2015 Prospects: Turning Up the Volumes

This was an unusually book-filled gift-giving season for me. Friends and family customarily avoid the trauma of buying me books for Christmas, fearing they will choose something I have already acquired, enjoyed, and probably written about without their having realized it. This year, however, everyone seemed to pitch their traditional caution to the winds. Not only did I wind up unwrapping works of fiction new to my library--including The German Agent, by J. Sydney Jones, Beyond Rue Morgue: Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe’s 1st Detective, edited by Paul Kane and Charles Prepolec, and Time and Time Again, by Ben Elton--but also a variety of non-fiction works that appeal to my interests, such as Jane Ridley’s The Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince, John Oller’s American Queen: The Rise and Fall of Kate Chase Sprague--Civil War “Belle of the North” and Gilded Age Woman of Scandal, and Karen Abbott’s Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War. Truly an embarrassment of reading riches.

Not that I shall have luxurious time to immerse myself in these 2014 works. The floodgates have already opened on 2015, and my to-be-read piles are growing quickly in height and number. (Sometimes I think they do this on their own, without my contributions, but that’s just a bit of paranoia on my part, right?) In only the first three months of this new year, we can anticipate seeing fresh works from George Pelecanos (The Martini Shot), Charles Todd (A Fine Summer’s Day), Laura Lippman (Hush Hush), Max Allan Collins (Quarry’s Choice), Susanna Gregory (The Cheapside Corpse), Duane Swierczynski (Canary), Laurie R. King (Dreaming Spies), Sara Blaedel (The Forgotten Girls), Tim O’Mara (Dead Red), C.J. Sansom (Lamentation), Rory Clements (Holy Spy), Dan Simmons (The Fifth Heart), Dennis Lehane (World Gone By), Owen Laukkanen (The Stolen Ones), Peter May (Runaway), Mari Jungstedt (The Dangerous Game), and our old friend Patrick Lennon (whose latest novel, The Fixer, is coming out under the byline “P.F. Lennon.”) In addition, British author Robert Ryan witnesses the issuing of his third Dr. John Watson mystery, A Study in Murder, this week; Jake Hinkson, one of my favorite contributors to Criminal Element, will see his initial short-story collection, The Deepening Shade, published by All Due Respect; Open Road Media is set to reissue Mr. In-Between (1998) and five other works by Neil Cross, creator of the BBC crime drama Luther; and Brash Books has at the ready another gusher of new and reprinted releases for February, among those titles W.L. Ripley’s Storme Warning (his fourth starring footballer-turned-troubleshooter Wyatt Storme), Mark Smith’s 1973 classic, The Death of the Detective, and Carolyn Weston’s Poor, Poor Opelia (1971), which inspired the Karl Malden/Michael Douglas cop series, The Streets of San Francisco.

Shortly before Christmas, I wrote a column for Kirkus Reviews about eight crime, mystery, and thriller yarns due out in American bookshops between now and the end of March 2015. That barely scratched the surface of what to expect. When I finally inventoried all of the books--from both sides of the Atlantic--that I think will most appeal to The Rap Sheet’s loyal readers, I came up with more than 225, which I’m listing below.

JANUARY (U.S.):

• After the Fall, by Patricia Gussin (Oceanview)

• As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, by Alan Bradley (Delacorte)

• At Death’s Window, by Jim Kelly (Crème de la Crime)

• Before He Finds Her, by Michael Kardos (Mysterious Press)

• The Blue Journal, by L.T. Graham (Seventh Street)

• The Body Snatchers Affair, by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini (Forge)

• The Book of Fires, by Paul Doherty (Crème de la Crime)

• Breaking Creed, by Alex Kava (Putnam)

• Bred to Kill, by Franck Thilliez (Viking)

• Cane and Abe, by James Grippando (Harper)

• The Carrier, by Sophie Hannah (Putnam)

• The City of Blood, by Frédérique Molay (Le French)

• Dead Red, by Tim O’Mara (Minotaur)

• Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman, by Tessa Arlen (Minotaur)

• The Deep, by Nick Cutter (Gallery)

• Descent, by Tim Johnston (Algonquin)

• Devil’s Dance, by Daniel Depp (Severn House)

• The Devil You Know, by Elisabeth de Mariaffi (Touchstone)

• Doing the Devil’s Work, by Bill Loehfelm (Sarah Crichton)

• Everybody Goes to Jimmy’s, by Michael Mayo
(Mysterious Press/Open Road)

• The Evil Deeds We Do, by Robert S. Levinson (Five Star)

• Fatal Feast, by Jay Rudd (Five Star)

• Fatal Puzzle, by Catherine Shepherd (AmazonCrossing)

• Fear the Darkness, by Becky Masterman (Minotaur)

• A Fine Summer’s Day, by Charles Todd (Morrow)

• The German Agent, by J. Sydney Jones (Severn House)

• The Ghost Shift, by John Gapper (Ballantine)

• The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins (Riverhead)

• Glow, by Ned Beauman (Knopf)

• The Great Zoo of China, by Matthew Reilly (Gallery)

• Guardians of the Night, by Alan Russell (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Ice Queen, by Nele Neuhaus (Minotaur)

• The Jaguar’s Children, by John Vaillant (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

• The Kings of London,
by William Shaw (Mulholland)

• The Martini Shot, by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown)

• Mr. Monk and the New Lieutenant,
by Hy Conrad (NAL)

• Mortal Ambitions, by Patrick Philippart (AmazonCrossing)

• Murder, by Sarah Pinborough (Jo Fletcher)

• Mystery of the Dinner Playhouse,
by Mike Befeler (Five Star)

• Near Enemy, by Adam Sternbergh (Crown)

• One Step Too Far, by Tina Seskis (Morrow)

• Ostland, by David Thomas (Quercus)

• A Pleasure and a Calling, by Phil Hogan (Picador)

• Private Vegas, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown)

• Puzzled Indemnity, by Parnell Hall (Minotaur)

• Quarry’s Choice, by Max Allan Collins (Hard Case Crime)

• River of No Return, by David Riley Bertsch (Scribner)

• Serpents in the Cold, by Thomas O’Malley (Mulholland)

• Shark Skin Suite, by Tim Dorsey (Morrow)

• Silence the Dead, by Jack Fredrickson (Severn House)

• The Sirena Quest, by Michael A. Kahn (Poisoned Pen Press)

• The Soul of Discretion, by Susan Hill (Overlook)

• The Striver, by Stephen Solomita (Severn House)

• Unbecoming, by Rebecca Scherm (Viking)

• The Unquiet Dead, by Ausma Zehanat Khan (Minotaur)

• Veronica Mars: Mr. Kiss and Tell, by Rob Thomas (Vintage)

• Viking Bay, by M.A. Lawson (Blue Rider Press)

• Watch Me Go, by Mark Wisniewski (Putnam)

• Winter at the Door, by Sarah Graves (Bantam)

• The Witch Hunter’s Tale, by Sam Thomas (Minotaur)

• Wrongful Death, by Lydia La Plante (Bourbon Street)

JANUARY (UK):

• The Barchester Murders, by G.M. Best (Buried River Press)

• Border Angels, by Anthony Quinn (Head of Zeus)

• The Boy in the Shadows, by Carl-Johan Vallgren (Quercus)

• The Cheapside Corpse, by Susanna Gregory (Sphere)

• The Crooked House, by Christobel Kent (Sphere)

• Curtain Call, by Anthony Quinn (Jonathan Cape)

• Dark Briggate Blues, by Chris Nickson (History Press)

• Dead Girl Walking, by Christopher Brookmyre (Little, Brown)

• Death Comes to the Ballets Russes, by David Dickinson (Constable)

• The Death Season, by Kate Ellis (Piatkus)

• The Final Minute, by Simon Kernick (Century)

• The Girl Who Wasn’t There, by Ferdinand von Schirach (Little, Brown)

• Innocent Blood, by David Stuart Davies (History Press)

• Jigsaw Man, by Elena Forbes (Quercus)

• Land of the Blind, by Barbara Nadel (Headline)

• The Liar’s Chair, by Rebecca Whitney (Mantle)

• A Meditation on Murder, by Robert Thorogood (Mira)

• Runaway, by Peter May (Quercus)

• Scarred for Life, by Kerry Wilkinson (Pan)

• The Serpent Papers, by Jessica Cornwell (Quercus)

• A Study in Murder, by Robert Ryan (Simon and Schuster)

• Tell No Tales, by Eva Dolan (Harvill Secker)

FEBRUARY (U.S.):

• Allure of Deceit, by Susan Froetschel (Seventh Street)

• The Alphabet House, by Jussi Adler-Olsen (Dutton)

• Among Thieves, by John Clarkson (Minotaur)

• Apparent Wind, by Dallas Murphy (Brash Books)

• The Beige Man, by Helene Tursten (Soho Crime)

• Big Italy, by Timothy Williams (Soho Crime)

• Blood Infernal, by James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell (Morrow)

• The Burning Gates, by Parker Bilal (Bloomsbury)

• Canary, by Duane Swierczynski (Mulholland)

• Cognac Conspiracies, by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen (Le French)

• Cookie’s Case, by Andy Siegel (Mysterious Press/Open Road)

• Crash & Burn, by Lisa Gardner (Dutton)

• Cry Uncle, by Russel D. McLean (Severn House)

• The Damned, by Andrew Pyper (Simon & Schuster)

• Death of a Liar, by M.C. Beaton (Grand Central)

• The Death of the Detective, by Mark Smith (Brash Books)

• Devils and Dust, by J.D. Rhoades (Polis)

• Doctor Death, by Lene Kaaberbol (Atria)

• Dreaming Spies, by Laurie R. King (Bantam)

• Dreamless, by Jørgen Brekke (Minotaur)

• Finding Jake, by Bryan Reardon (Morrow)

• The First Wife, by Erica Spindler (St. Martin’s Press)

• Follow the Leader, by Mel Sherratt (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Forgotten Girls, by Sara Blaedel (Grand Central)

• Harm’s Reach, by Alex Barclay (Harper)

• Hush Hush, by Laura Lippman (Morrow)

• Just You Wait, by Jane Tesh
(Poisoned Pen Press)

• The Killing Season,
by Mason Cross (Pegasus)

• The Kind Worth Killing,
by Peter Swanson (Morrow)

• Lamentation, by C.J. Sansom (Mulholland)

• Last Days of the Condor,
by James Grady (Forge)

• The Life I Left Behind,
by Colette McBeth (Minotaur)

• Little Black Lies, by Sandra Block (Grand Central)

• Long Way Down, by Michael Sears (Putnam)

• The Marauders, by Tom Cooper (Crown)

• Monday’s Lie, by Jamie Mason (Gallery)

• The Moonlit Door, by Deryn Lake (Severn House)

• Motive, by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine)

• A Murder of Magpies, by Judith Flanders (Minotaur)

• My Sunshine Away, by M.O. Walsh (Putnam)

• Nobody Walks, by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

• No Mercy, by Roberta Kray (Little, Brown)

• Not Even Past, by Dave White (Polis)

• Pardon the Ravens, by Alan Hruska (Prospect Park)

• Phantom Angel, by David Handler (Minotaur)

• Plague Land, by S.D. Sykes (Pegasus)

• Poor, Poor Ophelia, by Carolyn Weston (Brash Books)

• A Price for Everything, by Lotte Hammer (Minotaur)

• The Replacements, by David Putnam (Oceanview)

• Satan’s Lullaby, by Priscilla Royal (Poisoned Pen Press)

• Shady Cross, by James Hankins (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Siege Winter, by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Norman (Morrow)

• Someone to Watch Over Me, by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Minotaur)

• Storme Warning, by W.L. Ripley (Brash Books)

• The Strings of Murder, by Oscar de Muriel (Penguin)

• Sweet Nothing: Stories, by Richard Lange (Mulholland)

• The Swimmer, by Joakim Zander (Harper)

• Take Down, by James Swain (Thomas & Mercer)

• Tears of Innocence, by Bill Rapp (Five Star)

• Totally Dead, by Michael Stone (Brash Books)

• The Whites, by Richard Price writing as Harry Brandt (Henry Holt)

• The Winter Foundlings, by Kate Rhodes (Minotaur)

FEBRUARY (UK):

• Arab Jazz, by Karim Miské (MacLehose Press)

• The Caveman, by Jørn Lier Horst (Sandstone Press)

• The Dangerous Game, by Mari Jungstedt (Doubleday)

• The Doll’s House, by M.J. Arlidge (Penguin)

• The Exit, by Helen Fitzgerald (Faber and Faber)

• Holy Spy, by Rory Clements (Hodder & Stoughton)

• A Killing Winter, by Tom Callaghan (Quercus)

• Mr. Campion’s Fox, by Mike Ripley (Severn House)

• Nothing Sacred, by David Thorne (Corvus)

• Prayer for the Dead, by James Oswald (Michael Joseph)

• Satellite People, by Hans Olav Lahlum (Mantle)

• The Scent of Almonds and Other Stories, by Camilla Lackberg (Harper)

• Second Life, by S.J. Watson (Doubleday)

• Shadow of the Hangman, by Edward Marston (Allison & Busby)

• Sins of the Fathers, by James Craig (Constable)

• Taken for Dead, by Graham Masterton (Head of Zeus)

• The Whispering City, by Sara Moliner (Abacus)

• Wolf Winter, by Cecilia Ekbäck (Hodder & Stoughton)

MARCH (U.S.):

• Aftershock, by Philip Donlay (Oceanview)

• All the Old Knives, by Olen Steinhauer (Minotaur)

• All the Wrong Places, by Lisa Lieberman (Five Star)

• The Angel Court Affair, by Anne Perry (Ballantine)

• Archie in the Crosshairs, by Robert Goldsborough (Mysterious Press/Open Road)

• Cry Wolf, by Michael Gregorio (Severn House)

• Cuba Straits, by Randy Wayne White (Putnam)

• A Dangerous Place, by Jacqueline Winspear (Harper)

• Dark Rooms, by Lili Anolik (Morrow)

• The Dead Key, by D.M. Pulley (Thomas & Mercer)

• The Devil’s Detective, by Simon Kurt Unsworth (Doubleday)

• Due for Discard, by Sharon St. George (Camel Press)

• The Edge of Dreams, by Rhys Bowen (Minotaur)

• Endangered, by C.J. Box (Putnam)

• The Fifth Heart, by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown)

• The Figaro Murders, by Laura Lebow (Minotaur)

• Firebreak, by Tricia Fields (Minotaur)

• Fractured, by Kate Watterson (Forge)

• Gun Street Girl, by Adrian McKinty (Seventh Street)

• Inspector of the Dead, by David Morrell (Mulholland)

• Kill Me, Darling, by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins (Titan)

• Lacy Eye, by Jessica Treadway (Grand Central)

• Leaving Berlin, by Joseph Kanon (Atria)

• The Lost and the Blind, by Declan Burke (Severn House)

• A Man’s Word, by Martin Jensen (AmazonCrossing)

• The Mouth of the Crocodile,
by Michael Pearce (Severn House)

• Murder on the Champ de Mars,
by Cara Black (Soho Crime)

• Night Night, Sleep Tight,
by Hallie Ephron (Morrow)

• The Patriot Threat,
by Steve Berry (Minotaur)

• The Perfect Game, by Leslie Kirby (Poisoned Pen Press)

• The Pocket Wife, by Susan Crawford (Morrow)

• The Prince, by Vito Bruschini (Atria)

• Season of Fear, by Brian Freeman (Quercus)

• Shadow Ritual, by Éric Giacometti and Jacques Ravenne (Le French)

• Side Trip to Kathmandu, by Marie Moore (Camel Press)

• Signature Kill, by David Levien (Doubleday)

• Soil, by Jamie Kornegay (Simon & Schuster)

• Spring Remains, by Mons Kallentoft (Atria/Emily Bestler)

• The Stolen Ones, by Owen Laukkanen (Putnam)

• The Stranger, by Harlan Coben (Dutton)

• Suitcase City, by Sterling Watson (Akashic)

• The Tapestry, by Nancy Bilyeau (Touchstone)

• The Tomb in Turkey, by Simon Brett (Crème de la Crime)

• Too Bad to Die, by Francine Mathews (Riverhead)

• 12 Rose Street, by Gail Bowen (McClelland & Stewart)

• The Unraveling of Mercy Louis, by Keija Parssinen (Harper)

• Werewolf Cop, by Andrew Klavan (Pegasus)

• What the Fly Saw, by Frankie Y. Bailey (Minotaur)

• Who Buries the Dead, by C.S. Harris (NAL)

• World Gone By, by Dennis Lehane (Morrow)

MARCH (UK):

• After the Crash, by Michel Bussi (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

• Bryant & May: The Burning Man, by Christopher Fowler (Doubleday)

• Cold Revenge, by Alex Howard (Head of Zeus)

• Death in Devon, by Ian Sansom (4th Estate)

• Death Under a Tuscan Sun, by Michele Giuttari (Little, Brown)

• The Defence, by Steve Cavanagh (Orion)

• The Dove’s Necklace, Raja Alem (Overlook Press)

• Fixer, by P.F. Lennon (Hodder & Stoughton)

• Into the Night, by Jake Woodhouse (Penguin)

• The Jackdaw, by Luke Delaney (HarperCollins)

• Keep the Midnight Out, by Alex Gray (Sphere)

• A Line of Blood, by Ben McPherson (HarperCollins)

• The Missing and the Dead, by Stuart MacBride (HarperCollins)

• Past Crimes, by Glen Erik Hamilton (Faber and Faber)

• The Scrivener, by Robin Blake (Constable)

• The Shut Eye, by Belinda Bauer (Bantam Press)

• The Tears of Dark Water, by Corban Addison (Quercus)

• Toxic, by Jamie Doward (Constable)

• The Whitstable Pearl Mystery, by Julie Wassmer (Constable)

• You Belong to Me, by Samantha Hayes (Century)

So what did I miss? Are there other books in this genre, due out over the next three months, that you think are equally deserving of attention? If so, please drop a note about them into the Comments section at the end of this post. We can all stand to learn something.