Topical

With all the talk of the NSA, if you can get hold of a copy, The Puzzle Palace by James Bamford makes fascinating reading. From inception to the eighties (when this book was written) it's a history of the NSA and it shows that while they've always just hoovered up data the methods they use just get more sophisticated as the tech improves.

Best Books of 2013

These are my top 10 but please don't take the  order as one to ten, they're all good for different reasons

S by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst

Mortal Bonds by Michael Sears

Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein

Loyalty by Ingrid Thoft

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

A Dangerous Fiction by Barbara Rogan

Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller

Wild Beasts of Wuhan by Ian Hamilton

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg (NF)

Ghost Man by Roger Hobbs

Book 3 needed some major rewrites and I only realised how badly I'd neglected the blog when one of my regulars told me he thought I'd packed it in.  There are some cracking titles for next year and I will be reviewing the first batch of those in  January. For now, Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Critical Mass, Sara Paretsky

V.I. Warshawski, or Vic to her friends is drawn into the investigation of a missing meth addict and her genius son.

Vic’s long term friend Dr. Lotty Herschel shares a past with the missing woman’s grandmother who refused point blank to let her grandson Martin go to college. What seems like a simple addict on the run case turns complicated as Vic uncovers connections between the great grand mother and a nobel winning Austrian scientist who worked on the Manhattan project and her investigation is ruffling some pretty high level feathers…

The Carpet People, Terry Pratchett

When Terry Pratchett was seventeen he wrote a version of this story, it ran as a serial in the Childrens Circle section of the Bucks Free Press where young Pratchett worked and was published as a longer novel in 1971. Who else but Pratchett (who went on to create the discworld series) could set an entire story inside a carpet?

Various tribes live within the carpet, power hungry Mouls, cerebral Wights, and Munrungs who while not power hungry do love a good skirmish, but every carpet dweller is in awe of ‘Fray’. It sweeps across the carpet, flattening settlements without warning and setting two brothers and their tribe off on the adventure of a lifetime. Laced with the trademark humour of the disc world novels and illustrated by the author, good clean fun.

Bellman & Black, Diane Setterfield

Never harm a rook. Aged 10, William Bellman uses his catapult to dispatch a young rook. William, along with three other boys, Luke, Fred and cousin Charles deny the bird a decent burial, they will pay dearly for that disrespect.

William grows up to be a good businessman, and a loving husband and father. When tragedy strikes and threatens his most precious possession, William gets a visit from a Mr. Black. Black proposes a partnership and so a very strange (some would say macabre) new venture is born.

Preservationist, Justin Kramon

Stradler College: freshman Julia Stilwell’s second choice after Julliard. Still recovering from a recent tragedy Julia dates intense fellow music student Marcus before choosing Sam, the thirty-something guy who works at the college cafeteria. Sam showers Julia with attention while Marcus sulks in the background but with a brutal attacker terrorizing the college campus does Julia really know who to trust? She’s not just risking her life.

Mortal Bonds, Michael Sears

Jason Stafford and ‘the kid’ are back! Jason, who we first met in Black Fridays still has to visit his parole officer every week. Hired by the squabbling Von Becker family Jason is asked to locate a fortune that the FBI, SEC and many other interested parties have so far failed to find. And no one can ask the head of the household, he hanged himself in prison.

‘The kid’, is now six years old and thriving, his autism will always be a challenge and Jason still has a lot to learn about what sets him off, but the pair are coping. Until Angie, Jason’s duplicitous ex-wife announces a visit to New York. She’s coming for a month and bringing family.

Jason has the SEC and the Feds looking over his shoulder and a softly spoken aristocrat named Castillo telling him tales of dead lawyers and bearer bonds before offering his help. But the interests Castillo represents are deadly and they’ve just made the mistake of threatening Jason’s son.

October List, Jeffery Deaver

What is the October List and why does everyone want to get their hands on it?

Deaver’s tale, told in reverse, starts with murder suspect Gabriella Mackenzie being menaced by the man who kidnapped her six year old daughter and unspools from there. Gabriella’s only ally in all this is the moneyed and enigmatic Daniel Reardon, but is he dead too?

The Abominable, Dan Simmons

No one summited Mt Everest in 1925, or did they? Simmons gives us a secret 1925 recovery/summit expedition through the eyes of Jacob (Jake) Perry, then a young American climber. Jake and mountain guide JC Clairoux and poet and first world war survivor Richard Davis Deacon are to climb Everest in search of a minor noble, Lord Bromley who was attached to the fateful 1924 expedition that claimed Mallory and Irvine and who died in the company of a young Austrian during an avalanche.

Everest declares war on the small team led by Reggie Bromley, herself an accomplished climber, they encounter uncooperative monks, accidents, rumours of yeti roaming the mountain, but with cutting edge technology (for 1925) they are soon into the ‘death zone’ at 28,000 ft and their recovery mission becomes a fight for survival that could one day avert a war and the only way out is to head for the summit.

The Creeps, John Connolly

Connolly writes supernatural horror, most of the time. This latest installment in the adventures of Samuel Johnson, his beloved pup Boswell, and their friends (some of whom are not human but stay with me here) had me laughing out loud and reading some passages to my husband. These books are funny, smart, the footnotes are killer and showcase Connolly’s wicked sense of humour and his scientific knowledge.

Things have calmed down in the little village of Biddlecombe, sort of. Samuel is going out with the wrong girl, and he knows it. The only odd thing is the wandering statue of a long dead architect. But evil’s heart is beating in the depths of Biddlecombe’s abandoned toy shop and on opening night all hell’s going to break loose, again. Samuel and his friends are in a battle to save the multiverse from something even worse than the depths of hell.

A mapcap mash-up of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett with plenty of Monty Pythonesque humour thrown in. Horror has never been so much fun.

New for October (better late than never)

This post is a little late, if I were a juggler I'd have been drummed out of the circus for dropping my balls. If you could see my desk you would think I was trying to build a fort out of arcs! I'm in the middle of bunch of revisions and until one of my regulars came in last week I was convinced I had posted this so, oops! There is a raft of good stuff this month so, enjoy!

The Tenth Witness, Leonard Rosen

The second in the Henri Poincare series takes place before the events of All Cry Chaos.

Back in the ‘70s, Henri and his partner Alec are trying to get a salvage engineering business off the ground. Both men are young and keen and during a rare break from the exhausting preparations to salvage The Lutine for Lloyds of London; Henri meets Liesel Kraus, she’s beautiful, an heiress, co owner of Kraus Steel a major rebuilder of Germany after WWII.

Attracted and repelled by the family’s Nazi past Henri’s curiosity regarding the company’s current business practices brings him to the attention of Interpol, and while Interpol can threaten, there are others close to Liesel who would see Henri dead before he reveals their secrets.

A reason, not an excuse and CWA news

Regular readers will know that while I read in various different genres, mysteries, especially series are my favourites. I came late to the Louise Penny party, but that is the only reason I haven't reviewed the new one, I'm busy playing catch-up, these need to be read in order, start with Still Life and then come and see me in the bookstore and we'll talk.

In other news both Ghostman and Norwegian by Night are up for Steel and New Blood Daggers from the Crime Writers Association (CWA)

The Returned, Jason Mott

We've all lost loved ones but Mott asks the intriguing question what if they came back? Not as flesh eating zombies but at the same age as when they died. Could you ever make up for lost time? Would you take them back or shun them?

How would our world react to this blessing/curse. Mott focuses on the inhabitants of the small town of Arcadia, polarized by their own returnees including little Jacob and over run by forces determined to protect the living citizens of the US from the returned.

Rose Under Fire, Elizabeth Wein

Rose Under Fire is one of those books that stays with you. Wein calls it a companion piece to the NYT bestseller Codename Verity. American Rose Justice, an 18 year old ATA pilot and amateur poet is caught by the Germans in the dying months of WWII and sent to Ravensbrück, the infamous women’s concentration camp deep inside Germany.

As her loved ones struggle to comprehend losing her, Rose struggles to survive. She and her fellow prisoners, closer than family, stripped of their dignity and identity turn to small victories, little acts of rebellion, friendship, trading information for medicine all to maintain their sanity in the face of increasingly desperate attempts to silence the horrors of Ravensbrück by destroying all of the evidence. Can Rose survive? Will she ever fly again? Go home again?

Rose may be fictional but Ravensbrück and the atrocities carried out there are cemented in the history of the Nuremburg trials. A powerful and haunting read.

Nightmare Range, Martin Limón

A collection of short stories featuring Limón’s Sergeants George Sueño, a Mexican American and Ernie Bascom all American, but torched by his experience in Vietnam. Investigators for the 8th Army stationed in 70’s South Korea, Sueño and Bascom have a nasty habit of following a case through to its conclusion, and often leave the army brass’s ass exposed instead of covering it as they are supposed to. It you’ve just read The Orphan Master’s son (North Korea) then cross the DMZ to Nightmare Range.

Bones of Paris, Laurie King

1929, Paris, the Jazz age is in full swing, artists, poets, writers flock to the city of light along with lots of twenty-something bright young things, eager for a new life.

American Harris Stuyvesant, (Touchstone) now a private eye instead of a Bureau man is asked to track down Pip Crosby and for the money he’s being offered he doesn’t hesitate. Harris questions Pip’s roommate, artists she modeled for and his investigations lead him to a seedy theatre where the macabre plays alongside high comedy and Pip was trying to establish herself as an actress. Is there a crazed killer preying on the community of Montparnasse and could Harris be about to inadvertently place someone he cares about in great danger for a second time.

Sprinkled with real ex-pats like Sylvia Beech of Shakespeare and Company, Hemingway, spoiling for a fight, Man Ray, Josephine Baker and composer Cole Porter, King’s Paris is vibrant and sensual with a very dark heart beating beneath.

If you haven't read Touchstone, you've still got time to catch up!

Noah’s Rainy Day, Sandra Brannan

Noah Hogarty may suffer from cerebral palsy but his mind is way sharper than the average 12 year old’s and he wants to be a spy, like his Aunt Liv. Liv Bergen’s not actually a spy, she’s a freshly minted FBI agent about to take on her first real case.

It’s Christmas Eve and a little boy has gone missing from Denver International Airport. Liv and her bloodhound Beulah are assigned to track the kid. She and veteran agents Streeter Pierce and Jack Linwood are hours behind a meticulous kidnapper. While the boys high profile parents fly in from opposite coasts to await a ransom demand, Liv and the others don’t think there will be one.

Noah is working the case of ‘The Missing Backpack’ and thinking of playing with the little girl next door when he breaks the case, and possibly his leg, he thinks he left a vital clue for Liv but he doesn’t know if he can hold on for much longer.

Bitter River, Julia Keller

Young Lucinda Trimble had her whole life ahead of her until someone dumped her car in the Bitter River with her in it. Lucinda was bright, compassionate and pregnant.

Prosecutor Belle Elkins has plenty of suspects; Lucinda’s deadbeat dad, the boy she was going to marry, his family, Lucinda’s friends, but she has more on her plate than that. Sherriff Nick Fogelsong isn’t following procedure, Belle’s ex is trying to lure her back to Washington and an old friend of Belle’s from DC is bringing her and rest of Acker’s Gap West Virginia nothing but trouble.

September Reads

This month there are a lot of different titles, from Bitter River (the followup to A killing in the hills) to the powerful Rose Under Fire, a companion piece from Elizabeth Wein, the writer of Codename Verity. Enjoy.

Some writing advice

While sitting here, listening to my desktop fussing away like an old babushka as it backs up it occurs to me that I did say there would be some writing stories on this blog

Having just turned in my third manuscript here are a few tips on ms prep.

Firstly, your editor will have a preferred font, font size, line spacing. Learn how they like their draft ms formatted.

Second, re-read, aloud if possible to correct spelling mistakes or missing words.

Third, re-read and write character profiles  for every major character. Read those, make revisions.

Repeat step two at least twice. New ideas may come from this. If they do revise and re-read again.

Last piece of advice, trust your editor, you and he (or she) will be working together, collaborating on producing a final draft, the polished one that goes to your agent. There is still plenty of hard work ahead but it will be worth it.

Thoughts on October List and The Abominable

October list by Jeffrey Deaver is a thriller in reverse, yes you read that right and if like me you were tempted to flick to the end, or in this case the beginning don't because you'll miss a treat. Having the story unspool before you is still satisfying. October list comes out in October.

The Abominable by Dan Simmons tells the fictional tale of a 1925 attempted ascent of Mt Everest. Great writing, plenty for the armchair adventurer, this book reminds me why I don't climb any more, also out in October, full reviews then

Cuckoos Calling

Read it.

A well-constructed private eye story. That's all you need to know.

From Strike's first awkward encounter with his temp to the "I know who and how and why" denouement. I wish I could say I read it before we all discovered Robert Galbraith's real name but I can't. I loved the Potter series, was lukewarm about A Casual Vacancy, more Cormoran Strike, please JK!

Night Film, Marisha Pessl

Investigative journalist Scott McGrath’s fame came crashing down around him when he took on reclusive filmmaker Cordova, a man whose movies are so visceral and disturbing that they are screened only in secret. A false source made McGrath pay dearly.

Years later Cordova’s daughter, Ashley; throws herself from the top of a deserted warehouse and McGrath, haunted by a vision in red starts to investigate her death. Along with wannabe actress Nora and the enigmatic Hopper, he plumbs the depths of the Cordovites, the secret websites and obsessed fans. But who is investigating whom. Why was Ashley so keen to protect young children? What is ‘the devil’s mark’? Did Mathilde kill Ashley and how come all the actors in Cordova’s films fled from his compound and studio, The Peak? Forever changed.

McGrath is beginning to think he’s in a night film of his own and for the character he is playing, this doesn’t always end well.

Read Night Film!

I only have one pick for this month, not because there aren't a ton of good books out there, there are, I just haven't had chance to read them and the one I did read, Night Film, is incredible!

I'm delighted to say that book#3 working title Ms Scarlet is complete and off to the editor. This time last year I didn't have an editor, let alone an agent. Now I have both and three completed books under my belt. I'm giving myself the weekend off!

Even though I haven't been blogging as much I'm on Riffle, it's like GoodReads minus the Amazon factor.

Thoughts on The Tenth Witness

Rosen's prequel to All Cry Chaos comes out in September and they'll be a full review then. Tenth Witness is about Nazism simmering over a quarter century after the end of WWII. One of the characters says that she 'looks at white haired men in the street and wonders what they did during the war' and she doesn't mean that in a good way.

The thing that Rosen brought home to me is that we are all prejudiced (sometimes unconsciously) against something, even Henri the main character. Characters you are supposed to feel sorry for one minute are spun less sympathetically by the next words that come out of their mouths and their motivations.

The persecuted are not above persecuting others. It's a lesson we still haven't learned.

Book cascade

Regular readers of this blog know that I have this knack of reading one book after another on similar subjects. It started with Rose Under Fire, set in a Nazi concentration camp, that was rapidly followed by The Tenth Witness, the sequel (prequel actually) to All Cry Chaos and there will be more thoughts on that in the next post and now I'm reading Norwegian by Night which is out now and one of my colleagues loves the characters so much she's vowed not to read anything else for a week.

Apart from that the story for Ms Scarlet just took off, I'm nearing 150 usable manuscript pages.

Arcs for this week are The Edge of Normal by Carla Norton and Bitter River by Julia Keller.

Preservationist and happy Birthday Dambusters

I finished and blurbed The Preservationist last week I don't want to give too much away, lets just say it plays with your perception, full review when it comes out in October.

Reading Rose Under Fire has put me on to The Dam Busters by James Holland (November) the true story of Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb. Released to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters raid, it is packed full of all the things you didn't see in the movie my dad loves so much. I know two guys who are going to be getting this for Christmas.

Homecoming, Carsten Stroud

Six months have passed in the town of Niceville and the town is as weird as ever. The bank robbers still haven’t been caught, people are still going missing. Kate and Nick have become legal guardians of young Rainey Teague. Kate has been having weird dreams about the plantation that used to stand in Niceville and Abel Teague, a very bad man indeed…

Stroud’s mash-up of small town life, feuding families, wry narration and horror gives you a follow-up to Niceville that you might not want to read after dark, there had better be a sequel.

Last Word, Lisa Lutz

Izzy Spellman returns, maybe for the last time.

Staging a hostile takeover of the family firm of Spellman Investigations is one thing, managing a sartorial revolt by the employees is quite another for Izzy. Her parents turn up for work in their pajamas, her mother says she’ll teach Izzy the accounting system, when hell freezes over. Things are so bad that Grammy Spellman is answering the phones!

In the meantime there’s an investigation into Divine Strategies an accounting firm that Izzy’s billionaire friend Edward Slayter is looking to acquire. Slayter’s illness is getting worse, and the FBI think Izzy’s embezzling money from his company. Can Izzy stay out of jail and prevent a couple more life changing hostile takeovers?

A Dangerous Fiction, Barbara Rogan

Can you hear me now?

Literary agent Jo Donovan, widow of famed writer Hugo has stepped into her mentor Molly’s shoes. Running a literary agency in New York city is a far cry from Jo’s hard-scrabble background but she’s going to need that toughness because when a would be writer turns stalker things can fall apart really fast.

Jo weathers the attacks on her agency, is gifted an attack dog by a client and protected by her staff, but has the stalker turned killer? Clients, friends, staff, no one is safe and the police investigation brings Jo another piece of her past, Tommy Cullen now working NYPD homicide, could he have pulled strings to get Jo’s case?

Silent Wife, A.S.A Harrison

Jodi and Todd live in a swanky Chicago highrise. She is a therapist whilst he’s in construction. Their relationship is a carefully constructed façade. He cheats, she knows and does nothing. Then along comes Natasha Kovacs and Todd starts thinking with his balls. Jodi’s perfect life is about to be wrenched from her grip by a knocked-up bimbo, and she’ll do anything to keep it, anything.

Distraction

Is a good thing when, after a savage power bump knocked out the compressor on our AC unit yesterday I didn't notice  it was pumping out warm air because I was flying towards the climax of Anonymous Sources!

The vanishing Nine Tailors and Anonymous Sources

Again my Dorothy L Sayers reading has been thwarted! The Nine Tailors which is probably my favourite Lord Peter Whimsey mystery and which I really should know better than to lend out, gone!

Ordered another copy and actually I prefer the cover on this one.

When Whitney gave me the arc of Anonymous Sources by Mary Louise Kelly she said, 'read it for fun'. Kelly works for NPR on their intelligence beat and although I am not finished with this yet, I really hope Kelly's protagonist Alex James gets another book. Anonymous Sources is out now.

Thoughts on Rose Under Fire

Regular readers to this blog will know that Codename Verity was one of my favourite books of last year. Yesterday, I finished reading the companion novel Rose Under Fire which our lovely manager brought back for me from BEA, signed (!) and wow!

In many ways Rose is a continuation of Wein's first WWII novel, some of the characters have crossed into this book but this is the kind of history lesson I can really get behind. After reading it I had my own moment of silence, as Wein says in the afterword, although the character of Rose is fictional, Ravensbruck isn't. The experiments carried out on the 'Rabbits' happened, some books stay with you long after you've read the final page, Rose is haunting, uplifting, sad, rebellious, spirited and hopeful and should be on the curriculum of every school in the land.

Rose Under Fire comes out in September, full review then.

Liv Bergen series

Noah's Rainy Day landed in my box a couple of weeks ago, the latest in the Liv Bergen series, set in Colorado. I have to admit to reading the name 'Bergen' and thinking I was in for a Scandinavian murder mystery. I followed my usual m.o. reading the series from the beginning starting with In the Belly of Jonah, and Lot's Return to Sodom and plan to order Widow's Might at work tomorrow. And don't worry, with the religious connotations of the titles you might think Liv is a nun or something, she's not. Liv is irreverent, nosy, brilliant one of a family of 9 kids. In the first book she's managing a limestone quarry and she is to trouble what magnets are to iron filings.

Noah comes out in September.

Make Good Art

Neil Gaiman has a new book coming out next week 'The Ocean at the End of the Lane'. (no arcs so haven't had a chance to read it but Gaiman's a sight unseen purchase in my case)

He also did a commencement speech at Philly's University of the Arts in 2012 which has just been made into a book. Great graduation present or in my case just because.

Thoughts on 'Bones'

Reading 'The Bones of Paris' and loving it. Under King's deft pen Paris, in the time of Hemingway, Beech, Picasso etc comes to shimmering life. The pavement cafes, the heat, the murders...

The Bones of Paris comes out in September and in the meantime I'm off to dig up my copy of Touchstone.

Your assignment (should you choose to accept it)

So TKE mystery buffs here's a discussion question for next time we meet in the store.

When recommending a mystery (or any book) to a friend how often do you censor yourself according to their taste? I'll give you a for instance to get started, two books that I have read in the last few weeks I won't be blurbing or recommending that we get them in. I didn't hate them but, and this is a massive but, i can't think of any regulars that I could sell them to and one of them was totally hyped up by the blurb and for me sadly it didn't live up to that hype.

Considering how twisted my tastes can be (when being introduced to one of our lovely reps for the first time she said to me 'oh you're the one!' although now she never fails to give me the twistiest arcs she can) I wouldn't put a book on the shelf that I know is going to sit there and not sell.

The Tower, Simon Toyne

The last thrilling chapter in the Sanctus trilogy.

The two biggest telescopes on earth have been sabotaged; seemingly by the program heads, their message? ‘Mankind must look no further’ Rookie Joe Shepherd is pulled off training and paired with a veteran FBI man to investigate, but Joe is hiding things from his partner.

Meanwhile Liv and her companions are getting used to their new Eden and a dying Gabriel is riding back to the ancient city of Ruin hoping to contain the disease that threatens his very sanity.

The prophecy activated by the death of Liv’s brother is coming to pass, the Mala and the Sancti are on a collision course. Could this be a new beginning, or the end of days?

N.B: Sanctus and The Key are the first two books in this series

Graveland, Alan Glynn

Wall Street is losing more financiers. They’re not being pink-slipped or indicted, they’re being shot.

Investigative journalist Ellen Dorsey senses a story even though the public opinion is ‘meh’ and the media are screaming domestic terrorism and then she gets a gilt edged lead. It puts her in contact with Frank Bishop a former architect with a very missing daughter.

Across town, buried in the noise of the media circus there’s a changing of the guard at Oberon Capital group and many, many reasons why the company’s rumoured IPO is never going to happen…

Universe Versus Alex Woods, Gavin Extence

At ten years old young Alex was struck by a rare meteorite so when at seventeen he’s pulled over at Dover ferry terminal in Mr Petersen’s car with pot in the glovebox and an urn containing Mr. Petersen on the front seat he plunges the UK into uproar.

Alex’s coming of age to the point of his arrest told in his own words, is a tale of bullies, seizures, astronomy, the works of Kurt Vonnegut. His unlikely friendship with Mr. Petersen, a Vietnam veteran widower, Alex’s desire to study the Universe and Mr. Petersen’s desire to die with dignity.

It made me laugh and made me think. This is Adrian Mole gone to the dark side.

Loyalty, Ingrid Thoft

The female PI is back! Meet Fina Ludlow, law school dropout but kept in her Boston lawyer father’s firm as their in-house private eye. Fina’s family are Boston royalty, so when Fina’s sister in law, Melanie, goes awol the Ludlows want her found, pronto.

Melanie has gone missing before but this is different and the deeper Fina digs the more doubts she has about her brother’s innocence. Not to mention that someone is out to run her right off the investigation and Boston PD would just love to nail a Ludlow on a murder charge.

How far will Fina’s loyalty stretch?

Wild Beasts of Wuhan, Ian Hamilton

Ava Lee, forensic accountant is tasked with uncovering a network of art dealers who have taken a Chinese couple for millions. The couple live in Wuhan and have ties to Ava’s partner Uncle.

Ava starts investigating in Hong Kong, learning as she goes how complex and cut-throat the world of fine art can be. Crossing the globe, London to New York; Ireland to the Faroe Islands, Ava is finally offered a morally questionable solution which will get her clients’ money back, then a shocking betrayal sends the situation spinning out of control.

Ava risks making some very powerful enemies but no one makes a liar out of Ava Lee

More coming in the next half hour

Have to go and feed some hungry cats!

Slingshot, Matthew Dunn

Third in the thrilling ‘Spycatcher’ series.

1995: A top secret meeting among top US and Russian commanders, the subject, Project Slingshot, an accord so unthinkable that to protect it a deadly assassin is tasked with silencing anyone who threatens to expose its secret.

Present Day: Will Cochrane’s MI6 operation to aid a defector has just gone sideways in Poland. Cochrane, codename Spartan, thinks the document the Russian stole just before his defection is the reason he was kidnapped. Will is pulling at the threads leading to Slingshot, via Tel Aviv, the Scottish Highlands and the European court of Human Rights in the Hague. He becomes a threat to a shadowy East German powerbroker who deals ruthlessly with his enemies and their loved ones. Russia has tasked their own spycatcher to retrieve the document by any means necessary and elements in the CIA would rather betray Cochrane than help him.

In order to prevent a high level political assassination Will’s going to have to risk everything, his job, his loved ones and his life.

Juicy June Mysteries

Those will be coming your way in just a mo.

May was a fantastic month, I got to meet authors Peter Lovesey, Jenny Milchman and the strongest librarian Josh Harnagan.

The second book is complete and work on the third is underway. I am under orders from hubby not to clear off my plot wall just because we have visitors arriving tomorrow.

I joined Riffle and at the moment I am reading Noah's Rainy Day by Sandra Brannan, Kind of Cruel by Sophie Hannah, and Long Fall from Heaven by Weir and Burton.

Black Country, Alex Grecian

3 missing, 2 days, 1 eyeball.

In the follow up to The Yard, Day and Hammersmith and Kingsley are sent to Blackhampton, a coal mining town being slowly subsumed by the tunnels that produce its lifeblood.

The area is rife with superstitions, locals who won’t talk, or talk too much, and where are the rest of the villagers?

To complicate matters someone is trailing the men from Scotland Yard, someone hell bent on settling an old score.

The Last Girl, Jane Casey

DC Maeve Kerrigan is part of the team investigating a double murder in one of London’s most luxurious neighbourhoods during a vicious heatwave. The two survivors, a successful barrister and his least favourite daughter don’t seem to want the case solved and who was the real target?

On the personal front Kerrigan’s fledging relationship with colleague Rob is taking a pounding and her chief, the man she has always trusted is behaving very oddly.

The Stranger, Camilla Lackberg

Patrik Hedstrom is getting married but he won’t have time to be nervous. There’s a reality show filming in town and someone just murdered one of the contestants.

Conducting a murder investigation in the glare of national publicity is playing havoc with their other cases, and Patrik has a hunch that the answers to solving the case may have been staring them in the face, all along.

Sacred Games, Gary Corby

It’s Day 1 of the 80th Olympiad and a champion of Sparta lies dead.

Timodemus, his Athenian challenger stands accused of the murder and will be executed in four days time unless his friend Nico can save him.

Nico is appointed to investigate the crime along with his opposite number the Spartan, Markos. Helped by Diotima, his clever priestess girlfriend Nico races to unmask the real killer who may be trying to start a war.

Corby’s third book in this series is engrossing, funny, racy and strewn with the minutiae of daily life in another time.

Seduction, MJ Rose

The Island of Jersey 1853. Victor Hugo, in self-imposed exile, becomes obsessed by the idea of contacting his dead daughter but his séances bring something ancient and evil into his home, something that dangles a terrible bargain before him.

Jersey, present day. Jac L’Etoile is visiting Theo, an old friend that she lost touch with after an incident at the Blixer Rath Institute where both were being treated.

Theo’s offer to show Jac the ancient Celtic sites on the island also hides another obsession, finding Victor Hugo’s missing journals, it will also uncover secrets held by Theo’s family and Jac’s ancestors, some of them deadly.

Conspiracy of Faith, Jussi Adler-Olsen

#3 in the annals of Department Q gives Rose her first case, a message in a bottle. Written in blood it’s a desperate cry for help.

Assad’s stringing together cold arson cases and Carl Morck the brilliant but lazy head of Q feels like he’s herding cats.

Together the dysfunctional team (with assistance from Yrsa), uncover multiple kidnap for ransom schemes, where each time the money is paid and the kidnapper is protected by a conspiracy of faith.

A conspiracy Department Q will have to shatter.

Every Contact Leaves A Trace, Elanor Dymott

“I went into a dark room with my camera for a time and I came out with a photograph of a woman I had never seen before.”

Alex Petersen was studying law at Oxford when he met Rachel, an English major. Their paths don’t cross again until their degrees have turned into careers. Rekindling his love for her, Alex marries Rachel soon afterwards. On a trip back to the same Oxford college Rachel is murdered. Alex has lost her again, but did he really know her?

What can Alex define from Rachel’s old ID cards, library fines, love letters, speeding tickets, blackmail notes…How could he miss what was going on right under his nose? And Alex has his own secrets too.

Why my reviews don't give much away

This is a genuine question I got on email.

As regular visitors will know I love to read, a lot! and you're not always going to love what I love and that's great.

What I want to do is give you a taster, turn you on to a new author or series, but there's no mystery or thrill to it if I tell you exactly what happens, where is the fun in that?

At the store when we're talking about an upcoming release we use a kind of shorthand, so as not to reveal any spoilers. Unlike the lady in a chain bookstore at Heathrow last year. Her friend picked up Gone Girl and the lady said

"Oh I've heard she dies at the end."

her friend complained,

"Well what's the point of reading it now I know the ending!"

I really wanted to go up her and say "she doesn't know what she's talking about," but I didn't want to look like a crazy person, so I bit my tongue and Gillian Flynn lost a sale.

Thoughts on Lexicon

I finished Max Barry's new one a couple of nights ago and I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it. I enjoyed it, it's a fascinating concept but the best way I can describe it is I still feel like I've been kicked in the head and pieces of grey matter are still rearranging themselves.

I also cast Morgan Freeman as "Yeats" in the could they ever make a movie out of this version.

See, still having dislocated thoughts. Lexicon drops in June.

Thoughts on 'Loyalty'

Up until 'Loyalty' arrived in my box I was pretty much done with the whole female PI genre. I'm happy to say I've changed my mind.

Loyalty has a whiff of authenticity about it and that would be because the author, Ingrid Thoft was in the certificate program at U of Washington. In Fina Ludlow she has created a great character. I look forward to Fina's next outing. Loyalty comes out in June.

The Tooth Tattoo, Peter Lovesey

A Peter Diamond mystery with a musical flavour. Diamond and his companion Paloma, on a citibreak in Vienna come across a body in the river. Diamond’s measured reaction to the girl’s death puts a dent in their relationship.

Back in Bath the body of a young woman is pulled from the canal. Diamond, his personal life in free fall, attempts to establish is this is a case of suicide or murder. His investigations lead him to a string quartet who recently got a new member…

When's the next blog post??

Oh boy have I been hearing that question a lot. And my Google Analytics looks like a map of the Atlas mountains So to answer that question - right here!

Another rewrite, completed yesterday is the reason for my non-blogging. We came in short on the word count for T'ball and some character development was required. The editing was like playing ping pong (ie fun and fast), and having an editor who is on your wavelength is a rare gift.

I am reading; reviews to come in the next few months include Black Country by Alex Grecian (the follow-up to The Yard), Loyalty, a first novel by Ingrid Thoft. Lexicon by Max Barry. Graveland, the last in the trilogy by Alan Glynn and the new Jussi Adler Olsen, A Conspiracy of Faith-which is very very relevant to this part of the world.

There's only one review for this month and that's not because there are no good books out there (I mean have you read The Dinner, Life after Life, Murder Below Montparnasse, Snow White Must Die, Syndrome E?) and Alex, I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on that arc.

Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg

Stemming from a 2010 TEDtalk that went viral, Sandberg is on a mission, she wants more female CEOs.

Why is that such a hard thing to achieve with more smart women getting degrees in traditionally male dominated fields? Sandberg uses her experiences while working at Google and now tech giant Facebook to inform us how unconscious discrimination quietly reinforces the stereotypes that have women leaving the workforce after their first baby and never going back. For instance, did you know that successful women are seen as pushy and unlikeable by both sexes?

The right way for a woman to negotiate. The changing dynamics of mentoring rising female stars and what male CEOs can do to bring out the best in their female employees.

In the movie Zero Dark Thirty, the female CIA agent (who has successfully located UBL) is summoned to a meeting with her bosses’ bosses in Washington DC and when she goes to sit at the conference table is told, ‘you can’t sit there, go and sit on the chairs at the end of the room.’ This scene may or may not have been fictional but I wouldn’t have paid it any attention (casual discrimination) had I not read this book.

The landscape needs to change because 80% of our boardrooms look like commercials for Viagra and Rogaine.

Sugar Salt Fat, Michael Moss

With obesity, diabetes and disease rates soaring Moss is quick to point out that we didn’t get here by accident. So step away from the twinkies and join Moss as he details how we, the public have been hoodwinked by the food giants, our health sacrificed for their profits.

Dark Tide, Elizabeth Haynes

Genevieve longs to leave her high pressure sales job, she’s been earning extra on the side pole dancing at The Barclay but things start to unravel when she sees her creep of a boss in the crowd. Months later she’s hidden away in Kent restoring a barge, her old life a distant memory, but London isn’t letting go that easily. The night of Gen’s boat warming party, a body washes up close to Gen’s barge…

Drowning in print

March is always a mad month in our household, those blasted eides have triggered changes in jobs, countries, family. Now there has to be a massive change in reading habits. I've got so many arcs floating in the ether or sitting on my desk (and yes I want to read them) Except I'm trying to write, and while I'm an avid reader, I love, love, love writing and currently the balance is skewed. For the time being I'm invoking the 10 page rule.

And speaking of writing, Tball is officially done, edited etc and it's with my agent.

Guest Post Blog Hop

Take it away Becky Hall!

What is your working title of your book (or story)? I didn't do it!

Where did the idea come from for the book? It happened to me as a kid (Sort of)

What genre does your book fall under? picture book

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? no clue.I am not good at movie stars.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?Beth is excited about the first big storm of the year but everything gets turned upside down when she is misunderstood.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Agent

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? About a half hour to an hour

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?Recess Queen (Cuz it takes place at recess)

Who or what inspired you to write this book? I saw a title that triggered the memory.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest? big snow storms

The Disciple of Las Vegas by Ian Hamilton

$50 million lost in a fraudulent land deal. A family feud or something more?

Forensic accountant Ava Lee is brought in by her partner Uncle to recover the money. Lee is smart, quirky and tough and when she’s done with the ‘how’ she’s left with a question. Why? The answers will take Ava across the globe on the trail of a multi-million dollar offshore swindle and will test her powers of persuasion along with her ability to kick butt to the limit.

Complicating matters are a control freak CEO, a slimy cabinet minister, the contract placed on Ava’s head by a previous target and a budding relationship with assistant trade commissioner, Maria Gonzalez.

A lightening-fast highly enjoyable read.

So many books...

With Tball in the can-for now I have a ton of blurbs to write.

The Silent Wife which if, like me, you got really bent out of shape by the ending of Gone Girl is a brilliant and surprising treat.

Raw Head and Bloody Bones by Jack Wolf (this is not going to be for everyone, so far I'm enjoying it)

The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extance (spelling?)

Last but so not least the new series by Ian Hamilton based around forensic accountant Ava Lee. The first book, Disciple of Las Vegas (out now) elbowed its way to the top of my stack and didn't disappoint the second, Wild Beasts of Wuhan (June) I should have read and blurbed by the end of the week.

Man In The Empty Suit, Sean Ferrell

He is a nameless time traveler, a genius who at 18 built a time machine and went to observe history’s most important events.

When history doesn’t match the hype he decides to have a party for his various selves. These yearly booze ridden affairs take a dark turn when version 39 (the suit) finds version 40 (the body) dead. There’s only one suspect, himself!

Paradoxes and conspiracies abound as the suit tries to solve his own murder and hopefully prevent it.

Ghost Man, Roger Hobbs

In this corker of a debut novel Hobbs introduces us to ‘Jack’ (not his real name) Jack is a Ghostman, he has skills some of us would consider supernatural. He has never seen the inside of a prison because he is too good at his job for that.

Jack has been carrying a Malaysian marker around for the last five years and it’s about to be called in.

Sent to Atlantic City to untangle a casino heist gone sideways, Jack finds the FBI circling and a local crime boss who thinks he owns everything, including Jack. These are merely distractions because Jack’s got less than two days to find the stolen money before the job blows up in his face, literally.

Speaking from Among the Bones, Alan Bradley

The inhabitants of Bishop’s Lacey are divided by the vicar’s intention to raise the bones of Saint Tancred. The church organ is playing up and the organist has vanished without a trace.

Flavia’s world is also being shaken to its foundations, she’ll witness miracles, raise the spectre of her beloved mother and give the vicar’s wife a heart attack (or two) in the process. Flavia’s on the trail of an ‘adamas’ but someone may have beaten her to it.

February treats

The excellent Ghostman, Roger Hobbs' debut novel, Flavia's back in Speaking from Among The Bones and a sprinkling of sci-fi from The Man in the Empty Suit. Enjoy

Next Big Thing Blog Hop

My first blog hop! This is a great idea it introduces you to other writers’ blogs. There are 10 questions about your latest project and I would like to thank Carole DeSanti for tagging/inviting me to take part.

1. What is your working title of your book (or story)?

It started out as Lottery Protection Agency or LPA for short but that didn’t feel right, I wanted a one-word title and on a trip to England the national lottery had rolled-over that week and everyone was going mad buying tickets. Rollover was born.

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea came from watching a TV show about the crazy things that some UK lottery winners do. They quit jobs, squander money on massive houses, expensive cars, they fall out of nightclubs at 1am drunk as a skunk and I wondered why the lottery company didn’t have some kind of unit that looks after lottery winners, protects them from themselves. I created a small close knit team who aren’t perfect but really enjoy what they do.

3. What genre does your book fall under?

Rollover is a fast moving British mystery with comedic elements.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Emily Blunt would make a great Nikki Doyle, she’s feisty and could pull off the one liners. Jamie Bamber could handle the role of über boss Simon. Nikki’s colleagues: Philip Glenister as Fred, Gareth David Lloyd as Tony, Sarah Parrish as Beth. Tom Hardy could play Gavin Lancaster or if he wasn’t available Tom Ellis would be a good substitute, they both have that bad boy vibe. Hardest to cast would be the mercurial Lydia, I’m thinking Dervla Kirwan.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

ROLLOVER features an inventive premise, a cast of engaging characters and surprisingly dark undertones. A debut that’s fast, pithy and fun. (thanks to Chris Ewan for providing that!)

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am represented by Kleinworks. We are in negotiations with several publishers at the moment.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

That’s a loaded question. I did nanowrimo in 2007 and that is where the manuscript originated. I started working on it full time about 2 years ago. So 6 years or 2 years depending on your point of view!

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I can’t think of anything I’ve read that is similar. If I were to compare the lead character to any of my favourites it would be Lisa Lutz’s Izzy Spellman.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

A combination of Nanowrimo, working in a such a creative environment as King’s English and having so many former english teachers as colleagues. Sue Fleming, Linda Gurrister, Jen Adams and Wendy Foster Leigh are among the many people who critiqued the manuscript.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

I can promise plenty of twists, turns, humour and in Nikki, a flawed narrator who learns from her mistakes (usually) and solves the crime in her own unique way.

So there you have it. Now I'm passing the Next Big Thing torch to some amazing Utah writers. My good friend Donna Bailey. A guest post coming soon from Becky Hall and please visit Lynn Kilpatrick’s brilliant blog. I can’t wait to see who gets tagged next.

The pitfalls of blurbing e-arcs

First pitfall, I now have arcs stored on two devices. It's easy to forget what is where.

Second pitfall, out of sight... Clutter busters may tell you that piles of books are unsightly (I wholly disagree) but seeing the pile means reading the pile.

Third pitfall, I have to leave post-it notes all over my computer reminding me to blurb e-arcs.

I like my e-reader but I will never love it the way I love physical books.

The Uninvited, Liz Jensen

I read this yesterday, all I can say is I'm really, really glad I don't have kids. It doesn't help that the kid on the front cover looks like my eldest nephew. Here's the review

In the near future with seas rising, salinity levels increasing and the scientific community on the verge of tearing up Einstein’s theories a pandemic of sabotage breaks out.

Hesketh Lock’s company gets involved as Hesketh is good at finding patterns. Hesketh has Asperger’s syndrome and the sabotage he realizes is just the tip of a very nasty iceberg. Domestic violence is spiking too, domestic violence caused by children. . .

Slow Fix, Carl Honore

How many quick fixes have you performed today? And how many will actually work? In truth? not many, from the knee jerk reaction of firing the coach when the football team is on a losing streak to miracle diet pills that promise instant weight loss, we are addicted to the siren song of the quick fix.

In Slow Fix, Honore argues persuasively that long-term changes for the better can’t happen overnight. Among many examples he visits an airbase in the UK where no one hides their mistakes and the place is a lot safer for it and a lifeboat company in Norway that almost went to the wall but was saved by a slow recovery program. Honore also looks at the creative potential of a mixture of disciplines working together in Paris and the benefits (and perils) of crowdsourcing.

Throughout the book Honore sprinkles the ingredients you can use to perform your own ‘slow fixes’ A copy of this book should be on the desk of every CEO and every politician in the world.

Cover of Snow, Jenny Milchman

The whole business started over a quarter of a century ago, worst incident the small town of Wedeskyull ever experienced…

Nora Hamilton married a cop, moved back to his hometown and she’s about to start her own business when everything she ever believed in comes crashing down. Why would Brendan take his own life, did someone take it for him? Nora begins asking questions but she may not like what she uncovers.

2013

After one of our best seasons at TKE ever, its back to reading and blurbing and finishing T'ball.

A great help with this is my new idea board which came courtesy of the 'The Slow Fix' a review of which follows. I took the time to ponder my problem whilst looking through the window that leads onto our back garden and then it hit me, the window.

So now I write my ideas or plot threads on the window. In a stroke I solved my problem and there's the added bonus of the child-like glee I get when doing something I was always told I shouldn't.

Currently flying through arcs of The Man in the Empty Suit by Sean Ferrell and The Tooth Tattoo by Peter Lovesey. Also those of you who know that Code Name Verity is an easy handsell for me (our bookclub are reading it in April) and my penchant for reading cascades well, 'Verity' triggered 'A House for Spies' by Edward Wake-Walker and I'm trying to get hold of former Lysander pilot Hugh Verity's memoir 'We Landed by Moonlight' as he features heavily in Wake-Walker's book.