July 2010 Archives

In this month's feature is one of England's favorite sons.  Representing the "I" in ITW, is Peter James.  Peter is a Brighton born author, screenwriter, and film producer.  His latest novel DEAD LIKE YOU went straight to the #1 slot on the Sunday Times Bestseller list--and hit #1 on all the other UK fiction bestseller lists as well.  That's a good trick.  He even beat "The Man," James Patterson who had to settle for the #2 slot.  Sorry Jim, but he got you!

Peter's books have been translated into 33 languages with an estimated total sales of 20 million copies worldwide.  He receives fan mail from virtually every country on the planet--with one common question:  When is the next Roy Grace novel coming out?

As a board member with the title of Vice President of International Affairs, Peter is heavily involved with ITW.  He oversees six different sub-chairs, each representing a different area of the world.  As ITW continues to encourage and promote international authors, Peter is at the forefront of that effort.

As you can imagine, Peter is being pulled in dozens of different directions, so I appreciate him taking the time to do this feature interview:

Just the name fires up the imagination - Starvation Lake.

Even better, it's a real place - a small town in Michigan that has folklore of its own. And following the dictum to write what you know, newcomer Bryan Gruley used the locale as the setting for his suspense novels, starting with last year's Starvation Lake and continuing with this month's release The Hanging Tree.

Starvation Lake is a small community whose claim to fame was almost winning an ice hockey championship. Indeed, much of the recent history of the town is connected in some way to its hockey.  In Starvation Lake, pieces of a snowmobile wash up near the slowly dying town. The same snowmobile that belonged to Starvation's legendary hockey coach whose fatal accident happened five miles away and on a different lake.  The evidence points to murder.

Our narrator is the editor of the local newspaper, Gus Carpenter, who recently returned to Starvation after he failed to make it big with the Detroit Times. Years earlier he was the unfortunate goalie who let a state championship get away that not only crushed the dreams of his coach but also earned him the enmity of his fellow townspeople. Investigating the murder of his former coach leads Gus to discover holes in the town's past that seem to conceal dark and disturbing secrets.

In Aileen G. Baron's The Scorpion's Bite, it is 1943 and the world is at war. Archaeologist Lily Sampson has been sent to Trans-Jordan, to do an archaeological survey for the OSS, along with Gideon Weil, the famous director of the American School of Archeology in Jerusalem, in the beautiful, silent, Trans-Jordanian desert where the indelible presence of Lawrence of Arabia still lingers.

Two oil pipelines run from Iraq through the desert to the ports on Mediterranean, one through one through Trans-Jordan that supplies the Allies, the other through Syria that supplies the Nazis. Syrians and Vichy French are raiding across the border, threatening to destroy the Trans-Jordan pipeline.

Lily discovers their real mission is to help safeguard the Trans-Jordan pipeline and to prevent oil from reaching the Nazis through Syria. At the same time Lily learns of a Nazi plot to kidnap and kill the eight-year old King Faisal of Iraq and take over Iraq. Now, Lily and Gideon must act to protect the Trans-Jordan pipeline, sabotage the Syrian line, and rescue Faisal to prevent the Nazi takeover of Iraq.

Wealth of action and fascinating setting...(Michele Leber, Booklist)

A retired Near Eastern archaeologist, Aileen G. Baron is the author of A Fly Has a Hundred Eyes, and The Torch of Tangier, set in the Middle East during WW II, featuring archeologist Lily Sampson. In The Scorpion's Bite, the third book in the Lily Sampson series, out in August, 2010. Lily is doing an archaeological survey of Trans-Jordan for the OSS. The Gold of Thrace, also published by Poisoned Pen Press, is a contemporary stand-alone about the intrigue and deceit in the antiquities trade. She is currently working on another book featuring Tamar Saticoy, the protagonist of The Gold of Thrace.

 Here's what was featured in the August edition of The Big Thrill.

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

• The Bishop by Steven James
• City of Dreadful Night by Peter Guttridge
• The Capital Game by Brian Haig
• Sacrifice: Mortal Path Book 2 by Dakota Banks
• Kiss of Death by PD Martin
• The Hanging Tree by Bryan Gruley
• Thrilled to Death by L.J. Sellers
• Choice of Weapons by Raymond Benson
• The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan
• Body Heat by Brenda Novak
• In Harm's Way by Ridley Pearson
• Scared Stiff by Annelise Ryan
• The Moses Expedition by Juan Gómez-Jurado
• Cut and Run by Matt Hilton
• Deadly Trust by JJ Cooper
• The Scorpion's Bite by Aileen G. Baron
• The Thieves of Darkness by Richard Doetsch
• Ghost Night by Heather Graham
• Medical Error by Richard L. Mabry, MD
• Proof of Life by Misty Evans
• Rage by Gary C. King
• A Sudden Dawn by Goran Powell
• Blind Man's Alley by Justin Peacock
• Colby Velocity by Debra Webb
• The Thousand by Kevin Guilfoile
• Deadly Fear by Cynthia Eden
• White Heat by Brenda Novak
• Death's Excellent Vacation by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner
• Desperate Deeds by Dee Davis
• Red Station by Adrian Magson
• The Last Free Men by Jack Everett & David Coles
• Haunt Me Still by Jennifer Lee Carrell
• Street: Clairvoyance by Ryan A. Span
• The Chronicles of Anaedor: The Prophecies by Kristina Schram
• Baked by Mark Haskell Smith
• A Cutthroat Business by Bente Gallagher
• One Tough Marine by Paula Graves
• Cat in an Ultramarine Scheme by Carole Nelson Douglas
• A Between the Lines interview with Peter James
• Bonus to The Big Thrill: John Sanford's The Prey, by Shane Gericke
• Thrillers: 100 Must Reads - An Interview with Grant Blackwood
• International News from Mike Nicol

Coming next month: a Between the Lines interview with Ridley Pearson, and the latest thrillers from Wanda L Dyson, Jordan Dane, Thomas W. Young, Michael McMenamin & Patrick McMenamin, Brenda Novak, Joelle Charbonneau, Janice Gable Bashman with Jonathan Maberry, Katia Lief, D.E. Johnson, Laura Caldwell, Wendy Lyn Watson, Deon Meyer, Ward Larsen, Joshua Corin, Heather Graham, Doug Magee, Michael Van Rooy, Paula Graves, Kathy Reichs, Kelly Gay, Cris Ramsay, Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood, Kay Hooper, James L. Thane, Gary Phillips, Charlie Charters, Oliver Stark, Jilliane Hoffman, Alex Archer, Pat Mullen, Stuart Woods, Michael W. Sherer, Jonathan Maberry and more. It's gonna be a thriller!

 

ThrillerFest V Report

ITW's annual celebration of the thriller world is the largest event of its kind, a meeting place for authors, readers, budding writers, and publishing industry professionals. On July 7 - 10, literally hundreds of thriller authors, literary agents, editors, publishing professionals, and thriller fans converged on New York's Grand Hyatt Hotel.

During a gala banquet and celebration held on Saturday, July 10, the winners of the 2010 Thriller Awards were announced. 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 were 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, and US Airways, Silver Bullet Award (Corporate).

Be sure to check out Barbara Vey's Publishers Weekly blog reports on CraftFest,  AgentFest, and ThrillerFest Part One and Part Two, and ITW member Alan Jacobsen's photos at the ThrillerFest photo gallery. And just for fun, here are the lyrics to "The Writer's Prison Blues," the song ITW members Michael and Daniel Palmer performed during the entertainment portion of the awards banquet. Enjoy!

ThrillerFest VI will be held July 6 - 9, 2011, again at The Grand Hyatt. Mark your calendars!

 

USO and ITW to Carry Out "Operation Thriller" on U.S. Troops Stationed in Persian Gulf

In Fall 2010, ITW members David Morrell, Douglas Preston, James Rollins, Steve Berry, and Andy Harp will deploy to the Persian Gulf on a week-long USO tour to visit and uplift troops. 

The tour, conceived of and organized by Andy Harp, and fittingly entitled Operation Thriller, will kick off with a special visit to Washington, D.C., where the group will visit with troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and National Naval Medical Center.  The group will then fly to the Persian Gulf to talk fiction, inspire, spread cheer and, most importantly, show their heartfelt gratitude.

Participating in what will be their first USO tour, the authors will visit multiple posts, sign autographs, pose for photos and distribute advance copies of their upcoming novels.

    

ITW Publications: 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

                         

       

Coming September 2: FEAR: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror

Turn the pages if you dare. . . . In this collection of thirteen fabulously chilling stories from thirteen true masters of suspense, including five New York Times bestsellers and a number of Edgar Award nominees, all edited by none other than R. L. Stine - nothing is what it seems. From cannibalistic children, to an unwitting date with a vampire, to a crush on a boy who just might be a werewolf, no scary stone is left unturned. A must-have for all fans of the genre!

 

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 the entertainment portion of the awards banquet at ThrillerFest V, ITW members Michael and Daniel Palmer performed the following, sung to the tune of the Folsum Prison Blues.  Many who were at the banquet have said they wished the words had appeared simultaneously on the room's two big screens, so Michael sent them along.  Enjoy!

 

The Writer's Prison Blues

 

I'm sittin' in my desk chair,

Just waitin' for my muse

My protagonist is stumblin' about

Searchin' for some clues

I'm stuck in writers' prison

And my screen is blank

While the plot that once seemed brilliant

Moves like a Grumman tank

 

When I was just a Freshman,

My professor told me, "Son,

If you think you'll get rich writing,

then you really are quite dumb"

So I put him in my prologue

Just to watch him die,

Now I sit here writin' queries

And hang my head and cry. 

 

I'm working at Home Depot

Just to pay the rent

My character development

Has cost me my last cent

My agent hasn't called

My deadline's drawing nigh.

I'm thinking of just falling back

On stuff from Junior High.

 

Patterson and Coben

Those guys don't scare me none

Follett . . . He's still writing?

Well, let him have his fun.

I've out swum Cussler's heroes

Lee Child won't stick around

Baldacci said he'd blurb me

If I were Sandra Brown.

 

Twitter has abandoned us

Our facebook friends are down

A market for Zombi, romance, nautical, young adult women's fiction

Hasn't yet been found

We know the world will love us

We need to make them see

If they won't put us in paper

We'll make the e-Book free.

Recently I sat down with Ridley Pearson to talk about his newest thriller, In Harm's Way.

In Harm's Way is the fourth book in your Walt Fleming series.  Could you give us a sneak preview?

In Harm's Way is more of a straightforward murder investigation than I've written in quite some time. It is part procedural, part psychological thriller, featuring murder, mayhem, love, and angst - a nice sample of life.

When an unidentified male is found dead alongside of the road in Sun Valley, Idaho, Sheriff Walt Fleming seeks the advice and assistance of legendary homicide detective Lou Boldt. Together the two must negotiate their way through Sun Valley's rugged backcountry, as well as its wealthy and desperate inhabitants, in order to keep those they love from finding themselves in harm's way.

Walt Fleming is a sheriff in Sun Valley.  Isn't that in your neck of the woods?

It sure is! I've lived either full-time or part-time in the Sun Valley area for nearly 30 years. I've known Sheriff Walt Femling (the model for Walt Fleming) for nearly all of that time. So it's really fun for me to write about it.  The setting is a real character, a natural extension for me. It's home.

Proof of Life, the third installment of Misty Evans's award-winning Super Agent Series, is available this month in print. The story features CIA Deputy Director Michael Stone, who first appeared in OPERATION SHEBA. In this story, Stone must become the one thing he despises - a terrorist - in order to save the woman he loves.

When his niece, the daughter of the Republican candidate for President, is kidnapped just days from the election, CIA Deputy Director Michael Stone vows to do whatever it takes to get her back and bring the kidnapper to justice.

Dr. Brigit Kent, a consultant for the Department of Homeland Security, knows this particular kidnapper well. Exposing him, however, will reveal her sister's secret ties to a terrorist group. The only way to keep her sister safe is to blackmail the sexy, rock-solid deputy director--a move that puts her directly in his line of fire.

Brigit is undeniably beautiful, brilliant, and cunning, but is she friend or foe? The answer to that question could break Michael's personal code of honor--and his heart.

"Evans takes readers on an edge-of-your-seat thriller into the secretive world of CIA operatives." ~Cindy Himler, RT Reviews

"...an intense ride...the subplots and family dynamics really deliver." ~Single Titles Reviews

"...Evans weaves in her own brand of intrigue and conspiracy layered with emotion and conflicts." ~Romance Junkies

"...I can easily see [Evans] side by side with authors such as Clancy and Gerritson." ~The Romance Studio

The first two books in the Super Agent Series have won several awards for Best Romantic Suspense. Evans is currently at work on the next trilogy in the series. Proof of Life is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores everywhere.

Misty Evans is an award-winning author of romantic thrillers and paranormal comedy. Her debut novel, Operation Sheba, won the 2010 New England Reader's Choice Bean Pot contest for best Romantic Suspense, a CAPA nomination in 2009, and a CataNetwork Reviewers' Choice Award in 2008.

Misty lives along the Mississippi River with her husband and twin sons. A member of Romance Writers of America and Thriller Writers International, she teaches creative writing and speaks at local schools, encouraging young writers to pursue their dreams.

Visit her at www.readmistyevans.com or www.twitter.com/readmistyevans .

Fittingly for a master of intrigue, John Sandford (1944- ) really isn't John Sandford. He's John Camp, the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper reporter who created one of the most memorable cops in fiction: Lucas Davenport of the long-running Prey series. (Dual-name fun fact: Camp debuted two thriller series--Prey and Kidd--for two different publishers in 1989. Prey's publisher asked for the pseudonym so Kidd's publisher couldn't benefit from Prey advertising.) Sandford was trained as a reporter by the U.S. Army, which sent him to Korea to work for the base newspaper. When he got out in 1968, he became a reporter for a small newspaper in Missouri, then jumped to the Miami Herald, where he worked with legendary crime reporter Edna Buchanan, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, where he covered crime among other beats and won the 1986 Pulitzer for a series on the Midwest farm crisis. His first Prey thriller, Rules of Prey, catapulted Sandford onto the national stage. He never looked back, writing numerous Preys, the Kidd and Flowers series, nonfiction books, a series of articles about his journey to the combat zones of Iraq, and underwriting a multiyear archeological dig in Israel. But Lucas Davenport, the Minnesota police investigator who is by turns intelligent, zealous, dark, funny, woman adoring, happy, and cynical, remains Sandford's iconic character.

Special to the Big Thrill by Hank Wagner.

The much-heralded ITW project Thrillers: 100 Must Reads was published with much fanfare at ThrillerFest early in July, and has since received a lot of favorable attention from critics (we were especially pleased with Michael Dirda's review in The Washington Post).

To further whet your appetite for this essential book, we've been featuring a series of short interviews with various essayists in past issues of The Big Thrill.  Here is the final interview with Grant Blackwood, who contributed a piece on Clive Cussler's Raise the Titanic.

Grant, you wrote a glowing essay about Raise the Titanic.  Do you have any personal connection to the book you wrote about?

Depends on what you mean by "personal".  As I first read Titanic shortly after I read The Mediterranean Caper, which is the book that sparked my desire to be a writer, I feel a pretty deep connection to it.  But, then again, that could be said for all of Clive's books.

Two years ago a hard-hitting anti-capital punishment book hit the shelves here called Shepherds & Butchers by an advocate named Chris Marnewick.  The book was a mixture of fact (the gruesome details of a hanging) and fiction, the crimes that had resulted in the various characters being sentenced to death.  The book was controversial even though South African abolished the death penalty some years ago.

Last month Marnewich published his second novel, The Soldier Who Said No, which has another social injustice at its heart.  But this is a bonus.  Because for the rest his novel is an unputdownable thriller.  Under the auspicious of my blog, Crime Beat, he and I had a chat about his new novel.

After the non-fiction/fiction of Shepherds & Butchers, you've moved into what could be regarded as the terrain of the thriller.  In an interview you indicated that this was at the suggestion of your publisher, Umuzi. It's difficult to imagine this book being anything other than it is; did you have to make many changes?

Gary C. King's Rage tells the story of Darren Mack, a man who had it all. A Beautiful home in Reno. A lovely wife. Three children. And a million-dollar business. Then his wife Charla filled for divorce, winning a large settlement in a heated courtroom battle.

According to friends, Mack was 'angry'. They had no idea how far his fury would take him. Over the next year, the rage only intensified. Finally, Darren Mack snapped, stabbing and killing his ex-wife in her condo. Hours later, he stalked and shot their divorce judge in broad daylight.

Before the blood had even cooled and law enforcement could react, he fled to Mexico, eluding police hot on his trail. The case made headlines nationwide, propelled by lurid details of Mack's wild 'swinger' lifestyle, the shocking discovery of explosives in his apartment, and the chillingly prophetic remark made by his wife: 'Someday he's going to kill me'. Catching him was the hardest part.

 

Gary C. King, a freelance author and lecturer, is regarded by readers and critics alike as one of the world's foremost crime writers, a reputation he has earned over the last 28 years with the publication of more than 400 articles in true crime magazines in the United States, Canada, and England. King's stories regularly appeared in True Detective, Official Detective, Inside Detective, Front Page Detective, and Master Detective magazines, until those magazines' demise in the mid-1990s. More recently he has found alternate venues for his stories, including truTV Library. He is also the author of several true crime books including: Blood Lust: Portrait of a Serial Sex Killer, Driven to Kill, Web of Deceit, Blind Rage, Savage Vengeance (with Don Lasseter), An Early Grave, The Texas 7, Murder in Hollywood, Angels of Death, Stolen in the Night, Love, Lies, and Murder, An Almost Perfect Murder, Butcher, The Murder of Meredith Kercher, Mr. Perfect (U.K. reprint of Blind Rage), and Rage.

In debut author Kristina Schram's The Chronicles of Anaedor: The Prophecies, strange things happen to fifteen-year-old Lavida Mors. Maybe that's why her father sends her away to Portal Manor, a mysterious family estate she has never seen. Lavida quickly discovers that not everything at Portal Manor is as it seems when she stumbles across a secret passage to a hidden world--Anaedor. Anaedor lies deep beneath the surface, separated from humanity, populated by mythical creatures, who take Lavida captive.

While trying to escape the dark realm with the help of her friends, Lavida must battle overgrown sharp-toothed leeches, survive a poison arrow and outwit a giant, all the while trying to convince the hopeful populace of Anaedor that she is not the savior they believe her to be.

"An amazing adventure to a unique and mysterious subterranean world." --Jeremy Robinson, bestselling author of Raising The Past and Antarktos Rising

Kristina graciously supplied the following interview: 

In Richard L. Mabry's newest thriller, Medical Error, Dr. Anna McIntyre's life was going along just fine until someone else started living it. Her patient died because of an identity mix-up, her medical career is in jeopardy because of forged prescriptions, and her credit is in ruins. She thought things couldn't get worse, but that was before she opened the envelope.
With the help of Dr. Nick Valentine, a cynic who carries a load of guilt, and attorney Ross Donovan, a recovering alcoholic, Anna tries to discover who's behind the identity thefts, only to find that her determination to clear her name might have been a prescription for trouble.

"If you like medical suspense, this one will keep you glued to your favorite reading chair!" --Angela Hunt, author of When Darkness Comes.

"Compelling story and characters with fascinating medical detail. Move over Robin Cook! Mabry has a bright future." --Colleen Coble, author of Lonestar Homecoming and the Rock Harbor series

 

Richard L. Mabry is retired physician and medical school professor who achieved worldwide recognition as a writer, speaker, and teacher before turning his talents to non-medical writing after his retirement.

His debut novel of medical suspense, Code Blue, garnered rave reviews and was repeatedly ranked in the top 50 medical thrillers on Amazon. Medical Error is the second in his Prescription For Trouble series.

In JJ Cooper's Deadly Trust, a riveting thriller set along Australia's eastern coast, former army interrogator Jay Ryan enjoys the quiet life after leaving the military behind--or so he thinks. Old habits die hard, and when he realizes someone is trying to kill him and make it look like an accident, he's interested to find out who...and why.

An anthrax attack on the Gold Coast complicates the issue, and it soon becomes apparent that this hybrid strain of anthrax is being used to create nationwide panic. Only one batch of anthrax inoculations can resist the deadly new strain, and it was given to five military interrogators, one of whom was Jay Ryan.

When it's discovered the other four interrogators have disappeared, and are presumed dead, Ryan is in hot demand. Racing against time and hunted by rogue soldiers, crazed scientists and an organization that operates beyond the law, Ryan digs deep into his past for a chance at a future! Protagonist Jay Ryan wages a one-man war against enemies both known and unseen. But winning this war may have devastating consequences for the last interrogator.

In Book Two of Dakota Bank's Mortal Path series: Sacrifice, Maliha Crayne, once a demon's enslaved executioner--a ravager of lives and souls-- has been reborn. She's willing to sacrifice her immortality for a chance at freedom and salvation. She has the opportunity to prevent the deaths of thousands to make up for the countless lives she's obliterated over the centuries.

To do so, she must locate and destroy an evil cabal of madmen in possession of a weapon of unspeakable power--and survive the immortal assassins who are now after her blood.

"Chilling, thrilling, and a page turner!" - Heather Graham

"Action packed. Tons of fun. Dakota Banks slams you through a wild tale of mayhem and murder. You'll love every page." - Mario Acevedo

Dakota Banks writes dark paranormal thrillers without the usual trappings that "paranormal" has come to mean lately: no vampires, etc. Her stories are based on ancient Sumerian mythology brought to life in the current time blended with action-filled thriller stories.

In Ryan A. Span's novel Street: Clairvoyance, stranded in a hostile country, separated from her friends and haunted by terrible visions, telepath Gina Hart is in a bad position.

Worse, she might be the only one capable of stopping an all-out war between the people who want her for their own purposes.

Now it's just a question of how much more she can take.

"STREET will take you on a ride that leaves you begging to go again!" -- Cynthia Witherspoon

"Ryan A. Span has crafted a well written, brilliantly paced story of adventure, mystery and explosive action." -- Eli James

Dutch SF author Ryan A. Span is the creative mind behind the STREET trilogy of cyberpunk novels; Empathy, Clairvoyance and the upcoming Precognition. He wears many hats as an avid reader, writer, gamer, sport fencer and video game designer.

What strange magic lies behind the spark of genius? When director Kate Stanley takes on Shakespeare's witch-haunted play of Macbeth in Jennifer Lee Carrell's Haunt Me Still, it doesn't take long for a legendary curse to stir. A murder arranged to look like pagan sacrifice ambiguously marks Kate as either suspect or future victim, and propels her into the search for a lost version of Macbeth, said to contain ancient rituals of witchcraft. However much Kate would like to dismiss such rituals as superstition, someone else is clearly willing to kill for them, and for Shakespeare's darkest secret.

"Thrill after thrill...This lively and fact-filled novel would do nicely for a rainy day at the beach." --The Washington Post

Jennifer Lee Carrell was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Arizona. After earning a Ph.D. in English from Harvard, along with degrees from Oxford and Stanford, she taught literature and writing at Harvard. Jumping ship from academics, she moved back to Arizona and wrote arts criticism for the Arizona Daily Star and articles on such topics as horses, firefighting, and alchemy for the Smithsonian Magazine. Her first thriller, Interred with Their Bones, was nominated by ITW in 2008 for Best First Novel. Haunt Me Still is her second thriller, and third book. She lives in Tucson.

In Debra Webb's newest, Colby Velocity, former Equalizer Leland "Rocky" Rockford doesn't have a problem working with Colby Agent Kendra Todd. As far as he is concerned, partnering with her is one of the benefits of their agencies' merger. Something about her calm and composed air makes him want to ruffle her feathers--until they're assigned to a murder case. In full professional mode, Rocky will do whatever necessary to support Kendra--and to keep her safe.

But as the case starts cracking, so do the walls around her guarded heart. With questions and the bodies piling up, they must outmaneuver the shadowy element that not only wants them to fail, but wants them dead....

 

Debra Webb wrote her first story at age nine and her first romance at thirteen. It wasn't until she spent three years working for the military behind the Iron Curtain and within the confining political Walls of Berlin, Germany, that she realized her true calling. A five-year stint with NASA on the Space Shuttle Program reinforced her love of the endless possibilities within her grasp as a storyteller. A collision course between suspense and romance was set. Debra has been writing romantic suspense and action packed romantic thrillers since!

Who is Joe Hunter?

For a start, there are certain things he isn't.  He's not a cop.  He's not a bounty hunter.  He's not a private detective.
Some people call him a vigilante, but even Joe will tell you that vigilantes take the law into their own hands, whereas there aren't too many laws that define what Joe does to get a job done.

Joe is someone who cares.  Simple as that.  He doesn't like bullies.  He doesn't like men who hurt women or children.  Put into context, that covers a whole bundle of bad guys the world over.  He's a tough guy with a heart.
In his new book, Cut and Run, Matt Hilton pits Joe against a killer who has stolen his identity and committed a vicious double murder.  His motive?  Revenge.  His mission?  Kill anyone Hunter holds dear.  This forces Joe into a deadly duel of wits that takes him from the streets of Miami to the squalid barrios of Columbia to the jungle hideaway of a drug baron.  And brings him face to face with his past.

In Brian Haig's The Capitol Game, it was the deal of the decade, if not the century. A small, insignificant company on the edge of bankruptcy had discovered an alchemist's dream; a miraculous polymer, that when coated on any vehicle, was the equivalent of 30 inches of steel. With bloody conflicts surging in Iraq and Afghanistan, the polymer promises to save thousands of lives and change the course of both wars.

Jack Wiley, a successful Wall Street banker, believes he has a found a dream come true when he mysteriously learns of this miraculous polymer. His plan: enlist the help of the Capitol Group, one of the country's largest and most powerful corporations in a quick, bloodless takeover of the small company that developed the polymer. It seems like a partnership made in heaven...until the Pentagon's investigative service begins nosing around, and the deal turns into a nightmare. Now, Jack's back is up against the wall and he and the Capitol Group find themselves embroiled in the greatest scandal the government and corporate America have ever seen...

ITW Contributing Editor John T. Cullen interviews British author Adrian Magson about his remarkable new spy thriller Red Station (Severn House, August 2010).

Red Station: MI5 officer Harry Tate finds himself posted to a faraway operation called Red Station, somewhere in Central or Eastern Europe, while the media fuss dies down from a drug bust gone sour. A former soldier, now a loyal Security Services officer and civil servant, his credibility is down the drain after two civilians were shot dead during a drug intercept under his control. The idea is to wait it out before coming back up for air. Or so Harry is told.

What his bosses haven't told him is that Red Station is a punishment posting for washed-out spooks from MI5 and MI6...and that Harry won't be coming home again. All Harry knows is, it's remote and he will be under a No Contact rule. This includes family, friends, former colleagues--everyone.

All hell breaks loose when the Russians decide to support a friendly satellite state, threatening to overrun Red Station. Harry realizes Red Station, and everyone in it, is the target of a U.K. Government assassination team called The Hit.

But his bosses have seriously underestimated their man. When he uncovers the real set-up behind Red Station, he decides to fight back in the only way he knows.

Jack Everett and David Coles would like to dedicate their novel, The Last Free Men, to the last men who offered resistance to the might of Rome in ancient Scotland during the second century.  In their historical thriller, the hero is half-Roman, half-Briton, and used as a spy by the Romans.  He is wrongly accused of murder.  Escaping from a lead mine, he is aided by Druids to reach Scotland.  Here he plots to bring about the destruction of the Roman legions.

I caught up with Jack and David a few days ago and had a chance to ask them some questions.

Is there anything special you'd like to tell us about The Last Free Men?

"The book is a historical thriller which sets down what we believe may have happened to the Ninth Roman Legion, because it is a matter of historical fact that the Ninth disappeared around that time.  Our hero, Marcus Uffin Gellorix, is the result of a union between a married Roman Tribune and a high-born woman of the Brigantean tribe.  The hero's father returns to Rome and his wife, leaving Marcus and Marcus's mother to their fate.  A short time later, attempting to save his commander from a spear thrust, Marcus is mistakenly accused of his murder and sentenced to the lead minds.

Recently, Bente Gallagher sent The Big Thrill the following interview about her new novel, A Cutthroat Business.

Tell us about the new book.

It's the first book in a new series, featuring recovering Southern Belle Savannah Martin. Savannah has always been a good girl, always doing what was expected, fully expecting that if she does everything perfectly, everything will fall into place in its turn. When things don't work out that way, she starts reassessing everything she's always believed to be the truth and starts to build the kind of life she wants, not the one she's expected to have. She gets her real estate license and starts plying her trade, and pretty much immediately finds herself tangled up in a murder mystery, when one of her colleagues is murdered in an empty house and Savannah is the one who stumbles over the body. It's a part mystery, part romance, part suspense novel, with - according to one early reader - "enough wit and sexual chemistry to rival Janet Evanovich." Can't ask for better than that!

A-litter-ation best defines the latest book by Carole Nelson Douglas, Cat in an Ultramarine Scheme.

Midnight Louie makes a triumphant return in the 22nd book in the series about a Private Investigator of the feline-domesticus variety who shows us that cats are far more clever than people, especially when it comes to ratting out crime and wrong-doing.

If you're new to the series and you're wondering how on earth a cat can nip crime as a super sleuth, Carole has always been ahead of her time.

She penned the eight acclaimed Irene Adler Sherlockian thrillers before Robert Downey, Jr., met the lady on screen in his hot new Sherlock Holmes film franchise.  She foresaw the sunrise of vampires, creating the Delilah Street noir urban fantasy series five years ago--long before Twilight!  With the magic of Midnight Louie, she's struck absolute literary gold. I mean, think about it--this series has more lives than Felix, Garfield, Morris and the Cheshire combined--and  the hordes are still hungry for it--certainly in part because Douglas has proven once again that murder doesn't have to be such dead serious business.

Goran Powell has spent more than 35 years in Martial Arts. He is a qualified instructor with Daigaku Karate Kai (DKK), on of the United Kingdom's leading clubs, and assistant coach to the successful mixed martial arts team; DKK Fighters. He is a regular contributor to martial arts magazines and has appeared twice on the cover of the Traditional Karate magazine. He is a freelance writer and has won numerous advertising awards. Powell is married and lives in London with his wife and three children.
 
When I caught up with Goran Powell by phone, we spent a pleasant forty five minutes chatting about his writing, his involvement in Martial Arts and some of his likes and dislikes. Powell came across as a gentle and pleasant man, one who's company would be quite welcome. His company would be quite welcome too on a dark night in a back alley when faced by thugs; Powell is a 4th Dan, Goju Ruy Karate expert, and it is his love of the Martial Arts that has inspired two books on the subject. And that was the reason for this interview; Powell's latest novel, A Sudden Dawn.

In Heather Graham's newest, Ghost Night, A slasher movie turns real when two young actors are brutally murdered on a remote island film set. Their severed heads and arms are posed in macabre homage to a nineteenth-century pirate massacre.

Two years later, survivor Vanessa Loren is drawn back to South Bimini by a documentary being made about the storied region. Filmmaker Sean O'Hara aches to see how the unsolved crime haunts her...and Sean knows more than a little about ghosts.

Lured by visions of a spectral figurehead, Vanessa discovers authentic pirate treasures that only deepen the mystery. Are the murders the work of modern-day marauders, the Bermuda Triangle or a deadly paranormal echo of the island's violent history? As Vanessa and Sean grow closer, the killer prepares to resume the slaughter...unless the dead can intervene.

"Unrelentingly suspenseful" - Book List on Ghost Walk

Heather Graham is the NYT 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.

In One Tough Marine, by Paula Graves, when masked men making impossible demands threaten the life of Abby Chandler's young son, she runs to Luke Cooper for help, a man she hasn't seen since he vanished after an earth-shattering one-night stand. If anyone knows the secrets her husband was keeping, it's Luke. But what Abby doesn't know is that Luke's disappearance was the only way to keep her alive. And though he's determined to protect her from the ruthless men threatening her, Luke knows that reawakening the passion between them may be the most dangerous risk of all.

"...a roller-coaster story of action, romance and personal growth." - RT Book Reviews

Raised in the American South, Paula Graves knows Southerners don't hide their crazy people--they showcase them. Eccentric people make for the best stories, and Southerners love their stories. The need to tell stories has been a driving force in Paula's life from a young age.

As a girl, her favorite books were mysteries and romances. When she realized there were books that featured both romance and mystery, she knew she'd found her calling. Now Paula writes for Harlequin Intrigue, where she gets to play both matchmaker and murderer and get paid for it.

In Dee Davis's Desperate Deeds, as the demolitions expert for A-Tac, a black-ops CIA unit masquerading as Ivy League faculty, Tyler Hanson has two great loves: literature and explosives. She lives by the motto "duty first" and doesn't have time for personal attachments . . . until a steamy one-night stand turns into a professional partnership.

Award winning author Dee Davis worked in public relations before turning her had to writing. She is the author of eighteen books and three novellas, including the A-Tac series. When not frantically trying to meet a deadline, Dee spends her time with her husband, daughter, cat and Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Visit Dee at www.deedavis.com

In a way, it seems inevitable that Australian author PD Martin would end up writing a popular mystery series; she wrote her first mystery novella as a budding author in fifth grade!

After that, she went back to concentrating on her schoolwork...but she never forgot her love of mysteries and writing. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in behavioral sciences, she wrote three unpublished young adult novels, before finally striking gold with her series about Australian FBI profiler Sophie Anderson, which have received international acclaim. This month marks the release of the fifth Sophie Anderson novel, Kiss of Death.

Recently I was able to catch up with the busy wife, mom, copywriter, and author, to chat about her latest novel and her future plans.

Australian FBI profiler Sophie Anderson is on a new case, and this one is strange, even for Sophie. The victim is found dead in a state park with two puncture wounds on her neck. There is no blood on the scene, but she looks to have been drained.

Think "thriller" and any number of things come to mind:

International conspiracies;

Terrorists;

Weapons of mass destruction;

Plagues;

Real Estate.

Wait a second--Real Estate?   Donald Trump's hair aside, real estate seems to be unlikely subject matter for a thriller.  Until you talk to Justin Peacock, author of Blind Man's Alley, due for release this month from Doubleday. 

Blind Man's Alley is Peacock's second novel, following his Edgar Award-nominated legal thriller A Cure for Night.  The book explores the high-stakes world of New York real estate from two very different perspectives.

Recently I sat down with L.J. Sellers to talk about Thrilled to Death, the latest in her Detective Jackson Mysteries.

Jack  Quick, a book reviewer, said you have a "delightfully twisted mind." I assume that is a good thing, for a mystery novelist. Care to elaborate?

For a crime novelist, "delightfully twisted mind" is the highest compliment you can receive. In my case, I hope it refers to the many twists and turns my stories take and to the unusual and difficult crimes I devise for Detective Jackson to investigate. To clarify, I don't write about serial killers or evil for the sake of evil, so he didn't mean that kind of twisted.

The premise is terrific: "two missing women with nothing in common, a dead body and a suspect who hasn't left his house in years."

The details of this story are complete fabrication, but women disappear all the time, so this is a common headline and I think about these women daily. It's difficult to talk about the plot's basic idea without giving away several twists, but like most of my stories, I've combined ideas that stuck in my mind. I bounce ideas off each other, asking: How can I connect this event to this crime?

 In Annelise Ryan's second book in the Mattie Winston series, Scared Stiff, Mattie and her boss/best friend, Izzy, are called out on Halloween night to the home of waitress and part-time model Shannon Tolliver, They find the ghoulish decorations just a bit too authentic. For among the fake blood and skeletons is the corpse of Shannon herself - and the evidence screams murder.

Shannon's estranged husband, Erik, is suspect #1 for tall, dark, and blissfully blue-eyed homicide detective, Steve Hurley. Mattie believes Erik is incapable of such a brutal act and, determined to unearth the truth--and maybe spend a little quality time with Detective Hunky--she puts her scalpel-sharp medical skills to work and digs a little deeper. In order to solve a case that gets more dangerous by the minute, Mattie will have to risk everything. And this time it's not just Mattie's life that's on the line...

"When shocked trick-or-treaters discover the body of model Shannon Tolliver one Halloween night, Mattie Winston investigates in Ryan's sharp second mystery to feature the Sorenson City, Wis., deputy coroner (after 2009's Working Stiff)." -- Publishers Weekly

Annelise Ryan is the pseudonym for the author of three previously published suspense novels. She currently lives in Wisconsin, where she works as an ER nurse.

Timothy Hallinan's fourth novel to feature Bangkok resident and travel writer Poke Raffery, is titled The Queen of Patpong. Patpong Road is what Hallinan, who spends half his year in Asia and the other half in California, calls "the most famous and most garish of the Bangkok tourist-based red light districts."

Poke Rafferty is a travel writer. Hallinan says, "Poke is short for Phillips. He got it when he was a little kid because he poked his nose in where it didn't belong. He's a rough travel writer. He writes about things that are sort of outside the tourist topiary they usually guide you to--exactly opposite of Frommer's." Poke has written two books, for instance, Looking For Trouble In The Phillipines and Looking For Trouble In Indonesia.

Hallinan says, "Poke landed in Bangkok to write Looking For Trouble In Thailand and the same thing happened to him that happened to me, which is he fell head over heels in love with Thailand. By which I mean the Thais, since Bangkok is not a lovable city on the face of it." Hallinan eventually marries a Thai go-go dancer who goes by the name of Rose. Hallinan says The Queen of Patpong is Rose's book. The couple also have adopted a street kid named Miaow.

Cue the music.

A man walks directly in front of you.

You see his profile.  He's wearing a sharp suit, keeping to himself.  The perfect target.

You got him in your crosshairs.  You're about to pull the trigger.

Suddenly he turns and fires a gun directly at you.

Everything goes red.  The world shakes.

The story begins...

For nearly sixty years the name James Bond has been synonymous with action and adventure.  In his new collection, Choice of Weapons, author Raymond Benson keeps the thrills coming.  This exciting compilation begins when 007 finds himself in Hong Kong to investigate the deadly intrigue taking place behind Britain's political handover of the colony to China (Zero Minus Ten); then he must match wits with a fanatical cult that has murdered M's lover (The Facts of Death); and finally must stop a Japanese crime ring from attempting a mass assassination with a deadly strain of West Nile virus (The Man With the Red Tattoo).  Included also are two rare short stories, Live at Five and Midsummer Night's Doom.

I recently had a chance to contact Mr. Benson who gave me some insight into what it was like to work within a series that has such a rich history behind it.

It is rare to find a novel that is both a true thriller and outright hilarious.  If you treasure that combination as much as I do when it's done right, then you'll want to practically inhale Baked, the unique, drug-fueled romp from Mark Haskell Smith.

The story revolves around popular botanist Miro Basinas. Popular, because he has created an award-winning strain of marijuana for his rather exclusive clientele. Of course the illegal drug trade leads to murder, but the book is so much more than a crime novel. In between the laughs it tackles concepts like greed, and morality in ways that Weed and Breaking Bad haven't even considered.

As Smith points out, drugs are a huge subculture and a business that generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the underground economy.  Of course, that also means hundreds of millions spent on law enforcement, trying to stop that business.  An interesting arena indeed for a story about an amateur botanist.

Richard Doetsch spent most of his adult life selling buildings.

Then he started breaking into them.

Not just any buildings. Only the best, like the Vatican and the Kremlin.

And now he's headed for prison.

Because, with apologies to Willie Sutton, that's where the readers are.

Or that's where they'll become the end of this month when Doetsch's new thriller The Thieves of Darkness is released. It's the third book in a series featuring thief extraordinaire Michael St. Pierre, now retired, although circumstances keep dragging him back.

First, in The Thieves of Heaven, Doetsch's 2006 debut novel, which introduced St. Pierre, it was an unsuccessful attempt to save his cancer-ridden wife. Then, in The Thieves of Faith, it was a commitment to fulfill a dying man's last wish. And now, in The Thieves of Darkness, its rescuing his friend, a priest being held in a foreign prison and set to be executed. And in each of the novels, the inciting incident sets in motion a ball of high stake international intrigue.

  In Brenda Novak's new novel, Body Heat, the heat is on...

Twelve people have been shot at pointblank range and left to rot in the desert sun. It's Sophia St. Claire's job to do something about it. She's Bordertown, Arizona's new chief of police--and she's out of her depth.

Help arrives in the form of Department 6 hired gun Roderick Guerrero. As far as Sophia's concerned, his involvement only makes things worse. Maybe he's managed to turn his life around. And maybe he's a good investigator. But as the bastard son of a wealthy local rancher, he has a history he can't get past. A history that includes her.

Rod refuses to leave town until the killer is caught. He's not worried about the danger posed by some vigilante. It's Sophia who threatens him. Because he's used to risking his life--but his heart is another story.

Brenda Novak writes with a "skillful blend of poignantly real characters and gut-gripping suspense." --New York Times Bestselling Author Karen Rose

New York Times Bestselling Author Brenda Novak has three novels coming out this summer--WHITE HEAT, BODY HEAT and KILLER HEAT, all part of her new Department 6 Series. She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com. To date, she's raised over one million dollars. Brenda considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life.

Kevin Guilfoile told me, "Expectations never work in your favor unless they are low, and nobody wants low expectations."

Expectations for The Thousand, his second novel, releasing this month, were hardly low. Not after his debut novel, Cast of Shadows, earned Kevin critical acclaim from every point on the literary compass.

• The New York Times: "Mr. Guilfoile, in his first outing as a novelist, does all this with a lot more panache than Mr. Crichton has demonstrated in many years."
• The Chicago Tribune: "One of the best books of 2005."
• UK: "One of the best novels I have read this year."
• Australia: "Slick, well-paced and carefully crafted."
• Canada: "Five stars."
• Netherlands: "The best book of 2006."
• Switzerland: "A masterful thriller."
• France: "Un bon thriller." "Elegant writing and perfectly drawn characters."
• Argentina: "The ideal book to satisfy their expectations."

So, high expectations it is. Guilfoile has the means to deal with them.

Recently, I sat down with Cynthia Eden to talk about her latest novel, Deadly Fear.

Cynthia, as always, I love hearing about the author's journey. Please tell us a little about how you started and your first big break in the industry.I've always loved writing.  Unfortunately, as I grew up and completed college, I lost sight of my dream. You know the story--life gets in the way sometimes.  But, I found my way back to my dream (lucky for me).

My  "big" break came after I signed with literary agent Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency. Laura pitched my first paranormal romantic suspense novel, Hotter After Midnight, and landed me a deal with Kensington Brava.  This book allowed me to explore two of my favorite things: monsters and suspense. I was one very happy writer.  Since that sale, I haven't looked back--I've written over twelve novels and over seven novellas.  And it has been a great ride!

Toni Kelner and I had a great chat about the exciting new anthology of (lucky!) thirteen deliciously dark tales, all by different authors. In Death's Excellent Vacation, editors Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner bring together a stellar collection of tour guides who offer vacations that are frightening, funny, and touching for the fanged, the furry, the demonic, and the grotesque. Learn why it really can be an endless summer-for immortals.

So of course we want to know about the new book, Death's Excellent Vacation. What's it about and why do you love it?

Death's Excellent Vacation is our take on the beach book.  We asked our contributors to write about supernatural creatures on vacation--that was our whole pitch--and Charlaine and I were just amazed at how many different takes on that simple theme people came up with.  I love how each story is both wonderful and wildly different from the others.

I see that this is the third anthology you've put together. I'd love to know how you and Charlaine came up with the idea to collaborate on this kind of project in the first place.

Frankly, I was drafted.  Martin Greenberg at Tekno Books was the one to come up with the idea of  Charlaine editing a vampire anthology.  I wasn't there, but I've imagined the conversation going something like this:

The Ten Commandments, even if not accepted as God's word by some people, are still accepted as general guidelines for decent behavior in any society. Always one of the Sunday school favorites: Moses coming down from Mount Sinai with the Decalogue tablets, then destroying them upon finding the people of Israel worshipping a Golden Calf. The remains were gathered inside what is known as The Ark of the Covenant, since lost in the realms of History.

In his latest novel, The Moses Expedition, the award-winning Juan Gómez-Jurado weaves a thrilling adventure that is sure to keep the pages turning.

After fifty years in hiding, the Nazi war criminal known as the Butcher of Spiegelgrund has finally been tracked down by Father Anthony Fowler, a CIA operative and a member of the Vatican's secret service. He wants something from the Butcher --a candle covered in filigree gold that was stolen from a Jewish family many years before.

But it isn't the gold Fowler is after. As Fowler holds a flame to the wax, the missing fragment of an ancient map that uncovers the location of the Ten Commandments given to Moses is revealed. Soon Fowler is involved in an expedition to Jordan set up by a reclusive billionaire. But there is a traitor in the group who has ties to terrorist organizations back in the United States, and who is patiently awaiting the moment to strike. From wartime Vienna to terrorist cells in New York and a lost valley in Jordan, The Moses Expedition is a thrilling read about a quest for power and the secrets of an ancient world.

In her newest novel, White Heat, by Brenda Novak, Nate Ferrentino and Rachel Jessop, two members of a private security company called Department 6, are hired to infiltrate a dangerous cult that has recently settled in the former ghost town of Paradise, Arizona. Members of this cult worship at the feet--and in the bed--of its charismatic leader, Ethan Wycliff. But with one woman claiming to have been stoned, and another missing, Wycliff might be more of a devil than the prophet he claims to be....

Brenda Novak writes with a "skillful blend of poignantly real characters and gut-gripping suspense." --New York Times Bestselling Author Karen Rose

New York Times Bestselling Author Brenda Novak has three novels coming out this summer--WHITE HEAT, BODY HEAT and KILLER HEAT, all part of her new Department 6 Series. She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com. To date, she's raised over one million dollars. Brenda considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life.

Steven James is among a relative handful of people with a Master's Degree in Storytelling. Not English. Not Creative Writing or Liberal Arts, but good old fashioned Storytelling. Talking to him, one can sense he comes by it naturally. In fact, it may be in his blood. "As a kid, when we would get together with my extended family, we always wanted to go to Uncle Rich's house, because he would tell us stories. I think everyone should have an uncle like that." James found himself repeating Uncle Rich's stories later as a camp counselor. When that well ran dry, he started making up his own stories, and his career was born.

What may be of particular interest to thriller writers is the subject of James's masters thesis. "How much can you change a story from your life and still claim it's true? It gave me a good understanding of what makes a story work and what a good story is."

For many, it might be enough to be a literal "master" storyteller who has explored the territorial boundaries between actual fact and believable fiction, but James adds another ingredient to his fiction that won him acclaim as a "thinking man's thriller writer" and legions of devout fans. "(As readers) we want to be entertained--that's number one. But I think we also want to explore deeper questions and deeper meaning. When stories do that, they have the effect of attracting rabid fans and the word begins to spread."

STEWART TIMES, AUGUST, 2010

SATIRIC CRIME AUTHOR, PETER GUTTRIDGE, LAUNCHES DISTURBING THRILLER

HEAD UNDER PILLOW

MIND GOING TO PIECES

CAN'T PUT IT DOWN

I was shocked early in the week by the news that I'd be interviewing a particularly fantastic author. The thriller begins with a decades old crime, finding the nude torso of a woman in a trunk at Brighton Central Railway Station, and the discovery of the legs in Kings Cross.

DISMEMBERED BODY LEFT ON INTERVIEWER'S PORCH

At the time, no one told me who the author was, I was only left with the bloody remains of another body on my porch wrapped in brown paper and tied with window cord. On the edge of the paper written in blue pencil are the letters "Silver Bullet". Luckily I'm not on the award's committee or I might be nervous.

I think the body wasn't so much a body as a collection of pig parts cleverly sculpted to resemble my mother in law. I'm not sure what was scarier, how she looked at me or how it tasted that evening.

It's a grisly start to an interview, especially if you're expecting something satirical, but blame Guttridge for setting the tone. The first chapter with City of Dreadful Night's protagonist Detective Sergeant Sarah Gilchrist is just as grisly and mysterious.

ITW member Matt Hilton has two major launches of books on opposite sides of the Atlantic within two days of each other. On August 17th - Judgment and Wrath - the second in his Joe Hunter thriller series will be launched in the USA by William Morrow and Company. On 19th August, Hodder and Stoughton will publish the fourth book in the series, called Cut and Run, in the UK.

Matt is gearing up for two solid months of publicity, beginning with Thrillerfest V where his debut novel, Dead Men's Dust has been shortlisted in the debut novel of 2009 awards.

As part of the continuing partnership between ITW and Audible.com, Audible has just released Silent Screams, the first book in C. E. Lawrence's new thriller series with Kensington Press.  The book is read by veteran voice actor Christian Rummel.

Lawrence wrote most of the book in a secluded cabin at Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, in the woods of Ulster County.  She writes, "My 'security' consisted of a feeble hook and eye lock that a five year old could pry off with a screwdriver.  My Home Protection System was a fat, indolent tabby cat who was more interested in chasing chipmunks and coming home smelling of skunk than warning me of intruders."

She put in requests to the Woodstock Library for every book they had on serial killers, forensics, and other sordid topics.  "This was during the Bush administration, so I'm surprised they didn't flag my library card - I kept expecting a Lincoln town car to pull into my driveway with two Men in Black wearing and ear pieces and Ray Bans.  I imagined being whisked away by the FBI or the NSA to languish in an Egyptian prison, where I would finally give up the names of my "handlers" - Pia and her colleagues at the Woodstock Library, where they don't charge late fees, because, according to Pia, 'We tried it once, but it was too much trouble.'"

Silent Screams is now available through Audible Books.  The sequel, Silent Victim, due out in December, will also be available on Audible shortly afterwards.  Both books have also recently been sold to Piper Verlag in Germany.

You can listen to an excerpt of Silent Screams or purchase the recording at Audible's website.

Visit C. E. Lawrence's website at http://celawrence.com/.

Mystery author Angela Henry has signed a contract with Harlequin's new digital-first imprint, Carina Press, to publish her romantic thriller, The Paris Secret.

In a departure from her award-winning Kendra Clayton mystery series, Henry was inspired to write The Paris Secret after a solo trip to Paris in 2007. While touring the Palace of Versailles, she heard a tale about a love child born at the palace as the result of an affair between a French queen and her African lover.

"I was so intrigued by the story that I started researching it as soon as I got home," claims Henry, who says the resulting novel incorporates two things that she loves, history and mystery.

In The Paris Secret, librarian Maya Sinclair's Paris getaway goes horribly wrong when she ends up on the run after being targeted by a killer who thinks she holds the key to finding a priceless book hidden centuries ago by a French queen's secret daughter.

The Paris Secret will hit digital bookshelves in the fall of 2010 and be available wherever ebooks are sold. For more information, please visit www.angelahenry.com.