June 2010 Archives

 

This month it's my pleasure to feature one of the industry's most amazing talents--Heather Graham.  She's classy, multi-talented, prolific, and endearing.  The list of compliments could on and on.  Loyal.  Hard-working.  Generous.  Dare I say--beautiful?
Yes, I'll make that statement:  Heather Graham is beautiful!

I first met Heather at the 2008 ThrillerFest.  I'd read many of her books, but to discover the person behind the pages was so charming and personable, took me by surprise.  After all, Heather has written over 150 novels and novellas, has 75 million books in print, and her stories have been translated into 25 different languages.  Yet she talked to me as a peer.  Now admittedly, I'm a small fish in a big pond--I have no illusions about it--but at that moment in time, it sure didn't feel like it.

Later that night when I met her husband, Dennis, the feeling returned.  They're both down-to-Earth, genuine people who share a profound love of the profession.  What impressed me the most was how approachable they are at conferences.  Heather goes out of her way to interact with fans and authors alike.  She even hangs with Joe Konrath, but we won't hold that against her!

Special to the Big Thrill by Hank Wagner.

The much-heralded ITW project THRILLERS: 100 MUST-READS is scheduled to be published by Oceanview this July, debuting at ThrillerFest. To whet your appetite for this essential book, we're going to feature a series of short interviews with various essayists in upcoming issues. This interview is with the delightful Christine Kling, who contributed a piece on Erskine Childer's The Riddle of the Sands.

Christine, you wrote about The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers. Was it your first choice to write about? If so, why? Does it fulfill your personal definition of a "must read"?

Childers' The Riddle of the Sands was absolutely my first choice. In fact, at a ThrillerFest cocktail party, I wasn't above begging David Morrell to give me a shot at it. My definition of a "must read" is a book that was a game changer, and in that regard, Childers' book fits the bill perfectly. There are many who call it the first international spy novel, but to me, it was the first techno-thriller. You might wonder how I can say that about a sailing novel that
was written in 1903, but technology doesn't have to mean this idea we have of electronic gear. Technology is 'how stuff works' and we have come to love our thrillers today that give us so many details about worlds we might never visit outside the pages of a book. Childers didn't flinch at using complex nautical terminology or geographical accuracy. Books like Hunt for Red October and The Andromeda Strain are direct descendants.

The most riveting reads in history meet today's biggest thriller writers in Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads.

Edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads examines 100 seminal works of suspense through essays contributed by such esteemed modern thriller writers as: David Baldacci, Steve Berry, Sandra Brown, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, Heather Graham, John Lescroart, Gayle Lynds, Katherine Neville, Michael Palmer, James Rollins, R. L. Stine, and many more.

Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads features 100 works - from Beowulf to The Bourne Identity, Dracula to Deliverance, Heart of Darkness to The Hunt for Red October - deemed must-reads by the International Thriller Writers organization.

Much more than an anthology, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads goes deep inside the most notable thrillers published over the centuries. Through lively, spirited, and thoughtful essays that examine each work's significance, impact, and influence, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads provides both historical and personal perspective on those spellbinding works that have kept readers on the edge of their seats for centuries.

"This fun and fact filled epic view of the genre is itself a must read." - Kathy Reichs, New York Times best-selling author of Spider Bones

"This fascinating book is essential for anyone who loves thrillers, fans and authors alike." - Joseph Finder, New York Times best-selling author of Vanished

"The ultimate thriller resource.  This wealth of information about classic thrillers is destined to be a classic on its own." - Brad Thor, New York Times best-selling author of The Apostle

"It reminds us all of the sheer excitement and dazzling scope of the genre. A treasure!" - Christopher Reich, New York Times best-selling author of Rules of Deception

 

Additional reviews and interviews:

Thrillers: 100 Must Reads - An Interview with Christine Kling

Thrillers: 100 Must Reads - An Interview with James O. Born

Thrillers: 100 Must Reads - An Interview with Gayle Lynds

Thrillers: 100 Must Reads - An interview with Tess Gerritsen

Thrillers: 100 Must Reads - An interview with Douglas Preston

Bookpage

Florida Weekly

Bookmarks Magazine

Asbury Park Press

In New York Times bestselling author Steve Martini's latest, The Rule of Nine, the Old Weatherman dreams of a plan that could be his swansong, an attack to drive a stake through the heart of the right wing establishment and bury it for good. Now he's found the money, the ideal weapon, and the professional who knows how to use it. And he has put his sights on the perfect target at the very seat of the United States government, in the heart of downtown Washington. It will be a strike heard round the world.

San Diego defense attorney Paul Madriani is still reeling from the trauma of a near nuclear explosion he helped avert near the naval base in Coronado. Threatened by federal authorities to keep quiet about the near-miss in California, Madriani is now faced with a new problem in the steely-eyed and alluring Joselyn Cole, a weapons control expert, who believes he has to go public with what he knows if they have any hope of stopping a similar event in the future.

But Madriani has been linked to a murder of a Washington, D.C. political staffer, and...

A former journalist and attorney, Steve Martini has combined both halves of his résumé into a successful franchise of legal thrillers, most of which star the attorney Paul Madriani. According to Vincent Bugliosi, "We unquestionably have a new literary lion in the fictional crime genre."

 

From New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers comes The Whisper, a spellbinding tale of suspense, romance and that most timeless of crimes: murder.

It was meant to be an adventure--a night alone on a remote Irish island. Archaeologist Sophie Malone never expected to find Celtic treasure or to end up in a fight for her life in a dark, desolate cave. Now, a year later, she's convinced answers to the mysteries of that night lie in Boston. Is the recent violence there connected to her night of terror? Who has the priceless gold artifacts that disappeared from the cave...and who is responsible for the whispers she heard in the dark?

Nearly killed in an explosion a month ago, Boston detective Cyrus "Scoop" Wisdom has recovered from his injuries. He's after the bomber--and he thinks it's another cop. But when Sophie unknowingly leads him to a retired officer's body amid symbols of ritual sacrifice, it's clear nobody's safe, and everyone's a suspect.

Tough and stubborn, Scoop is the best on the force at detecting lies...except maybe those of Sophie Malone. Together Sophie and Scoop face the greatest challenge of their lives: Someone is using ancient rituals to commit modern-day murder--and the killing has only just begun.

"No one does romantic suspense better!" Janet Evanovich

"Flat out great!" Providence Journal on THE MIST

With more than 10 million books in print, Carla Neggers has penned more than 50 novels, including 15 that have scored on the New York Times list since 2000. With her trademark blend of pulse-pounding action, mystery, suspense and adventure, Neggers' thrillers have been translated into 22 languages, including Russian and Japanese.

A magna cum laude graduate of Boston University and a former arts-and-entertainment reporter, Neggers is a former president of Novelists, Inc. and an accomplished musician. She was only 20-something when her first novel was published.

Neggers and her husband make their home on a hill near Vermont's Quechee Gorge. When not writing, she enjoys kayaking, gardening, snowshoeing, hiking and traveling.

In New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver's latest Lincoln Rhyme novel, The Burning Wire, the weapon is invisible and omnipresent. Without it, modern society grinds to a halt. It is electricity. The killer harnesses and steers huge arc flashes with voltage so high and heat so searing that steel melts and his victims are set afire.
When the first explosion occurs in broad daylight, reducing a city bus to a pile of molten, shrapnel-riddled metal, officials fear terrorism.

Rhyme, a world-class forensic criminologist known for his successful apprehension of the most devious criminals, is immediately tapped for the investigation. Long a quadriplegic, he assembles NYPD detective Amelia Sachs and officer Ron Pulaski as his eyes, ears and legs on crime sites, and FBI agent Fred Dellray as his undercover man on the street. As the attacks continue across the city at a sickening pace, and terrifying demand letters begin appearing, the team works desperately against time and with maddeningly little forensic evidence to try to find the killer. Or is it killers . . . ?

Meanwhile, Rhyme is consulting on another high-profile investigation in Mexico with a most coveted quarry in his crosshairs: the hired killer known as the Watchmaker, one of the few criminals to have eluded Rhyme's net.
Juggling two massive investigations against a cruel ticking clock takes a toll on Rhyme's health. Soon Rhyme is fighting on yet another front--and his determination to work despite his physical limitations threatens to drive away his closest allies when he needs them most . . .

 

To learn more about Jeffery Deaver, read James Scott Bell's Between the Lines Interview.

The issue central to this month's column actually came up during a panel discussion at the London Book Fair in April, so my apologies for only getting round to it now, but there've been equally pressing issues to write about in between.  Always assuming that in the heady world of crime thrillers, there are some issues more pressing than others, that is.  The LBF panel was to address the matter of writing crime fiction in South Africa.  As is the nature of these things, it did more than that.

The 'more than' part was about race - which, for those of us at the bottom of the African continent, is a topic that's never far from our everyday lives let alone our fiction.  In the run-up to the panel discussion I asked local crime novelists for their opinions on the main topic and ran them on my blog Crime Beat and then summarised them in my May column for ITW.  But the focus there was violence in our society and its representation in our fiction.  I felt the race issue needed a separate outing.

In Amy J. Fetzer's Damage Control, Book #5 of Dragon One, pilot and explosives expert Sebastian Fontenot searches for his kidnapped friend and he uncovers former KGB operatives rushing to keep a failed submarine attack on the US where it belongs, under the Arctic circle.

"Fetzer is an auto-buy for me"-- NYT author, Cindy Gerard

The daughter, wife and mother of US Marines, Amy J. Fetzer has spent her life globtrotting for the Corps and now lives in South Carolina, trying to behave like a civilian. 

Brad Thor brings back his hero, Scot Harvath, in another gripping and pulse-pounding thriller.  Hopefully there is someone like Harvath protecting our country from our enemies.  Brad talked about his latest thriller to ITW.

What sparked the idea for Foreign Influence?

The idea for Foreign Influence actually came from conversations with two different friends. 

The first was a conversation I had with Glenn Beck.  We were discussing turmoil in other nations and how we send operatives over to tip things one way or another.  Glenn asked me how many nations I thought were sending operatives here to America to do exactly the same thing right now.

The second conversation was with my friend, Barrett Moore - the founder of the private military corporation, Triple Canopy.  We talked about a white paper published by a nation hostile to America that detailed how they could absolutely crush us without ever meeting us on the conventional battlefield.  The plan involved co-opting Islamic terror groups to do their bidding in a first wave of attacks.  Once the terrorists were unleashed on America and American interests abroad, a whole series of incredibly unconventional attacks would begin in areas we had never before considered.  It was terrifying and made even more so by the fact that this plot actually exists and is fact, not fiction.

Devon Vaughn Archer's The Secrets of Paradise Bay is a mainstream suspense novel about a rivalry between two brothers, one recently released from prison, a beautiful wife who betrays her own husband to be with the last person he would ever suspect, and a vengeful minded man who plots to kill them all.

Clyde Lancaster just got out of prison after serving time for a violent assault. He accepts his rich brother Trey's offer to stay with him till getting back on his feet.

Ivana Kendall-Lancaster was not looking for trouble when her handsome brother-in-law moves in, but she gets it and more as their mutual attraction leads both to dark places neither wanted to go.

Trey Lancaster has his own demons to deal with. But that doesn't prepare him for the hell he is about to experience.

Willie Munroe has waited a longtime for his revenge and now will have it when he takes out three people to make that much sweeter.

This all leads to a thrilling finale.

"A love story wrapped up in the suspenseful situation of finding a killer." -- Romance Readers Connection on DESTINED TO MEET

"Archer has delivered an absorbing and gritty read." -- Romance in Color on DESTINED TO MEET

"A good story of contrasts that shows how powerful the mind can be and how it can interfere and sabotage the lives of those who fall victim to negative thinking and excessive guilt." -- Romantic Times on LOVE ONCE AGAIN

"Fans of deep character driven tales will want to read this strong story of love coming out of the ashes of tragedy." -- Genre Go Round Reviews on CHRISTMAS HEAT

Devon Vaughn Archer is a pseudonym of bestselling thriller writer R. Barri Flowers. Devon is the author of several mainstream and romantic suspense novels, including LOVE ONCE AGAIN and DESTINED TO MEET. He recently signed three book deals with Urban Books and Harlequin.

Learn more about Devon Vaughn Archer books on his website at: www.devonvaughnarcher.com

In Robin Parrish's newest, Nightmare, Ghost Town is the hottest amusement park in the country, but when Maia Peters visits, she's not expecting to be impressed. The daughter of two world-renowned "ghost hunters," she's grown up around the paranormal and to her most of the park is just Hollywood special effects. Until the very last attraction.

There, in a haunted house, a face appears from the mist. The face of Jordin Cole, a girl Maia knows. A girl, Maia discovers, who has gone missing.

Convinced what she saw wasn't a hoax and desperate to find Jordin, Maia launches into a quest for answers. Joined by Jordin's boyfriend -- a pastor's kid with very different ideas about the paranormal -- the two soon find themselves in a struggle on the edge of the spirit realm as dangerous forces try to keep the truth from emerging.

"Robin Parrish is a keen-eyed, passionate, pop cultural savant, whose writing is as incisive and insightful as it is entertaining." - Allan Heinberg, executive producer, Grey's Anatomy

"I wish I possessed the pure, God-given talent and insight of Robin Parrish. He stands without question among the greatest writers of our generation." - James Byron Huggins, author of Cain, Hunter, and The Reckoning

Robin Parrish is the author of Bethany House Publishers' suspense/thrillers, The Dominion Trilogy: Relentless (2006), Fearless (2007), and Merciless (2008), as well as the scifi thriller Offworld (2009). Robin is a full time journalist and writer living in North Carolina with his wife and two children.

A teenage girl, brutalized and discarded. A rural sheriff, gunned down and left to die. Millions in narcotics and a killer full of hate. In Shane Gericke's newest, Torn Apart, a tidal wave of murder is rushing full-speed toward the quiet Chicago suburb of Naperville, IL, and police detective Emily Thompson is locked and loaded to stop it. But she's up against a deadly countdown that threatens everyone she loves ... Her partner. Her best friend. Her whole world. In these final desparate hours, Emily will bring down the most diabolical killer she's faced yet--or die trying.

"A high-rev, page-turning thriller that offers a searing look at the very thin blue line separating good and evil. Set in a sharply observed Midwest, Torn Apart features one of the best heroines to come along in years, Detective Emily Thompson, whose dedication to her job throws her into a deadly cat-and-mouse game against complex, fleshed-out villains, some driven by good, some by evil, but all intent on leaving plenty of carnage in their wake." --New York Times bestseller Jeffery Deaver

"Torn Apart will keep you turning the pages so fast, you won't even notice that half the night's already gone. Shane Gericke knows how to tighten the screws and keep the fear and tension building." --New York Times bestseller Tess Gerritsen

"A no-nonsense thriller, action-packed and explosive. A real page-turner!" --New York Times bestseller Erica Spindler

"Shane Gericke is the real deal." --New York Times bestseller Lee Child

ThrillerFest chairman and national bestseller Shane Gericke (pronounced YER-key) began writing professionally in high school, as a $30-a-month sportswriter for the local Frankfort Herald. He liked it so much he never looked back. He spent 25 years as a journalist, most prominently at the Chicago Sun-Times, before plunging into crime thrillers. His latest, TORN APART (Kensington), launches July 6, 2010. His series debut, BLOWN AWAY, was named the nation's best debut mystery by RT Book Reviews, and appears in translation worldwide. Shane lives in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, where the series is set and which, ironically, is also the home of world-famous crime fighter Dick Tracy. Any resemblance is strictly coincidental. www.shanegericke.com.

In Linda O. Johnston's Feline Fatale, Kendra Ballantyne's dearest friend Darryl Nestler, owner of the Doggy Indulgence Day Resort, has fallen hard for Kendra's fellow pet-sitter Wanda Villareal. Wanda lives in a large condominium development that allows pets, and she has become the main sitter for them all.

When a nasty member of the condo's board of directors attempts to rid the development of pets and turns up dead, Wanda's accused of the killing... and Kendra must once more find the real murderer.

Linda O. Johnston is the author of 24 published novels. Currently, she is writing Silhouette Nocturnes--paranormal romances--about shapeshifters. She is also the author of the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime, and its upcoming spin-off mystery series about Lauren Vancouver, Pet Rescuer.

Kendra and Linda are both lawyers who live in the Hollywood Hills with their tri-color Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, both named Lexie. However, unlike Kendra, Linda has never lost her law license temporarily and become a pet sitter, nor is Linda a murder magnet.

In Unspeakable, by Laura Griffin, Elaina McCord's dream of being an FBI profiler is in jeopardy with her first case--investigating a string of murders near a Texas beach resort. The victims, all young women, were drugged and brutally murdered, their bodies abandoned in desolate marshland. Elaina's hunch--met with disbelief by local police--is that these are only the latest offerings from a serial killer who has been perfecting his art for years, growing bolder and more cunning with each strike.

True-crime writer Troy Stockton has a reputation as an irresistible playboy who gets his story at any cost. He's the last person Elaina should trust, let alone be attracted to. But right now Troy, along with the elite team of forensics experts known as the Tracers, are her only allies in a case that's turning dangerously personal. A killer is reaching out to Elaina, taunting her, letting her know how ruthless he is and how close he's getting. Now it's not just her career that's in danger--it's her life. . . .

"A perfect combination of forensic science, mystery, romance, and action make this series one to watch."
--Publishers Weekly starred review of UNTRACEABLE (Tracers Series, book 1)

"The superb first book in the Tracers series will leave you wanting more." --Singletitles.com

LAURA GRIFFIN started her career in journalism before venturing into the world of romantic suspense with her novels for Pocket Books. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards, including a 2010 RITA (Whisper of Warning) and a 2009 RT Reviewers Choice Award (Untraceable). Her debut novel, One Last Breath, won the Booksellers Best Award for romantic suspense. Laura currently lives in Austin. Visit her website at www.lauragriffin.com

In James Hayman's The Chill of the Night, Lainie Goff thought she had it all. The ambitious young attorney was brilliant, beautiful, and on a fast-track to a lucrative partnership at one of the top firms in New England. But a secret history of sexual abuse in Lainie's past left scars that never healed and one cold night she pushes things too far. Soon her body is found, frozen solid in sub-zero temperatures at the end of the Portland Fish Pier.

A schizophrenic woman named Abby Quinn witnesses the brutal crime. But when she tells what she has seen, nobody will believe her. Not until she too mysteriously disappears.

In The Chill of Night, Portland homicide detective Michael McCabe finds himself finds himself fighting memories from his own past as he races to find the killer before another life is lost.

Praise for The Cutting:

"Rarely does a new novelist make a debut, in Maine or anywhere else, as polished, well-paced, and plotted as this one." Portland Press-Herald.

"This is a stunning debut that gripped me from first page to last." Tess Gerritsen

James Hayman left a senior creative director's job at one of the world's biggest ad agencies to pursue his lifelong dream of writing fiction. In 2009, his debut thriller, The Cutting, was published to rave reviews. The Chill of Night is his second in the Mike McCabe series.

In the new book THE MEASURE OF MADNESS-Inside the Disturbed and Disturbing Criminal Mind (Citadel Press/July 2010), forensic psychologist Dr. Cheryl Paradis draws back the curtain on that fascinating world and revisits twenty-one of the most intriguing, puzzling, and challenging cases she has handled in her multifaceted, twenty-five year career including that of a battered woman, a psychotic arsonist, an accused cannibal and a wide range of liars. Paradis relays these real-life whodunits with much of the dialogue relayed verbatim from her records and presents a compelling account of the relationships between mental illness and violence, innocence and guilt, criminal and victim, and individual and society.

Dr. Paradis takes readers into the courtroom, up on the witness stand, and behind the closed doors where she interviews suspects accused of frightening, violent crimes and illustrates the crucial and often surprising role forensic psychology plays in the pursuit of justice.

In Michael Jecks's The Oath, it's 1306, and King Edward II is forced to flee London when his own wife lands with an army to oust him. He must run to Wales to escape her clutches, but as he goes, his kingdom falls apart, riven by fear of civil war. And when a squire is found murdered, his shocking story gradually comes to light. It is a dangerous time for Sir Baldwin de Furnshill to try to seek the murderer, and he must tread a dangerous path between King and Queen to uncover the killer.

"Michael Jecks is a national treasure" Scotland on Sunday

"Convincing characters whose treacherous acts perfectly combine with a devilishly masterful plot" Good Book Guide

"The most wickedly plotted medieval mystery novels" The Times

Michael Jecks was a computer salesman until he started writing full time in 1994. He has now published 29 stories in his Templar Series. He was Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association, and founder of Medieval Murderers. A keen supporter of new writers, he was the organiser of the CWA Debut Dagger, and more recently he has become a regular speaker, broadcaster and reviewer.

In Ann Voss Peterson's latest, A Rancher's Brand of Justice, rugged Rancher Nick Raymond didn't take orders from anybody. He had finally been reunited with his son, and he was not about to bring the boy back to the city where he'd witnessed a murder.

Investigator Melissa Anderson was just doing her job, but the cowboy wasn't making it easier...and neither was the attraction building between them.

An English-creative writing major in college, Ann worked as a bartender, a horse show groom and a professional window washer before publishing her first romantic suspense novel. Since she has published over twenty novels and two million copies of her books have sold all over the world. Her writing has garnered many award nominations and wins.

I love research.

I think this love of research stems from my tendency to procrastinate. In school, I was really good at cramming at the last minute--back then, it was hitting the library the day before a major paper was due, reading everything I could on the subject, then writing all night. The last-minute projects inevitably garnered me a B+ or A- (which, had I spent more time researching, editing, and revising would have been an A--but we work we our natural talents, right?)

Last week I finished writing one book; this week I started the next. I realized real quick that my knowledge of modern private investigators was slim, and the books on my shelf were woefully outdated. The book I have on Missing Persons was printed in 1993--before Facebook, before MySpace, and before Google. Needless to say, useless.

I emailed a P.I. friend of mine asking for two books she'd recommend on modern P.I. techniques, and wondered if there was a P.I. ride-along program . . .

We are truly blessed writers to have so many resources at our fingertips. In the past twelve months, I've participated in two SWAT training exercises, toured the FBI Academy at Quantico, visited FBI Headquarters in D.C., toured Folsom State Prison (with fellow ITW author James Rollins), and took a second trip to the Sacramento County Morgue to learn how they preserve evidence. If you really twist my arm, I'll admit being a non-ambulatory victim during SWAT training was probably the most fun I've had in a long, long time . . . which shows you what a boring life I lead!

To fans of romantic thrillers, best-selling author Debra Webb needs no introduction. Her enormously popular Colby Agency series is one of Harlequin Intrigue's most-read series, and she's written dozens of novels in the series, which is still going strong. In July, Colby Control, the latest book in the series, hits the bookstores.

I recently caught up with the busy author, wife, and mother, and she was gracious enough to chat with me about her writing career, her passion for suspense, and more.

DEBRA WEBB, born in Alabama, wrote her first story at age nine and her first romance at thirteen. However, it wasn't until she spent three years working for the military behind the Iron Curtain--and a five-year stint with NASA--that she realized her true calling. A collision course between suspense and romance was set.

Author Blake Crouch headed north for his new novel Snowbound.

For Will Innis and his daughter, Devlin, the loss was catastrophic. Every day for the past five years, they wonder where she is, if she is--Will's wife, Devlin's mother--because Rachael Innis vanished one night during an electrical storm on a lonely desert highway, and suspected of her death, Will took his daughter and fled.

Now, Will and Devlin live under different names in another town, having carved out a new life for themselves as they struggle to maintain some semblance of a family.

When one night, a beautiful, hard-edged FBI agent appears on their doorstep, they fear the worst, but she hasn't come to arrest Will. "I know you're innocent," she tells him, "because Rachael wasn't the first...or the last."

Gregg Hurwitz's latest novel involves a struggling scriptwriter who "wants the limelight a little too badly and gets the attention in a way he doesn't anticipate." In the novel, They're Watching, Patrick Davis walks to out his porch, picks up his morning newspaper and a package containing an unmarked DVD slides out. When he watches it, he discovers that he and his wife are being filmed, that someone is stalking them and recording them inside their house using hidden cameras. And it's just the first of many DVDs he will receive.

Hurwitz says, "It turns into a chess match, where he tries to spy on the people spying on him, but they're always set up one step further ahead. It becomes a really dangerous game. In the middle of this, his marriage, which was already on the rocks, comes under terrible strain. Soon it becomes a matter of life and death."

In legendary R.L. Stine's lastest Goosebumps book, Weirdo Halloween, Meg has a weirdo Halloween in store when the boy in the orange costume turns out to be a Weirdo--an alien from another planet who refuses to leave her house. Are more Weirdos on the way?

Robert Lawrence Stine is nothing short of a literary icon in the publishing industry.  With three hundred titles translated into thirty-two different languages, R.L. Stine is one of the best-selling children's authors in history. His scary thrillers for kids have sold more than 350 million copies around the world. R.L. lives in NYC with his wife Jane.

Read R.L. Stine's wonderful "Between the Lines" interview by Andrew Peterson here.

R.L. Stine was born in Columbus, OH in 1943.  He currently lives in New York City with his wife Jane, and his dog Minnie--a King Charles Spaniel. His son Matthew is a composer, musician, and sound designer.

Dangerous Desires is the second in Dee Davis's series of A-Tac adventures.  A-Tac is the American Tactical Intelligence Command, an elite CIA unit masquerading as faculty at an Ivy League college.  Brilliant, badass, and seemingly bulletproof, the members of A-Tac are assigned to the riskiest missions and the most elusive targets.  

Dangerous Desires is the story of extraction expert Drake Flynn. Flynn knows how to survive behind enemy lines. But he's about to meet one adversary he can't subdue . . . or resist.

Stranded in the Colombian jungle after a mission goes bad, Drake has only one objective: evade the mercenaries hot on his trail and deliver "the package" to U.S. officials. But "the package" has a mind of her own, and she has no intention of trading one set of captors for another.

In our discussion, Dee was charming while talking about her feelings about writing, favorite writers, and her characters.

In The Cabal, David Hagberg's fourteenth installment of his Kirk McGarvey series, a Washington Post investigative reporter has uncovered strong evidence that a powerful lobbyist has formed a shadowy group. They call themselves the Friday Club, a cabal whose members include high-ranking men inside the government: a White House adviser, a three star general at the Pentagon, deputy secretaries at the State Department, Homeland Security, the FBI and even the CIA.

That afternoon CIA operative  Todd Van Buren--son-in-law to the legendary spy Kirk McGarvey--is brutally gunned down. That same evening the reporter and his family are killed, all traces of the shadow group erased.

A grief-stricken McGarvey is drawn into the most far-reaching and dangerous investigation of his career, the stakes of which could destabilize the U.S. government, and shake the foundations of the world financial order.

One of the main reasons for Hagberg's continued success is his passion for science and research. "For as long as I can remember, since I was a little kid, I've been torn two ways--being a scientist (actually I wanted to be a theoretical astrophysicist), and becoming a writer, especially a novelist.

Caroline Carver has just released her latest novel, The Honest Assassin, third in the series featuring Jay McCauley, the ex Army Captain who works for TRACE, specialising in finding missing persons. The Honest Assassin is published by Severn House and is Caroline's seventh thriller.

When Jay's friend, MI5 agent Mac Blake is arrested for murder, she launches and investigation that soon turns ugly. Her old boss is assassinated and her family threatened, but Jay is gutsy and isn't going to give up without a fight. As she begins to uncover a sinister secret, Jay is unaware that something worse lies ahead; an assassin has been set on her trail.

I caught up with Caroline today and spent a pleasant forty-five minutes chatting with her about all those things that writers love to talk about (besides themselves): writing. One of the questions I asked Caroline was what kind of books she likes to read. She told me her favourites were thrillers and adventure; real life adventure. If you log on to Caroline's website www.cjcarver.com you will understand why; thrills and adventure are part of Caroline's DNA. I put it to her that she would make a good example of how to characterise Lara Croft in a thriller. Caroline told me she was no good at tying knots, so would fail at being that kind of  heroine. But she couldn't deny the love of travel and adventure that forms part of her life.

Author Dan Fesperman is no stranger to international intrigue.

An accomplished journalist, he has worked for the Fayetteville (N.C.) Times, the Durham Morning Herald, the Charlotte News, the Miami Herald, and The Sun and Evening Sun of Baltimore.  During his career he has been front row center for many history making conflicts, including his coverage of the Gulf War from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait; his running of The Sun's Europe bureau during the Yugoslav civil wars in Croatia and Bosnia; as well as his reporting of events in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the wake of 9-11.  Through this work he has experienced his fair share of adventure, which includes accepting the surrender, along with a colleague, of ten Iraqi soldiers in the Kuwait desert in 1991, as well as surviving a fatal ambush on a convoy of journalists traveling through Afghanistan in November of 2001.

Considering this impressive résumé, it was only a matter of time before Mr. Fesperman would parley his skills into the realm of thriller fiction.  The author of six earlier novels, he has won the Dashiell Hammett award and two British Dagger awards.  Alan Cheuse of the Dallas Morning News put it best when he said, "Fesperman has over the past few years been building his reputation as one of the country's most informed and entertaining thriller writers."

With their forty-eighth novel titled People of the Longhouse, Kathleen and Michael Gear introduce the new "Iroquois series," following New York Times bestselling People of the Thunder, of which Booklist said the "bestselling authors continue their superbly researched and rendered North America's Forgotten Past series." Morning River was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, and the National Book Award. Michael and Kathleen are currently writing another prehistory novel set at Moundville, Alabama in the 1300s.

Set in 1400 in what is now New England amongst five warring Iroquois nations, youngsters Odion and his sister Tutelo fear that Yellowtail Village will be attacked. Prophetically, that day arrives and they are spirited away into slavery. Odion's only hope is that his parents will rescue them. They try, but War Chief Koracoo and Deputy Gonda think they are tracking an ordinary war party herding captives back to enemy villages. Instead, they closely track a legendary evil--an old witch-woman named Gannajero, who captures children, sort of a Hansel-and-Gretel syndrome. "Longhouse" chronicles the lives of those in American prehistory [a/k/a "Indian" by the politically incorrect], based on the lives of real people not commonly known. A teaser to read the book, to learn who?

Internationally best-selling author Lorenzo Carcaterra's latest novel, Midnight Angels, doesn't hit the bookshelves until July 6, but it's already gone into its second printing based on pre-orders.

And if the reviews of the swift-moving thriller set in Florence, Italy, are any indication, readers are in for a treat.

"This superior religious artifact quest thriller from Carcaterra (the author of Sleepers) careens through the streets of Florence with quick stops at various museums and galleries for interesting sidebars on the life and work of Michelangelo," according to the rave review in Publishers Weekly.

Carcaterra's previous novels, including Sleepers, which has sales in excess of 1.4 million copies and was made into a feature film starring Brad Pitt, Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, and Kevin Bacon,  have all won international acclaim, and several have made the New York Times bestseller list. They've also been set mainly in New York, featuring complex tales of crime and justice, so Midnight Angels comes across as something of a departure - it features a female  art history student in Florence, Italy, who discovers a trio of lost Michaelangelo sculptures and soon finds herself on the run from a monstrous villain.

It has happened to all of us.  You've read hundreds of thrillers and finally you decide you could write one as good as that last one.  You're ready to try your hand at creating a bestseller, but you don't know where to start.  The answer may be to pick up a copy of the newly-published second edition of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing a Novel by Tom Monteleone.

This book is perfect for the first time novelist because it covers all the basic elements of the novel, plus the various tactics and processes to make it happen.  And when it comes to writing what sells, Monteleone knows what he's talking about.  He's published more than 100 short stories and 25 novels, including The Blood of the Lamb which was both a bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

"Regardless of how many novels writers produce, the real barometer is whether people like reading them," Monteleone says.  "As far as that goes, I've had my share of rave reviews and dedicated fans over the years so, yeah, I'd say I've been doing the job well enough to qualify to write an Idiot's Guide."

Recently, I sat down with Melanie Jackson, author of The Ghost and Miss Demure to talk about her new release, where she finds her inspiration and her lifelong love of history.

On your website, you invite readers to take a walk on the Wildside, visit the past and explore new worlds.  Are you drawn to any particular genre as your "first love" or do all genres attract you?

I'm a voracious reader of most genres and also non-fiction, but the first adult books I read were Gone With The Wind and Conan The Barbarian. They kind of wedged themselves in the subconscious and an awful lot of the stuff I've written is some weird hybrid of the two.

Can you tell us about the inspiration for The Ghost and Miss Demure?

Ghosts are not my usual material, but since I'm both Celt and also have family in the deep south, it was probably inevitable that I would end up writing about ghosts eventually. Hugh Vellacourt, the main haunt, is a fictional character, but the supporting cast of haunts and eerie experiences are courtesy of my cousin, Richard Magruder, and assorted family legends told around the fire on winter nights.

In 1979, a scientific study tested whether psychics could actually "remote-view" the location of Cleopatra's lost palace.  Amazingly, they succeeded.

Inspired by this incredible true story, David Sakmyster created The Morpheus Initiative, an exciting new team of psychic archaeologists who seek out the world's most enduring historical mysteries and mystical artifacts.  The first book in a new series, The Pharos Objective, has the team pursuing the fabled treasure of Alexander the Great beneath the ruins of the Pharos Lighthouse, while contending with diabolical traps and an ancient society called "The Keepers". 

You can view the newly released book trailer for The Pharos Objective on YouTube at the following location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smiHvvuIjU0

Best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson calls The Pharos Objective, "Indiana Jones meets the X-Files -- an archaeologist adventurer with psychic powers of remote viewing who can see the past, ancient treasures, historical mysteries, action and adventure that crosses the world, and a damned good story."

Recently, I sat down with Shiloh Walker to talk about her newest novel, The Missing.

You talk about your background as a nurse on your blog, but I would like to hear more about it and how it has influenced your writing.

I've been in nursing for close to fifteen years--I do keep my license active and I do still work a few times a month.  Writing isn't the most stable business and nursing isn't the sort of career you can go back to at the drop of a hat.  So I keep my hand in...but as to whether it's influenced my writing directly?  I'm not really sure.  In nursing, we have 'objectivity' drilled into our heads, so maybe that comes through.  The few times I've used a nurse or doctor as a character, the nursing has made it easier to build that character's background.  But nursing was basically my back-up plan-writing was my goal.  Nursing was how I planned on supporting myself.

You mention that you work harder as a writer than you ever did as a nurse.  I was wondering if there were any skills that you feel are common to both.  Also, is there anything you learned doing hospital work (most of my work has been either in offices or nursing homes) working as a nurse that you've found useful in your writing?

With a family military history that reaches all the way back to the Civil War, and has Golemons on the battlefields of every American war through Vietnam, it's easy to understand David Golemon's love of history and its importance in his previous four novels. The same hold true for latest release--Primeval--An Event Group Thriller.

What may not be as easy to grasp is the way this thriller writer feels about war. "To me, it's the most disgusting thing mankind has ever come up with," said Golemon. That means while other thriller writers are using war or violence to kick off their novels or fire up the tension, Golemon is holding off as long as he can. "I was an Edgar Rice Burroughs fan growing up. I finally caught on that every time his story was lagging, he always had somebody get captured--and it's always survival, escape, and innovation--with no meaning. I try to limit the violence, but ramp up the action scenes to make it believable."

Golemon adds to his believability by showing the real face of the military, "There's probably more humanity in the military than any other corner of society. If you talk to soldiers today, their opinion hasn't changed in over 200 years. They'd rather be out defending women and children and feeding people." Golemon's novels have been recognized for their true reflection of soldiers' attitudes and the real price of war. In that regard, he's been compared to Tom Clancy.

Jonathan "Digger" Grave is a free lance hostage rescue operative. When two teenage boys are inexplicably kidnapped from a Virginia residential school for children of incarcerated parents, Grave and his crew set out to locate the victims and apprehend the abductors.

When Hostage Zero by John Gilstrap came into my mailbox I wondered if I would have the time to read it all in time for this article. Hostage negotiation novels are not my first choice usually so I began it with a little trepidation. This novel was nothing like any hostage negotiation I have ever read before. In fact there was no negotiation at all, only blistering action and a taut plot that keeps you turning the pages. Two days later, and suffering from lack of sleep, I finished the book and immediately ordered the first one in this series, No Mercy. Hostage Zero was nothing like I had expected. The pace is frantic, the characters believable and you will end up shouting encouragement to the good guys as they dole out well-deserved punishment to the bad guys.

Hostage Zero is the second book featuring John Gilstrap's operative. As John explains below Jonathan Grave is a man who applies his own set of rules to protect the innocent in a country that offers too much protection to the criminals. This regularly leaves him on the wrong side of the law so our hero is often pitted against both sides as he strives to protect the innocent. Hostage Zero can easily be read as a stand-alone novel but, for completists like myself, it is worth starting with No Mercy as this will introduce the characters.

In Brenda Novak's latest, White Heat, Nate Ferrentino and Rachel Jessop are operatives for Department 6, a private security company, and they're going undercover to expose a new and dangerous cult.

This group has taken up residence in the Arizona desert, in a ghost town called Paradise. Members worship at the feet--and in the bed--of its charismatic leader, Ethan Wycliff. On his orders, they tried to stone a woman to death. And they're implicated in the disappearance of a teenage girl.

To expose the Church of the Covenant, with its arcane rituals and debauched practices, Nate and Rachel must pretend to be married. That's the only way they can get in--but being Nate's "wife" is the last thing Rachel wants. She and Nate have a one-night history that's just an embarrassment to her now. But they don't have a choice. Wycliff has to be stopped.

Brenda Novak is the national bestselling author of 31 books. Her most recent trilogy--Trust Me (6/08), Stop Me (7/08) and Watch Me (8/08), hit many lists and received high praise from readers and reviewers alike.

A busy wife and mother of five, Novak, who lives in Sacramento, California, calls herself the typical "soccer mom." She juggles her writing career with daily car pools, helping her kids do homework and driving them to sports practice.

 

Robert Masello, whose latest thriller is Blood and Ice (Bantam Dell Edition, July 2010) is an award-winning journalist, television writer, and the bestselling author of many novels and nonfiction books.

Blood and Ice has received starred reviews from such major review sources as Publishers Weekly and Booklist. The novel is a supernatural thriller ranging from the battlefields of the Crimean War to the frozen wastes of the present-day Antarctic, where a deeply conflicted, heroic photo-journalist encounters worlds beyond imagination.
Robert's previous novels include The Spirit Wood, Black Horizon, Private Demons, Bestiary, and the USA Today bestseller Vigil. His books have been translated into ten languages, and have garnered raves from many top reviewers, including the Times of London, which trumpeted about his new book, "The ingredients of vampirism, doomed romance, and Antarctic adventure are too seductive to resist. Masello has written a winner, made for Hollywood."

Today, we have the opportunity to interview Robert Masello about Blood and Ice, and many other fascinating aspects of his writing career.

Jeannie Holmes is a native of southwest Mississippi. Before receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of South Alabama, she worked in a variety of interesting fields, including medical records, independent auction houses, and owned a small handcrafted jewelry business. In addition to working on the sequel to Blood Law, she received her Master of Arts degree in English in December 2008 and lives in Mobile, AL with her husband and four neurotic cats.

Amid all of the excitement of gearing up for the release of her first novel, Jeannie took a few minutes to chat with Big Thrill contributing editor Jonathan Maberry about Blood Law.

Jeannie....Blood Lawis your first novel.  Give us some backstory on how you broke into the publishing biz.

How I broke into the publishing biz is a sordid tale full of sex, lies, blackmail, and murder. Okay, not really, but that would be a far more entertaining tale because I've been very fortunate up to this point.

I've always made up stories, even when I was a kid in rural Mississippi. My siblings are older and often my mother and I were the only two at home so I would entertain myself with the stories I created. After high school and the first round of college, I worked in the medical field for a number of years, mostly in the administrative side, before going back to finish my BA degree in English at the University of South Alabama.

Reader to Reader Reviews calls award-winning author Leslie Parrish "a romantic suspense genius." Her latest novel, Cold Sight, is the first in her eXtrasensory Agent series. 

After being made a scapegoat in a botched investigation that led to a child's death, Aidan McConnell became a recluse. Still, as a favor to an old friend, Aidan will help on the occasional XI case. But under his handsome, rugged facade, he keeps his emotions in check--for fear of being burned again.

Reporter Lexie Nolan has a nose for news--and she believes a serial killer has been targeting teen girls around Savannah. But no one believes her. So she turns to the new paranormal detective agency and the sexy, mysterious Aidan for help.

Just as the two begin forging a relationship, the case turns eerily personal for Lexie--and  Aidan discovers that maybe he hasn't lost the ability to feel after all.

When it comes to writing thrillers, Ronie Kendig shoots right for the heart. Nightshade, the first book in the Discarded Hero series, tackles combat-related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the toll it takes on the soldier, and the courage he must muster to respond to the call of duty as part of a covert operation. Contributing editor Janice Gable Bashman chats with Ronie about Nightshade and her writing process.

Give us the scoop on Nightshade and its "in-your-face" protagonist Max Jacobs.

Soldiers across the globe are returning home to their families after brutal tours of duty. They are discharged from the service. . .and on their own. Meet Max Jacobs, one of these discarded heroes, as he faces a wall of failure--in his career, his friendships, and his marriage. Failing again--this time to end his life--he is offered a thread of hope. Are covert operations the answer for him, or will they only bring more danger and dissension upon his broken family? Will Max yield to a force greater than himself--love?

Recently I sat down with Chris Kizneski to talk about his latest novel, The Prophecy.

Part of your writer's journey is quite similar to mine in that I too regaled my classmates at a young age with my stories. I'm curious as to whether you put your aspirations to become a published author aside while toiling away at a "real" job? Or were the stories playing out all along in the private theater of your incredible mind?

Although I've been writing for as long as I can remember, it never dawned on me that I could write books for a living until I was in college. And even then, it didn't seem very realistic. That's why I majored in journalism instead of creative writing. I knew the odds of getting a job at the local newspaper were a lot better than getting a book deal from a publisher. Unfortunately, it didn't take long to realize that journalism wasn't for me. Anytime I interviewed someone, I'd get frustrated when they didn't give me the perfect quote. I always used to think, if they had only said this, my story would've been so much better. Obviously, that's dangerous ground for a journalist. I figured, if I'm going to put words in people's mouths, they should probably be fictional characters.

"Are you saying I look like a bear?"

That was the question Bill Gagliani asked me in response to an ill-conceived statement I'd made which he might have misunderstood.

"No, no. Of course not. Why, you remind me more of, uh, George Clooney than a bear."

What else would you expect me to say to a rather large man who studies exotic weapons and writes books with 'blood-drenched finales'?

These finales are included in the books of his self-proclaimed "North Woods noir" genre, a fairly narrow niche which, when pressed for definition, he describes as The Wolf-Man meets No Way to Treat a Lady by way of Deliverance with a nod to Body Double. I picture Jack Nicholson saying, "Herrrrrre's Johnny" through an ax-hole in a door. Gagliani takes us to the scene after he'd used the ax on, well, someone.

Narrow or not, he's a master at it. Don't believe me? Deborah LeBlanc, bestselling author of Water Witch, says "Gagliani takes a rehashed theme and breathes new life into it with a cast of memorable characters and relentless suspense. He masterfully weaves sensuality and horror throughout the story, taking the reader on a journey that redefines 'love at all costs.' "

Keith Raffel and Rick Mofina met at BEA in 2009.  Rick was just launching Vengeance Road which has since been nominated for a 2010 Thriller Award.  They got together again to discuss Rick's latest book, The Panic Zone.

Dean Koontz calls The Panic Zone, your latest, "a headlong rush toward Armageddon."  Whew!  Would you give us a sneak preview?
 
The Panic Zone tells the story of Emma Lane, an anguished mother from Wyoming who refuses to believe her baby died in a tragic car crash. Jack Gannon, a wire service reporter from New York, joins her in the hunt for a perfect killer whose trail leads around the world in a race against time.
 
The Panic Zone is the second in your Jack Gannon series after your Thriller Award nominee Vengeance Road.  How does Jack compare with the protagonists in your other two series?

Suspense-thriller writer  Avery Aames has not sold one of her novels yet she has a book coming out in early July. How did that happen?

According to Avery, an agent who liked her work knew about this work-for-hire series. "A Cheese Shop Mystery," she said. "Think you can write it?"

Seems like Avery could.

She auditioned and got the job. "I'm truly lucky. I couldn't be more passionate about a topic. Life is great; cheese makes it better!"

Actually the series seems tailor-made for Avery.  She took Berkley Prime Crime's idea for a cheese shop in an Ohio town and not only embraced the idea but made it her own. She draws on her restaurant and catering experience that is further enriched by the fact she is a gourmet cook. Because she was an actress, she is able to better understand (and write about) the grandmother who runs the local theater. She also added a character (the niece) who needs to follow a gluten-free diet just like she does.

With all this expertise, Avery still does research. As she puts it, "So many cheeses, so little time. I had no idea how many cheeses are in the world." As she learns about a new cheese, she creates recipes and tries them out on her husband before they are included in the Cheese Shop Mysteries or on the Mystery Lovers Kitchen website.

In his debut novel The Ocean Dark, Jack Rogan writes a novel so thrilling that a Who's Who of thriller writers made the following comments:

"The Ocean Dark by Jack Rogan is gale-force-ten of a thriller, blending furious suspense with brilliantly speculative science to create a riveting story of violence and mayhem on the high seas.  Wow!" --  Douglas Preston, co-author of Relic and Cemetery Dance.

"Jack Rogan's, The Ocean Dark, demands to be devoured in one sitting.  A bloody, brilliant thriller centered on a horror rising from the darkest myths and legends.  Read it with all the lights on in the house.  You've been warned." --  James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The last Oracle.

"A masterful thriller, Rogan's The Ocean Dark is a big, sprawling tale filled with smart plotting and flesh-and-blood characters.  It races from start to finish like an unstoppable vessel steaming full speed ahead." --  Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Collector and Roadside Crosses.

 Here's what was featured in the April edition of The Big Thrill:

Hot off the press:
Click on a book title to read the feature story

• 100 Must Reads, Edited by David Morrell & Hank Wagner
• Midnight Angels, by Lorenzo Carcaterra
• Blood Law, by Jeannie Holmes
• They're Watching, by Gregg Hurwitz
• The Long Quiche Goodbye, by Avery Aames
• The Whisper, by Carla Neggers
• The Prophecy, by Chris Kuzneski
• The Chill of Night, by James Hayman
• The Burning Wire, by Jeffery Deaver
• Colby Control, by Debra Webb
• Carnal Sin, by Allison Brennan
• The Ocean Dark, by Jack Rogan
• The Missing, by Shiloh Walker
• Rancher's Brand of Justice, by Ann Voss Peterson
• Bone Island, by Heather Graham
• The Oath, by Michael Jecks
• Goosebumps HorrorLand: WEIRDO HALLOWEEN, by R.L. Stine
• Snowbound, by Blake Crouch
• The Rule of Nine, by Steve Martini
• The Pharos Objective, by David Sakmyster
• Nightshade, by Ronie Kendig
• The Ghost and Miss Demure, by Melanie Jackson
• The Honest Assassin, by C. J. Carver
• The Cabal, by David Hagberg
• Hostage Zero, by John Gilstrap
• Primeval, by David L. Golemon
• Blood and Ice, by Robert Masello
• White Heat, by Brenda Novak
• Unspeakable, by Laura Griffin
• Foreign Influence, by Brad Thor
• Wolf's Bluff, by W.D. Gagliani
• The Panic Zone, by Rick Mofina
• Nightmare, by Robin Parrish
• Torn Apart, by Shane Gericke
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Writing a Novel, by Tom Monteleone
• Dangerous Desires, by Dee Davis
• Damage Control, by Amy J. Fetzer
• Layover in Dubai, by Dan Fesperman
• People of the Longhouse, by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear
• Feline Fatale, by Linda O. Johnston
• The Secrets of Paradise Bay, by Devon Vaughn Archer
• Cold Sight, by Leslie Parrish
• The Measure of Madness: Inside the Disturbed and Disturbing Criminal Mind, by Cheryl Paradis
• A Between The Lines interview with Heather Graham
• Thrillers: 100 Must Reads - An Interview with Christine Kling
• International News from Mike Nicol

Coming next month: a Between The Lines interview with Peter James, and the latest thrillers from Peter Guttridge, Steven James, Brenda Novak, Juan Gómez-Jurado, Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner, Ridley Pearson, Cynthia Eden, Kevin Guilfoile, Brenda Novak, Richard Doetsch, Mark Haskell Smith, Raymond Benson, Timothy Hallinan, Annelise Ryan, L.J. Sellers, Justin Peacock, PD Martin, Dee Davis and more. It's gonna be a thriller!

ThrillerFest News

"ThrillerFest has lots of extras this year," adds Kathleen Antrim, ThrillerFest director, says. "For starters, there's a party every night:

Wednesday night: CraftFest Cocktail Party.
Thursday night: Opening Reception Cocktail Party.
Friday night: ITW Publications Reception. By the time ThrillerFest arrives, ITW will have launched four major new publications. To celebrate these works, we're having a grand signing/cocktail party.
Saturday night: ITW Awards Banquet. One ticket, one night, three parties: the pre-event cocktail party, the banquet, and the post-event after-party.

Snap Critiques (Friday, July 9th, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.) - Bring the first 400-500 words of your novel for an on-the-spot review!

If you haven't yet registered, log onto www.ThrillerFest.org for event details, registration link, and hotel reservations.  Be there!

Meanwhile, check out the interviews with ThrillerFest Headiners Brad Meltzer, Linda Fairstein and Gayle Lynds, the next three profiles in our ongoing ThrillerFest Headliners series, posted now in ThrillerFest "Latest News."

New Website: The Big Thrillers

The list of ITW publications is growing! Now there's a brand-new website where you can find information about all of ITW's terrific anthologies, audio books, and serial novels in one place - Thriller, Thriller2, Watchlist, The Chopin Manuscript, The Copper Bracelet, First Thrills, and Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads.  Check it out! www.thebigthrillers.com

Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads - Just released!

A new ITW publication is now available from Oceanview, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads, edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner, features 100 works--from Beowulf to The Bourne Identity, Dracula to Deliverance, Heart of Darkness to The Hunt for Red October--deemed must-reads by the International Thriller Writers organization.

Much more than an anthology, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads goes deep inside the most notable thrillers published over the centuries. Through lively, spirited, and thoughtful essays that examine each work's significance, impact, and influence, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads provides both historical and personal perspective on those spellbinding works that have kept readers on the edge of their seats for centuries.  100MustReads.com

Read the interview this month with Christine Kling, as well as previous interviews with Gayle Lynds, Tess Gerritsen and Douglas Preston, then watch this space for more details! 

First Thrills: High-Octane Stories from the Hottest Thriller Authors - Now available!

First Thrills includes never-before-published stories by New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child, Stephen Coonts, Jeffrey Deaver, Heather Graham, Gregg Hurwitz, John Lescroart, John Lutz (with Lise E. Baker), Alex Kava (with Deb Carlin), Michael Palmer (with Daniel James Palmer), Karin Slaughter, and Wendi Corsi Staub.

The collection also serves as an introduction to a new generation of thriller authors, including Sean Michael Bailey, Ken Bruen, Ryan Brown, Bill Cameron, Rebecca Cantrell, Karen Dionne, JT Ellison, Theo Gangi, Rip Gerber, CJ Lyons, Grant McKenzie, Marc Paoletti, Cynthia Robinson, and Kelli Stanley.

"Hands down one of the best short story collections you're ever likely to read."--Booklist, starred review

More at www.first-thrills.com

  New! Watchlist iPhone and iPad App

Vanguard Press is extremely proud to support the ITW and to announce that Watchlist, the killer collaboration between 22 bestselling authors from the ITW, is now available as an interactive App for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Jefffery Deaver, who conceived of the idea for Watchlist, created the main characters and set the plots in motion. Each author wrote a chapter and then Deaver brought both novellas to their startling conclusions.  Watchlist for the iPad presents both The Chopin Manuscript and The Copper Bracelet novellas in one suspenseful thriller and features insightful video interviews with select authors. It also includes excerpts narrated by Alfred Molina and more. Download the App from iTunes now!

During a gala banquet and celebration held on Saturday, July 10 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, the International Thriller Writers announced the winners of the 2010 Thriller Awards.

They are:

Best Hard Cover Novel:
THE NEIGHBOR, Lisa Gardner

Best Paperback Original Novel:
THE COLDEST MILE, Tom Piccirilli

Best First Novel:
RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL, Jamie Freveletti

Best Short Story:
A STAB IN THE HEART, Twist Phelan

Also receiving special recognition during the ThrillerFest V Awards Banquet:

Ken Follett, ThrillerMaster
in recognition of his legendary career and outstanding contributions to the thriller genre

Mark Bowden, True Thriller Award

Linda Fairstein, Silver Bullet Award

US Airways, Silver Bullet Award (Corporate)

The board of directors and members of the International Thriller Writers wish to congratulates all the winners and nominees of the 2010 Thriller Awards.

The Macavity Award is named for the "mystery cat" of T.S. Eliot (Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats). Each year the members of Mystery Readers International nominate and vote for their favorite mysteries in four categories. The 2010 nominees are:

Best Novel

Bury Me Deep by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Tower by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman (Busted Flush Press)
Necessary as Blood by Deborah Crombie (Wm. Morrow)
Nemesis by Jo Nesbo, translated by Don Bartlett (HarperCollins)
The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan (Minotaur)

Best First Novel

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (Delacorte)
Running from the Devil by Jamie Freveletti (Wm. Morrow)
A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie Littlefield (Minotaur)
The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville (Soho Crime)
A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn (Picador)

Best Nonfiction

L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City by John Buntin (Random House: Harmony Books)
Talking about Detective Fiction by P.D. James (Alfred A. Knopf) Rogue Males: Conversations & Confrontations About the Writing Life by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)
The Line Up: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives, edited by Otto Penzler (Little, Brown & Co)
Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo (Penguin Press)
Dame Agatha's Shorts: An Agatha Christie Short Story Companion by Elena Santangelo (Bella Rosa Books)

Sue Feder Historical

A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell (Forge)
In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff (Minotaur)
A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd (Wm. Morrow)
Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)
Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear (Henry Holt)

Best Short Story

"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" by Ace Atkins in Crossroad Blues (Busted Flush Press)
"Femme Sole" by Dana Cameron in Boston Noir (Akashic Books)
"Digby, Attorney at Law" by Jim Fusilli, (AHMM, May 2009)
"Your Turn" by Carolyn Hart in Two of the Deadliest (Harper)
"On the House" by Hank Phillippi Ryan in Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers (Level Best Books)
"The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away" by Marcus Sakey in Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down (Mira)
"Amapola" by Luis Alberto Urrea in Phoenix Noir (Akashic Books)

Bestselling crime and thriller novelist Peter James's, new Roy Grace novel, Dead Like You has gone straight to No. 1 in the UK Sunday Times bestseller list on its first week of publication.  In a double celebration this week, Peter James's The Perfect Murder, the winner of last week's Quick Reads Award, is this week at No. 2 in the iBooks chart.

Geoff Duffield, Group Sales & Marketing Director, Pan Macmillan, said: "In Roy Grace, Peter has created one the great characters of crime fiction. Peter is probably the most connected author I've ever worked with, and there'll be many people in the media, retail and across the industry that will be totally thrilled for him."

Dead Like You  is the sixth in the Roy Grace series, which follows the investigations of Detective Superintendent Grace.  The books are all set in the buzzing city of Brighton, with Dead Like You  set in The Metropole Hotel.  After a heady New Year's Eve ball, a woman is brutally raped as she returns to her room.  A week later, another woman is attacked. Both victims' shoes are taken by the offender and Detective Superintendent Grace soon realises that these new cases bear remarkable similarities to an unsolved series of crimes in the city back in 1997. The perpetrator had been dubbed 'Shoe Man' and was believed to have raped five women before murdering his sixth victim and vanishing.  Could this be a copycat, or has Shoe Man resurfaced?

Peter James based Dead Like You on a real-life case that became known as 'The Rotherham Shoe Man'.   Between 1983-1986 over twenty women reported that they had been violently raped and their shoes taken.  It turned out that the rapist was a 49 year old man, a pillar of the community, happily married with a good job and two children. When investigated, police found 100 pairs of women's high quality shoes in his basement.  He is now serving a life sentence.

You can read more about the novel and Peter's other books on his website. 

There are those who walk among us who are no longer alive, but not yet crossed over. They seek retribution...vengeance...to warn. Among the living, few intuit their presence. Katie MacDonald is one who can. As she's drawn deeper and deeper into a gruesome years-old murder, whispered warnings from a spectral friend become more and more insistent. But Katie must uncover the truth: could David Beckett really be guilty of his fiancée's murder? Worse - the body count's rising on the Island of Bones, and the dead seem to be reenacting some macabre tableaux from history. The danger is increasing by the moment - especially as Katie finds herself irresistibly drawn to David, who may be responsible for more than just one killing....

"An incredible storyteller!" -- Los Angeles Daily News

"This gripping tale strikes a perfect balance between romance and intrigue." - Publishers Weekly on Night of the Blackbird

Heather Graham is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over a hundred novels including suspense, paranormal, historical, and mainstream Christmas fare. She lives in Miami, Florida, her home, and an easy shot down to the Keys where she can indulge in her passion for diving. Travel, research, and ballroom dancing also help keep her sane; she is the mother of five, and also resides with two dogs, a cat, and an albino skunk. She is CEO of Slush Pile Productions, a recording company and production house for various charity events. Look her up at theoriginalheathergraham.com, writersforneworleans.com or eheathergraham.com.

One of the nice things about being an editor for ITW is featuring some of the publishing industry's biggest names, and Janet Evanovich is no exception.  Her Stephanie Plum books have been translated into 27 languages and distributed to at least three times that many countries.  How many of us could even name that many languages?  Janet's not sure how many books have been sold, but it's somewhere between 70 and 100 million! 

I'll try to put that in perspective.  Let's average the two numbers and use 85 million for the tally.  Let's also assume the average reader needs around 24 hours to read one of her books.  Some people will read faster, others slower, but 24 hours sounds about right.  Doing the math produces a truly astonishing number.  I ran the calculation twice to be sure I had it right.

With 85,000,000 books sold, Janet Evanovich has (cumulatively) provided the world's readers with 9,703 years entertainment!  That's a boatload of time.  97 centuries ago, wooly mammoths were still roaming North America.  And no, Janet wasn't around back then!

The Stephanie Plum character is nothing short of iconic.  Plum is so well known, she's actually mentioned in the Wikipedia article on bounty hunters.  Plum is alluring, charming, magnetic, and funny--the list could go on and on; she sounds a lot like her creator.  It's why readers find Plum's lighthearted nature appealing, especially because of her dangerous profession; bounty hunting. 

For those of you not familiar with exactly what a bounty hunter does, here's a quick snapshot:

A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a reward, usually in the form of money.

Here's what was featured in the April edition of The Big Thrill:

Click on a book title to read the feature story

• Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
• Broken by Karin Slaughter
  
• Day One by Bill Cameron
  
• Damaged by Pamela Callow
  
• Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen
  
• Running Dark by Jamie Freveletti
  
• Silencing Sam by Julie Kramer
• A Night of Long Knives by Rebecca Cantrell
• First Thrills anthology edited by Lee Child
  
• Bodily Harm by Robert Dugoni
  
• Reel Murder by Mary Kennedy
  
• Inside Out by Barry Eisler
• Foodchain by Jeff Jacobson
• Wanna Get Lucky? by Deborah Coonts
• Terminated by Simon Wood
• The Anniversary Man by R.J. Ellory
  
• House Justice by Mike Lawson
  
• The Argentine Kidnapping by Bill Sheehy
  
• Love Kills by Dianne Emley
  
• Wedding Favors by Nikita Black, Allyson James, Sheri Whitefeather
  
• Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Objective by Eric Van Lustbader
  
• The Promised War by Thomas Greanias
  
• Vicious by Kevin O'Brien
  
• The Cold Kiss by John Rector
  
• Rider by Jim Bernheimer
  
• Wired Kingdom by Rick Chesler
  
• Night Myst by Yasmine Galenorn
• Silent Scream by Karen Rose
  
• Dark Sea by E. J. Rand
  
• The Wolves of Fairmount Park by Dennis Tafoya
  
• Blood Song by Cat Adams
• Strong Justice by Jon Land
  
• Ancestor by Scott Sigler
• The Remains by Vincent Zandri
  
• Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler
  
• The Road Closed by Leigh Russell
  
• Book of Shadows by Alexandra Sokoloff
  
• Risk No Secrets by Cindy Gerard
  
• Justice in June by Barbara Levenson
• Terror's Reach by Tom Bale
• No Way Out by David Kessler
• What A Girl Wants by Selena Robins
• Eurostorm by Payne Harrison
  
• The Advocate's Betrayal by Teresa Burrell
  
• The Frenzy Way by Gregory Lamberson
  
• Wraith by James R. Hannibal
  
• Ghost Shadow by Heather Graham
  
• Rock Paper Tiger by Lisa Brackmann
  
• A Between The Lines interview with Janet Evanovich
• Thrillers: 100 Must Reads - An Interview with James O. Born
  
• International News from Mike Nicol

ThrillerFest News

JUST POSTED: CraftFest, AgentFest and ThrillerFest Schedule!

Nearly 40 agents have signed up for AgentFest! Find out who in the AgentFest section of www.thrillerfest.org.  You can also read a profile of an debut author who's launching big this month thanks to finding his agent at AgentFest. Check out the world-class authors and agents who are instructors at CraftFest, and back in Latest News, coming soon: the next in the continuing series of our 2010 ThrillerFest Headliners, Lisa Scottoline.

"ThrillerFest has lots of extras this year," adds Kathleen Antrim, ThrillerFest director, says. "For starters, there's a party every night:

Wednesday night: CraftFest Cocktail Party.
Thursday night: Opening Reception Cocktail Party.
Friday night: ITW Publications Reception. By the time ThrillerFest arrives, ITW will have launched four major new publications. To celebrate these works, we're having a grand signing/cocktail party.
Saturday night: ITW Awards Banquet. One ticket, one night, three parties: the pre-event cocktail party, the banquet, and the post-event after-party.

If you haven't yet registered, log onto www.ThrillerFest.org for event details, registration link, and hotel reservations.  Be there!

New in ThrillerFest Headliners

Larry Light profiles Mark Bowden, author of the renowned BLACK HAWK DOWN and recipient of ThrillerFest's first-ever True Thrillers award for nonfiction. Click to read all about him. When you're done, scroll down to catch our earlier profiles of Headliners Lisa Scottoline and Harlan Coben . . . and look forward to our June Blitz: profiles of Brad Meltzer, Gayle Lynds, Linda Fairstein, David Morrell, and 2010 ThrillerMaster Ken Follett. It's all in Latest News.

WATCHLIST: Two Serial Thrillers in One Killer Book!

Imagine a literary jam session with 22 of your favorite masters of pulse-pounding fiction and you have WATCHLIST: Two Serial Thrillers in One Killer Book. Jeffery Deaver conceived of the characters and put the plot into motion and Jim Fusilli leant a sharp editorial eye, finely orchestrating this chorus of suspense that includes such top writers as Lee Child, Joseph Finder, Lisa Scottoline, Gayle Lynds, P.J. Parrish and many others. Dramatic tension ties the novellas together as each thriller titan leads the reader down dark alleys and around blind corners, saving the fireworks for the climactic endings, also crafted by Jeffery Deaver.

This two-fisted tome has the chills, breakneck pacing, and diabolical switchbacks that thriller lovers have come to expect. Reading into the wee, small hours is practically guaranteed.

Read and listen to a review of WATCHLIST by Lynn Neary on NPR's "All Things Considered."

Coming this month: First Thrills: High-Octane Stories from the Hottest Thriller Authors

New York Times bestselling author Lee Child has teamed up with the International Thriller Writers for First Thrills, a showcase of many of the organization's bestselling authors as well as rising stars in the genre.

First Thrills includes never-before-published stories by New York Times bestselling authors Lee Child, Stephen Coonts, Jeffrey Deaver, Heather Graham, Gregg Hurwitz, John Lescroart, John Lutz (with Lise E. Baker), Alex Kava (with Deb Carlin), Michael Palmer (with Daniel James Palmer), Karin Slaughter, and Wendi Corsi Staub.

The collection also serves as an introduction to those ITW has christened its rising stars, including Sean Michael Bailey, Ken Bruen, Ryan Brown, Bill Cameron, Rebecca Cantrell, Karen Dionne, JT Ellison, Theo Gangi, Rip Gerber, CJ Lyons, Grant McKenzie, Marc Paoletti, Cynthia Robinson, and Kelli Stanley.    Available June 22

Coming soon: Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads

A new ITW publication coming soon from Oceanview, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads, edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner, features 100 works--from Beowulf to The Bourne Identity, Dracula to Deliverance, Heart of Darkness to The Hunt for Red October--deemed must-reads by the International Thriller Writers organization.

Much more than an anthology, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads goes deep inside the most notable thrillers published over the centuries. Through lively, spirited, and thoughtful essays that examine each work's significance, impact, and influence, Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads provides both historical and personal perspective on those spellbinding works that have kept readers on the edge of their seats for centuries.

Read the interview this month with James O. Born, as well as previous interviews with Gayle Lynds, Tess Gerritsen and Douglas Preston, then watch this space for more details!