Seasonal Forecast: Daring Dramas with a Chance of Redemption

New books by Deon Meyer, Val McDermid, Linwood Barclay, Dennis Lehane, Frances Fyfield, Henning Mankell, Arnaldur Indridason, Jerome Charyn, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, and even James M. Cain (dead since 1977!) are among the innumerable works of crime, mystery, and thriller fiction that publishers on both side of the Atlantic Ocean are preparing to offer readers between now and the end of the year. You can look forward to seeing Jeri Westerson’s latest Crispin Guest historical mystery (Blood Lance), Jo Nesbø’s first Harry Hole tale (The Bat), a prequel to Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe series (Archie Meets Nero Wolfe, by Robert Goldsborough), an omnibus of Dashiell Hammett’s two Nick and Nora Charles novellas (Return of the Thin Man), a tale of psychological suspense from Barbara Vine (The Child’s Child), a what-if spy adventure from C.J. Sansom (Dominion), the comeback of Ian Rankin’s John Rebus (Standing in Another Man’s Grave), and the 14th book-length investigation for Max Allan Collins’ Nate Heller, this one linked to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination (Target Lancer).

There are so many books being added to this genre’s catalogue over the next four, colder months, it took me longer than I had expected to compile a list of those I think will be most interesting. In addition to the dozens of novels mentioned below, there are a couple of non-fiction volumes, both of them marked with asterisks and intended for fans of James Bond and his creator, Ian Fleming. The 50th anniversary of the release of the first Agent 007 film, Sean Connery’s Dr. No, is coming up next month (along with the London debut of the 23rd, Skyfall), so get ready for lots more hype around Britain’s most famous fictional spy. The two Bond books I’ve included here--one of which is remarkably expensive--should help ardent followers of the series get their full fix.

If, after reading through this list, you’re still in need of more ideas (which obviously means you have considerably more relaxation time on your hands than I can claim), then click over to The Bloodstained Bookshelf and Euro Crime’s future releases page.

SEPTEMBER (U.S.):

• The Barcelona Brothers, by Carlos Zanón (Other Press)

• Big Maria, by Johnny Shaw (Thomas & Mercer)

• Buffalo Bill’s Dead Now, by Margaret Coel (Berkley)

• Car Wash Blues, by Michael Haskins (Five Star)

• The Cocktail Waitress, by James M. Cain (Hard Case Crime)

• The Cutting Season, by Attica Locke (Harper)

• Daughter of Fu-Manchu, by Sax Rohmer (Titan)

• Dead Ends, by Sandra Balzo (Severn House)

• The Dead Season, by Christobel Kent (Pegasus)

• The Dead Women of Juárez, by Sam Hawken (Serpent’s Tail)

• Death’s Door, by James R. Benn (Soho Crime)

• Death in Breslau, by Marek Krajewski (Melville International Crime)

• A Death in Valencia, by Jason Webster (Minotaur)

• Detroit Breakdown, by D.E. Johnson (Minotaur)

• A Door in the River, by Inger Ash Wolfe (Pegasus)

• Face of the Enemy, by Joanne Dobson and Beverle Graves Myers (Poisoned Pen Press)

• Fires of London, by Janice Law (Mysterious Press)

• Fortune’s Deadly Descent, by Audrey Braun (Thomas & Mercer)

• Frame Up, by James Phoenix (Grey Swan Press)

• Garment of Shadows, by Laurie R. King (Bantam)

• Gone, by Randy Wayne White (Putnam)

• Gun Church, by Reed Farrel Coleman (Tyrus)

• The Hanging, by Wendy Hornsby (Perseverance Press)

• The Incense Game, by Laura Joh Rowland (Minotaur)

• In the Shadows of Paris, by Claude Izner (Minotaur)

• The Lincoln Conspiracy, by Timothy L. O’Brien (Ballantine)

• Luther: The Calling, by Neil Cross (Touchstone)

• The Malice of Fortune, by Michael Ennis (Doubleday)

• More Than Sorrow, by Vicki Delany (Poisoned Pen Press)

• Murder in the Rue Dumas, by M.L. Longworth (Penguin)

• Outrage, by Arnaldur Indridason (Minotaur)

• Sea Glass Summer, by Dorothy Cannell (Severn House)

• Seven Days, by Deon Meyer (Atlantic Monthly Press)

• Talking to the Dead, by Harry Bingham (Delacorte Press)

• Trust Your Eyes, by Linwood Barclay
(New American Library)

• A Wanted Man, by Lee Child
(Delacorte Press)

SEPTEMBER (UK):

• Autumn Killing, by Mons Kallentoft (Hodder)

• Blood on the Marsh, by Peter Tickler (Robert Hale)

• A Brief Guide to James Bond, by Nigel Cawthorne (Robinson)*

• Choked, by Tania Carver (Sphere)

• The Collini Case, by Ferdinand von Schirach (Michael Joseph)

• Eye Contact, by Fergus McNeill (Hodder & Stoughton)

• Father Confessor, by Russel D. McLean (Five Leaves)

• A Grain of Truth, by Zygmunt Miloszewski (Bitter Lemon Press)

• Midnight at Marble Arch, by Anne Perry (Headline)

• Out of the Night, by Dan Latus (NAG Press)

• Retribution, by Adrian Magson (Severn House)

• Revenger, by Tom Cain (Bantam Press)

• Seventy Times Seven, by John Gordon Sinclair (Faber and Faber)

• The Shadow Girls, by Henning Mankell (Harvill Secker)

• Tooth for a Tooth, by T.F. Muir (Robinson)

• The Vanishing Point, by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)

• The Wrong Man, by Jason Dean (Headline)

OCTOBER (U.S.):

• Arctic Fire, by Stephen Frey (Thomas & Mercer)

• Bedfellows, by Bob Garfield (Thomas & Mercer)

• Blood Lance, by Jeri Westerson (Minotaur)

• Blood Sacrifice, by Michael Lister (Pulpwood Press)

• The Bookseller, by Mark Pryor (Seventh Street)

• City of Saints, by Andrew Hunt (Minotaur)

• The Dark Winter, by David Mark (Blue Rider Press)

• Death in the Floating City, by Tasha Alexander (Minotaur)

• Death on Telegraph Hill, by Shirley Tallman (Minotaur)

• Dick Francis’ Bloodline, by Felix Francis (Putnam)

• Eleven Pipers Piping, by C.C. Benison (Delacorte Press)

• The Eyes of Lira Kazan, by Eva Joly and Judith Perrignon
(Bitter Lemon Press)

• Field of Schemes, by John Billheimer (Five Star)

• Hopsquatch, by Michael Newton (Five Star)

• Invisible Murder, by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnette Friis (Soho Crime)

• It Was a Very Bad Year, by Robert J. Randisi (Severn House)

• The Jewels of Paradise, by Donna Leon (Atlantic Monthly Press)

• Jimmy the Stick, by Michael Mayo (Mysterious Press)

• Kansas City Noir, edited by Steve Paul (Akashic)

• Killing the Emperors, by Ruth Dudley Edwards (Poisoned Pen Press)

• Live by Night, by Dennis Lehane (Morrow)

• Pago Pago Tango, by John Enright (Thomas & Mercer)

• Paradise City, by Archer Mayor (Minotaur)

• The Paris Deadline, by Max Byrd (Turner)

• Phantom, by Jo Nesbø (Knopf)

• A Plague of Lies, by Judith Rock (Berkley)

• The Racketeer, by John Grisham (Doubleday)

• Rogue, by Mark T. Sullivan (Minotaur)

• Sacrifice Fly, by Tim OMara (Minotaur)

• Salvation of a Saint, by Keigo Higashino (Minotaur)

• Say You’re Sorry, by Michael Robotham (Mulholland)

• The Silence, by Alison Bruce (Soho Constable)

• Stonemouth, by Iain Banks (Pegasus)

• Under the Eye of God, by Jerome Charyn (Mysterious Press)

• The Warlord of Willow Ridge, by Gary Phillips (Dafina)

• When Johnny Came Marching Home, by William Heffernan (Akashic)

• The Woman Who Died a Lot, by Jasper Fforde (Viking)

OCTOBER (UK):

• Another Sun, by Timothy Williams (Soho Press)

• The Bat, by Jo Nesbø (Harvill Secker)

• Dominion, by C.J. Sansom (Mantle)

• The Green Lady, by Paul Johnston (Creme de la Crime)

• Ian Fleming: The Bibliography, by Jon Gilbert (Queen Anne Press)*

• Instrument of Slaughter, by Edward Marston (Allison & Busby)

• I Remember You, by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Hodder & Stoughton)

• Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol, by Gyles Brandreth (John Murray)

• The Prisoner of Brenda, by Colin Bateman (Headline)

NOVEMBER (U.S.):

• Archie Meets Nero Wolfe, by Robert Goldsborough (Mysterious Press)

• Airtight, by J.P. Smith (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Black Box, by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)

• Boston Noir 2: The Classics, edited by Dennis Lehane (Akashic)

• The Boy in the Snow, by M.J. McGrath (Viking)

• The Buzzard Table, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central)

• The Cold, Cold Ground, by Adrian McKinty (Seventh Street)

• A Death in the Small Hours, by Charles Finch (Minotaur)

• Death in the 12th House: Where Neptune Rules, by Mitchell Scott Lewis (Poisoned Pen Press)

• A Drop of Chinese Blood, by James Church (Minotaur)

• Hand for a Hand, by Frank Muir (Soho Crime)

• Hot Stuff, by Don Bruns (Oceanview)

• Lethal Investments, by K.O. Dahl (Minotaur)

• Looking for Yesterday, by Marcia Muller (Grand Central)

• Mandarin Gate, by Eliot Pattison (Minotaur)

• The Marseille Caper, by Peter Mayle (Knopf)

• Not Dead Yet, by Peter James (Minotaur)

• Notorious Nineteen, by Janet Evanovich (Bantam)

• A Question of Identity, by Susan Hill (Overlook Press)

• Return of the Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett (Mysterious Press)

• The Right Hand, by Derek Haas (Mulholland)

• Road to Nowhere, by Jim Fusilli (Thomas & Mercer)

• Target Lancer, by Max Allan Collins (Forge)

• The Thieves of Legend, by Richard Doetsch (Atria)

• The Twelve Clues of Christmas, by Rhys Bowen (Berkley)

• Young Philby, by Robert Littell (St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne)

NOVEMBER (UK):

• Blood Loss, by Alex Barclay (Harper)

• Evil for Evil, by Aline Templeton (Allison & Busby)

• Gold Digger, by Frances Fyfield (Sphere)

• The Sentinel, by Mark Oldfield (Head of Zeus)

• Settled Blood, by Mari Hannah (Pan)

• Standing in Another Man’s Grave, by Ian Rankin (Orion)

• The Straw Men, by Paul Doherty
(Creme de la Crime)

• A Walk with the Dead, by Sally Spencer (Severn House)

DECEMBER (U.S.):

• Burying the Past, by Judith Cutler
(Severn House)

• The Child’s Child, by Barbara Vine (Scribner)

• The Cleaner, by Paul Cleave (Atria)

• The Doctor of Thessaly, by Anne Zouroudi (Reagan Arthur)

• Dying on the Vine, by Aaron Elkins (Berkley)

• Fighting for the Dead, by Nick Oldham (Severn House)

• The Garden Party, by Peter Turnbull (Severn House)

• Good Junk, by Ed Kovacs (Minotaur)

• I Will Have Vengeance, by Maurizio de Giovanni (Europa Editions)

• Orders from Berlin, by Simon Tolkien (Minotaur)

• Safe House, by Chris Ewan (Minotaur)

• Sanctity of Hate, by Priscilla Royal (Poisoned Pen Press)

• The Silver Stain, by Paul Johnston (Severn House)

• Thrill City, by Leigh Redhead (Allen & Unwin)

• True Grey, by Clea Simon (Severn House)

• Whispering Death, by Garry Disher (Soho Crime)

DECEMBER (UK):

• Beware This Boy, by Maureen Jennings (McClelland & Stewart)

• Blessed Are Those Who Thirst, by Anne Holt (Scribner)

• Dead of Winter, by Lee Weeks (Simon & Schuster)

• Something You Are, by Hanna Jameson (Head of Zeus)

• Western Approaches, by Graham Hurley (Orion)

So, did I miss mentioning any titles you think deserve attention? If so, please let everyone know in the Comments section below.

READ MORE: “10 Hot Crime Novels for Colder Days,” by J. Kingston Pierce (Kirkus Reviews).