“where a good crime C r i m e can be had by all” c h r o n i c l e Issue #231 April 2005 AUTHOR OF THE MONTH HAMMETT PRIZE NOMINEES The Havana Room by Colin Harrison (Pb 18.95) DONNA LEON Prince of Thieves by Chuck Hogan Blood from a Stone (Pb 18.95, Due Sept) 320pp Tp $32.95 The Madman’s Tale by John Katzenbach The stunning new (Pb 21.95) Commissario Brunetti mystery from an author California Girl by T Jefferson Parker (Tp 29.95) whose sales continue to Playing with Fire by Peter Robinson (Pb 18.95) grow with each new book. DILYS AWARD On a cold Venetian Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (Tp 29.95) night shortly before Christmas, a man is killed in a scuffle in LEFTY AWARD Campo San Stefano. (tie) The closest witnesses We’ll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews to the event are the (Pb 16.95) tourists who had been Blue Blood by Susan McBride (Pb 16.95) browsing the man’s wares before his death – fake handbags of BRUCE ALEXANDER AWARD every designer label. The Witch in the Well by Sharan Newman Officially termed a (Hb 54.00, To order only) venditore ambulante or extracomunitario, the dead man was working as a vu cumpra, one of the many Black CALAVERA AWARD Africans purveying goods outside normal shop hours and Grave Endings by Rochelle Krich without work permits. Arriving on the scene, Commissario (Hb 44.95, To order only) Brunetti’s response matches that of everybody involved: why would anyone kill a vu cumpra? With few social connections and little money, in-fighting amongst these AGATHA AWARD NOMINEES workers is the obvious answer. But once Brunetti begins BEST NOVEL investigating this Venetian underworld, he discovers that We’ll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews matters of great value are at stake within the immigrant (Pb 16.95) society. Warned by Patta, his superior, to resist further By a Spider’s Thread by Laura Lippman (Tp 29.95) involvement in the case, Brunetti only becomes more High Country Fall by Margaret Maron determined to unearth the truth behind this mysterious (Hb 49.95 To order only) killing. However, reluctant as he is to let this event be The Pearl Diver by Sujata Massey (Hb 49.95) smugly relegated to the category of ‘not worth dealing with’, Birds of a Feather by Jacqueline Winspear how far will Brunetti be able to penetrate the murky (Tp 32.95) subculture of Venice’s illegal community? This is the 14th in this excellent series with wonderfully familiar characters, a powerful sense of place and expert plotting. EDGAR AWARD NOMINEES BEST NOVEL All in paperback and $21.95 (unless otherwise priced), the earlier titles in the series are: #1 Death at la Fenice; #2 Evan’s Gate by Rhys Bowen (Pb 16.95) Death in a Strange Country; #3 Anonymous Venetian, By a Spider’s Thread by Laura Lippman (Tp 29.95) $18.95; #4 Venetian Reckoning $18.95; #5 Acqua Alta, Remembering Sarah by Chris Mooney (Pb 18.95) $18.95; #6 Death of Faith, $18.95; #7 Noble Radiance; #8 California Girl by Jefferson Parker (Tp 29.95) Fatal Remedies; #9 Friends in High Places; #10 Sea of Out of the Deep I Cry by Julia Spencer-Fleming Troubles; #11 Wilful Behaviour; #12 Uniform Justice; (Pb 16.95) and coming in April in paperback, #13: Doctored Evidence. If you haven’t tried Donna Leon then she comes with my ANZAC DAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY highest recommendation. MON 25 APRIL - Peter WE ARE OPEN 12 MIDDAY - 5PM 2 Modern Crime Linda BARNES Robert BRACE Donna ANDREWS Coyote 264pp Pb 16.95 Black Tiger 320pp Pb 18.95 We’ll Always Have A Carlotta Carlyle mystery. When a It was pure luck that Lysander Dalton Parrots mysterious woman asks Carlotta to help got up to use the bathroom seconds 331pp Pb 16.95 locate her missing immigration card, it before someone shot his bed full of A Meg Langslow mystery. Meg looks to be a pretty straightforward bullets. And it is pure chemistry when the knew the fan convention for her assignment. That is, until the lady ex-special ops Marine meets Valentina actor-boyfriend’s hit television series was disappears, and the card turns up in the Mariposa. She is a sexy lawyer who will going to be the ultimate in weird. But she possession of another woman... who just double as Dalton’s bodyguard and hired came along to sell her hand-crafted happens to be dead. Suddenly the case is gun in the search for the terrifying truth weapons and so far, she was dealing well far too intriguing for Carlotta to drop and behind his bullet-riddled bed. (American) with the costumed fans camped outside when her investigation indicates that her Lilian Jackson BRAUN and the escaped parrots and monkeys client was somehow connected to her The Cat Who Went Bananas tearing up the hotel. But soon after Meg inner-city little sister Paolina, Carlotta’s 200pp Hb 59.95 goes head-to-head with egomaniacal got an even bigger stake in seeing it A Jim Qwilleran Feline Whodunit #27. series star Tamerlaine Wynncliffe-Jones, through. (American) Qwilleran, prize winning reporter with a the Queen B turns up brutally murdered. Nevada BARR nose for crime, and his Siamese cats Koko Now, with Michael in the running as High Country 300pp Pb 18.95 and. Yum Yum are the most unlikely, prime suspect, Meg will go up against an An Anna Pigeon Mystery. National most unusual, most delightful team in all-star cast of not-even-innocent parties, Parks ranger Anna Pigeon goes detective fiction. They are back to solve hidden identities and buried motives. undercover as a waitress at Yosemite their 27th case when an out-of-town actor (American) National Park to investigate the dies suspiciously after the theft of a rare disappearance of four young casual book. (American) employees. What waits for her in the Kirsty BROOKS snowy wilderness of the Sierra Nevada is The Happiness Punch a nightmare of death and greed. And 387pp Pb 19.95 perhaps, her final adventure… Six weeks after the end of The Vodka KEY (American) Dialogue (Pb 19.95), PI Cassidy Blair is academic M C BEATON back and better than ever. Cassidy has a Agatha Raisin and the Haunted new client, her teenage idol, pop star banking House 260pp Pb 16.95 Jason Wilde, who has a big problem with Snug and warm in her Carsley cottage, some lurid internet sites. She also has a canine detectives Agatha has that same old feeling of new PI colleague, Ned (who she finds boredom until a report of a haunted strangely attractive), and she meets clerical house sends her and new neighbour, Adelaide’s porn-king and his leading handsome Paul Chatterton, to thug, Mince. In an attempt to prove cosy/malice domestic investigate. Suddenly, middle-aged herself to Sam, who questions her PI Agatha is aglow with romance and abilities, Cassidy gets herself tied up culinary/food excitement. But the glow fades fast. It (literally) in a high-speed shoot-out on a turns out Paul is a cad. The victim of the bus, a kidnapping, a drug bust and a fbi haunting is a universally disliked old couple of bizarre film shoots. And that is biddy. And the ghost is most likely before she even begins to tackle Josie’s feline detectives someone playing a dirty trick. Then an new boyfriend, Zara’s personal old lady is found murdered. But never transformation and the latest cocktail at forensic fear! For Agatha, solving a homicide is the Easy Lounge. With even more action more fun than hunting a ghost. (British) and comedy, this instalment is sure to put horse racing mystery J S BORTHWICK a smile on your face while packing a punch. (Australian) medical Intensive Scare Unit 374pp Pb 16.95 Sandra BROWN military A Sarah Deane mystery White Hot 426pp Pb 18.95 #12. Crotchety, 70- Ten years ago, Sayre Lynch native american something Julia Clancy escaped from her small Louisiana of High Hope Farm feels hometown. Now she must return to police procedural a little wobbly one Destiny to bury her brother, and confront August morning. With her manipulative father and the painful political/legal stables to clean and memories she attempted to flee. riding lessons to give, Complicating her attempts to learn psychological the stoic New Englander exactly how her brother died is Beck ignores her symptoms Merchant, her father’s brilliant and canny private eye and ends up in the ER with a heart attack. attorney, who seems every bit as corrupt And a glimpse of something highly as her father. Yet despite her low opinion romantic suspense unusual will entangle Julia and her niece of Beck, Sayre finds herself irresistibly Sarah Deane in the murder of a hospital drawn to him. Tension between the sport VIP. Now amateur sleuth Sarah needs to workforce and management is mounting make her own diagnosis of Julia’s in Sayre’s father’s steel mill. While spy revelation and sew up the case before the another hotbed of lies, secrecy and star witness gets a fatal visit from Dr depravity smoulders and then ignites suspense/thriller Death.... (American) within his family... (American) AUTHOR’S NATIONALITY AT END OF BLURB

CRIME CHRONICLE www.abbeys.com.au 3 John DUNNING RECOMMENDED READING The Bookman’s Promise Ian CALDWELL & Dustin THOMASON 469pp Pb 18.95 The Rule of Four 527pp Pb 21.95 A Cliff Janeway novel #3. Rich with the This was my favourite read of 2004. If you liked The Da Vinci Code insider’s information on rare and (Pb 19.95), The Name of the Rose (Pb 24.95) or A Secret History (Pb collectible books that has made John 24.95), you will probably like this. It has all the characteristics of a Dunning famous and with meticulously murder mystery but is encoded with a very dark Renaissance secret, researched detail about a mesmerising the twists and turns of which bedazzle brain cells to levels of pure figure (the explorer, Richard Francis enjoyment. The authors have been best friends since they were Burton who may or may not have played eight, each achieving awards for history at Princeton and Harvard an unrecognised role in America’s Civil respectively. This book was a post-graduation project, and at its War), this novel is riveting entertainment centre is one of the rarest, most complex books in the world: Coded from an extraordinarily gifted author in seven languages, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Hb 60.00), an who is as unique and special as the books intricate mathematical mystery and a tale of love and arcane he so clearly loves. (American) brutality, has baffled scholars since 1499. The Rule of Four brings it to life, gives it a Martin EDWARDS modern context and makes tremendous reading. – Shelley (American) The Coffin Trail 292pp Hb 49.95 Stephen CANNELL Claire DANIELS A Lake District mystery #1. Peter Vertical Coffin 335pp Pb 16.95 Cruel and Unusual Intuition Robinson, author of the acclaimed A nightmarish series of events 274pp Pb 16.95 Inspector Banks series, says this novel sweeps LAPD’s Sgt Shane Scully and his A Karma Crime mystery #3. Dr Aurora “has all the ingredients you need for a wife (and boss) Alexa into the vortex of Hart’s negative vibes have returned to wonderful, absorbing read: a crime an enormous, jurisdictional firestorm. her in a lethal way. It is up to Cally Lazar deeply rooted in the past, a beautifully First, a sheriff’s deputy is gunned down and friends to divine who set the late evoked sense of the Lake District and an while serving a routine search warrant. doctor’s aura-maker on fry. Then, just interesting and diverse group of Soon thereafter, a member of the ATF when time is running out, Cally tunes characters. DCI Hannah Scarlett is a fine Situation Response Team is shot to death, into some killer karma. (American) creation, and it’s good news that we can followed by the sniper murder of the Dicey DEERE look forward to seeing more of her in the Sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau. At The Irish Village Murder future.” (British) the request of the Mayor, LAPD assigns 214pp Pb 16.95 Selma EICHLER Shane Scully to investigate. He is given an A Torrey Tunet mystery. American Murder Can Mess Up Your impossible deadline to find a solution translator Torrey Tunet is happy to be Mascara 262pp Pb 16.95 before two elite and deadly SWAT Teams back in Ireland after a European A Desiree Shapiro mystery. Certain that kill each other off. Shane pursues his assignment. She is longing for a lovely someone is trying to kill him, Gordon investigation in a direction that neither peat fire in her Ballynagh cottage when Curry, a dashing ladies’ man and his chief nor his wife agrees with, and she spots a forlorn child, fresh off the pharmaceutical exec, turns to Desiree for succeeds in putting himself, his loved Dublin bus with no one to meet her. help. But before she has a chance to ones, and his career in terrible jeopardy Reluctantly taking charge of delivering question his enemies, he is shot dead. before he finally discovers the shocking the child to Gwathney Hall, Torrey walks And now the plus-sized PI has to polish and deadly truth. (American) right into trouble. Historian John off a killer and a slice (or three) of pizza. Kate COLLINS Gwathney has just been brutally gunned (American) Slay it with Flowers down, and the child’s beautiful Auntie Aaron ELKINS 298pp Pb 16.95 Megan (Gwathney’s housekeeper and Good Blood 293pp Pb 16.95 A Flower Shop Mystery. Law school drop- perhaps his lover) appears the likeliest What was supposed to be an Italian out-turned-flower shop owner Abby suspect. But Torrey does not agree. She vacation for forensic anthropologist Knight has been asked to be a bridesmaid knows many eyes watch from behind the Gideon Oliver and his wife, turns into a by her cousin. But before the couple says lace curtains of an Irish village and no busman’s holiday when their hosts’ only ‘I do’, a groomsman disappears and secrets are kept for long. (American) child goes missing and nearby another member of the wedding party is Jim DeFELICE construction workers unearth human found dead. Abby has to hurry down an Threat Level Black bones. The family awaits Oliver’s aisle of suspects to unveil the truth and 373pp Pb 18.95 conclusions with both dread and cautious make sure the bride still gets to the DeFelice’s unconventional hero, FBI hope. But along the way, he will expose church on time. (American) Special Agent Andy Fisher, returns in a some extraordinary deceptions that lay Clive CUSSLER chilling novel of international terror bare the long-hidden secrets at the dark Sahara (1992) 655pp Pb 19.95 within American borders. North Korean heart of a highborn family. (American) 1996, Egypt. Searching for a treasure scientists have developed a new weapon, Kate ELLIS on the Nile, Dirk Pitt thwarts the the E-Bomb. It can render useless any The Plague Maiden attempted assassination of a beautiful UN electronic system 362pp Pb 19.95 scientist investigating a disease that is within a 10-mile A Wesley Peterson murder mystery. When a driving thousands of North Africans into radius. Andy Fisher is letter arrives at Tradmouth police station, madness, cannibalism and death. The not sure such a device addressed to a DCI Norbert, it causes suspected cause of the raging epidemic is actually exists, but quite a stir. For although Norbert has vast, unprecedented pollution that when a terrorist group long since moved on, the letter claims to threatens to extinguish all life in the claims to have have evidence that the man convicted of world’s seas. Now, amidst the blazing, acquired it, along with murdering the Reverend Shipbourne shifting sands of the Sahara, Dirk Pitt will a cache of deadly sarin during the course of a robbery in 1991, is make a desperate stand in a battle the gas, he isn’t going to innocent. (British) world cannot afford to lose. Film tie-in take any chances. edition. (American) (American)

ABBEY’S BOOKSHOP 131 YORK STREET, SYDNEY 2000 PH 9264 3111 FAX 9264 8993 4 Tom ESLICK Joanne FLUKE Elizabeth FOXWELL (editor) Deadly Kin 258pp Pb 18.95 Fudge Cupcake Murder The Sunken Sailor 280pp Pb 16.95 A White Mountains mystery. When Will 320pp Pb 16.95 Malice Domestic presents… 14 masters Buchanan’s former girlfriend Laurie, Bakery owner Hannah Swensen just of suspense collaborate on one sheriff of Saxton Mills, asks him to escort cannot keep her hands out of the batter unpredictable mystery. Featuring: Simon her 17-year-old niece Erin to an overnight when murder stirs things up in Lake Brett, Jan Burke, Dorothy Cannell, hut at Zealand Falls, he promptly agrees. Eden, leaving the sheriff dead, a deputy Margaret Coel, Deborah Crombie, Eileen There the lovely Erin is to meet up with accused and a killer on the loose… While Dreyer, Carolyn Hart, Edward Marston, her brother Josh, who is hiking the Hannah’s emptying the trash, she makes Francine Mathews, Sharan Newman, Appalachian Trail. Although Erin’s a very unappetizing discovery: Sheriff Alexandra Ripley, Walter Satterwait and hostility disturbs Will, more disturbing is Grant’s body in the Dumpster behind the Carolyn Wheat. The introduction is by the passionate embrace between her and high school where she is teaching her Anne Perry who says, “one minute you’ll Josh. And when Josh mysteriously falls to cooking class. And as if that weren’t bad be holding your breath with suspense, his death that night, Will, Laurie and Erin enough, the poor man still has fudge the next laughing out loud.” (American) are thrown into relentless mayhem, frosting on his shirt from one of her Jim GILMORE making them the quarry of an unlikely, cupcakes. The number one—and only— Dead Rite 186pp Pb 19.95 yet familiar, killer. (American) suspect is her brother Bill, but Hannah’s When Samuel Shelton is Jon FASMAN not swallowing it. Includes ten original discovered in a shallow grave, Officer The Geographer’s Library dessert recipes for you to try! (American) Hicks is on the case. Amid the media 373pp Tp 29.95 Colin FORBES frenzy, Hicks stays under the radar, When a 12th century Blood Storm 303pp Tp 29.95 doing things by the book, but everything Sicilian cat burglar Tweed and his dynamic team face one comes to a shocking halt when a trail of snatches a sack of of their biggest challenges yet. The most clues leads straight to putting Hicks at the artefacts from the King’s sophisticated security systems and the scene of the crime. Ploughing forward, geographer’s library, the most experienced counter-terrorist czars now with his own reputation on the line, tools and talismans of cannot stand up to a force that threatens Hicks hurdles stalling lawyers, police transmutation and the whole of Europe. Tweed rarely protocol and a burnt out trailer home eternal life are scattered experiences fear or doubt, but is almost connected to Shelton’s case. Fast paced all over the world. 900 overwhelmed when he has to make a and deadly, this is the story of one man’s years later, a young Connecticut reporter seemingly impossible decision about one dark trip through the riches of sunny finds evidence that someone is collecting of his own team. Loyalties are tested to Hollywood as he struggles to keep it them again. In the process of the limit in this topical, fast-paced, highly together. (American) investigating the suspicious death of a tense new thriller from Colin Forbes. Lee GOLDBERG local professor, Paul Tomm finds the (British) Diagnosis Murder #4 dead man’s heavily fortified office stuffed G M FORD 245pp Pb 16.95 with books on alchemy. This novel Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca? The Waking Nightmare. Dr Mark Sloan entwines his contemporary reporting (1995) 393pp Pb 19.95 saves a would-be suicide victim, but her with a chain of ancient stories-within-the- A Leo Waterman novel #1. A soft-hearted jump from a building ledge has left her in story, tracking the last time each of the sleuth with a rebellious streak left over a coma. Obsessed with learning why she geographer’s tools changed hands - some from the 1960s, Leo Waterman seems to attempted suicide, Sloan stumbles into a bought, some stolen, some killed for. It is get entangled in every oddball situation, manhunt for a cop-killer; one who may an extraordinary debut; smart, stylishly from Seattle to Puget Sound. So when he turn his attention to nosy physicians next. written and full of suspense. It tempts is hired to locate Caroline Nobel, an (American) with the glitter of antiquities and hooks errant mob heiress with an Kat GOLDRING with a chilling plot. (American) environmentalist’s heart, Leo goes with The Eye that is Divine Robert FERRIGNO the flow leaving behind the familiar 308pp Pb 16.95 The Wake Up 256pp Tp 32.95 sights of Pioneer Square to follow the A Willi Gallagher mystery. When she ‘The beached spook is Frank Thorpe, landscape-loving activist into the rain- arrives at a Buddhist retreat, Willi has a in limbo having recently left an American soaked Washington woods. But hunch that some attendees have less- Intelligence unit after an operation went Caroline’s conscientious cohorts are than-enlightened reasons for being here down river. The ‘hard charger’ was a dragging her deeper into the murky and one is determined to steal a precious stranger whom Frank saw mow down a waters of environmental sabotage. And gem in the monks’ possession. But with young kid selling sweets at the airport her hot-headed enthusiasm cannot be no cell phones and a possible killer on the and keep going without so much as a cooled, even after two people are brutally loose, Willi’s caught between a rock backward glance. Almost on a whim murdered. Caroline’s on to something garden and a hard place. (American) Frank decides to use all his skills and extremely toxic and unless Waterman can Kerry GREENWOOD resources to give that stranger what they clear the air, her deadly dedication could Death at Victoria Dock call in his trade ‘a wake up’. Not that poison him as well. (American) 185pp Pb 19.95 Thorpe intends any permanent damage, Rebecca FORSTER A Phyrne Fisher mystery #4. Cradled in just a little tap to get the hard charger’s Silent Witness 377pp Pb 18.95 Phryne’s arms is a very young man with attention, to show him how quickly the The inimitable DA Josie Baylor- muddied hair. Her windscreen has just storm clouds could roll in on his little Bates returns to defend the man she loves been shot out and the young man, riddled world. Unfortunately, the little ‘wake up’ from the charge of murdering his own with bullets, dies in her arms. To discover sets up a chain reaction which ends in far disabled stepson. Walking the fine line the culprit behind this senseless slaying, more serious ramifications than Frank between lover and lawyer, trust and truth, Phryne will have to go deep into a mire of could ever have anticipated. And Josie will have to race against time to bank robbery, tattoo parlours, pubs, someone from his own past is out to give prove someone is framing her client until spiritualist halls and Anarchists! him a rather bigger ‘wake up’. she finds out that the last, silent witness is (Australian) (American) the most dangerous of all. (American)

CRIME CHRONICLE www.abbeys.com.au 5 Kerry GREENWOOD Carolyn HART Carl HIAASEN Murder on the Ballarat Train Murder Walks the Plank Skinny Dip 475pp Pb 22.95 163pp Pb 19.95 322pp Pb 16.95 Chaz Perrone A Phyrne Fisher mystery #3. When Phyrne A Death on Demand mystery #15. Annie might be the only decides to leave her car at home and Darling’s murder mystery cruise in the marine scientist in the travel by train to the country with her waters off her not-always-idyllic isle of world who does not friend Dot, the last thing she expects is to Broward’s Rock is going swimmingly until know which way the have to use her trusty Beretta .32 to save one of the revellers plunges overboard. Gulf Stream runs but their lives. What was planned as a restful And despite hubby Max’s courageous he has just found a sojourn turns into the stuff of nightmares: rescue attempt, faux murder turns all too way to make a fortune a young girl who cannot remember quickly into real-life death. As the body out of the Florida anything, rumours of vile white slavery count rises over the next few days, intrepid Everglades. So when and the body of an old woman missing crime solver Annie realises that the killer he suspects that his her emerald rings. (Australian) she seeks is more ingeniously efficient wife Joey is going to get in his way, he Lyn HAMILTON than most and the puzzle she wishes to takes her on an expensive anniversary The Magyar Venus unravel is, in reality, a time bomb packed cruise and pushes her overboard. 259pp Pb 16.95 with an explosive mix of arson, assault, Clinging to a bale of Jamaican pot, she An Archaeological kidnapping, robbery and homicide, manages to stay alive, and is plucked mystery. After the naturally. (American) from the ocean by former cop, Mick unveiling of the Ellen HART Stranahan. Joey decides to stay dead and Magyar Venus, a An Intimate Ghost (with Mick’s help) screw with Chas until carved head and torso 307pp Tp 29.95 he screws himself. Carl Hiaasen takes us of a woman made from A Jane Lawless mystery. Restaurateur Jane on a hilarious, romantic, page-turning mammoth ivory Lawless is thrilled to be catering the journey through the warped politics of during the Upper wedding of some family friends, Nick the human heart. (American) Palaeolithic period, and Lauren Clifford, but when Jane James HUSTON one of Lara arrives at the wedding, she is in for a Balance of Power McClintoch’s friends shock of a lifetime and one that could 434pp Pb 18.95 commits suicide. Determinedly tracing jeopardise her career. The food has been Off the coast of Indonesia, the Venus’s provenance to Budapest, spiked with hallucinogenic mushrooms an American cargo ship Lara discovers a truth that arises from the and the drug-hazed guests are engaged in has been seized by secrets of the past. (American) reckless behaviour. When the groom terrorists, its captain Charlaine HARRIS takes a near fatal dive into an empty pool, kidnapped and its crew Shakespeare’s Counselor an investigation begins. (American) mercilessly slaughtered. 243pp Pb 16.95 Sue HENRY In Washington, a peace- A Lily Bard mystery. Welcome back to the The Serpents Trail loving President’s refusal sleepy little town of Shakespeare, where 274pp Pb 16.95 to punish the secrets come to hide. Lily Bard has joined An Alaska Maxie McNabb mystery. At 63, transgressors has enraged a group therapy session, determined Maxie is cruising down the Alaska the sitting Congress, led by a determined finally to face her past. It sounds Highway in her brand new Winnebago Speaker of the House. An ambitious positively enlightening, until the murder camper. She has always been a gypsy at young congressional assistant, Jim Dillon of a fellow member sends a warning. But heart and with her mini-dachshund at her has discovered a time bomb hidden in the who was the message meant for and side, and the open road ahead, she has Constitution; a long-forgotten clause that why? And who is next to fall victim to a never been happier. But before her could incite a devastating constitutional killer’s head games? (American) exploration gets underway, Maxie needs crisis and plunge the country into chaos. Ken HARRIS to figure out who burglarised her friend’s (American) Pathway to Treason Colorado home and why. But the closer Greg ILES 305pp Tp 29.95 she gets to solving the puzzle, the more it Blood Memory 494pp Tp 32.95 Australia in 2020 has becomes chillingly clear that her friend’s World-class forensic odontologist Cat become a Republic life is not the only one on the line. Ferry has a stellar reputation until a panic with both a Prime (American) attack paralyses her at a New Orleans Minister and an elected murder scene. Praying the attack is a one- PARKING President. A crisis time event, she continues working, but looms. The US wants when the same killer strikes again she Australia to send blacks out over the victim’s corpse. troops to the Middle Suspended from the FBI task force, Cat East. The PM says ‘yes’; returns to her hometown in Mississippi to the President ‘No’. The regroup. Plagued by nightmares, and Australian Defence Force faces a deeply involved with a married homicide dilemma: Who to obey? Of this book, detective, Cat holds herself together with Professor Ross Babbage of the Australian Spend $50 or more at Abbey’s Bookshop, iron nerves and alcohol, using her work National University says, “Whilst the Language Book Centre or Galaxy as a substitute for life. But her secluded story is fiction, the pitfalls in simply Bookshop, present your QVB parking antebellum estate provides no sanctuary. ticket and receive a $5 Parking Voucher. replacing the Crown with an elected When some of Cat’s forensic chemicals Current rates are: are spilled in her childhood bedroom, President are real – this book describes QVB them with great skill. Harris’ book is a Mon-Fri (before 5pm) $ 10/hr ($47 max) two bloody footprints are revealed, great read and also a major contribution Sat (before 5pm) $ 7/hr ($20 max) setting in motion a quest to piece together to the debate on constitutional change.” Sun Cat’s past. (American) (Australian) (& any day after 5pm) $12 flat

ABBEY’S BOOKSHOP 131 YORK STREET, SYDNEY 2000 PH 9264 3111 FAX 9264 8993 6 Roberta ISLEIB David LAWRENCE Ken McCLURE Fairway to Heaven Nothing like the Night The Gulf Conspiracy 258pp Pb 16.95 399pp Pb 19.95 315pp Tp 29.95 A Golf Lovers mystery #3. Cassie Burdette Once she had been beautiful; now she 10 years after already has her hands full playing a was eight days dead, her body slashed returning from the tournament at legendary Pinehurst, repeatedly. At first, she is just Jane Doe of Gulf War, troops North Carolina, with her formerly Notting Hill, and then DS Stella Mooney stationed at the estranged father and grumpy boyfriend. finds a suspect. But while he is in Dhahran airbase are When her friend’s father vanishes, she custody, another body is discovered, falling sick and starts poking around the fairway for butchered in the same way. It seems that dying. Steven answers hoping whoever made the man Stella and her team are looking for Dunbar, a medical disappear won’t do the same with her. cannibals: there are two people involved; investigator, (American) and one of them - the dominant one - is a decides to probe Dean JAMES woman ... (British) further and what he Decorated to Death Phillip MARGOLIN discovers shocks him to the core. If true, 250pp Pb 14.95 Sleeping Beauty 403pp Pb 18.95 the British vaccine has harmed more men A Simon Kirby-Jones mystery. Not 17-year-old Ashley than the biological weapons it was everyone can claim both Hercule Poirot Spencer learned what designed to protect them against. Ken and Nancy Drew as inspiration. Of true horror was the McClure writes with gripping energy. He course, not everyone is a vampire sleuth night a serial killer combines his own personal knowledge from the States who pulled up stakes to invaded her home and and experience of biological weaponry live in a small English village. Even the brutally murdered her with a fast moving, hard hitting style that eccentric denizens of Snupperton father and her best delivers a stunning ride of suspense, Mumsley might be surprised by Simon friend. But the terror tension and chilling realism. (British) Kirby-Jones’s rather unusual lifestyle. But did not end there. A V L McDERMID murder is a more than adequate year after the Final Edition (1991) distraction when a visiting celebrity unspeakable events, 309pp Pb 18.95 meets his maker—and Simon must suss the nightmare is reawakened at the elite A Lindsay Gordon mystery #3. Dragged out a killer… “A well-crafted mystery private school that has been a safe haven into a sordid world of blackmail, combines with whimsical characters to for Ashley and her mother, Terri. A new prostitution, lies and murder, Lindsay create an imaginative spoof on the classic book called Sleeping Beauty hits the investigates the case of a former colleague locked-room mystery.”—Publishers national bestseller lists; it is a shattering jailed for killing a notorious Glaswegian Weekly (American) true account of the crimes that ripped journalist. (British) Iris JOHANSEN Ashley’s world apart. And now Ashley D R MEREDITH Firestorm 377pp Pb 18.95 must run for her life again. (American) Tome of Death 224pp Pb 14.95 For Kerry Nancy MARTIN et al A Murder by the Yard mystery #4. Murphy, the inferno is Drop Dead Blonde This librarian and her reading group never far away. The 337pp Pb 16.95 solve mysteries by the book. Megan Clark flames of that long- They are blondes with style, money and must unravel the mystery behind a burial ago night still burn in men falling at their feet. But now these site in the Palo Duro Canyon containing her nightmares: the perfect women are perfect victims. In this two corpses: one a human skeleton, the heat, the choking book, four top mystery authors - Nancy other a mummy in Comanche garb, smoke and the Martin, Denise Swanson, Elaine Viets and murdered more than 100 years apart. helplessness. She can Victoria Laurie - spin four all new tales of (American) never run fast fair-haired sirens, secrets and seduction. Fern MICHAELS enough... Now Kerry (American) Picture Perfect 381pp Pb 18.95 works as an arson investigator with her Susan McBRIDE Paediatrician Lorrie Ryan has been evidence-sniffing dog, Sam. Together The Good Girls’ Guide to looking forward to this camping trip with they are a great team, but her life is about Murder 353pp Pb 16.95 her nephew Davey. It is a chance to let the to change in the time it takes to strike a A Debutante Dropout mystery. Website haemophiliac boy spend time away from match. The deadly flames of her past are designer and high society rebel Andrea his nervous, overprotective parents and back, and from out of the ashes a stranger Kendricks would never have gotten have the adventure he has always appears. Who is Silver? And why has he involved with ego-in-pumps life-style wanted. And Lorrie will be on hand to chosen her in the desperate race to find a hostess Marilee Mabry if it weren’t for the administer Davey’s daily, life-saving killer determined to ignite hell on earth? underhanded machinations of Andy’s dose of antigen. In the thick cover of (American) upper crust mama. But thanks to Mother woods, she never imagines that their Stan JOHNSON Cissy, Andy’s donning designer duds to idyllic trip will soon become a chilling Lethal Agent 387pp Pb 18.95 attend a launch party at the intolerable nightmare of survival. In one shocking CIA consultant Aaron Korda wages a domestic diva’s new Dallas TV studio moment, Davey disappears. A desperate war against a faction of terrorists who and she is on hand to witness the Lorrie turns to the one man who can help plan to poison the world’s celebration site go up in flames! Then a FBI agent Stuart Saunders. Now, the hunt pharmaceutical supplies. Without body turns up in the rubble, the victim, is on for a child growing weaker by the support from the American government, apparently, of some very foul play. There minute. (American) Korda can only rely on his wits and are more than a few nasty messes tucked possibly a beautiful German spy to save away in the Mabry closet and a craven the lives of millions. (American) assassin who has the Big D elite quaking in their cowboy boots may soon be burying Andy in hers. (American)

CRIME CHRONICLE www.abbeys.com.au 7 Alan MILLS Julian RATHBONE Michael ROBOTHAM The Raft 414pp Tp 29.95 As Bad As It Gets 342pp Pb 19.95 The Suspect 486pp Pb 19.95 Lydia and Martin Napier decide to Chris Shovelin is Joseph O’Loughlin appears to have get away from it all at a remote property on the move again. the perfect life: a beautiful wife, a loving in Far North Queensland. It is their Coming out of daughter and a successful career as a chance to spend time with their eight year Mombassa where he clinical psychologist. But nothing can be old daughter Ami, and also a chance to has been checking out taken for granted. Even the most flawless get their relationship back on track. the unsuspicious existence is only a loose thread away Instead they run into cyclone weather death of a from unravelling. All it takes is a and as the rains stop, floodwaters rise. millionaire’s son in a murdered girl, a troubled young patient Caught up in the dramatic rescue of a scuba accident, he has and the biggest lie of his life. Caught in a policeman and his prisoner, within hours made enough money complex web of deceit and haunted by the family find themselves marooned on to treat himself to a images of the slain girl, he embarks upon the roof of an isolated farmhouse. With safari. From a mugging in Nairobi, a search that will take him from London limited food and water, little hope of through meetings with lions and a Maasai to Liverpool and into the darkest recesses rescue, and a killer in their midst, they warrior, to a truly scary escape from the of the human mind. Ultimately, he will face the most terrifying ordeal of their sewer beneath Jomo Kenyatta risk everything to unmask the killer and lives. (Australian) International Airport, Shovelin faces save his family. The Times Magazine says Theresa MONSOUR beatings, corrupt police, shootings, wild Robotham is, “Popular fiction’s Next Big Cold Blood 357pp Pb 18.95 elephants and a crazed killer who will not Thing”. (Australian) Homicide Detective Paris Murphy give up. More than a worthy successor to Joel ROSENBERG is as smart, as intuitive and as reckless as Shovelin’s acclaimed debut in Homage The Last Days 462pp Pb 18.95 she was when we met her in Clean Cut (Pb 19.95), this is a racy and entertaining Osama bin Laden is dead. Saddam (Pb 19.95). When she sees tall, awkward thriller with emotional and thought- Hussein is buried. Baghdad lies in ruins. Justice Trip on television, a concerned provoking depth, which puts it miles Now the eyes of the world are on citizen who has found a grisly clue in the ahead of the rest. (British) Jerusalem as Jon Bennett (a Wall Street search for missing bridesmaid Bunny J D ROBB strategist turned senior White House Pedersen, Paris is sure she has seen him Survivor in Death advisor), his beautiful CIA partner Erin before. When she remembers, she is 376pp Tp 32.95 McCoy and the US Secretary of State uneasy; and then her assignment to the In Death series featuring arrive in the Middle East to meet with case leads her to meet Trip, and her Lieutenant Eve Dallas Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (maybe superb detective’s intuition convinces her and Roarke #20. The his ghost). On the table: a dramatic and that he is Bunny’s killer, and that their members of the potentially historic Arab-Israeli peace shared history puts Paris herself in Swisher family were plan, of which Bennett is the chief jeopardy. (American) murdered in their beds architect. At the heart of the proposed Martin O’BRIEN with brutal, military treaty is the discovery of black gold, deep Jacquot and the Waterman precision. The state-of- underneath the Mediterranean, a vast and 403pp Tp 32.95 the-art security was spectacular tract of oil and natural gas… The Jacquot series #1. Set in the South of breached, and the The clock is ticking. Can Bennett, McCoy France, this novel follows Chief Inspector killers used night- and the American President make peace Daniel Jacquot’s investigation into a series vision equipment to find their way before the Middle East once again erupts of disturbing killings, where the female through the cosy, middle-class house. in war? (American) victims are always left submerged in Clearly, Dallas is dealing with pros. It Howard ROUGHAN water. Ex-French National Rugby Squad seems the only mistake they made was to The Promise of a Lie player, Jacquot is a lover of the blues, good overlook the girl cowering in the darkened 417pp Pb 16.95 food and wine. He is disconsolate after his kitchen. Now Nixie Swisher is an orphan, Nothing can prepare Dr girlfriend leaves him, and plunges himself the sole eyewitness to a seemingly David Remler for the into the investigation whole-heartedly. A inexplicable crime and Eve Dallas is not shocking phone call he wonderful book for the Francophile, it is good with children. (American) receives from a patient highly atmospheric, and full of warmth Karen ROBARDS named Samantha Kent. and wit. (British) Bait 372pp Tp 32.95 Stunned and anxious to Sheila QUIGLEY It is a business trip that takes help, he rushes out into Run for Home 500pp Pb 19.95 attorney Maddie Fitzgerald down to New the Manhattan night to It is 1985. A man is hunted down Orleans, but it is hardly business as usual keep a bloody act of and killed by a woman assassin known as when a man breaks into her hotel room violence from spinning The Head Hunter. 16-years-later, his body and tries to kill her. Barely escaping with further out of control. He knows he is too turns up and DI Lorraine Hunt is called in her life, the sexy, stylish 32-year-old involved and that his professional to investigate. The day the body is found, brunette calls the police and is unnerved reputation is at stake. He has become a Claire Lumsdon is the victim of a violent by FBI Agent Sam McCabe’s questions pawn in a very deadly game of revenge. kidnap, the fourth in a series of abductions (and his good looks). She has been Suddenly the focus of a criminal case that of young girls. For Claire and her 16-year- targeted by a hired killer, one who has flares into an out-of-control media circus, old sister Kerry, it is the beginning of a eluded McCabe for years. He convinces David has only one shot to clear his name. nightmare. Convinced the police cannot her the quickest way to nab the assassin is But first he has to clear up the mystery of help, Kerry sets out on a frantic search for to use her as bait. Maddie reluctantly his patient, Samantha Kent. Just who is her sister where she encounters a violent agrees, and sparks fly and then ignite as she? And why did she choose to involve underworld, a 16-year-old murder and, McCabe shadows her. But their David? Little by little, the outlines of a finally, the secrets about her father which unexpected romance throws McCabe off brilliant plot emerge and, with it, the her mother hoped she would never have his stride-and puts Maddie in the hands horrifying power of a single lie… to face. (British) of a killer. (American) (American)

ABBEY’S BOOKSHOP 131 YORK STREET, SYDNEY 2000 PH 9264 3111 FAX 9264 8993 8 Craig RUSSELL Maryann Tirone SMITH Koji SUZUKI Blood Eagle 404pp Tp 32.95 She’s Not There 346pp Pb 16.95 Ring 392pp Pb 18.95 The first woman had her lungs FBI agent Poppy Rice has seen plenty Koji Suzuki is a literary star in his ripped out. When the same gruesome of murder victims in her time. But the native Japan, where this book has sold 2.8 ritualistic method was used again, it was sight she stumbles upon during her million copies. This is the first book in a clear that the same killer was responsible. vacation on peaceful Block Island is hugely successful thriller trilogy that But there is no precise evidence to link the different. It is a naked young girl lying in continues with Spiral (see below) and two cases, except for the tantalising email. the road, her face contorted in a silent Loop (not yet available). It has been In his first crime novel, Craig Russell scream of terror. The local authorities filmed as Ringu in Japan and as The Ring introduces us to a new detective hero, Jan assume the death was drug-related. in Hollywood. When hardworking Fabel (half-Scottish, half-German), a man Violent crimes are not supposed to journalist Asakawa’s niece dies of conscience and imagination. Russell happen in this privileged enclave. And if suspiciously, he begins to investigate. has also created a richly textured scenario they do, nobody talks. But Poppy is not When he visits a resort where she stayed where the City of Hamburg plays a convinced it was an overdose especially with her now dead friends, the mystery central role. It is a city where the old after a second girl’s body is discovered. It only deepens. A comment made in the Germany combines increasingly with the turns out both teenagers had attended the guest book by one of the teenagers leads new, where gangs from Turkey and the same very expensive, very private, him to a videotape. When he watches it, Ukraine battle for supremacy. This is a summer camp. That is all Poppy needs to instead of a movie, he finds an odd violently exciting thriller and Fabel’s know to start questioning the tight-lipped collection of disparate images with a desperate attempt to solve the case before locals and plunge recklessly into the portentous message at the end: “Those more victims are discovered, gradually close-knit community’s dark legacy of who have viewed these images are fated uncovers layer upon layer of intrigue. long-buried secrets... (American) to die at this exact hour one week from (British) Peter SPIEGELMAN now.” (Japanese) Shelley SHORT Black Maps 419pp Pb 22.95 Koji SUZUKI Death in the Cards 275pp Pb 16.95 Years after the Spiral 281pp Tp 29.95 A Stain-Busting mystery. Laundromat personal tragedy that Pathologist Ando is at a low point in owner and stain removal expert Josie scarred his life, PI John his life. His small son’s death from Toadfern knows her tiny town’s dirty March lives a twilight drowning has resulted in the break-up of clothes and most of its dirty little secrets. existence in Manhattan. his marriage and he is suffering from But an upcoming Psychic Fair brings a He struggles to traumatic recurrent nightmares. Work is brand-new mess to Paradise. The arrival maintain a tenuous his only escape. His depressing world of of all manner of mystics and soothsayers armed truce with his loneliness and regret is shaken up when has raised the dangerous ire of a local memories. March’s an old rival from medical school, Ryuji evangelist and his minions, as well as the latest case threatens to Takayama, turns up on his slab ready to more conservative citizens. Josie could shatter that brittle be dissected. Through Ryuji’s bizarre not foresee that she would be the one to peace: his client is a banker who is being demise, Ando learns of a series of stumble upon the body, or that her blackmailed, and the man’s beautiful wife mysterious deaths that seem to have been impeccable stain-sense would embroil is in the firing line. March’s prime suspect caused by a sinister virus. From beyond her in the nasty homicidal happenings. is Gerard Nassouli, a monstrous the grave, Ryuji appears to be leading And suddenly her attempt to psych out a manipulator who vanished years ago. Is Ando towards a suspicious videotape; killer has Josie’s own future looking very Nassouli still a fugitive, or has the law could this hold the answer to the riddle of grim indeed. (American) finally caught up with him? Did he die, or the strange deaths? Or is it merely the Judith SKILLINGS was the vanishing act just one more first clue? Spiral is the stunning sequel to Dangerous Curves devilish ploy? (American) the highly acclaimed Ring, but can also 334pp Pb 16.95 Patricia SPRINKLE be read as a standalone. (Japanese) A Rebecca Moore Who Killed the Queen of Aimee & David THURLO Mystery #2. Having Clubs? 259pp Pb 14.95 Wind Spirit 320pp Pb 16.95 abandoned her career A Thoroughly An Ella Clah novel. “The Thurlos hit as a Washington Southern mystery. all the right notes: they have an intriguing reporter to run her late State bridge growing character at the centre of a series uncle’s classic car champion and club that combines fast-moving plots and a restoration shop, woman Edie wealth of fascinating cultural Rebecca wants peace. Whelan Burkett has information.” (Booklist, the Journal of the Then the brutally been dealt many a American Library Association). A series stabbed corpse of a bad hand, but after of politically-motivated arsons plague the lovely dancer is being widowed, the Navajo Nation. Ella Clah, Navajo Police discovered in the back seat of a vintage only things she has Special Investigator, pursues the arsonist, Bentley being towed by her ex-convict to sustain herself but is hampered by traditionalist workers and the cops’ preferred suspects. are a job at the Navajos’ fear of the chindi. Ella’s near- When a second young dancer is pulled library and a 1,000- death experience during the collapse of from the Potomac, Rebecca throws down acre pecan grove. And just when the an old mine-shaft has many wondering if her wrenches. Ignoring the advice of her stress of it all seems too much, the grove’s Ella has become an evil spirit. Ella admiring lawyer and the concerns of her foreman dies... followed by Edie, and not searches for the only medicine-man, who erstwhile detective boyfriend, she goes by natural causes. Now, county knows the Sing she needs to be cleansed, undercover in a gentlemen’s club. magistrate Mac Yarbrough is on the case but he is missing, and while she hunts for Embroiled in the tawdry world of flesh to prove the foreman’s son innocent of him, more Navajo homes burn to the and fantasy, she unravels the dark secrets murder, and figure out who is playing ground. (American) that have killed too many women with a full deck and who’s not. already… (American) (American)

CRIME CHRONICLE www.abbeys.com.au 9 Allan TOPOL Donald WESTLAKE Enemy of My Enemy Road to Ruin 401pp Pb 16.95 HISTORICAL 435pp Pb 18.95 A Dortmunder mystery. Fans can In Syria, a downed American pilot rejoice! Readers’ favourite seasoned and CRIME becomes a pawn in a sinister international often hapless crook is back in this latest Carrie BEBRIS conspiracy. A brilliant Syrian general has caper from one of America’s most Pride and Prescience orchestrated a plan to make his country a popular mystery authors. This time John 287pp Pb 16.95 feared nuclear power, and to unite the Dortmunder and his merry band of (Or, A Truth entire Middle East against its hated two crooks return to the scene of the crime Universally adversaries, America and Israel. To stop world in an attempt to steal a fleet of Acknowledged). A Mr the threat, daring covert agent Jack Cole automobiles that would leave the Sultan and Mrs Darcy must convince the alluring, enigmatic of Brunei blushing. The mark is Monroe mystery #1. Regency Layla Gemayel to help him infiltrate the Hall; corrupt CEO of a now defunct England. The Darcy’s terrorist plot before the region is engulfed conglomerate, who spent more of his are the joyous in chaos. (American) company’s money on himself than the newlyweds from Steve VANCE boys at Enron and WorldCom combined. Jane Austen’s Pride Identity 337pp Pb 16.95 Having escaped prosecution, Hall is and Prejudice (Pb Public do- holed up on his massive Pennsylvania 7.95). They have not gooder Dr Ansel farm, and Dortmunder, as usual, has his even left for their Heywood secretly eyes on the big prize: Hall’s vintage honeymoon when they find themselves does reconstructive wheel. (American) embroiled in a mystery involving one of surgery for the Federal Stephen WHITE their wedding guests. The lovely Caroline Witness Protection Higher Authority Bingley is engaged to marry a rich and Program, including 420pp Pb 18.95 charismatic American. Unfortunately, removing people’s Featuring the hero of White’s earlier this windswept courtship is marred by memories to create novels, Dr Alan Gregory, this thriller many strange events: nocturnal government assassins. concerns a sexual harassment case wanderings, spooked horses, carriage Searching for his implicating a Mormon Supreme Court accidents and even an apparent suicide vanished sister upon being released from judge. Gregory’s fiancée, attorney Lauren attempt. Soon the whole Bingley family wrongful incarceration, Bobby Preston Crowder, is thrown into a maelstrom of seems the target of a mysterious plot. visits Dr Heywood’s practice only to violence when a sexual harassment case Only the Darcys recognise the danger as become embroiled in a massive, covert embroils the nation’s most powerful the Austen genre of Regency romances project that is not turning out as the leaders, a killer strikes and a trail of mixes with the unearthly gothic threats of government planned. (American) deadly secrets shows no signs of ending. Ann Radcliffe and the Brontës. Dark forces are afoot and the Darcys must get Ann WALDRON (American) to the bottom of the plot before the Unholy Death in Princeton Derek WILSON blushing bride descends into madness or 281pp Pb 16.95 The Nature of Rare Things worse. (American) A Death is Academic mystery #3. Prize- 222pp Hb 45.00 winning journalist McLeod Dulaney is Featuring Nathaniel Clare CLARK back and under suspicion after she Gye, paranormal The Great Stink 359pp Hb 35.00 literally stumbles over a corpse packed investigator. When, at a Victorian London. William May returns to into a garment bag. To clear her name, séance in Cambridge, London after the horrors of the Crimean she must investigate some shadowy Dr Gye is War. Scarred and fragile though he is, he goings-on at the Princeton Seminary, commissioned by a lands a job at the heart of Bazalgette’s where someone may have just broken the dead man to find his transformation of the London sewers. Sixth Commandment. (American) killer, he dismisses the There, in the darkness of the stinking tunnels beneath the rising towers of Liza WARD incident as a clumsy Victorian London, May discovers another Outside Valentine 301pp Tp 32.95 fraud. It is only when side of the city and remembers a This extraordinarily mature and Nathaniel’s wife disturbing, violent past. And then the gripping novel tells the before and after of disappears during a trip to Italy that he is corruption of the growing city soon a tragic event, and shows how the effects forced to look for connections between begins to overwhelm him and a violent of violence can linger on. Disturbing and her disappearance and the dead man. In murder is committed. Will the sewers intense, it is a story of devastating losses this dark and fast-paced mystery, long- reveal all and show that the world above and the power of love. In 1958, as the time or first-time fans of acclaimed writer ground is even darker and more snow fell across Nebraska, a 19-year-old Derek Wilson will enjoy pitting their wits threatening than the tunnels beneath? James Dean look-alike Charles against the unscrupulous manipulation of Beautifully written, evocative and Starkweather and his 14-year-old the living and the dead. (British) compelling and with a fantastically vivid girlfriend Caril-Ann Fugate climbed into Tom WILSON cast of characters, Clare Clarke’s first a stolen car and blazed into history with a Black Serpent 446pp Pb 18.95 book is a rich and suspenseful novel that string of bloody murders that would For two centuries the Sociedad draws the reader right into Victorian haunt America. Many years have passed Serpiente has evolved into a bloodthirsty London and into the worlds of its since, so why does Lowell, a Manhattan band of anti-American outcasts and now characters desperately attempting to antique collector, still dream of what they are making their mark on the 21st swim the tides of change. Publishing News happened? And who is Puggy, the young century with the help of one of the says, “Not since Patrick Suskind wrote girl obsessed by the story of the murders, world’s most feared terrorists. As an Perfume has a novelist so effectively who wonders if she will ever be loved like assault on American soil looms, covert made a story reek with atmosphere”. Starkweather loved his girl? (American) operative Link Anderson is enlisted to (British) stop it in its tracks. (American)

ABBEY’S BOOKSHOP 131 YORK STREET, SYDNEY 2000 PH 9264 3111 FAX 9264 8993 10 David DICKINSON Laurie R KING Elizabeth REDFERN Death of a Chancellor The Game 442pp Pb 16.95 Auriel Rising 422pp Pb 24.95 310pp Hb 49.95 Featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Autumn, 1609. London. It is six years since A Murder mystery Holmes. 1924, London. It is the second day the death of the much-revered Elizabeth I featuring Lord Francis of the New Year and Mary Russell is and the Scottish King James I came to the Powerscourt. England, settling in for a much-needed rest with throne. There is no denying that London 1901. Compton her husband Sherlock Holmes. But the is still alive with culture, but the core is Cathedral is fragile peace is fleeting, for a visit with rotten, for James’ court is greedy and preparing to celebrate Holmes’s gravely ill brother Mycroft extravagant. Since the death of alchemical a very special brings news of an intrigue that is sure to magus Dr John Dee, charlatans and anniversary: 1,000 halt their respite. Mycroft, who has ties to forgers have a free hand to trick a gullible years of Christian the highest levels of the government, has public into buying formulas for making worship. But a few just received a strange package. The gold. In the wider political scene it seems weeks before the oilskin-wrapped packet contains the that England’s honour has been pawned. main ceremonies at Easter, the Chancellor papers of a missing English spy named A peace treaty has been signed with the dies in mysterious circumstances. No one, Kimball O’Hara. Indeed, the same Catholic enemy Spain, but the stability it except the doctor and the undertaker, is Kimball who served as the inspiration for brings is riven by rumblings of internal allowed to view the corpse. It soon Rudyard Kipling’s famed Kim. An discontent against the Scottish king and transpires that the Chancellor was one of orphaned English boy turned loose in his advisers. There is an underlying the richest men in England and his sister India, Kim long used his cunning to spy atmosphere of fear at the court, suspects foul play. The discreet and well for the Crown. But after inexplicably heightened by the paranoia of King bred investigator Lord Francis withdrawing from the Great Game of James. His alienated son and heir, the 15- Powerscourt is asked to look into the case. border espionage, he has gone missing year-old Prince Henry, looks on, dour, As he paces the ancient cloisters and and is feared taken hostage or even killed. disapproving and ambitious and secretly listens to evensong from the choir stalls, (American) thinking that if he were king, he would be there is a truly dreadful incident: the dead Robin PAIGE leading an army at the French king’s side, body of one of the choristers is discovered, Death in Hyde Park 296pp Pb 16.95 against the old enemy Spain. (British) turning and turning on the great spit in the An Edwardian mystery. Coronation Day, PB RYAN Vicar’s Hall kitchen. With narrative skill 1902, London. Charles and Kate Sheridan Death on Beacon Hill 259pp Pb 16.95 and a real understanding of the period, are pleased to be at the crowning of their A Gilded Age mystery. 1869, Boston. As Dickinson takes us once again into a past king. But when an anarchist accidentally governess to the Hewitts, Irish immigrant that is in many ways more exciting and blows himself up with a bomb meant for Nell Sweeney belongs to no particular more dangerous than our own time. the monarch, Charles and Kate turn up a caste, hers is halfway between her Irish (British) number of intriguing and disturbing brethren and the Boston Brahmin. But Mark GATISS questions. For example, what is now, a double murder involves both The Vesuvius Club 240pp Tp 29.95 mysterious, beautiful Charlotte Conway, maid and mistress and it will take A Lucifer Box editor of the anarchist newspaper where cooperation by rich and poor alike to novel. Edwardian the dead man was employed, doing in the solve it. (American) London. Lucifer arms of expatriate author Jack London? Alan VANNEMAN Box is the most (American) Sherlock Holmes and the Hapsburg fashionable David PIRIE Tiara Tp 318pp 32.95 portrait painter of The Dark Water 434pp Pb 22.95 Victorian London. In a crafty new novel his day: trading Murder Rooms #3: The featuring the world’s greatest literary bon mots with the Dark Beginnings of detective, Alan Vanneman extends the best of them and Sherlock Holmes. Dr boundaries of the Sherlock Holmes canon ruthlessly Bell and Arthur Doyle with a knotty investigation that takes the exploiting his are reunited once celebrated sleuth and his cohort Dr talent and again in their quest to Watson far from the cosy Victorian dandified beauty hunt down a criminal comforts of 221B Baker Street. They are to enter every level of this intriguing mastermind in a summoned to a crime scene that, not so society. From his elegant townhouse at sinister tale of familiarly, seems to vanish before their Number 9 Downing Street (well, intrigue and violence, eyes, as they find themselves with neither someone has to live there) to his vast which reaches a evidence nor a client. They do not want studio in Chelsea, from the snow-choked terrifying and dramatic climax. for opposition, however; not with the streets of St Petersburg to the sun- Imprisoned in a dank cottage deep in the governments of three great empires bleached hotels of Mentone, life is one English countryside, Arthur Doyle lies arrayed against them. As Holmes strives long, dazzling party. Of course, leading a half-unconscious and at the mercy of his to unmask his most cunning, ruthless and double life is terribly fashionable and nemesis, Cream. Gathering all his elusive foe, he is transported into a world Lucifer Box is not to be outdone. For what dwindling strength he smashes a window of high finance rife with intrigue and Box’s fashionable circle would never and crawls to safety. With a sharp piece of crime. With a cast of characters that believe is that their witty, cheerfully broken glass he awaits his torturer’s includes the enchanting lady of fortune bisexual friend is also a secret agent. return, but Cream has eluded him once Countess D’Espinau and historical greats Stephen Fry says “The most delicious, more, leaving behind the rotting body of like Winston Churchill and Cecil Rhodes depraved, inventive, macabre and a local miser. More hideous crimes are yet as well as a poorest-of-the-poor beggar hilarious literary debut I can think of. to come as Dr Bell and Doyle move closer girl whom Watson adopts, Holmes More, I want more!” (British) and closer to confronting Cream: Bell to follows a trail that leads ultimately and capture the notorious villain, Doyle to unpredictably to the fabled and fabulous avenge himself for a crime which robbed lost Hapsburg tiara. (American) him of his future happiness. (British)

CRIME CHRONICLE www.abbeys.com.au 11 John GLATT Helen MacDONALD CRIME Depraved 241pp Pb 16.95 Human Remains 220pp Tp 34.95 A True Story of Sadistic Episodes in human NON-FFICTION Murder in the dissection. Bone Heartland. John collecting, body George ANASTASIA Edward Robinson was snatching and the The Last Gangster 341pp Pb 18.95 a 56-year-old politics of the trade From Cop to Wiseguy grandfather from in human remains to FBI Informant: Big rural Kansas. An are a gothic tale still Ron Previte and the fall entrepreneur and haunting of the American Mob. Eagle Scout, he was contemporary life. As a cop Ron Previte even honoured as This book tells the was corrupt. As a Man of the Year at a mobster he was scandalous story of Kansas City charity. brutal. And in his how medical men Masquerading as a philanthropist, he final role, as a obtained the corpses upon which they promised women money and adventure. confidential worked before anatomy was regulated in For 15 years, he trawled the Web, snaring informant to the FBI, Australia and Britain. Moving back and unsuspecting victims. They were never Previte was deadly. This is his story, the forth between Britain and the island seen again. But in the summer of 2000, the story of the last days of the Philadelphia penal colony of Tasmania, the book decomposed remains of two women were mob and of the clash of generations that examines an era when convicted discovered in barrels on Robinson’s farm, brought it down once and for all. By the murderers received the double sentence and three other bodies were found in 1990s, Previte, an old-school workhorse, of both death and dissection; the poor storage units. Yet the depths of found himself answering to younger mob who died in hospital were routinely Robinson’s bloodlust did not end there. bosses like Skinny Joey Merlina. Spoiled, turned over to the surgeons for study; For authorities, the unspeakable criminal cocky, and careless, the young, up-and- and men traded in human remains, trail of Slavemaster was just beginning... coming gangsters were hungry for the including those of Aboriginal people. (British) media’s attention and the public’s Helen MacDonald is an award-winning recognition. Gone were the days of John HUGHES-WILSON historian and Postdoctoral Fellow at the loyalty and discretion. Convinced that the The Puppet Masters 479pp Hb 49.95 Australian Centre, University of honour of the “business” was over, Spies, Traitors and the Melbourne. (Australian) Previte became the FBI’s secret weapon in Real Forces behind Damian MARRETT an intense and highly personalised war World Events. The Undercover 242pp Tp 27.95 on the Philadelphia mob. (American) author is a recently Damian Marrett was retired British Diane FANNING just 19 years of age Colonel who argues Written in Blood 405pp Pb 16.95 when he joined the that Military Michael Peterson was Victoria Police in Intelligence - not an army brat-turned- 1986 as a somewhat prostitution - is the marine, he saw combat reluctant recruit. world’s oldest in Vietnam and Four years down the profession, although returned a decorated track, he was the two often overlap. From the prostitute soldier. An avid reader, handpicked to work in Jericho who hid Joshua’s spies, to the his dreams of being an in a covert capacity infamous KGB ‘honey traps’ that acclaimed novelist for the Drug Squad. ensnared CIA agents, ladies of the night came true. His desire to A further six years appear with salacious frequency in spy find love was fulfilled working undercover, and Marrett had history. Secret intelligence networks were when he married played a major role in up to 50 operations. the key to success for all the great brilliant executive Kathleen Atwater, the The young detective was responsible for statesmen and generals from Caesar and first female student accepted at Duke some of the biggest drug busts in Genghis Khan to Cardinal Richelieu and University’s School of Engineering. The Australian law enforcement history. His George Washington. With radio, Petersons seemed the ideal academic infiltration of the previously telephone and email, the mechanics of couple: well-respected, prosperous and impenetrable Griffith Mafia, codenamed espionage have been transformed. The happy. All that came crashing down in Operation Afghan, is still regarded as vast agencies spawned by the Cold War December of 2001, when Kathleen Australia’s most complex covert sting have now been reinvented for the ‘war on apparently fell to her death in their operation. It lasted for an exhausting nine terror’. Against this history of espionage, secluded home in an exclusive area of months and throughout that time Marrett Hughes-Wilson investigates the Durham, North Carolina. A dramatic trial was compelled to stay in character as “monumental intelligence failure” of followed in the explosive final chapter of knockabout drug dealer Ben Gleeson. 9/11 and describes the progress of the a life that no novelist could ever have Not only did he have the bad guys under undercover war against Al Qaida. A conceived... (American) surveillance, the bad guys were returning riveting read. (British) the favour in kind. After months of subterfuge, Afghan concluded in a tense ORDER ONLINE... stand-off in country NSW. Marrett’s penetrating yet darkly comic insights into undercover work reveal a style of policing that is often shrouded in secrecy. Told with grim humour and astonishing candour, this is Marrett’s own remarkable story. (Australian)

ABBEY’S BOOKSHOP 131 YORK STREET, SYDNEY 2000 PH 9264 3111 FAX 9264 8993 Corey MITCHELL Murdered Innocents 429pp Pb 16.95 On 6 December 1991, fresh-faced teens Jennifer Harbison and Eliza Thomas began to close up the Austin, Texas yogurt shop where they worked. They were joined by Jennifer’s younger sister Sarah and her friend Amy Ayers. Less than an hour later, all four girls were dead, apparently the victims of a fire. A division of Abbey’s Bookshops Pty Ltd But closer examination revealed that they had been bound ABN 86 000 650 975 and gagged, sexually assaulted and executed. It was the most TRADING HOURS horrific crime the peaceful college town had seen since the Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri 8.30am - 7.00pm infamous University of Texas tower shootings in 1966. Thursday 8.30am - 9.00pm (American) Saturday 8.30am - 6.00pm Sunday 10.00am - 5.00pm Gregg OLSEN ORDERS Cruel Deception 371pp Pb 16.95 Phone (02) 9264 3111 In and out of hospitals since birth, angelic nine-month-old 1800 4 BOOKS (outside Sydney) Morgan Reid finally succumbed to Sudden Infant Death 1800 4 26657 (outside Sydney) Syndrome. Morgan’s Texas-born mother Tanya, a nurse and Fax (02) 9264 8993 devoted wife, pulled up stakes with her grieving husband email [email protected] Jim and moved on. It was the best way to put the past behind Online www.abbeys.com.au them. Until their son Michael, a boy who by all accounts was Post Reply Paid 66944 terrified of his mother, began showing signs of the same SYDNEY NSW 2000 affliction that stole the life of his baby sister. First, the DELIVERY suspicion: Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Then, Tanya One item $5.00 was charged and convicted with felony child abuse of her Each additional item .50 son. She was later tried and ultimately convicted for first Orders of 10 or more items Free degree murder of Morgan. It would become a landmark trial Per order Australia-wide that unfolded in a series of reversals and bizarre twists of REWARD DOLLARS fate as it gradually revealed another side of Tanya Reid, of her own troubling If you are a regular book buyer, ask for an Abbey’s childhood and the dark secrets that drove a woman to the cruellest deception of Card so your purchases go towards earning you all... (American) Reward Dollars, which can be used to purchase any items from us and are issued every 6 months as follows: Sgt Randy SUTTON (editor) Purchases Over* Reward $ True Blue 298pp Pb 16.95 $300 20 Police Stories by those who have lived them. After September 11, $400 25 2001, Las Vegas Police Sergeant Randy Sutton began soliciting $500 35 writing from law enforcement officers. His goal? To bridge the $600 45 gap between the police and those they serve, with a book that $700 55 offers a broad and thoughtful look at the many facets of police $800 65 $900 75 life. Hundreds of active and former officers responded from all $1000 $10 for every $100 spent over the United States. Sutton culled the selections into five * during every 6 month period ended 30 June & 31 Dec categories: The Beat, Line of Duty, War Stories, Officer Down GIFT VOUCHERS and Ground Zero. This is the result, a collection of funny, Abbey’s attractive Gift Vouchers charming, exciting and haunting stories about murder are available in any denomination investigations, missing children, bungling burglars, car chases, lonely and and have no expiry date. desperate shut-ins, routine traffic stops, officers killed in the line of duty, and the Redeemable at Abbey’s life-changing events of September 11. In these stories, the heart and soul behind Bookshop, Language Book the badge shines through in unexpected ways and may help change the way we Centre or Galaxy Bookshop. think about the deeply human realm of police service. (American) PARKING McCay & Marie VERNON Spend $50 or more at Abbey’s Bookshop, Deadly Lust 346pp Pb 16.95 Language Book Centre or Galaxy Bookshop, 29 November 1988, Anita Stevens climbed into a stranger’s present your QVB parking ticket and receive vehicle, thinking to turn a quick trick to fund her drug habit. a $5 Parking Voucher. She was the first to die. Over the next six years, six more SPECIALIST STORES prostitutes would fall victim to the same phantom killer, slain Up the stairs in Abbey’s for by gun, blunt objects, a strangler’s noose - and the murderer’s language learning materials and bare hands. His signature was the obscene poses in which he foreign fiction, children’s arranged his half-nude victims. Frustrated by false books, videos and DVDs. Phone (02) 9267 1397 confessions, investigators sifted through a myriad of suspects 1800 802 432 (outside Sydney) until a murder in Asheville, North Carolina led them to the Fax (02) 9264 8993 real killer - William Darrell Lindsey. Twice-married, a father of email [email protected] five, Lindsey had drifted across the South for years. Wherever Online www.languagebooks.com.au he went, rape and murder followed. He admitted to seven sex slayings, but Alongside Abbey’s at 143 experts believe that the death toll was somewhere between 12 and 20. Here is the York Street for Sydney’s most chilling true story of a fiend whose sadistic lust was the most depraved addiction extensive range of science of all. (American) fiction, fantasy and horror. Phone (02) 9267 7222 Fax (02) 9261 3691 email [email protected] Online www.galaxybooks.com.au Crime Chronicle is compiled and edited by Peter Milne and Shelley Kay Prices are correct at time of publication but unfortunately are subject to change.