New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Macmillan 1998 Jan-March
File Updated: 01/04/00
New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Macmillan JAN-MARCH 1998

Whitney Chadwick Framed Published January 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 71950 6
Deborah Crombie Dreaming of the Bones Published January 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 71732 5 Artwork by: Jacket photograph: Simon Marsden
Dr Victoria McClellan is writing a biography of the tortured poet Lydia Brooke, five years after Brooke's tragic suicide. Vic is the only person who cannot accept that the poet died by her own hand, so she calls on her ex-husband, Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, to help her prove Lydia was murdered. At first Duncan fears that Vic is becoming obsessed with Lydia. But then he receives some terrible news that will change his life for ever…
In a beautifully crafted narrative that weaves between the present day and the scandalous sixties, Dreaming of the Bones is a poignant tale of deadly secrets and the loss of innocence.

Joe Donnelly Dark Valley Published February 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 71550 0
Joseph Glass Eyes Published March 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 71436 9
'Everything suggested that the killer's last move was to take a long look err himself in the mirror: But not with his own eyes
As the freezing rain of a Chicago winter turns to snow - dry, blinding snow - homicide detectives attempt a news clampdown on the death of a female athlete at the University. Patsy Morgenstern, it seems, has become the third victim of a pattern serial killer who ceremonially removes his victims' eyes.
Facing mounting criticism, Homicide Detective David Gold turns for help to friend and colleague Dr Susan Shader, a criminal psychiatrist - and a woman who holds the fragile, debilitating gift of second sight.
Susan can feel the chill of the killer's presence at the horrifying murder scene. But she is facing an opponent more ruthless and dangerous than she's ever encountered before.
An opponent who won't stop until he has closed her eyes …
Joseph Glass is the pseudonym for a New York Times bestselling author. This is the first book in his Susan Shader series.

Gerald Hammond Twice Bitten Published February 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 71938 7
See Review by Catherine Laws
Little does John Cunningham know that the litter of pups born at Three Oaks Kennels one spring morning will begin a trail that leads to murder. For one of the litter, Mim, is a throwback to Clunie, a champion with a strong and difficult temperament. When she proves impossible to train John agrees to sell Mim to local businessman Quentin Cove.
So imagine John's surprise when a year later the supposedly gun-shy Mim begins winning at field trials. Perhaps John wrote Mim off too soon? Or is there a more sinister reason for the bitch's sudden success?
And What is it that Cove's farm manager, Dougal Webb, has learned about Three Oaks Kennels - information so damning he believes he can try a spot of blackmail? That is until he suddenly disappears
Gerald Hammond worked as an architect for thirty years which, he says, was quite long enough. In 1982 he accepted a nominal retirement. He. lives in Scotland and spends his time shooting, fishing and writing. 'Anything else I do reluctantly and under protest.' Gerald Hammond is also the author of the very popular Keith Calder series and Wallace James series. His most recent novels are Mad Dogs & Scotsmen, Sink or Swim, Bloodlines and Follow That Gun. In both 1992 and 1993 Gerald Hammond earned the maximum public Lending Right which represents hundreds of thousands of library borrowings per year and the John Cunningham novels have been optioned for television.

Carl Hiaasen Lucky You Published February 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 71550 0
JoLayne Lucks played the same numbers she'd played every Saturday for five years: 17-19-22-24-27-30.
The significance of the Lotto numbers was this: each represented an age at which she jettisoned a burdensome man. At 17 it was Rick the Pontiac mechanic. At 19 it was Rick's brother Robert. At 22 it was a stockbroker named Colavito, twice JoLayne's age, who'd delivered on none of his promises. At 24 it was a policeman, another Robert, who got in trouble for fixing traffic tickets in exchange for sex. At 27 it was Neal the chiropractor, a well-meaning but unbearable codependent.
And at 30, JoLayne dumped Lawrence, a lawyer, her one and only husband.
Now the discarded men from JoLayne's life had finally amounted to something.
Twenty-eight million dollars, to be precise.
Carl Hiaasen is the author of Tourist Season, Double Whammy, Skin Tight, Native Tongue, Strip Tease and Stormy Weather.

Hazel Holt Superfluous Death Published March 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 72117 9
Dead and Buried
Hazel Holt Dead and Buried Published March 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 72117 9
The office was in some disarray. Several chairs were overturned and there were papers scattered over the desk and some on the floor. There was also an open cash box on the desk and what looked horribly like a small pool of blood ... Standing by the desk, his hands clutching the back of a chair as if for support, was Lawrence Marvell, staring down at the pool as if hypnotised by it.
The Taviscombe village fete gets off to an interesting start, when an attempt is made on the life of the unpopular chairwoman Frieda Spencer. A second attempt a few weeks later succeeds where the first failed - and very soon Frieda's toyboy lover is charged with the killing.
But Sheila doesn't believe in his guilt - she is convinced the seeds of murder were planted more than fifty years before …
'A tidy and traditional murder.' Financial Times 'Cosy, traditional, warm-glowish whodunnit: a fast disappearing genre.' Marcel Berlins, The Times
The latest addition to Hazel Holt's popular Sheila Malory series, following most recently The Only Good Lawyer and Death of a Dean.
Hazel Holt is a graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge. Her long association with Barbara Pym led to her becoming Pym's literary executor and her biography of Barbara Pym, A Lot to Ask, met with wide critical acclaim. A former television reviewer and feature writer for Stage and Television Today, she now lives in Somerset with her husband, who is retired, and her cat. Her son is the writer Tom Holt.

Thomas Perry Shadow Women Published February 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 71114 9
See Review by Frances Hickey

Jane Whitefield has an unusual career: she helps people in trouble to disappear - establishing new lives and new identities. Her latest client is a Las Vegas casino executive who knows too much. When the big boys at Pleasure, Inc. suspect Pete Hatcher of leaking cash and information, they hire two assassins to take him out. And, in turn, he hires Jane Whitefield to save him …
It requires all of her fierce Seneca Indian inheritance - her intelligence, courage, cunning and humour - to get Hatcher away to apparent safety. But Earl and Linda, a lethal duo of contract killers, get on the trail of the 'shadow woman' too and now Pete's protector becomes the new target of their vengeful, psychotic rage.

Thomas Perry, after having received a PhD in English Literature from Cornell University, has worked as a laborer, maintenance man, commercial fisherman, weapons mechanic, and television writer and producer. His celebrated thrillers include The Butcher's Boy (awarded an Edgar by the Mystery Writers of America), Sleeping Dogs, Vanishing Act and Dance of the Dead. He lives in Southern California.

Oxford Knot
Veronica Stallwood Oxford Knot Published March 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 69466 X
See Review by John Boyles
Something had woken her. A noise, but she could not identify what it was. But something. She listened holding her breath. Nothing. This was getting to he a habit. There was no glimmer of light through the thick, lined curtains and so she sat up in bed, straining to see through the darkness, listening for the slightest sound in the sleeping house. Perhaps her reason told her it was Dannie, entering the house and bolting the door behind him. She scrabbled for her watch on the bedside table to see what the time was.
A hand covered her mouth …
It can be murder trying to promote a book - author tours, signings and readings - but for novelist Kate Ivory, one of her fans is taking that a little too literally.
Natural loner Kate Ivory jumps at the chance of getting away from her suddenly rather over-crowded home in Oxford - by joining forces with Devlin Hayle, the boisterous, but charismatic author of a number of bodice-rippers, on a country-wide tour of bookshops and libraries.
But not long after she has packed her bags and loaded up her car, Kate finds that Hayle has another reason to keep on the road. And soon she is forced to search into his unsavoury past - as a killer strikes not only at Devlin but at Kate too.

'Stallwood is in the top rank of crime writers who produce shiver in a heatwave,' Mike Ripley, Daily Telegraph

Veronica Stallwood is a witty, intelligent and highly original writer. She was born in London, educated abroad and now lives near Oxford. In the past she has worked at the Bodleian Library and more recently in Lincoln College library. Her first crime novel, Deathspell, was published to great critical acclaim and became a local bestseller, as did the novels which followed. Oxford Knot is the fifth novel to feature Kate Ivory, following Death and the Oxford Box, Oxford Exit, Oxford Morning and Oxford Fall.

Minette Walters The Ice House Published March 1998 by Macmillan at £16.99 ISBN: 0 333 73367 3