In Reference to Murder

Come to the Festival

This weekend you can catch one of two excellent literary festivals in the U.S., Sleuthfest in Florida and the South Carolina Book Festival.

At Sleuthfest, the Keynote speaker is John Hart (Oline Cogdill had a great interview here) and the Guest of Honor is Brad Meltzer. You can check out the festival web site for the many other authors scheduled to appear. If you're on Tweeter, the BookBitch Blogger will be sending out tweets from the conference all weekend.

The South Carolina Book Festival covers many different disciplines, but has mystery writers, as well. The Guest of Honor is Scott Turow with other authors scheduled including JT Ellison, C.J. Lyons, Austin Camacho, Alexandra Sokoloff, Mignon Ballard, Kathryn Wall, T. Lynn Ocean, Fran Rizer, Vicki Lane, Charles Todd, Karen White, Ronald M. Gauther. Ellison (a/k/a Thriller Chick) is tweeting from the conference there.

March Book Signing Roundup

Here's the latest monthly roundup of author booksigning events at mystery book stores around the U.S. and Canada (for dates at chain stores and other venues, check out booktour.com and similar sites).

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Aunt Agatha's
Ann Arbor, MI

Author:  Bryan Gruley
Title:  Starvation Lake
Event Time:  March 3 at 7 p.m. launch party

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Book Passage
Corte Madera, CA

Author:  Cara Black
Title:  Murder in the Latin Quarter
Event Time: Tue, Mar 03, 2009, 7:00 PM

Author:  Lisa Lutz
Title: Revenge of the Spellmans 
Event Time: Fri, Mar 13, 2009, 6:00 PM

Author:  Margit Liesche
Title:  Hollywood Buzz: A Pucci Lewis Mystery
Event Time: Tue, Mar 24, 2009, 7:00 PM

Author:  Joe Gores
Title: Spade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon
Event Time: Sat, Mar 28, 2009, 2:00 PM

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Booked for Murder
Madison, WI

Author:  Tim Dorsey   
Title:  Nuclear Jellyfish
Event Time: Thursday, March 6, 6:00 p.m.

Author:  Jerry Peterson
Title:  Early's Fall
Event Time: Saturday, March 21, 2:00 p.m. book launch

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Centuries and Sleuths
Forest Park, IL

Author: Raymond Benson
Title: Dark Side of the Morgue
Event Time: Saturday, March 7, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author: Bryan Gruley
Title: Starvation Lake
Event Time: Sunday, March 8, 2009 2:00 p.m. 

Author:  Jack Frederickson
Title: Honestly Dearest, You're Dead 
Event Time: Sunday, March 22, 2009 2:00 p.m. 

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Clues Unlimited
Tucson AZ

Author: Edmund Crispin
Title: The Case of the Gilded Fly 
Event Time: Sunday, March 8th at 2:00 

Author: Debby Atkinson 
Title: Pleasing the Dead
Event Time: Tuesday, March 17th at 11:30 

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M is for Mystery
San Mateo, CA

Author:  Diane Emley
Title:  Cut to the Quick
Event Time: Sun., 1st at 2:00 PM

Author:  Cara Black
Title:  Murder in the Latin Quarter
Event Time:  Mon., 2nd at 7:00 PM

Authors:  Peter Maravelis (Ed.), Don Herron, Domenic Stansberry & Vince Emery
Title:   San Francisco Noir 2 - The Classics
Event Time:  Tues., 3rd at 7:00 PM

Author:  Keith Donohue
Title:  Angels of Destruction
Event Time:  Thurs., 5th, drop-by

Author:  Daniel Depp
Title:  Loser's Town
Event Time:  Sat., 7th at 2:00 PM

Author:  Jack Fredrickson
Title:  Honestly Dearest, You're Dead
Event Time:  Tues., 10th at 7:00 PM

Author:  Lisa Lutz
Title:   Revenge of the Spellmans
Event Time:  Tues., 10th at 7:00 PM

Author:  Susan Arnout Smith
Title:  Out at Night
Event Time:  Thurs., 19th at 7:00 PM

Author:  Randy Wayne White
Title:  Dead Silence
Event Time:  Fri., 20th at 7:30 PM

Author:  Deborah Turrell Atkinson
Title:  Pleasing the Dead
Event Time:   Sun., 22nd at 2:00 PM

Author:  Vicki Delaney
Title: Valley of the Lost
Event Time:  Sun., 22nd at 2:00 PM

Author:  Barry Eisler
Title:  Fault Line
Event Time:  Sat., 28th at 2:00 PM

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Murder by the Book
Houston, TX

Author: Peter Robinson
Title: All the Colors of Darkness
Event Time:  Wednesday, March 4, 6:30 p.m.

Authors:  Victoria Laurie / Dakota Cassidy / Michele Bardsley
Titles: Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun / The Accidental Human / Over My Dead Body
Event Time: Thursday, March 5, 6:30 p.m.

Authors: Billy Wayne Sinclair &Jodie Sinclair
Title: Capital Punishment: An Indictment of a Death-Row Survivor
Event Time: Saturday, March 7, 5:00 p.m.

Author: Richard Price
Titles: Clockers, Freedomland, Lush Life
Event Time: Monday, March 9th (off-site)

Author: Tim Dorsey
Title: Nuclear Jellyfish
Event Time: Monday, March 9, 6:30 p.m.

Authors: Cara Black / Henry Chang
Title: Murder in the Latin Quarter / Year of the Dog
Event Time: Thursday, March 12, at 6:00 p.m.

Author: Jeff Guinn
Title: Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie & Clyde
Event Time: Monday, March 16, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Randy Wayne White
Title: Dead Silence
Event time: Tuesday, March 17, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Suzanne Arruda
Title: The Leopard's Prey
Event Time: Friday, March 20, 6:00 p.m.

Author: Karen MacInerney
Title: Various
Event Time: Saturday, March 21, 3:30 p.m.

Author: Barry Eisler
Title:  Fault Line
Event Time: Saturday, March 21, 6:00 p.m.

Author: Lisa Litz
Title: Revenge of the Spellmans
Event Time: Monday, March 23, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Walter Moseley
Title: The Long Fall
Event Time: Thursday, March 26, 6:30 p.m

Authors: David Ciambrone / Barbara Levenson
Titles:  TBA
Event Time: Saturday, March 28, 4:30 p.m.

Authors: Cassandra Clare 
Titles: City of Glass
Event Time: Tuesday, March 31, 6:30 p.m.

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Murder on the Beach
Delray Beach, FL

Author:  Peter Robinson
Title:  All The Colors of Darkness
Event Time: Thursday, March, at 7 pm 

Author: Andrew Gross 
Title: Don't Look Twice
Event Time:  Friday, March 6, at 7 pm

Author: Pearl Wolf  
Title: Too Hot For a Spy
Event Time: Thursday, March 12 at 7 pm

Author: Randy Wayne White  
Title: Dead Silence 
Event Time: Sunday, March 15 at 6 pm 

Author: Tom Corcoran  
Title: Hawk Channel Chase 
Event Time: Thursday, March 19, at 7 pm

Author: Terry Griffin  
Title: Blood Island
Event Time:  Friday, March 20, at 7 pm

Author: Don Bruns 
Title:   Bahama Burnout
Event Time:  Thursday, March 26, at 7 pm

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Mysteries to Die For
Thousand Oaks, CA

Author:  Barry Eisler
Title:  Fault Line
Event Time:  Saturday, March 14, 2009, at 2:00 p.m.  

Author:  Lisa Lutz
Title:  Revenge of the Spellmans
Event Time: Saturday, March 28, at 1:00 p.m.

Author:  SueAnn Jaffarian
Title:  Booby Trap
Event Time:  Saturday, March 28, 2009, at 3:00 p.m.

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Mysterious Galaxy
San Diego, CA

Author: Peter Robinson
Title: All the Colors of Darkness
Event Time: Sunday, March 1, 2009 2:00 p.m. 

Author: Susan Arnout Smith
Title: Out at Night
Event Time: Thursday, March 5, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Richard Aaron 
Title: Gauntlet 
Event Time: Friday, March 6, 2009 7:00 p.m. 

Author: Hannah Dennison
Title:  Scoop!
Event Time: Saturday, March 7, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author: Melinda Wells
Title: Death Takes the Cake
Event Time: Saturday, March 7, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author: Chris Marie Green
Title:  A Drop of Red 
Event Time: Saturday, March 7, 2009 4:00 p.m.

Author: Amber Benson
Title: Death's Daughter
Event Time: Saturday, March 7, 2009 4:00 p.m.

Author: Caitlin Kittredge 
Title: Second Skin
Event Time: Friday, March 13, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Cherie Priest
Title: Fathom
Event Time: Friday, March 13, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Mario Acevedo
Title:  Jailbait Zombie
Event Time: Friday, March 13, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Joanne Fluke
Title: Cream Puff Murder 
Event Time: Saturday, March 14, 2009 2:00 p.m. 

Author: Barry Eisler
Title:  Fault Line
Event Time: Sunday, March 15, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author: Randy Wayne White
Title:  Dead Silence
Event Time:  Thursday, March 19, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Deborah Atkinson
Title: Pleasing the Dead 
Event Time: Friday, March 20, 2009 7:00 p.m. 

Author: Vicky Delany 
Title: Valley of the Lost
Event Time: Friday, March 20, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Carola Dunn
Title:  Manna from Hades
Event Time:  Tuesday, March 24, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Lisa Lutz
Title: Revenge of the Spellmans 
Event Time: Friday, March 27, 2009 7:00 p.m. 

Author: Dianne Emley
Title: The Deepest Cut
Event Time: Saturday, March 28, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author: Paul Levine
Title: Illegal
Event Time:  Sunday, March 29, 2009 2:00 p.m.

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Mystery Bookstore
Los Angeles, CA

Author: Kate Carlisle   
Title:  Homicide in Hardcover
Event Time: Saturday, March 14, at 12:00 noon 

Author: Kathryn Lilley
Title: A Killer Workout
Event Time: Saturday, March 14, at 12:00 noon

Author: Susan Arnout Smith
Title: Out at Night
Event Time: Saturday, March 14 at 2:00 p.m.

Author: Barry Eisler
Title: Fault Line
Event Time:  Saturday, March 14 at 4:00 p.m.

Author: Cara Black
Title: Murder in the Latin Quarter
Event Time: Saturday, March 14 at 6:00 p.m.  

Author: Vicki Delaney 
Title: Valley of the Lost 
Event Time: Saturday, March 21 at 11:00 a.m.

Author: Deborah Atkinson
Title: Pleasing the Dead 
Event Time: Saturday, March 21 at 11:00 a.m. 

Author: Carola Dunn    
Title: Manna From Hades 
Event Time: Saturday, March 21 at 1:00 p.m.

Author: Robert Masello 
Title: Blood and Ice
Event Time:  Saturday, March 21 at 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Ray Bradbury
Title:  We'll Always Have Paris: A New Short Story Collection
Event Time: 

Author: Harley Jane Kozak 
Title: A Date You Can't Refuse
Event Time: Saturday, March 28 at 5:00 p.m. 

Author: Lisa Lutz 
Title: Revenge of the Spellmans 
Event Time: Sunday, March 29 at 3:00 p.m.

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Mystery Lovers Bookshop
Oakmond, PA

Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Title: Among the Mad
Event Time:  Friday March 6, 2009 at 7 p.m.

Author: Jeffrey Siger 
Title: Murder in Mykonos 
Event Time: Friday, March 27, 2009 at 7 p.m. 

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Once Upon a Crime Books
Minneapolis, MN

Author: Laura Childs 
Title: Oolong Dead
Event Time: Sat. Mar 7 - 12:00 - 2:00

Author: Randy Wayne White
Title:  Dead Silence
Event Time:  Mon. Mar 23 - 7:00

Author:  Over Sixty Authors
Title:  The Seventh Annual Write of Spring
Event Time: Sat. Mar 28 - 12:00-4:00

Author: Brian Freeman
Title: In the Dark & The Agency
Event Time: Tues. Mar 31 - 7:00

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Poisoned Pen
Scottsdale, AZ

Author: Earlene Fowler
Title: Love Mercy
Event Time: Mar 01, 2009 from 02:00 pm 

Author: Peter Robinson
Title: All the Colors of Darkness
Event Time: Mar 03, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author: Jack Fredrickson
Title: Honestly Dearest You're Dead
Event Time: Mar 04, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author: Dianne Emley
Title: Deepest Cut 
Event Time: Mar 04, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author:  Whitley Streiber
Title:  Critical Mass 
Event Time: Mar 07, 2009 from 02:00 pm 

Author:  Joe Gores
Title:  Spade and Archer
Event Time: Mar 08, 2009 from 02:00 pm  

Author: Joanne Fluke
Title:   The Cream Puff Murder
Event Time: Mar 10, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author: Cara Black
Title: Murder in the Latin Quarter
Event Time: Mar 11, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author: Ryan Clark
Title: Grave Whispers 
Event Time: Mar 12, 2009 from 12:00 pm 

Author:  Reed Farrel Coleman
Title: The James Deans and as Tony Spinosa, The Fourth Victim 
Event Time: Mar 12, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author: Barry Eisler
Title:  Fault Line
Event Time: Mar 12, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author: Gary Phillips
Title: Freedom's Fight
Event Time: Mar 14, 2009 from 04:00 pm 

Author: Sandi Ault
Title: Wild Sorrow
Event Time:  Mar 15, 2009 from 02:00 pm

Author: Stephen Amidon 
Title: Security
Event Time: Mar 15, 2009 from 03:00 pm 

Author: Deborah Turrell Atkinson
Title: Pleasing the Dead 
Event Time: Mar 17, 2009 from 07:00 pm

Author: Vicki Delany
Title:  Valley of the Lost 
Event Time: Mar 17, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author: Randy Wayne White
Title: Dead Silence
Event Time:  Mar 18, 2009 from 07:00 pm

Author:  Rhys Bowen
Title: In a Gilded Cage 
Event Time: March 24, 2009 from 7:00 pm

Author: Lisa Lutz
Title:  Revenge of the Spellmans
Event Time: Mar 25, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author: Walter Mosley
Title: The Long Fall 
Event Time: Mar 27, 2009 from 07:00 pm 

Author: Clive Cussler and co-author Jack DuBrul  
Title: Corsair 
Event Time:  Mar 31, 2009 from 07:00 pm

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Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Seattle, WA

Author: Dianne Emley 
Title:  The Deepest Cut
Event Time:  Tues, Mar 3, noon

Author:  Lono Waiwaiole
Title: Dark Paradise
Event Time:  Sat, Mar 7, noon

Author:  Tim Dorsey
Title: Nuclear Jellyfish  
Event Time:  Sat, Mar 7, noon

Author:  Caitlin Kittredge 
Title: Second Skin
Event Time: Sat, Mar 21, noon

Author:  Cara Black
Title: Murder in the Latin Quarter
Event Time:  Thurs, Mar 26, noon

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Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore
Minneapolis, MN

Author:  Bryan Gruley
Title:  Starvation Lake
Event time:   Saturday, March 14, 1-2 pm.

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Vrooman's
Pasadena, CA

Author: Barry Eisler
Title: Fault Line
Event Time: March 13 - 7:00pm 

Author:  Vicki Delany and Deborah Atkinson 
Title: Crime Fiction workshop
Event Time: March 21 - 4:00pm

Author: Walter Mosely 
Title: The Long Fall
Event Time: March 29 - 5:00pm 

Author:  Lisa Lutz
Title: Revenge of the Spellmans
Event Time:  March 31 - 7:00pm

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END

New Mystery & Crime Fiction Novels Coming in March

Here's a partial listing of new titles in March arranged alphabetically by author, which this month includes new titles by Rhys Bowen, Laura Childs, Harlan Coben, Clive Cussler, Barry Eisler, Carolyn Hart, Jonathan Kellerman, Laura Lippman, Lisa Lutz, Walter Moseley, Anne Perry, Bill Pronzini, and Barbara Vine among many other wonderful and deserving offerings. You can also check out the links at the bottom for more, as they're far too numerous to list here.

Sandi Ault: Wild Sorrow (March 3, 2009). Tracking a wounded mountain lion, BLM Jamaica Wild comes across an old Indian School, where children were “Americanized” after being taken from their homes. As a snowstorm sweeps the canyon, Jamaica must take refuge in the abandoned school where she discovers the desecrated body of an elderly Anglo woman, frozen on the floor.

Linda Berry: Death and the Crossed Wires (March 18, 2009). After a youth pastor is electrocuted by a microphone during a baptism, Police Chief Henry "Hen" Huckabee leads an investigation into what initially looks like a tragic accident. However, Officer Jerome Sharpe learns from his relative, an electrician that someone tampered with the device. The murder investigation makes no progress until Hen’s cousin Officer Trudy Roundtree suggests looking at the deaths of the teen’s parents and boyfriend.

Cara Black: Murder in the Latin Quarter (March 1, 2009).  A Haitian woman arrives at the office of Detective Aimée Leduc and announces that she is Aimée’s sister, her father’s illegitimate daughter. Aimée is thrilled since she's been a virtual orphan since her mother’s disappearance and her father’s death and has always wanted a sister. Her partner, René, is wary of this stranger, but Aimée embraces her and soon finds herself involved in murky Haitian politics leading to murder.

Marc Blatte:  Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed (March 1, 2009). On a manic ride from the mixing boards of hip-hop recording studios to mansions in the Hamptons and the projects of the urban ghetto, Detective Black Sallie Blue Eyes ventures behind the scenes of the record business in search of a street-side assassin.

Rhys Bowen: In a Gilded Cage (March 17, 2009) In this 8th Molly Murphy outing, Irish immigrant Murphy and her New York City P.I. business are in the midst of a sweeping influenza epidemic and a fight for women’s suffrage that lands her in jail. Her betrothed, Police Captain Daniel Sullivan, finds her, but he hardly has time to bail her out, with Chinese gangs battling for control of a thriving opium trade. The only consolation Molly can take from her vexing afternoon in the clink is that it made her some new friends among the Vassar suffragists and brought her a pair of new cases.

Don Bruns: Bahama Burnout (March 1, 2009). For rock and roll writer Mick Sever, another story, another deadly island paradise is all in a day's work. This time, Mick heads to Nassau, Bahamas, home of the legendary Highland Studio. Known for pumping out hits that burn up the charts, Highland is where the magic happens-or rather, where the magic happened until a devastating fire destroyed the entire studio. No one knows how the fire started, who started it-or whose body was found among the charred ruins.

Dorothy Cannell: She Shoots to Conquer (March 31, 2009). On a dark and foggy night, amateur sleuth Ellie Haskell, her husband Ben, and her plucky sidekick Mrs. Malloy find themselves stranded at a grand estate on the Yorkshire moors. Lord Belfrey of Mucklesfeld Manor has decided to save his crumbling establishment by offering himself as the prize on a TV reality show titled “Here Comes the Bride.” Thrilled at the prospect of marrying a lord, Mrs. Malloy eagerly joins the competition, until one of the potential brides is shot during an archery contest.

Laura Childs: Oolong Dead (March 3, 2009). In the 10th Theodosia Browning installment, Browning is riding her horse in a race through the South Carolina Lowcountry when she finds her arch nemesis, Abby Davis, dead. What’s more, the victim’s brother is Theodosia’s old flame. Who’d have guessed they’d be reunited through cold-blooded murder? Theodosia’s investigation takes her from the Lowcountry thicket to the backstage maze of a darkened theater where a maestro of murder waits for the next cue.

Harlan Coben: Long Lost (March 31, 2009). In this 9th Myron Bolitar outing, Bolitar hasn’t heard from Terese Collins since their torrid affair ended ten years ago, so her desperate phone call from Paris catches him completely off guard. In a shattering admission, Terese reveals the tragic story behind her disappearance—her struggles to get pregnant, the greatest moment of her life when her baby was born, and the fatal accident that robbed her of it all. Now a suspect in the murder of her ex-husband in Paris, Terese has nowhere else to turn for help.

Clive Cussler and Jack DuBrul: Corsair (March 10, 2009). For five novels, Clive Cussler has brought readers into the world of the Oregon, a seemingly dilapidated ship packed with sophisticated equipment, and captained by the rakish, one-legged Juan Cabrillo. And now the Oregon and its crew face their biggest challenge yet after the U.S. secretary of state’s plane crashes while bringing her to a summit meeting in Libya.

Barry Eisler: Fault Line (March 10, 2009). Silicon Valley: the eccentric inventor of a new encryption application is murdered in an apparent drug deal. Istanbul: a cynical undercover operative receives a frantic call from his estranged brother, a patent lawyer who believes he’ll be the next victim. And on the sun-drenched slopes of Sand Hill Road, California’s nerve center of money and technology, old family hurts sting anew as two brothers who share nothing but blood and bitterness wage a desperate battle against a faceless enemy.

Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Jon L. Lellenberg (Editor), Daniel Stashower (Editor): Sherlock Holmes in America (March 26, 2009).  Sherlock Holmes makes his American debut in this collection of never-before-published crime and mystery stories by bestselling American writers. The world's greatest detective and his famous sidekick Watson are on their first trip across the Atlantic as they fight crime all over nineteenth-century North America. From the bustling neighborhoods of New York City and Washington, D.C., to sunny yet sinister cities like San Francisco on the West Coast, the world's best-loved British sleuth will face some of the most cunning criminals America has to offer, and meet some of America's most famous figures along the way.

Kerry Greenwood: Murder in the Dark (March 10, 2009) This is the 16th in the Phryne Fisher series, set at Christmas where Phryne has an invitation to the Last Best party of 1928, a four-day extravaganza being held at Werribee Manor house and grounds by the Golden Twins, Isabella and Gerald Templar. Phryne is in two minds about going. But when threats begin arriving in the mail, she promptly decides to accept the invitation.

Andrew Gross: Don't Look Twice (March 3, 2009). A drive-by shooting rocks the posh suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut, and an innocent bystander is left dead. Detective Ty Hauck plunges into what seems like a vicious case of retribution and follows the trail to a sinister gambling scheme at an upstate casino. Until Annie Fletcher, a young restaurateur in the midst of rebuilding her life, witnesses something she shouldn't have and immediately runs to him with what she knows. Suddenly, Hauck is pulled into a rising storm far greater than it first appeared,a storm wide enough to encompass corruption inside Greenwich's circle of wealthy and powerful citizens. And punishing enough to consume Hauck's own family, and tear brothers apart forever if it doesn't kill them first.

David Hagberg: The Expediter (March 17, 2009). In the 13th book of this series, an important Chinese intelligence general on his way to a secret meeting with Kim Jon-Il is assassinated in plain sight of a surveillance camera. Kirk McGarvey, just off a difficult assignment that took him to Mexico City, has returned to his visiting professorship at the University of South Florida. A colonel in North Korea's intelligence service shows up in person, asking McGarvey to prove that North Korea did not authorize the hit.

Carolyn Hart: Dare to Die (March 31, 2009).  Annie and Max Darling are completely unprepared when the arrival of a mysterious young woman shocks their sea island and stirs up more than just gossip, pitting neighbor against neighbor and leading to murder.

David Hewson: Dante's Numbers (March 24, 2009). At the premiere of a new film version of Dante’s Inferno, packed with celebrities and paparazzi the celebration turns to chaos when a man is found dead, the film’s star is missing, and a priceless relic has vanished. Detective Nic Costa, numb from the recent death of his wife, finds himself and his fellow detectives drawn into a strange and terrifying limbo—the first of Dante’s nine circles of Hell.

Charlotte Hughes: Nutcase (March 1, 2009). Psychologist Kate Holly is about to get evicted from her office, and her best option may be to share space with her jacuzzi-loving ex-boyfriend, Dr. Thad Glazer. That’s not going to help her patch things up with her firefighter ex-husband. With her oddball patients, meddling mother, and eccentric secretary thrown into the mix—not to mention a spree of suspicious fires—will Kate put her life back together or wind up in a padded cell?

Lisa Jackson: Malice (March 31, 2009). Opening his eyes in the hospital room where he’s recovering from an accident, New Orleans detective Rick Bentz sees his dead first wife standing in the doorway before she disappears. When a copy of Jennifer’s death certificate arrives in the mail, emblazoned with a red question mark, Bentz follows the postmark trail to Los Angeles, returning to the painful memories he’s tried so hard to forget, and straight into a killer’s web.

Jonathan Kellerman: True Detectives (March 24, 2009). Half-brothers Moses Reed, a no-frills LAPD detective, and Aaron Fox, ex-cop turned high-end private eye, return to uncover more than just a secret as they descend into the sinister, seamy side of the City of Angels after dark, populated by a Hollywood Babylon cast of the glamorous and the damned: a millionaire movie director turned hatemongering eccentric; a desperate Beverly Hills housewife looking for an exit from the fast lane; a heartthrob actor being eaten alive by personal demons; a hooker who’s probably seen it all and might just know too much.

Philip Kerr: A Quiet Flame (March 19, 2009). In the fifth Bernard Gunther installment set in 1950, Gunther is falsely fingered a war criminal and heads to Buenos Aires with promises of a new life and a clean passport from the Perón government. He is soon pressured by the local police into taking on a case in which a girl has turned up dead, gruesomely mutilated, and another—the daughter of a wealthy German banker—has gone missing.

Paul Levine:  Illegal (March 24, 2009).Haunted by a tragedy in his past and wanted by the cops for his latest malfeasance, trial lawyer Jimmy “Royal” Payne needs to skip town. That’s when he crosses paths with twelve-year-old Tino Perez, newly arrived from Mexico with no money and no papers who pleads for his help in finding his mother. Payne doesn’t go out of his way for anyone. But ex-wife Sharon, the L.A.P.D. detective he still loves, gives him a choice: help the boy or go to jail.

Laura Lippman: Life Sentences (March 10, 2009). Author Cassandra Fallows has achieved remarkable success by baring her life on the page in books acclaimed for their brutal candor about friends, family, lovers, and herself. After failing at fiction, Cassandra believes she may have found the story that will enable her triumphant return to nonfiction, but the dark secrets she uncovers forces her to reexamine the memories she holds most precious.

Lisa Lutz: Revenge of the Spellmans (March 10, 2009) In the third Isabel Spellman outing, Private investigator Isabel Spellman is back on the case and back on the couch -- in court-ordered therapy after getting a little too close to her previous subject. Izzy is on hiatus from Spellman Inc., but when her boss, Milo, simultaneously cuts her bartending hours and introduces her to a "friend" looking for a private eye, Izzy reluctantly finds herself with a new client.

Walter Mosley: The Long Fall (March 24, 2009). Ex-boxer, hard drinker and old-school P.I. Leonid McGill calls in old markers and greases NYPD palms to unearth some seemingly harmless information for a high-paying client and learns that even in the cleaned-up New York city, his commitment to the straight and narrow is going to be constantly tested.

Otto Penzler: Black Noir (March 3, 2009). A collection of the best mystery and crime fiction ever produced by African-American writers.

Anne Perry: Execution Dock (March 24, 2009). In Execution Dock, Perry’s first Monk novel in three years, Commander William Monk of the River Police swears that a notorious mastermind of the illegal sex trade will hang for the murder of a 13-year-old boy. But the miscreant is as wily as he is monstrous, and his wealthy clients seem far beyond the reach of the law. Monk’s attempt to bring about justice becomes the first electrifying episode in a nightmare that will test his courage and integrity.

Bill Pronzini: Schemers (March 31, 2009). In this amazingly prolific series, the 34th installment of Pronzini's Nameless Detective returns in a locked room mystery that goes from stolen books to stolen lives and the hunt for a phantom stalker with a penchant for pouring acid to make his point, giving Nameless and his partner Jake more than enough work to earn their fees—as long as neither turns his back at the wrong moment.

Olen Steinhauer: The Tourist (March 3, 2009). Milo Weaver used to be a “tourist” for the CIA—an undercover agent with no home, no identity—but he’s since retired from the field to become a middle-level manager at the CIA’s New York headquarters. He’s acquired a wife, a daughter, and a brownstone in Brooklyn, and he’s tried to leave his old life of secrets and lies behind. However, when the arrest of a long-sought-after assassin sets off an investigation into one of Milo’s oldest colleagues and exposes new layers of intrigue in his old cases, he has no choice but to go back undercover and find out who’s holding the strings once and for all.

Barbara Vine: The Birthday Present (March 10, 2009). Ivor Tesham is a handsome, single, young member of Parliament whose political star is on the rise. When he meets a woman in a chance encounter–-a beautiful married woman named Hebe-–the two become lovers obsessed with their trysts. When Ivor creates a surprise birthday present for his beloved that involves a curbside kidnapping,it’s all intended as mock-dangerous foreplay, but then things take a dark turn.

Randy Wayne White: Dead Silence (March 10, 2009). In this 16th Doc Ford novel, it's winter in New York City, and Ford is at the Explorers Club with his new friend, former (and maybe current) British agent Sir James Montbard, researching a jungle expedition, and awaiting the arrival of an attractive U.S. senator with whom Ford has become more than friendly. Her car pulls up and the unthinkable happens: an assassination attempt right before their eyes. Ford critically injures one of the attackers, but the senator vanishes—dead, authorities fear—until they receive her kidnapper’s ultimatum.   

Qiu Xiaolong: The Mao Case (March 3, 2009). In the sixth Chen Cao installment, Chief Inspector Cao of the Shanghai Police Department and head of the Special Case group has been charged to infiltrate the social circle of Jiao, the granddaughter of an actress who was likely one of Chairman Mao's mistresses, and discover if she has inherited an artifact related to Mao that will, when made public, prove embarrassing to the party.

For more of the new hardcover, trade paperback, and paperback releases (as well as reissues), check out the following sites from The Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, Books N Bytes, San Diego's Mystery Books, Powells Books, the Bloodstained Bookshelf, and Fantastic Fiction.

Agatha Award Nominees

Here's the list for 2008, just announced:

Best Novel:
Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews (Minotaur Books)
A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen (Penguin Group)
The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
Buckingham Palace Gardens by Anne Perry (Random House)
I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Minotaur Books)

Best First Novel:
Through a Glass, Deadly by Sarah Atwell (Berkley Trade)
The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis (Penguin Group)
Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris (Minotaur Books)
Death of a Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet (Midnight Ink)
Paper, Scissors, Death by Joanna Campbell Slan (Midnight Ink)

Best Non-fiction:
African American Mystery Writers: A Historical & Thematic Study by Frankie Y. Bailey (McFarland & Co.)
How to Write Killer Historical Mysteries by Kathy Lynn Emerson (Perseverance Press)
Anthony Boucher, A Bibliography by Jeff Marks (McFarland & Co.)
Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to His Tell-Tale Stories by Dr. Harry Lee Poe (Metro Books)
The Suspicions of Mr. Whitcher by Kate Summerscale (Walker & Co.)

Best Short Story:
"The Night Things Changed" by Dana Cameron, Wolfsbane & Mistletoe (Penguin Group)
"Killing Time" by Jane Cleland, Alfred Hitchock Mystery Magazine - November 2008
"Dangerous Crossing" by Carla Coupe, Chesapeake Crimes 3 (Wildside Press)
"Skull & Cross Examination" by Toni Kelner, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - February 2008
"A Nice Old Guy" by Nancy Pickard, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - August 2008

Best Children's/Young Adult:
Into the Dark by Peter Abrahams (Harper Collins)
A Thief in the Theater (A Kit Mystery) by Sarah Masters Buckey (American Girl Publishers)
The Crossroads by Chris Grabenstein (Random House Children's Books)
The Great Circus Train Robbery by Nancy Means Wright (Hilliard & Harris)

Media Murder

MOVIES

Universal is picking up screen rights to another Robert Ludlum thriller, The Parsifal Mosaic.

Simon de Normier, an associate producer on Stephen Daldry's The Reader, has picked up the rights to a trilogy of crime novels from Reader author Bernhard Schlink which follow the noir-ish adventures of Gerhard Self, a private detective working in postwar Germany.

Coming soon:  Clue: the Movie. Universal Pictures has hired Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) to direct and produce a live-action murder mystery based on the Hasbro board game.

TELEVISION

The NCIS spinoff has added to the growing cast, including Louise Lombard, who played CSI's Sofia Curtis for three seasons.

The Sun Times Newsgroup has a preview of the new TV show Castle featuring Nathan Fillion as mystery author Richard Castle, which Fillion calls a male "Murder She Wrote."

CBS has snapped up the Canadian police drama The Bridge, which centers on the world of a police union leader who must both battle criminals and fight his own bosses in order to protect other officers.

RADIO

Starting Sunday February 28th, BBC Radio 4 starts a 5-week series based on Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley books.

NPR's Maureen Corrigan profiled Dan Simmons's new novel, Drood.

PODCASTING/WEB

The Classic Mysteries site podcast this week featured The Benson Murder Case, the first of the Philo Vance novels by S.S. Van Dyne.

GAMES

Righteous Kill, a new mystery game for the PC, lets you step into the shoes of Erica Dean as she investigates crime scenes in New York City.

In the second quarter of 2010, Harlequin will begin publishing a branded series of books inspired by Mystery Case Files, a successful Big Fish Games franchise, making Harlequin the first to publish women’s mystery fiction for BFG.

The International(s)

Karen Meek over at EuroCrime compiled listings of upcoming African crime fiction which you can peruse here and here. She's particularly looking forward to Malla Nunn's A Beautiful Place to Die.

On the Detectives Beyond Borders blog, Peter Rozovsky profiled Adrian Hyland (Diamond Dove) who was near the Australian wildfires recently. Although he and his family survived, they lost friends in the disaster.

The Arab News reviewed "a rare thriller from the Arab world," M.M. Tawfik's Murder in the Tower of Happiness. As the article points out, crime fiction is not only not popular in Arabic literature, among a number of Arab writers and scholars it's not even considered a noble genre.

John Sullivan of The Winnipeg Free Press was pleased to see that the country's "mysterian underclass" has produced a trio of news releases, two of them "shockingly world-class."

In the Philippines, Manilla Bulletin writer Kristel Autencio has started a new crime fiction blog, So Fedorable.

A new anthology of South African crime writing titled Bad Company (Pan Macmillan) will be released soon. It's a collection of stories by some of South Africa’s best writers and it edited by Joanne Hichens.

Arminta Wallace, with the Irish Times, offers her take on why Irish crime fiction writers are "suddenly" popular when there was a "time when Irish writers of the criminal persuasion were rarer than root canal work on a hen."

Whither Indian detectives? Bangalore-based writer Lakshmi Chaudhry wonders if the dearth is due to the overwhelming dominance of Western writers? Or perhaps it’s hard to imagine an Indian policeman who triumphs not only over the killer but also the incompetence and corruption around him. "It’s been a long futile search for an answer," says author Satyajit Ray.

"Don't Look Twice" and a Giveaway

Thriller author Andrew Gross is a model of why you should steadfastly pursue your writing dreams, even after a slew of rejection slips. An editor with one of the publishers who had initially rejected his manuscript didn't just toss it in the trash but held on to it, passing it along to James Patterson with the words "This guy does women well!"  After a meeting over breakfast, he was offered a job co-writing a book with Patterson. Several joint best-selling titles later, Gross decided to branch out on his own with his first solo work, The Blue Zone, which the Library Journal said "offers much that will please: an intriguing premise, shocking twists, a gripping plot, and a sympathetic female lead who faces heartrending dilemmas as she grapples with the truth. Highly recommended."

The book which followed, The Dark Tide, introduced the protagonist Ty Hauck, head of the Greenwich police's violent crime unit. Hauck returns in a new book coming out in early March, Don't Look Twice, in which a drive-by shooter nicks Hauck, kills David Sanger, a federal prosecutor, and wounds others. Was Hauck the target? Was it a hate crime directed at the Pakistani who owned the gas station? Or was Sanger the target? Hauck is pulled into a rising storm far greater than it first appeared—a storm wide enough to encompass corruption inside Greenwich's circle of wealthy and powerful citizens.

For a sneak peak at the first three chapters, check out this link. And you can also win a free copy by dropping an email, subject line "DON'T LOOK TWICE", and be sure to include your full mailing address.  You can send an entry until Tuesday, March 3rd at 5 p.m. EST. The winner will be chosen by random drawing and notified via e-mail.

"Suspense" Adds Print

The online magazine Suspense has just released their first print edition, featuring an interview with Stephen King, articles, profiles, poetry, and short stories. Suspense is also looking for stories that have not been published online by them before, but are  long enough to cut into at least two parts for a serial (send to [email protected]). They are also still accepting regular stories for publication in the magazine, as well as submissions for their second annual writing contest. Their web site is under construction, but they'll launch a new look in the coming weeks. Editor John Raab says "We are striving to new heights to make this the premier magazine."

Mystery Melange

Poe biographies are crawling out of the woodwork this year, including Poe, A Life Cut Short by Peter Ackroyd which the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says "rescues Poe from the layers of cliches and misinterpretations built up over generations," and A Dream Within a Dream by Nigel Barnes which the Guardian liked but added it "fails to crack the conundrum of how such an astonishing literary legacy emerged from such a chaotic life."

You have until midnight tonight to vote for In Cold Blog's Detective Awards which focus on true crime books, publishers, and sites.

Barbara Fister is waving goodbye to the carnival, as she wraps up the last Carnival of the Criminal Minds blog entry. In Reference to Murder was pleased and honored to have been able to participate in this worthwhile endeavor on two occasions.

Twilight Times Books has plans in the works to publish an anthology in trade paper in 2010 for Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine. Publisher Lida E. Quillen says that they plan on publishing an annual anthology thereafter. She has an open call for submissions with a deadline of July 15, and there will be more details available on the FMAM site by April.

The Globe and Mail reported on retired engineer Alan Bradley who submitted 15 pages to a British book competition, won the prize and sparked a lucrative bidding war for his six-book murder-mystery series.

Sarah Weinman gives us the poop on the latest fad in crime fiction:  crime-fighting animals. 

The Library Journal looked at 23 graphic novels featuring African-Americans in honor of Black History Month, including  Incognegro: A Graphic Mystery by Mat Johnson (text) and Warren Pleece (illus.).

On the heels of the National Academy of Sciences scathing look at forensic labs comes the report that DNA left at crime scenes could soon be used to create pictures of a criminal's face with a new forensic technology.

And for your moment of fluff:  The Washington Post's Short Stack blog posed the question to several writers, "If you could spend one unbridled night with any fictional character in the world, who would it be?" Replies included Janet Evanovich: "Uncle Scrooge, from Carl Barks's Disney comics. He's always going on adventures, he pushes his money around with a bulldozer, and he wears a top hat but no pants. Does it get any better than that?" and Lisa Scottoline: "I would spend the night with the Three Musketeers from Dumas's classic novel. My motto is 'One for all, all for me.'"

Who Reads Short Shorts?

It's nice to see anthologies of short crime fiction making headlines in an age when the magazine venues for such stories seem to be disappearing. Dying in a Winter Wonderland, the collection edited by Tony Burton from Wolfmont press, made it into the Top 10 among the IMBA's bestseller list for 2008. Other recent publications have included the annual Best American Mystery Stories, with the latest version edited by George Pelecanos, reviewed here. Just in time for the celebration of Poe's 200th birthday, MWA released not one but two anthologies, In the Shadow of the Master, edited by Michael Connelly, which includes Poe stories and essays by award-winning crime fiction writers, and On a Raven's Wing: New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe edited by Stuart Kaminsky with contributions from more high-profile authors.

Out this month are the two latest installments in the Akashic Noir Series, Rome Noir and San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics, with many stories from previous books snapping up major awards. The series has 28 titles to its credit so far, with new volumes coming out later this year to include Portland Noir and Seattle Noir, both in June, and Delhi Noir (India) in August.