Sunny Days Are Best with Dark Fiction

Since everyone else seems lately to have been posting selections of books they look forward to enjoying this summer, I wanted to get my two cents in. Of course, my tally is a bit longer than most you’ll find online, but still not as long as some seasonal reading lists I’ve put together in the past. Below you will find more than 220 book recommendations, covering works from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, all due for release between now and the beginning of September. That seems like a lot—until you realize that my spring 2018 rundown comprised upwards of 350 titles, and my winter choices ran to almost 400 crime, mystery, and thriller works.

Clearly, I am learning to control my enthusiasm for this genre.

There are books for pretty much every taste due out in stores over the next three months, from Jennifer Hillier’s much-anticipated page-turner, Jar of Hearts, and Martin Walker’s 11th Bruno Courrèges tale, A Taste for Vengeance, to fresh novels by Stuart MacBride (The Blood Road), Megan Abbott (Give Me Your Hand), Peter Robinson (Careless Love), and Minette Walters (The Last Hours). Laurie R. King has a new Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel, Island of the Mad, scheduled for publication next week; the U.S. edition of William Shaw’s excellent Salt Lane—his more-or-less sequel to last year’s The Birdwatcher—is coming at the end of this month; Baby’s First Felony, the seventh entry in John Straley’s Edgar Award-winning Cecil Younger series, can be expected in early July; Linwood Barclay’s latest thriller, A Noise Downstairs, will be making some noise of its own among readers come late July; around that same time, David Hewson will introduce The Savage Shore, another installment in his series featuring Roman police detective Nic Costa, and Lawrence Osborne will debut Only to Sleep, a yarn resurrecting private eye Philip Marlowe; Sophie Hannah has another Hercule Poirot novel, The Mystery of Three Quarters, set for publication in August; Olen Steinhauer’s next thriller, The Middleman, is coming your way that same month; and be on the lookout for other works by Steve Hamilton, Caroline Kepnes, Charles Cumming, Michael Robotham, Lindsey Davis, Dan Fesperman, Val McDermid, William Kent Krueger, and Lori Rader-Day.

See what I said about something for every preference?

A handful of non-fiction books that I expect will be of interest to crime-fiction fans are identified below with asterisks (*); the rest are novels or collections of short stories. If you need still more reading suggestions, click on over to Euro Crime and The Bloodstained Bookshelf. And if you think I have overlooked any tales of particular interest due out this summer, please feel free to tell us all about them via the Comments link at the bottom of this post.

JUNE (U.S.):

• Bearskin, by James A. McLaughlin (Ecco)

• A Blood Thing, by James Hankins (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Body in the Ballroom, by R.J. Koreto (Crooked Lane)

• Bring Me Back, by B.A. Paris (St. Martin’s Press)

• Broken Ground, by Joe Clifford (Oceanview)

• Broken Ice, by Matt Goldman (Forge)

• Bum Deal, by Paul Levine (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Cabin at the End of the World, by Paul Tremblay (Morrow)

• The Captives, by Debra Jo Immergut (Ecco)

• The Color of Bee Larkham’s Murder, by Sarah J. Harris (Touchstone)

• Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer, by Margalit Fox (Random House)*

• The Darkest Time of Night, by Jeremy Finley (St. Martin’s Press)

• The Death Chamber, by Lesley Thomson (Head of Zeus)

• To Die in Vienna, by Kevin Wignall (Thomas & Mercer)

• District VIII, by Adam LeBor (Pegasus)

• Girl with a Gun, by Kari Bovee (SparkPress)

• The Good Son, by You-Jeong Jeong (Penguin)

• Hawke’s War, by Reavis Z. Wortham (Pinnacle)

• Invitation to a Bonfire, by Adrienne Celt (Bloomsbury)

• Island of the Mad, by Laurie R. King (Bantam)

• Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier (Minotaur)

• The Killing Habit, by Mark Billingham (Atlantic Monthly Press)

• Last Girl Gone, by J.G. Hetherton (Crooked Lane)

• Like to Die, by David Housewright (Minotaur)

• The Little Old Lady Behaving Badly, by Catharina
Ingelman-Sundberg (Harper)

• London Rules, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

• Lying in Wait, by Liz Nugent (Gallery/Scout Press)

• A Mask of Shadows,
by Oscar de Muriel (Pegasus)

• Mine: A Novel of Obsession,
by J.L. Butler (Morrow)

• Murder on the Left Bank,
by Cara Black (Soho Crime)

• Night-Gaunts and Other Tales of Suspense, by Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious Press)

• The Perfect Couple,
by Elin Hilderbrand (Little, Brown)

• The President Is Missing, by Bill Clinton and James Patterson (Little, Brown)

• Providence, by Caroline Kepnes (Lenny)

• Queen’s Progress, by M.J. Trow (Severn House)

• The Real Michael Swann, by Bryan Reardon (Dutton)

• The Red Hand of Fury, by R.N. Morris (Severn House)

• Salt Lane, by William Shaw (Mulholland)

• Santa Cruz Noir, edited by Susie Bright (Akashic)

• See Her Run, by Peggy Townsend (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Shimmer, by Carsten Stroud (Mira)

• Slowly We Die, by Emelie Schepp (Mira)

• Social Creature, by Tara Isabella Burton (Doubleday)

• Something in the Water, by Catherine Steadman (Ballantine)

• Splinter in the Blood, by Ashley Dyer (Morrow)

• A Steep Price, by Robert Dugoni (Thomas & Mercer)

• Still Lives, by Maria Hummel (Counterpoint)

• A Stone’s Throw, by James W. Ziskin (Seventh Street)

• A Study in Treason, by Leonard Goldberg (Minotaur)

• A Taste for Vengeance, by Martin Walker (Knopf)

• Tiny Crimes: Very Short Tales of Mystery and Murder, edited by Lincoln Michel and Nadxieli Nieto (Black Balloon)

• Who Is Vera Kelly? by Rosalie Knecht (Tin House)

• Widows, by Lynda La Plante (Zaffre)

• Woman at the Devil’s Door: The Untold True Story of the Hampstead Murderess, by Sarah Beth Hopton (Indiana University Press)*

• The Woman in the Woods, by John Connolly (Atria/Emily Bestler)

• The Word Is Murder, by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)

JUNE (UK):

• Beautiful Liars, by Isabel Ashdown (Trapeze)

• Big Sister, by Gunnar Staalesen (Orenda)

• Bitter Sun, by Beth Lewis (Borough Press)

• The Blood Road, by Stuart MacBride (HarperCollins)

• The Chosen Ones, by Howard Linskey (Penguin)

• City of Sinners, by A.A. Dhand (Bantam Press)

• Dancing on the Grave, by Zoë Sharp (Zace)

• Dark Queen Rising, by Paul Doherty (Creme de la Crime)

• The Dead Ex, by Jane Corry (Penguin)

• Death Notice, by Zhou Haohui (Head of Zeus)

• Double Take, by S.J. Watson (Harper)

• Estocada, by Graham Hurley (Head of Zeus)

• Firefly, by Henry Porter (Quercus)

• Fugitive from the Grave, by Edward Marston (Allison & Busby)

• Incorruptible, by Barbara Nadel (Headline)

• The Lies We Tell,
by Kristina Ohlsson (Simon & Schuster)

• Loose Tongues,
by Chris Simms (Severn House)

• The Man Between,
by Charles Cumming (HarperCollins)

• The Old Religion,
by Martyn Waites (Zaffre)

• The Other Wife, by Michael Robotham (Sphere)

• The Quaker, by Liam McIlvanney (HarperCollins)

• The Sideman, by Caro Ramsay (Severn House)

• Smoke and Ashes, by Abir Mukherjee (Harvill Secker)

• Thirteen, by Steve Cavanagh (Orion)

• Three Little Lies, by Laura Marshall (Sphere)

• Us Against You, by Fredrik Backman (Michael Joseph)

JULY (U.S.):

• After the Monsoon, by Robert Karjel (Harper)

• All These Beautiful Strangers, by Elizabeth Klehfoth (Morrow)

• The Annotated Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler; edited by Owen Hill, Pamela Jackson, and Anthony Dean Rizzuto (Vintage Crime/
Black Lizard)

• April in Paris, 1921, by Tessa Lunney (Pegasus)

• Baby Blue, by Pol Koutsakis (Bitter Lemon Press)

• Baby’s First Felony, by John Straley (Soho Crime)

• Baby Teeth, by Zoje Stage (St. Martin’s Press)

• Believe Me, by J.P. Delaney (Ballantine)

• The Big Somewhere: Essays on James Ellroy’s Noir World, edited by Steven Powell (Bloomsbury Academic)*

• Bloody Sunday, by Ben Coes (St. Martin’s Press)

• Bound for Gold, by William Martin (Forge)

• The Boy at the Door, by Alex Dahl (Berkley)

• Caged, by Ellison Cooper (Minotaur)

• Caught in Time, by Julie McElwain (Pegasus)

• A Death in Eden, by Keith McCafferty (Viking)

• The Deepest Grave, by Jeri Westerson (Severn House)

• The Disappearing, by Lori Roy (Dutton)

• The Dollar-a-Year Detective, by William Wells (Permanent Press)

• A Double Life, by Flynn Berry (Viking)

• Final Resting Place,
by Jonathan F. Putnam (Crooked Lane)

• A Gathering of Secrets,
by Linda Castillo (Minotaur)

• A Gentleman’s Murder,
by Christopher Huang (Inkshares)

• The Girl from Blind River,
by Gale Massey (Crooked Lane)

• Give Me Your Hand,
by Megan Abbott (Little, Brown)

• Hangman, by Daniel Cole (Ecco)

• It All Falls Down, by Sheena Kamal (Morrow)

• Last Seen Alive, by Claire Douglas (Harper)

• The Last Time I Lied, by Riley Sager (Dutton)

• Memphis Luck, by Gerald Duff (Brash)

• The Moment Before Drowning, by James Brydon (Akashic)

• The Night Ferry, by Lotte and Søren Hammer (Bloomsbury)

• A Noise Downstairs, by Linwood Barclay (Morrow)

• Only to Sleep, by Lawrence Osborne (Hogarth)

• The Other Woman, by Daniel Silva (Harper)

• Pandora’s Boy, by Lindsey Davis (Minotaur)

• Paradox, by Catherine Coulter (Gallery)

• Potter’s Field, by Rob Hart (Polis)

• The Price You Pay, by Aidan Truhen (Knopf)

• Requiem, by Geir Tangen (Minotaur)

• Rip the Angels from Heaven, by David Krugler (Pegasus)

• Safe Houses, by Dan Fesperman (Knopf)

• The Sinners, by Ace Atkins (Putnam)

• Somebody’s Daughter, by David Bell (Berkley)

• Some Die Nameless, by Wallace Stroby (Mulholland)

• Soul Survivor, by G.M. Ford (Thomas & Mercer)

• Spymaster, by Brad Thor (Atria/Emily Bestler)

• Stay Hidden, by Paul Doiron (Minotaur)

• A Tale of Two Murders, by Heather Redmond (Kensington)

• The Thief of All Light, by Bernard Schaffer (Kensington)

• Understudy for Death, by Charles Willeford (Hard Case Crime)

• The Upper Hand, by Johnny Shaw (Thomas & Mercer)

• Watch the Girls, by Jennifer Wolfe (Grand Central)

• White River Burning, by John Verdon (Counterpoint)

JULY (UK):

• Bad, by Chloe Esposito (Michael Joseph)

• Betty Church and the Suffolk Vampire, by M.R.C. Kasasian
(Head of Zeus)

• Bodies from the Library: Lost Classic Stories by Masters of the Golden Age, edited by Tony Medawar (Collins Crime Club)

• The Break Line, by James Brabazon (Michael Joseph)

• Careless Love, by Peter Robinson (Hodder & Stoughton)

• Cold Desert Sky, by Rod Reynolds (Faber and Faber)

• The Corpse at the Crystal Palace, by Carola Dunn (Constable)

• Day of the Dead, by Nicci French
(Michael Joseph)

• Dead Man’s Gift and Other Stories, by Simon Kernick (Century)

• The Forger, by Cay Rademacher (Arcadia)

• Our Friends in Berlin, by Anthony Quinn (Jonathan Cape)

• The Good Sister, by Morgan Jones (Mantle)

• In the Dark, by Cara Hunter (Viking)

• In the Garden of the Fugitives, by Ceridwen Dovey (Hamish Hamilton)

• Open Your Eyes, by Paula Daly (Corgi)

• The Savage Shore, by David Hewson (Severn House)

• Sins As Scarlet, by Nicolás Obregón (Michael Joseph)

• Sticks and Stones, by Jo Jakeman (Harvill Secker)

• Stick Together, by Sophie Hénaff (MacLehose Press)

• The Story Keeper, by Anna Mazzola (Tinder Press)

• An Unfinished Murder, by Ann Granger (Headline)

• Unrest, by Jesper Stein (Mirror)

• Watching You, by Lisa Jewell (Century)

• Yellowhammer, by James Henry (Riverrun)

• Zero, by Marc Elsberg (Doubleday)

AUGUST (U.S.):

• Abandoned, by Allison Brennan (Minotaur)

• Back Door to L.A., by Jack Clark (CreateSpace)

• Bibliomysteries: Volume Two: Stories of Crime in the World of Books and Bookstores, edited by Otto Penzler (Pegasus)

• Blackout, by Ragnar Jónasson (Minotaur)

• Boise Longpig Hunting Club, by Nick Kolakowski (Down & Out)

• Bone on Bone, by Julia Keller (Minotaur)

• The Breakers, by Marcia Muller (Grand Central)

• A Conspiracy of Bones, by Kathy Reichs (Heinemann)

• Dead Man Running, by Steve Hamilton (Putnam)

• Derailed, by Leena Lehtolainen (AmazonCrossing)

• Desolation Mountain, by William Kent Krueger (Atria)

• Don’t Eat Me, by Colin Cotterill (Soho Crime)

• Feared, by Lisa Scottoline (St. Martin’s Press)

• Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)

• Hollywood Ending, by Kellye Garrett (Midnight Ink)

• The King Tides, by James Swain (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Last Hours, by Minette Walters (Mira)

• The Line That Held Us,
by David Joy (Putnam)

• A Long Time Coming,
by Aaron Elkins (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Masterpiece,
by Fiona Davis (Dutton)

• The Middleman,
by Olen Steinhauer (Minotaur)

• Murder in the Oval Library,
by C.M. Gleason (Kensington)

• The Mystery of Three Quarters, by Sophie Hannah (Morrow)

• Nameless Serenade, by Maurizio de Giovanni (World Noir)

• The Negotiator, by Brendan DuBois (Midnight Ink)

• One on One, by Michael Brandman (Poisoned Pen Press)

• The Other Sister, by Sarah Zettel (Grand Central)

• Our House, by Louise Candlish (Berkley)

• Pieces of Her, by Karin Slaughter (Morrow)

• Presiding Over the Damned, by Liam Sweeny (Down & Out)

• Presidio, by Randy Kennedy (Touchstone)

• The Prisoner in the Castle, by Susan Elia MacNeal (Bantam)

• Read Me, by Leo Benedictus (Twelve)

• Sort ’Em Out Later, by Jim Wilsky (Down & Out)

• Snap, by Belinda Bauer (Black Swan)

• Suffer the Children, by Lisa Black (Kensington)

• Swift Vengeance, by T. Jefferson Parker (Putnam)

• Tear Me Apart, by J.T. Ellison (Mira)

• Touchfeather, Too, by Jimmy Sangster (Brash)

• Under a Dark Sky, by Lori Rader-Day (Morrow)

• An Unwanted Guest, by Shari Lapena (Pamela Dorman/Viking)

• The Washington Decree, by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Dutton)

• The Weight of Silence, by Gregg Olsen (Thomas & Mercer)

• When You Can’t Stop, by James W. Hall (Thomas & Mercer)

AUGUST (UK):

• An Autumn Hunting, by Tom Callaghan (Quercus)

• Broken Ground, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)

• Fall Down Dead, by Stephen Booth (Sphere)

• The Girl I Used to Be, by Mary Torjussen (Headline)

• Intrigue in Covent Garden, by Susanna Gregory (Sphere)

• The Katharina Code, by Jørn Lier Horst (Michael Joseph)

• Kill With Kindness, by Ed James (Thomas & Mercer)

• A Lethal Frost, by Danny Miller (Bantam Press)

• Prague Spring, by Simon Mawer (Little, Brown)

• The Red Ribbon, by H.P. Lyle (Hodder & Stoughton)

• A Summer of Murder, by Oliver Bottini (MacLehose Press)

• A Treachery of Spies, by Manda Scott (Bantam Press)

Revue of Reviewers, 6-7-18

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

The Upsides of Downtime

I have one more piece to put up in The Rap Sheet today—a “Revue of Reviewers” compilation—and then for tomorrow, a rundown of the most interesting new crime, mystery, and thriller books due out this summer. After that, I’m taking a week-long break. Thanks to the wonders of automatic posting, Killer Covers will continue its very popular tribute to paperback cover artist Ron Lesser. But this page is destined to remain quiet until mid-June. At which time I shall return to Rap Sheet headquarters feeling rested and rejuvenated. I hope.

You Say You’re Starved for Awards News?

Due to a variety of obligations elsewhere, I have been neglecting The Rap Sheet a bit of late. (Sorry about that.) This means I am tardy in reporting some recent crime-fiction awards decisions. Let’s try to make up for that now. First, the 2018 Audie Awards. Here are the winners and runners-up in two categories of those prizes that might be of particular interest to readers of this blog.

Mystery: The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye, by David Lagercrantz, narrated by Simon Vance (Random House Audio)

Also nominated: Glass Houses, by Louise Penny, narrated by Robert Bathurst (Macmillan Audio); Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Samantha Bond (HarperAudio); On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service, by Rhys Bowen, narrated by Katherine Kellgren (Audible Studios); and Telling Tales, by Ann Cleeves, narrated by Julia Franklin (Macmillan Audio)

Thriller/Suspense: The Fourth Monkey, by J.D. Barker, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini and Graham Winton (Recorded Book)

Also nominated: The Breakdown, by B.A. Paris, narrated by Georgia Maguire (Macmillan Audio); Don’t Let Go, by Harlan Coben, narrated by Steven Weber (Brilliance); The Chemist, by Stephenie Meyer, narrated by Ellen Archer (Hachette Audio); A Legacy of Spies, by John le Carré, narrated by Tom Hollander (Penguin Audio); and Mississippi Blood, by Greg Iles, narrated by Scott Brick (HarperAudio)

This year’s Audie Awards were handed out on Thursday, May 31, during a “gala” affair at the New-York Historical Society in New York City. Click here to see all of the winners.

* * *

Meanwhile, the 2018 Lambda Literary Awards—aka the “Lammys”—were presented last evening during a special ceremony in New York City. There are 23 categories in this competition, sponsored by Lambda Literary, described as America’s “oldest and largest literary arts organization advancing LGBTQ literature.” But again, there are only a couple that fall within The Rap Sheet’s natural purview.

Best Lesbian Mystery: Huntress, by E. Radley (Heartsome)

Also nominated: A Quiet Death, by Cari Hunter (Bold Strokes); Fever in the Dark, by Ellen Hart (Minotaur); The Girl on the Edge of Summer, by M. Redmann (Bold Strokes); The Last First Time, by Andrea Bramhall (Ylva); Murder Under the Fig Tree, by Kate Jessica Raphael (She Writes Press); Odd Numbers, by Anne Holt (Scribner); and Repercussions, by Jessica L. Webb (Bold Strokes)

Best Gay Mystery: Night Drop, by Marshall Thornton (Kenmore)

Also nominated: Boystown 10: Gifts Given, by Marshall Thornton (Kenmore); Long Shadows, by Kate Sherwood (Riptide); Love Is Heartless, by Kim Fielding (Dreamspinner Press); The Mystery of the Curiosities, by C.S. Poe (DSP); Ring of Silence, by Mark Zubro (MLR Press); Street People, by Michael Nava (Korima Press); and Tramps and Thieves, by Rhys Ford (Dreamspinner Press)

Click here for a list of all the winners.

* * *

I didn’t know there was an annual competition for the Bisexual Book Awards. But I know now. Those commendations—11 of them—were dispensed last Friday, June 1. The winner in the Mystery category was Suspicious Behavior, by L.A. Witt and Cari Z. (Riptide).

* * *

Finally, In Reference to Murder brings this news:

French crime writer Fred Vargas, the pen name of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau, has won Spain’s prestigious Asturias prize for literature. The award foundation said that Vargas, who is also a distinguished archaeologist, perceives society as “a mysterious and complex ecosystem” and her detective stories possess original plots and irony in their description of characters, as well as abundant imagination.

Vargas has won three International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers Association.

There’s more information about Vargas here.

PaperBack: “End of a Stripper”

Part of a series honoring the late author and blogger Bill Crider.



End of a Stripper, by “Robert Dietrich,” aka E. Howard Hunt (Dell, 1960). This was the second entry in future Watergate conspirator Hunt’s series of thrillers starring Washington, D.C.-based CPA-cum-private eye Steve Bentley. Cover illustration by Freeman Elliott.

Peril to the Chief

Today marks the official publication date of The President Is Missing, by Bill Clinton and James Patterson (Little, Brown). The first thriller ever penned by a onetime American president, this novel boasts all the hallmarks of a best-seller. It likely also represents the fulfillment of a dream for Clinton, a longtime fan of crime, mystery, and thriller fiction whose support of their writing has boosted the sales of books by Walter Mosley, Linda Fairstein, Daniel Silva, and others. With Patterson’s assistance, this former leader of the free world enters the pantheon of authors he has so much admired.

Details of the book’s story line and characters have been kept mostly under wraps. But Publishers Weekly recently gave this plot synopsis:

President Jonathan Lincoln Duncan is under fire from the [U.S.] House Select Committee for allegedly ordering a team of Special Forces and CIA operatives to Algeria to thwart an attempt on the life of Turkish-born terrorist Suliman Cindoruk, leader of the Sons of Jihad. Hostile committee members repeatedly ask him questions about the raid that he refuses to answer. But Duncan’s concerns about the outcome of congressional hearings into his actions are secondary to his fears that a computer virus is about to be activated that would completely cripple the United States. In order to avert that calamity, Duncan leaves the White House and his protective detail behind and attempts to gain the confidence of the shadowy figures who revealed the existence of the threat. The authors keep the suspense high as Duncan dodges bullets from a master assassin, deals with his deteriorating health from a blood clotting disorder, and strives to unmask a traitor among his inner circle of advisers.

My guess is that Clinton had a blast playing novelist. But he’s not the first to imagine a U.S. president in peril. Not by a long shot. As I explain in a new piece for CrimeReads, The President Is Missing “joins an already packed sub-genre of political suspense novels featuring current presidents, future presidents, or their wives as the victims, perpetrators, or solvers of crimes.” Included are works by David Baldacci, Richard North Patterson, Francine Mathews, and Watergate co-conspirator John Ehrlichman.

You’ll find that CrimeReads article right here.

READ MORE: “Bill Clinton and James Patterson Team Up to Imagine a True Fantasy: Sane Politics,” by Janet Maslin (The New York Times); “Bill Clinton and James Patterson Open Up About Their Unlikely Collaboration,” by Jeff Bercovivi (The National); “Bill Clinton and James Patterson’s Concussive Collaboration,” by Anthony Lane (The New Yorker); “Bill Clinton and James Patterson Have Written a Thriller. It’s Good,” by Nicolle Wallace (The New York Times); “Bill Clinton and James Patterson Are Co-authors—But Who Did the Writing?” by James O’Sullivan (The Guardian).

Revue of Reviewers, 6-1-18

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more.

A New But Familiar “Day”?

With this being publication day in Great Britain for Anthony Horowitz’s Forever and a Day (Jonathan Cape)—his second James Bond continuation novel, following 2015’s Trigger Mortis—it should come as no surprise that the 007-obsessed blog The Book Bond has issued its review of the work. John Cox opines, in part:

This time we see Bond's first mission as a double-oh agent in what amounts to a prequel to Casino Royale. … I’m happy to report that it’s a another strong Bond novel from Horowitz.

But I have to be honest in saying that while I thoroughly enjoyed Forever and a Day, I preferred Horowitz’s Trigger Mortis. Every beat of that first book felt original to me, while every beat of this book felt familiar. It has familiar locations (South of France), familiar situations (a casino, a party, warehouses), familiar allies (CIA agent), and a familiar villain’s plot (I’ll keep this review spoiler free, but this one comes right out of a movie). Also, the original Fleming material, a story about a mad Russian who threatens to shell the casino at Monte Carlo, is related as a past event. …

The action also takes an unusually long time to kick in, but this is because Horowitz takes time to develop a strong Bond Girl in Sixteen. And once the action finally does kick in (around page 200), it is a relentless rush with a spectacular extended climax aboard the villain’s luxury cruise ship. Again, no spoilers, but what Bond has to endure physically—always a highlight of any Bond book—is something we’ve never seen in any Bond adventure, and it’s harrowing! This chapter alone makes Forever and a Day unforgettable and a classic among continuation novels.

You can read Cox’s full critique here. Click over, as well, to this short item at the book-design site CYMK, which explains that “In celebration of this new James Bond novel, [publisher Vintage has] also released a special paperback edition of Casino Royale with an introduction by Anthony Horowitz.” Look here to order that redesigned book.

As regular Rap Sheet readers know, I very much enjoyed Horowitz’s Trigger Mortis and have been looking forward to reading Forever and Day (despite its yawner of a title). When I saw the speedboat cover of the British edition of this new novel, I was additionally intrigued, though I figured I’d probably ultimately order the U.S. version, despite its not being due out (from Harper) until early November. But then The Book Bond posted the American cover, which I find dull by comparison with its UK cousin. So I went ahead and ordered the British edition, instead. It ought to reach me by mid-June.

So that will put two new Horowitz novels on my reading pile—Forever and a Day, plus next month’s The Word Is Murder (Harper).

READ MORE: “1970s: Future of the Literary Bond?” by Nicolas Suszczyk (The Spy Command).

Stotter Returns to His Print Roots

Mike Stotter may be best known for his work as editor-in-chief of the crime-fiction Webzine Shots, or else as the Dagger awards liaison officer with the British Crime Writers’ Association. However, he also pens Western thrillers and is the co-publisher of Piccadilly Publishing, an enterprise specializing in reissues of out-of-print Western fiction as well as the release of newly commissioned work.

When I heard that Piccadilly was set to release the first edition of Head West!, a new Western-themed print magazine, I had to smile. The reason? Because Shots, like Head West!, started out as a hardcopy publication, but long ago went digital. Stotter, it seems, has now come full circle as far as his association with periodicals goes.

Anyway, what’s Head West! all about? Here’s the publicity blurb:

The first issue of Piccadilly Publishing's new Western-themed magazine, Head West! contains something for all lovers of the genre! Edited by Ben Bridges, there are interviews by David Whitehead, a feature on creating Piccadilly Publishing covers by artist supreme Tony Masero, a personal take on the Western by Linda Pendleton, a behind-the-scenes look at PP’s first Western movie, Vermijo, by director Paul Vernon, and fiction from the likes of Jake Henry, D.M. McGowan, and M. James Earl. Fully illustrated throughout, this is sure to become a collector’s item!

Get a paperback copy of the Summer 2018 issue by clicking here.