Mystery Readers Group December 2011

It has been a long time since I wrote a newsletter. But I thought of all the new titles out from authors we have read, and decided to update you on what they are doing. Of course, many of our authors are gone and will wrote no more books. Sadly so. But the ones still active have been busy.

• 's newest book is a non-series, The Scent of Rain and Lightning. It is a very powerful story of a Kansas town faced with questions from the past. It was a finalist for the Agatha and . • Lawrence Block has been very busy. He has a new Matthew Scudder book out, A Drop of the Hard Stuff. Scudder meets an old friend who has achieved sobriety only to be shot while trying to atone for old sins. Also, a non-series Grifter's Game – dangerous men, wicked women and con men. • Peter Robinson, of In a Dry Season, has added the nineteenth title to the Inspector Banks series, Bad Boy. Banks comes back from holiday to find his daughter, Tracy, is missing and in deep trouble. • We read The Christie Caper by Carolyn G. Hart. She now has twenty-two titles in her Max and Annie “Death on Demand” series. Dead By Midnight came out this year and Death Comes Silently will be out in the year to come. She started a new series in 2008. Her detective is a ghost, Bailey Ruth, who comes back to help her family. The first title is Ghost at Work and the third, out this year, is Ghost in Trouble. • John Katzenbach has a new title, What Comes Next, with the Professor. • The newest Thomas and Charlotte Pitt title is Dorchester Terrace. Thomas must find a traitor in his department and also protect a visiting dignitary. Acceptable Loss is the 2011 title in the Monk series. He and Hester have taken in a homeless boy suffering from being forced into a child prostitution ring. Even though the believed ringleader of the ring is dead, it still continues. In the effort to eradicate it, Monk finds the backers extend even to high society. A Sunless Sea is due out in 2012. The Christmas novella for 2011 is A Christmas Homecoming, a story of play production in very difficult conditions. • Charles Todd, who wrote Search the Dark with Inspector Ian Rutledge, has two new titles in the series: A Lonely Death #13 and The Confession #14. In #13, soldiers are being garotted in quiet Sussex – Scotland Yard is called in. In #14, dealing with a false confession, past troubles come forward. Since we read Search the Dark, Todd has a new series with Bess Crawford, a gentlewoman raised in India who was a nurse in WWI. In A Duty to the Dead #1, she carries a message from a dying soldier to his family, only to find tragedy, intrigue and murder. This year's addition to the series is A Bitter Truth #3. Bess helps an abused and frightened woman only to be accused of murder. The fourth title comes out next year, An Unmarked Grave. • We all read and liked Kissed a Sad Goodbye by Deborah Crombie. In the newest Kincaid/James, No Mark Upon Her #14, a DCI who takes her scull out on the river is found dead. • Stephanie Barron was a big hit with me. I own all the titles and will re-read them when there is time. Her latest Jane Austen mystery is Jane and the Canterbury Tale, where she helps her brother, Edward, investigate a body found on an ancient right-of-way.

• Steven Saylor continues his Giordianus series with The Seven Wonders, due out in 2012. It will be the Roma Sub Rosa #13. We will have to wait to find out more about it. • Ed Gorman has written two new titles for the Sam McCain series, we read several of his books with 50's songs as titles. The new ones are Ticket to Ride #8, a 2009 publication, and Bad Moon Rising #9, due out next year. • Peter Tremayne has been very busy. His Sister Fidelma series has three quite new titles. The Chalice of Blood #21(2010), Behold a Pale Horse #22 (2011) and The Seventh Trumpet #23 (2012). These are not necessarily written in chronological order, so be aware you might jump around in time a little. • has two new Peter Diamond titles: Stagestruck #11 (2011) and Cop to Corpse #12 (2012). • has a new Charlie Peace title coming out, A Charitable Body #9. He also has two non-series titles: The Killings on Jubilee Terrace and A Stranger in the Family. • has a new non-series thriller out, The Worst Thing (2011) and another due out with his wife, Charlotte, A Dangerous Talent (2012). • has a new Lynley/Havers title, Believing the Lie #17, due out next year. • Archer Mayor, our Vermont author, has two recent Joe Gunther titles. Red Herring #21 (2010) and Tag Man #22 (2011) are the most recent. Tag Man intrigues me. Someone is breaking into very secure, wealthy homes in Brattleboro and leaving a Post-it note that reads “You're it.” Something discovered on one of the break-ins leaves the burglar's life in danger. I want to find out how Joe Gunther handles this. • M. C. Beaton continues the Hamish MacBeth series with Death of a Chimney Sweep #27 (2011) and Death of a Kingfisher #28 (2012). In Death of a Kingfisher, the little town of Braikie goes all out to attract tourists to spend their money and help the local economy. A kingfisher is found hanging from a tree branch, and it only gets worse. They call in Constable MacBeth. • Our Maine author, Sarah Graves, continues her Home Repair is Homicide series with Knockdown #14 (2011) and Dead Level #15 (2012). In Knockdown, her past comes back to threaten her. • has a new Faith Fairchild title, The Body in the Boudoir (2012). It was preceded by The Body in the Gazebo (2011). • Colin Cotterell has several titles that are new. In his Dr. Sri Paiboun series, there is Love Songs From a Shallow Grave #7 (2010) and Slash and Burn #8 (2011). He has a new series with Jim Juree, begun in 2011 in Killed at the Whim of a Hat (2011). There is a second in the series coming out in 2012. • Marcia Muller has a couple new Sharon McCone entries. Coming Back (2010) follows Sharon on her road to recovery after being shot in the head, during which her therapist disappears. In City of Whispers (2011), Sharon is trying to find her half-brother in San Francisco, who needs help. • Kerry Greenwood has no new Phryne Fisher titles, but does have a new Corinna Chapman title, Cooking the Books #6 (2012). We read a Phryne Fisher book in the group. Corinna Chapman is a baker, who lives in a very interesting neighborhood, has a very interesting life and has very interesting adventures! • Jasper Fforde has not added to his Nursery Crime, Shades of Grey or Thursday Next series for some time. He has a new young adult fantasy series, called Last Dragonslayer, with titles The Last Dragonslayer (2010) and The Song of the Quarkbeast (2011). • Boris Akunin has some new titles in the Erast Fandorin series. Number 9 is She Lover of Death (2011) - “the darkest Fandorin to date . . “ - and number 10 is The Diamond Chariot (2011) – hard to find, just yet. I'll be looking to get these myself. • Burn (2010), where Anna is recovering in New Orleans with a friend where dark doings get out of hand, and The Rope (2012), Anna's first case, are the new entries in the Anna Pigeon series by . • For those of you who liked the Ella Clah books by Aimee and David Thurlo, there are two new titles. Never-ending-snake came out in 2010 and Black Thunder will be out in 2012. • Joanne Fluke has added Cinnamon Roll Murder (2012) to her Hannah Swenson series. • Susan Wittig Albert has books in her Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series. The Tale of Oat Cake Crag was out in 2010 and The Tale of Castle Cottage in 2011. She also has added to her other series, Darling Dahlias, with The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies (2011). • Though P.D. James has not written any more Dalgliesh or Cordelia books, she has written a novel, Death Comes to Pemberley, set several years after Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. • The newest Rizzoli and Isles title from Tess Gerritsen is The Silent Girl (2011). • Masie Dobbs is still active. has added A Lesson in Secrets #8 (2011) and About Eddie #9 (2012). In A Lesson in Secrets, Masie is working for the Secret Service on the approach to World War II in Cambridge. There is no description available for the other title. • There is a new Grey Whale Inn story from Karen MacInerney that was published in 2011: Berried to the Hilt. An old anchor is pulled up and the ensuing action strikes close. • The newest titles from Janet Evanovich in the Stephanie Plum series are Smokin' Seventeen and Explosive Eighteen, both out this year. She has a new book coming out in the Lizzy and Diesel series next year, Wicked Business. She has a new non- series book, with author Dorien Kelly, due out in 2012 – Love in a Nutshell – a romantic thriller. • Daniel Silva has added a title to follow The Rembrandt Affair, Portrait of a Spy (2011). It concerns bombings, terrorism, and a daring plan to stop a group from continuing the violence. • Following The Hiss of Death (2011), The Big Catnap (2012) is the newest Mrs. Murphy title from Rita Mae Brown. She has a new series with Mags Baxter and her dachshund, Baxter. She has left New York and is staying with her great-aunt in Nevada. A Nose for Justice (2010) is followed by Murder Unleashed (2011).

Happy Holidays!!!!! Stay safe and warm.

Claudia A Reynolds RPL