In Reference to Murder

April Book Signing Roundup

Here's the latest monthly roundup of author book signing 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:  Denise Swanson
Title:   Murder of a Royal Pain
Event Time: Saturday, April 4 at 2 p.m  (Launch Party)

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Book Carnival
Orange, CA

Author:  Ace Atkins
Title:  Devil's Garden
Event Time:  Sunday, April 5,  1:00 p.m.

Author:  Gar Anthony Haywood
Title:  Lyrics For The Blues
Event Time:  Saturday, April 18, 3:00 p.m. 

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Book Passage
Corte Madera, CA

Author:  Harlan Coben (w/singer and songwriter Missy Higgins)
Title:  Long Lost
Event Time:  Friday, April 3, 2009 at 7:00 pm (tickets required)

Author:  David Hewson
Title:  Dante’s Numbers
Event Time:  Tue, Apr 07, 2009, 7:00 PM

Author:  Andrew Gross
Title:  Don’t Look Twice
Event Time:  Sat, Apr 18, 2009, 2:00 PM

Author:   Louise Ure
Title:   Liars Anonymous
Event Time:  Sun, Apr 19, 2009, 4:00 PM

Author:  Laurie R. King
Title: The Language of Bees
Event Time: Tue, Apr 28, 2009, 6:00 PM

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Booked for Murder
Madison, WI

Author:  Tony Hays
Title:    The Killing Way
Event Time:  Saturday, April 18, time TBA

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Centuries and Sleuths
Forest Park, IL

Author: Robert Goldsborough
Title: Three Strikes You're Dead
Event Time:  Saturday, April 4, 2009 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Robert Dugoni
Title:   Wrongful Death
Event Time:  Sunday, April 5, 2009 4:00 p.m.

Author:  Luisa Buehler
Title: The Rosary Bride: A Cloistered Death
Event Time:  Saturday, April 25, 2009 2:00 p.m.

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Clues Unlimited
Tucson AZ

Author:  Robert Dugoni
Title:  Wrongful Death
Event Time: Tuesday, April 28th at 7:00 p.m.

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Foul Play Books
Westerville, OH
 
Author:  Susan Wittig Albert
Title:  Wormwood
Event Time:  Tuesday, April 21, 12:30 p.m.

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M is for Mystery
San Mateo, CA

Author: Walter Mosley
Title: The Long Fall
Event Time:   Wed., April 1st

Author:  Ace Atkins
Title:  Devil’s Garden
Event Time: Thurs., April 2nd 

Author:  Don Herron
Title:  The Dashiell Hammett Tour: Thirtieth Anniversary Guidebook
Event Time:  Thurs., April 2nd

Author:  Jerry Stahl
Title:  Painkillers
Event Time: Thurs., April 2nd

Author:  Harley Jane Kozak
Title:  A Date You Can’t Refuse
Event Time: Mon., April 6th

Author: Rhys Bowen
Title:  In a Gilded Cage
Event Time:  Tues., April 7th

Author:  Magit Liesche
Title:   Hollywood Buzz
Event Time:  Tues., April 7th

Author:  Shilpa Agarwal
Title:  Haunting Bombay
Event Time:  Sat., April 11th at 2:00 PM

Author:  Andrew Gross
Title:  Don’t Look Twice
Event Time: Fri., April 17th

Author:   Louise Ure
Title:  Liar’s Anonymous
Event Time:   Sat., April 18th

Author:  Cara Black
Title:   Murder in the Latin Quarter
Event Time:  Sat., April 18th

Author: Robert Dugoni
Title: Wrongful Death
Event Time:  Mon., April 20th

Author: Yiyum Li
Title:  The Vagrants
Event Time:  Tues., April 21st (off-site)

Author:  Alexander McCall Smith
Title:  Tea Time for the Traditionally Built
Event Time:  Sat., April 25th

Author:  Mary Roach
Title:  Bonk
Event Time:  Sat., April 25th  (off-site)

Author:  Wells Tower
Title:  Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
Event Time:  Mon., April 27th

Author:   Mary Gaitskill
Title:   Don’t Cry: Stories
Event Time:   Mon., April 27th

Author:  Donna Leon
Title:   About Face
Event Time:   Tues., April 28th drop-by

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Murder by the Book
Houston, TX

Author:  Tim Green
Title:  Above the Law
Event Time: Wednesday, April 1, 6:30 p.m. 

Author: Christopher Moore
Title:   Fool 
Event Time:  Thursday, April 2, afternoon drop-by

Author:  Mary Kay Andrews
Title:  Deep Dish
Event Time:  Thursday, April 2, 1:00 p.m.

Author:   Susan McBride
Title:  Too Pretty to Die 
Event Time: Friday, April 3, 6:00 p.m.

Author:  Diane Fanning
Title:  Punish the Deed
Event Time: Saturday, April 4, 4:30 p.m.

Author:  Harley Jane Kozak
Title:  A Date You Can't Refuse 
Event Time: Sunday, April 5, 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Harlan Coben with singer/songwriter Missy Higgins 
Title:   Hold Tight
Event Time: Sunday, April 5, 3:00 p.m. (off-site)

Author:  Laura Lippman
Title:  Life Sentences
Event Time: Tuesday, April 7th, Luncheon at The Briar Club: 12:30 p.m

Author:  Laura Lippman
Title:   Life Sentences
Event Time: Tuesday, April 7th, Store signing: 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Ace Atkins
Title: Devil's Garden 
Event Time: Wednesday, April 8, 6:30 p.m.

Author:   Nevada Barr
Title:  Borderline 
Event Time: Thursday, April 9, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Susan Wittig Albert
Title: Wormwood 
Event Time: Saturday, April 11, 3:00 p.m.

Author: David Hewson
Title:  Dante's Numbers 
Event Time: Monday, April 13, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Kyle Mills
Title: Lords of Corruption
Event Time: Thursday, April 16, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Diane Mott Davidson
Title:    Fatally Flaky
Event Time: Friday, April 17, 6:00 p.m.

Author:   Hannah Dennison
Title:  Scoop! 
Event Time: Saturday, April 18, 4:30 p.m.

Author:   Mary Higgins Clark / Carol Higgins Clark
Title:   Just Take My Heart / Cursed
Event Time: Monday, April 20, 6:30 p.m.

Author: Lisa Scottoline
Title:  Look Again
Event Time: Wednesday, April 22, beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Author: Karin Alvtegen
Title:   Betrayal 
Event Time: Saturday, April 25, 5:30 p.m.

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Murder on the Beach
Delray Beach, FL

Author:  Jilliane Hoffman
Title: Plea of Insanity
Event Time: Thursday, April 16, at 7 pm

Author:  Tom Lowe
Title:  False Dawn
Event Time:  Wednesday, April 22, at 7 pm

Author: Harley Jane Kozak
Title:  A Date You Can't Refuse
Event Time:  Saturday, April 25, at 6 pm

Author:  Rhonda Pollero
Title:  Fat Chance
Event Time:  Saturday, April 25, at 6 pm

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Mysteries to Die For
Thousand Oaks, CA

Author:  Paul Levine
Title:  Illegal
Event Time:  Saturday, April 4, 1:00 p.m.

Author:  Ace Atkins
Title: Devil's Garden
Event Time: Saturday, April 4, 4:00 p.m. 

Author: Louise Ure
Title:  Liars Anonymous
Event Time:  Friday, April 24, 12:00 p.m. 

Author: Lisa Scottoline
Title:  Look Again
Event Time:  Saturday, April 25, 2:00 p.m.

Author: Robert Dugoni
Title: Wrongful Death
Event Time:  Saturday, April 25, 3:30 p.m.

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Mysterious Galaxy
San Diego, CA

Author:  Ace Atkins
Title:  Devil's Garden
Event Time:  Monday, April 6, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author: Diana Killian
Title:   Docketful of Poesy
Event Time:  Saturday, April 11, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Michele Scott
Title:  Corked by Cabernet
Event Time: Saturday, April 11, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author:  David Lucero
Title:  The Sandman
Event Time: Saturday, April 18, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author:   Linda O. Johnston
Title:  Never Say Sty
Event Time:  Sunday, April 19, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author:    Harley Jane Kozak
Title:  A Date You Can't Refuse
Event Time:  Sunday, April 19, 2009 2:00 p.m.

Author:  Robert Dugoni
Title:  Wrongful Death
Event Time:  Monday, April 27, 2009 7:00 p.m.

Author:  Marc Blatte
Title:  Humpty Dumpty was Pushed
Event Time: Tuesday, April 28, 2009 7:00 p.m.

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Mystery Bookstore
Los Angeles, CA

Author: Ace Atkins
Title:  Devil's Garden
Event Time:  Saturday, April 4 at 1:30 p.m.

Author: Hannah Dennison
Title: Scoop!
Event Time:  Saturday, April 11 at 1:30 p.m.

Author: Linda O. Johnston
Title: Never Say Sty
Event Time:  Saturday, April 11 at 1:30 p.m.

Author: Melinda Wells (Linda Palmer)
Title:  Death Takes the Cake
Event Time:  Saturday, April 11 at 1:30 p.m.

Author:  David Hewson
Title:  Dante's Numbers
Event Time:  Tuesday, April 14 at 7:00 p.m.

Authors: Stuart Woods  /  Robert Dugoni
Title: Loitering With Intent / Wrongful Death
Event Time:  Friday, April 24, 5pm – 9pm,  Pre-Festival of Books Party

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Mystery Company
Carmel, IN 

Author:  Susan Wittig Albert
Title:  Wormwood
Event Time:  Monday, April 27, 7 p.m.

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Mystery Lovers Bookshop
Oakmond, PA

Author:  Laura Lippman 
Title:  Life Sentences
Event Time: Friday, April 3, 2009, 7 p.m.

Author: Harley Jane Kozak 
Title:   A Date You Can't Refuse
Event Time:  Tuesday April 7, 2009, 6:30 p.m.

Author:  Susan Wittig Albert
Title:  Wormwood
Event Time:  Monday, April 20, 2009, 12 noon

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Once Upon a Crime Books
Minneapolis, MN

Author: Lois Greiman
Title: One Hot Mess
Event Time: Sat. Apr 4 - 12:00-2:00

Author:  Kathryn Miller Haines
Title:   The Winter of Her Discontent
Event Time:  Sat. Apr 18 - 1:00-3:00

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Partners & Crime
Greenwich, NY

Author:  Donald Bain (writing as Jessica Fletcher)
Title:   Madison Avenue Shoot
Event Time:  Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m.

Author:   Jane Cleland
Title:  Killer Keepsakes
Event Time:   Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m.

Author: Dr. Jon Elefteriades
Title: Transplant
Event Time: Monday, April 27, at 7 p.m.

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Poisoned Pen
Scottsdale, AZ

Author:  Xiaolong  Qui
Title:  The Mao Case
Event Time:  Saturday, Apr 4, 2:00 pm

Author:  Jerry Stahl
Title: Pain Killers
Event Time:  Saturday, Apr 4, 3:00 pm

Author:  Laura Lippman
Title:  Life Sentences
Event Time:  Monday, Apr 6, 7:00 pm

Author: Ace Atkins
Title:  Devil's Garden
Event Time: Tuesday, Apr 7, 7:00 pm

Author:  Nevada Barr
Title:  Borderline
Event Time:  Wednesday, Apr 8, 7:00 pm

Author: David Hewson 
Title:  Dante's Numbers 
Event Time:  Thursday, Apr 9, 7:00 pm

Author:  Bryan Gruley
Title:   Starvation Lake 
Event Time: Saturday, Apr 11, 2009, 2:00 pm 

Author:  Jonathan Kellerman
Title:  True Detectives
Event Time: Monday, Apr 13, 2009, 7:30 pm

Author: Hannah Dennison
Title:  Scoop
Event Time: Friday, Apr 17, 2:00 pm

Author: Kyle Mills
Title:  Lords of Corruption
Event Time:  Friday, Apr 17, 07:00 pm

Author: Diane Mott Davidson
Title:  Fatally Flaky
Event Time:  Saturday, Apr 18, 2:00 pm

Author: Carol Higgins Clark
Title:  Cursed
Event Time:  Wednesday, Apr 22, 7:00 pm

Author:  Mary Higgins Clark
Title:  Just Take My Heart
Event Time:  Wednesday, Apr 22, 7:00 pm

Author: Lisa Scottoline
Title:  Look Again
Event Time: Thursday,  Apr 23, 7:00 pm

Author:  Stuart Woods
Title:  Loitering with Intent
Event Time: Monday, Apr 27, 7:00 pm 

Author: Jon Talton
Title:    The Pain Nurse
Event Time:  Tuesday, Apr 28, 7:00 pm

Author:  Maria Snyder
Title:  Storm Glass
Event Time: Wednesday, Apr 29, 12:00 noon

Author:  Robert Dugoni
Title: Wrongful Death
Event Time:  Wednesday, Apr 29, 7:00 pm

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Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Seattle, WA

Author:  Lisa Lutz
Title:  Revenge of the Spellmans 
Event Time:  Wed, April 1, noon

Author:  Vicki Delany
Title:  Valley of the Lost
Event Time:  Sat, April 4, noon

Author:  William Dietrich
Title:  The Dakota Cipher
Event Time:  Wed, April 8, noon

Author:  Carola Dunn
Title:  Manna from Hades
Event Time:  Sat, April 11, noon

Author:   Robert Dugoni
Title: Wrongful Death
Event Time:  Tues, April 14, noon

Author:   David Hewson
Title:  Dante's Numbers
Event Time: Fri, April 17, noon 

Author:  Cricket McRae
Title:   Spin a Wicked Web
Event Time:  Sat, April 18, noon,

Author:  Amanda Quick (Jayne Ann Krentz)
Title:  The Perfect Poison
Event Time:  Tues. April 21, noon

Author:  Lisa Scottoline
Title:  Look Again
Event Time:   Tues, April 28, noon

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Uncle Edgar's Mystery Bookstore
Minneapolis, MN

Author:   Harley Jane Kozak
Title:  A Date You Can't Refuse
Event Time: Saturday, Apr 18, 1 pm

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Vrooman's
Pasadena, CA

Author: Jerry Stahl
Title:  Pain Killers
Event Time:  Wednesday, April 4  - 7:00pm

Author:  Paul Levine
Title:  Illegal
Event Time: Tuesday, April 4 - 7:00pm

Author:  David Hewson
Title:  Dante's Numbers
Event Time:  Wednesday, April 4 - 12:00pm

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END

New Mystery & Crime Fiction Novels Coming in April 2009

Here's a partial representative listing, arranged alphabetically by author, which this month includes new titles by Susan Wittig Albert, David Baldacci, Nevada Barr, Carol Higgins Clark, Mary Higgins Clark, Jane Cleland, Donna Leon, Henning Mankell, Lisa Scottoline, Alexander McCall Smith, and Stuart Woods, among many other wonderful and deserving offerings. You can also check out the links at the bottom for more, as they're too numerous to list here.

• Susan Wittig Albert: Wormwood (April 7, 2009). In the 17th China Bayles outing, China’s friends and family are urging her to get some rest—and a Kentucky Shaker village seems the ideal place for it. But the restored modern version of the village, striving to become a popular tourist attraction, is plagued with misfortune and strife— some of it the likely result of sabotage.

• David Baldacci: First Family (April 21, 2009). This is the latest installment in the series featuring former Secret Service agents turned private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. It began with what seemed like an ordinary children's birthday party. Friends and family gathered to celebrate. There were balloons and cake, games and gifts. This party, however, was far from ordinary. It was held at Camp David, the presidential retreat. And it ended with a daring kidnapping . . . which immediately turned into a national security nightmare.

• Nevada Barr: Borderline (April 7, 2009) This is the 15th novel with protagonist Anna Pigeon, who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and on administrative leave. When she takes a vacation with her new husband Paul, they discover a murdered pregnant woman on a rafting trip and are soon sucked into a labyrinth of intrigue that leads from the Mexican desert to the steps of the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, Texas.

• Carol Higgins Clark: Cursed (April 7, 2009). Regan Reilly returns for a 12th adventure, flying to L.A. to help a friend in trouble which will take her from the beaches of Malibu, to the mountains north of the city, to the renovated lofts of downtown L.A.

• Mary Higgins Clark: Just Take My Heart (April 7, 2009). In this standalone thriller, Natalie Raines, one of Broadway's brightest stars, accidentally discovers who killed her former roommate and sets in motion a series of shocking events that puts more than one life in extreme peril.

• Jane K. Cleland: Killer Keepsakes (April 14, 2009) The fourth Josie Prescott mystery finds the antiques dealer trying to help her assistant Gretchen, who is the prime suspect in the murder of a body found in her home.

• Diane Mott Davidson: Fatally Flaky (April 7, 2009) In the 15th outing of Goldy Schulz, Doc Finn, beloved local physician and the best friend of Goldy's godfather, Jack, is killed when his car tumbles into a ravine. At least that's what appears to have happened. But Jack thinks Doc was murdered because of the research he was doing at the Gold Gulch Spa—allegations that are confirmed when Jack himself is attacked.

• Garry Disher: Blood Moon (April 1, 2009)  In the 5th Inspector Hal Challis novel, Challis and his team investigate the brutal beating of the chaplain of a prestigious school and the murder of the woman in charge of punishing local land use violations. But will Hal Challis and Ellen Destry's new romantic relationship interfere with their work?

• Anthony Eglin: The Trail of the Wild Rose (April 14, 2009). Retired botany professor Lawrence Kingston is helping a friend restore his garden when he gets a call from his former colleague Clifford Attenborough, now curator of horticulture at Kew Gardens. It seems that a patient in critical condition at an Oxford hospital has been muttering strange things about a plant-hunting expedition in China. When the members of the expedition seem to be meeting untimely ends in unexplainable accidents, Kingston turns up evidence of theft and murder among the British aristocracy.

• Jane Haddam: Living Witness (April 14, 2009)  In the 24th outing of this series featuring former FBI agent Gregor Demarkian, Ann-Victoria Hadley has often been the most hated person in Snow Hill, Pennsylvania, but after she sues the new school board who inserted “intelligent design” into the curriculum and the town becomes a national laughing stock, Annie-Vic is found clubbed into unconsciousness and not expected to survive. The local police chief, one of the school board members, can’t investigate it himself and doesn’t trust the state police. So he brings in Demarkian.

• Parnell Hall: Dead Man's Puzzle (April 14, 2009). In the 10th "Puzzle Lady" mystery, Cora Felton has to deal with a dead body, a mysterious puzzle that must be solved immediately, and the very real risk that, finally, her secret will be revealed: Cora, the well-known crossword-puzzle composer, is a fraud.

• Roderic Jeffries: Sun, Sea and Murder (April 1, 2009). In the 33rd book in this series featuring Inspector Alvarez, the bumbling, cognac-loving inspector Enrique Alvarez is back in another Mallorcan police caper. This one begins with a request from the English police to question Cyril Tyler, a part-time Mallorcan resident, to determine if he is the driver who ran down two young people on an English country lane. Within minutes of meeting Tyler, Alvarez senses he’s dealing with a guilty man. But barely has the investigation begun when Tyler is shot dead in suspicious circumstances.

• Laurie R. King: The Language of Bees (April 28, 2009). The 9th installment in this series featuring young theology scholar and American feminist Mary Russell, who is married to the great detective Sherlock Holmes. Holmes and Russell return to England in August 1924, after traveling around the world, to find that Holmes’ bees are inexplicably dying and that Holmes had a son by Irene Adler.

• Donna Leon: About Face (April 8, 2009) The 18th Commissario Guido Brunetti novel, Brunetti faces an environmental crisis in Italy which becomes even more significant in Brunetti’s work when an investigator from the Carabiniere, looking into the illegal hauling of garbage, asks for a favor. But the investigator is not the only one with a special request. His father-in-law needs help and a mysterious woman comes into the picture. Brunetti soon finds himself in the middle of an investigation into murder and corruption more dangerous than anything he’s seen before.

• Peter Lovesey: Murder on the Short List (April 1, 2009). This is Crippen and Landru's third collection of Lovesey's short mysteries, 14 tales which range from the chuckle-producing tale of a violent mobster who wants to buy a harp for his musician son, through the case of two silly men who fall for a get-rich-quick scheme, to the hilarious tale of a gang of oldsters who hatch a plot to steal hearing aids.

• Henning Mankell: Italian Shoes (April 1, 2009). In this standalone, a man well past middle age lives on a tiny island entirely surrounded by ice during the long winter months, Fredrik Welin is so lost to the world that he cuts a hole in the ice every morning and lowers himself into the freezing water to remind himself that he is alive. Haunted by memories of the terrible mistake that drove him to this island and away from a successful career as a surgeon, he lives in a stasis so complete an anthill grows undisturbed in his living room. Then an unexpected visitor alters his life completely.

• Leslie Meier: Mother's Day Murder (April 7, 2009). In the 15th outing for small-town newspaper reporter, Lucy Stone, Lucy and her family witness a very public altercation between Barbara Hume and Tina Nowak. When Tina is shot, and  a figure in white with blonde hair flees the scene, could it have been Barbara? It turns out that her gun was the murder weapon.

• Cynthia Riggs: Death and Honesty (April 28, 2009) In the 8th Victoria Trumbull Martha's Vineyard mystery, ninety-two-year-old poet/sleuth Victoria discovers a neighbor's body in the home of one of the three town assessors. The assessors have been skimming off tax money from wealthy landowners and stashing it in their own special retirement funds. Then the private pilot of the not-so-holy clergyman husband of one of these landowners is found dead, floating in his employers pond.

• Ann B. Ross: Miss Julia Delivers the Goods (April 16, 2009) In the 10th Julia Springer novel, Julia has just learned a secret—Hazel Marie is pregnant with twins and the prospective father has cleared out of town. Abbotsville finds itself the scene of a heist; and Miss Julia knows there’s only one man who can solve the crime. It’s J. D. Pickens, P.I., renowned investigator and Hazel Marie’s wayward love. When he’s summoned, one thing becomes clear: Miss Julia must help set things right between them or find herself the only one who can, quite literally, deliver the goods.

• Greg Rucka: Walking Dead (April 28, 2009) The 7th thriller featuring bodyguard-turned-international-fugitive Atticus Kodiak. While hiding in Kobuleti, neighbor Bakhar Lagidze and his family have been brutally murdered, and the thuggish local police chief has declared it a murder-suicide. Every seems satisfied with that, except for Atticus.

• Lisa Scottoline: Look Again (April 14, 2009). In this standalone thriller, reporter Ellen Gleeson gets a “Have You Seen This Child?” flyer in the mail, she almost throws it away. But something about it makes her look again, and her heart stops—the child in the photo is identical to her adopted son, Will. Her every instinct tells her to deny the similarity between the boys, because she knows her adoption was lawful. But she’s a journalist and won’t be able to stop thinking about the photo until she figures out the truth.

• John Shannon: Palos Verdes Blue (April 7, 2009). In the 11th Jack Liffey installment, Jack is hired to find Blue, the missing teen-aged daughter of his ex-wife’s best friend. As he investigates, Jack discovers that there is a low-intensity war going on in the L.A’s posh Palos Verdes peninsula.

• Clea Simon: Probable Claws (April 10, 2009). In the fourth Theda Krakow outing, music critic Theda Krakow, in the running for a staff reporter job, is pressured into investigating the poisoning of several of the cats at a no-kill shelter, which is how she ends up in the back rooms of the city shelter covered in blood, with a scalpel in her hands, and standing next to the body of the shelter vet.

• Alexander McCall Smith: Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (April 21, 2009), the latest in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

• Frank Smith: The Cold Hand of Malice (April 1, 2009) In the 7th Neil Paget novel, DCI Neil Paget and DS John Tregalles return to investigate the death of  Laura Holbrook, bludgeoned to death one night while her husband is away. At first, it looks like a burglary gone wrong, but as Paget and Tregalles investigate, they realize the case is more complex than they first thought.

• David Stone: The Venetian Judgment (April 16, 2009). In the 3rd Micah Dalton outing, it's winter in Venice and a killing frost has cut deep into CIA cleaner Micah Dalton’s heart as he heads out into the night to erase the last members of the Serbian gang who shot his lover, a hand-to-hand vendetta Dalton does not intend to survive. And he might not have, if a mysterious jade box containing a stainless steel glasscutter had not arrived at his villa, which triggers a global search for a possible mole within the upper echelons of the CIA itself.

• Louise Ure: Liars Anonymous (April 14, 2009). In this standalone, Jessica Dancing Gammage got away with murder but paid the price, with a move, a dropped surname, estrangement from her adoptive family, a history that follows her, and a dreadful change to her own psyche. Working for a roadside assistance service, Jessie takes a disturbing call that indicates foul play, and she’s forced back to her old home ground, where her past is remembered and resented.

• Kathryn R. Wall: Covenant Hall (April 28, 2009). In the 8th Bay Tanner installment, Private Investigator Tanner is hired by a young mother desperate to locate her estranged family. Joline Eastman’s daughter is dying of leukemia, and all other sources for a bone-marrow transplant have been exhausted. A yellowing photograph and a handful of wartime letters are the only clues she has to offer. But it’s what she’s not willing to share that may hold the ultimate solution to saving her daughter’s life.

• Stuart Woods: Loitering with Intent (April 21, 2009) In the 15th Stone Barrington novel, Stone is at his favorite New York hangout, Elaine’s, when Bill Eggers brings him Warren Keating, who’s hoping Stone can track down his 26-year-old son, Evan. As Stone continues his increasingly dangerous pursuit of Evan, he starts questioning Warren’s intentions. Sure enough, Evan believes his father is up to no good, and Stone agrees to help Evan, unaware that the decision will cost him dearly.   

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.

The Truth Lies in the Dark

It's always interesting to hear from newly-published writers about their experiences with both the creative and the publishing processes. Kristin Callender is one such author who recently published her first novel, The Truth Lies in the Dark, through BlueWater Press. The book asks the questions, "What if you found out that everything you thought you knew was a lie? That the people you loved and trusted kept a life-changing secret from you?" The story follows Amanda Martineau, survivor of a childhood plane crash that killed her parents and left her with no memory of her life before the accident, as she struggles to uncover the secrets of her past.

I asked Kristin some questions about her journey into the world of writing and publishing and how it was going for her so far:

(IRTM) Since March is Small Press Month, it's fitting to point out your debut novel was published by one such company, BlueWaterPress. What made you decide to bypass the agenting process and go straight to a publisher and what has been your experience thus far working with a small press? Would you do anything differently if you were doing it all over again?

(KC) Without sounding ungrateful, there are many disadvantages in choosing a small press. They are unlikely to have the staff or resources to provide assistance in marketing the books they publish. Also, smaller publishers commonly use POD (Print On Demand) instead of printing a large amount of books and storing them. This method is cost effective for them, but limits the author's sales and review options. There are also some advantages. Small presses can usually offer a higher royalty percentage to their authors and some are able to maintain a better one-on-one relationship than larger houses. And of course, the best advantage is that small presses are more open to writers without agents.  Some larger publishers will not accept anything unless it is from an agent.

I am very thankful for the opportunity to be published, especially seeing how competitive the book market is. If given the chance to do it again, I would like to think that I would do the same.  I have learned so much about writing, editing, publishing, and marketing. I try to see it all as a learning experience that will help make all of my future books that much more successful.

(IRTM) One of the biggest shocks for most first-time writers is how much of their own marketing they have to take on. What have you tried thus far and what has worked the best for you?

(KC)  I think the hardest part of marketing is putting your doubts and ego aside so you can get your book out there. I have started a website, joined many online writing groups, asked questions, and continue to read everything I can find.  There are many great websites and books for writers. I just recently learned about virtual book tours and decided to give it a try. It took a lot work, contacting book related blog and then preparing the guest blogs and author interviews, but the response has been great. Not as much in sales as in networking. I have met established authors, marketing professionals, reviewers, editors, and countless readers. I would suggest this to any author.  It also helped prepare me for my real life book signings.

(IRTM) It's unusual for an author to have any say-so in their book covers. That's why the story of your particular cover is even more interesing than it would be otherwise. How did this all come about?

(KC)  While we were in the final editing of the book my son had painted this amazing picture of New York City in his high school art class. Friends of ours were the first to suggest that it would make a great cover for my book. I played around with it a little and sent it to my editor, who loved it.  We were all surprised and proud when we received that first box of books in the mail.  I want him to design another cover for me.

(IRTM) Your book deals with secret identities and tangled family relationships. Were there any real-life experiences that helped in writing this particular scenario?

(KC) No, there is no secret forgotten life for me (Not that I know of anyway). I am fascinated with how our minds work, though. How we determine what we remember and what we forget, and how our dreams can be a window into our subconscious.  I am exploring that idea in another form now with a new mystery I am working on.

(IRTM) Do you outline before you write? (Most writers are either strongly pro- or strongly anti-outline). Either way, do you find your characters start to do things you didn't expect, perhaps even changing the direction of the story?

(KC) I do not outline. I know where I want the story to go, but really let the characters decide how to get there. I do keep a notebook though. I start every book with notes on the characters and their backstories and then I take quick notes after each chapter is finished. This helps me keep the details straight without having to go back and reread all the time.

(IRTM) You've indicated your current favorite author is Ernest Hemingway and that reading his biographies, short stories and novels help you find you own voice in you writing. Can you explain a little more about what you mean by that?

(KC)  The first book by Hemingway that I read was Islands in the Stream. It was so hard to get through, as it jumped around a lot. But there was something about the way he writes that I liked.  So I started reading his short stories and other books. I am no literature critic, but he has such a strong, constant voice in all of his writing. Even when I don't care for the subject he is writing about I am hooked on his characters and what will happen next. I like to read him when I get frustrated or stuck in my own writing. Not that I am comparing my writing to his. I am sure he wouldn't agree with my genre choices.

(IRTM) What current crime fiction writers do you admire? What writers have inspired you and taught you by example?

(KC) I am reading Nora Roberts' J.D. Robb 'Death' series now and love it. I tend to jump from mystery to romance in my own writing and love how she combines them. 

(IRTM) What do you believe are your greatest strengths as a writer? What aspects of craft are you still trying to master?

(KC)  My imagination is my greatest strength. When I am writing, the story comes alive in my mind and just keeps building as I write. It keeps me excited about the story and motivated to finish. I am always learning new things about writing, publishing, marketing, and promoting. I don't know if I will ever think that I have mastered any of it. Besides, I am a Gemini and my grandmother always said that made me a jack of all trades, but master of none.  So I will keep on learning all I can to improve all of my trades

(IRTM) Are there plans for more crime fiction stories in your future?

(KC) I am working on a contemporary romance now.  I also have started another mystery and did leave the possibility of a sequel to The Truth Lies in the Dark. I think Amanda's intuition and determination could bring her into the detective world, maybe as a private eye.

Sherlock Holmes in America

Arthur Conan Doyle had a fascination with the United States, even using American characters and places in some of his stories, as with A Study in Scarlet, featuring a flashback set in a Mormon community in Utah, or the Valley of Fear, which deals in part with crime in Pennsylvania coal-mining territories. Irene Adler, the only woman to best Sherlock Holmes, was originally from New Jersey, and Holmes himself posed as an Irish-American spy in "His Last Bow."

Doyle once wrote:

"And no less wonderful to me are those Western cities which, without any period of development, seem to spring straight into a full growth of every modern convenience, but where, even among the rush of cable cars and the rining of telephone bells, one seems still to catch the echoes of the woodman's axe and of the scout's rifle.

These things are the romance of America, the romance of change, of contrast, of danger met and difficulty overcome, and let me say that we, your kinsmen, upon the other side, exult in your success and in your prosperity, and it is those who know British feeling--true British feeling--best, who will best understand how true are my words...."

After four trips to the young country, Doyle even called for the creation of an Anglo-American society to promote ties between the two nations. His fascination with the wilder side of the U.S.—the frontier tales of James Fenimore Cooper, the tales of Poe, Twain, and Harte, the wild west—were the inspiration behind a new collection of short stories which either feature Sherlock Holmes or touch upon his influence in some way. Editors Martin Greenburg, Jon Lellenberg, and Daniel Stashower have gathered fourteen stories and three essays which place Holmes in such cities as San Antonio, San Diego, New York City, Salt Lake City, and Boston, running into notables drawn from the history pages, including the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, and Buffalo Bill Cody.

Contributors include Steve Hockensmith, author of the Holmes on the Range mysteries about Sherlock Homes-obsessed cowboy brothers; multiple-Shamus Award winner Loren D. Estleman; Anthony winner Bill Crider' Carolyn Wheat, winner of several major awards and author of How to Write Killer Fiction, and Gillian Linscott, historical Dagger-award winner and author of a suffragette detective series.

The first story in the collection, "The Case of Colonel Warburton's Madness," by Lyndsay Faye, sets the right tone by using one of Watson's untold tales which Holmes cleverly solves in an armchair after the doctor describes a mystery he encountered in San Francisco. It's hard to pick a highlight, as all the offerings are entertaining. Some are written from the traditional viewpoint of Watson as documentarian, some with others taking that role in one form or another, and the concluding story by Michael Walsh, which casts him in a less traditional, but more poignant role than usual, is told from Holmes's own POV, set as a prelude to Doyle's story, "His Last Bow."

Almost eighty years after Conan Doyle's death, his legendary protagonist continues to fascinate. Fans hungering for more fodder to feed their Holmes habit will find the pastiches in Sherlock Holmes in America a welcome "hit."

Let's Have a Conference

So many literary conferences, workshops, and festivals, so little time (and money, alas). But here are a few of the less well-known, perhaps, that are worth checking out:

• The Seventh Annual Write of Spring takes place this Saturday from noon to 4pm at Once Upon a Crime Books in Minneapolis.  Over seventy local and guest crime fiction authors will be on hand to greet fans and sign books.

• The Naples, Florida, Press Club's Annual Author and Book Festival is coming up on April 4th and 5th. The registration fee includes a writers' conference, with workshops conducted by thriller writer Lisa Unger, forensic mystery novelist Lisa Black, humorous crime author Deborah Sharp, and Edgar award-winning novelist James W. Hall, among others.

• Across the Pond and later next month, April 23-26, the UK's Scarborough Literature Festival will include one panel on thrillers with Lee Child, David Hewson and Graham Hurley, and another with crime fiction authors Simon Kernick and Stuart Pawson. Kate Atkinson will also be on hand with a program all to herself. These three panels are scheduled back-to-back on Friday the 24th from noon to 7:30pm.

We're On the Grind

Stephen J. Cannell is still best known to many as the producer behind such TV crime dramas as Baretta, Hardcastle and McCormick, Renegade, The A-Team, The Rockford Files, Wiseguy, and more (many of which often ended with his trademark video logo of himself rolling paper out of a typewriter and throwing it into the air). More recently, he's switched gears to writing crime novels, fifteen thus far, including his LAPD Detective Shane Scully series.

With a Cannell TV episode, you knew pretty much what you were going to get, namely, a lightweight but entertaining adventure in which characters sometimes trend toward one-dimensional and the plot often takes a backseat to the action, but you find yourself getting sucked in anyway due to Cannell's solid storytelling skills. Thus it's not terribly surprising that his latest book follows along those same lines.

On the Grind is the eighth installment in the adventures of Shane Scully, and as the book opens, things have never looked more dire for the detective. Charged with sleeping with a witness—a sexy Hollywood starlet—and trying to cover up by stealing evidence, he's forced to resign. His wife Alexa kicks him out of the house and his son won't have anything to do with him. The only recourse left is to take a job in the small city of Haven Park, a ghetto of illegal immigrants, with a police department so corrupt, it's like a law enforcement cesspool, drawing in every dirty and disgraced cop no other city will touch. Every action revolves around kickbacks (with arms smuggling to boot), coddling the local Latino gangs or protecting the unscrupulous mayor who has a vested interest in having his dystopian empire continue unfettered.

Scully's training and "initiation" is overseen by his new partner, Sgt. Alonzo Bell, even as Scully continues to be dogged by the FBI agent who was involved in his dismissal from the LAPD. Soon he's in so deep, he's being groomed to assassinate the only serious opposition candidate in the upcoming mayoral race, despite the fact that some of his new colleagues don't completely trust him. Therein lies the twist in the plot, which is telegraphed fairly early, so it's not much of a spoiler to add that Scully is in fact working undercover and ends up putting his life on the line to provide enough evidence to close down the corruption mill.

Cannell has a very fine hand with pacing and atmosphere, and the book is certainly a quick read, written entirely in the first-person POV of Scully instead of alternating third-person as he did with early Scully outings. One major quibble would be that the ending is a bit over-the-top as a battered Scully mounts up (literally) to ride to victory. That and a few other implausibiliies diminish the more realistic insider view of the police procedural which had occupied the first nine-tenths of the book, and make the ending feel a bit rushed and wrapped up too neatly. Still, most Scully fans probably won't be disappointed, the kind of book where you just strap yourself in and go along for the ride.

For a book trailer, you can check out this link (there's also a sweepstakes there throughout the month), and for interviews with the author (divided in several parts), including a look at the evolution of the character of Shane Scully, click here.

Media Murder

MOVIES

Informant Media has optioned William Dielh's novel Hooligans based on a screenplay he created before his death. In addition, Diehl's 27 has been optioned and Sharky's Machine is also going to be remade.

Constantin Film has acquired the feature film adaptation rights to 28 Minutes, the forthcoming crime novel from Dave Zeltserman, although the title of the move will be changed to Outsourced.

Writer Mark Bomback has been chosen by New Line and Playtone to adapt Agent Zigzag, a WWII spy drama. Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing.

Universal has purchased Rites of Men by Jonathan Herman, the story of a working-class single father whose world is shattered by the unsolved murder of his only son. It's the second Herman work signed recently, after Warner Brothers and Silver Pictures picked up Herman's bank heist thriller Conviction.

Liam Neeson had been under consideration for Unknown White Male, an international thriller Joel Silver's Dark Castle is producing for Warner Brothers. Neeson was to play a doctor visiting Berlin who suffers an injury that leads to a coma. When the doctor awakens, he finds he has been replaced by another man and then sets off on a quest to discover the truth. Given the unfortunate parallel between the protagonist's story line and the circumstances of Liam's wife, Natasha Richardson's death, it remains to be seen whether the project will proceed.

Paramount Pictures has acquired bigscreen rights to John Le Carre's espionage thriller The Night Manager, with Brad Pitt's Plan B company producing.

Paramount has also grabbed bigscreen rights to an upcoming Wired magazine article about a band of Italian diamond thieves. J.J. Abrams is producing through his Bad Robot shingle. Joshua Davis, who has turned a number of his Wired articles into feature projects, wrote the story for the April issue of the magazine.

The companies behind the screen adaptations of Stieg Larsson's trilogy, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, will now be shown worldwide in cinemas. Originally conceived as a miniseries, the success in Sweden of the original showings prompted the about-face.

TV

CBS has informed the producers of Without a Trace and Cold Case that the long-running procedurals are facing possible cancellation come May.

Northern Lights, the Lifetime movie based on the Nora Roberts series, drew the highest ratings for the network this year to date. Up next:  the second of four Roberts adaptations, Midnight Bayou.

A pilot episode based upon M.J. Rose's novels The Reincarnationist and The Memoirist is currently being shot in Baltimore and "looks like a strong candidate to make the Fox lineup next season," the Baltimore Sun reported.

Lost's Reiko Aylesworth has landed a role in Jerry Bruckheimer's untitled ABC drama pilot about amateur detectives.

ITV Global Entertainment has sold several drama series to France 3, including the murder mystery drama series Lewis and the hit Canadian crime thriller Murdoch Mysteries, based on the novels by Maureen Jennings.

In more international "pick up" news, CBS Paramount International Television has licensed the new 13-part murder mystery series Harper's Island to BBC Three for launch in the U.K. later this year.

Lifetime Television will produce TV movie adaptations of Patricia Cornwell's bestselling crime novels At Risk and The Front for Lifetime Network, marking the first time the author's work will be adapted.

WEB/RADIO

CSI's Anthony Zuikera is creating a digital crime novel series, The Dark Chronicles, a serial killer trilogy to feature Steve Dark, a former member of the FBI Special Circumstances Unit.

The Oxford DNB Podcast series featured a reading of the biography of James Bond creator Ian Fleming.

KALW's Book Talk program interviewed Peter Robinson about his latest Inspector Alan Banks mystery, All the Colors of Darkness, on March 22nd, The week prior (March 15), it was Jacqueline Winspear, talking about her latest Maisie Dobbs mystery, Among the Mad.

Another Farewell, with a Happy Sendoff

Tony Burton has been publishing the Crime and Suspense subscription e-zine since October 2005, but it appears it will cease to exist no later than the end of this year. Burton sent out a notice the other day that he's going out with a thank-you to fans by offering up free content:

"Hello there, my fellow crime fiction fans! Here is the access information to get into Crime and Suspense. Things have changed somewhat. I'm not going to putz around with the password stuff any more. At this point, the future life of the ezine is growing shorter by the day, so why not let you have free access to the ezine? You can feel free to share the link with anyone you like. Simply go to the Crime and Suspense ezine site and click on Subscribers' Area and you will see the link to the current issue. Of course, drawings and certain contests (if any) are still restricted to actual subscribers, as is the voting on the Readers' Choice story for each month. I hope you enjoy the ezine in its waning days! We'll try to keep it interesting and informative up to its last gasp. Fondly, Tony Burton, Chief Editor, Crime and suspense."

Burton is also the publisher of Wolfmont Press and Honey Locust Press, so he won't be gone entirely from the crime fiction stage. He was the force behind Dying in a Winter Wonderland, an anthology of crime fiction stories with proceeds benefiting Toys for Tots (the second annual book in that series), which made the number eight spot on the IMBA bestseller list for 2008.

Reunions Aren't Always Easy

Until recently, Simone Van Der Vlugt was a Dutch author known for her young adult novels. With Reunion she tackles adult crime fiction for the first time, to great success--it sold over 400,000 copies and was translated in German and French, with the English translation by Michele Hutchison.

This novel of psychological suspense takes its time peeling back layer after layer of the troubled life of protagonist Sabine, who's just returning to work after taking a medical leave due to "burn out" and depression. As told in an almost facile and straightforward first-person present tense narrative, we slowly delve deeper and deeper into the tortured psyche of Sabine and the memories she's repressed from her childhood which date to the time her former friend and subsequent tormentor Isabel disappeared without a trace. Nine years later, notice of a school reunion prompts those memories to return in tantalizing snippets that lead Sabine to revisit the small Dutch coastal town of Den Helder where it all began. She starts investigating on her own and comes to realize the potential suspects are among those closest to her, including her brother and her current and former lovers.

As we're drawn deeper into Sabine's world, we find ourselves pulling for her and want to get to the bottom of the mystery as much as she does. The ending is unsettling, and this is one book where you definitely don't want to peek, but even more unsettling are the themes of alienation, unhealthy relationships, and the ways humans find to torture each other in small incremental ways each and every day.

Here's an excerpt from the beginning of the book:

I stand at the entrance to the beach, my hands in the pockets of my jacket, and look out to sea. It’s 6 May and way too cold for this time of year. Apart from a solitary beachcomber, the beach is deserted. The sea is the colour of lead. Snarling and foaming, it swallows up more and more sand.

A little further up, a young girl sits on a bench. She too looks out to sea, hunched up in her padded jacket. She’s wearing sturdy shoes that can withstand the wind and rain. A school bag lies at her feet. Not far from where she’s sitting, her bike leans against the barbed wire fence. It’s padlocked, even though she’s nearby.

I knew I would find her here.

She stares blindly out to sea. Even the wind, which tugs at her clothing, can’t get a grip on her. It catches her light brown hair whirling around her head, but not her attention.

Despite her insensitivity to the cold, there’s a vulnerability about this girl that touches me.

I know her, yet I hesitate to speak to her because she doesn’t know me. But it’s extremely important that she gets to know me, that she listens to me, that I get through to her.

I walk towards the bench, my gaze fixed on the sea as if I’ve come here to enjoy the angry waves.

The girl looks the other way, her face expressionless. For a moment she seems to want to get up and leave, but then resigns herself to having her solitude invaded.

We sit next to each other on the bench, our hands in our pockets, and watch how air and water merge. I must say something.

She’ll leave soon and we won’t have exchanged a word. But what do you say when every word counts?

As I take a deep breath and turn towards her, she looks over at me. Our eyes are the same colour. We probably have the same expression too.

She’s about fifteen. The age Isabel was when she was murdered.

Although the book isn't easily available through U.S. channels just yet, you can find it on Amazon UK, and with any luck, Van Der Vlugt will not make Reunion her last venture into the genre.

Small is Big

This March sees the celebration of the thirteenth annual Small Press Month, a nationwide celebration of the contributions of independent book publishers. The schedule of events includes a variety of opportunities for you to show your support for the small presses and have fun to boot, with readings, book launches, author appearances, and many other shindigs. It's not too late to catch some of the remaining activities on the calendar.

Speaking of small, Joe Hill is touting a Love Your Indie contest. To participate, all you have to do is go to a local independent bookstore, buy something, save the receipt, then send a photo or scan of the receipt to the address on his blog link above. Lucky winners will receive free books.

The American Booksellers Association and their Indiebound site also has a promotion right now. Make a video under three minutes about why you shop at indie stores, post it on YouTube or other video-sharing site, and send them an e-mail. The chosen winner will receive "a bunch of IndieBound swag."