NEW  BOOKS FOR SPRING 1997

William D. Pease The Monkey's Fist.  Pbk No Exit Press  April 97  £9.99
Eddie Nickles, a retired Washington, D.C. homicide detective is offered a lot of money to find a street person who may have been responsible for a double murder. Suddenly he finds himself enmeshed with Russian mafiosi, street rappers and a sinister U.S. agency that doesn't exist, and a local incident becomes an international chase.
William D Pease spent 15 years as Assistant D.A. of Washington DC. He currently lives in Moscow. 

Anthony Frewin   London Blues  pbk  No Exit Press  April 97  £6.99
The chance discovery of a 30-year-old blue movie leads back to the film's maker Tim Purdom, and the London of the late fifties and early sixties. Purdom was a pioneer of the black-and-white British porno film and a figure on the periphery of the Profumo sex scandal. Hs directed eight films... but who was directing him and what was their hidden agenda? And where is Tim now?
Anthony Frewin was born in London. He has been a book editor and typographer He is the author of several non-fiction works including The Assassination of John F Kennedy - An Annotated Film, TV and Videography, 1965-1992. He has been assistant director and PA to Stanley Kubrick for over 20 years. lives In St. Albans. 

James Sallis  Black Hornet  pbk No Exit Press  May 97  £5.99 
In a time of anger, activism, and bitter racial tensions, a sniper has appeared in New Orleans. The shooter's sixth fatality is cut down while she is walking at Lew Griffin's side. Though he had only just met his unfortunate companion, Griffin knows it's up to him to find her killer - before a madman puts the final match to a volatile urban tinderbox.
James Sallis is a poet, essayist, translator, short story writer, author of a critical work on Jim Thompson, David Goodis & Chester Himes and a book on jazz guitar as well as the critically acclaimed Lew Griffin series, of which Long Legged Fly and Moth have already been published by No Exit Press. His new Griffin novel, Eye of the Cricket and his new novel, Death Will Have Your Eyes will appear in the next 12 months. 

Paul Charles I Love The Sound of Breaking Glass  The Do-Not-Press  18th April, 1997
Peter O'Browne, managing director of Camden Town Records, is missing. Is his disappearance connected with a mysterious fire that ravages his north London home? And just who was using his credit card in darkest Dorset?
Although up to his neck in other cases - including a sex murder and a particularly vicious attack on an old woman - Detective Inspector Christy Kennedy and his team investigate, plumbing the hidden depths of London's music industry, turning up chart-rigging scams, blackmail and worse.
I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass is a detective story with a difference. Part whodunnit, part howdunnit and part love story, it features a unique method of murder, a  plot with more twists and turns than the road from Kingsmarkham to St Mary Mead, and characters that practically explode off the page.
Paul Charles is a prominent music business figure: as co-owner of the London-based Asgard agency and promotions company, he works with artists like Elvis Costello, Ray Davies, Nanci Griffith and Nick Lowe.

Carol Anne Davis  Shrouded  The Do-Not-Press 18th April, 1997
Taut and enthralling debut novel from a gifted new writer. Douglas likes women quiet women; the kind he deals with at the mortuary. Douglas meets Marjorie, unemployed, gaining weight and losing confidence. She talks and laughs to cover up her shyness, but Douglas needs a lover who'll stay deadly still. Driven by lust and fear, he finds a way to make women remain excitingly silent and inert, and then needs to blank out the details of their unplanned deaths. But only Marjorie can fulfil his growing sexual hunger. He studies his textbooks to find a way...
Shrouded is a powerful and accomplished debut, tautly-plotted, dangerously erotic and vibrating with tension and suspense. It deserves to propel Carol Anne Davis to thte forefront of young British writers.
Carol Anne Davis lives in Edinburgh and has been a full-time writer since 1990. She's written about sex and death for adult and horror magazines and produced how-to modules for a well known writing correspondence course. Her short stories have won first, second and third prizes in national competitions and have appeared in several multi-author anthologies.

Wilson F.Paul &Costello Matthew J.  Mirage  27th March 97  £5.99
A brilliantly original psychological thriller that is also set to become a fascinating CD_ROM game.
As identical twins, Julie the brilliant experimental psychologist and Sam the wildly emotional artist. could not be more different. But when Sam is found in a deep coma. It seems that only Julia’s untested memoryscape technique can save her.
But exploring her twin's memories means entering a world of dark emotions and savage violence. a world in which Julie is brought face to face with secrets that could destroy them both...
F.Paul Wilson, whose father emigrated from England in the 1920s, was born and raised in New Jersey. He began selling his writings in 1970 while a first-year medical student and he has been producing fiction and practising medicine ever since. Over five million copies of his books are in print in the USA, and his work has been translated into eighteen foreign languages.
Matthew J.Costello is the author of  thirteen novels. . He also wrote the script for the 7th Guest, an interactive drama that has become the bestselling; CD-ROM in history (1,500,000 copies). Together with F. Paul Wilson, Matthew Costello created the USA Network’s Sci-Fi. channel. PTL News, a daily news programme from 2145, now in its fourth year. 

Raymond  Flynn   A Public Body  New English Library  17 April 97  £5.99
Featuring Detective Inspector Robert Graham
'Councillor Lynch did not take our decision well. Following the meeting on Monday evening, an altercation took place between him and his wife and shortly afterwards he left the premises. He was observed to be carrying a large, untidy bundle under his arm.' 
Councillor William Lynch - alias Klondike Bill - is furious to have been passed over for the office of Mayor of Eddathorpe in favour of his much-detested second wife Muriel. He responds by going off on a binge accompanied by the Eddathorpe mayoral regalia: one cocked hat one red robe trimmed with black rabbit and one silver-gilt chain with a gold and enamel knobbly bit at the end.
D.I.Graham has until noon on Friday to clear up this‘little misunderstanding' and prevent one of Eddathorpe's funnier scandals becoming an official  police matter. But the joke is a lot less funny when Muriel Lynch turns up dead - with Klondike  Bill (and the regalia) carefully arranged in the next room.  And to make matters even worse Graham’s least-loved superior officer, Detective Superintendent Hacker, arrests Bill for murder despite a worrying lack of evidence. Soon D.I.Graham finds himself embroiled in some of the more unsavoury aspects of life at the seaside. And coming up with more questions than answers. Once again, former policeman Raymond Flynn has brought wonderfully seedy Eddathorpe and its often-eccentric police force to vivid, memorable life.
Raymond Flynn spent twenty-six years with the Nottinghamshire Constabulary. Starting as a  uniformed constable, he later moved to the CID, serving for twelve years as the detective inspector in charge of the Fraud Squad in Nottingham, where he still lives. He turned to writing  after taking medical retirement. He was a finalist in the 1992 Ian St James Short Story competition and won the Gooding Prize for short stories in 1994. A Public Body is his second  novel. Seascape With Body, his first novel, is now a New English Library paperback. 

Sandford John Sudden Prey   Headline 27th  March 97   £5.99
When Wisconsin bank robbers Candy and Georgie LaChaise are gunned down by police outside a Minnesota credit union  it looks like weeks of patient stalking by deputy chief Lucas Davenport of the Minneapolis PD has paid off. All he has to worry about now is some heat from the media about the police deliberately setting up the shoot-out.
But for Davenport and his team, the real violence has yet to begun.
John Sanford  is the pseudonym, for the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp. He is the author of Rules of Prey, Shadow Prey, Eyes of Prey, Silent Prey, The Iceman, Night Prey and Mind Prey. 

Derek Wilson --- Cumberland's Cradle ---  3rd April 1997 (Headline  £5.99)
Lanner Castle is a forbidding granite conglomeration of pseudo- Gothic towers and crenellations on an island in tiny Loch Huich. The locals know little about its present owner, the reclusive Mr Robertson, except that he is wealthy, writes antiquarian books and owns the most comprehensive accumulation of torture instruments in private hands. But there are those who know more about Mr Robertson and his past - and of those people he is terrified. Now a series of omens - two of his guard dogs and his parrot killed on his own torture implements - suggests that Mr Robertson's fortress is not as impregnable as he believed. Calling in international security expert Tim Lacy to install the latest intruder-tracking and warning devices, he goes into hiding. But Lacy cannot prevent the pride of the gruesome collection, Cumberland's Cradle, from being stolen. And two days later, Mr Robertson is found fatally reunited with his property. Why are the police warned off the murder investigation? Where do drug-runners and Special Branch fit into the picture? What is the connection of this murder with the suppression of the Jacobites in 1745? Finding the answers to these questions will carry Tim Lacy into the greatest danger he has ever faced...

A.E.Marston --- The Serpents of Harbledown ---  3rd April 1997 (Headline  £5.99)
Volume V of the Domesday Books
Domesday commissioners Ralph Delchard and Gervase Bret arrive  in Canterbury prepared for a pleasant visit; their mission is straightforward and Ralph has his new wife, Golde, with him. Even the pompous Canon Hubert and meek Brother Simon are delighted to be in the environs of the renowned and revered Archbishop Lanfranc.
But tragic news disrupts them; a young girl, Bertha, has been found dead near the village of Harbledown, a snake bite sunk into her neck. Her death devastates those who knew and loved her. Gervase Bret cannot accept this is mere accident - but who would want to kill so kind and Christian a girl? The trail leads Gervase to the. leper who found Bertha's body, and to a perplexing clue. Then another gruesome murder convinces Ralph and Gervase that they must look for a force more vicious and repellent than a mere snake. The incarnation of evil is among them - a Satanic serpent in human form - and, unless it is stopped, it is bound to strike again...
'Abrim with energy, heroism, tenderness, chicanery, and suspense  while crisply evoking a vivid picture of the era' Kirkus Reviews
'These are excellently written and entertaining books, unreservedly recommended' Mystery News
'Marston draws a resonant and historically accurate picture of life during the period, creating lively and appealing protagonists as well as believable deep-dyed villains' Publishers Weekly
'Their macabre mystery, skilfully unravelled, moves to a sharp and surprising denouement' Coventry Evening Telegraph
'If you enjoy the Cadfael stories then you should enjoy this one. Watch out for more from Marston' South Wales Evening Post

Stephanie Baron --- Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor ---  3rd April 1997 (Headline  £5.99)
To Jane Austen's surprise, her visit to the snowy Hertfordshire estate of young and beautiful Isobel Payne, Countess of Scargrave, is far from dull. She has scarcely arrived when the Earl - a gentleman of mature years - is felled by a mysterious and agonizing ailment. His death seems a cruel blow of fate for the newly married Isobel. Yet the bereaved widow soon finds that it's only the beginning of her misfortune...as she receives a sinister missive accusing her and the Earl's nephew of adultery - and murder.
Desperately afraid that the letter will expose her and Viscount Fitzroy Payne, for whom she bears a secret tendresse, to the worst  sort of scandal, Isobel begs her friend Jane for help. Which is  how Jane finds herself embroiled in an investigation that will  soon have her questioning the motives of Scargrave Manor's  guests, stumbling upon the scene of a bloody murder, and following a trail of clues that leads all the way to Newgate Prison and the House of Lords - a trail that may well place Jane's own person in grave jeopardy.
With her lively mind and acerbic tongue, Jane Austen is a sleuth  to the manner born; stylishly sophisticated and marvellously entertaining, this is the first in a captivating new series.
`Succeeds on all levels. A robust tale of manners and mayhem that faithfully reproduces the Austen style - and engrosses to the finish' Kirkus Reviews

Dr Iain West's Casebook --- Chester Stern ---  3rd April 1997 (Warner pbk  £7.99)
The chilling investigations of Britain's leading forensic pathologist.
A comprehensive and fascinating record of some of the most famous and controversial cases of his illustrious career. Dr lain West's Casebook reflects the status that forensic pathology now commands in the field of criminal investigation.
With detailed reference to acts of international terrorism, war crimes, major disasters, serial murder and domestic violence, crime journalist Chester Stern explores how Dr West helps police and juries understand the full horror of such incidents, how fresh interpretations of existing evidence increasingly support damage claims by victims' relatives, and how, in the strange circumstances of Robert Maxwell's apparent drowning. he uncovered crucial clues which put a whole new complexion on the mystery of the tycoon's death.
Probing death in many bizarre forms, Dr lain West's Casebook is a compelling, chilling but never lurid insight into the work of a man for whom death is a way of life.
'It is scarcely necessary to recommen a book packed with so many fascinating insights' James Le Fanu, Daily Telegraph
'Should be compulsory reading for those among us who remain ambivalent about political violence' Irish Times

Amy Myers --- Murder In The Motor Stable --- 3rd April 1997 (Headline  £5.99)
An Auguste Didier whodunnit.
Murder is not on the agenda when the Ladies' Motoring; Club committee decides to organise a run of their new 1904 motor cars from London to Canterbury. It is also to be the first public outing, after months of secrecy, of the electrically powered Dolly Dobbs, which its inventor claim has overcome the need for constant recharging of batteries. But the Dolly Dobbs sparks off mighty passions from many who frequent the club's London headquarters and motor stable - and trouble is on the way...
In the club kitchens, Auguste Didier presents the members with a cuisine worthy of his position as master chef. But when hidden passions explode into hideous murder, and  Inspector Egbert Rose of Scotland Yard is called in, Auguste's other skills as sleuth are put to the test once more, as he battles to help solve the case
'Reading like a cross between Hercule Poirot and Mrs Beeton... this feast of entertainment is packed with splendid late-Victorian detail' Evening Standard

Kinky Friedman --- Greenwich Killing Time ---  April 1997 (Faber & Faber pbk £5.99)
Kinky Friedman - commonly known to his multitude of fans as The Kinkster - first found fame as lead singer of the country-and-western band The Texas Jewboys. He is also the author of a series of highly acclaimed detective stories featuring himself as the wise-cracking, cigar-smoking, cat-loving sleuth. Due to popular demand Greenwich Killing Time, Kinky's first mystery, is available here for the first time in a single volume.
The scene of the crime is Greenwich Village. The corpse is found holding eleven pink roses - and the suspects are as strange as the crime. A wild and witty journey into the dark heart of Manhattan, Greenwich Killing Time is the perfect introduction to America's most outrageous singer-songwriter turned gumshoe detective.
"A 24-carat American original . . . hip and hard-boiled." Chicago Tribune
'The best whodunnit writer to come along since Dashiell What's-his-name.' Willie Nelson
'There is a neat bullet hole drilled through your bagel and cigar ash in your glass of Mezcal. This can mean only one thing- it's 12.26 a.m. and you dear reader, are heading for a delirious ride with Kinky Friedman into the deepest sagebrush of downtown Manhattan. Brace yourself - this is seriously funny.' Glen Baxter

Carol Smith --- Kensington Court ---  3rd April 1997 (Headline  £5.99)
It is almost Christmas, and Kate Ashenberry, disillusioned and in flight from her violent lover, arrives in London to spend the festivities alone, with only a kitten for company But the heart of the Victorian mansion block she has made her home is its residents, and nothing beats the variety of those living in Kensington Court. Within days,  Kate finds she has a whole new family, sometimes fun, sometimes interfering, always neighbourly. Yet Kate has a sense that all is not quite right, and when the killing starts,  the cosy, comforting camaraderie of Kensington Court collapses entirely...
`KENSINGTON COURT draws you in, and will have you racing through the final pages for the brilliant, twisting climax.' Company
`Good characterisation and atmosphere keep things scary.' Mail on Sunday
`An intriguing whodunnit' Family Circle
‘KENSINGTON COURT has a chill factor of 10.' Options
‘Carol Smith skilfully sustains the suspense until the closing pages.' The Times

Terence Strong --- White Viper ---  Feb 24th 1997 (Mandarin  £5.99)
See The Story Behind The Book
The Z file - the last resort. Former SAS. Infiltrator, investigator and sometime executioner. Now freelance. Who goes where government agencies fear to tread.
So when vast quantities of White Viper - an exceptionally pure and branded cocaine - threaten to flood Britain, Europe and the USA, he is the natural choice to head up a covert search-and-destroy operation. One that will force him to face the demons from his past. And take him to the depths of inhumanity on the most unnerving mission of his life.
"The tension is razor-sharp" Daily Telegraph