Moments In Crime

Blogging This Week: Linda Castillo

LINDA CASTILLO is the author of several successful romantic suspense novels and has received numerous writing awards, including the Daphne du Maurier Award of Excellence, the Holt Medallion, and a nomination for the prestigious Rita. She lives in Texas with her husband and is currently at work on her next book in this series, also set in Amish Country and featuring Chief of Police Kate Burkholder.

 

 

Kate Burkholder, who grew up in the Amish community of Painters Mill, Ohio, before abandoning their way of life for the outside world and the study of law enforcement, has recently been appointed Chief of Police in her former hometown. Her knowledge of the Amish, their language and customs, makes her the perfect candidate. When the serial killer, whose spree sixteen years before was dubbed The Slaughterhouse Murders, returns with spectacular violence, Kate is determined to catch him. But she is also desperate to keep a secret from her past: the reason she fled the Amish world is that she was the young girl the killer attacked before disappearing—and she killed him in self defense. No one knows, except  her Amish father and brother who helped bury the body. So who is behind the current murders? And what is the connection to Kate's past?

Blogging This Week: Dennis Tafoya

DENNIS TAFOYA was born in Philadelphia and now lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His work as an EMT inspired Dope Thief, his first novel. Visit him online at www.DennisTafoya.com.

Ray and his best friend, Manny, close ever since they met in juvie almost twenty years ago, have a great scam going: With a couple of fake badges and some DEA windbreakers they found at a secondhand store, they pose as federal agents and rip off small-time drug dealers, taking their money and drugs and disappearing before anyone is the wiser. It’s the perfect sting: the dealers they target are too small to look for revenge and too guilty to call the police, nobody has to die, nobody innocent gets hurt, and Ray and Manny score plenty.

But it can’t last forever. Eventually, they choose the wrong mark and walk out with hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a heavy hitter, who is more than willing to kill to get his money back, is coming after them. Now Ray couldn’t care less about the score. He wants out---out of the scam, out of a life he feels like he never chose. Whether the victim of his latest job---not to mention his partner---will let him is another question entirely.

Dennis Tafoya brings a rich, passionate, and accomplished new voice to the explosive story of a small-time crook with everything to lose in Dope Thief, his outstanding hardboiled debut.

Blogging this Week: SJ Bolton

Blogging this week is SJ Bolton. Bolton grew up in Lancashire, England, and now lives near Oxford with her family. Awakening, her second novel, is inspired by her fascination with British folklore. Visit her online at www.sjbolton.com.

Clara Benning, a veterinary surgeon in charge of a wildlife hospital in a small English village, is young and intelligent, but nearly a recluse. Disfigured by a childhood accident, she generally prefers the company of animals to people. But when a local man dies following a supposed snakebite, Clara’s expertise is needed. She’s chilled to learn that the victim’s postmortem shows a higher concentration of venom than could ever be found in a single snake—and that therefore the killer must be human.

Assisted by a soft-spoken neighbor and an eccentric reptile expert, Clara unravels sinister links to an abandoned house, an ancient ritual, and a fifty-year-old tragedy that has left the survivors secretive. But for someone the truth must remain buried in the past—even if they have to kill to keep it there.

Awakening is a disturbing tale of dark secrets and insidious rituals that will have readers unable to stop for a breath until they’ve reach the stunning climax of this extraordinary read from the author of the acclaimed debut novel Sacrifice.

Blogging This Week: Stefanie Pintoff

STEFANIE PINTOFF is the winner of the first Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America Best First Crime Novel Competition. A graduate of Columbia University Law School, she also has a Ph.D. in literature from New York University. Pintoff lives with her husband and daughter in Westchester County, New York. Visit her Web site at www.StefaniePintoff.com.

Dobson, New York, 1905.

Detective Simon Ziele lost his fiancée in the General Slocum ferry disaster—a thousand perished on that summer day in 1904 when an onboard fire burned the boat down in the waters of the East River. Still reeling from the tragedy, Ziele transferred to a police department north of New York, to escape the city and all the memories it conjured.

But only a few months into his new life in a quiet country town, he’s faced with the most shocking homicide of his career to date: Young Sarah Wingate has been brutally murdered in her own bedroom in the middle of an otherwise calm and quiet winter afternoon. After just one day of investigation, Simon’s contacted by Columbia University’s noted criminologist Alistair Sinclair, who offers a startling claim about one of his patients, Michael Fromley—that the facts of the murder bear an uncanny resemblance to Fromley’s deranged mutterings.

But what would have led Fromley, with his history of violent behavior and brutal fantasies, to seek out Sarah, a notable mathematics student and a proper young lady who has little in common with his previous targets? Is Fromley really a murderer, or is someone mimicking him?

This is what Simon Ziele must find out, with the help of the brilliant but self-interested Alistair Sinclair—before the killer strikes again.

With this taut, atmospheric, and original story of a haunted man who must search for a killer while on the run from his own demons, Stefanie Pintoff’s In the Shadow of Gotham marks the debut of an outstanding new talent, the inaugural winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America Best First Crime Novel Competition.

BLOGGING THIS WEEK: JOHN HART!

JOHN HART is the author of the New York Times bestseller The King of Lies and his second book, Down River, won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. He continues to make his home in North Carolina with his family.

Fresh off his success with the Edgar Award-winner and New York Times bestseller Down River, John Hart returns with a moving literary thriller that illustrates his masterful understanding of human nature and proves to be his most poignant and intricately-plotted novel yet.

Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon has a plan. He has a map and his bike. Exactly one year ago his twin sister, Alyssa, went missing and is now presumed dead, but Johnny refuses to believe it.

Detective Clyde Hunt has spent the last year devoted entirely to Alyssa’s case—he’s lost weight, lost his wife, and will soon lose his job if he can’t put the case behind him. But when another girl goes missing, the memories of the past year come back into sharp focus, and Hunt refuses to lose another child. And maybe, just maybe the missing girl will lead him to Alyssa…

Determined to find his sister even if the authorities cannot, Johnny goes looking for the dark side of his hometown. What he finds is a legacy of darkness—a town with an underbelly far blacker than anyone could’ve imagined—and somewhere at the bottom of it all, with the help of his best friend, and a giant of a man with his own bleak past, Johnny finds the truth.

The Last Child is a story that explores boundaries: county lines; red circles around properties on a tax map; what happens when you cross the line between vice and evil; and the delicate line that separates hope in the face of darkness, and unwavering faith. Once again, John Hart transcends the barrier between thrillers and literature in crafting a story as heartrending as it is redemptive.

Advance Praise for The Last Child:

“With his best novel yet, the Edgar Award-winning Hart (Down River) firmly cements his place alongside the greats of the genre.” –Library Journal (starred review)

“John Hart's The Last Child is a rare accomplishment—a compelling, fast-paced thriller written with a masterful, literary touch. You'll feel this story as much in your heart as in your gut.”  --Jeffery Deaver, author of The Bodies Left Behind

Praise for Down River:

“This book should settle once and for all the question of whether thrillers and mysteries can also be literature.” --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Evocative storytelling and lush prose.” --Boston Globe

“Down River falls squarely in the league of the best of Southern novels.” --South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“A sensitive rumination on the emotional force of family dynamics.” --Washington Post

“There are few books published that can legitimately be called a ‘must-read,’ but this is one of them.” --Chicago Sun-Times

“If you value Harper Lee, James Lee Burke, Truman Capote, and Michael Malone… it’s time to add John Hart to your bookshelves.” --Otto Penzler, New York Sun

“A truly splendid novel with a deep emotional core.”  --Booklist (starred review)

“Hart’s sophomore effort surpasses his debut….The writing is simply superb.” --Library Journal (starred review)

"Sometimes, early success can be a curse for a writer....That's definitely not the case with North Carolina's John Hart...With Down River…he's only gotten better." --Winston-Salem Journal

Praise for John Hart and The King of Lies:

“A striking new talent.” --Entertainment Weekly (Grade A)

“A gripping performance.” --People Magazine

“A masterful piece of writing.” --The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)

“The King of Lies moves and reads like a book on fire.” --Pat Conroy

Blogging This Week: Ken Bruen

Ken Bruen has been a finalist for the Edgar and Anthony Awards, and has won a Macavity Award, a Barry Award, and two Shamus Awards for the Jack Taylor series. He has been an English teacher in Africa, Japan, Southeast Asia, and South America. He lives in Galway, Ireland.


When a letter containing a list of victims arrives in the post, P.I. Jack Taylor tells  himself that it’s got nothing to do with him. He has enough to do just staying sane. His close friend Ridge is recovering from surgery, and alcohol’s siren song is calling to him ever more insistently.

A guard and then a judge die in mysterious circumstances. But it is not until a child is added to the list that Taylor determines to find the identity of the killer, and stop them at any cost. What he doesn’t know is that his relationship with the killer is far closer than he thinks. And it’s about to become deeply personal.

Spiked with dark humor, and fueled with rage at man’s inhumanity to man, this is crime writing at its darkest and most original.

Blogging This Week: Jane Haddam!

JANE HADDAM, finalist for both the Edgar and the Anthony Awards, is the author of over twenty novels. She lives in Litchfield County, Connecticut.

In her 91 years, Ann-Victoria Hadley has often been the most hated person in Snow Hill, Pennsylvania. But now, it's worse than ever.  After a new school board inserted "intelligent design" into the curriculum, they were sued by a coalition including Hadley, the one member of the board who wouldn't go along with rest. With the trial about to start and the town held up as a national laughing stock, Annie-Vic is found clubbed into unconsciousness and not expected to survive. The local police chief, part of the school board himself, can't investigate, doesn't want to leave it to the state police, so he decides to bring Gregor Demarkian in.
Gregor Demarkian, former FBI agent, is only happy to help - his wedding is coming up and he's desperate for a bit of time away from his too-involved neighbors on Cavanaugh Street in Philadelphia. Even if it is to investigate a brutal crime in a powder-keg of a small town.

Blogging This Week: Jane K. Cleland

JANE K. CLELAND once owned a rare book and antiques store in New Hampshire and now lives in Manhattan. She is president of the New York chapter of Mystery Writers of America and chair of the Wolfe Pack literary awards. Her first novel, Consigned to Death, was an IMBA bestseller and Agatha Award nominee. Her second, Deadly Appraisal, was awarded the David for Mystery 48 Novel of 2007 at Deadly Ink. 

One of the mainstays of Prescott’s Antiques and Appraisals has always been the cheerful and helpful assistant, Gretchen, who turned up unexpectedly just as Josie was setting up shop in New Hampshire. Gretchen has always been so dependable that it seems odd when she doesn’t show up for work one day. Surprise soon turns to alarm when a dead body is found in Gretchen’s house, with Gretchen the prime suspect.

How much does Josie know about Gretchen, anyway? Enough to believe she isn’t capable of murder, so Josie, with a crack team of antiques appraisers at her side, sets out to find the real killer and bring Gretchen home safely, no matter the cost.

Blogging This Week: Louise Ure!

LOUISE URE currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and whichever senior golden retriever rescue dog has most recently captured her heart. She is the Shamus Award-winning author of Forcing Amaryllis and The Fault Tree. This is her third novel.

“Hands On Emergency. This is Jessie. Is there an emergency in the vehicle?”

Roadside Assistance Operator, Jessie Dancing, knows what it’s like to take a life, and she’s trying to put that memory behind her. But when the call comes in from real estate tycoon Darren Markson, she thinks she hears him being killed while she’s on the phone with him. This can’t be, but she knows the world of violence and death is never far away. Jessie travels from Phoenix to her hometown of Tucson to let Markson’s wife hear that last communication from her husband. But according to Emily he’s very much alive...

www.louiseure.com
http://us.macmillan.com/liarsanonymous

Blogging This Week: Marshall Karp

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An award-winning former advertising executive, MARSHALL KARP is a playwright, screenwriter, and has been a writer, producer, and executive producer on TV shows for all the major networks. Flipping Out is the third mystery in the Lomax & Biggs series, which includes The Rabbit Factory and Bloodthirsty. Karp lives in the Hudson Valley region of New York, where he is at work on the further adventures of Lomax & Biggs.

This long-awaited third installment in Marshall Karp’s popular Lomax and Biggs series is a wild tale of murder, deceit, and suspense, neatly woven together with Karp’s characteristic laugh-out-loud humor, richly drawn characters, and rapid-fire wit.

Nora Bannister buys run-down houses in LA, and while her business partners turn each one into a showpiece, Nora makes it the scene of a grisly murder and the star of the next book in her bestselling House To Die For series. As soon as the book goes on sale, there’s a bidding frenzy for the house.  It seems a lot of people are willing to pay a lot of money to live in a real house where a fictional character has died a violent death.

Just before Nora’s latest book hits the market, one of her house-flipping partners is murdered.  LAPD Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs are assigned the case, but this one is hot a potato – the dead woman is also the wife of one of their fellow cops. As Mike and Terry dig into the victim’s private life, more bodies turn up: Nora is murdered, along with her daughter Julia, the wife of another cop. 

Is someone stalking cops’ families, or is the killer out to murder the house-flippers?   Either way, Mike and Terry have to track the killer down before he murders his next logical target – Marilyn Biggs, Terry’s wife.