Maigret Revisited

Crimetime reports that Penguin will re-issue the seventy-five Maigret novels of Belgian author Georges Simenon with new translations and cover art. This will be the first time that the Maigret novels are published in the UK under a single publisher. The prolific Simenon wrote a novel a month, and Penguin will be releasing a new Maigret novel each month, beginning with Pietr the Latvian. For the full text of the article, please  visit http://www.crimetime.co.uk/mag/index.php/showarticle/4955.

If you are interested in reading my Open Investigations blog on Georges Simenon and the Maigret novels, please click here.

John Grisham's Sycamore Row

John Grisham's latest novel, Sycamore Row, has now been released. In it, Grisham reprises the character of Jake Brigance, the young lawyer featured in his first book, A Time to Kill. The inspiration for the original story came when Grisham, as a young lawyer, overheard the testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim. Grisham readily admits that Jake Brigance is his most autobiographical character.

A Time to Kill was rejected by various publishers before finally being published in 1988 with only 5000 copies being printed. The novel was subsequently reprinted once Grisham became a bestselling novelist with the publication of The Firm. It is now one of his most popular novels.

Although Grisham has obviously refined his style and story-telling techniques since his debut novel, his themes have remained consistent throughout his work as his often idealistic young lawyers encounter the realities of the legal system and attempt to find justice for those they defend.

Grisham is said to have enjoyed writing the book so much that he was reluctant to finish it and give the manuscript to his publishers. If you're interested in reading more about the background to Grisham's latest novel, please visit NPR Books.

John Lange/Michael Crichton

I was interested to learn that Hard Case Crime books (the publisher of Stephen King's Joyland) will be publishing all of Michael Crichton's hard-boiled detective novels that he wrote under the pseudonym John Lange. Apparently, he choose his pseudonym because "lange" in German, Danish, and Dutch means "tall one", and he was 6'9" (thanks to GoodReads for this information). I have read most of Crichton's science fiction novels, my favorite being The Andromeda Strain, but I have never  read any of his crime novels.

Crichton wrote these books while a med student at Harvard Medical School between the years of 1966 and 1972. Hard Case Crime previously published two of these books, Grave Descend and Zero Cool, under the name of Lange.  After Crichton's death in 2008, his family authorized Hard Case Crime to reprint all eight Lange novels under Crichton's name.

The novels being released in October and November are Grave Descend, Zero Cool, Easy Go, Scratch One, Binary, Odds On, The Venom Business, and The Drug of Choice.


For more information, please click here.

The Gods of Guilt

Fans of Michael Connelly will be pleased to know that his latest novel will be available on November 21 in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand and on December 2 in the US and Canada. The Gods of Guilt features the character Mickey Haller, known as the "Lincoln Lawyer".

Readers who are familiar with Connelly's Bosch novels will immediately recognize the themes of guilt, redemption, reconciliation with one's past, and the death of a prostitute: one of society's most vulnerable. In The Gods of Guilt, Haller's former client has been murdered: a woman he thought he had rescued from prostitution. Haller learns that she had gone back into the trade prior to her death and rather than rescuing her, he may have put her in harm's way.

To read an excerpt from the novel and see a video of the author discussing it, please visit Connelly's website at http://www.michaelconnelly.com/.

Goodreads Giveaway!

Yes, it's time for another Goodreads giveaway. We're giving away five autographed paperback copies of the new Donaghue and Stainer crime novel, The Rainy Day Killer. Click on the button below to enter! The giveaway will be running until November 14, so enter now!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Rainy Day Killer

by Michael J. McCann

Giveaway ends November 14, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Book Review of Fatal Whispers by Sandra Nikolai

After a brief hiatus, The Overnight Bestseller is back, and we're pleased to offer a review of Sandra Nikolai's latest novel.

About the Author

Sandra Nikolai was raised in Montreal, Québec, and graduated from McGill University. As a young girl, she loved reading the Nancy Drew mystery series and was determined to write her own stories one day. Her career choices didn’t exactly lead her along the “yellow brick road” to writing mystery novels—though working in a bank and experiencing a string of armed robberies did ingrain terrifying memories worthy of a story!


In 2002, Sandra won an Honorable Mention in Canadian Writer’s Journal short fiction competition. She has since published a dozen short stories online and in print. She has also published two mystery novels featuring ghostwriter Megan Scott and investigative reporter Michael Elliott.


Related Links

Read Sandra's guest post on The Overnight Bestseller.

Please visit Sandra's website at http://sandranikolai.com/.

Her blog is available at http://sandranikolai.com/blog/.



Our Review of Fatal Whispers 

 Fatal Whispers is Sandra Nikolai's second novel in the Megan Scott/ Michael Elliott mystery series. We first met these characters in False Impressions when they teamed up to solve the mystery of the death of Megan's husband. A year later, they are in a relationship that Michael would like to make long-term. Megan, however, is reluctant to commit herself after having been deeply hurt by the revelations of her husband's infidelity while they were married.

The setting has switched from Montreal to Portland, Maine, as Michael agrees to write a series of investigative articles for the local newspaper while his journalist friend is on vacation. They are staying with Megan's cousin and her family, and Megan agrees to assist her cousin Bianca in setting up a newsletter to publicize her florist shop. Three related deaths occur, and Megan and Michael become involved in unraveling the truth and identifying the killer among a number of plausible suspects.

Nikolai has written an urbane, witty and enjoyable mystery that was also the hallmark of her first novel. Her dry wit is readily apparent in the culminating scenes as Waldo, Batman, costumed and real policemen, and a guardian angel with slightly mutilated wings are part of the general mayhem of the Halloween party where the real villains are unmasked!

Fans of Nikolai's excellent prose style and engaging characters will already be looking forward to the next mystery in this series.

To order a copy of Fatal Whispers, please click here.

Time for a Breather

I'm taking a break from my three weekly blogs, The Overnight Bestseller, Open Investigations, and Behind the Walls of Nightmare until about mid-October so I can start writing a new supernatural novel.

In the meantime, The Rainy Day Killer, the fourth Donaghue and Stainer crime fiction novel, is up and running on NetGalley. Our Plaid Raccoon Press is doing a soft release of the novel. It has been posted to Amazon as a Kindle selection, and the trade paperback version and other electronic formats will be available in October.

If you'd like to read and review the novel, I've posted information below on how to access it through NetGalley:

Here's your chance to read The Rainy Day Killer via NetGalley, an online site that provides digital galleys to reviewers, bloggers, media, librarians, booksellers, and educators. 
 
If you're not already a NetGalley user, you can register for free at www.NetGalley.com, create a profile, and browse their catalog to select titles. Then just hit the “Request” button for the title(s) you want. 
 
Once you request the title, you’ll just need to wait until the request is approved, and then the galley will appear on your NetGalley homepage (under “New Invitations to View Titles”). You will receive an email notification once your request is approved, so that you’ll know to log in to view the galley. 
 
You’ll have the option to download the galley to your computer or read it on a variety of devices. You can find step-by-step instructions for each here.

Be sure that you download Adobe Digital Editions (the program you’ll need to view our galley) first – it’s quick and free: http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/
 
If you have any questions, feel free to contact NetGalley: support@netgalley.com.