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The
Private Patient by P. D. James $32.95 Paperback (Faber)
 When
the notorious investigative journalist, Rhonda Gradwyn, booked into Mr
Chandler-Powell’s private clinic in
Dorset
for the removal of a disfiguring long-standing facial scar, she had every
prospect of a successful operation by a distinguished surgeon, a week’s
peaceful convalescence in a beautiful manor house and the beginning of a new
life, she was never to leave Cheverell Manor alive. Dalgiesh and his team are
called in to investigate the murder and a second death which gives rise to even
more complicated problems then the question of innocence or guilt. Fine P. D.
James fare!
Portobello
by Ruth Rendell $32.95 (Hutchinson)
 The
queen of psychological suspense is back at her sinister best. The Portobello
area of
London
has a rich personality, vibrant in colour, noisy, bizarre and splendid. An
indefinable edge to it adds a taste of danger. There is nothing safe about
Portobello…One day, Eugene Wren, quite by chance, comes across an envelope
containing money. Rather than report the matter to the police, he writes a note
and sticks it to a lamp post near his house. This note will link together the
lives of some different and sometimes dangerous people – each with their own
problems, obsessions, dreams and despairs. And through it all, the hectic life
of Portobello bustles on.
Arctic
Chill by Arnaldur Indridason $32.95 Paperback (Harvill/Secker)
 Indridason
has become a cult writer in the same way and with the same rapidity that Mankell
did. His latest offering is as haunting, lyrical and chilling as his previous
books have been as Eriendur and his team embark on their latest investigation.
On an icy January day a young boy is found frozen to the ground with a stab
wound to the stomach. The boy’s half brother is also missing. Is he implicated
in the murder or simply afraid for his own life? Soon facts start emerging that
are more chilling than the Arctic Night.
The
Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson $32.95
Paperback (Quercus)
 Here
is the long awaited novel that follows the vastly popular Girl
with the Dragon Tattoo. Lisbeth
Salander is a wanted woman. Two Millennium
journalists about to expose the truth about the sex trafficking trade are
murdered and Salander’s prints are on the weapon. Her history of unpredictable
and vengeful behaviour make her a danger to society – but no one can find her.
Will Mikael manage to prove her innocence as he is trying to do? And Salander
herself is more of an avenging angel than helpless victim and has ways of
tracking down her enemies.
Careless
in Red by Elizabeth George $32.99 Paperback (Hodder)
 In
an attempt to deal with his grief after the death of his beloved wife Helen,
Superintendent Thomas Lynley escapes to Cornwall
to walk the South West Coastal Path. Witnessing a climber fall to his death,
Lynley is propelled back into contact with his police colleagues and becomes a
reluctant participant in the investigation into what turns out to be a murder.
In her inimitable style
Elizabeth George brings to life the small coastal surfing community with its web
of secrets and lies going back through the generations.
The
Calling by Inger Wolfe 32.95 Paperback (BantamPress)
 Kate
Atkinson talks about this lesser known crime novel in ecstatic terms ‘The
Calling had me from the first page and never let me go. I absolutely loved
Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef’ A small town –sleepy, remote,
safe….and unprepared when a deadly visitor comes calling. Hazel Micallef is
making her way towards retirement with something less than grace with a bad
back, a dependence on painkillers and a recent divorce. The sixty one year old
is slowing down. But when a number of murders take place and it becomes evident
that a serial killer is on the loose she once again springs into action.
The
Girl of his Dreams by Donna Leon $32.95 Paperback (William Heinemann)
 When
the body of a young girl is found early one morning floating in the
Grand Canal
, Commissario Brunetti’s sense of
shock deepens with the realization that no-one has reported a child missing, and
that it appears the jewellery found on the body was stolen. As he moves between
the canals and palazzos of
Venice
and a gypsy encampment on the mainland Brunetti struggles to identify the
child, so close in age to his own daughter, and uncover the secrets she took to
her grave. The Girl of his Dreams is the welcome new addition from Italy’s queen of crime, Donna Leon.
Bright
Air by Barry Maitland $32.95 Paperback (Allen & Unwin)
 On
his return to
Australia
from a stint in London, Josh Ambler discovers that two old University friends have fallen to their
deaths in New Zealand. But Curtis and Owen were not the first of that old group to die – four years
earlier Josh’s girlfriend Lucy also died while climbing. When Lucy’s best
friend Anna insists that her death was no accident, Josh is reluctantly drawn
into an investigation of the fatal climbing expedition to
Norfolk Island
and the two begin to suspect Lucy had discovered a secret that was worth
killing for. Bright Air is the
compelling new mystery from the excellent Barry Maitland.
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