Tuesday 20 October 2009

Blue Lightning and others


I’ve received a number of new and forthcoming books published by Pan Macmillan, and the range of titles illustrates the wealth of talent in that company’s list. Pride of place has to go to a book by someone I knew before she was famous! This is Ann Cleeves, whose marvellous Shetland Quartet is to be concluded by Blue Lightning. In this book, Jimmy Perez returns to his native Fair Isle, a place which I’d love to visit myself one day. I say ‘concluded’, but who knows whether Ann can be tempted to continue with a pleasurable series? I certainly hope so.

The Cemetery of Secrets is the latest novel set in Italy to be written by David Hewson. ‘In the ancient burial ground of San Michele, a young woman’s casket is prised open, something is wrenched from her hands, and an extraordinary story begins.’ It’s dubbed ‘A Venetian Mystery’ - competition for Donna Leon, then.

And then there is The Disappeared, by M.R. Hall, the follow up to his widely applauded novel The Coroner. Again, the central character is Jenny Cooper. The author’s CV includes screenwriting , television production and a career as a barrister, and this experience informs his fiction. Incidentally, I've learned that the author is not, as I deduced (so much for me as a literary detective), the Mathew Hall who wrote a pretty successful thriller called The Art of Breaking Glass some years ago. The Coroner is one of the books competing for the CWA Gold Dagger tomorrow night - an impressive achievement in any circumstances, but all the more so in the case of a debut novel.

5 comments:

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Sounds like your nightstand is buried in books! Hope you're able to find time to read...

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Anonymous said...

Martin - It sounds as though you have some fine titles to read - I hope you enjoy them and I look forward to reading what you have to say about them.

Tim said...

David Hewson wrote a couple of books set in Venice (Lucifer's Shadow and The Lizard's Bite), but not really Donna Leon territory. This one is a re-issue of an earlier novel, I believe.

Martin Edwards said...

Hi Elizabeth and Margot - buried in books is right! It's a nice feeling, except for the anxiety about when I'll find the time to read them all....

Dorte H said...

Cleeves and Hall: this is certainly good news!

I have only read one Jimmy Perez yet, but all her Vera Stanhope books, and I must admit I would be even happier to see Vera return. She is such a remarkable character.