I know what I'll be doing this weekend...

The arc of The Preacher, by Camilla Lackberg - the author of The Ice Princess - was given to me on Tuesday.  I can't wait to read it and then pass it around my fellow booksellers, it'll be out in hardback in May.

Anatomy of Ghosts by Andrew Taylor

Bookseller John Holdsworth has fallen on hard times, his home, family and business swept away in a matter of months.  Then he receives a proposition - travel from London to Jerusalem college Cambridge as Lady Oldershaw's ambassador to lay a ghost that has turned the late Bishop of Oldershaw's heir from a strapping young buck to a gibbering idiot.  Holdsworth takes on the job of getting young Mr Oldershaw out of the mental institution the college have placed him into, but there are many interests at work in Jerusalem and most of them would prefer the young man remain mad.

Taylor brings late eighteenth century Cambridge to life and populates it with fellows, masters, undergraduates, sizars, gyps and civilians with blackmail on their minds.

The Dreamseller by Augusto Cury

In present day New York city a mysterious man talks sociology professor Julio Lambert out of jumping to his death by questioning his motives and stimulating his critical thinking.  Fascinated that such a fine mind resides in such a ragged body the Professor agrees to follow the man who calls himself the Dreamseller.

Soon New York is buzzing, all eyes are on the Dreamseller, is he eccentric, mad, a new messiah, or an alien.   

The media try to vilify him, the public follow him around.  His fame grows but so do his enemies.  Cury’s book is full of biting social commentary and may prick a conscience or two while being both uplifting and inspiring.

Red Wolf by Liza Marklund

Swedish crime reporter Annika Bengtzon probes a decades-old attack on a remote airbase, against the wishes of her editor. The investigation has already claimed the life of one of Anki’s colleagues.  Was the attack an initiation for something bigger and why did the government withhold the name of the instigator when they had detailed files on him?

A child’s drawing puts Annika on the trail of the Red Wolf and the ageing Maoist revolutionary with death on his shoulder.  Annika uncovers a web of lies, corruption and murder centering around the airbase and its employees past and present and for Annika there may be no future.

The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse

I am the last.  The others have slipped away into darkness…

Englishman Freddie Watson comes to on the floor of his room in the tiny French village of Nulle, high in the Pyrenees. It’s winter 1928 and he’s convinced that he spent the night in the company of the townspeople and the lovely Fabrissa, but Mme Galy swears that he did not attend the celebration.  Freddie, still recovering from the combined effects of six months in a sanitorium and his car going off a lonely mountain road begins to doubt his sanity.  He clings to the promise he made to Fabrissa.  He promised to find her and bring her home.   
His promise will free the winter ghosts.

Day of Honey by Annia Ciezadlo

This is a story of love war and food. 

Annia met Mohammed Bazzi in New York they fell in love moved to the Middle East.  Annia’s descriptions of everyday life first in Beirut then Baghdad during a tension-filled peace make the people and places come alive. 

She ponders over the role of food as ambassador, comforter and peacemaker, she explores Iraqi cuisine, even though other journalists tell her Iraq has no cuisine!  When Baghdad comes under attack, she and Mohammed return to Beirut just before Israel begins shelling the city. 

This isn’t just a memoir containing recipes it’s also an insightful slice of Middle Eastern politics where refusing to choose a side is not an option.

Two to watch

It was a busy weekend, not only have I been working on chapters (and Thunderball) but I managed to get two books squared away.  Prophecy a historical thriller and Compact With the Devil by Bethany Maines - now I have to find her first one called Bulletproof Mascara.  Think the love child of Izzy Spellman and James Bond working for a cosmetics company that has a special division that has nothing to do with selling makeup.

I'm about to push out a bunch of reviews for books coming out in February.

Thoughts on Before I Go To Sleep

At one point in this book I gasped - out loud - because I thought I was being clever and knew what was going on.  I so did not and this is the kind of book I love, it blindsides you.  You'll see what I mean when you read it in June. 

Short posts will be the order of the day for the next couple of weeks, I'm focused on the edit of Rollover, this project is coming dangerously close to completion.

First Post of 2011

I've got a bit of reading to catch up on  but a couple of things you should know - Agent X the new Noah Boyd didn't disappoint, you can get your hands on it in February.  Just finished The Informationist by Taylor Stevens her main character reminded me a lot of Lisbeth Salander.

This week Prophecy by S.J Parris, the second in Giordano Bruno series, Delirious by Daniel Palmer and Before I Go To Sleep by S.J Watson.