NEW  BOOKS FOR SPRING 1997

Peter Haining --- Crime Movies II --- Severn House --- April 97 --- £16.99
Antonia Fraser, Ruth Rendell, Dick Francis. Georges Simenon, Erle Stanlev Gardner, Brian Clemens.
'Cops on the Box' have been among the most popular series on television for many years. From the days of Edgar Lustgarten's Scotland Yard by way of Softly, Softly, Maigret, The Professionals and more recently, New Columbo, these stories of crime busters battling to bring criminals to justice have proved to be enormously popular with audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.
This collection brings together for the first time a number of the short stories on which these series were based, most by writers whose names are now automatically linked with the genre, including such legendary authors from the past as George Harmon Coxe and Elwyn Jones to current leading conributors like Dick Francis and Ruth Rendell.
This is a book for all fans of detective fiction - as wen as enthusiasts of TV crime series.

Desmond Harding --- Bad Influence --- Robert Hale --- March 97 --- £16.99 
An image merchant and her client share a dark secret.

Elizabeth Ann Hill --- Kendrick Girls --- Severn House --- March --- £15.99

Ann Granger --- Asking for Trouble --- Headline --- March 97 --- £l6.99 
Fran Varady is insolvent, unemployed and, though for the moment she's got the leaky roof of the squat she shares in Jubilee Street over her head, thanks to the attentions of the council eviction department she'll very soon be homeless. Her dreams of becoming an actress, nurtured when her father and grandmother were still alive, seem a long way off. But the quietly resolute Fran, for all her youth and apparent vulnerability, is a survivor. Which her former housemate, Terry, found hanging from the ceiling rose of her room, clearly is not.
Terry, secretive and selfish, was far from popular with the rest of the household, but her death shakes the Jubilee Street Creative Artists' Commune, as the squat residents half jokingly call themselves. And, the more Fran discovers about the death of the young woman whose life briefly intersected with her own, the more she begins to see it was not all it first seemed.
The first book in a series featuring Fran Varady, a youthful, quietly engaging private investigator living on her wits in the city, ASKING FOR TROUBLE is an exciting departure for Ann Granger whose Mitchell and Markby mysteries are consistently praised for their intelligent characterisation and clever plotting and have an appreciative and rapidly growing readership. Her new heroine, with her combination of acuteness and vulnerability, will appeal to Ann Granger's current fans and win her many more.
Ann Granger has lived in cities in various parts of the world, since for many years she worked for the foreign office and received postings to British embassies as far apart as Munich and Lusaka. She is married, with two sons, and she and her husband, who also worked for the foreign office, are now permanently based near Oxford. Ann is currently working on a new Mitchell and Markby mystery and the second book in the Fran Varady series.

John French --- The Killer Within --- Robert Hale --- Feb 97 --- £16.99 Psychological thriller.

Rubem Fonseca --- The Lost Manuscript --- Bloomsbury --- April 97 --- £14.99
Thriller presenting searing insights into the human psyche. 

David A. Farrow --- Root of All Evil --- Wyrick & Co ---March 97 --- £17 99

Margaret Duffy --- Music In The Blood --- Piatkus --- March --- £ 16·99 
Kimberley Devlin is a young, beautiful and talented opera singer. So why should someone want. to drive a car at her, then bury her alive in a shallow grave on the outskirts of Glasgow? It's a question to which DCI James Carrick is unable to find an answer, though it soon becomes apparent that Miss Devlin’s innocent exterior conceals some unpleasant secrets. One thing is for sure, this was no ordinary hit and run...

Jane Brindle --- The Seeker --- Headline --- June 97 --- £16.99 

Belinda Brett --- Dreaming of Water --- Piatkus --- April 97 --- £16.99 
Dark strange dreams have been haunting Frances Lambert recently. Dreams of water, dreams of drowning. Perhaps it is the strange peace of the East Anglian coast which is invading her thoughts? Or could it be her concern for the absent Margaret, whose job she has taken over, which is causing her uneasy sleep? Margaret has been "away" for some time and not even her shady antique dealer friends seem concerned.
When Frances is drawn into an illegal dealer's ring, her suspicions are confirmed: surely it is not only in her dreams that something dark and strange is happening? A gripping first novel of psychological suspense in the tradition of Ruth Rendell.

P.C. Doherty --- Ghostly Murders --- hb/pbk Headline --- April/Sep --- £16.99/£5.99
GHOSTLY MURDERS is the fourth in P.C. Doherty's brilliant series in which he uses characters from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales This is The Priest's Tale. .
As Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims continue their journey, they pass through a  deserted village. The sight of its decaying church and derelict cemetery brings tears to the eyes of the Priest - so when a
sudden shower forces them to take shelter in the ruins of the church, it is he who tells the tale of ancient evil and devilish murder...
P.C. Doherty was born in Middlesbrough. He is now a headmaster at a school in Essex. He also writes as Paul Harding and Michael Clynes.

Patrick Dillon --- Lies --- Michael Joseph --- April 97 --- £15.99

Patrick Dillon ---  Truth --- Penguin --- 14th April 97 --- £5.99 
Detective Inspector George Havilland is a good policeman. He's never crossed the line. But when it looks as if local villain Richard Hill is going to get away with murder, literally, for a second time, he forges a confession and puts himself outside the law. With its realsitic portrait of the harsh streets of south London and their denizens, Truth marks the impressive debut of a brilliant new crime writer.

Iris Collier --- Requiem --- Piatkus --- April 97 --- £16.99
When Bridie the junkie daughter of wealthy Edith Laker dies of an overdose in New Zealand, no one seems very surprised. Only when Edith's granddaughter is kid- napped does DCI Douglas begin to suspect that Bridie's death may not have been the accidental overdose it appeared; and when. he learns Bridie had "something important" to say before her death he is set on the trail of a drug smuggling ring which is bringing its dirty goods all the way to his doorstep...

Jan Burke --- Remember Me, Irene --- Piatkus --- Feb 97 --- £16.99 
Newspaper reporter Irene Kelly fails to recognise the homeless man who, without a trace of irony, declares: "I'm not the man I used to be..."
Only later does Irene realise that her chance street encounter was with Lucas Munroe. her revered college tutor. Formerly a gifted academic, Irene now hears Lucas's name in connection with charges of blackmail and murder. Her search for the truth forces Irene to face a part of her own past she would rather forget...

Edna Buchanan --- Act of Betrayal --- Simon & Schuster --- Feb 97 --- £15.99
An intrepid Miami News crime reporter on the trail of a missing teenage boy uncovers identical cases.

Ellen Hart --- Faint Praise --- pbk Women’s Press --- March 97 --- £6.99
When a well-known television personality meets with an untimely demise, a sinister series of events begins to unfold in the shadows of Minneapolis' famed Foshay Tower, entangling the Twin Cities in a web of deceit and fear. Restaurateur and sleuth Jane Lawless and her irrepressible friend Cordelia Thorn open investigations and find a tight-knit community of writers, artists and poets, all with connections to the deceased. Then, as the killer is revealed, the balance of power makes a deadly shift and Jane begins to wonder if this case might just be her last . . .
'The psychological maze of a Barbara Vine mystery and the feel of Agatha Christie.' Publishers Weekly
'Fans of Hart's mysteries will rejoice in her latest and best, filled with wit and wicked deed, fast pacing and memorable characters.' Booklist
Ellen Hart is the acclaimed and strong-selling author of A Small Sacrifice and Stage Fright, published by The Women's Press.She was a chef for twelve years and is currently working on a new Jane Lawless mystery.

Abigail Padgett --- Moonbird Boy --- pbk Women’s Press --- March 97 --- £6.99
A child-protection investigator in the San Diego juvenile court system, Bo Bradley is courageous, compassionate, unique. She also struggles with manic depression. So is sent reeling back into depression when she is suddenly bereaved. And her recovery at Ghost Flower Lodge - an innovative psychiatric healing centre - is appalling interrupted when her friend and fellow-lodgemate is found horribly murdered . . .
Who would want to kill the wealthy young comedian Mort? Where is bizarre Old Ayma, whose mysterious disappearance coincides with Mort's murder? And who is trying to drive Bo over the edge with anonymous messages taunting her about her loss?
As Bo sets out to track down Mort's killers - and find a home for his now orphaned son, Moonbird Boy - she uncovers a motive more monstrous than even she could imagine . . .
'The latest in Padgett’s increasingly compelling series . . . a gripping novel.' Publishers Weekly
'A series protagonist of note . . . Padgett constructs a complex, multilayered plot with ease.' San Francisco Chronicle
'Truly exceptional . . . fast-moving suspense to keep one reading very, very late into the night' Mystery News 'Sensational fine . . . breathtaking well told.' Los Angeles Times
Abigail Padgett is the most highly acclaimed. brightest new star on the crime fiction scene. A former court investigator in San Diego, she now works as an advocate for the mentally ill and maintains an avid interest in desert preservation and Native American cultures.

Joan M. Drury --- Silent Words --- pbk Women’s Press --- March 97 --- £6.99 See Review
Tyler Jones, San Francisco newspaper columnist, is reeling from the death of her mother and shaken by her mother's dying words - that there are skeletons in the closet of her family history and now is the time to uncover the truth.
Returning to her childhood home is a strange but also comforting and poignant experience as Tyler renovates the beautiful but neglected house she has inherited, reconnects with old family friends and begins to wonder whether her old life in the city will ever regain its old appeal. Could she - a busy writer and lesbian feminist activist - adapt to this life forever?
As Tyler attempts to fulfil her mother's deathbed wish she discovers just how far the living will go to protect the secrets of the dead - even if that means erasing the lives of women of the past who did not fit into the patterns prescribed . . .
'A cut above the rest . . . will leave readers hungry for more.' Lambda Book Report
'Silent Words is the kind of book I love with richly portrayed characters wonderful dialogue, settling so inviting it inviting it made me want a summer house, an best of all, one of those intriguing family secrets. No, best of all, Tyler Jones, an utterly believable, witty, and appealing sleuth.' Susan Dunlap, Sudden Exposure
Joan M Drury is the Publisher of Spinsters Ink, the respected American lesbian feminist publishing house. She is also the author of The Other Side of Silence.

Shaun Hutson --- Knife Edge --- Little Brown --- March 97 --- £15.99
Peace in Northern Ireland has brought counter-terrorist Sean Doyle back to the UK. It has also brought frustrating boredom into the life of British soldier Robert Neville, and when his wife Julie decides to leave him, taking their daughter Lisa he has nothing left to lose. Turning his wife into a walking bomb, he demands a car, but doesn't manage to take Lisa with him in his escape. Determined to get her, he begins a bloody bombing campaign in central London, using his military skill to systematically detonate a device every hour until his demands are met. Doyle must find Neville and end the carnage before he can explode the final devastating bomb.

Graham Lord --- A Party to Die For --- Little Brown --- Feb 97 --- £15.99
The Editor of the magazine Celebrity has decided to throw party. Not just any old party, but the party to mark the beginning of the new millennium. Her staff rapidly discover that this is not an original idea,as all the possible venues (Everest, the Taj Mahal etc.) have been booked for years Fortunately her secretary manages to hire a brand new cruise ship which will be station on the Intenational Date line at midnight at the end of the century. However, the Editor has more enemies than friends, several of whom are mistakenly invited on the cruise, all of them with very good reasons for setting some personnel scores.
This a lavishly entertaining novel which provides moment of high farce and high ten Graham Lord has published several novels and works of non-fiction, including his biography of Jeffrey Bernard, Just The One. After several years as Literary Editor of the Sunday Express he is now a Freelance journalist end reviwer.

David Bowker --- The Butcher of Glastonbury --- Gollancz --- May 97 --- £15.99
'Bowker piles on the atmospherics to good effect’ - Literary Review 
In her Glastonbury home, a thirteen-year-old girl discovers the bodies of her family, hacked to pieces by a vicious attacker. Although present in the house at the time of the murders, she saw and head nothing. Called in to assist with the investigation, Chief Superintendent Laverne and his partner, DI Savage, find their efforts hampered by the obstructive behaviour of their hosts; and by the interference of visiting FBI agent Angela Roth, recently dispatched to England to study Laverne's less than orthodox working methods.
As the detectives argue amongst themselves, a second family is slaughtered. As before, there are no witnesses to the deed, not a signal piece of forensic evidence to point to the killer.
While the local police draw their own conclusions, Laverne's own brand of investigative instinct has pinpointed the killer. But he has no proof. All he can do is wait - until the Butcher of Glastonbury returns to kill . . . again.
David Bowker is the author of The Secret Sexist and The Death Prayer: the screenplay of which is currently being developed by the twice Oscar-winning producer Judy Counihan. David Bowker lives in Bedfordshire.