage and screen stars and what they’re doing now, but when someone starts murdering the cast from a television show, she turns her investigative skills to sleuthing.

Kendall, Karen. Take Me Two Times (NAL, 6.99) Apr. The second in the romantic-suspense series featuring art recovery agent Gwen Davies who goes to Venice to recover a solid-gold Carnival mask that has been stolen.

Lavene, Joyce and Jim. A Corpse for Yew (Brk, 7.99) May. Garden shop owner Peggy Lee joins her mother on an expedition with the local historical society and discovers a fellow volunteer dead.

Maffini, Mary Jane. Death Loves a Messy Desk (Brk, 6.99) May. Professional organizer Charlotte Adams is hired to organize a coworker’s cluttered desk and must dig through the mess to find the missing owner.

Marsella, Celeste. Perfectly Criminal (BDD, 6.99) Apr. The second in this fine series featuring a Rhode Island assistant attorney general and her two friends find the three jeopardizing their careers to help one of their own in series that successfully melds Janet Evanovich’s east-coast urban milieu with smart, competent female characters.

Mulgray Twins. Under Suspicion (A&B, 15.95) Mar. Customs and Revenue Officer DJ Smith goes undercover to trap a businessman in charge of a massive money-laundering scheme and her greatest asset is her moth-eaten Persian cat Gorgonzola in another comic mystery.

Price, Suzanne. Notoriously Neat (NAL, 6.99) Apr. When professional cleaner Sky Taylor’s date is interrupted by a stampede of pets let loose from the local veterinarian’s clinic, she must sweep for clues after discovering the veterinarian has been murdered.

Sandom, J.G. The God Machine (BDD, 7.50) May. A tale of secret societies, ancient cover-ups, and non-stop action about a man who discovers Benjamin Franklin’s coded diaries setting him on a quest for the legendary Gospel of Judas.

Solomon, Annie. One Deadly Sin (GC, 6.99) May. A young woman returns to her hometown to avenge her father’s death, so when the townspeople who receive a miniature black angel begin to die, the county sheriff assumes that she is responsible—or is someone else setting her up?

Stewart, Mariah. Death Angel (BDD, 6.99) May. The second in the trilogy featuring a crime-scene investigator and a forensic psychologist hunting a vanished coed.

Swanson, Denise. Murder of a Royal Pain (NAL, 6.99) Apr. When Scumble River school psychologist Skye Denison stumbles over the body of a pushy “promfest” mother at the Halloween fundraiser, she is horrified to discover that they are wearing the same witch costume. So which witch is the intended victim?

Sweeney, Leann. The Cat, the Quilt, and the Corpse (NAL, 6.99) May. The first in a new series for cat-lovers, featuring a woman whose search for her missing Abyssinian cat leads to the discovery of a dead body and a dangerous catnapping ring.

New and Forthcoming in Quality Paperback

Argula, Anne. Krapp’s Last Cassette (RH, 14.00) Apr. Seattle detective Quinn is summoned to Hollywood by a screenwriter with an unusual request: to help prove the existence of a teenaged abuse victim whose memoir is being turned into a television program and whose existence has been called into question by a reporter.

Bruen, Ken. Cross (SSTM, 13.95) Apr. Jack Taylor reluctantly agrees to investigate when a boy has been crucified in Galway City, but when the boy’s sister is burned to death, he decides that justice demands he track down the killer.

Buffett, Jimmy. Swine Not? (LB, 14.99) May. The funny story that asks the question “Can a pot-bellied pig find happiness living in a fancy four-star hotel in NYC?” Fun for adults and appropriate for middle-grade readers.

Canadeo, Anne. While My Pretty One Knits (Pkt, 14.00) May. The first in a charming new cozy series featuring a group of knitters who join together when their teacher becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a rival knitting shop owner, and the important clue is found in the stomach of one of the victim’s dogs.

Craig, Daniel Edward. Murder at Graverly Manor (Mid Ink, 15.95) Apr. Hotelier Trevor Lambert returns to his family in Vancouver, Canada, and buys an inn that he plans to turn into a B&B, but the inn is haunted by the ghost of its former owner, and Trevor must deal with strange sounds, awful smells, and a demonic cat in the third in this funny series.

Fairstein, Linda. The Prosecution Rests (LB, 15.99) Apr. A collection of short stories written by some of the best legal thriller writers today all dealing with legal showdowns and courtroom dramas.

Fowler, Karen Joy. Wit’s End (Png, 15.00) May. After the deaths of her father and brother, a young woman comes to the house of her godmother, a famous mystery novelist, a house filled with eccentric characters and dollhouses that are crime scene replicas. A delightful book that subverts the whodunit.

Goldenbaum, Sally. Death by Cashmere (NAL, 14.00) Apr. The first in a new series set in a seaside village in Massassachusetts, where a group of knitters at a yarn shop investigate when the girl who rents the apartment above the shop is found dead in the harbor and sinister incidents occur in the apartment. A cozy yarn.

Harrod-Eagles, Cynthia. Orchestrated Death (F&M, 14.95) May. The first in the police procedural series finds London police inspector Bill Slider investigating the death of a mysterious violinist. This was originally announced for last winter.

Harwood, Seth. Jack Wakes Up (RH, 13.95) May. First in a new series featuring a former actor whose career was derailed by an arrest for domestic violence, who turns investigator when a friend who had set up a drug buy for some Czech visitors is found dead in his Jacuzzi.

Hill, Reginald. An April Shroud (F&M, 14.95) May. With Peter Pascoe on his honeymoon, Dalziel is on his own investigating a murder at a crumbing country manor in the fourth in this excellent series.

Hogg, Nicholas. Show Me the Sky (Canongate, 15.00) Apr. A rogue London policeman refuses to give up on his search for a missing self-destructive rock star, and journeys to Australia and Kenya based on the only clue he has—a nineteenth-century missionary’s journal that the rock star was reading when he disappeared.

Killian, Diana. Docketful of Poesy (Pers, 14.95) Apr. A series of mishaps during the filming of her memoir in England’s Lake District turn literary scholar Grace Hollister into a sleuth, especially after the screenwriter is killed in a hit-and-run accident.

Krueger, William Kent. Red Knife (SS, 15.00) May. Minnesota PI Cork Corcoran is caught in the middle of a tense showdown between local gang members and a gang from the Ojibwe Reservation in the latest in this atmospheric series set in the Northwoods.

Lewis, Pam. Perfect Family (SS, 15.00) Apr. The death of his sister plunges a young man from a wealthy Connecticut family into an investigation that reveals the dark secrets that are hidden by the façade of perfection.

Lippman, Laura. What the Dead Know (HC, 14.95) Feb. When a woman appears claiming to be one of two sisters who disappeared from a shopping mall thirty years ago, the police can find nothing to support her story in a riveting story of crime and vengeance.

McCarry, Charles. Second Sight (Png, 14.95) Apr. CIA operative Paul Christopher is retired, but he is called in when throughout the Arab world agents are being kidnapped and forced to reveal their knowledge after they’re given a diabolical new drug.

McRae, Cricket. Spin a Wicked Web (Mid Ink, 14.95) Mar. Sophie Mae Reynolds has discovered a new-found passion for spinning, but when a fellow co-op member is found strangled with her first skein of yarn, Sophie Mae must unravel the truth in the third of this crafty series.

Molloy, Mary. The Wandering Heart (Con, 14.95) Apr. A supernatural thriller debut about an American history professor who is asked by a British aristocrat to look at some family artifacts collected during the third voyage of Captain Cook only to discover she may be related to the family that suffers from a suicidal “curse” on the women.

Patterson, James and Maxine Paetro. 7^th Heaven (GC, 14.99) Apr. The Women’s Murder club get together when two high-profile cases are overwhelming SFPD Detective Lindsay Boxer—the death of a wealthy couple from a fire at their home and the disappearance of the son of California’s ex-governor.

Pollero, Rhonda. Fat Chance (Pkt, 14.00) Mar. Palm Beach paralegal Finley Tanner is stunned when her mother insists on selling her the beachfront house that she shared with her late husband, and even more stunned when she finds a skeleton in the closet—the remains of a girl clutching a medallion that Finley had given to her stepfather when she was a girl.

Ross, Ann B. Miss Julia Paints the Town (Png, 14.00) Apr. Miss Julia knows the secrets that people have in the sleepy town of Abbotsville, and saves the day when several of the husbands appear to have flown the coop, while at the same time saving the old courthouse from being replaced by luxury condos.

Shreve, Anita. Testimony (LB, 14.99) May. A sex scandal at a New England boarding school unleashes tragedy as the faculty and students involved bear witness to the events of one fateful night.

Siegel, Sheldon. Judgment Day (McAdam, 15.00) Apr. The latest to feature odd-couple San Francisco attorneys Mike Daley and his ex-wife Rosie.

Sims, Michael. The Penguin Book of Gaslight Crime (Png, 15.00) Apr. A collection of short stories featuring rogues and scoundrels written at the time of Sherlock Holmes.

Slan, Joanna Campbell. Paper, Scissor, Death (Mid Ink, 14.95) Feb. The first in a scrapbooking and craft series featuring St. Louis shop-owner Kiki Lowenstein who must find out who killed her husband when she becomes the prime suspect.

Stanley, J.B. The Battered Body (Mid Ink, 14.95) Mar. A group of dieters in a small town join together for a supper club called the “Flab Five,” and find that solving murders is a great distraction from caloric temptations, so when the “Diva of Dough,” a rude creator of sweet confections is found dead, covered in batter, the group quickly finds itself full to the brim with suspects.

Talton, Jon. Camelback Falls (PP, 14.95) Apr. David Mapstone is appointed sheriff after his friend Peralta is shot, and finds that a cryptic note Peralta left before the shooting points directly to Mapstone’s past in the second of the excellent series that combines Phoenix history and mystery.

_____. Dry Heat (PP, 14.95) Apr. Fifty years after the shooting of an FBI agent in Phoenix his missing badge is found on the body of a transient, and Mapstone is called in to work on the cold case, but the murder of three members of a task force show that the case is heating up fast.

Thayer, Terri. Ocean Waves (Mid Ink, 14.95) Apr. Dewey’s plans to mix business and pleasure at a needlework symposium at a California beach resort, but when she sees a woman disappear into the sea, she must work to find a killer.

White, Karen. The Lost Hours (NAL, 14.00) Apr. For those of us who loved The House on Tradd Street, here’s something to read while we’re waiting for the next in the series, a lyrical novel about a young equestrienne recovering from a near-fatal accident at the house she inherited from her grandparents who comes across a scrapbook, a charm necklace, and a newspaper clipping from 1929 about the body of an infant found in the Savannah River, and discovers the secrets from her grandmother’s past.

Wolfe, Inger Ash. The Calling (HMH, 13.95) May. A police procedural set in a small town in Ontario featuring a sixty-ish DI who must stop a terrifying serial killer who targets the terminally ill while her bickering staff, her unsupportive superiors, and the town’s rumor mill conspire to make her job impossible. A first-rate debut.

New and Forthcoming in International Mysteries

Agarwal, Shilpa. Haunting Bombay (Soho, 24.95) Apr. A young girl who has been raised by her grandmother after her mother’s death accidentally unleashes family secrets and hidden shame when she opens a mysteriously bolted door during a monsoon in an award-winning debut novel set in the Malabar Heights of Bombay.

Brophy, Grace. A Deadly Paradise (Soho, 13.00) May. Commissario Cenni has a case with its roots in WWII Venice and the forgery of millions of British pounds when an elderly woman is found murdered in a small Umbrian village.

Byrnes, Michael. The Sacred Blood (HC, 24.95) Apr. When an American geneticist discovers that the DNA in the bones that she believes are those of Jesus Christ has miraculous healing powers, she becomes the target of a shadowy group after the relics, and must turn to Israeli archaeologist Amit Mizrachi and Egyptologist Julie LeRoux for help in an action-packed sequel to The Sacred Bones.

Cameron, Peter. Andorra (STM, 14.00) May. An American who has moved to Andorra after a personal tragedy finds the people he meets charmingly eccentric until a dead body is found in the harbor and everyone comes under suspicion—including the narrator.

Dahl, K.O. The Man in the Window (STM, 25.95) Apr. When an antiques dealer is killed in Oslo, Inspector Frolich and DCI Gunnarstranda find that the murder has its roots in the dark atrocities of the Nazi occupation in the second police procedural by the award-winning Norwegian mystery writer.

Disher, Garry. Blood Moon (Soho, 24.00) Apr. When the chaplain of a prestigious boarding school is beaten, Di Challis and DS Destry are called in, only to discover that the chaplain was head of a fundamentalist church preaching racism in a case with ties to a local politician in the latest in this excellent Australian police procedural series.

Ewan, Chris. The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam (STM, 13.95) May. A writer who is also a thief—stealing for a very discreet clientele on commission—is offered twenty thousand Euros to steal two small monkey figurines, but the jobs becomes more complicated when the American who hired him is found beaten nearly to death and he finds himself caught up in a dangerous caper involving menacing characters and a beautiful damsel in distress.

Freely, Maureen. Enlightenment (Png, 14.95) May. A convoluted tale of political intrigue, intelligence operatives, teenaged Turkish radicals, grisly murder, and dismembered bodies set in Istanbul written by the translator of the novels of Nobel Prize-winning Turkish writer Othan Pamuk.

Hall, Tarquin. Case of the Missing Servant (SS, 24.00) May. Vish Puri is the best PI in India, specializing primarily in background checks on prospective brides and grooms, but a more sensational case comes his way sending him deep into India’s divergent communities from the gated colonies of South Delhi to the uranium mines of Jharkhand.

Jeffries, Roderic. Sun, Sea, and Murder (Sev, 27.95) Apr. Mallorcan Insp. Enrique Alvarez must take a break from leisurely enjoying good food and drink when the English authorities ask him to check on the whereabouts of a suspected hit-and-run driver.

Kaminsky, Stuart M. People who Walk in Darkness (STM, 13.95) May. Porfiry petrovich Rostnikov travels to Siberia to investigate a murder at a diamond mind, but the trail leads him to Kiev and a vast conspiracy involving guest workers and stolen diamonds.

Leon, Donna. About Face (AtM, 24.00) Apr. Brunetti finds himself involved in an investigation of murder and corruption in Venice that is dirtier than anything he’s seen before—and not only because the case begins when a colleague asks him to look into a case of illegal garbage hauling.

_____. The Girl of His Dreams (Png, 14.00) Apr. Venetian inspector Brunetti delves into the secretive world of the Romani people who live on the fringes of society in the latest in this acclaimed series.

McCall Smith, Alexander. Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (RH, 23.95) Apr. Precious Ramotswe is dealing with the demise of her little white van when she accepts the job of finding the traitor deliberately sabotaging the games for the football team, the Kalahari Swoopers, in the tenth of the series.

Mankell, Henning. Italian Shoes (New Press, 26.95) Apr. A former surgeon who has retired to a remote island with his dog and cat finds his routine shattered when a former lover arrives to share a secret with him from their relationship forty years ago, forcing him to reconnect emotionally with people once again.

Nesser, Håkan. Woman with Birthmark (RH, 23.95) Apr. DCI Van Veeteren must find a young woman bent on a ruthless course of vengeance in a case where meticulous police work produces a tenuous link among the victims, but no link between the killer and the victims in an award-winning Swedish police procedural.

Recacoechea, Juan de. Andean Express (Akashic, 15.95) Apr. Set in Bolivia in 1952 during a train trip across the Antiplano from La Paz to the Chilean seaport of Arica, where a high-stakes card game, a quick sexual encounter, and a murder take place amidst a cross section of Bolivia’s population.

Roncagliolo, Santiago. Red April (RH, 24.95) Apr. A puzzling whodunit that shows the brutality of Peruvian society under the Fujimori regime featuring a district prosecutor who is posted to the provinces and who clashes with his superiors when a charred and mutilated corpse is found and the police resist all efforts to solve the crime.

Sepeda, Toni. Brunetti’s Venice (AtM, 16.95) Apr. A guidebook to Venice featuring a dozen walks that highlight churches, bars, and palazzos following in the footsteps of Donna Leon’s beloved Commissario.

Sigurdardóttir, Yrsa. Last Rituals (HC, 13.95) Apr. Reykjavik attorney is asked to investigate when a German student is found murdered after becoming involved with a mysterious group of Icelanders fascinated by Iceland’s dark past of witchcraft.

_____. My Soul to Take (HC, 24.95) Apr. When the body of a young woman is found at a new-age health resort in a possibly haunted renovated farmhouse, the chief suspect, the resort’s new owner, hires attorney Thóra Gudmundsdóttir to investigate, in the second in the Icelandic series.

Stanley, Michael. A Carrion Death (HC, 14.95) Apr. The first in a new series set in Botswana featuring a police officer who must investigate the murder of a man whose body was found near a waterhole considered magical by the local bush people in a case involving corrupt politicians and superstition.

Stone, David. The Venetian Judgment (Putnam, 25.95) Apr. CIA “cleaner” Micah Stone is in Venice when he receives a message that there is a possible mole in the CIA, sending him to Santorini and to Istanbul where he must prevent a plot to paralyze America’s most critical intelligence operations around the world. Fast-paced plotting and an authentic voice make this series a standout.

February/March 2009

Atherton, Nancy. Aunt Dimity Slays the Dragon (Png, 24.95) Feb. Lori Shepherd, with the ghostly help of her Aunt Dimity must fight to save her village’s tranquility when a nearby Renaissance Faire turns sinister.

Atkinson, Deborah Turrell. Pleasing the Dead (PP, 24.95) Feb. Honolulu attorney Storm Kayama discovers that the Yakuza—the Japanese organized crime group—has a stranglehold on local business, real estate, and politics when she becomes involved in a murder investigation in Kahului.

Ault, Sandi. Wild Sorrow (Brk, 23.95) Mar. Forced by a blizzard to take refuge in an abandoned Indian school, BLM agent Jamaica Wild finds the frozen body of an elderly Anglo woman in a case where she becomes the target for a killer.

Banks, Ray. Sucker Punch (HM, 25.00) Feb. PI Cal Innes is asked to accompany a boxer to Los Angeles for a boxing tournament, but the boxer’s temper and his codeine habit lead to problems for Cal in the second in this noir series.

Barnes, Jonathan. Domino Men (HC, 24.95) Feb. An eccentric spy thriller where a young filing clerk gets pulled into the Directorate’s secret war against the House of Windsor—Queen Victoria, it seems, made a Faustian pact with a nefarious entity that has come to collect all the souls of London and strange things are happening in the cellar beneath 10 Downing Street.

Bass, Jefferson. Bones of Betrayal (HC, 24.95) Feb. When the body of an elderly man who died of radiation poisoning is found, the Body Farm’s Director must solve a crime that has its roots in the Manhattan Project in 1945 with the help of an elderly lady who drifts between lucidity and dementia.

Berenson, Alex. The Silent Man (Put, 24.95) Feb. A high-octane spy thriller that begins with an attack on Washington that sends CIA agent John Wells to Russia on the trail of determined killers.

Berry, Jedediah. The Manual of Detection (Png, 25.95) Feb. A tightly-plotted debut novel that features a clerk in a large detective agency who must investigate when his supervisor is murdered, armed only with an umbrella and a detective handbook. This is a magical mystery that will remind you of Ruiz Zafon’s Shadow of the Wind.

Burke, Jan. The Messenger (SS, 25.00) Jan. A supernatural thriller from the author of the Irene Kelly mysteries about a woman who falls for her mysterious neighbor, a man who has lived for two hundred years in exchange for being a Messenger, who delivers the last thoughts of dying people to their loved ones.

Charles, Kate. Deep Waters (PP, 24.95) Mar. London curate Callie Anson becomes involved when the child of a celebrity couple in her parish dies, and she and police family liaison officer Mark Lombardi investigate together when another death occurs.

Childs, Laura. Oolong Dead (Brk, 23.95) Mar. While riding in a cross-country race through the South Carolina Low Country, Theodosia finds the body of her arch-nemesis dead in a thicket in a case that leads her from the saddle to the opera seat as she hunts for the murderer.

Cole, Meredith S. Posed for Murder (STM, 24.95) Feb. A New York photographer who specializes in photographing models in the poses of past murder victims has her one-woman gallery show closed down by the police when one of her models is murdered.

Conant-Park, Jessica and Susan Conant. Fed Up (Brk, 23.95) Feb. Boston student Chloe Carter interrupts her wedding planning and investigates when a woman who appears on her boyfriend’s cooking television show drops dead.

Crider, Bill. Murder in Four Parts (STM, 24.95) Feb. Sheriff Dan Rhodes is asked to join the Clearview Barbershop Chorus and before long he’s sorting through clues as well as melodies with some eccentric local characters.

Cussler, Clive. Corsair (Put, 26.95) Mar. When the US Secretary of State’s plane crashes en route to a conference in Libya, Juan Cabrillo is hired to search for her in a case that involves centuries-old Islamic scrolls and terrorists who will do anything to find them.

Dahler, Don. A Tight Lie (STM, 24.95) Mar. A professional golfer in Southern California who is also a licensed PI takes on the case of a rising football star accused of killing a stripper in a debut mystery set in the world of sleazy topless bars and high stakes sports agenting. I liked the protagonist, the black humor, and the fast-paced plot, but I was blown away by the fact that the author makes golf an interesting sport.

D’Amato, Brian. In the Courts of the Sun (Dutton, 28.95) Mar. A math prodigy who is a descendent of the ancient Maya is persuaded to travel back to 664 AD to discover the secrets of a newly discovered Mayan codex before the end of the world on December 21, 2012. This fantasy adventure got a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly.

Delany, Vicki. Valley of the Lost (PP, 24.95) Feb. British Columbia police officers Molly Smith and DS John Winters investigate the case of a young, unidentified woman found dead of a heroin overdose with a three-month-old baby by her side when it appears that the death may not have been accidental.

Depp, Daniel. Loser’s Town (SS, 25.00) Mar. The first in a new series featuring a former Hollywood stuntman turned PI who is hired to protect a hot new film star from a Mafia chief who’s using blackmail to have him produce a movie script. I liked this for the insider detail and the appealing protagonist, who has the values of an Arizona cowboy in a world where money and sleaze rule.

Dorsey, Tim. Nuclear Jellyfish (HC, 24.95) Feb. Psychopathic Florida historian Serge A. Storms returns in another adventure.

Dunn, Carola. Manna from Hades (STM, 24.95) Mar. A pleasantly old-fashioned contemporary cozy set in Cornwall where a widow who runs a charity shop in a small fishing village discovers that there is a dead body in the storeroom and that some donated jewelry is part of the haul from a violent robbery in London, leading her to call on her niece, a recently-promoted Detective Sergeant in the police to help solve the crime.

Ellis, Robert. The Lost Witness (STM, 25.95) Feb. Los Angeles Robbery-Homicide Detective Lena Gamble is assigned a no-win case—the body of an unidentified woman chopped up and left in a dumpster, with no witnesses, no leads, and lots of media attention. The first in this series was great.

Emley, Diane. The Deepest Cut (Ball, 24.00) Mar. The third police procedural to feature Pasadena homicide detective Nan Vining, recovering from a brutal attack, who, while on the case of a murdered ex-con in a clown suit sees a graffiti tag that reveals that her attacker is still at large and still after her. I love this series for its sympathetic protagonist, its strong sense of place, and its tight plotting.

Fluke, Joanne. Cream Puff Murder (Kens, 22.00) Mar. When Hannah goes to Lake Eden’s new health club, she discovers the body of a fitness instructor floating in the jacuzzi with a plate of cream puffs garnishing the scene.

Fowler, Earlene. Love Mercy (Brk, 24.95) Mar. A widowed woman in Morro Bay, California is unexpectedly reunited with her estranged eighteen-year-old granddaughter in a moving novel of family crises and family ties.

French, Nicci. Until It’s Over (STM, 25.95) Mar. A creepy psychological thriller about a group of roommates in London who find two bodies outside of their house in less than a week, leading them to wonder who will be next, told first from the point of view of a woman who appears to be linked to the deaths and.in the second part, from the point of view of the decidedly unpleasant murderer.

Gaynor, Tim. Midnight on the Line (STM, 25.95) Mar. A journalist’s look at life on the US-Mexico border filled with stories of midnight crossings and drug-smuggling, and an up-close look at the Shadow Wolves, hard-working Border Patrol agents, corrupt agents, smugglers, coyotes, and the Minutemen. This is a fascinating look at what’s going on just sixty miles from Tucson and puts human faces on a complex political issue. (It also makes clear why Arizona’s governor was the logical choice to head up the Department of Homeland Security).

Greeley, Andrew M. Irish Tweed (STM, 24.95) Feb. Nuala Anne McGrail and her daughters have taken up karate to fight against schoolyard bullies in their Chicago neighborhood, while her husband is investigating a mysterious illness that killed the family of a famine refugee.

Grisham, John. The Associate (BDD, 27.95) Feb. A young attorney with a stellar law school record, but with a secret in his past is blackmailed into accepting a job with a large law firm where he is expected to lie, steal, and take part in a deadly scheme involving two powerful defense contractors.

Gross, Andrew. Don’t Look Twice (HC, 25.95) Mar. Detective Ty Hauck is caught in a deadly maze of cover-up and corruption when a drive-by shooting in Connecticut leaves a federal prosecutor dead and others wounded and the gunman is killed before telling authorities who the intended victim was in the latest thriller by a master of suspense.

Harris, Rosemary. The Big Dirt Nap (STM, 24.95) Feb. Gardener Paula Holliday tags along on an all-expense paid junket to a fancy hotel where she plans to write an article about a rare flower on display, but when her friend’s would-be suitor is found dead under suspicious circumstances, she has to dig up clues to clear her friend’s name.

Harrison, Kim. White Witch, Black Curse (HC, 24.95) Mar. Bounty Hunter Rachel Morgan returns in a new supernatural adventure. Unfortunately this series has gotten so popular that the catalogue just mentions how well it sells and not what the book is about.

Higgins, Jack. A Darker Place (Put, 26.95) Feb. A Russian writer who wants to “disappear” into the West is helped by Sean Dillon to do so, but it appears that his plan is to infiltrate British and American intelligence at the highest levels.

Hill, Susan. The Risk of Darkness (Png, 24.95) Feb. DI Simon Serailler is assigned the case of a widowed husband who grief has turned to obsession and violence, a case made more complex by the detective’s attraction to a female Anglican priest.

Kozak, Harley Jane. A Date You Can’t Refuse (RH, 24.95) Mar. Wollie Shelley goes undercover for the FBI in a media training company with dangerous Middle Eastern political connections, where her job as a social coach ad dating surrogate for clients is more dangerous than she had realized. This is a funny series with a nice balance of laughs and chills.

Lakeman, Thomas. Broken Wing (STM, 25.95) Mar. FBI agent Mike Yeager is asked to infiltrate a New Orleans group that kidnapped a couple in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, murdered the husband, and is now set to sell the wife.

Lashner, William. Blood and Bone (HC, 24.95) Feb. When his father’s former law partner is killed, a Philadelphia man finds himself a possible suspect in the murder, forcing him to uncover secrets about his father’s death that lead to the corridors of political power.

Levine, Paul. Illegal (BDD, 22.00) Mar. A funny crime thriller with a serious underpinning featuring a Los Angeles trial attorney whose career and marriage have collapsed after the death of his son who finds redemption when he agrees to help a young illegal immigrant find his mother in a mystery that involves human trafficking and sexual slavery in California’s agricultural region. I liked this alot--Levine’s protagonists are always fun, although you wouldn’t want to marry one.

Levinson, Barbara. Fatal February (Midpt, 22.95) Feb. A funny legal thriller about a Miami attorney who takes the case of a woman accused of stabbing her philandering husband to death after she is fired by her boss—who is also her fiancé—having sex in the office with a sexy Cuban real estate developer.

Lippman, Laura. Life Sentences (HC, 24.95) Mar. A stand-alone mystery that raises difficult questions about the reliability of memory when a writer begins to research a book about a grade school classmate who was accused of killing her infant son.

Lutz, Lisa. Revenge of the Spellmans (SS, 25.00) Mar. San Francisco PI Izzy Spellman is in court-ordered therapy and working on the case of an errant wife, while Rae is in trouble after getting a phenomenal score on the PSATs, and David, the supposedly-sane Spellman, is behaving in very mysterious and inexplicable ways.

McDermid, Val. A Darker Domain (HC, 24.95) Feb. A Scottish DI in charge of the Cold Case Review team is handed two cases from 1985—the disappearance of a strikebreaking mine worker and the kidnapping and murder of an heiress and her son—in a stand-alone thriller that intertwines past and present.

Moore, Christopher. Fool (HC, 25.95) Feb. The funniest and most inventive writer today returns with a new book.

Mosley, Walter. The Long Fall (Png, 25.95) Mar. The first in a new series featuring a PI in New York, a former boxer, who is not above cutting a few corners in a case that proves that even seemingly harmless information can be dangerous, when he is hired by an Albany politician to track down four men known only by their youthful street names.

Murphy, Shirley Rousseau. Cat Playing Cupid (HC, 16.95) Feb. Joe, feline PI, along with Dulcie, and Kit try to keep a newly unearthed corpse from ruining Clyde’s wedding day in a Valentine’s Day crime spree.

Myers, Tamar. Batter off Dead (NAL, 22.95) Feb. When a woman known for her prodigious appetite falls dead after eating a mountain of pancakes at a church breakfast, the police chief calls on Magdalena to help him find out who prepared the fatal flapjacks.

Palmer, Michael. The Second Opinion (STM, 25.95) Feb. When her father, a celebrated internal medicine specialist, is critically injured in a hit-and-run accident, a young doctor fights to keep him alive since he is the only witness to what may not have been an accident.

Parker, Robert B. Night and Day (Put, 25.95) Feb. Jesse Stone is faced with a voyeur who has moved on to forcing his victims to strip at gunpoint and who’s threatening to go beyond that in a case that shows the dark side of Paradise.

Parker, T. Jefferson. The Renegades (Dutton, 26.95) Feb. When his partner is shot dead, Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff Charlie Hood has to discover who would want to kill an officer known as “Mr. Wonderful,” and his first discovery is that the victim didn’t live up to his nickname. Parker gets better with every book.

Patterson, James and Michael Ledwidge. Run for your Life (LB, 27.99) Feb. NYPD detective Mike Bennett is faced with a case of a murderer who targets rude people, who has made it his mission to teach people manners—or else.

Pickens, Cathy. Can’t Never Tell (STM, 24.95) Feb. Small-town attorney Avery Andrews finds life getting pretty exciting when a body is found in the local carnival’s fright house and later a faculty wife dies on a picnic during the Fourth of July weekend in the latest in this funny Southern cozy series.

Picoult, Jodi. Handle with Care (SS, 27.95) Mar. A couple whose child is born with serious medical problems must confront the questions that arise had they known about her condition before she was born in a heart-wrenching novel of parental love.

Quinn, Spencer. Dog On It (SS, 24.00) Feb. It’s time for Koko, Yum-Yum, and Mrs. Murphy to move over—the newest animal detective is canine! Chet may have flunked out of police school, but he’s now the detective partner to a PI in a southwestern town, and when they get a case of a missing teenager, he sniffs out the clues that lead to a crooked developer and the Russian Mob. This debut is a delight—Chet, who narrates the mystery, has an authentic, slightly hard-boiled, doggy voice, and the plotting and characterization are first-rate.

Rivers, Joan with Jerrilyn Farmer. Murder at the Academy Awards (Pkt, 25.00) Feb. Daniel and I almost came to blows when the reading copy of this arrived at the store—he because he loves Joan Rivers and I because I love Jerrilyn Farmer, but I was happy to prevail because this is a fun and funny roman á clef that combines a well-plotted mystery with Rivers’ celebrity dish, when a young bad-girl actress dies on the red carpet and celebrity interviewer Max Taylor must find out the truth by going to fancy post-awards parties and checking herself into a rehab center. I’d forgotten that Rivers was a comedienne before becoming a talk-show hostess.

Robards, Karen. Pursuit (Put, 24.95) Mar. When a young attorney is asked by the senior partner of the law firm where she works to meet with the First Lady she is plunged into a deadly conspiracy that results in the death of the First Lady that she barely survives.

Robb, J.D. Promises in Death (Put, 26.95) Feb. When an officer newly transferred to the NYPD from Atlanta is gunned down in front of her apartment, Eve Dallas investigates and finds disturbing connections to her own past.

Robotham, Michael. Shatter (BDD, 24.95) Mar. An award-winning mystery featuring psychologist Joe O’Laughlin who calls on a retired police detective to investigate a killer who uses psychological techniques to destroy people.

Roman, A.E. Chinatown Angel (STM, 24.95) Mar. A debut mystery set in New York, featuring PI Chico Santana who is hired by an actor to track down his missing cousin, but the case becomes more complicated when the actor’s Brazilian lover takes a fatal fall of the rooftop of her apartment.

Rotenberg, Robert. Old City Hall (FSG, 26.00) Mar. A debut novel set in Toronto about a talk-show host who claims to have killed his wife, but the case is far from open-and-shut, when the police detectives find strange fingerprints in the apartment.

Rozan, S.J. Shanghai Moon (STM, 24.95) Feb. Lydia Chin and Bill Smith return in a mystery set in Shanghai, where a cache of jewelry dating back to WWII when Shanghai was a safe haven for Jewish refugees has been discovered, only to be stolen again by a Chinese official.

Saknussemm, Kris. Private Midnight (Viking, 24.95) Mar. A seductive noir mystery with a bite of vampirism featuring a PI who becomes involved with a mysterious woman whose business is shadows, in a foray into mystery writing by a noted science fiction writer.

Schechter, Peter. Pipeline (HC, 24.95) Mar. A n international thriller of oil, greed, and power as Peruvian politician who joins forces with two Americans to take action when California is brought to chaos by statewide blackouts.

Stabenow, Dana. Whisper to the Blood (STM, 24.95) Feb. Aleut PI Kate Shugak has her hands full when the celebrity spokeswoman for a gold-mining company and a long-standing mine opponent are both found murdered in small-town Nimiltna, surrounded by Alaska’s largest national park.

Stahl, Jerry. Pain Killers (HC, 24.95) Mar. A PI is hired to go undercover in a California prison to determine if the elderly prisoner there is really who he claims to be—the Nazi Angel of Death, Joseph Mengele in a tour de force of deranged characters and the nature of identity.

Sundstrand, David. Shadows of Death (STM, 24.95) Mar. When an eco-terrorist kills two poachers in the Mojave Desert for shooting wild burros, FBI agent Frank Flynn is assigned the case—a difficult assignment because he is sympathetic to the man’s beliefs.

Vine, Barbara. The Birthday Present (RH, 25.00) Mar. When a wealthy Conservative member of Parliament decides to concoct a kinky present for his married mistress--a mock kidnapping--events spiral out of control and the result is a mixup of identities and murder. Vintage Vine, filled with complexityand psychological insight.

White, Randy Wayne. Dead Silence (Put, 25.95) Mar. When a US senator is kidnapped right in front of him, Doc Ford must travel to the Florida Keys in an effort to rescue her from a captor who has buried her alive.

Willig, Lauren. The Temptation of the Night Jasmine (Dutton, 25.95) Feb. A new spy appears in the Pink Carnation series, Robert, duke of Dovedale, who returns to England from India to infiltrate the notorious Hellfire Club in order to avenge the murder of his mentor and finds that the young lady who is his perfect partner in crime may also be his perfect partner in life. This series is a combination of contemporary novel with historical romance and suspense.

Wiprud, Brian. Feelers (STM, 24.95) Mar. A Brooklyn man who specializes in cleaning out the contents of homes after the owners have died discovers $800,000.00 hidden in a coffee can in a house he’s cleaning, but before he can retire to a Mexican seaside village he has to fend off others who want the loot including a paroled murderer. Funny and fast-moving.

Wood, Lee. Kingdom of Silence (STM, 24.95) Feb. In the second in this police procedural series set in Essex, DS Keen Dunliffe must hunt for the killer of a US Marshall and the prisoner he had brought to the UK to testify in the case against members of a radical animal rights group, while the countryside is in chaos due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Reprint

Atherton, Nancy. Aunt Dimity: Vampire Hunter (Png, 7.99) Feb.

Ault, Sandi. Wild Inferno (Brk, 7.99) Mar.

Baldacci, David. The Whole Truth (GC, 9.99) Mar.

Bass, Jefferson. The Devil’s Bones (HC, 7.99) Feb.

Berenson, Alex. The Ghost War (Brk, 9.99) Feb.

Brown, Rita Mae. The Purrfect Murder (BDD, 7.50) Feb.

Cannell, Dorothy. Goodbye, Ms. Chips (STM, 6.99) Mar.

Childs, Laura. The Silver Needle Murder (Brk, 7.99) Mar.

Clark, Carol Higgins. Zapped (Pkt, 7.99) Feb.

Coben, Harlan. Hold Tight (NAL, 9.99) Mar.

Conant, Susan and Jessica Conant-Park, Turn Up the Heat (Brk, 7.99) Feb.

Connolly, John. The Reapers (Pkt, 9.99) Mar.

Cussler, Clive with Jack Du Brul. Plague Ship (Brk, 9.99) Mar.

Fairstein, Linda. Killer Heat (BDD, 7.99) Feb.

Ferrigno, Robert. Sins of the Assassin (Pkt, 7.99) Feb.

Fielding, Joy. Charley’s Web (Pkt, 7.99) Feb.

Fletcher, Jessica and Donald Bain. Murder She Wrote: Murder on Parade (NAL, 7.50) Mar.

Fluke, Joanne. Carrot Cake Murder (Kens, 6.99) Feb.

Ford, G.M. Nameless Night (HC, 7.99) Feb.

French, Nicci. Losing You (STM, 7.99) Mar.

Frey, Stephen. The Fourth Order (BDD, 7.99) Feb.

Gibson, William. Spook Country (Brk, 9.99) Mar.

Greeley, Andrew M. Irish Tiger (STM, 7.99) Feb.

Gross, Andrew. The Dark Tide (HC, 7.99) Feb.

Hall, James W. Hell’s Bay (STM, 7.99) Mar.

Harris, Rosemary. Pushing up Daisies (STM, 6.99) Feb.

Hess, Joan. Mummy Dearest (STM, 6.99) Feb.

Kellerman, Jonathan. Bones (BDD, 9.99) Mar.

Leonard, Peter. Quiver (STM, 7.99) Mar.

Levien, David. City of the Sun (BDD, 7.99) Mar.

Lutz, Lisa. The Spellman Files (Pkt, 7.99) Feb.

Meier, Leslie. Tippy Toe Murder (Kens, 6.99) Feb. Reissue.

Navarro, Julia. The Bible of Clay (BDD, 7.50) Feb.

Parker, Robert B. Stranger in Paradise (Brk, 9.99) Feb.

Parker, T. Jefferson. L.A. Outlaws (NAL, 9.99) Feb.

Patterson, James. The Final Warning (GC, 7.99) Feb.

Rusch, Sheldon. Separated at Death (Brk, 7.99) Mar.

Sakey, Marcus. At the City’s Edge (STM, 7.99) Mar.

Scott, Manda. The Crystal Skull (BDD, 7.50) Mar.

Stabenow, Dana. Prepared for Rage (STM, 7.99) Feb.

Stewart, Mariah. Mercy Street (BDD, 6.99) Mar.

Tanenbaum, Robert K. Escape (Pkt, 9.99) Mar.

White, Kate. Lethally Blond (GC, 7.99) Mar.

White, Randy Wayne. Black Widow (Brk, 9.99) Mar.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Original

Anderson, Louise. Perception of Death (BDD, 6.99) Mar. A suspenseful mystery set in Glasgow featuring a young lawyer who must uncover a terrifying family secret in order to solve the murder of an old friend.

Barrett, Lorna. Bookmarked for Death (Brk, 6.99) Feb. A mystery bookseller must turn sleuth when a bestselling author is found dead in the washroom in this series that focusses on a different specialty bookstore.

Carlisle Kate. Homicide in Hardcover (NAL, 6.99) Feb. First in a new series featuring a San Francisco rare book expert who discovers her mentor lying in a pool of blood, with a priceless copy of Faust in his hand and a cryptic message on his dying lips.

Collins, Kate. Evil in Carnations (NAL, 6.99) Feb. When Abby’s roommate becomes the main suspect after a date with a man known for his cheating ways, she enlists the help of her boyfriend to find the real killer.

Connor, Beverly. Scattered Graves (NAL, 7.99) Feb. Forensic investigator Diane Fallon is called in when the newly-elected mayor and the police chief he has appointed are shot in the small Georgia town where she works.

Crandall, Susan. Seeing Red (GC, 6.99) Feb. A young woman who saw the face of the man who killed her cousin is in danger when he is paroled, but her cousin’s former boyfriend returns to protect her.

Dare, Jordan. Evil Without a Face (HC, 7.99) Feb. When Internet imposters lure a deluded teenager from her Alaskan home, two unlikely heroes enter the dangerous race to find her in a fast-moving novel of mystery and suspense.

Dennison, Hannah. Scoop! (Brk, 6.99) Mar. Obituary writer Vicky Hill investigates when a champion hedge cutter is accidentally killed when he slices through a power cable in the second of this funny, cozy series set in an English village.

Grace, Margaret. Malice in Miniature (Brk, 6.99) Feb. Geraldine’s nephew enlists her help in finding out who murdered a miniature artist’s boyfriend in the third in this crafty series.

Harris, Charlaine. A Fool and his Honey (Brk, 7.99) Feb. Aurora Teagarden has her hands full when her husband’s niece shows up with a new baby and a dead husband in this reissue of the sixth in the series.

Hughes, Charlotte. Nutcase (Brk, 7.99) Mar. Psychologist Kate Holly is considering sharing space with her ex-boyfriend after she’s evicted from her office, but her eccentric secretary, meddling mother, and difficult patients—not to mention a string of suspicious fires—leave her wondering if she shouldn’t reconsider.

Laurie, Victoria. Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun (NAL, 6.99) Mar. The third in the series featuring medium M.J. Holliday who encounters a knife that releases a demon, a demon who decides to check in to the haunted hotel where she lives.

Lyons, CJ. Warning Signs (Brk, 7.99) Feb. A medical student on rotation at a Pittsburgh hospital uncovers a murder that she must solve before she becomes the next victim. A smart medical thriller with an interesting protagonist.

Marberg, Peg. Fatal Flip (Brk, 7.99) Mar. Interior designer Jean Hastings’ restoration of a Victorian mansion is to die for, and unfortunately somebody does just that when a body is found during the open house.

McCoy, Judi. Hounding the Pavement (NAL, 6.99) Mar. The first in a new series featuring a Manhattan dog-walker with a psychic connection to her canine clientele, so when a dog’s owner turns up dead, she’s on the scent of a murderer.

Piccinilli, Tom. The Coldest Mile (BDD, 6.99) Mar. After losing his wife a man takes a job working for the mob, only to become embroiled in a family coup in an edgy crime novel.

Richards, Emilie. A Lie for a Lie (Brk, 7.99) Feb. Minister’s wife Aggie Sloan-Wilcox may need divine inspiration when she tries to clear the name of a celebrity charged with his wife’s murder in the fourth of this cozy series.

Scott, Michele. Corked by Cabernet (Brk, 6.99) Feb. When the devotee of a guru is killed on the famous Napa Valley Wine Train, vineyard manager Nikki Sands must find the killer in the latest in the series that pairs wine tips with murder.

Wells, Melinda. Death Takes the Cake (Brk, 7.99) Feb. In the second in this tasty series, television cooking show host Della Carmichael finds a detested college classmate drowned in a mixing bowl of cake batter, and realizes that she must serve the killer his just desserts.

New and Forthcoming in Quality Paperback

Acevedo, Mario. Jailbait Zombie (Rayo, 14.95) Mar. Latino vampire detective Felix Gomez battles with zombies, gangsters, and a precocious vampire wannabe in the latest in this funny series.

Alcorn, Alfred. Murder in the Museum of Man (RH, 14.95) Jan. When a university dean sent to investigate the finances at the neighboring Museum of Man is found murdered, unlikely sleuth Norman de Ratour, the Museum’s recording secretary sets out to find the killer in a funny romp of a mystery filled with academic satire, murder, cannibalism, political posturing, and high camp.

_____. The Love Potion Murders in the Museum of Man (RH, 14.95) Feb. When two professors are found together in mortal embrace, Norman de Ratour knows that murder once again stalks the halls of the museum, and to his horror, he discovers that a powerful aphrodisiac developed by the Genetics Lab is being used as the murder weapon. The second in the funny series.

Allingham, Margery. Black Plumes (F&M, 14.95) Mar. Albert Campion is called in when a series of malicious attacks on an art gallery escalates to murder.

Anaya, Rudolfo. Shaman Winter (UNM, 17.95) Feb. The four mysteries featuring Albuquerque PI Sonny Baca have been reprinted and are again available for those who like their mystery with a southwestern flavor.

Andrews, Mary Kay. Deep Dish (HC, 13.95) Mar. A delicious romp of a story about the hostess of a television cooking show who is forced into competition with the macho host of a man’s cooking show in a “survivor” situation to see whose show will be renewed. Great fun.

Atkinson, Deborah Turrell. Fire Prayer (PP, 14.95) Feb. Honolulu attorney Storm Kayama agrees to check on a friend’s diabetic son during her vacation, but discovers the child’s mother dead and the boy missing.

Banks, Ray. Saturday’s Child (Hm, 13.95) Feb. An ex-con trying to make it as a private investigator is asked to track down a rogue casino dealer who’s stolen money from a local crime lord in a gritty debut set in Manchester and Newcastle.

Burke, James Lee. The Convict and Other Stories (Pkt, 15.00) Mar. A collection of stories first published in 1985 set in Louisiana.

Cramer, Rebecca. Mission to Sonora (Imago, 15.00) Feb. The first in a series set in Tucson and the Tohono O’odham reservation that has been out of print for years is now available again. When her teenaged son stumbles on a dead body while hiking in Ventana Canyon, a teacher at the San Xavier mission school becomes involved with crime and a criminal who wants her to stick to teaching.

Craven, Michael. Body Copy (HC, 13.95) Feb. First in a new series featuring an ex-surfer private investigator in Malibu who agrees to accept a cold-case investigation into the murder of an advertising executive at the behest of his niece. I enjoyed this debut for the characters and tight mystery plotting.

Crispin, Edmund. Buried for Pleasure (F&M, 14.95) Mar. Gervase Fen has declared himself a candidate for Parliament, but he must cope with a murdered policeman, an escaped lunatic, and a love-struck pig.

Daly, Elizabeth. Arrow Pointing Nowhere (F&M, 14.95) Mar. A classic English country house murder set in a New York mansion where Henry Gamadge investigates a fiendish murder.

Dove, Angela. No Room for Doubt (Brk, 14.00) Mar. A young woman’s story about the repercussions of a murder that took place in 1988 and the effects it had on her family—her grandmother became a prominent victim’s rights advocate and her father became an alcoholic after being a suspect in the crime.

Estleman, Loren. Gas City (STM, 13.95) Mar. When a serial killer terrorizes a city, a power struggle between a police chief who has looked the other way for too long and a Mafia boss who holds the city’s vices in his grasp becomes a desperate fight for survival in a novel of urban corruption.

Favorite, Eileen. The Heroines (SS, 14.00) Feb. A quirky literary fantasy about a teenager whose mother runs a bed-and-breakfast where literary heroines seek respite when bad things happen in their books—for example Emma Bovary is resting after being abandoned by Rudolphe and Scarlett O’Hara keeps trying to steal the drapes—who decides that she needs to be the heroine in her own tale.

Ford, Jeffrey. The Shadow Year (HC, 14.95) Mar. Disappearances, deaths, and spectral sightings began to occur in a Long Island town in the 1960’s as a little girl begins to make changes to the scale-model replica town that two boys have made in their basement. Spooky.

Gottlieb, Eli. Now You See Him (HC, 13.95) Feb. When his best friend and his girlfriend are killed, his childhood friend discovers a series of sensational revelations that cause him to re-evaluate his own life.

Grimes, Martha. Dakota (NAL, 15.00) Feb. The young girl from Biting the Moon searches the western plains for the man who holds the secret of her past, but when she takes a job at a pig-farming operation, she uncovers dark secrets about modern agribusiness.

Gruber, Michael. The Forgery of Venus (HC, 14.95) Mar. When a penurious painter accepts a commission to “restore” an antique fresco in a European castle, the job is closer to recreation than restoration and leads him into the murky world of forgery. A look inside the world of expensive art collecting with a fantasy twist.

Gruley, Bryan. Starvation Lake (SS, 14.00) Mar. A debut mystery set in a northern Michigan town where the pieces of a snowmobile are found in a half-frozen lake ten years after the beloved youth hockey coach had died, but things don’t quite add up, so the local newspaper editor decides to investigate.

Haig, Matt. The Labrador Pact (Png, 15.00) Mar. A black Labrador who takes seriously his duty to protect his family gives his all even though they are their own worst enemies in a poignant novel based on Shakespeare’s Henry V.

Harris, Charlaine and Toni L.P Kelner, eds. Many Bloody Returns (Brk, 15.00) Feb. Thirteen vampire stories with a birthday theme by a baker’s dozen of mystery and fantasy writers.

Holden, Craig. Matala (SS, 14.00) Feb. An American student on vacation in Italy runs into two shady drifters who convince her to abandon her guided tour and help them to smuggle a mysterious package into Greece, but her thirst for adventure takes them by surprise, and they are all plunged into danger.

Jackson, Joshilyn. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (Hach, 13.99) Feb. A woman with a perfect suburban family and life finds everything thrown into doubt and disorder when her young neighbor is found dead in the pool.

Joss, Morag. The Night Following (BDD, 13.00) Feb. A woman who is distraught having just discovered her husband’s affair accidentally kills a woman on a bicycle with her car in a mystery of psychological suspense.

Lansdale, Joe R. Mucho Mojo (RH, 13.95) and Savage Season (RH, 13.95) Feb. The reissue of the first two mysteries featuring Hap, a Texas white boy and Leonard, his gay, black Vietnam-vet friend, in a series that combines humor, violence, and suspense. I love these.

Lutz, Lisa. Curse of the Spellmans (SS, 14.00) Feb. San Francisco’s dysfunctional family of PIs returns in a case where Izzy is sure that the neighbor is engaged in nefarious activities, and her elderly lawyer is working overtime to keep her out of jail. I love this series for its absurdity.

Maitland, Barry. The Marx Sisters (F&M, 14.95) Mar. The first in a wonderful police procedural series set in London, where Detective Kathy Kolla is joined by DI Brock in a case where an elderly relative of Karl Marx is found dead in an area known as Jerusalem Lane.

McNamara, Mary. Oscar Season (SS, 14.00) Jan. The publicity director for a fancy Hollywood hotel is overwhelmed by the Academy Awards season, and especially so when a very famous body is found in the hotel pool while a powerful leading man is secretly holed up in the Presidential Suite.

Morton, Kate. The House at Riverton (SS, 15.00) Mar. An elderly woman who was a chambermaid at a country estate in 1924 recalls the events that led to the suicide of a young aristocrat during a house party in an atmospheric mystery.

O’Connell, Catherine. Well-Read and Dead (HC, 13.95) Feb. Chicago socialite Pauline Cook returns from a European jaunt to find that her best friend is missing—along with her cat—and her efforts to find them both lead her to Southeast Asia and a stew of corporate intrigue. I love this series for its sly wit and wonderfully clueless protagonist.

Peace, David. Nineteen Seventy-four (RH, 13.95) Feb. The first in a reissue of the Red Riding Quartet with a young crime correspondent at a Yorkshire newspaper who sees a relationship between the brutal murder of a young girl and a series of past murders in a case that is a nightmare of corruption, violence, blackmail, and obsession.

Rankin, Ian. Strip Jack (STM, 13.95) and Tooth and Nail (STM, 13.95) Feb. The first two in the Inspector Rebus police procedural novels set in Edinburgh, now in print in a new format.

Reah, Danuta. Night Angels (Bywater, 14.95) Feb. DI Lynne Jordan is working on a case involving the trafficking of women in Hull, but the discovery of a woman’s body changes her investigation.

Rice, Christopher. Blind Fall (Pkt, 15.00) Feb. A macho Marine veteran of the Iraq War pays a visit to his captain, who had saved him from an IED, only to discover that the captain has been murdered, and he joins forces with the captain’s male lover to find the murderer.

Simmons, Kelly. Standing Still (SS, 15.00) Feb. A novel of psychological suspense about a suburban woman who is kidnapped by an intruder and is forced to confront her deepest fears as she is tied up in a room with her kidnapper.

Smith, April. Judas Horse (RH, 13.95) Mar. FBI agent Ana Grey goes undercover to infiltrate an eco-terrorist group in the Pacific Northwest after another agent is killed, and discovers that the charismatic leader is planning an act of terrorism to create destruction on a cataclysmic scale.

_____. North of Montana (RH, 13.95) Feb. The first in the series featuring FBI agent Ana Grey is one of my favorite mysteries with an interesting protagonist and a strong sense of southern California as Ana investigates a high-profile case of a Hollywood star and a load of prescription drugs.

Templeton, Aline. Lamb to the Slaughter (IPG, 16.95) Mar. Scottish DI Marjory Fleming returns with two murders in the small town of Kirkluce that appear to be related to the plan to open a superstore that threatens local businesses.

Tremblay, Paul. The Little Sleep (Holt, 14.00) Mar. A South Boston PI who suffers from narcolepsy and hallucinations is visited by the daughter of the powerful local DA who claims that someone has stolen her fingers, and when he wakes he decides it was a dream—until he sees an envelope of risqué photos of the girl on his desk in the first in a new series with a fresh new twist.

Tyler, L.C. The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice (F&M, 14.95) Mar. A failed mystery writer whose ex-wife has been murdered is hounded by his agent to investigate in order to boost the sales of his novels in a comic mystery.

Ure, Louise. The Fault Tree (STM, 13.95) Mar. Set in Tucson, a blind woman is the only witness to the murder of her elderly neighbor and is stalked by the killer in a thriller of suspense and courage. Highly recommended.

Walters, Minette. The Chameleon’s Shadow (RH, 14.95) Mar. An Iraq War veteran suffering from psychological damage comes under suspicion when three women are found dead in his London neighborhood.

New and Forthcoming in International Mysteries

Becker, James. The First Apostle (NAL, 7.99) Mar. A debut thriller by a new British author, set in Rome where a man joins up with his ex-wife, an antiquities expert, after his friend’s wife is murdered and he discovers a strange Latin inscription by her body.

Black, Cara. Murder in the Latin Quarter (Soho, 24.00) Mar. Aimée is thrilled when a Haitian woman arrives at the detective agency claiming to be her father’s illegitimate daughter, but her partner is suspicious, and Aimée soon finds herself embroiled in murderous Haitian politics.

_____. Murder in the Rue de Paradis (Soho, 13.00) Mar. Aimée becomes involved in Turkish and Kurdish politics after her fiancé is murdered the night that they become engaged.

Cain, Tom. The Accident Man (Png, 14.00) Feb. A thriller that explores the secret of Princess Diana’s death, with a hired assassin who is himself set-up after he arranges her death. This is an exciting, tightly-plotted, very enjoyable thriller.

_____. No Survivors (Png, 25.95) Mar. Assassin for hire Carver returns and, while tracking down his lover, a Russian spy, discovers a chilling plot by a Texas billionaire to reactivate stolen Soviet suitcase nukes to spark a global holy war that will bring about the final Rapture.

Camilleri, Andrea. August Heat (Png, 14.00) Mar. Inspector Montalbano is forced to spend the hot Sicilian summer in Vigata where he discovers a sinister crime while rescuing a young boy from a narrow shaft hidden under a beach rental. The latest in a deservedly-bestselling Italian series.

Calvo, Javier. Wonderful World (HC, 27.95) Mar. The son of a Barcelona antiques dealer who was imprisoned thirty years ago for shady dealings immerses himself in the underworld to discover who ruined his father leading him to a mob enforcer obsessed with comic books and a crime lord with a penchant for women’s coats.

Dahl, K.O. The Fourth Man (STM, 13.95) Mar. A modern twist to the classic story of the femme fatale in a dark novel of psychological suspense by Norway’s best selling crime writer.

Fitzek, Sebastian. Therapy (STM, 24.95) Mar. A Berlin psychotherapist whose daughter vanished under mysterious circumstances four years ago has a new patient who is tortured by visions of a little girl who has vanished, and her sessions become more and more terrifying as her visions may represent what really happened to the child. An intricately-plotted literary thriller.

Hewson, David. Dante’s Numbers (BDD. 24.00) Mar. Nic Costa, along with other members of the Roman Questura and the carbinieri are in San Francisco for the premiere of a new film by an aging Italian director based on Dante’s Inferno, guarding priceless Dante artifacts sent especially for the premiere, but a series of bizarre incidents including theft, the kidnapping of one of the film’s stars, and finally murder find them working with the SFPD to find a killer. A standout entry in a brilliant series, with nicely sinister connections to Hitchcock’s Vertigo.

_____. The Garden of Evil (BDD, 6.99) Mar. Rome police detective Nic Costa has a case of murder that is tied to a painting by Caravaggio in the latest in this excellent series.

Hyland, Adrian. Moonlight Downs (Soho, 13.00) Feb. A brilliant debut mystery set in the Australian outback, where a half aboriginal woman returns to see friends, but the reunion is marred by the murder of the tribe’s elderly leader.

Kertesz, Imre. Detective Story (RH, 14.95) Mar. A compelling story told by an imprisoned torturer in a Latin American country who narrates the story of his destruction of a dissident father and son in an attempt to rationalize the evil he has committed.

May, Peter. The Fourth Sacrifice (PP, 14.95) Feb. The U.S. ambassador asks American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell to work once again with Beijing police inspector Li Yan when four men are killed in what looks like ritual sacrifice.

_____. Snakehead (PP, 24.95) Feb. Forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell and Beijing detective Li Yan are asked to investigate when a truckload of Chinese immigrants are found dead in Texas in a case involving millions of dollars in human trafficking.

McInerny, Ralph. The Third Revelation (Brk, 7.99) Mar. A retired CIA operative who has worked undercover in Rome is asked to investigate when the Vatican’s Secretary of State is brutally murdered.

Mosse, Kate. Sepulchre (Brk, 16.00) Mar. An American graduate student arrives in southwest France to do research on Claude Debussy, but the hotel where she is staying is built on the site of a supposedly haunted family estate, and she finds a mystery filled with supernatural intrigue.

Piñol, Albert Sánchez. Pandora in the Congo (Canongate, 15.95) Mar. A rollicking adventure story set in the Belgian Congo in 1914 where a pulp fiction ghostwriter is hired to tell the tale of two brothers on a mining expedition are killed leaving only their manservant to tell the awful tale of unearthly forces and immeasurable brutality in the jungle.

Read, Piers Paul. The Villa Golitsyn (Png, 23.95) Feb. An elegant thriller of treason and sexual intrigue first published in 1981 set in the south of France, where a Foreign Office agent is sent to solve the mystery of a ten-year-old betrayal of British mercenaries in Indonesia by investigating a former Cambridge classmate.

Rees, Matt Beynon. The Collaborator of Bethlehem (HM, 13.95) The first of a series set in Israel’s West Bank featuring an elderly Palestinian teacher seeks to solve a brutal murder while maintaining his integrity.

_____. A Grave in Gaza (HM, 13.95) Feb. Palestinian teacher Omar Yussef and his boss travel to Gaza for a routine inspection of the UN schools in the refugee camps, but they find that one of the teachers has been imprisoned for spying and in trying to release him they are pulled into a confrontation with the various warring political factions.

_____. The Samaritan’s Secret (Soho, 24.00) Feb. Palestinian teacher Omar Yussef must work quickly when a member of the tiny Samaritan community is murdered leaving millions of dollars in aid money that must be distributed Palestinian community.

Rollins, David. The Death Trust (BDD, 7.50) Feb. A Special Agent is sent to Baghdad after a high-ranking American army officer is killed in Germany in a suspenseful mystery centering on an explosive military scandal. I enjoyed this thriller written by a best-selling Australian writer.

_____. A Knife Edge (BDD, 25.00) Mar. Now assigned to Department of Defense as an investigator, Vin Cooper is assigned to the case of a Japanese researcher killed in a suspicious shark attack after he discovered a new bacterium.

Smith, Roger. Mixed Blood (Holt, 25.00) Feb. In this brilliant debut, an American bank robber hiding out in Cape Town, South Africa after a $3 million heist finds that he cannot escape his past when a gangland assault puts him in the sights of a corrupt Afrikaner cop and a Zulu detective with a score to settle.

Solana, Teresa. A Not So Perfect Crime (Bitter Lemon, 14.95) Mar. A slimy Barcelona politician hires twin private investigators who specialize in discreet services for the wealthy to check his wife’s fidelity, but when she’s found poisoned by a box of chocolates things become more complicated.

Steinhauer, Olen. Tourist (STM, 24.95) Mar. A CIA operative who has left undercover work to become a mid-level manager in New York is plunged back into the world of undercover espionage in Europe when an investigation begins into one of his oldest colleagues in a first-rate novel of betrayal and manipulation.

Wahloo, Per and Maj Sjowall. The Laughing Policeman (RH, 13.95) and The Man on the Balcony (RH, 14.95) Mar. Two more reissues in the Martin Beck police procedural series set in Stockholm.

Walker, Martin. Bruno, Chief of Police (RH, 23.95) Mar. A cozy police procedural set in the Périgord area of France where the brutal murder of an Algerian immigrant forces the local police chief to cast a suspicious eye on his community.

Walters, Michael. The Adversary (Brk, 14.00) Mar. The head of the Serious Crimes Unit in Ulan Bataar and his protégé are forced to look inside the police when the trial of a wealthy crime lord begins to fall apart. An interesting look at Mongolian life and culture.

Wei Liang, Diane. Eye of Jade (SS, 15.00) Mar. A private detective in Beijing is hired to track down a priceless artifact that was stolen during the Cultural Revolution in a case that leads her to discover the secrets of her nation’s culture and her family’s past. A fresh and authentic voice for those who love the mysteries of Qui Xiaolong.

_____. Paper Butterfly (SS, 24.00) Apr. Mei Wang, Beijing private investigator, has the case of a Chinese pop star whose disappearance leads her to a case with its roots in the labor camps of the Cultural Revolution.

Xiaolong, Qui. The Mao Case (STM, 24.95) Mar. Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Department is asked to take a politically-sensitive case of the granddaughter of Mao’s mistress who may have inherited something that would explain her sudden life of luxury, but that could prove embarrassing to the memory of the former chairman of the Party.

_____. Red Mandarin Dress (STM, 13.95) Feb. Shanghai Chief Inspector Chen Cao is under pressure to find a serial killer stalking young women in the city even though he is on leave studying for an advanced degree.

December 2008/January 2009

New in Hardcover

Barbieri, Maggie. Quick Study (STM, 24.95) Dec. College English professor Alison Bergeron agrees to help an undocumented worker find his missing nephew and becomes involved in a case of forgery, construction kick-backs, and murder much to her NYPD boyfriend’s chagrin. A funny, cozy series with a great combination of romance and suspense. Highly recommended.

Bazell, Josh. Beat the Reaper (GC, 24.99) Jan. A fresh and funny debut thriller featuring an emergency-room physician whose day begins very badly with an attempted mugging and goes downhill when he sees a patient who knows him from his past life, a life before the Witness Protection Program. I loved this.

Belzer, Richard. I am not a Cop! (SS, 24.00) Oct. The actor who plays Detective John Munch on television’s Law & Order has written a funny debut novel where the actor and the character actually meet and must solve the mysterious disappearance of a friend.

Berry, Steve. The Charlemagne Pursuit (Ball, 26.00) Dec. Cotton Malone discovers that his father died on a submarine under Antarctica on a secret mission looking for a mysterious manuscript unearthed from the tomb of Charlemagne in an international adventure that moves from Europe to Antarctica.

Box, C.J. Three Weeks to Say Goodbye (STM, 24.95) Jan. A couple with an adopted daughter must fight to save her and their family when the teenaged birth father and his powerful father come after her in a fast-paced thriller.

Brogan, Jan. Teaser (STM, 24.95) Dec. Rhode Island reporter Hallie Ahearn gets a lead on a story about teenaged girls using webcams to make porno videos, but when the girls begin dying, she is torn between her duty as a reporter and a concerned citizen. A well-plotted series with an interestingly flawed protagonist.

Bruce, Alison. Cambridge Blue (Soho, 25.00) Jan. The first in a new police procedural series, with a young homicide detective who investigates a series of murders involving an eccentric Cambridge family.

Cannell, Stephen J. On the Grind (STM, 25.95) Jan. LAPD Detective Shane Scully is accused of evidence-tampering and forced to resign, so he takes a job in the small city near downtown LA, known for its corruption, and soon is up to his neck in hot water, needing his estranged wife to help him out—but will she?

Chiaverini, Jennifer. The Quilter’s Kitchen (SS, 19.95) Oct. A wonderful book for gift-giving, this is a novel with recipes inspired by Elm Creek celebrations.

Clement, Blaize. Cat Sitter on a Hot Tin Roof (STM, 24.95) Jan. When her new friend begins to receive threats, Florida pet sitter Dixie Hemingway is sure it is her abusive ex-husband, but when things turn deadly it becomes clear that her friend is not who or what she seems.

Connelly, Michael, ed. In the Shadow of the Master (HC, 24.95) Jan. A collection of stories and essays by MWA members in commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe.

Deaver, Jeffrey. The Bodies Left Behind (SS, 26.95) Nov. A suspenseful stand-alone thriller featuring an off-duty sheriff’s deputy who must flee into the Wisconsin woods with a terrified woman after she is called to a secluded vacation house that is the scene of a horrific murder.

Emmins, Alan. Mop Men (STM, 24.95) Jan. A fascinating look at the company that cleans up after CSI finishes, filled with gruesome details such as the life cycle of different kinds of flies and how to empty a bath after someone has been dissolved in it. I thought it was difficult cleaning up after pot-bellied pigs!

Ephron, Hallie. Never Tell a Lie (HC, 24.95) Jan. A page-turning thriller about a couple reconnecting with a woman they knew in high school whose behavior becomes increasingly odd and menacing, plunging the pregnant wife into a nightmare of deceit and betrayal.

Evanovich, Janet. Plum Spooky (STM, 27.95) Jan 6th. The latest between-the-numbers Stephanie Plum novel is more substantial than the previous, with Stephanie on a case for Diesel, camping out in the Pine Barrens with Lula, and possibly sighting the Jersey Devil.

Ferris, Monica. Thai Die (Brk, 23.95) Dec. Needlepoint shop-owner Betsy Devonshire weaves together the suspicious threads when one of her regulars becomes involved in the deadly delivery of exotic antiquities.

Frederickson, Jack. Honestly Dearest, You’re Dead (STM, 24.95) Jan. Chicago PI Dek Elstrom returns in a case where he is asked to execute a will for a quick $400.00, but nothing is ever easy and he finds himself on the track of a killer. A funny medium-boiled series.

Goldberg, Lee. Mr. Monk is Miserable (NAL, 21.95) Dec. The highpoint of Mr. Monk’s trip to Paris is a visit to the sewer system, but in the catacombs, he finds a suspiciously fresh skull and a murder.

Green, Norman. The Last Gig (STM, 25.95) Jan. First in a new series featuring a Latina in the Bronx working for a sleazy PI assigned to work undercover to discover who has betrayed a boss of the Irish mob, helping to get him killed.

Grippando, James. Born to Run (HC, 25.95) Dec. Jack Swytek follows his father to Washington where political intrigue and a murder case that has its roots in events of 50 years ago turns the prestige of the job to peril.

Hart, Ellen. Sweet Poison (STM, 24.95) Dec. Jane Lawless must find the killer when one of the volunteers on her father’s gubernatorial campaign is murdered in a case of political intrigue.

Havill, Steven. The Fourth Time is Murder (STM, 24.95) Dec. Posadas County New Mexico Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman is called to the scene of an accident involving a police officer only to discover that someone was at the scene after the accident, but left mysteriously before help arrived.

Hoag, Tami. Deeper than the Dead (BDD, 26.00) Jan. Special Agent Tony Mendez must hunt for a serial killer after two young boys find a woman’s body in an idyllic California town, and the hunt is complicated by his suspicion that the boys may hold the key to the killer’s identity.

Holton, Hugh. Revenge (STM, 24.95) Jan. Holton’s last police procedural featuring Chicago cop Larry Cole finds him hunting a deviously deadly woman bent on violent revenge. Holton was until his death a member of the Chicago Police Department.

Hunter, Stephen. Night of Thunder (SS, 26.00) Oct. Bob Lee Swagger must fight against a diabolical villain in a case of corruption, meth labs, and deranged evangelicals, set against the backdrop of a weeklong NASCAR event.

Iles, Greg. The Devil’s Punchbowl (SS, 26.95) Dec. A Southern gothic mix of murder, racial tension, illicit sex, and betrayal with Penn Cage, the protagonist of Turning Angel, set in Natchez, Mississippi.

James, P.D. The Private Patient (RH, 25.95) Nov. Dalgleish is sent to a plastic surgery clinic to investigate the murder of a patient in what may be the final mystery in the series.

Jance, J.A. Cruel Intent (SS, 25.95) Dec. In the latest in the Ali Reynolds series set in Sedona, she decides to help when her contractor’s wife is killed in her front yard and he becomes the main suspect, but she has problems of her own—she is being stalked by a cybernet serial killer.

Kaminsky, Stuart M. Bright Futures (STM, 23.95) Jan. Florida PI Lew Fonseca returns in a case where he is hired by a gifted student to help prove his innocence when a curmudgeonly school board member is murdered.

Maleeny, Tim. Greasing the Piñata (PP, 24.95) Dec. PI Cape Weathers has the case of a murdered US Senator and his son, who are found murdered on a golf course in Mexico in an investigation that pits him against conspirators from San Francisco deep into Mexico.

McGarrity, Michael. Dead or Alive (Png, 24.95) Jan. Kevin Kerney returns to New Mexico from London when his partner in his horse-training business is murdered, the first in a series of murders committed by an escaped prisoner, sending Kerney and his half-Apache son on the trail of a psychotic murderer with a growing appetite for blood.

McKevett, G A. A Body to Die For (Ken, 22.00) Jan. A popular exercise guru finds her dirty secrets unraveling when her husband is found murdered, and plus-size PI Savannah Reid must find the killer in a big, fat murder case.

Morris, Bob. A Deadly Silver Sea (STM, 24.95) Dec. A luxury honeymoon cruise is hijacked by thugs right outside of Miami leaving Zach Chasteen separated from his very pregnant wife, and fighting to stop them before a simple kidnap/extortion plot turns into a terrorist incident.

O’Connell, Carol. Bone by Bone (Put, 24.95) Jan. An ex-investigator for the Army CID returns to his northern California hometown only to find out that someone has been leaving human remains on his father’s doorstep, years after the murder of his brother, leading him to solve the mystery once and for all in a town filled with secrets.

Patterson, Richard North. Eclipse (HH, 26.00) Jan. An American lawyer agrees to take the case of an African freedom fighter who is charged with murder by his corrupt government in a case that shows the human cost of the global lust for oil.

Penny, Louise. A Rule Against Murder (STM, 24.95) Jan. Inspector Gamache and his wife are celebrating their wedding anniversary at the luxurious Manoir Bellechasse, but the only other guests, part of a family reunion, have enough dark secrets and resentments to poison the atmosphere and cause a murder in another excellent, psychologically acute cozy. Highly recommended.

Perry, Thomas. Runner (HM, 26.00) Jan. Jane Whitefield returns to guide a young pregnant woman out of danger when she arrives with a group of hired killers who have followed her across the country. A suspenseful, intelligent series with a fascinating protagonist.

Ramirez, Misa. Living the Vida Lola (STM, 24.95) Jan. A funny debut featuring a PI in Sacramento who hopes to get her big break when she is assigned to the case of a woman who has disappeared, but with a murder and the reappearance of a high-school flame, not to mention planning her cousin’s quinceañera, she has her hands full. Recommended.

Reynolds, Sheri. Running on a Falling Tide (RH, 23.00) Dec. A young woman whose father is in prison is living with his girlfriend and finds herself becoming obsessed with the murder of a college girl in the house next door in a desperate attempt to find her place in the world.

Robinson, Peter. All the Colors of Darkness (HC, 24.95) Jan. A new Inspector Banks police procedural set in Yorkshire.

Smith, Susan. Out at Night (STM, 25.95) Jan. Crime scene tech Grace Descanso is called in when a murdered scientist is found with her number on his phone, even though she has no idea who he is or why he would contact her.

Spindler, Erica. Breakneck (STM, 23.95) Jan. In industrial Rockford Illinois, a serial killer is preying on clean-cut young adults, and detectives MC Riggio and Kitt Lundgren must find the killer, particularly after MC’s fiancé is brutally murdered. This is an interesting series because both of the detectives are women.

Stone, Nick. The King of Swords (HC, 24.95) Dec. Miami PD homicide detective Max Mingus has a case of serial murder involving a sinister Haitian fortuneteller and her criminal son as a web of black magic, voodoo, and police corruption encircles him. Highly recommended.

Tyler, L.C. The Herring-Seller’s Apprentice (F&M, 24.95) Jan. Short-listed for the “Last Laugh” award, this humorous mystery features a mediocre mystery writer whose gorgeous ex-wife turns up murdered, much to the delight of his agent, who sees a mystery to solve and then to write about.

Vachss, Andrew. Another Life (RH, 24.95) Dec. The final act in the story of Burke and his outlaw family who must take on the search for the abducted two-year-old son of a Saudi prince in exchange for saving the life of “the Prof,” who is barely clinging to life in a coma, but the initial search comes up empty, leading Burke to an investigation of his own past in order to save the child.

Webb, Betty. The Anteater of Death (PP, 24.95) Dec. The first in a cozier series for the Phoenix mystery writer is set in a California zoo where the body of a wealthy donor is found in the anteater enclosure and a zookeeper fights to clear the name of her charge, a giant anteater named Lucy. Signed copies.

Wilson, John Morgan. Spider Season (STM, 24.95) Dec. Journalist Benjamin Justice publishes a memoir detailing the events that led to the loss of his job and his reputation, and in so doing unleashes murderous forces from his past. This is one of my favorite series for the strong characterization of Justice and the great sense of the Hollywood location.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Reprint

Beaton, M.C. Death of a Gentle Lady (GC, 6.99) Jan.

Becka, Elizabeth. Unknown Means (Hyp, 7.99) Jan.

Bernhardt, William. Capitol Conspiracy (BDD, 7.99) Jan.

_____. Strip Search (BDD, 7.99) Dec.

Berry, Steve. The Venetian Betrayal (BDD, 9.99) Dec.

Born, James O. Burn Zone (Brk, 7.99) Jan.

Box, C.J. Blue Heaven (STM, 7.99) Dec.

Campbell, Gordon. Missing Witness (HC, 7.99) Jan.

Chiaverini, Jennifer. The Christmas Quilt/The New Year’s Quilt(Pkt, 7.99) Nov.

Clement, Blaize. Even Catsitters Get the Blues (STM, 7.99) Dec.

Colley, Barbara. Wash and Die (Ken, 6.99) Dec.

Dorsey, Tim. Atomic Lobster (HC, 7.99) Jan.

Emley, Diane. The First Cut (BDD, 6.99) Dec.

Evanovich, Janet. Plum Lucky (STM, 6.99) Jan.

Freeman, Brian. Stalked (STM, 7.99) Jan.

Goldberg, Lee. Mr. Monk Goes to Germany (NAL, 6.99) Dec.

Grafton, Sue. T is for Trespass (Brk, 7.99) Dec.

Graves, Sarah. The Book of Old Houses (BDD, 6.99) Dec.

Green, Tim. American Outrage (GC, 7.99) Jan.

Grippando, James. Last Call (HC, 7.99) Dec.

Grisham, John. The Appeal (BDD, 7.99) Dec.

Harrison, Kim. The Outlaw Demon Wails (HC, 7.99) Dec.

Jance, J.A. Hand of Evil (SS, 7.99) Nov.

Kalian, Cady. A Few Good Murders (STM, 6.99) Dec.

Kalla, Daniel. Cold Plague (STM, 7.99) Dec.

Lescroart, John. Betrayal (NAL, 9.99) Jan.

Martin, Nancy. Murder Melts in your Mouth (NAL, 6.99) Jan.

McGarrity, Michael. Death Song (NAL, 7.99) Dec.

McKevett, G. A. Poisoned Tarts (Ken, 6.99) Jan.

Myers, Tamar. As the World Churns (NAL, 6.99) Jan.

Palmer, Michal. The First Patient (STM, 9.99) Jan.

Patterson, James and Maxine Paetro. The Sixth Target (GC, 7.99) Dec.

Penny, Louise. The Cruelest Month (STM, 6.99) Jan.

Preston, Douglas. Blasphemy (STM, 9.99) Jan.

_____. Tyrannosaur Canyon (STM, 7.99) Jan.

Robinson, Peter. Friend of the Devil (HC, 7.99) Jan.

Rose, Karen. Scream for Me (GC, 6.99) Jan.

Rucka, Greg. Patriot Acts (BDD, 6.99) Dec.

Saums, Mary. Mighty Old Bones (STM, 6.99) Jan.

Schwegel, Theresa. Person of Interest (STM, 7.99) Jan.

Scottoline, Lisa. Lady Killer (HC, 7.99) Jan.

Simmons, Dan. The Terror (GC, 7.99) Jan.

Sokoloff, Alexandra. The Price (STM, 7.99) Dec.

Starr, Jason. The Follower (STM, 7.99) Dec.

Thurlo, Aimee and David. False Witness (STM, 7.99) Dec.

Wilson, F. Paul. Bloodline (STM, 7.99) Dec.

Woods, Stuart. Santa Fe Dead (NAL, 9.99) Dec.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Original

Baker, Deb. Ding Dong Dead (Brk, 6.99) Dec. Doll restorer Gretchen Birch and the other Phoenix Dollars are setting up their doll museum, but the opening has to be postponed when an out-of-town doll-maker is murdered.

Blair, Annette. A Veiled Deception (Brk, 6.99) Jan. First in a new series featuring a woman who opens a vintage clothing store, and must investigate when the most active guest in her sister’s wedding party is Murder.

Bliss, Miranda. Dying for Dinner (Brk, 6.99) Dec. When Annie leaves the safety of her bank job to become manager of her boyfriend’s restaurant, she discovers that she is risking more than her economic wellbeing with a killer in the kitchen.

Burcell, Robin. Face of a Killer (HC, 7.99) Dec. An FBI forensic artist uncovers a top-secret government cover-up when she investigates her father’s past, twenty years after he was murdered. This is also available in a hardcover edition from Poisoned Pen Press (24.95).

Childs, Laura. Eggs in Purgatory (Brk, 6.99) Dec. The first in a new series featuring three newly-single women who open a café, but when a lawyer dies with a secret on his lips and egg on his face, they must discover the relationship between the murder and a religious cult that threatens one of them.

Damsgaard, Shirley. The Witch’s Grave (HC, 6.99) Jan. A reluctant psychic and her grandmother, a good witch, must solve another mystery in the sixth install ment of this cozy series.

Daniels, Casey. Night of the Loving Dead (Brk, 6.99) Jan. The ghost of a medical assistant needs the help of Pepper Martin, a cemetery tour guide who sees dead people, to protect a doctor who’s in danger. A funny, cozy series.

Emley, Diane. Cut to the Quick (BDD, 7.99) Jan. The second in a trilogy featuring Pasadena homicide cop Nan Vining (the first is available in December). I loved the first one for the characterization of Nan and the suspenseful plotting—it is just what a police procedural should be.

Evans, Jimmie Ruth. Leftover Dead (Brk, 7.99) Jan. The fifth in the Trailer Park series finds waitress Wanda Nell Culpepper and her new husband digging into a thirty-year-old murder.

Hartley, A.J. What Time Devours (Brk, 7.99) Jan. Thomas Knight returns in a quest for a long-lost Shakespeare play after a woman is murdered who may have had the play in her possession.

Hechtman, Betty. Dead Men Don’t Crochet (Brk, 6.99) Dec. Molly and her crochet group must find a killer when a group member is accused of murder in the second of a new series that will hook you.

Holt, Hazel. Mrs. Malory and a Time to Die (NAL, 6.99) Dec. Sheila Mallory is on the case when a riding school owner is found dead in the stables in the latest in this cozy English series.

Hyzy, Julie. Hail to the Chef (Brk, 7.99) Dec. White House executive chef Ollie Paras has to put other interests on the back burner when the First Lady’s nephew dies of an apparent suicide 24 hours after cleaning shrimp with her in the second in this presidential series filled with recipes and juicy details.

Kimberly, Alice. The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion (Brk, 6.99) Jan. Bookstore owner Pen must work to save her favorite ghost—1940’s detective Jack Shepherd—when the owner of a haunted mansion wants to call in an exorcist. If you like this series as much as I do, you’ll be glad to hear that Alice Kimberly is actually Cleo Coyle who writes the Coffeehouse mysteries.

Lakin, Rita. Getting Old is a Disaster (BDD, 6.99) Jan. The fourth in the series featuring Gladdy Gold, Florida’s oldest PI finds Gladdy investigating both a bank robbery and a murderer lurking in the retirement community. This is a fresh and funny series.

O’Brien, Kevin. Final Breath (Ken, 6.99) Jan. Television reporter Sydney Johnson receives macabre souvenirs from a series of seemingly random deaths all over the country and realizes that she is the focus of a twisted killer.

Potter, Patricia. Behind the Shadows (Brk, 7.99) Dec. A woman discovers that she was switched at birth, and that she is in a race against death to find her birth mother and save her life.

Rickman, Phil. The Fabric of Sin (TSP, 9.95) Jan. Merrily Watkins, deliverance consultant for the Diocese of Hereford is called in to investigate an allegedly haunted house that has royal connections as well as connections to an ancient Templar church.

Roberts, Wendy. Devil May Ride (NAL, 6.99) Dec. Sadie Novak has a cleaning service for crime scenes, which sometimes cleans up psychic residue as well, and in the second in the series she stumbles upon evidence of chilling cult ritual in an abandoned meth lab. A fascinating combination of CSI and Ghostbusters.

Roy, Allyson. Babydoll (Brk, 7.99) Jan. After three New York models are murdered, sex therapist Saylor Oz believes that a killer is reenacting the events from a vintage movie, but she has trouble convincing the sexy investigator assigned to the case. I liked the first in the series—it’s a funny, romantic, urban cozy.

Stanton, Mary. Defending Angels (Brk, 7.99) Dec. The first in a new series featuring a Savannah lawyer who defends dead sinners in front of the Celestial Court. In this she defends a dead businessman who needs her to find his murderer and prove his innocence against the charge of greed.

Webb, Debra. Find Me (STM, 7.99) Jan. Reporter Sarah Newton goes to Maine where she encounters a series of deadly events that cause her to examine her past to keep from being the next murder victim in a fast-moving novel of romantic suspense.

New and Forthcoming in Quality Paperback

Berkowitz, Ira. Old Flame (RH, 12.95) Jan. A NYPD homicide detective, retired after receiving a bullet to the lung, agrees to help when his ex-wife’s new flame is beaten to death and discovers that his former colleagues are strangely reluctant to investigate the death that may be tied to millions of dollars in construction contracts. A gritty debut.

Block, Lawrence. One Night Stands and Lost Weekends (HC, 14.95) Dec. A collection of the early short stories and novellas by the master of the mystery.

Brooks, Geraldine. People of the Book (Png, 15.00) Jan. An Australian rare-book expert conserving the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain, finds a series of tiny artifacts bound in the spine, plunging her into intrigues of art forgery and ultra-nationalist fanatics.

Castrique, Mark de. Blackman’s Coffin (PP, 14.95) Jan. An Iraq War veteran is challenged by a fellow amputee to do some investigative work for her, but before he can begin, she is found drowned and her death may be related to an old journal found in her apartment.

Chiaverini, Jennifer. The Quilter’s Apprentice (SS, 14.00) Nov. A reissue of the first novel in the quilting series.

_____. The Winding Ways Quilt (SS, 14.00) Jan. As old members depart to pursue other opportunities and newcomers join the quilting group, their stories are told in traditional quilt patterns.

Daly, Elizabeth. Arrow Pointing Nowhere (F&M, 14.95) Jan. Henry Gamadge is asked to look into strange doings at a country house outside of New York City in an American twist on the classic English country-house mystery.

Evans, Mary Anna. Findings (PP, 14.95) Jan. When a friend is murdered, Faye Longchamp is surprised that nothing of value was taken—only her field notes from the excavation she is working on.

Guttridge, Peter. Once and Future Con (Speck, 14.00) Dec. Journalist Nick Madrid is assigned to a story about an archaeological find that may be the body of King Arthur, but the owner of the land has dreams of a Camelot theme park in another very funny mystery. If you are looking for a funny series, you’ll be pleased to know that the early books in the series have been reissued.

Hill, Reginald. Traitor’s Blood (F&M, 14.95) Jan. An aristocratic cad who has been on the lam from British justice wants to return to see his daughter before he dies, but MI5 wants him to do a little job for them first—terminate his father who defected to the Soviets.

Holms, Joyce. Bad Vibes (Cons, 14.95) Jan. When an elderly German tourist is found dead in the Edinburgh hotel where Fizz is moonlighting, she brings in Tam to help her find what happened to him and the painting he bought the morning he died.

Kaminsky, Stuart M., ed. On a Raven’s Wing (HC, 14.95) Jan. A collection of short stories by contemporary mystery writers written in honor of the two-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the master, Edgar Allan Poe.

LaPlante, Lynda. Clean Cut (SS, 15.00) Oct. A fast-moving police procedural featuring DCI James Langton who is investigating a group of illegal immigrants suspected of murdering a prostitute, and DI Anna Travis, whose case of the seemingly motiveless murder of a proper middle-class woman turns out to have ties with the immigrant group. This is the third in a good, gritty British police procedural series by the author of Prime Suspect.

Littell, Robert. The Debriefing (Png, 14.00) Dec. The reissue of a Cold War spy thriller about a CIA agent who specializes in debriefing Soviet defectors only to find that the truth he uncovers upsets his own world.

Masson, Aurélien. Paris Noir (Akashic, 15.95) Nov. A collection of short stories featuring the dark side of the City of Light.

Mortimer, John. Rumpole Misbehaves (Png, 14.00) Dec. Rumpole fights for justice when a Timson child is slapped with an Anti-Social Behavior Order for playing soccer in the streets of a posh neighborhood.

Mosley, Walter. Diablerie (STM, 15.00) Jan. A darkly erotic novel.

Phillips, Marie. Gods Behaving Badly (Hach, 13.99) Dec. A funny romp of a novel about the Olympian gods who now are living in London, forced by their waning powers to get jobs (Aphrodite, for example, is a phone sex operator and Apollo is a television psychic), but a minor squabble threatens to turn into an epic battle with serious global consequences.

Rickman, Phil. To Dream of the Dead (TSP, 24.95) Nov. The Reverend Merrily Watkins is facing a difficult Christmas with flood waters rising around Ledwardine, an archaeological dig that threatens to unearth secrets that some would prefer to leave buried, and the wife of an aggressively atheist writer who is strangely agitated. I really like this series for the complex characters, the location on the Welsh border, and the spooky plotting.

Sallis, James. What You Have Left (Walker, 18.00) Jan. The three novels in the trilogy featuring John Turner are collected together in this edition. A beautifully written, highly acclaimed mystery series set in a small town near Memphis.

Simon, Michael. The Last Jew Standing (Png, 14.00) Dec. The final installment in the series featuring Austin homicide officer Dan Reles who is caught between his long-lost father and a brutal gangster.

Stabenow, Dana, ed. Unusual Suspects (Brk, 14.00) Dec. The second genre-bending collection mixing fantasy and mystery contains short stories by Charlaine Harris, Laurie King, John Straley, and others.

Taylor, Andrew. The Four Last Things (Hyp, 15.95) Jan. A reissue of the first of the Roth Trilogy, featuring a clergywoman and her police detective husband whose daughter is kidnapped by a pedophile and a female serial killer with strong maternal instincts.

Vachss, Andrew. Terminal (RH, 13.95) Dec. Burke agrees to help a terminally-ill prison-gang leader who claims to know the truth about an unsolved rape-murder of a teenaged girl in a case that offers his two favorite things—money and revenge.

Way, Camilla. The Dead of Summer (HM, 13.95) Jan. A debut novel of psychological suspense about a teenager who witnessed the murder of three other children in the historic tourist town of Greenwich.

Weisberg, Joseph. An Ordinary Spy (STM, 14.00) Jan. A dramatic portrait of modern espionage with a compelling protagonist who is set down in a foreign country, filled with suspense, intrigue, and betrayal. Highly recommended.

Willig, Lauren. The Seduction of the Crimson Rose (NAL, 15.00) Jan. Graduate student Eloise Kelly is digging into England’s Napoleonic-era espionage—where the beautiful Mary Alsworthy accepts the assignment of seducing the notorious French spy, the Black Tulip—even as she becomes more involved with the descendent of her spy subjects. A wonderful combination of historical adventure and romance.