July 2006

John Ballem, A Victim of Convenience

Calgary, Canada's booming oil capital, is caught in the grip of terror as a serial killer’s rampage puts intense pressure on homicide detective Chris Crane, the lead investigator in the case. The killer, who goes by the mocking nickname of TLC, can seemingly strike at will, blatantly displaying the obscenely mutilated bodies of his victims in city parks but leaving no clues, continually taunting Chris, acknowledging him as a worthy opponent in the deadly game. But are the taunts really from TLC or are they the work of a sick impersonator? And is there a copycat taking advantage of the situation?

Mass market paperback
Dundurn Group (A Castle Street Mystery)
ISBN: 1-55002-617-8
August 2006
$11.99

Linwood Barclay, Lone Wolf: A Zack Walker Mystery

Reluctant hero Zack Walker has stumbled into some nasty situations before, but nothing like what he’s about to uncover when a mutilated corpse is found at his father’s lakeside fishing camp. The locals say it's a bear attack, but Zack suspects something more ominous – a predator whose weapons include arson, assault, and enough wacko beliefs to fuel a dozen hate groups. In FBI parlance, a Lone Wolf: a solo fanatic hell-bent on using high body counts to make political statements. When another body is discovered, and a large supply of fertilizer goes missing, evoking memories of the Oklahoma City bombing, Zack realizes the idyllic town of his childhood is on the verge of a catastrophe.

Mass market paperback (original)
Bantam
ISBN: 0553804553
September 2006
$9.99

Rick Blechta, When Hell Freezes Over

Twenty-four years ago, Michael Quinn turned his back on a band on the verge of superstardom. He’s spent his life since hiding from everything he’d been. But when a woman chased by thugs jumps into his car and he tries to help, a bewildering chain of events is set in motion – a close friend is murdered and the girl disappears. Then the thugs come after Michael. Unwillingly thrust back into the spotlight, Michael is forced to confront what he was, what he is now and what he might have been. And will that finally be the moment when hell freezes over?

Trade paperback
RendezVous Press
ISBN: 1-894917-41-3
September 2006
$16.95 (US$15.95)

Gail Bowen, The Endless Knot: A Joanne Kilbourn Mystery (#10)

When journalist Kathryn Morrissey’s sensational book on the lives of 13 adult children of prominent Canadians is published, one of the parents, Sam Parker, is furious enough to take a pot shot at the author. Charges are laid, and Joanne’s new beau, Zack Shreve, is hired by Parker as his defence counsel. At the trial, Shreve focuses the jury’s attention not on who shot whom, but on why – on the ethics governing the relationship between a journalist and her subject. On the day of the verdict, Morrissey is brutally murdered, and Joanne’s investigation quickly has her trying to unravel the endless knot of the relationship between parent and child.

Barbara Fradkin, Honour Among Men: An Inspector Green Mystery

In the fifth of this award-winning series, a routine murder inquiry heats up when Green finds a Halifax train ticket and a stolen military medal in the dead woman’s possession. One of his detectives is brutally attacked, a street person disappears, and he finds himself embroiled not only in the murky secrets of a peacekeeping unit but in the high stakes of a federal election race. What dark trauma occurred in Yugoslavia more than a decade ago? Was someone still killing to prevent that secret from coming to light? And does the diary of a dead soldier hold the key?

R.J. Harlick, Red Ice for a Shroud: A Meg Harris Mystery

As winter's first snow starts to fall, a young Québécoise sneaks off to meet her Algonquin lover in an isolated cabin on the Migiskan Reserve. Five days later, Meg Harris and her friend Eric Odjik discover the young woman’s frozen and brutalized body. The young native lover is charged with her murder. Meg, convinced of his innocence, sets out to find the real killer against a backdrop of police prejudice. Meanwhile, Eric battles a growing drug problem on the reserve. Are the two events connected? As Meg scrambles to unravel the truth the snow turns to freezing rain, locking her West Quebec wilderness within a prison of ice.

Maureen Jennings, Does Your Mother Know?

Does Your Mother Know? is the first of an original series featuring Canadian forensic profiler Christine Morris. After a traumatic incident on the job in Toronto, Christine is sent to Edinburgh to attend a conference on the latest in police methodology. There, she is tracked down by local police and informed that her estranged mother has been involved in a nasty vehicular homicide and has fled the scene. Flying to the Outer Hebrides to discover why her mother has come to Scotland, Christine finds herself in much deeper water when one of the islanders dies in suspicious circumstances, and her mother is still nowhere to be found.

Trade paperback (original)
Dundurn Group (A Castle Street Mystery)
ISBN : 1-55002-639-9
September 2006
$22.99

Marianne Macdonald, Faking It: A Dido Hoare Mystery

Dido Hoare is puzzled by a visit from Gabriel Steen, a book scout who had vanished to Holland several years before. While in her bookshop, he receives a disturbing mobile phone call and suddenly offers to share a mediaeval illustrated manuscript of unknown origin but (maybe) great value. Dido pays him cash and Gabriel goes off to a violent death. Is this manuscript the cause of his murder? Why are police of three British forces, and the Netherlands, so interested? Untangling a messy conspiracy stretching back over decades requires the help of her father and friends, as well as her own stubbornness – and an awful lot of luck.

Hardcover
Severn House
ISBN: 0 7278 6390 8
August 2006
US$27.95

Rick Mofina, Every Fear: A Jason Wade Thriller

Every Fear is the second book in Rick Mofina's acclaimed new series, which debuted with The Dying Hour. The series introduced rookie crime reporter Jason Wade, and was not only a bestseller but a selection by the International Thriller Writers as a Best Paperback Original finalist for a Thriller Award. With Every Fear, Mofina takes suspense to a whole new level in a heart-pounding story that moves like a true crime case torn from today's headlines as Jason Wade pursues the story of a young mother who is left for dead and clinging to life after he baby son was abducted from her. "Pushes crackling suspense to the breaking point and beyond!" Kay Hooper, New York Times bestselling author.

Mass market paperback
Kensington/Pinnacle
ISBN: 0-7860-1746-5
September 2006
$9.99

Linda L. Richards, Calculated Loss: A Madeline Carter Novel

High finance and haute cuisine equal a recipe for murder. Calculated Loss is the third novel featuring recovering stockbroker-turned-day trader Madeline Carter. Another tautly plotted, sophisticated financial thriller from Arthur Ellis nominated author, Linda L. Richards, the action this time turns on the suspicious death of Braydon Gauthier, Madeline’s ex-husband, an internationally known chef. In Vancouver for Braydon’s funeral, Madeline finds herself in the cutthroat world of haute cuisine and discovers that, on closer inspection, all is not as it appears. Did Braydon kill himself, as everyone around him contends? Madeline doesn't think so. "For unforgettable characters and sheer suspense, remember Linda L. Richards' name," says bestselling author, Gayle Lynds.

Taylor Smith, Slim to None: A Hannah Nicks Thriller

First in a new series by bestselling author Smith. After losing custody of her son to her wealthy ex, former L.A. cop Hannah Nicks turns to the lucrative gun-for-hire business. Working a contract in Iraq, she and a partner strike out on their own to rescue a kidnapped doctor , but freelancing ends in disaster. Back in L.A., Hannah is startled to spot the shadowy figure who murdered her partner back in Iraq. Now, she’s out for justice. When the killer’s current plot becomes evident, the race is on to bring him down before he unleashes mayhem on the city.

Hardcover
MIRA books
ISBN: 0-7783-2332-3
September 2006
$29.95 (US$24.95)

Michelle Wan, The Orchid Shroud: A Novel of Death in the Dordogne

Interior decorator Mara Dunn discovers the mummified corpse of a murdered infant in the manor house of wealthy Christophe de Bonfond. The body, concealed for over a century, brings to light critical information on an elusive Lady’s Slipper Orchid that orchidologist Julian Wood avidly seeks. It also unleashes terrifying suspicions about who the de Bonfonds really were. When violent death strikes in the present day, Mara and Julian’s investigation leads them to uncover a past filled with hatred, greed and dark superstitions. The Orchid Shroud is the second in the Death in the Dordogne series.