Spring Has Sprung...
By Lance Zarimba

Spring has Sprung, and the floodgate for new mysteries is overflowing the bookshelves. The pile will be high on the nightstand, and the totebag to the beach will be heavy. So if you are traveling across the country or enjoying the sun in your own backyard, use a lot of sunscreen and enjoy the waves of new books.

Michael Connelly's The Closers is out, and he is currently touring with his new book. Harry Bosch is back and better than ever. He has returned to the LAPD, and his new job is closing out cold cases. The murder of a 16-year-old girl in 1988 is in his pile of cases and no one has been charged with the crime. Now, a report on DNA finds a match, and the case is wide open and Harry is back in action.

Charlaine Harris has her new book Dead As A Doornail. Sookie Stackhouse is a mind reading cocktail waitress in a small town in Louisiana. With her abilities, she tries to lead a quiet life, and vampires, werewolves, or other supernatural beings are her only company. But the problem isn't these beings aren't friendly - they're worse. They're family! Sookie's brother, Jason, changes into a werepanther, but her concern for her brother doesn't come from fleas and ticks, but a sniper with a deadly sight on the local changelings. And Jason's new “family” thinks he may be the shooter! Sookie has until the next full moon to find out who's behind the attacks, before her brother or herself are caught in the crosshairs. The other Sookie books are: Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, and Dead to the World.

John Connelly has Black Angel out and is touring with his fifth Charlie Parker novel. Parker is newly remarried and has been trying to pull his life back together after the death of his wife and daughter. When his partner's cousin goes missing, Parker gets sucked into the case. The woman's disappearance is connected to an older, darker mystery. Once again, he's forced to risk everything to solve this case. Supernatural elements blend with the P.I. genre to make a unique reading experience. These books are dark, so reader beware. Parker is a shattered hero, trying to rebuild his life after losing everything. Other books in the series are: Every Dead Thing, Blood Hollow, The Killing Kind, The White Road, and Bad Men (a stand-alone).

C.J. Box's newest mystery, Out of Range , revolves around Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden, his family and friends, and the territory he covers. Joe is an "average Joe" in most ways. He wants to do the right thing, but often trusts the wrong people. He is tenacious when trying to solve a problem and is a very good and loyal friend. Joe loves his wife and his children. He also loves his job and the wilderness he is sworn to protect.

In Out of Range , Joe is assigned to temporarily cover a new territory - one of the most stressful in all of Wyoming. Jackson Hole is a barometer for the rest of the state and it takes a strong, level-headed warden to handle it. That warden used to be Will Jensen, but the even-tempered Will seemingly went crazy and ate his gun. As Joe tries to find out what happened to Will, he finds himself experiencing the same problems (blackouts, dizziness) that Will had before he committed suicide. Separated from his wife and daughters in a town full of developers, billions of dollars, and a beautiful married woman who has eyes for him, Joe better figure out what happened in a hurry or he just might become the next victim.

And drum roll please. From the state of South Dakota, Lori G. Armstrong's book, Blood Ties is finally out. Some family secrets are best kept buried deep. Clive Cussler says, “a fascinating tale of intrigue that will sweep you into a world of horror and suspense.”

Blood Ties – What do they mean? And how far would someone go to sever...or protect them? Julie Collins is stuck in a dead-end secretarial job with the Bear Butte County Sheriff's office, and still grieving over the unsolved murder of her Lakota half-brother. Lack of public interest in finding his murderer or the killer of several other transient Native American men, has left Julie with a bone-deep cynicism she counters with tequila, cigarettes, and dangerous men. The one bright spot in her mundane life is the time she spends working part-time as a PI with her childhood friend, Kevin Wells.

When the body of a sixteen-year old white girl is discovered in nearby Rapid Creek, Julie believes this victim will receive the attention others were denied. Then she learns Kevin has been hired, mysteriously, to find out where the murdered girl spent her last few days. Julie finds herself drawn into the case against her better judgment, and discovers not only the ugly reality of the young girl's tragic life and brutal death, but ties to her and Kevin's past that she is increasingly reluctant to revisit.

On the surface the situation is eerily familiar. But the parallels end when Julie realizes some family secrets are best kept buried deep. Especially those serious enough to kill for.

 

2005 Anthony Award Nominations Announced

Bouchercon® 36, The World Mystery Convention, will be held in Chicago from September 1 - 4, 2005.

http://www.bouchercon.net/.

BEST NOVEL:

Ken Bruen -- 'The Killing of the Tinkers'

John Katzenbach -- 'The Madman's Tale'

William Kent Krueger -- 'Blood Hollow'

Laura Lippman -- 'By a Spider's Thread'

T. Jefferson Parker -- 'California Girl'

Julia Spencer-Fleming -- 'Out of the Deep I Cry'

BEST FIRST NOVEL:

Sandra Balzo -- 'Uncommon Grounds'

Judy Clemens -- 'Till the Cows Come Home'

Juliane P. Hoffman -- 'Retribution'

J. A. (Joe) Konrath -- 'Whiskey Sour'

Harley Jane Kozak -- 'Dating Dead Men'

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL:

Robin Burcell -- 'Cold Case'

Roberta Isleib -- 'Putt to Death'

Susan McBride -- 'Blue Blood'

M. J. Rose -- 'The Halo Effect'

Jason Starr -- 'Twisted City'

BEST CRITICAL/ NONFICTION WORK:

Frankie Bailey & Steven Chermak -- 'Famous American Crimes & Trials'

Max Allan Collins (et al) -- 'Men's Adventure Magazines'

Edward Conlon -- 'Blue Blood'

Leslie S. Klinger (Ed.) -- 'The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes'

Julian Rubinstein -- 'The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber'

 

Best Short Story

Bowen, Rhys -- "Voodoo," Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Nov. 2004
Faherty, Terence -- "The Widow of Slane," Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine,
March/April 2004
Hertel, Ted Jr -- "It's Crackers to Slip a Rozzer the Dropsey in Snide,"
Small Crimes; Bracken, ed (Betancourt/Wildside)
Nersesian, Arthur -- "Hunter Trapper," Brooklyn Noir (Akashic Books)
Viets, Elaine -- "Wedding Knife," Chesapeake Crimes (Quiet Storm)

Best Cover Art

Brooklyn Noir -- Sohrab Habibion; Tim McLoughlin (Akashic)
Fade to Blonde -- cover by Gregory Manchess; Max Phillips (Hard Case Crime)
Whiskey Sour -- Sal Barracca/Bradford Foltz Design; JA Konrath (Hyperion)
Good Morning Darkness -- Robert Santora; Ruth Francisco
(TimeWarner/Mysterious)
Monkology -- Michael Kellner; Gary Phillips (Dennis McMillan)

 

COMMITTING THE PERFECT CRIME: WRITING YOUR FIRST MYSTERY

is an online class for UCLA Extension this summer session.
A good mystery & suspense writing course for beginners and intermediates. It
will cover all the basics necessary to write a first novel. And the wonderful Kris Neri teaches this class. For more information, visit http://www.uclaextension.edu. The course number is X 495.5; registration number R 2324. Or email Kris Neri directly for a copy of the syllabus. http://www.krisneri.com

Kris says, “It's a challenging course because we cover a lot of material in ten weeks.
But it's fun and I provide lots of support.”

Also note: Kris and her husband, Joe, have opened a wonderful book store: The Well Red Coyote, located at 3190 W. Highway 89A (the recently renovated Cinedona building, at the corner of 89A and Dry Creek Road, just down the road from the Sedona Library), in Sedona, Arizona 86336.

The telephone numbers are: (928) 282-2284 and (866) 282-9291.

The Web address is: http://www.wellredcoyote.com/index.html.
Check out their website for upcoming events, and they are willing to mail order any book.

And watch for Kris's new books: NEVER SAY DIE - Hilliard & Harris '05 and REVENGE FOR OLD TIME'S SAKE - Quiet Storm Publishing