Everyone likes a short cut. Here’s a concise guide to new thrillers and mysteries that may help you on your quest to decide what you want to cuddle up with by the fire over the holidays. Of course, there’s also all those great Peroozal recommendations to help with the book search, but there can never be too many good books piled up on that bedside table. This list begins with something that sounds quite fascinating: The Woodcutter. See below.
For the complete list of recs visit this article: New in crime fiction: A guide to the latest thrillers and mysteries by Margaret Cannon (The Globe and Mail)
THE WOODCUTTER
By Reginald Hill, Doubleday, Canada, 528 pages, $32.95
Fairy tales, before Disney cleaned them up, were nightmarish things. Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off their heels and toes attempting to fit into that glass slipper. Snow White’s dwarfs didn’t sing and witches stole babies and walled up princesses. So when Reginald Hill, one of Britain’s finest crime talents, turns his hand to the land of “Once upon a time,” you figure it’s going to end badly. In fact, The Woodcutter, a superb stand-alone thriller, without the beloved duo of Pascoe and Dalziel, is about class, caste, revenge and the panoply of plots one expects of Jacobean drama. There are even spies and a dog. The Woodcutter is Wilfred Hadda, known to all as Wolf. Once a self-made millionaire married to his dream princess, he’s lost it all. Set up by someone, he’s spent the last six years in prison, convicted of being a pedophile. He’s lost his wife, his business and his money, and his daughter has died. When Wolf returns to his native Cumbria, he’s an angry, dangerous man in search of answers and, possibly, revenge. Prison psychiatrist Alva Ozigbo believes him guilty of his crimes and sets out to save him from repeating. Then people start to die…
(For the rest of the list click here.)
Peroozal Spotlight: Steve Berry
Steve Berry is the New York Times bestselling author of the new book The Emperor’s Tomb. He has 11 million books in print, which have been translated into 37 languages and sold in 50 countries. Steve’s road to publishing was long and arduous, spanning 12 years (1990 – 2002) and 85 rejections over 5 separate manuscripts. He’s also an accomplished instructor, having taught the concepts of writing to audiences across the globe. (from Steveberry.org)
Here’s a great interview with the author from Scene of the Crime, a blog which focuses on mysteries with spirit of place:
Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone Novels: The Perfect Mix of Thriller and History
“Steve Berry is the best-selling author of the Cotton Malone series, a blend of history and suspense that have catapulted Berry to the top of the thriller game. With over 11 million books in print translated into 37 languages and sold in 50 countries, Berry has come a long way from the 85 rejections he garnered trying to break into writing. With Malone, a former U.S. Justice Department agent turned rare-book dealer, Berry has found the winning combination, and his protagonist has made six appearances thus far, starting with The Templar Legacy in 2006, and continuing with The Alexandria Link, The Venetian Betrayal, The Charlemagne Pursuit, The Paris Vendetta, and The Emperor’s Tomb, just out…”
For the complete interview, click here.
You can find author Steve Berry’s Peroozal page here.