The Killing Begins

It started with a whisper in mid-2006 and had reached genuine groundswell proportions by the fall. Now that the “Killer Year” has finally arrived, however, the chatter seems to have died down a bit. Is it possible the young ’uns are holding their breath and seeing how the first of their number fare in the cold, cruel world?

Breath-holding notwithstanding, with the first three of this group’s novels now out in the world, the Killer Year has well and truly begun. And with all of the excitement generated by the Killer Year brouhaha, critics have been paying attention. It seems likely that book buyers will follow, as well.

Sandra Ruttan’s Suspicious Circumstances was released by TICO Publishing on January 7. Here a journalist and a detective find themselves caught up in a death spiral of intrigue that leads to both of them being targeted by the essential bad guy. “[A] well executed procedural with a spark between our protagonists,” says Russel D. McLean of Crime Scene Scotland, “an excellent feel for political machinations on a small town scale and a plot that twists and turns like a bad tempered rattlesnake.”

January 9 saw the release of the second and third Killer Year novels. Sean Chercover’s Big City, Bad Blood (Morrow) delivers reporter-turned-gumshoe Ray Dudgeon in a P.I. thriller that brings together the worlds of West Coast film, East Coast politics and organized crime like they only make it in the Midwest. Author Steve Hamilton says, “The story is tight, the voice self-assured, and the characters as hard-boiled as they come. Chercover really delivers the goods here, in as solid a debut as I’ve seen in a long, long time.”

Marcus Sakey’s The Blade Itself (St. Martin’s Minotaur) introduces reformed thief Danny Carter, who is put in a tight spot by a former partner in crime who makes him an offer he can hardly refuse. Novelist Lee Child paid Sakey the highest of compliments. “Excellent. Like vintage Elmore Leonard crossed with classic Dennis Lehane.”

February will bring two more entries from the Killer Year stable: The Liar’s Diary, by Patry Francis (Dutton), and Kiss Her Goodbye, by Robert Gregory Browne (St. Martin’s Press), with nine more Killer Year entries to be published later in the year.