February Publications
A bestseller in the U.K., Dead Famous, by Ben Elton (High Society), combines the traditional whodunit with contemporary reality TV to hilarious result. TV personality Elton may lack brand-name recognition here, but this murderous tale of 10 contestants stuck in a house with 30 cameras and 40 microphones has real appeal, particularly to the young and hip. (Black Swan [Trafalgar Square, dist.], $12 paper 384p ISBN 0-552-99945-8)
In Arthur Ellis—finalist Frank Smith's (Fatal Flaw) gripping Acts of Vengeance, DCI Neil Paget barely survives an assailant who tries to cut his throat. DS John Tregalles and the rest of the Broadminster precinct crew have their work cut out for them searching Paget's past, both professional and personal, for clues to the attacker's motive. (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95 368p ISBN 0-312-30739-X)
In C.L. Grace's A Maze of Murders: A Medieval Mystery Featuring Kathryn Swinbrooke, the fifth book in this solid series to chronicle the doughty physician's exploits (after 2001's Saintly Murders), Kathryn looks into the murder of Sir Walter Maltravers, owner of a holy relic, the Lacrima Christi, which has gone missing. As usual, Grace (the pseudonym for British historian Paul Doherty) uses his scholarly expertise to craft an enthralling historical whodunit. (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 256p ISBN 0-312-29016-0)
After writing a story about a man who nearly loses his foot in a bear trap outside a drive-in, Nash Hansen, cub reporter for the San Bernardino, Calif., Ledger, finds himself on a murder trail involving his roommate's biker gang and a survivalist cult in Frank Sennet's fast-paced debut, Nash, Rambler. Fans of breezy Southern California crime thrillers, take note. (Five Star, $25.95 211p ISBN 0-7862-5034-8)
Veteran Hugh Zachary (The Venus Venture) returns to mystery fiction with Munday, featuring Dan Munday, divorced dad and police chief of the small island town of Fortier Beach, N.C. An apparent suicide, two missing girls and a bunch of body parts that start turning up on the island keep Munday and his fellow investigator (and blossoming love interest), Clare Thomas, on the hop. (Five Star, $25.95 282p ISBN 0-7862-4323-6)
Agatha and Macavity winner Joan Hess, author of Out on a Limb (Forecasts, Oct. 21, 2002) and other novels in her Claire Malloy series, as well as Maggody and the Moonbeams (Forecasts, May 28, 2001) and other novels in her Arly Hanks series, will please her fans with Big Foot Stole My Wife! And Other Stories. Most of the 11 tales are on the light side, but the final entry, "Another Room," shows how good Hess can be at psychological suspense. (Five Star, $24.95 264p ISBN 0-7862-5034-8)
As part of their Vintage Mystery series, Rue Morgue offers the first U.S. publication of The Mystery at Orchard House: A Lady Lupin Mystery (1945), by Joan Coggins (1898—1980). In this sequel to Who Killed the Curate? (1944), set on the eve of WWII, the kind-hearted, scatterbrained Lady Lupin Lorimer Hastings investigates a crime wave at a country hotel in Kent. (Rue Morgue [Tomenid@attbi.com], $14.95 paper 187p ISBN 0-915239-54-2)
