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GREAT CRIME FICTION FOR 2009
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Criminal Tendencies - foreword by Mark Billingham
Val McDermid, Reginald Hill and Peter James are just some of the 24 top selling crime writers who have contributed short stories to Criminal Tendencies, our exciting new collection to be published in spring 2009.
Alongside the big names will be stories from first-time authors Chris Nickson and Caroline Shiach, winners of Criminal Tendencies 2009, Crème de la Crime’s latest international search for new crime writing talent.
For every copy sold, £1 will go to the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline, founded to offer support and information to women concerned about their risk of breast cancer because of family history. The Helpline is supported by the Genesis Appeal, the only charity in the UK entirely dedicated to the prevention of breast cancer. The Appeal funds vital research into prevention and early diagnosis; their aim is to create a future without breast cancer.
For more information visit
www. breastcancergenetics.co.uk
www.genesisuk.org
Published April 2009
ISBN 978-0-9557078-5-8
Paperback original
Extent 352 pages
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Secret Lament - Roz Southey
Italian actors…
French spies…
At least the thugs are English…
Charles Patterson is not happy. It’s the hottest June for years; he’s stuck in musical rehearsals with a family of Italians; some local ruffians are after his blood; and someone is trying to break into the house of Esther Jerdoun, the woman he loves.
When a murder is discovered he fears Esther may be next. It’s time to ask some tough questions.
Who is the strange man masquerading under a patently false name? Are there really spies abroad in Newcastle? Why is a psalm-teacher keeping vigil over a house in the town?
And can Patterson find the murderer before he strikes again?
Third in Roz Southey’s pacy and richly imagined series set in 18th century Newcastle upon Tyne.
Published May 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9557078-6-5
Paperback original
Extent 288
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Dead Like Her - Linda Regan
Sex, drugs - and Marilyn Monroe…
A potentially lethal combination
It seems like a straightforward case for newly promoted DCI Paul Banham and DI Alison Grainger: the murdered women all bore an uncanny resemblance to Marilyn Monroe and worked for a lookalike agency.
But the enquiry soon unearths connections with a covert investigation into drug-running and people-trafficking. A new member of the team, uniquely qualified but inexperienced, is placed in a dangerous situation – made more difficult when love rears its complicated head!
Can Banham and Grainger save her from the villains – and from herself?
Third in Linda Regan’s hard-hitting series with a showbusiness background.
Published June 2009
ISBN: 978-09557078-8-9
Paperback original
Extent 288
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Blood Money - Maureen Carter
When family loyalties are at stake
can a woman can be as hard as a man?
Detective Sergeant Bev Morriss is in a very dark place.
Personal tragedy has pushed her close to self-destruct mode; both colleagues and friends have started to give her a wide berth.
But Bev is still a cop, and there are villains to battle as well as demons. Enter the Sandman, a vicious serial burglar who wears a clown mask and plays mind-games with his victims.
When the violence spirals into abduction, blackmail and murder, the bad guys soon discover Bev is in no mood to play…
Sixth in Carter’s sharply-observed gritty cop series.
Published July 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9557078-7-2
Paperback original
Extent 288
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The Fall Girl - Kaye C Hill
It begins with a baffling death in a lonely cottage…
but where will it end?
Mystery piles on top of mystery for Lexy Lomax, still masquerading as a private investigator in Clopwolde-on-Sea.
Did Aunt Elizabeth fall out of the cottage window – or was she pushed?
What makes Kinky the chihuahua run a mile from the cottage when everyone else wants to get their hands on it?
Is there really a Black Dog, or is it Lexy’s imagination playing tricks?
And why on earth has Gerard, her obnoxious ex, turned up in the village?
Dark forces are not only at work – they’re positively running amok…
Vibrant follow-up to Dead Woman’s Shoes, the first sparkling Lexy Lomax mystery.
Published August 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9557078-9-6
Paperback original
Extent 288
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Love Not Poison - Mary Andrea Clarke
A husband dead in a fire – but was it an accident?
A wife hysterical – but is it with grief?
The Crimson Cavalier is in search of the truth...
In the 1780s young ladies are expected to apply themselves to the social round and the business of finding a husband – but Miss Georgiana Grey is no ordinary young lady.
The death of ill-natured Lord Wickerston in a fire leads her to ask questions, to the chagrin of her strait-laced brother Edward, and the alarm of her friend Mr Max Lakesby.
Who would want Lord Wickerston dead? Does Edward know more than he is willing to say?
And how is the notorious highwayman known as the Crimson Cavalier involved?
By popular demand, the Crimson Cavalier rides again!
Published August 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9560566-0-3
Paperback original
Extent 288
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About the authors:
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Roz Southey
Roz Southey has a passion for the often contentious world of 18th century music-making in the north-east of England; in fact, she has a PhD in it!
“While I was researching I discovered lots of stories which I couldn’t use in my thesis, but were fascinating all the same,” she recalls. “One involved a musical duel - and became the spark for the first Charles Patterson historical mystery series.”
Roz lectures at the International Centre for Music Studies in Newcastle upon Tyne, and admits to playing the piano and the viola, but not very well.
For more information visit www.rozsouthey.co.uk
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Linda Regan
You’d think a successful acting career would fulfil her dreams, but Linda Regan’s ambition has always been to become a bestselling crime writer.
“My family is theatrical, and I’ve been in the business since I was a child,” she says. “But my head is full of crime novels, and I’d love to have more time to spend writing them.”
Her thespian life has encompassed Carry On movies, radio and TV drama, audiobooks and all kinds of theatre from weekly rep to the Royal Shakespeare Company - so she is well equipped to bring the unique ambience of small-town pantomime to vivid life in her first published murder mystery.
For more information visit www.lindareganonline.co.uk
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Maureen Carter
Former BBC Newsnight presenter Maureen Carter has worked extensively in newspapers, radio and television, and still freelances in the business.
As a journalist she has worked closely with the police, covering countless crime stories, including several murders. She has also interviewed victims and seen villains sent down.
Maureen’s inspiration frequently comes from incidents she experienced as a crime reporter. "Some images remain as moving and potent as on the day I first saw them," she says. "The trick is to use them to produce an engaging and entertaining crime novel."
For more information visit www.maureencarter.co.uk
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Kaye C Hill
A twenty-year career involving railway embankments, steel-capped boots and chainsaws inspired Kaye C Hill to turn to crime fiction.
“I trained in woodland management, and my first job was managing trees on the railway embankments. I was one of a very few women working in a male-dominated environment, and this experience gave me the inspiration for an independent-minded private investigator with an intriguing past – but don’t ask me where the homicidal chihuahua came from!”
Kaye’s sparky sleuth Lexy Lomax lives on the Suffolk coast where, when not writing, Kaye herself spends as much time as possible bird-watching on the exposed estuaries and wetlands. “It’s a great hobby for someone who can’t stand the cold.”
For more information visit www.kayechill.com
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Mary Andrea Clarke
By day Mary Andrea Clarke holds down a responsible position in the Civil Service - but by night she is a Mystery Woman!
Her love of crime fiction led her to join the vibrant group of readers and writers (not all female!) who organise events and meetings all over the UK.
The Crimson Cavalier series grew out of a desire to explore the challenges faced by an intelligent, independent woman in an era before equality of opportunity between the sexes became the norm.
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Adrian Magson
Having spent a number of years in sales, promoting books for a large publishing house, Adrian Magson was bitten by the bug and became a full-time writer.
Adrian’s work has been published in many mainstream UK magazines, and as far afield as the US, Japan, South Africa, Australia and Scandinavia.
His short stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio, and he has written for the comedian Roy Hudd and had a comedy play performed at the Oxford Literary Festival.
"I enjoy writing in a variety of genres," says Adrian, "but I've always preferred crime writing, and the edgy characters that often spring out of nowhere as the plot develops."
His crime writing has been shortlisted in the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger Award, and appeared in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Maxim Jakubowski's Best British Mysteries. He also writes the regular Beginners column in Writing Magazine, sister publication to Writers' News.
For more information visit www.adrianmagson.com
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