Frances Brody
Dying in the Wool (Minotaur 2012, UK 2009) introduces Kate Shackleton, whose Royal Medical Corps surgeon husband Gerald went missing in action 1918 near Villiers-Bretonneux. Four years later, Kate knows intellectually that Gerald is dead, but can’t quite accept it emotionally. Trying to deal with her grief, Kate takes on investigations for other women whose men disappeared in the war, finding one who had lost his memory, and another who had chosen to start a new life with a new family. Though unable to find any trace of her own husband after the bombardment that killed most of his comrades, Kate becomes known as a woman with a talent for finding missing people. Tabitha Braithwaite, a old chum from the Voluntary Aid Detachment about to be married to a much younger man, contacts Kate with a request to find her father, Joshua Braithwaite, who vanished seven years earlier. With the help of former police officer Jim Sykes, Kate travels to the village of Bridgestead to look into the disappearance of the prosperous mill owner, who disappeared a month after his only son was killed on the Somme. The police suspected suicide, Tabitha’s mother doesn’t seem to care, Uncle Neville (now running the mill) doesn’t want any rumors threatening the mill’s prosperity, and Tabitha wants her father found so he can walk her down the aisle. Kate learns all about the wool industry as she tries to determine if the mill’s income provided a motive for murder, and more about Tabitha’s father than a daughter wants to know. The plight of the generation of “surplus” women whose potential mates died in the war, is sensitively portrayed in this debut historical, just released in the US.

David Downing
Zoo Station (Soho 2007) introduces John Russell, an Anglo-American journalist living in Berlin, Germany. It’s 1939, and Russell has been living in Berlin long enough to have a German ex-wife, an 11-year-old son, and a film star girlfriend. Hoping to stay in Germany with his son and girlfriend, Russell avoids investigative journalism that might get him deported, instead writing human interest stories for American and British newspapers. When approached by Yevgeny Shchepkin, a Russian journalist acquaintance and Soviet agent, about writing a series of articles about positive aspects of the Nazi regime for the Soviet newspaper Pravda (and doing a bit of amateur spying on the side), Russell at first refuses, unwilling to take a risk that might endanger his relationship with his son. A chance encounter with the casual brutality of a kindertransport train moving tearful Jewish children out of Berlin changes his mind. Russell begins working on a series he calls “Ordinary Germans,” presenting themes like armament workers caught between their natural desire for peace and patriotic concern for the Fatherland. When Nazi and British intelligence discover Russell’s involvement with the Soviets, both ask to see and approve his articles before he mails them off. A side job tutoring in English brings Russell in contact with a Jewish family anxious to educate their teenage daughters in the hope of acquiring visas to send them to England. Meanwhile, Russell’s son Paul is having a great time on outings with the Hitler Youth, his girlfriend Effie is encountering hostility because of her Jewish appearance, and an idealistic young American reporter tries to involve him in a dangerous investigation into Nazi secrets. Caught in the middle, Russell finds himself entangled in a web of intrigue that threatens everyone he cherishes. This compelling debut thriller featuring a unique amateur spy is the first in a series. Lehrter Station (5th in the series) is due May 8th.

Hallie Ephron
Come and Find Me (William Morrow 2011) is the story of Diana Banks, who has suffered from debilitating panic attacks for the last two years, ever since her husband Daniel fell to his death during a climbing accident in Switzerland. The climbing vacation with best friend Jake was a celebration of a decision to go straight by the three hackers, and Diana used the insurance money from Daniel’s accident to start an Internet security company with Jake. Unable to summon the courage to leave her house, Diana has created an online persona called Nadia Varata (an anagram of Diana Avatar), to lead the virtual meetings for Gamelan Security. Diana spends most of her time as Nadia, inhabiting a virtual reality world called OtherWorld. The only person Diana allows within her home’s security perimeter is her younger sister Ashley, who gently pushes Diana to re-enter the world. Diana has made some progress — within the last month she has been able to make short ventures within her own backyard. When Ashley visits one Friday, Diana has just received a delivery of a custom-made Nadia outfit, designed and purchased in an OtherWorld shop. Ashley borrows the outfit to participate in a flash mob event, and doesn’t return to pick up her laptop computer during the weekend as she promised. When Ashley doesn’t arrive at work on Monday, Diana’s concern for her sister outweighs her fear of the world, and she forces herself to go in search for her. This intriguing suspense novel exploring the addictive appeal of virtual reality was a finalist for the 2012 Mary Higgins Clark Award.

C.S. Harris
What Angels Fear (New American Library 2005) introduces Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, a young nobleman in 1811 London, shattered by his experience in the Napoleonic Wars. A beautiful young actress is found raped and murdered on the altar steps of a church, with a dueling pistol bearing the St. Cyr emblem under her body. While being taking in for questioning, a young constable is accidentally stabbed by his colleague, who then accuses St. Cyr of the crime. Fleeing the scene, St. Cyr takes to the streets in disguise to clear his name. A lucky encounter with Tom, an urchin who tries to pick his pocket, gives St. Cry a much needed ally. Tom’s mother has been transported for theft, leaving him to make his own way on the streets. St. Cyr discovers that the dead woman is Rachel York, mistress to at least one member of the Tory cabinet currently struggling to hold on to power as King George III sinks into madness. Kat Boleyn, an actress and St. Cyr’s former lover, holds several secrets that help St. Cyr in his investigation. St. Cyr has Bithil Syndrome, a genetic mutation marked by yellow eyes, acute hearing, and excellent eyesight even in the dark. Using these gifts, he roams the foggy streets of London, tracking Rachel’s last days and the men who might have a motive to kill her. St. Cyr identifies several suspects: a fellow actor, a French painter Rachel modeled for, her current patron who is short listed for the next Prime Minister, a French émigré who may be a spy, and his own nephew known to revel in pulling the heads off live turtles. The vast divide between the privileged class haunted by the specter of revolution, and the increasingly unhappy lower classes is deftly portrayed in this first in a series featuring a noble misfit with a flair for detection. When Maidens Mourn, 7th in the series, was just released.

John Hart
Iron House (Thomas Dunne Books 2011) is the story of Michael, who was raised with his brother Julian in the Iron Mountain Home for Boys, providing “Shelter and Discipline since 1895”. The brothers arrived at Iron House as very young children, Julian a premature newborn and Michael less than a year old. Michael grew tough enough to stand up for himself, but Julian was constantly bullied by the older boys until the day he finally struck back. To save his brother, Michael took the blame and ran away from Iron House, eventually becoming an enforcer for the mob. Twenty-three years later, Michael has fallen in love, and wants to start a new life with Elena and the child she carries. Otto Kaitlin, the mob boss who has brought Michael up almost as a son, gives Michael his blessing to start a new life, but Otto is dying, and his son Stevan refuses to let Michael go without a fight. First threatening Elena, who knows nothing of Michael’s job, and then the brother Michael hasn’t seen for 23 years, Stevan is determined to do anything to bring Michael back into the fold. This multi-layered thriller, a finalist for the 2012 Barry Award for Best Novel, explores the long lasting repercussions of childhood trauma and the power of love and family loyalty.

Joseph Heywood
Ice Hunter (Lyons Press 2001) introduces Grady Service, a 20 year veteran Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer, known as a Woods Cop, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Being a Woods Cop is a tough job; only four or five of the thousands of yearly candidates make it through the training. A former hockey star and Vietnam vet, Grady has proved himself as a master tracker and fearless protector of the Mosquito Wilderness Track, the remote area protected by his Conservation Officer father before him. When Limpy Allerdyce, the patriarch of a disreputable clan of poachers, is released from prison, Grady prepares himself for a busy summer season, but a series of fires that may be arson turns out to be worse. News of an unregistered helicopter flying through the Mosquito causes Grady to suspect that something unsavory is going on in the middle of his favorite wilderness. Though frightened of both women and dogs, Grady finds himself responsible for a Canary Island mastiff named Newf, and partnered with Maridly Nantz, one of the few female Conservation Officers, who just may be a tough as Grady himself. As Maridly and Grady investigate the arson, they uncover evidence of a secret operation that threatens the pristine wilderness area they both love. Grady has a tendency toward doing things his own way, which puts him into direct opposition with many of his superiors as well as the pro-development state governor. This atmospheric mystery, first in a series that now numbers eight, features a protagonist with a strong moral streak and an intense dedication to his job.

Craig Johnson
Hell Is Empty (Viking 2011) finds Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, transporting Raynaud Shade, an adopted Crow Indian, and a group of other convicted murders through a snowstorm. Shade confesses to the murder of a young boy ten years earlier, offering to show the FBI where he buried the body in the Big Horn Mountains. When Walt learns that the boy was part of the White Buffalo family, he is immediately haunted by the memory of Virgil White Buffalo, the oversized Crow he mistakenly arrested for murder some years earlier. Determined to make amends, Walt fights against the bitter winter weather of the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area, armed with little more than a tattered copy of Dante’s Inferno, resolved to locate the boy’s bones and bring them back for a proper burial. Unwilling to wait for backup, Walt follows the voices of Indian spirits swirling within the snow flurries, struggling to survive both spiritually and physically. Flashes of wry humor spark through this gripping 7th in the series, a finalist for the 2012 Barry Award for Best Novel.

Eleanor Kuhns
A Simple Murder (Minotaur 2012) is the story of William Rees, who left his son and farm in the care of his sister and her family after the death of his wife. Still recovering from his time as a Revolutionary War soldier, William couldn’t bear the claustrophobic life of a Maine farmer, and embarked upon an itinerant life on the road, earning his living as a traveling weaver. Returning after five years, William discovers that his 14-year old son David, unable to stand being treated as a servant by his aunt and uncle, has run away to join the Shakers. Overcome by guilt, William follows David to the Shaker community, arriving just before the brutal murder of Sister Chastity, a young woman who recently joined the community. David, who at first refuses to speak to his father, tells Elder White that William has a talent for solving puzzles. Hoping that an outsider can find the truth, Elder White invites William to stay and try to discover the murderer. As William searches for the truth, he endeavors to rebuild his relationship with his son and makes a tentative connection with a woman who has been cast out from the Shaker community. Rich in historical details of life in 1796, this debut novel was the 2011 winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Prize.

Rosamund Lupton
Sister (Piatkus 2010) is the story of Beatrice and Tess Hemming, sisters separated by eight years and a brother who died of cystic fibrosis as a young child. Though outwardly very different (Bee is a driven designer of corporate logos, Tess is a free-spirited painter), the two sisters have always been close, talking on the phone and emailing several times a week. When Bee gets a call from her mother saying that Tess is missing, she catches the next plane from New York to London, regretting the long weekend away with fiancé Todd in a remote cabin with no cell phone or Internet access. Bee is horrified to learn that Tess, who wasn’t due for another three weeks, has given birth to a stillborn son and then vanished from sight. When Tess’s body is found in an abandoned restroom in Hyde Park, the police decide it is suicide, the result of postpartum depression. But Bee can’t accept that Tess, who treasured the gift of life after their brother’s death, could have possibly killed herself, Bee begins to investigate the men in Tess’s life: the married father of her child and the student who stalked her. Told from Bee’s perspective in the form of letters to Tess, and statements to Mr. Wright, a Crown Prosecution Service solicitor, amplified with what Bee chose not to share, this haunting debut novel of psychological suspense was a finalist for the 2011 New Blood Dagger Award.

Simon Tolkien
The Inheritance (Minotaur 2010) is the story of Stephen Cade, who is charged in 1959 with killing his father William, an Oxford professor of history and a hero in World War II. Stephen was estranged from his father for two years, returning home only when his father was about to change his will and disinherit him and his step-brother. Stephen’s fingerprints are on the key to the locked study and the murder weapon, and no evidence points to the other five people in the house that night. But William Trave, a detective inspector, isn’t convinced that Stephen is guilty, and feels that some evidence was ignored, some trails not investigated. When Stephen is convicted, Trave realizes he has less than a month to find new evidence before Stephen is hanged. With the help of detective constable Adam Clayton, Trave begins a more thorough scrutiny of the other five people who were in the house that fateful evening and could have committed the murder, discovering that all five have a motive and none are telling the complete truth. Taking a leave from his duties, Trave travels to the town of Marjean in northern France to investigate the rumors that William Cade was involved in the killing of a French family and their servants in the summer of 1944. The ticking clock of Stephen’s approaching death adds tension to this historical courtroom drama/police procedural.

S.J. Bolton
Now You See Me (Minotaur 2011) begins when Lacey Flint, a young detective constable in London, exits an apartment complex after trying to convince a young victim of gang rape to testify. Arriving at her car, Lacey finds a woman bleeding to death, the victim of a stabbing. Newly appointed Detective Inspector Dana Tulloch arrives at the scene accompanied by Detective Inspector Mark Joesbury, a covert operations officer on light duty after an injury. Lacey feels a connection with Tulloch, and instant antagonism with Joesbury. The next day reporter Emma Boston appears on Lacey’s doorstep, with a letter that mentions DC Flint and referring to Saucy Jacky, one of the nicknames given to Jack the Ripper. Lacey just happens to have been fascinated by Jack the Ripper since adolescence, and is quickly reclassified from witness to Jack the Ripper expert as part of Tulloch’s team. Fearing that the killer may be targeting Lacey, Tulloch assigns Joesbury the task of protecting her, and Lacey fears that his scrutiny into her past may reveal information she would much rather stay buried. Lacey suspects that the killer may be mimicking the five murders that most researchers agree were committed by Jack the Ripper, leaving the police only five days until the next murder. This cunningly plotted and riveting suspense thriller, maintaining a high level of tension to the very end, is a finalist for the 2012 Barry and Mary Higgins Clark Awards.

R.J. Ellory
A Simple Act of Violence (Overlook Press 2011, UK 2008) is the story of a series of murders during the 2006 mid-term elections in Washington, DC. Robert Miller, a veteran homicide detective, and his partner Albert Roth, take over the case with the fourth murder in the series of strangled women, all found with ribbons bearing a luggage tag tied around their necks. As Miller digs into the case files of the four victims, searching for any hint of connection between them, he discovers that none officially exist. Each woman appeared in Washington with the trappings of a previous life, but attempts to trace their pasts prove futile. Interspersed with Miller’s investigation are first-person musings of a former CIA agent about government activities in Nicaragua in the 1980s. Each time Miller and Roth unearth a promising line of investigation, what they believe are facts crumble away into nothingness. Eventually Miller comes to believe that a federal agency is perpetuating a massive cover-up of endemic government corruption. Pulled off the case by the FBI, Miller finds himself unwillingly working outside the law in order to protect vital evidence from contamination, or worse. This compelling mix of police procedural and conspiracy thriller was a finalist for the 2009 Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel.

Janice Hamrick
Death on Tour (Minotaur 2011) introduces Jocelyn Shore, a high school history teacher from Austin, Texas. While recovering from her divorce, Jocelyn convinces her cousin and best friend Kyla to join her on a guided low-budget tour of Egypt. Kyla isn’t crazy about being trapped on a tour, but the cousins have been fascinated with Egypt since high school. The other tourists are a mixed bag, including a family with two hyperactive teenaged boys, an elderly pair of sisters, a self-important lawyer and his self-absorbed daughter, a honeymoon couple in their 80s, and a handsome man who claims to be recently widowed. When Millie Owens, the most disagreeable person on the tour, plunges to her death from the great pyramid of Khafre outside Cairo, Jocelyn suspects that her death is not an accident. Repeated strange encounters with street venders, who try to get Jocelyn off alone while insisting she is from Utah, cause her to wonder if she is being mistaken for someone on the tour who is involved in smuggling artifacts. Jocelyn’s humorous and snarky narration enlivens this debut mystery, a finalist for the 2012 Mary Higgins Clark Award.

Sara J. Henry
Learning To Swim (Crown 2011) begins when Troy Chance, a freelance writer from Lake Placid, New York, sees what might be a small child fall from the rear deck of the opposite ferry crossing Lake Champlain. Reacting instinctively, Tory dives into the water and manages to tow the small boy through the frigid water back to shore. Horrified that the child’s arms had been tied with a sweatshirt, Troy takes the traumatized child home with her. The boy speaks only French and won’t talk of his parents or the boat, only reluctantly admitting his name is Paul and that he is six years old. Tory reports the incident anonymously to the police, and Paul soon reveals that bad men took him a long time ago, that his mother is dead, and that his father doesn’t want him. Worried that turning Paul over to the authorities will send him right back to whoever just tried to kill him, Troy searches for news about his kidnapping and finds not a hint of a missing child. Tory eventually traces Paul’s father, Philippe Dumond, head of a successful marketing agency recently relocated from Montreal to Ottawa. Sure that she will know instantly if Philippe was involved in his wife’s death and son’s kidnapping, Troy travels to Canada and confronts him in his office. Philippe’s angry reaction confuses Troy, but when she reunites father and son their mutual joy erases any doubt that he tried to harm Paul. Philippe convinces Troy to accompany them both back to Ottawa, hoping Paul’s attachment to her will ease his transition back to normal life. But a visit to the Ottawa police reveals that both Philippe and Troy are suspects in Paul’s kidnapping and his mother’s disappearance. Unsure whom to trust, Troy undertakes the task of finding out exactly what happened to Paul and his mother. This compelling psychological suspense debut novel is a finalist for the 2012 Barry First Novel, Mary Higgins Clark, And Agatha First Novel Awards.

Alice LaPlante
Turn of Mind (Atlantic Monthly Press 2011) is the story of Dr. Jennifer White, a retired orthopedic surgeon in the first stages of dementia. Dr. White was a highly skilled hand surgeon until she realized she was losing vocabulary and missing chunks of her day. Recently widowed, White lives in her home with Magdelena, the caretaker she hired when she diagnosed her own dementia. Through conversations with her son and daughter, we learn about Jennifer’s past, and her struggles to cope with her new disoriented reality. The journal she begins at the start of her illness provides another viewpoint, as both Jennifer and those close to her make daily entries. The police officer investigating the recent murder of Amanda, Jennifer’s life-long friend and neighbor, suspects that Jennifer was involved with the murder since four of Amanda’s fingers were surgically removed after death. Jennifer usually doesn’t even remember that Amanda is dead, but occasional tantalizing drifts of memory return. The murder provides a focus for the book, but the terrifying decline of a highly intelligent woman into dementia is far more real and frightening. At the beginning of the book she always insists on being called “Dr. White” by her caregivers, but the slow slide into accepting the informality of “Jennifer” parallels her increasingly fragile grasp on reality. This haunting debut literary thriller is a finalist for the 2012 Barry Award for Best First Novel.

G.M. Malliet
Wicked Autumn (Minotaur 2011) introduces Max Tudor, the vicar at St. Edwold’s in the idyllic village of Nether Monkslip, England. The only irritant in Nether Monkslip is Wanda Batton-Smythe, who runs the Women’s Institute with an iron fist and a sharp tongue. The upcoming Harvest Fayre provides Wanda with a wider than normal range for bullying, and by the time the Fayre opens no one can stand the sight of her. When Wanda drops dead from a anaphylactic shock during the Fayre, it’s presumed to be an accident, the result of her violent allergy to peanuts. But Max, a former MI-5 agent, isn’t convinced, and soon finds himself helping the local police with the investigation, though he would rather put all thoughts of his former life behind him. Deliciously sly asides sparkle through this amusing first in a new series, a finalist for the Dilys Award and the Agatha Award for Best Novel.

Jo Nesbø
Headhunters (Vintage 2011; Norway 2008) is the story of Roger Brown, a corporate headhunter living above his means in Oslo, Norway. Roger earns huge commissions on successful placements, but his wife insists on the best of everything and her new art gallery is a total money drain. So one of Roger’s questions in a job interview is always about the art the candidate owns, which Roger later steals, replaces with a copy, and sells. While searching for a CEO for a GPS company, Roger interviews Dutch candidate Clas Greve, who may just be as good as Roger at interview power maneuvering. In answer to the art question, Greve tells Roger that he has just discovered a Rubens in a hidden closet in the Oslo apartment he recently inherited from his grandmother, who had probably been given some paintings to hide by a Nazi officer during the Occupation. Roger is sure that this is the painting that will solve all of his money problems forever and sets out to steal the Rubens. But he finds more than he expected in Greve’s house, and realizes that Greve may be far more dangerous than any high-tech corporate manager has any business being. Roger quickly finds himself implicated in a murder and fleeing for his life, sure that all he ever loved is threatened by a man whose motivations are murky at best. This clever caper thriller is Nesbø’s first stand-alone novel.

Oliver Pötzsch
The Hangman’s Daughter (Mariner Books 2011; German 2008) is set in 1659 Bavaria. When a badly beaten and dying boy is pulled from the river, a crude tattoo on his shoulder makes the superstitious townspeople suspect witchcraft. Town hangman Jakob Kuisl, interrogator as well as executioner, is called to torture local midwife Martha Stechlin into confessing to the crime. Jakob is sure that Martha isn’t guilty, and works with Simon Fronwiesser, the partially trained son of the local doctor, to find the real killer before Jakob has to execute Martha. A reluctant member of the hereditary hangman trade, Jakob left his village to fight in the Thirty Years’ War, but realized that the trade of a soldier was even bloodier than that of a hangman. With a deep knowledge of herbs and their uses, Jakob has become a more talented healer than the doctor, and even possesses a secret library of forbidden scientific books. Simon is drawn to the knowledge in Jakob’s books, and is enamored of Magdelena, the hangman’s headstrong daughter, but knows his father will never approve the marriage — hangmen’s daughters only marry the sons of other hangmen. The dead boy and a small gang of other town orphans spent much of their time hiding from the torments of the other children, and when another orphan is killed Jakob and Simon suspect that the gang of orphans saw something secret and are being systematically removed before they can talk. As Walpurgisnacht (Witch’s Night) draws near, the townspeople grow even more fearful of witchcraft, and the hunt for the real killer becomes even more dangerous for Jakob, Simon, and Magdelena. This fascinating debut historical mystery, written by a descendent of one of Bavaria’s leading dynasties of executioners, is a finalist for the 2012 Barry Award for Best Paperback Original.

Leonard Rosen
All Cry Chaos (Permanent Press 2011) introduces Henri Poincaré, a veteran Interpol agent who has just arrested Stipo Banovic for ordering and participating in the massacre of seventy-three Muslim men and boys near Banja Luka, Bosnia. Finding the trench filled with bodies has haunted Poincaré for years, and he visits Banovic in prison, who tells him that Muslims raped and killed his wife and children, and swears that Poincaré will walk in his shoes before he dies. Poincaré is assigned to investigate the death of mathematician James Fenster, who was assassinated the evening before his speech at the World Trade Organization meeting in Amsterdam. The carefully planned explosion incinerated Fenster and his room, yet no one else was injured and the rest of the building remained standing. Everyone Poincaré interviews declares that Fenster was a once-in-a-generation genius, a gentle man with no enemies. Informed that Banovic has a contract out on his family, Poincaré takes a leave of absence, but is convinced by his wife to go back to work, leaving his family under Interpol’s protection. Trying to understand what Fenster’s much-anticipated speech might have revealed, Poincaré travels to America to interview Fenster’s graduate student, the hedge fund director who sponsored his research, and Eduardo Quito, a former academic who once worked with Fenster and is now the leader of the Indigenous Liberation Front. Along the way he encounters the Soldiers of Rapture, counting down the days to the End of Time and setting off bombs for Jesus. This complex and emotionally compelling thriller is a finalist for the 2012 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

Frank Tallis
Vienna Twilight (Random House 2011) finds Viennese psychoanalyst Max Liebermann treating a man who is convinced he is on the verge of death since he has seen his own dopplegänger. Meanwhile Detective Inspector Oskar Reinhardt is investigating the death of a young woman, killed by means of a hat pin driven into her brain during what appears to be consensual intercourse. Pushed by his superiors for a quick arrest, Oskar brings Max onto the case. A second murder sends Max to consult with Freud about what the hat pin fetish might reveal about the killer. Together they decide that the killer may have thanatophilia, an obsession with sex and death. Amelia Lydgate, an American medical student and former patient of Max’s, attends the autopsy and shares her new ability to identify the blood found under the murdered woman’s fingernails. The investigation leads Max and Oskar to a painter of very young nudes, for perhaps a less-than-respectable clientele, and a dress designer of the Vienna Secession, who creates brilliantly colored “reform dresses” to be worn without corsets. The food, music, and politics of 1903 Vienna provide a lush background to this 6th in the series, a finalist 2012 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original.

Eoin Colfer
Plugged (Overlook 2011) introduces Daniel McEvoy, a bouncer for Slotz, a seedy casino in Cloisters, New Jersey. McEvoy now spends most of his time fretting about going bald, but luckily retains the fighting skills learned during two tours of active duty in the Irish army. When Connie, the waitress Dan has feelings for, is murdered outside the club, he’s sure the culprit is Jaryd Faber, a sleazy attorney who raised a giant fuss when McEvoy ejected him from Slotz for licking Connie. But the cops like McEvoy for the murder. Then Zeb Kronski, the unlicensed Israeli surgeon who implanted the itchy hair plugs that are driving Dan crazy, suddenly vanishes. McEvoy interrupts Macey Barrett, an enforcer for mobster Irish Mike Madden, tossing Zeb’s office, and kills him more-or-less in self defense. Now everyone’s target, Dan isn’t sure who is trying to kill him — the cops, the mob, or the attorney’s thuggish friends — but he’s sure it had something to do with Zeb Kronski, whose ghost voice seems to have taken residence in his brain. This frenetic and funny caper novel starring a very original protagonist, is the first adult novel by Colfer, author of the best-selling Artemis Fowl series for teens.

Edward Conlon
Red on Red (Spiegel & Grau 2011) is the story of two NYPD detectives. Nick Meehan, burned out and unable to advance, takes an undercover assignment for Internal Affairs to watch Esposito, a suspected dirty cop. When the two find a woman who hanged herself in a tree, Meehan takes the lead, knowing Esposito doesn’t have the patience for suicides while Meehan is interested in pursuing the back story that led to the death. Esposito is more attracted to open-and-shut cases like gang homicides, where the victims are no better than their killers, known as “red on red,” military speak for the enemy attacking the enemy. An added bonus is that the dead criminals are often suspects in other murder investigations, allowing Esposito to earn the credit for clearing open cases. Esposito, who is married with frequent flings on the side, encourages Meehan, who lives with his elderly father, to get a life of his own and pursue a romantic relationship. Despite their differences, friendship and trust grows between the two detectives as they investigate the suicide, a serial rapist, a missing schoolgirl, and a gang war. This debut police procedural exploring the unique dynamic of a successful police partnership is a finalist for the 2012 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

Janet Dawson
Bit Player (Perseverance Press 2011) finds Jeri Howard, a private investigator from Oakland, California, browsing in a movie memorabilia shop for a souvenir from one of the movies her grandmother was a part of. Jerusha Layne, the grandmother Jeri was named after, spent five years playing bit parts in Hollywood from 1937-1942. An elderly man helps Jeri find a pair of title cards advertising two Norma Shearer movies Jerusha had played in, and tells Jeri that her grandmother and Ralph Tarrant were an item right before his murder in 1942. Jeri is skeptical since her grandmother met her grandfather in 1941 and married him in 1942, but can’t help searching out more information about the unsolved Tarrant murder and her grandmother’s Hollywood life. A cache of letters from Jerusha to her Hollywood roommates brings the past to life, dovetailing with the information Jeri gleans from newspaper files. Curious about how the shopkeeper knew about her grandmother, Jeri decides to check him out, and discovers that there are no traces of his life before the early 1980s. Worried that he may be involved in new killings as well as connected to the 1942 murder, Jeri travels around the state determined to put all the pieces together. This engaging 10th in the series is a finalist for the 2012 Left Coast Crime Golden Nugget Award.

Anne Holt
1222 (Scribner 2011, Norway 2007) finds wheelchair-bound retired police officer Hanne Wilhelmsen, traveling by train from Oslo to Bergen to consult with a doctor about her paralyzing spinal injury. Derailed by an ice storm 1222 meters above sea level, the 268 passengers are rescued and transported to a nearby hotel, empty except for the owner and staff. Luckily the Finse hotel is well stocked with food, and everyone settles in for the night, relieved that they are safe and warm, and happily gossiping about the private car at the end of the train that must have been transporting a member of the royal family. During the night the storm worsens, trapping everyone inside the hotel. In the morning, a man is found shot on the porch, and Hanne is pressured to give her opinion since she is the closest to a police authority among them. At first extremely reluctant to get involved, Hanne finds herself slowly drawn back into investigative mode, stimulated for the first time in many months to use the part of her intellect she believed she was done with. Though able to hide the manner of death for a while, a second death precipitates panic among the trapped train passengers, already on edge from the howling wind of the raging storm that has blocked all the exits with snow. This engaging 8th in the series by Norway’s best-selling crime writer is a finalist for the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Mystery.

Darrell James
Nazareth Child (Midnight Ink 2011) introduces Del Shannon, a talented young missing-persons investigator, based in Tucson, Arizona. The only person Del has never been able to track down is the mother she never knew, the woman her alcoholic father refuses to talk about. When Del’s father dies in a car accident, the FBI recruits her to help with the investigation of Silas Church, a faith healer and leader of Nazareth Church, an isolated religious compound in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky. It seems that Del’s father still owns a house in the gated community, and the FBI convinces Del to pose as the new wife of ATFE agent Frank Falconet and infiltrate Nazareth Church. Though the FBI is focused on locating Daniel Cole, an FBI agent who entered Nazareth Church months ago and then vanished, Del is hooked the moment she learns that she was born in the house in the church compound, a place her father never mentioned. This debut thriller is a finalist for the 2012 Left Coast Crime Eureka! Award for best first novel.

Jess Lourey
October Fest (Midnight Ink 2011) finds Mira James, an assistant librarian and part-time reporter for the Battle Lake Recall, covering a political debate at Battle Lake’s fall festival. Paid only $25 for a weekly food column and four articles a month, Mira takes her revenge on her stingy employer by creating horrendous recipes like Haunted Head Cheese and Fearsomely Frightening Fish Chili. In return, her editor assigns Mira to jobs he is sure she will hate, like the early-morning public debate between the two lead candidates for Minnesota’s 7th district congressional seat: Arnold Swydecker, a sincere bore, and local incumbent Sarah Glokkmann, earning national fame for her habit of making embarrassing off-the-cuff remarks. During the debate, national news blogger Bob Webber attacks Glokkmann’s less-than-stellar three-term legislative record. When Webber is found dead by a hotel maid the next morning, Mira is unfortunately next on the scene. Mira’s best friend, senior citizen Mrs. Berns, happened to be staying in the next room with her new fiancé, an ex-con reporter, and Mira finds herself investigating the murder in order to save Mrs. Burns from a fate worse than death — being moved by her son to a secure nursing home for her own protection. No one is surprised that Mira stumbled over the body, her 6th murder in six months. In fact, the Mira and the Corpse pool at the Senior Sunset is the hottest bet in town. This light-hearted mystery with a dash of romance is a finalist for the 2012 Lefty Award for best humorous mystery.

J.J. Murphy
Murder Your Darlings (Signet 2011), introduces Dorothy Parker, quick-witted writer and intrepid sleuth in 1920s Manhattan. When Dorothy arrives unexpectedly early for lunch and spots a pair of legs under the Algonquin Round Table, she assumes it is a drunk. But the dead body, stabbed in the heart with a fountain pen, turns out to be that of Lealand Mayflower, the despised drama critic for the Knickerbocker News. Young Billy Faulkner, newly arrived from Mississippi to find his writing voice, becomes the prime suspect, but fortunately Dorothy takes him under her wing and smuggles him up to her apartment to hide him from the police. Best friend Robert Benchley joins Dorothy in the hunt to track down the real killer, following clues from poker game to speakeasy and trading witty banter and bon mots all the way. Cameo appearances by Douglas Fairbanks, who loans Faulkner a suit, and Harpo Marx, who actually speaks, add to the fun in this debut mystery, a finalist for the 2011 Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel.

Kris Neri
Magical Alienation (Red Coyote Press 2011) finds fake psychic Samantha Brennan heading to Sedona, Arizona, in the role of spiritual advisor to rock star Rand Riker, who is trying to make a final come-back tour: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll. Riker’s current attempt to recapture the headlines is a benefit concert for Normal Frankly, accused of trying to kill Senator Kenny Campbell with a vial of toxin. Samantha’s friend Annabelle Haggerty, FBI Special Agent and Celtic goddess, is assigned to protect Senator Campbell. Meanwhile, the government is in the process of transporting their top-secret Area 51 being from the spaceship that crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. Everything comes together with the Harmonic Convergence, a powerful psychic event centered around the rocks of Sedona, which just might be very slow moving life forms. This wild romp of a paranormal suspense novel is a finalist for the 2012 Lefty Award.

Lori Roy
Bent Road (Dutton 2011) is the story of the Scott family. Arthur Scott left his small Kansas hometown for Detroit and never looked back. His wife Celia knows that his sister Eve died right before his departure, but Arthur won’t talk about her death or why he refuses to have any contact with his family. Twenty years later, the 1967 riots scare Arthur more than his past, and he moves his wife and three children back to a rural life in Kansas, where his mother and older sister Ruth still live. Arthur and oldest daughter Elaine soon settle into their new life, but Celia finds farm life hard. The younger children, Daniel and Evie, find it difficult to make new friends, and are frightened by two events that cause ripples of panic throughout the school: Julianne Robison, a little girl Evie’s age, disappears, and Jack Meyer escapes from nearby Clark City State Hospital. Months later neither Julianne nor Jack Meyer have been found, and suspicions increase that Ruth’s husband Ray, who was engaged to Eve before her death, might have something to do with both Eve’s death and Julianne’s disappearance. Celia, Evie, and Daniel, shielded from the dark secrets of the past, find themselves caught up in a haze of fear and half-truths in this atmospheric suspense debut, a finalist for the 2012 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

Michael Stanley
The Death of the Mantis (Harper 2011) finds David Bengu, the large assistant police superintendent known as “Kubu” (hippopotamus), enjoying his new baby daughter, though his wife Joy is too exhausted to spoil Kubu in the manner to which he has become accustomed. An unexpected phone call from Khumanego, a bushman Kubu attended school with, pulls Kubu into the investigation of the death of a Wildlife Conservation worker in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, in the southern Kalahari area of Botswana. The body was discovered by three Bushmen, who were charged with murder and imprisoned, but Khumanego is convinced they are not guilty of the crime and were arrested out of racism. Kubu’s superior is reluctant to send him away from Gaborone, but an American reporter’s interest in the case, plus the parallels with the unfortunate conviction of two illiterate Bushmen in 1995 who understood none of the charges and yet were imprisoned for 10 years, changes his mind. The Bushmen respect Kubu, who has learned the way of the desert from Khumanego, but can’t provide much evidence to point in another direction. Kubu is drawn away to another case, but new connections to the Bushmen bring him back to the Kalahari. The current plight of the Bushmen, whose traditional beliefs bring them into conflict with modern Botswana, is sensitively interwoven within the tightly plotted mystery. This thought-provoking third in the series, featuring an engaging detective in a unique setting, is a finalist for the 2012 Barry and Edgar Awards for Best Paperback Original.

Julian Barnes
Arthur & George (2006) is the compelling novelization of a true story, in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle champions the cause of a man unjustly accused and punished at the turn of the 20th century. George is the son of a rural Staffordshire vicar, the Reverend Shapurji Edalji, a converted Parsee from India, and his Scots wife, Charlotte. Nearsighted, polite, proper, and a bit shy, George does fairly well at school — a bronze and a second prize winner — and achieves his life’s goal: to be a solicitor. George lives at home, and travels by train to his clerkship with a Birmingham solicitors firm. His daily commute inspires him to write a modest treatise on Railway Law for the Man in the Train. But then the Great Wyrley Outrages begin: nighttime mutilation of farm animals near the Rev. Edalji’s vicarage. A campaign of anonymous letters and pranks, in a climate of some hostility and bigotry, leads to George’s arrest, conviction, and imprisonment for maiming a horse. Worse yet, he is disqualified as a solicitor. Upon his release, George pleads his case by letter to Sir Arthur. The author skillfully portrays the enthusiastic, over-confident Sir Arthur; in one telling scene Doyle meets his match in his confrontation with Captain Anson, the chief constable at the time. Doyle, and the reader, are so convinced of the unassailable truth of his arguments in favor of George’s innocence that it comes as quite a shock to find Captain Anson unmovable and seemingly immune to the obvious. Unfortunately for George, Captain Anson is not alone in his opinions. This brilliantly-crafted novel sets its own measured pace, but the steadfast reader is amply rewarded. The book provides a fascinating portrayal of Arthur Conan Doyle, and the characterization of George Edalji is equally engaging. Bound up in history, the story’s ending isn’t as dramatic and tidy as a novel’s would be, but that’s life.

Rebecca Cantrell
A Game of Lies (Forge 2011) finds Hannah Vogel back in Berlin to cover the 1936 Olympic Games, disguised as Swiss journalist Adelheid Zinsli. Posing as the lover of SS officer Hauptsturmführer Lars Lang, Hannah is also picking up film exposing the Nazis that Lars has prepared for her to deliver to England. Berlin doesn’t feel as oppressive as Hannah expected, but she discovers that the Nazis have temporarily cleaned the streets of anti-Semitic propaganda in order to present a peaceful facade to the rest of the world. Hannah has arranged to meet her mentor, Peter Weill, at the Games, where he tells her he has a package for her that will convince the rest of the world that the Nazis are a threat to world peace, but he dies before he can reveal the location of the package. Calling on her old friends for help, Hannah is disconcerted to find that solid Germans who resisted Nazi propaganda two years earlier have been drawn into acceptance of their sons joining the Hitler youth, viewing a former threat to their family as a wholesome activity. The longer Hannah stays in Berlin, the less secure she is that her false identity will protect her from discovery, torture, and a painful death. But despite the threat to her life, Hannah is determined to find the package that led to Weill’s death. This gripping third in the series is a finalist for the 2012 Bruce Alexander Historical Award.

Charles Cumming
The Trinity Six (St. Martin’s Press 2011) is the story of Sam Gaddis, a Russian history professor at University College, London. Pressed for funds to pay his taxes and daughter’s school fees, Gaddis is looking for a book idea that will pay more than his usual historical volumes. Charlotte Berg, an investigative reporter and close friend, tells Gaddis she has information about the “Sixth Man,” the legendary additional member of the spy ring created at Trinity College Cambridge in the 1930s. Known as the Cambridge Five, Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and John Caircross were recruited by Moscow Centre, and not revealed as spies until the 1950s through 1990. Charlotte has a 91-year-old contact named Thomas Neame, who claims there was another Cambridge spy, code-named ATILLA, whose existence has been covered up by British intelligence for over 50 years. Charlotte offers Gaddis the opportunity to co-write the book that will follow the publication of her articles. When Charlotte dies suddenly of heart failure, Gaddis takes over her investigation, unraveling layers of very dangerous Cold War secrets that the intelligence agencies of both Britain and Russia would much prefer stay hidden. Believable characters and a masterful plot enliven this engaging spy thriller, a finalist for the 2011 Steel Dagger Award.

Graeme Kent
One Blood (Soho 2012) finds Ben Kella, a native police sergeant, sent to investigate investigate acts of sabotage that threaten the local operations of a powerful international logging company in the Roviana Lagoon in the Western Solomon Islands in 1960. The crew of laborers come from Malaita, Ben’s home island, and his boss hopes Ben can use his status as hereditary spiritual peacekeeper of the Lau people to stop the sabotage. Meanwhile, Sister Conchita, a rebellious young American nun, has been placed in temporary charge of a nearby rundown mission and its three aging nuns, including Sister Brigid who 17 years earlier had joined the search for Lieutenant John Kennedy and the 10 men who survived the attack on their PT-109. When Sister Brigid returned from the search with the body of her guide, she never left the mission and refused to speak of the search. When an American tourist is murdered at the mission church, Ben and Conchita join forces. They suspect that whatever happened in the Solomons in 1943 has some connection to John F. Kennedy’s current campaign for president, since Kennedy has many One Bloods, pidgin for close relative or special friend, who risked their lives to find him and his men in the Roviana Lagoon before the Japanese did. Both Ben and Conchita are prickly yet endearing characters, challenging the limits set by their respective higher-ups while earning grudging respect for their abilities to solve problems and uncover the truth. The unique setting of this series provides a beautiful background for exploring issues of race, religion, and environmental preservation, while also solving a crime.

Tracy Kiely
Murder Most Persuasive (Minotaur 2011) finds Elizabeth Parker, a newspaper fact-checker and die-hard Jane Austen fan, enduring the feather-headed babbling of her just deceased great-uncle Martin Reynolds’s second wife. Unable to get her step-mother to concentrate, Ann begs her cousin Elizabeth to come and stay in the house and help her sort through her father’s affairs. A few weeks before his death, Martin Reynolds sold the family house in St. Michaels, Maryland, and the distribution of the proceeds is a bone of contention between Martin’s children and his second wife. Then the new owners dig up the pool and find the body of Michael Barrow, who disappeared eight years earlier after embezzling a million dollars from the family business. Pressured by her wealthy family to end her budding romance with policeman Joe Muldoon years ago, Ann is horrified to find that now-Detective Joe Muldoon is in charge of the investigation, and that the family and friends attending the party the night before the pool was installed are considered the prime suspects. Elizabeth’s sprightly narration, with humorous Austen-like descriptions of her family members, keeps the tone light as she throws herself into the investigation, determined to prove than Ann is innocent, and perhaps even facilitating an awakening of the lost love between Ann and Joe. This witty third in the series is a finalist for the 2012 Mary Higgins Clark Award.

Walter Mosley
Known to Evil (Riverhead 2010) is the second book featuring Leonid McGill, a short and stout, bald and black, former boxer and mob enforcer, now skating on the fringes of legality as a private investigator in New York City. Leonid is 54 years old, but still jogs up the stairs to his 11th floor apartment where Katrina, his Scandinavian wife of 23 years, has returned to the family fold after a serious extra-marital romantic fling. She’s back, but now has other love interests a-brewing. Maybe things balance out as Leonid has been making time with Aura Ullman, at least until she took up with a "forensic accountant" dedicated to evicting Leonid from his eight-room, 72nd floor Art Deco office suite. Leonid has other family problems: his son Dimitri has fallen hard for Tatyana, a smart Russian prostitute who thinks she has paid off the million dollar “contract” with her pimp; his other son, Twill (who everyone agrees could be president if his criminal record were expunged), is looking out for Dimitri, while running his own scams, and being the endearing son he’s always been. In the midst of all this family turmoil, Leonid is hired by Alphonse Rinaldo, a shady New York power broker, to find Angelique Lear. Immediately Leonid walks into the scene of a double murder, or perhaps an assassination gone wrong, and becomes a suspect. It isn’t Angie Lear, but who is it? Powerful forces in the NYPD are intent on taking Leonid down, making him pay for what they know he used to do for the mob, regardless of how they do it — but some scrupulously honest cops appreciate Leonid. Assisted by his “girl Friday,” Zephyra Ximenez, and Tiny “Bug” Bateman, the 300+ pound computer nerd and techno-anarchist, in his West Village high-security basement lair, Leonid struggles with his personal demons while threading his way through a labyrinthine plot. This is a wonderful pick-up for Mosley fans suffering from withdrawal at the conclusion of the Easy Rawlins series. Not to be missed for the fans of serious mystery writing. There is no better. Remember, as Leonid says: “Life is a test, and the final grade is always an F.”

Ann Parker
Mercury’s Rise (Poisoned Pen Press 2011) finds Inez Stannert, part-owner of the Leadville Silver Queen Saloon, traveling in the summer of 1880 to a health resort in Manitou, at the foot of Pikes Peak, to spend time with William, the young son she has been separated from for a year. Suffering from a weakness of the lungs, William has been living back east with Inez’s younger sister Harmony, who has traveled to the health spa with her new husband. On the crowded stagecoach journey from Leadville, Inez’s fellow passenger Edward Pace dies suddenly after ingesting a small bottle of his wife’s medicine. At the Mountain Springs House in Manitou, Inez is surprised to find a resident doctor dispensing daily doses of medicine in identical bottles to the hotel’s residents. Pace’s wife tells Inez that her husband was considering investing in the hotel, sure that Manitou would soon experience a tourism boom of those seeking a healthy retreat or a cure for tuberculosis. Mrs. Pace opposed the investment and suspects that her medicine had been tampered with in order to remove her along with her objection. Realizing that a lone woman has little hope of penetrating the masculine investment club, Inez reluctantly sends for her husband Mark, who had unexpectedly reappeared in Leadville after more than a year’s absence, just as Inez’s divorce on grounds of desertion was about to go through. Inez and Mark establish an uneasy truce as they try to expose the con they are sure is in the works, and re-establish a connection with their young son who has entirely forgotten them. This engaging 4th in the series is a finalist for the 2012 Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award.

Kelli Stanley
City of Secrets (Minotaur 2011) finds private eye Miranda Corbie working security for Sally Rand’s Nude Ranch, a peep show at the 1940 San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. On Opening Day, Pandora Blake, one of Sally’s girls who hopes to become a model, is found stabbed to death with a souvenir ice pick, the word “kike” written on her bare breast in blood. When a second woman is found murdered a few days later, Miranda suspects that the deaths are connected to the Musketeers, an anti-Semitic group encouraged by Hitler’s growing success in Germany. Former police inspector Gerry Duggan, a bent cop who beat up Miranda during a previous investigation, is arrested for the murders. He hires Miranda’s lawyer, Meyer Bialik, to defend him, and Miranda reluctantly agrees to help solve the case, convinced that whatever Duggan’s faults he didn’t murder the two young women. Her search for a connection between the two women leads Miranda into a dangerous investigation of powerful men who will stop at nothing to protect themselves and their beliefs. A former escort and Spanish Civil War nurse, Miranda fights against the demons from her past and her inability to live fully in the present as she crunches lifesavers in a probably futile attempt to give up the Chesterfields she finds so comforting. Miranda’s noir San Francisco is vividly rendered in this second book in the series, a finalist for the 2012 Left Coast Crime Golden Nugget Award for best mystery set in California.

John Vorhaus
The Albuquerque Turkey (Crown 2011) finds Radar Hoverlander, girlfriend Allie Quinn, and best friend Vic Mirplo, living on the proceeds of their profitable California Roll con and trying to go straight with various degrees of success in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mirplo has discovered that the Santa Fe art scene is teeming with opportunities for a con man with a gift for gab and a willingness to be outrageous. Amazingly Mirplo begins to produce some effective art pieces, causing Radar to wonder how many other artists began their careers as grifters. Radar automatically falls into patter when he runs across a drunk trying to pry his terrified daughter from his cowed wife, and ends up with a dog and several moments of fame when a neighbor posts a video on YouTube showing Radar talking the guy out of his gun. His brief notoriety brings Radar’s long absent father back into his life. Woody Hoverlander is on the run from a Las Vegas enforcer after a failed con job, and hopes to enlist Rader in a con to earn enough money to pay off his debt. Allie is determined to continue on the straight path, but Radar can’t resist the chance to earn his father’s approval, though he has a nagging suspicion that this all may be another yarn spun by a man far more comfortable with lies than the truth. Full of crosses and double crosses, this entertaining caper novel, narrated by an engaging protagonist with quick wits, shifty morals, and a love of language, is a finalist for the 2012 Lefty Award for most humorous mystery.

Jacqueline Winspear
A Lesson in Secrets (Harper 2011) is set in the summer of 1932, when private investigator Masie Dobbs is asked by Scotland Yard’s Special Branch to take an undercover position as a junior lecturer in philosophy at the College of St. Francis, a small private college in Cambridge. Masie’s brief isn’t very defined, she’s been asked to report on any activities “not in the interests of His Majesty’s government” that might be happening at the college. Dr. Greville Liddicote, founded St. Francis with donations from wealthy parents whose sons (former students of Liddicote) were killed in the war, with a pacifist mission of recruiting students from around the world to study and work to maintain peace in Europe. When Liddicote is murdered at his desk at the college, Masie calls in Detective Chief Superintendent Robert MacFarlane and Detective Chief Inspector Richard Stratton. Though encouraged to continue her undercover activities and stay clear of the murder investigation, Masie is sure that Liddicote’s death has something to do with the mysterious activities of several teachers and students. Masie’s knack for social observation highlights two disturbing historical threads — the persecution of conscientious objectors during the World War I and the specter of the emerging Nazi party — in this powerful 8th in the series, a finalist for the 2012 Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award.

Paul Adam
Paganini’s Ghost (Minotaur 2010) finds Gianni Castiglione, an aging luthier (violin maker) in Cremona, Italy, in the process of examining an Italian national treasure, Nicoló Paganini’s priceless violin named il Cannone for its deep rich tone. Yevgeney Ivanov, the winner of the biannual Premio Paganini prize, noticed a buzzing in il Cannone while rehearsing for the evening concert in the Cremora cathedral. Gianni repairs the bridge, and accepts an invitation to a party following the concert from the grateful young violinist. At the party Gianni meets François Villeneuve, a business associate of Vincenzo Serafin, a shady dealer in valuable instruments and rescues the socially inept Yevgeney from a pushy music professor. When Yevgeney disappears, his over-bearing mother is sure he is kidnapped, but Gianni suspects the young man has simply snatched a bit of freedom for himself before returning to his grueling practice and concert schedule. Then Villeneuve is found dead in his hotel room, and police detective Antonio Guastafeste asks Gianni to identify a fragment of sheet music found in the dead man’s pocket. Gianni recognizes the opening notes of Paganini’s “The Moses Fantasy” and Guastafeste shows him an antique gold box engraved with Moses on Mount Sinai that Villeneuve had stored in the hotel safe. Together, Gianni and Guastafeste set off on a hunt through time and across Europe to trace the history of the box, perhaps owned by Paganini, and to search for the mysterious violin-shaped object which left an impression in the velvet lining. Fascinating musical and historical details embellish this clever and stylish mystery.

Jussi Adler-Olsen
The Keeper of Lost Causes [Dutton 2011, Denmark 2007] introduces Carl Mørck, an experienced homicide detective in Copenhagen, Denmark, recovering from a shooting that left one partner dead and another paralyzed. Since Carl is obviously not ready to resume full time duties, his boss makes him the head of the new one-man Department Q, responsible for cold cases deserving special scrutiny. Banished to the windowless basement, Carl mopes and snoozes until Hafez-el-Assad, his new assistant, pesters him into taking an interest in the case of Metete Lynggaard, the vice-chairperson of the Social Democratic party who disappeared from the Rødby-Puttgarden ferry five years earlier. Though hired as a combination janitor/secretary, Assad demonstrates a flair for detection, a talent for weaseling information out of uncooperative bureaucrats, and precisely the ingenious enthusiasm necessary to prod the traumatized and cynical Carl back to a semblance of his old investigative brilliance. The crime at the center of this book is chilling, but the book is not at all bleak. Instead, a sly humor permeates this highly recommended debut police procedural.

Rosemary Aubert
Free Reign (1997) introduces Ellis Portal, a homeless former judge convicted of a crime of violence. Released from his sentence in a mental institution, Ellis now lives in a shack in the middle of a wilderness preserve running through the city of Toronto. Ellis has mostly come to terms with his changed circumstances, and enjoys the isolation that keeps his violent streak in check. While digging up his garden, he discovers a severed hand wearing a unique ring. Ellis knows there are only five of those signet rings in existence, created as a special symbol commemorating the close connection of five law school colleagues. Hiding the ring in a secret spot with his own ring, Ellis heads off to the city to check on the rest of the group. During his search, Ellis is asked by another street person to check on her daughter Moonstar, who is also living on the street. Moonstar declares that she is fine under the protection of her pimp, but tells Ellis that pregnant girls have been vanishing from the Second Chance Hostel for Women. Ellis’s quest for the truth leads him to an uneasy partnership with a young journalist who wrote sympathetically about his fall from grace, and the two uncover some unpleasant secrets of Toronto’s rich and powerful. The investigation forces Ellis to question his life as a hermit as the human connections reawaken his need for companionship. This debut novel was a finalist for the 1998 Barry and Arthur Ellis Awards for Best First Novel.

Janet Bolin
Dire Threads (Berkley Prime Crime 2011) introduces Willow Vanderling, who left a corporate job to open a machine embroidery shop in Elderberry Bay, Pennsylvania, known as “Threadville” because of the many textile arts shops in the village. Willow’s best friend Kaylee and three others have already opened textile boutiques in Threadville, to the dismay of some of the locals, who are concerned that women will soon vastly outnumber the men. Worried about making ends meet in her new endeavor, Willow applies for a building permit to renovate the tiny cottage at the back of her property next to the creek. Willow hopes to rent the renovated cottage during the summer season, but Zoning Commissioner Mike Krawbach is determined to condemn the cottage, which he claims has slid onto town land, and build an ATV track where it stands. When someone releases Willow’s two rescued border collies from of her back yard, she is sure it was Mike, and angrily threatens his life. The discovery of Mike’s murdered body in Willow’s locked back yard makes Willow the prime suspect. With the help of her textile-obsessed friends, Willow sets out to find the real murderer. A budding romance with the builder Willow hires to renovate the cottage and a sense of humor about women eager to embroider everything in sight enliven this debut cosy mystery.

D.C. Brod
Getting Sassy (Tyrus 2010) introduces Robyn Guthrie, a freelance writer in Fowler, Illinois. Robyn’s mother Lizzie nearly died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease two years earlier, and both mother and daughter thought she had only a few months to live. After a disastrous attempt to share living quarters, Robyn and Lizzie selected the luxurious Dryden Manor assisted living facility as the best alternative for the few months Lizzie had left to live. After a few rocky weeks when Lizzie was forced to stop smoking, she surprised everyone by beginning to thrive physically, though still coping with short-term memory loss. Unfortunately, Lizzie’s savings had been drastically reduced years ago by an unfortunate investment in a shopping mall venture run by William “Bull” Severn. Now that her mother’s remaining savings have been consumed by the fees at Dryden Manor, Robyn finds herself confronted by the prospect of moving her mother from the home she has come to love, or somehow finding enough money to afford the $5000 monthly fee. Mick Hughes, a former jockey turned accountant with an unsavory reputation, and Erika Starwise, a psychic who seems to know more than she should about the father Robyn never met, facilitate Robyn’s plan to kidnap and ransom Sassy, the goat companion for a twitchy racehorse who is Bull Severn’s pride and joy. This funny caper novel, featuring an appealing protagonist with more heart than sense, is the first in a series.

Reginald Hill
The Woodcutter (Harper 2011, UK 2010) is the story of Sir Wilfred “Wolf” Hadda, the son of a Cumbrian woodcutter who transformed himself into a rich man married to the woman of his dreams with the perfect child. But one morning everything changes. Wolf is arrested on suspicion of financial finagling and involvement in child pornography. His fairy tale happiness crumbles, and he loses everything: wealth, wife, child, and freedom. After seven years of silence in prison, Wolf finally begins to communicate with prison psychiatrist Alva Ozigbo, writing out for her the story of his life, except for the mysterious years between leaving home and returning a wealthy man, when he was known as The Woodcutter. With Alva’s help, Wolf is paroled, returning to his childhood home in rural Cumbria. Deserted by his friends and ostracized by his neighbors, Wolf begins searching for the real story behind his arrest and conviction, and Alva begins to worry that Wolf has decided to seek vengeance through violence. Masterfully plotted, this stunning thriller wrapped in the mythology of fairy tales was awarded the 2011 Barry Award for Best British Crime Novel.

Thomas Kaufman
Steal the Show (Minotaur 2011) finds former con-artist Willis Gidney struggling to make a living as a private investigator in Washington DC, while trying to adopt the orphaned baby girl he rescued from a crime scene. Willis has attended all the required child-rearing classes, but for some reason his caseworker doesn’t see a barely-employed private eye as the perfect father. Desperate for money to hire an adoption lawyer to convince the court that a survivor of the DC Child Welfare system is just what the orphaned child needs, Willis reluctantly accepts Rush Gemelli’s offer of a very generous payment for breaking into a film pirating center to steal the pirated copies of a soon-to-be-released blockbuster movie. Unfortunately the job Rush promised would be a piece of cake puts Willis on the wrong side of a dangerous Vietnamese gang. Rush blackmails Willis into hiring on as security for Rush’s father, Chuck Gemelli, the head of the motion picture lobby in Washington. While saving Chuck’s life, Willis attracts the unwelcome attention of the movie’s star, threatening his tenuous relationship with his ex-model hacker girlfriend. Fast paced and funny, this adrenaline-fueled follow-up to Drink the Tea gives the quick-thinking and fast-talking Willis plenty of obstacles to overcome in his quest to find a murderer and maybe even establish a family of his own.

Craig McDonald
El Gavilan (Tyrus 2011) explores the tensions and challenges in a fictional southern Ohio town where a large Latino immigrant community, documented and un-, has come to find work and a better life. Able Hawk, the “El Gavilan” of the title, is a tough, blustery sheriff, who appears on no-nonsense billboards making clear to the illegals and those who would hire them that Sheriff Hawk is always watching. But Hawk has a softer side, and can be understanding when meting out justice; the widowed sheriff is also quite fond of Thalia Ruiz, the waitress at his favorite cafe. Compared to Hawk, though, the sheriffs of two adjoining counties are brutes. They are unhappy that Sheriff Hawk’s policies are driving illegals into their jurisdictions. Entering this powder keg is the new town chief of police, Tell Lyons, a former Border Patrol agent in California, whose Mexican-American wife and daughter were killed in a fire by a Mexican drug cartel. Lyons is fluent in Spanish, and soon becomes popular in the Hispanic community, dubbing him El Léon. Chief Lyons has some problems with alcohol that threaten his professional and personal relations. The story comes to a head when a Mexican woman is raped and murdered, and left in an open field where the jurisdictional lines are unclear. There are no easy answers, and the author skillfully portrays widely varying viewpoints in both the Anglo and Latino communities. Along with the broader social issues, the book includes plenty of personal interactions among the main characters, such as Shawn O’Hara, the young, cocky editor (and chief reporter) of the town’s weekly newspaper, with an unfortunate proclivity for date-rape, and the beautiful, lonely Patricia Maldonado, who runs her parents’ Mexican restaurant. Told from several perspectives, with flashbacks filling in the background of the main characters, the story moves briskly, if perhaps a bit overlong.

Bernadette Pajer
A Spark of Death (Poisoned Pen 2011) introduces Benjamin Bradshaw, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. It’s 1901, and the students are preparing an exhibit for their parents and to present for President McKinley, who also plans to tour the nearby Snoqualmie Falls Power Plant. The centerpiece of the student exhibit is the Electric Machine, featuring a Tesla Coil powerful enough to fill the room with so much electricity that a person can illuminate a light bulb simply by touching it. As Bradshaw is leaving the building for the day, the lights suddenly dim and he realizes someone has started up the Electric Machine in the basement. There he finds the body of Professor Oglethorpe, whose burnt finger extends out of the Faraday cage designed to protect the user of the Electric Machine from the electric current running through the room. Bradshaw’s disagreements with Oglethorpe, who taunted his students rather than taught them, make Bradshaw the prime suspect. Bradshaw, a widower with a young son, is an endearing protagonist, a natural teacher, and an astute observer. Caught up in the excitement of clearing his name and finding the real killer, Bradshaw gradually begins to emerge from the depression following the death of his wife. This debut historical mystery is the first in a series featuring this charming master of electrical forensics.

Imogen Robertson
Instruments of Darkness (Viking 2011, UK 2009) introduces Harriet Westerman, the wife of a navy commander and mistress of Caveley Park manor in West Sussex, England. When Harriet finds the body of a man with his throat slashed, she enlists the aid of neighbor and anatomist Gabriel Crowther, who unwillingly leaves his solitary research. After years of accompanying her husband at sea, Harriet is a bit bored with her role as housekeeper and mother, and persuades Crowther to join her in the search to identify the man and determine why he was killed. Harriet and Crowther make a good team: both are curious, observant, and persistent in their search for the truth. Harriet suspects that the death is linked to residents of neighboring Thornleigh Hall, the seat of the Earl of Sussex. A dark cloud of betrayal and unsavory secrets hangs over Thornleigh Hall: the eldest son and heir left home years ago and his whereabouts are unknown; the old Earl suffered a collapse shortly after marrying an unsuitable second wife and is bedridden; and the second son has turned to drink after returning badly wounded from the battlefields of the American Revolutionary War. Meanwhile, Alexander Adams, the widowed owner of a London music shop, is murdered, leaving his two small children in the care of an impoverished young gentleman attempting to make his living as a writer. A box he left behind contains documents that establish a connection with Thornleigh Hall. Dickensian in feel, this debut gothic historical sets the stage for a promising series.