Lawrence Block --- The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep --- No Exit Press (1 874061 54 8) Pbk £4 99 Out June 5th See Review
Introducing Evan Tanner, the man who got hit in the head by shrapnel in the Korean War and now needs no sleep - the perfect man for an intelligence organisation so secret, it does not have a name....and with 573 pounds of gold and a beautiful blonde involved.....Well a man's gotta do......
This is Block's version of Bond , Our Man Flint, Indiana Jones and Richard Hannay all rolled into one, written with his usual style and wit.
For clean close-to-the-bone prose, the line goes from Dashiell Hammett to James M Cain to Lawrence Block. He's that good. Martin Cruz Smith
No one writes the hard-boiled thriller better than Lawrence Block. San Diego Union
Christopher Brookmyre --- Quite Ugly One Morning --- Little & Brown (0 316 87883 9) £12.99 See Review 
A biting and sharply observed novel which uses the form of a thriller to throw a telling searchlight on some of the legacies of the Thatcher years .
There's Jack Parlabane the journalist, whose disregard for the rules of collecting evidence of nefarious deeds has caused him to lielow in Edinburgh: he's the hero.
There's Darren Mortlake, the Essex man in a naff shell-suit and minus a finger: he's the paid assassin.
There's Dr Jeremy Ponsonby, addicted gambler and high-rising medic: he's the dead man.
There's Sarah, the doctor's ex-wife and dedicated anaesthetist, and there's Jenny Dalziel, detective constable with an attitude: they are the heroines.
And then there's Stephen Lime, hospital trust administrator and fluent in corporate speak: he's the crook.
How Parablane gets to expose Lime as a villain of horrific proportion is a journey of action, farce, high suspense, outrageous humour and sublime story-telling.
Christopher Brookmyre was born in Glasgow in 1968 and now lives in Edinburgh. He's worked as a film critic and columnist for Screen International, The Scotsman and Evening News. He has a passion for football and the absurd. His greatest Reviewso far was from his English teacher: you lose all responsibility when you've got a pen in your hand .
Ken Bruen --- Rilke on Black --- Serpent’s Tail Mask Noir Pbk (1 85242 511 3) £7.99 Watch for Review coming soon!
One red-necked white man - Brixton born and bred with a taste for country music. One Black woman, with a nose for cocaine and a plan to make them rich. And one flexible psychopath - a man who selects a personality to match his wardrobe....and has a wide range of clothes.
The plan is simple. They kidnap the top black businessman - a motormouth with a stunning wife and a passion for the poet Rilke - and collect.
This debut thriller depicts a South London far worse than any North Londoner’s nightmares.
Born in Ireland, Ken Bruen divides his time between Brixton, Galway and teaching English in Exotic locations.
Rankin Davis --- The Right to Silence --- Hodder pbk See Review
Television journalist Beth Gamble will never forget the night she won her BAFTA award. A truly memorable occasion. It also happened to be the night she was brutally raped by a stranger with a terrible grudge.
When a man is arrested and charged with the crime, Beth consoles herself with the thought that at least her tormentor will get what he deserves.
But her faith in British justice is tragically misplaced.
For Beth cannot know that Scotland Yard's top brass have their own plans for her rapist's trial - and justice comes way down their list of priorities.
Up and down the country men have been shot dead and castrated by an unknown serial killer. The victims have one thing in common. They have all recently been acquitted of rape. Under intense pressure to find the murderer, Scotland Yard decide to use Beth and her rapist as bait. In a cynical manoeuvre to ensure the defendant's acquittal, they rig the trial by tampering with the evidencde and preventing key witnesses from testifying.
The police believe they have the situation under control. But they have seriously underestimated the cunning and intelligence of the killer. And so begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game whose repercussions will strike at the very heart of the Establishment.
The Right to Silence is a taut, deftly-plotted, gripping thriller from an outstanding new writer with unique insider's knowledge of the law and its detractors.
Rankin Davis is a Pseudonym for two Glasgow Barristers. Using an insider's knowledge of the law and its detractors The Right to Silence directs a fierce eye at the morals and motives of civilians taking the law into their own hands, the contentious political issue of civil rights and anticipates a potentially real scenario (currently under consideration) where MI5 and other security services may become involved in police operations to tackle major problems such as organised crime. Read the story behind the book.
Michael Dibdin --- Dark Spectre --- Faber & Faber (0 571 17753 0) £5.99
The killings always take place in the home, usually in broad daylight, in towns and cities all over America. The victims are of every age and background; they have been bound and gagged and shot in the head at close range.
The crimes appear to be random and motiveless. No individual or group has claimed responsibility.
There is certainly nothing whatsoever to connect them with an obscure religious sect operating from an island in the Pacific North-West, dedicated to the poetry of William Blake and the initiation of a chosen few into the long-lost Secret of the Templars...
An electrically exciting read Sunday Times
The best thriller to have appeared for a long time. Evening Standard
Lean, taut, fast-paced and exciting ... superb entertainment, and quite unputdownable. Independent on Sunday
Stella Duffy --- Wavewalker --- Serpent’s Tail Mask Noir Pbk (1 85242 508 3) £8.99 See Review 
Saz Martin, detective hero of Calendar Girl returns - with a lover of her own - to investigate the activities of Dr Maxwell North, an internationally acclaimed therapist, healer and guru . She has been hired by a mystery employer, the Wavewalker, who walks at the edge of the tides where the waves wash over footprints, and you can’t tell if you’re being followed or led....
The investigation starts in 70s San Francisco and crashes into her own 90s London life, as the secrets of Dr North’s healing ‘Process’ and a surplus of suicides combine to propel Saz into dangerous territory and a highly combustible conclusion.
With all the excitement, wit and flair of Calendar Girl, Wavewalker confirms Stella Duffy’s place at the cutting edge of crime fiction.
Stella Duffy lives in London. She teaches and performs improvised comedy (with Spontaneous Combustion), writes plays and works as a stand-up comedian.
Praise for Calendar Girl
Fast, witty and clever crime story, with cracking dialogue and exuberant characters. The Times
Smart and sexy, a lesbian thriller high on attitude and erotic content Feminist Bookstore News
A stylish genre book which also warns of the destructive power of lies and half-truths. Gay Times
James Ellroy --- My Dark Places --- Century (0 7126 7588 4) £15.99
On the night of 21 June 1958, Geneva Hilliker Ellroy left her home in El Monte, California. She was found strangled the next day. Her ten-year-old son James had been away with her estranged husband all weekend and returned to their house to hear the news. Geneva's murderer was never found, but her death had an enduring legacy on her son who spent his teen and early adult years as a wino, petty burglar and derelict. Only later, through his obsession with crime fiction, triggered by his mother's murder, did Ellroy begin to delve into his past. Shortly after the publication of his ground-breaking White Jazz, Ellroy determined to return to Los Angeles and, with the help of detectives who worked on the case, solve the thirty-six-year-old crime. The result is one of the few classics of crime non-fiction and autobiography since the war, a hypnotic trip to America's underbelly and one man's tortured soul.
James Ellroy was born in Los Angeles in 1948. His previous novels The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, L.A.Confidential and White Jazz, have won numerous awards and were international bestsellers. He lives with his wife in Kansas.
The outstanding crime-writer of his generation Peter Gutteridge, Independent
One of the most important popular fiction writers in America, whose best books take their readers to the darkest places of the human condition - a Tinseltown Dostoyevsky Time Out
Elizabeth Ferrars --- Zero at the Bone --- Constable (0 09 476070 5) £14.99
Elizabeth Ferrars's classic novel first published in 1967, is a puzzle with an extraordinarily ingenious mystery. The reader is fooled by a very simple trick, and will look back with admiration at the clue which disguises the final revelation.
Ellen Hart --- A Small Sacrifice --- The Women's Press (0 7043 4479 3) £6.99
A Jane Lawless Mystery See Review  
Winner of the Lambda Literary Award
It’s been twenty years since Jane Lawless’ best friend Cordelia, has seen her five closest friends from college. So a sudden invitation to a three-day reunion is far from unwelcome. But as Jane and Cordelia quickly discover, reminiscing is not on the agenda.
Instead, they discover a tense and secretive circle in which veiled animosities are slowly beginning to surface. Then a member of a group suddenly dies, and long-simmering jealousies and resentments explode with a vengeance.
An intricate yarn from a storyteller who more than keeps you guessing. Katherine V. Forrest
Murder most fab… Drama that will keep even the most jaded mystery readers amongst us turning the pages. The Crack
A wonderful creation. Christine crossed with early P.D.James and a sense of humour. Very enjoyable. Gay Times
The psychological maze of a Babara Vine mystery and the feel of Agatha Christie. Publishers Weekly
Ellen Hart is the bestselling author of the Jane Lawless mystery, Stage Fright - published by the Women’s Press. A Small Sacrifice is the winner of the Lambda Literary Award for the best lesbian mystery.
Lauren Henderson ---Dead White Female --- New English Library Pbk (0 340 649151) £5.99 Out 20th June See Review 
Sam Jones, young, sexy, funny and sharp - lives hard, plays harder and knows London like the back of her hand.
When Lee Jackson is found dead after a party, the police believe it was an accident but Sam Jones is convinced it is murder. Frustrated by the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. attitude of her friends she abandons the sculpture she is working on and begins to investigate her art tutor's death. Dead White Female marks the debut of an exciting new talent.
Lauren Henerson is 27, a Cambridge English graduate, and is hooked on the detective novel. She lives in Tuscany where she is presently working on her second novel.
Cool, Savy and sharp, Lauren Henderson's tenacious heroine is the best new girl on the block I've met in a long time. Val McDermid Manchester Evening News -See Full Review
The whole thing radiates with energy and wit Frances Fyfield, Evening Standard
Carol Higgins Clark --- Iced --- Little & Brown (0 316 87854 5) £15.99
The frontier spirit is alive and well in the old mining town turned resort of Aspen, Colorado, despite an influx of the rich and famous - and Regan Reilly.
However, priceless paintings have been disappearing from chic chalets all over town, and suspicion falls on a congenial ex-con named Eben Bean. Regan not only knew and liked Eben, but also helped him get a caretaking job. Now she may be the only person who believes he is innocent.
Malcolm Hamer--- Predator --- Little & Brown (0 316 87488 4) £15.99
Portrait of a power hungry sports agent from the creator of the Chris Ludlow series of Golf thrillers.
Robert.D.Keppel with William.J.Burns --- The Riverman (Non-Fiction) --- Arrow Pbk (0 09 923311 8) £6.99 Out 6th June Watch out for Review coming soon!
Robert Keppel was responsible for investigating and catching the most infamous serial killer in American history, Ted Bundy. In 1982 another series of horrific murders began at Washington's Green River. Keppel led the hunt for the Green River Killer - suspected of murdering at least 49 people. In a bizarre twist of fate Bundy wrote from death row to offer his help in catching the killer. And so began a remarkable relationship between two men on opposite sides of the law.
...highly readable, the book is one of the classic studies in criminology Time Out
The book is superb on many levels. Not only is Keppel a superlative detective, he is also a clear, clever, and unflashy writer Daily Mail
Mario Vargas Llosa --- Death in the Andes --- Faber & Faber (0 571 17548 1) £14.99
A new novel (translated by Edith Grossman) by one of Latin America's major writers.
Death in the Andes is set in an isolated, run-down community in the Peruvian Andes, it tells the story of a series of mysterious disappearances involving the Shining Path guerrillas and a local couple performing cannibalistic sacrifices with strange similarities to the Dionysian rituals of ancient Greece.
Part detective novel and part political allegory, it offers a panoramic view of Peruvian society; of the current political violence and social upheaval; and of the country's past, and its connection to Indian culture and to pre-Hispanic mysticism.