June 2008 Archives

The sister duo of P.J. Parrish (Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols) have written nine books, most featuring the character of former police officer Louis Kincaid.  Their seventh novel, An Unquiet Grave, won the Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original of 2006 and the Shamus Award from the Private Eye Writers of America. Their follow-up, A Thousand Bones, has been nominated for a Thriller Award in the Best Paperback Original of 2007 category.  Their new novel, South of Hell, continues their amazing string of successes.

How did you both end up collaborating?

To make a long sad story shorter and sweeter: Kris had four books published in the Eighties in women's fiction (i.e. long, heartfelt family saga kind of things) but got let go as part of a coup d'etat at her publishing house. She decided to take an agent's advice and try writing mysteries instead. But her first effort was really bad (nobody dead in the first 200 pages. The agent advised her to read some P.D. James and try again). Kelly, coincidently, had been working in a Mississippi casino while trying to write her own novel about a young biracial cop who becomes entangled in a twenty-year-old lynching case. Kris's husband suggested they team up and thus was born Louis Kincaid.

How do you write together?

It has become so easy that we now wonder how anyone can write alone. We live in separate states so we rely on almost daily phone conversations with an annual in-the-flesh meeting (usually two to three weeks) where we sprint to the finish line together. We write equally -- roughly every other chapter -- but only after lengthy discussions of plot, motive, etc. We don't outline but we try to work from a template of about four chapters at a time. Writing for us is like traveling down a road at night; we know our destination but we can only see ahead as far as our headlights go. After we agree on a template, we take "assignments" based on who has the better feel for the scene, write our chapters and then exchange them over AOL for massaging and input as needed. We've developed many tricks over the decade we've been working together, such as: keeping detailed plot chronologies, location photos, and character boards (photos we cut from magazines so we agree on what characters look like. The Florida Department of Corrections website is a great source as are society magazines, oddly enough). We also have a system of plotting using Post-It notes, on which we write the basic details of each scene or chapter and then put them on a large board. They are color-coded: Yellow for basic "case" plot, blue for backstory, and pink for "personal" scenes. If we have a multiple POV story, we add colors for the various POVs. This makes it easy to move various scenes around as needed and keep a balance between action scenes and scenes that dwell more on character. It also helps us keep POVs in balance so one is not too dominant. This might sound anal, but seeing your story broken down this way -- much like story-boarding in movies -- allows us to keep a tighter rein on the story's arc, its pacing and its suspense quotient.

Monthly Book Giveaway

Congratulations to James Autry, the winner of this month's BIG THRILL giveaway. James will receive an assortment of signed thrillers including NO ONE LIVES FOREVER by Jordan Dane, THE HUNTED by Mike Dellosso, SAVING PAULO by David J. Walker, LAST RUN by Hilary Norman, NICK OF TIME by Ted Bell, and TELL NO LIES by Julie Compton.

All subscribers to THE BIG THRILL webzine are automatically eligible for the monthly drawing. Click here to subscribe to the BIG THRILL email.

"Write what you know." -- Ridley Pearson

Ridley Pearson certainly knows how to write top notch thrillers.  No stranger to best seller lists, Ridley Pearson is the author of more than twenty novels, including the Lou Boldt series.  But with his most recent thriller, Killer View, Pearson shows us that he can write what he knows too.  In Killer View, Pearson takes us back to his adopted hometown of Sun Valley Idaho in this follow-up to last year's best-seller, Killer Weekend.

"Write what you know.  I have lived, full or part time in the Sun Valley area for over twenty years.  When I looked for a setting for a new series, my agent, Amy Berkhower, happened to be reading about a lavish business conference that takes place each year in Sun Valley, and she proposed it as a story idea.  It dawned on both of us how Sun Valley has changed, how policing it has changed, and that it was a rich backdrop for, of all things, a crime series.  What's fun for me: I know all the players (many of the characters are based on real life individuals I've known for twenty years) and I know the crimes that have happened there over the years."

Just back from stress leave, Detective Kate Farrer's attends a brutal crime scene. The charred corpse of a young woman, burned beyond recognition, smolders on a bed near a bag full of baby items. Autopsy reveals that the victim had recently given birth. Yet no child has been found.

Teamed with a new partner, Oliver Parke, Kate struggles to hold her own demons at bay - while also pursuing leads in the seemingly unrelated affair of a missing teenager who was keeping secrets that may have cost her her life. But as disturbing clues begin linking the two investigations - and another unspeakably cruel murder secures the knot - Kate and Oliver realize, with horror, that a desperate killer's next victim might be the most innocent one of all.

"Well-constructed and strikingly written...brims with forensic and procedural detail and psychological suspense" The Age

"Fox strews just enough clues to keep readers guessing, then twists the plot assuredly. Both Farrer and Parke are delightful turns on the standard "veteran and rookie" buddy pairing, as Oliver demonstrates fresh ideas and reasoning that make him an excellent counterpart for Kate's cynicism and experience. Fox ties several story lines together deftly, and the forensics enrich the story." -- Publishers Weekly

Kathryn Fox is a medical practitioner with a special interest in forensic medicine. She is the award-winning author of the internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed thrillers MALICIOUS INTENT and WITHOUT CONSENT. Her books are sold in over 30 countries and translated into over a dozen languages.

Kathryn combines her passions for reading and medicine as the patron of a reading program for disadvantaged families, promoting the inextricable link between literacy and health.

In the midst of the American invasion of Iraq, an international cast of schemers, spies, churchmen, and scientists race to claim the greatest archaeological prize the world has ever known. But who is buried under the sands of ancient Babylon? Molly O'Dwyer, brilliant and beautiful young American archaeologist, is convinced that she is destined to find it. But to do so she will have to outwit the ruthless former chief of intelligence for Sadaam Hussein, a shadowy rival archaeologist who is not who he appears to be, a crazed American with US army backing, and a Muslim holy man on a mission to save his country.

"Fans of intellectual thrillers and historical fiction will find a worthy new voice in Clenott. With the ease of a seasoned novelist, he takes readers from the bowels of Aby Ghraib and the streets of ancient Jerusalem to the stuffy offices of Boston academia and the desert enclave of a devout imam...Given such an auspicious start, the sequel can't come too soon." -- ForeWord Magazine, featured review

"This is a very readable thriller... Clenott takes a risk, setting the tale in Iraq during the American invasion but focusing not on the conflict itself but on a story that exists outside it. And, yet, he does a fine job of making his readers feel the violence of the invasion without overwhelming us with it... it never takes our interest away from The Da Vinci Code-like draw of this compelling variation..." -- Booklist

"Hunting the King is a page-turning adventure featuring American archaeologist Molly O'Dwyer whose search for truth drops her into the middle of the American/Iraqi military operations surrounded by people who may or may not be her friends and allies. I read it straight through, and it's already featured prominently on my fiction shelf." -- The Kaleidoscope, a Book Sense Store

Peter Clenott was born and raised in Portland, Maine and moved to Boston after graduating Bowdoin College. Married with three kids, he has worked for many years in the non-profit world, focusing on the homeless and at-risk families of Massachusetts.

Authors have it drilled into our heads from the moment we begin our writing careers to "write what you know." Since some of the best thrillers have come from those with backgrounds in law enforcement and the legal system, it's no surprise that debut author Raffi Yessayan's first novel, Eight in the Box, is expected to be a big success.

A promotion from district court prosecutor to the District Attorney's Gang Unit after two years is something to crow about. But to spend another nine years as a prosecutor on the Gang Unit, including four years as its chief, is credential enough for Yessayan to write the stories of Assistant District Attorney Connie Darget, Homicide Detective Angel Alves and his hard-driving boss, Sergeant Wayne Mooney, as they track a killer dubbed the "Blood Bath Killer," who is terrorizing Boston. The French Connection's author, Robin Moore, who sadly passed away recently, wasn't shy about his praise. "Eight in the Box is an awesome, sometimes chilling legal thriller . . . Yessayan may be the best prosecutor-turned-crime-writer to hit the streets since George V. Higgins and Scott Turow."

International bestselling author Brad Thor writes blazing hot thrillers in the Robert Ludlum tradition. So you might not guess that his literary pedigree includes one T. C. Boyle and the creative writing program at the University of Southern California.

"Tom is a terrific teacher who taught me the mechanics and intricacies of storytelling," Thor explains. "He is not only very talented and extremely bright he's also one hell of a great guy.  He's exactly the kind of person you want teaching you creative writing. As students, we created voluminous amounts of fiction in his classes that we work-shopped every week.  It was the ideal environment in which to perfect the craft of writing."

How, then, did Thor find himself pursuing the thriller genre?

"It happened after I graduated from USC," he says. "I had moved to Paris, where I studied abroad my junior year, and decided to begin work on a thriller. I got about five chapters into it before packing my laptop up and sending it home.  Years later, I realized I had done that because I was afraid of failing.  What if I take all this time to write a novel and it doesn't get published or no one likes it?"

Reflecting on that decision now, Thor calls that fear "ridiculous. I've learned that which we are most afraid of pursuing is usually that which we were destined to pursue."

Thor went on to other things, but on his honeymoon his wife asked him what he would regret on his deathbed if he didn't try it.

"I didn't even have to think about it," says Thor. "It was writing a novel and getting it published."

On the trail of a serial killer, the path splits in two...

FBI Special Agent Kelly Jones has worked on many disturbing cases in her career, but nothing like this. A mass gravesite unearthed on the Appalachian Trail puts Kelly at the head of an investigation that crosses the line--from Massachusetts to Vermont, from wealthy vacationers to poor transients, from a serial killer to a copycat nemesis.

Assisted by law enforcement from both states and a forensic anthropologist, Kelly searches for the killers. But as darkness falls, another victim is taken. Kelly must race to save him before he joins the rest...in the boneyard.

"Boneyard is a winner! A compelling page-turner." -- Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author

"I defy anyone to read the first chapter of Boneyard and put the book down." -- Douglas Preston, New York Times bestselling author

Michelle Gagnon is a former modern dancer, dog walker, bartender, freelance journalist, personal trainer, model, and Russian supper club performer. Her debut thriller The Tunnels was published in the United States and Australia, and was an IMBA bestseller. Described as "Silence of the Lambs meets The Wicker Man," the story involves a series of ritualized murders in the abandoned tunnel system beneath a university.

Kelli Stanley's background as a classicist helps her bring ancient Londinium to vivid life in her debut novel Nox Dormienda (A Long Night for Sleeping). Arcturus, hard boiled private investigator and doctor to the governor, rips through the seamy side of Londinium as his investigation unfolds at a pace that reminds Ken Bruen of "a gladiator on speed." Welcome to the new world of Roman Noir.

Tell us about the dames and dangers that Arcturus spars with in your debut novel Nox Dormienda.

Well, let's see. There's a giant, one-eyed proprietor of a whorehouse. An irritating imbecile in charge of Londinium's vigiles (a kind of police force). A bearded Druid who loves to fight. A blonde woman so beautiful that he loses his breath just thinking about her, who may or may not be as much trouble as she seems. A well-bred Roman, recently demoted in class status. An insecure and uncertain governor. An Egyptian prostitute. A jealous slave. And a fat, dead Syrian spy, found on an altar in an underground temple with his throat slit open. Plus others - it's a big cast.

J.A. Konrath burst onto the thriller scene in 2004 with his novel, Whiskey Sour, the first in a Chicago-based series featuring Chicago homicide cop, Lieutenant Jacquelyn "Jack" Daniels. Konrath's edgy, violent, but raucously funny novels carved out a niche in the thriller landscape, and Konrath quickly became known in the writing community for his humor, generosity and seemingly boundless marketing energies. J.A. recently pulled up a chair, poured a drink, and let The Big Thrill be the straight man in a comedy routine, talking about his new novel, Fuzzy Navel and what's going on in his life.

Tell us about Fuzzy Navel.

It all takes place during an 8-hour period, in real time. A maniac from Jack's past breaks into her house to take some bloody revenge. Meanwhile, Jack is working on a sniper case, and she's followed home by three rifle-wielding psychos. Jack and everyone she holds dear are soon trapped inside her house with a serial killer, but they can't escape because they're surrounded by rifle-wielding crackpots. Action ensues.

Also, there's a ship captain who is obsessed with killing a white whale. The twist is, the whale turns out to be his father. Okay, I'm lying about the last part. The whale actually turns out to be his second cousin.

Any particular story behind how you came up with this idea?

I thought it would be fun to put Jack in a terrible situation without the ability to escape. Sort of kick the tension up a notch, and not give the readers a chance to catch their breath. In many ways, it's much different from the previous Jack books, focusing more on action and suspense, but hopefully it still retains the humor and character relationships that my readers seem to enjoy.

Plus, it's printed on acid-free paper which, when burned, provides a cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels. I encourage everyone to buy multiple copies as a way to combat the rising cost of foreign oil. And my publisher is having a special promotion. If you buy a copy at full price, you can get a second copy at full price.

Also, the book cures cancer. Look, just by the damn thing. My family needs to eat.

ITW Debut Author Julie Kramer's thriller, Stalking Susan, has been receiving rave reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus.  

In preparation for Stalking Susan's release, Julie took time from her hectic life producing TV news to talk with The Big Thrill.

You work as a free-lance producer for NBC News.  What exactly is a producer?

A producer is a off air journalist. Some producers work in the newsroom coordinating action or writing copy. Most of my time is spent in the field. I land guests. I conduct interviews. I feed tape. I gather facts. I coordinate live shots. I try to be first with whatever I'm chasing. I was the first journalist to get the Larry Craig audio tape. I was the first journalist to get a live interview with one of the children on the bus after the Minneapolis bridge collapse. I was the first journalist to get the flight school emails from Zacarias Moussaoui after the September 11th attacks.

What's your typical day like?

As a freelance television news producer, most days I'm not working. And that's fine because right now, fiction has my attention. But some days the phone rings and the news desk wants to know if I can go to the airport NOW.  Because I live in Minnesota, I'm geographically central, so there are places I can get to faster than the rest of the media pack.  We work out my availability before I even know what the story is--whether I've gotten myself into a school shooting or a flood. My job is not glamorous. Generally I go to spots the folks in New York don't want to go. Sometimes with just the clothes on my back. And that often means buying clean socks and underwear at gas stations in remote parts of the country and asking motel clerks if anyone's left a cell phone charger behind that's compatible with mine.

It can be exhausting and unpredictable. The days can start early and go late. And every night I pray this book might be my ticket out. But at same time, television news is good for material, and I like to live my research, so I don't think I'd give it up altogether.

Charlie Long, celebrating the loss of his job with a couple of mid-day beers, sees two thugs murder a man who's shielding a frightened little boy. Charlie snatches the boy and runs...and is quickly caught in a web that stretches from Russia to Rio, from the mansions of Lake Forest to the huts of the Amazon Basin.

"Saving Paulo is...a complex thriller with a compassionate heart. This is a twisting, turning story about a group of misfits who do their best to rescue a boy worth saving, and Walker had me rooting for them every step of the way." -- William Kent Krueger

"This is Edgar nominee Walker's first stand-alone thriller. Readers should be hooked from the first scene. What follows is a plunge into a protracted chase... through a wonderfully sustained suspense story." -- Booklist

David J. Walker is the author of nine mystery/suspense novels. His latest, Saving Paulo, is a stand-alone novel described in Booklist as "a wonderfully sustained suspense story." He is also the author of two private eye series: the "Mal Foley" series, and the "Wild Onion, Ltd." series. His short story, A Weekend in the Country, recently appeared in the critically acclaimed anthology, Chicago Blues.

Walker has been an Edgar® nominee, and has served on the Board of Directors of Mystery Writers of America. He is a full-time writer and lives just north of Chicago.

Contributed to THE BIG THRILL by Albert T. Longden

Sax Rohmer...a name to conjure when evoking literary icon's of the last century. Creator of one of the most enduring, if not endearing characters of all time, the first true "super-villain", Dr. Fu Manchu. Some Holmesian adherents might argue that Dr. Moriarty occupies that niche, but Moriarty for all his genius never created an "elixir of life" or genetically altered spiders and fungi. This one creation, the insidious Dr. Fu Manchu, has influenced a myriad of writers and characters over the years. We can easily see the parallels between "Fu" and Ian Fleming's Dr. No or the wonderful Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon. Indeed, Earl Derr Biggers created Charlie Chan, in part because of the fame of the "Devil Doctor" Biggers, feeling there needed to be an Asian hero to counterbalance Rohmer's creation.

FBI Agent Jack Crowne barely manages to rescue his passenger, Dr. Timothy MacLean, after crash landing his Cessa in a remote valley near Parlow, Kentucky. MacLean, a prominent psychiatrist under Agent Crowne's protection, has a patient list of big-wig Washington elites and is the target of several recent murder attempts. At the crash site crowne gets help from a young woman, Rachael Abbott, who is escaping from vengeful assassins herself. Returning characters Agents Savich and Sherlock join in this baffling double mystery as mayhem continues to follow both the enigmatic Rachael and the very unwell Dr. MacLean. Suspects are thick on the ground, murder attempts are vicious and immediate, and the terror escalates. In addition to all this, there's no cell phone reception in Parlow, Kentucky. Go figure. What are the poor feds to do?

"Coulter, one of the best suspense authors, is in top form, providing readers with a pulse-pounding mystery that continues until the breathless conclusion." -- Library Journal

"The twelfth thriller featuring agents Savich and Sherlock is one of Coulter's best, delivering her trademark quips and nonstop action as the heroes chase bad guys from Kentucky to Washington, D.C." -- Booklist

Catherine Coulter has written 62 books and has over 60 million books in print worldwide. In 1988, she appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List and has continued to hit The List 57 times now. Her newest thriller, TailSpin, is the 12th book in her terrifically popular FBI series. Catherine loves to travel and ski, but her favorite pastime above all is watching professional fottball. She and her husband and two cats, Corky and Cleo, live in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area.

At 36,000 feet, the cyber-battle has begun and the stakes are higher than life-or-death. Matt Newton and his fellow passengers aboard Flight 1787 from Kennedy Airport face a series of desperate struggles; both real and virtual. They must defeat a fearless enemy, who uses secret technology and ruthless violence in a grab to achieve a sacred goal. The odds are impossible, the consequences beyond reckoning.

"Sean Michael Bailey's 1787 is an edge-of-your-seat thriller, the likes of which you've never read before... Buckle your seatbelts and prepare for the flight of your life with this heart-stopping drama that will grip you until the very last page. You won't want to put this book down." -- Lisa Pulitzer, author of The Daughters of Juarez

"Sean Michael Bailey, the pseudonym for a bestselling author of non-fiction, re-imagines an old scenario with a few new twists in this Poseidon Adventure translated for post-9/11 air travel. ... The inventive way the villains engineer their attack must have alarmed someone during the publishing process; the reader is assured that the manuscript was vetted for classified information that "might adversely impact national security." ... Bailey's thinly-veiled allusions to the cowboy commander-in-chief and his czarist number-two can be hilarious if you're game for that sort of thing." -- Nicole K. Sia, Mystery Scene Magazine

Sean Michael Bailey is the pen name of a New York Times bestselling author of True Crime books who has gone from the Dark Side to the Darker Side, in a switch to thriller fiction. 1787is his first novel.

When her best friend is accused of stealing a rare violin, Marley Zimmerman, a funky 13- year-old New Yorker, decides to investigate. Danger and adventure follow her through the streets and landmarks of the city as she pursues the thief of the Bloodstained Violin.

Jim Fusilli is the author of five novels, one non-fiction book, the editor of "The Chopin Manuscript" and The Wall Street Journal's rock and pop critic. 

Lily Kessler, a former spy for the OSS, comes to Los Angeles to find the killer of her late fiance's sister Kitty, an actress whose body is found below the Hollywood sign. As she investigates, she encounters fiercely competitive starlets, gangsters, an eccentric special effects genius, exotic denizens of Hollywood nightclubs and a homicide detective who might distract her quest for justice.

"One great ride into classic L.A. noir. Smart, passionate and filled with heart." -- Robert Ferrigno

"Hamilton captures L.A. in a way that's comparable to the skills of Michael Connelly and Robert Crais." -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Denise Hamilton is a writer-journalist whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Cosmopolitan and the New York Times and is a Fulbright scholar and the author of five Eve Diamond crime novels. She is also the editor of and a contributor to Los Angeles Noir, a short story anthology tha won the So. Calif. Independent Booksellers Award. She lives with her family in Los Angeles.

The headquarters of an American oil company hemorrhages chemical-pink smoke into the Moscow night, the aftermath of an apparent terrorist attack. A Russian army captain carrying a priceless Fabergé egg and digital evidence of horrific wartime atrocities is murdered. A young girls has disappeared. And, in the snowy mountains of southern Russia, a terrorist named Abreg--who once held Volk captive in a Chechnya mud pit--hatches a plan to lure Volk back into his grasp.

Volk's Shadow finds Volk--covert agent of the Russian Army and major player in the Moscow underworld--once again struggling to stay afloat in the swirling currents of political and economic intrigue in modern-day Russia.

"Thrillmaster Ghelfi's deft and controlled writing viscerally describes the snarling Russian underworld. . . . Expect Volk--and, one hopes, Valya--to join Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko in the top ranks." -- Library Journal (starred review)

"Brent Ghelfi writes like Dostoevsky's hooligan great grandson on speed. Highly recommended." -- Lee Child

Brent Ghelfi has served as a clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals, been a partner in a Phoenix-headquartered law firm, and now owns and operates several businesses. He has traveled extensively in Russia, and lives in Phoenix with his wife and two sons. He is currently working on the sequel to Volk's Shadow.

He was the most talented undercover agent in FBI history, until he dropped completely off the grid, and hasn't been heard from in years. Did he go native, or was he discovered and killed? When Tony Wolf is finally driven out into the open, torn from deep cover during the rescue of two kidnapped children, he becomes the number one target of both the vicious biker gang he double-crossed and a massive Federal manhunt.

But Tony's tired of being the hunted, and as both the gang and a traitorous FBI agent converge on a small southern town, they're all about to learn a hard lesson: When the Wolf breaks cover, he doesn't always run away.

Sometimes he comes straight at your throat.

"Breaking Cover won't surprise J.D. Rhoades' fans, who already know just how good he is, but it should win him many more. A breath-taking pace, paired with a sure sense of character and place, makes this book another winner. Rhoades' star on the mystery scene is rising almost as fast as his own stories rocket across the page." -- Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of Another Thing To Fall

"Breaking Cover is one of those rare thrillers that combine smart, tense prose with a momentum that never quits. J.D. Rhoades revs this baby into action from the get-go and never eases up on the throttle." -- Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author of The Keepsake

J.D. Rhoades was born and raised in North Carolina. He has worked as a radio news reporter, club DJ, television cameraman, ad salesman, waiter, practicing attorney, and newspaper columnist. His first novel, The Devil's Right Hand, was released in 2005; Good Day in Hell, his second novel featuring North Carolina bail bondsman Jack Keller, was released in March 2006. Safe and Sound, July 2007, also features Jack Keller. He lives, writes, and practices law in Carthage, North Carolina.

Psychotherapist Mark Schorr's thrilling sequel to the widely-praised Borderline has counselor Brian Hanson risking his life and reputation to scourge his own wounds.

Brian Hanson is a combat vet with PTSD and a history of substance abuse, who has turned his life around and become a counselor in Portland, Oregon. He works with some of the city's most challenging mental health and addictions cases, helping them battle suicidal, and sometimes homicidal, urges.

When an FBI raid goes badly for his girlfriend, special agent Louise Parker, her resiliency is tested. Alienated and under investigation by the agency she was loyal to, an overwhelmed Louise relies on Brian's support. But a cunning stalker is deliberately sabotaging her life, and she struggles as the harasser grows more and more aggressive.

Brian and Louise face a menace that puts their relationship, and their lives, in danger.

"Excellent...has suspense, action, surprises and edge-of-the-seat thrills." -- Phil Margolin, New York Times bestselling author of Executive Privilege.

"Gripping...Hanson is a compelling amateur sleuth" -- Publishers Weekly on Borderline

"A fast-paced thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. I loved it." -- Steve Hodel, author of non-fiction Edgar-nominated Black Dahlia Avenger on Borderline

At an early age, Mark Schorr was abandoned by wolves and raised by his parents. He's lived in New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and, for the 20/20 years, in Portland Oregon. He's been a private eye, bouncer, bookstore manager, investigative reporter, magazine writer, TV field producer, trainer, and for the past 16 years, a psychotherapist.

When strip-club night manager and part time extortionist Pablo Clench finds out that an ex-girlfriend's new lover has invented a valuable new technology, he makes plans to steal it. Scientist Aaron Rogell is a great inventor but a lousy husband. His serial philandering leaves him vulnerable to Clench's schemes. But Clench's plans come badly unglued, and blackmailer, victim, and everyone who depends on them end up in a race to stay alive and unmolested by nanoscale robots.

"Lecard follows his acclaimed debut, Vinnie's Head (2007) with a second crime novel that deftly mixes dark humor with a fast-moving plot. . . . The various plot lines converge in a farcical blend of violence and satire that will have many readers grinning in spite of themselves." -- Publisher's Weekly

Marc Lecard doesn't know much about nanotechnology, but he knows what he likes. He lives in Oakland, California.

In 1421, an armada set sail from Beijing, China with a mission: to amass riches, chart the entire globe and proclaim the glory of its emperor and the new crown jewel he had created--the Forbidden City. The result was the first true map of the world. But by the time the armada returned, China had overthrown its emperor, banning all future voyages and turning inward. Ultimately the evidence of the emperor's global ambition was destroyed... or so we think. Historians have long suspected that the knowledge the Chinese unearthed not only survived, but made its way to Europe, where it became a closely guarded secret for centuries.

Weaving rich historical detail into a fast-paced suspense-fiction ride, The Map Thief is the story of an incredible map's riveting journey through the murky underworld of stolen artifacts--from the dragon ships of the Ming Dynasty to the school of Europe's most famous explorers, from the hallowed halls of royalty into the boardrooms of New York City--a globe-trotting adventure of epic proportions.

"Provocative, well-documented, and evocative." -- Javier Sierra, author of The Secret Supper

"Heather Terrell's new thriller moves effortlessly through time as she maps out a suspenseful novel that's as smart and well-written as it is inventive, original and surprising. The Map Thief cements Terrell's position as one of the genre's up-and-coming stars and positions this series as one to watch and wait for ... with bated breath." -- M. J. Rose, author of The Reincarnationist

Heather Terrell is the author of The Chrysalis. A lawyer with more than ten years of experience at two of the country's premier law firms and for Fortune 500 companies, she is a graduate of Boston College and of the Boston University School of Law. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family.

What if you could bioengineer the next great world prophet: scientifically produce the next Buddha, the next Muhammad, or the next Jesus? Would it mark the Second Coming or initiate a chain reaction with disastrous consequences? James Rollins brings back SIGMA Force to battle a group of rogue scientists who've unleashed a bioengineering project that could bring about the extinction of humankind.

From ancient Greek temples to glittering mausoleums, from the slums of India to the toxic ruins of Russia, two men must race against time to solve a mystery that dates back to the first famous oracle of history--the Greek Oracle of Delphi.

But one question remains: Will the past be enough to save the future?

"Gypsies, power-mad Russians bent on unleashing enough radioactivity to poison the world, rogue American spy agencies and genetically enhanced wolves and tigers. Lots of absorbing scientific information and tantalizing sentences like keep the pages flying by." -- Publishers Weekly

James Rollins is the New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers, sold to over thirty countries. His last three thrillers Map of Bones, Black Order, and The Judas Strain earned national accolades, such as one of 2005's "top crowd pleasers (New York Times) and as one of 2006's "hottest summer reads (People Magazine). He was also hand-picked to novelize this summer's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. His most current thriller, The Last Oracle, hit stands June 24, 2008.

You don't want to get caught in this monster's web...

For FBI Special Agent Kimberly Quincy, counting down the days to her impending maternity leave, the story a young prostitute tells is too horrifying to be true. A lunatic is preying on young girls and using spiders to do his dirty work. But without any bodies as proof, is Kimberly tracking a serial killer who's found the key to the perfect murder...or being lured into his foolproof trap? Kimberly is about to find out that she's close--too close--to a psychopath who makes women's nightmares come alive.

"A twisted, spellbinding thriller...heart-stopping suspense."-- Harlan Coben

"Gripping." -- Wall Street Journal

"Chilling." -- People Magazine

Lisa Gardner is the New York Times bestselling author of eleven novels, including ALONE, GONE, HIDE and SAY GOODBYE. She lives in the New England area with her family, where she's hard at work on her next novel or, more likely, out hiking. For more information, visit www.LisaGardner.com, where you can nominate the person of your choice to die in the annual Kill a Friend, Maim a Buddy sweepstakes.

Someone is killing the most alluring women of Boston--someone with a keen eye for beauty that masks a twisted mind. Someone who leaves them with nothing but an elegant black stocking knotted around their necks.
 
Detective Lt. must stop the killer before another woman is sacrificed--possibly even his own estranged wife.

Beset with loneliness and addictions, Steve pursues leads all over Boston--from the haunts of blue-blooded Brahmins, to seedy strip joints, to mansions by-the-sea, to the halls of prestigious universities, to the offices of his own precincts--and to the recesses of his own heart, only to discover that he himself may actually be the killer.

In this stunning psychological thriller, bestselling author Gary Braver explores the nature of beauty, how women may strive to achieve it, and the forbidden yearnings that kill in its name.

Contributed to THE BIG THRILL by Simon Wood

Certain people, events and occurrences stick with me and no matter what I do, I can't forget about them.  The death of three men in Bristol, England is something I've never forgotten.  They died a few months apart some time in the late eighties.  They weren't murdered and it wasn't accidental.  All three committed suicide.
 
What drew my attention to these men was the circumstances of their deaths.  All three died in the same city, and they were all working on the same government project.  The first man walked into the sea.  The second hanged himself from the Clifton Suspension Bridge.  The third tied a rope around a tree trunk then around his neck, got into his car and drove away as fast as he could until he ran out of rope.  Needless to say, the deaths made the news, albeit not on a national scale.  The obvious questions were raised.  Why did these men kill themselves?  And did it have anything to do with their work?  The questions went unanswered.  The story sunk below the surface as swiftly as the first victim. 

The Garden of Evil, your sixth Nic Costa book, is coming out this month.  Give us a sneak preview.

One of the ways I try to keep this series fresh is by approaching every book as something completely different. Some are ensemble pieces. This is a tragic story told very much from Nic's point of view. A bleak, mysterious crime has occurred in the vicinity of a painting that appears to be an unknown erotic canvas by Caravaggio. Very soon the hunt for the killer becomes personal, and takes Nic deep into the history of Rome and Caravaggio, the artist and the man. It's a story about coming to terms with grief in many ways.

How has Nic grown as a person since A Season for the Dead, the first in the series?

He's got older, tougher and a little less naive, but there's still a part of him that doesn't understand why we can't all just get along. He's also increasingly having an effect on those around him, making sure they don't stray back to their old, lazy ways. Nic's become the moral fulcrum for these books, which means he's not always easy to be around, or makes good decisions for himself.

Do you think the stakes go up for you, the author, with each book in the series?

This was the sixth in the series and a warning bell was ringing somewhere saying that, if I was going to get sick of Nic and Rome, it would start to happen now. Instead, I loved writing the book more than any of its predecessors, and the seventh and eighth in the series are now complete and just waiting to be published. As I said earlier, I approach each of these books as an entirely fresh project, changing the nature of the story constantly, looking for something new. So to answer your question: no, I don't think the stakes go up, they stay just the same - a little out of reach.

Mystery Readers International has announced nominations for the Macavity Awards. A number of ITW members have been short-listed. Congratulations, everyone!

June 24, 2008: For immediate release:

Mystery Readers International (Mystery Readers Journal) announces the Macavity Award nominations for  works published in 2007. The awards will be presented during opening ceremonies at Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention (Baltimore, October 2008).

For more information on the Macavity Award, go to: http://www.mysteryreaders.org/macavity.html or contact: Janet Rudolph at janet@mysteryreaders.org

Janet A. Rudolph, Editor, Mystery Readers Journal

MACAVITY NOMINEES:

Best Mystery Novel

Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House)
The Unquiet by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton*/Atria)
Blood of Paradise by David Corbett (Ballantine Mortalis)
Water Like a Stone by Deborah Crombie (HarperCollins)
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (Morrow)

Best First Mystery

In the Woods by Tana French (Hodder & Stoughton*/Viking)
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (William Morrow)
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)
Stealing the Dragon by Tim Maleeny (Midnight Ink)
The Collaborator of Bethlehem by Matt Beynon Rees (Soho)

Best Mystery Short Story

"A Rat's Tale" by Donna Andrews (EQMM, Sep-Oct 2007)
"Please Watch Your Step" by Rhys Bowen (The Strand Magazine, Spring 2007)
"The Missing Elevator Puzzle" by Jon L. Breen (EQMM, Feb 2007)
"Brimstone P.I." by Beverle Graves Myers (AHMM, May 2007)
"The Old Wife's Tale" by Gillian Roberts (EQMM, Mar-Apr 2007)

Best Mystery Non-Fiction

Rough Guide to Crime Fiction by Barry Forshaw (Penguin Rough Guides)
Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy by Jean Gould O'Connell (McFarland & Company)
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters, edited by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower & Charles Foley (HarperPress*/Penguin)
Police Procedure and Investigation: A Guide for Writers by Lee Lofland (Howdunit Series, Writers Digest Books)
The Essential Mystery Lists: For Readers, Collectors, and Librarians, compiled and edited by Roger Sobin (Poisoned Pen Press)

Sue Feder Memorial Historical Mystery

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen (Penguin)
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin (Putnam)
The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin (Faber & Faber*/ Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Consequences of Sin by Clare Langley-Hawthorne (Viking*/Penguin)
The Gravediggers Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates (HarperCollins Ecco)
*UK publisher (first edition)

In the current issue of People Magazine, debut author Julie Kramer's STALKING SUSAN is hailed as a Sizzling Summer Read. Says People: "In this snappily paced debut thriller TV reporter Riley Spartz tries to stop a serial killer who is targeting women named Susan. Truly scary, no matter what your name is."

Julie was thrilled to be featured next to Debut Author Sponsor Lee Child, whose latest Jack Reacher novel, NOTHING TO LOSE, was described as "explosive and nearly impossible to put down."

For more on STALKING SUSAN, visit Julie's website: http://www.juliekramerbooks.com/.
For more on Lee Child and Jack Reacher, visit http://www.leechild.com/.

ITW Debut Author Julie Kramer's novel STALKING SUSAN has made the Chicago Tribune's Hot Summer Reads list of Big Thrills!

"Watch out, ladies named Sue. There's a serial killer on the loose, and your name is on his list."  Also included were books by three other ITW authors:  NOTHING TO LOSE by Lee Child, COLLISION by Jeff Abbott, and RULES OF DECEPTION by Christopher Reich.  

From Library Journal, June 1, 2008

At the 2004 Bouchercon World Mystery and Suspense Conference in Toronto, a group of prominent thriller authors hatched a diabolical plot: to establish a new organization that would promote and celebrate thrillers, award prestigious literary prizes, and build connections within the thriller community. Thus was born International Thriller Writers (ITW), Inc. (www.thrillerwriters.org), which will celebrate its third annual Thrillerfest convention July 9-12 in New York City. Here are some thrilling offerings from its members.

They're known as "creepers": urban explorers who investigate abandoned buildings to uncover hidden secrets. In David Morrell's page-turner Creepers (Perseus. 2006. ISBN 978-1-59315-357-1. pap. $7.99), a simple overnight exploration of a gutted hotel in Asbury Park, NJ, turns into a deadly visit. Morrell is considered by many to be the predominant thriller writer today.

In the male-dominated world of espionage, Gayle Lynds is truly a "spymaster." In The Last Spymaster (St. Martin's. 2007. ISBN 978-0-312-98877-7. pap. $6.99), she weaves a tale of intrigue, as legendary CIA agent-turned-traitor Charles "Jay" Tice escapes from a maximum-security facility. The manhunt that follows uncovers a shocking conspiracy.

A microbe found in the depths of the ocean proves to be the key to a medical breakthrough in David Dun's riveting scientific thriller, The Black Silent (Pinnacle: Kensington. 2005. ISBN 978-0-7860-1637-2. pap. $6.99), but will ex-covert operative Sam Wintripp survive long enough to stop a ruthless corporation from misusing this discovery?

"To Dream, To Dare, To Win" personifies Michael Tiranno's life. A master of high finance, he opens an extravagant Las Vegas casino that outshines all the others on the Strip. He also has a secret, and a rival is willing to kill Michael's family and friends to unveil the shocking truth in Jon Land's amazing The Seven Sins (Forge: Tor. 2008. ISBN 978-0-7653-1534-2. $24.95).

Deadly Pleasures and Mystery News, joint presenters of the Barry Awards, have announced the 2008 finalists. ITW members populate the list in the nominations for Best Thriller (previously published in The Big Thrill News) as well as several other categories.

The awards will be presented at Bouchercon (Charmed to Death) in Baltimore, October 9-12.

Congratulations to all!

BEST NOVEL (Published in the U.S. in 2007)

SOUL PATCH, Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House)

THE UNQUIET, John Connolly (Atria)

DOWN RIVER, John Hart (St Martin's Minotaur)

DIRTY MARTINI, J.A. Konrath (Hyperion)

WHAT THE DEAD KNOW, Laura Lippman (Morrow)

RED CAT, Peter Spiegelman (Knopf)

BEST FIRST NOVEL (Published in the U.S. in 2007)

MISSING WITNESS, Gordon Campbell (Morrow)

BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD, Sean Chercover (Morrow)

IN THE WOODS, Tana French (Viking)

THE SPELLMAN FILES, Lisa Lutz (Simon & Schuster)

THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM, Matt Beynon Rees (Soho Press)

THE BLADE ITSELF, Marcus Sakey (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST BRITISH CRIME NOVEL (published in the U.K. in 2007, not necessarily written by a British writer nor set in the U.K. )

A QUIET BELIEF IN ANGELS, R.J. Ellory (Orion)

PIG ISLAND, Mo Hayder (Bantam Press)

ONE UNDER, Graham Hurley (Orion)

THE DEATH LIST, Paul Johnston (Mira)

THE 50/50 KILLER, Steve Mosby (Orion)

DAMNATION FALLS, Edward Wright (Orion)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

QUEENPIN, Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)

BLACK WIDOW AGENCY, Felicia Donovan (Midnight Ink)

CHOKE POINT, Jay MacLarty (Pocket)

THE MARK, Jason Pinter (Mira)

WASH THIS BLOOD CLEAN FROM MY HAND, Fred Vargas (Penguin)

WHO IS CONRAD HIRST?, Kevin Wignall (Simon & Schuster)

BEST THRILLER

NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, Linwood Barclay (Bantam)

THE CLEANER, Brett Battles (Delacorte)

THE WATCHMAN, Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster)

VOLK'S GAME, Brent Ghelfi (Henry Holt)

SILENCE, Thomas Perry (Harcourt)

MIDNIGHT RAMBLER, Jim Swain (Ballantine)

The votes of 2007 and 2008 Bouchercon participants have been tabulated by the Anthony Award Committee (led by John Purcell), and there are many ITW members on the finalist list.

Congratulations to all!

The awards will be voted on and presented at Bouchercon 2008 (Charmed to Death) in Baltimore, October 9-12.

The 2008 Anthony Award Nominees

Best Novel:

James Lee Burke - Tin Roof Blowdown Simon and Schuster

Lee Child - Bad Luck and Trouble Delacorte Press

Robert Crais - The Watchman Simon and Schuster

William Kent Krueger - Thunder Bay Atria

Laura Lippman - What the Dead Know William Morrow

Best First Novel:

Sean Chercover - Big City, Bad Blood William Morrow

Tana French - In the Woods Viking Adult

Lisa Lutz - The Spellman Files Simon and Schuster

Craig MacDonald - Head Games Bleak House Books

Marcus Sakey - The Blade Itself St. Martin Minotaur

Best Paperback Original

Megan Abbot - Queenpin Simon and Schuster

Ken Bruen and Jason Starr - Slide Hard Case Crime

David Corbett - Blood of Paradise Ballantine Books

Robert Fate - Baby Shark's Beaumont Blues Capital Crime Press

P.J. Parrish - A Thousand Bones Pocket

Short Story

Rhys Bowen - "Please Watch Your Step" (The Strand Magazine, Spring 07)

Steve Hockensmith -  "Dear Dr. Watson"  (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine)

Toni L. P. Kelner -   "How Stella Got her Grave Back" (Many Bloody Returns edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner) for Ace Hardcover

Laura Lippman - "Hardly Knew Her" (Dead Man's Hand edited by Otto Penzler) for Harcourt

Daniel Woodrell - "Uncle" (A Hell of A Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir edited by Megan Abbott) for Busted Flush Press

Critical Work

Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower & Charles Foley -  Penguin

The Essential Mystery Lists Compiled by Roger Sobin -  Poisoned Pen Press

The Triumph of the Thriller: How Cops, Crooks and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction  by Patrick Anderson - Random House

Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Christiana Gregoriou Palgrave -  MacMillan

Special Services

Jon and Ruth Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine

Ali Karim - Shotz Magazine

Maddy Van Hertbruggen - 4MA

Sarah Weinman - Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind

Judy Bobalik - for being one of the best friends and supporters of mystery writers anywhere

Web Site

 Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind - Sarah Weinman

Rap sheet/January Magazine  - J Kingston Pierce

Murderati -  A Writer's Blog

Stop, You're Killing Me - Stan Ulrich and Lucinda Surber

Crime Fiction Dossier - David Montgomery

ITW member Charlie Newton's first novel, CALUMET CITY, has made the American Library Association's list of the Best Crime Novel Debuts for 2008.

The Chicago Tribune said CALUMET CITY "was destined to become a cult classic." In a four-column headline Kevin Nance of the Chicago Sun Times wrote: "CHANDLERESQUE: Crime Writer Charlie Newton Actually Deserves the Compliment."

Newton's reaction: "You're typing away, too invisible to be called anonymous, then: L.A. Mystery picks your book for their heavy-hitter book club, asks you to autograph eighty. Seattle Mystery says you're their top seller and their pick for the 2008 Edgars. Nationwide your book goes to No. 2 with the independents. While you're catching your breath, the ALA does this. Funny, libraries saved me as a kid and it looks like they're doing it again."

For more information, visit www.CharlieNewton.com.

The Barry Award is sponsored by Mystery News and Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine and is presented each year at Bouchercon (this year in Baltimore on October 9, 2008). Without further ado, here are the nominations for BEST THRILLER of 2007 -- congratulations to all!

NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, Linwood Barclay (Bantam)

THE CLEANER, Brett Battles (Delacorte)

THE WATCHMAN, Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster)

VOLK'S GAME, Brent Ghelfi (Henry Holt)

SILENCE, Thomas Perry (Harcourt)

MIDNIGHT RAMBLER, Jim Swain (Ballantine)

UPDATE: June 4, 2008. NICK OF TIME will debut on the New York Times Children's Chapter Book Bestseller list at #4.

Ted Bell will debut his first novel for younger readers, NICK OF TIME, on May 13th, 2008. This will be his first book for St. Martin's, and will be a hardcover edition, beautifully illustrated by Russ Kramer, whose work has been compared to the NC Wyeth illustrations for TREASURE ISLAND.

The novel tells the tale of a young boy and his sister, living in England in the summer of 1939. Nazi U-boats are circling their small island home preparatory to invasion. The two children become spies, and eventually heroes, in their efforts to stave off the Germans. A second plotline involves time travel with young Nick returning to the year 1805 to defeat a dastardly conspiracy by the French and Spanish to ambush Admiral Lord Nelson's fleet en route to Trafalgar. The book was optioned by Paramount Pictures and is Ted's first foray into the world of young adult fiction.

Ted's new Alex Hawke spy thriller, TSAR, will be published by Simon & Schuster on September 23rd, 2008.

Contributing editor Rebecca Cantrell chatted with Carolyn Haines about her newest mystery Wishbones.

In her 8th book, Sarah Booth trades the Delta for a film set in Costa Rica. If you think Sarah could stay out of trouble now that she's traded crimes for closeups, well you don't know Sarah Booth, but Wishbones is the perfect place to meet her.

Does Jitty follow Sarah on her new adventure? If so, how does she react to the culture shock?

I can neither deny nor confirm the rumor that Jitty shows up in Costa Rica--hey, I'm practicing for when Sarah Booth and Jitty get me in so much trouble I end up testifying before Congress.

I honestly can't answer that question. I'm not trying to be a tease, but I think it would fall into the category of sort of a spoiler.  That makes it a dang good question.