ALLISON BUSBY (dist. by IPM)
The Best British Mysteries IV (Mar.; $25.95, paper $14.95), edited by Maxim Jakubowski, collects stories by Robert Goddard, Alexander McCall Smith and others.
The Painted Lady (Apr., $25.95) by Edward Marston. In this period romp, Araminta Jewell is wed to a staid, unattractive—but titled—husband, until murder conveniently solves her problem.
AMISTAD
Like Trees, Walking (Mar., $24.95) by Ravi Howard is based on an actual 1981 lynching in Mobile, Ala.
ARTE PBLICO PRESS
The Lady from Buenos Aires (Mar., $24.95) by John Lantigua finds Miami private investigator Willie Cuesta dealing with the consequences of Argentina's Dirty War.
ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS
Suffer the Little Children (May, $24) by Donna Leon marks the return of Venetian commissario Guido Brunetti, this time investigating a scam between pharmacists and doctors. 50,000 first printing. 9-city author tour.
BANTAM
The Alibi Man (Apr., $26) by Tami Hoag. Once a member of Palm Beach's privileged society, former narcotics detective Elena Estes discovers the body of an abused young woman who was once a co-worker. 325,000 first printing.
Blood Dreams (July, $25) by Kay Hooper. A U.S. senator, seeking vengeance for a murder, creates an investigative team to search for the killer.
BERKLEY PRIME CRIME
Dragonwell Dead: A Teashop Mystery (Mar., $23.95) by Laura Childs follows amateur sleuths Theodosia and Drayton as they serve tea and solve crimes in Charleston, S.C.
Tumbling Blocks (May, $24.95) by Earlene Fowler continues the Benni Harper series, in which Benni investigates a death in exclusive San Celina.
BETHANY HOUSE
Fearless (July, $19.99) by Robin Parish is the second book in the Dominion Trilogy, wherein Grant must penetrate the truth before his enemies close in. 25,000 first printing.
BLEAK HOUSE
Keep It Real (Mar., $23.95) by Bill Bryan takes a stab at reality TV after the body of a gangsta rapper's girl is found in the rapper's fridge. Author tour.
CARROLL GRAF
Looking Good Dead (Mar., $25.95) by Peter James presents Det. Superintendent Roy Grace with a new case.
Whack-a-Mole (June, $24.95) by Chris Gravenstein. Title number three in the John Ceepack series unfolds in the New Jersey beach town of Sea Haven.
DELACORTE
Bad Luck and Trouble (May, $26) by Lee Child. Ex-military cop Jack Reacher returns, plunged into a conspiracy that's killing off his old friends. 250,000 first printing.
Beyond Reach (Aug., $25) by Karin Slaughter. In the author's sixth Grant County, Ga., mystery, detective Lena Adams is charged with homicide. 125,000 first printing.
FORGE
Blood Lies (June, $24.95) by Daniel Kalla. When his former fiancée is murdered, Dr. Ben Dafoe learns that DNA from the crime scene matches his. Ad/promo.
HARCOURT
Silence (July, $25) by Thomas Perry supposes that everybody has a secret past—and a reason to kill the one person in the know. An Otto Penzler Book. 75,000 first printing. Advertising.
HARPERCOLLINS
Daddy's Girl (Mar., $25.95) by Lisa Scottoline. A young law professor struggles to thwart a dangerous conspiracy. 350,000 first printing.
Lying with Strangers (June, $24.95) by James Grippando gives added dimension to the notion of a woman in jeopardy. 100,000 first printing.
HENRY HOLT
Christine Falls (Mar., $25) by Benjamin Black. Booker Prize—winner John Banville adopts this nom de plume in his first crime novel, which finds a Dublin pathologist amid a conspiracy in the city's Catholic society.
Dead Connection (July, $19.95) by Alafair Burke. A rookie detective penetrates the Internet dating scene to uncloak a serial killer.
KENSINGTON
Key Lime Pie Murder (Mar., $22) by Joanne Fluke. A baking judge at the county fair is found dead beside an upended key lime pie.
KUNATI (dist. by IPG)
The Game (Mar., $24.95) by Derek Armstrong. Somebody is knocking off the contestants on America's number one TV show. 60,000 first printing. $145,000 ad/promo.
LITTLE, BROWN
The 6th Target (May, $27.99) by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro continues the exploits of Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club, as a madman runs amok in San Francisco. Advertising.
The Quickie (July, $27.99) by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge depicts a one-night stand gone terribly wrong in Manhattan. Advertising.
MACADAM/CAGE
Bloodthirsty (May, $26) by Marshall Karp is the second book in the Lomax and Biggs series, set in L.A., where high-profile Hollywood players are getting sadistically murdered. Advertising. Author tour.
MIRA
The Dead Room (Mar., $24.95) by Heather Graham. After an archeologist survives an explosion that kills her fiancé, she has the ability to communicate with ghosts.
MORROW
The Blue Zone (May, $25.95) by Andrew Gross. In this solo debut from James Patterson's five-time coauthor, a woman searches for her father, missing from the witness protection program. 200,000 first printing.
The Judas Strain (July, $25.95) by James Rollins brings back Sigma Force to eliminate a scourge that pits nature against humankind. 250,000 first printing.
MULTNOMAH
Deception (Apr., $19.99) by Randy Alcorn charts a journey to heaven and hell and back again. 50,000 first printing.
NEW AMERICAN LIBRARY
A Crazy Little Thing Called Death: A Blackbird Sisters Mystery (Mar., $21.95) by Nancy Martin. Nora must locate a missing Hollywood starlet before she can wed a Philadelphia mobster's son.
Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants (July, $19.95) by Lee Goldberg is the fourth tie-in to the TV series Monk.
W.W. NORTON
Origin (June, $24.95) by Diana Abu-Jaber. A forensic expert's investigation of a series of crib deaths leads her back to the mystery of her own childhood.
OVERLOOK PRESS
The Various Haunts of Men (Apr., $24.95) by Susan Hill. In this new series, detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler investigates mysterious disappearances in a quiet cathedral town.
PANTHEON
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive (Apr., $24.95) by Alexander McCall Smith. In the eighth installment of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series, J.L.B. Matekoni, Mma Ramotswe's husband, faces obstacles as he attempts to do a good deed.
POISONED PEN PRESS
Disturbing the Dead (Mar., $24.95) by Sandra Parshall follows The Heat of the Moon, as Tom Bridger investigates the murder of a Melungeon woman.
The Green Mill Murder (Apr., $24.95) by Kerry Greenwood. Murder ejects a contestant from a dance marathon in this continuation of the Phryne Fisher series.
RED DRESS INK
Obsession, Deceit and Really Dark Chocolate (May, $21.95) by Kyra Davis. Would-be sleuth Sophie gets involved when a campaign adviser to a congressional hopeful is the victim of a hit.
SIMON SCHUSTER
The Watchman (Mar. $25.95) by Robert Crais. Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are back, revealing lies and betrayals as they protect the life of a federal witness.
I Heard That Song Before (Apr., $25) by Mary Higgins Clark. A young woman's memories threaten her marriage and life.
The Sleeping Doll (July, $26.95) by Jeffery Deaver traces a killer's escape from a super-prison and the problems that ensue.
The Widowmaker (Aug., $26) by Sandra Brown depicts the deadly consequences of an obsessive love when a millionaire hires a football hero to impregnate his wife.
SMALL BEER PRESS
Generation Loss (Apr., $24) by Elizabeth Hand follows a down-and-out photographer as she searches for a reclusive artist on an island off Maine.
SOHO PRESS
Zoo Station (May, $23) by David Downing. In Nazi Germany, a British journalist finds himself in the middle of warring intelligence services when he is approached by the Soviets.
ST. MARTINS/MINOTAUR
Magic City (Mar., $24.95) by James W. Hall. A photo taken during the 1964 Clay-Liston boxing match sparks a murder spree stretching from Miami Beach to the White House. Ad/promo. Author tour.
Damsels in Distress (Apr., $24.95) by Joan Hess. The Claire Malloy series tallies 16 titles when a Renaissance fair comes to town and one of its organizers is burned to death. Ad/promo.
A Fatal Grace (May, $23.95) by Louise Penny. CC de Poitiers, loathed by the residents of a village near Montreal, is cooked alive in what appears to be an electrical accident. Author tour.
City of Fire (June, $24.95) by Robert Ellis. A massive forest fire blankets L.A. with acrid smoke while a killer is murdering beautiful women.
TEXAS TECH UNIV. PRESS
The Death at Awahi (Mar., $27.95) by Harold Burton Meyers concerns the apparent ritual murder of a white man early in the 20th century in the fictional Awahi pueblo.
TOUCHSTONE
In Secret Service (June, $25) by Mitch Silver. A Yale academic finds an unpublished manuscript by James Bond creator Ian Fleming implicating the Duke of Windsor in a plot with Hitler.
TRIUMVIRATE (dist. by Ingram)
Goodbye Evilwood (Mar., $24.95) by Vladimir Chernozemsky plumbs Hollywood's underbelly in this psychological murder mystery based on real events. $40,000 ad/promo.
VIKING
Thursday Next (Aug., $24.95) by Jasper Fforde. Thursday faces a double dilemma: there's a serial killer loose in the Bookworld, and the Goliath Corporation is trying to deregulate book travel. Ad/promo.10-city author tour.
WARNER BOOKS
The Wheel of Darkness (Aug., $25.99) by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. The authors of the bestselling The Book of the Dead return with more thrills and chills. 10-city author tour.
WATERBROOK PRESS
False Witness (May, $18.95) by Randy Singer leads three law students into a life-or-death struggle over a secret code that could threaten national security.
WESTBOW PRESS
Skin (Apr., $24.99) by Ted Dekker asks "What is beauty?" and serial murders in Nevada provide clues to the answer.
