On This Week in 2005: From the Historical to the Hilarious

It's me-- back again with more of my reading from eleven years ago! As I've gone through this book journal of mine, it's really given me food for thought. Why did I stop reading this series? Do I still read that type of book? When's the last time I read____? It seems as though I always have an endless loop of questions running through my mind!

On this week in 2005, I read three very different books. Each was a very enjoyable read, and each was a mystery. There's something for everyone in crime fiction, which is probably why I have yet to tire of the genre.

What was I reading back then? Let's take a look!

It's hard to describe a book by one of my favorites, Jasper Fforde, so I'm just going to give you the synopsis of this first in his Nursery Crime series, The Big Over Easy:

"It’s Easter in Reading—a bad time for eggs—and no one can remember the last sunny day. Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, minor baronet, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. All the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself.

But Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary remain unconvinced, a sentiment not shared with their superiors at the Reading Police Department, who are still smarting over their failure to convict the Three Pigs of murdering Mr. Wolff. Before long Jack and Mary find themselves grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, bullion smuggling, problems with beanstalks, titans seeking asylum, and the cut and thrust world of international chiropody.

And on top of all that, the JellyMan is coming to town . . ." 

Hopefully what you got from that synopsis is that Fforde likes to take something very well known-- like a nursery rhyme-- and turn it on its head using brilliant word play, a wickedly silly plot, and some well-drawn characters. The word play and situations keep you laughing, and-- wonder of wonders-- there's actually a good mystery to be found. I love Fforde's imagination and rated this one an A+.

Troy Soos is a talented writer who has a series of historical baseball mysteries that my husband enjoyed and another historical series of only four books that I really enjoyed. The Gilded Cage is the second in the Rebecca Davies and Marshall Webb series set at the turn of the twentieth century. Here's the synopsis: 

"In the riveting Island of Tears, Troy Soos introduced dime-novelist Marshall Webb and reformer Rebecca Davies. Now, the critically acclaimed author plunges readers once again into the gritty underside of turn-of-the-century New York, as Marshall and Rebecca reunite to take on Tammany Hall and the city's ruthless elite. A cholera epidemic has forced New York's immigrants into quarantine, and fear and panic ripple through the city. Amid a shaky economy, Rebecca Davies' father cuts off funding for her woman's shelter. Rather than turn these destitute women out onto the cold, dangerous streets, Rebecca seeks investment help from Lyman Sinclair, a remarkably successful young banker. But when Sinclair is found dead--an apparent suicide--and Rebecca's money is nowhere to be found, the police refuse to investigate further. Determined to recoup her money, Rebecca approaches her friend, writer marshall Webb. Together, Rebecca and Marshall unravel a web of corruption that runs from the top levels of Wall Street, through the lavish theaters of Broadway, to the mean streets of the Bowery. At its heart is a massive cover-up, marked by unquenchable ambition and greed that could shake the very foundations of New York City."

I really appreciated Soos's grasp of the historical context of the books. The period came to life as I read each one. Of course, the mysteries were also good, but the author's characters really put the sparkle on these stories. Rebecca Davies comes from a privileged background which gives her entrée into areas of society where freelance reporter and dime novelist Marshall Webb cannot go. Both are strong, intelligent individuals with plenty of common sense, although Rebecca can be a bit more adventurous than Marshall. There's also a growing attraction between the two that is never fully realized in this short series. I rated The Gilded Cage an A.

Pardon me for sharing this hideous cover for Judith Cutler's Staying Power, but I could not find the cover of the edition that I read. Yikes. That thing is scary!

Cutler is one of my favorite crime fiction writers. She has a knack for creating female characters that are complex and fascinating-- and her sense of humor (check out her two Josie Welford mysteries) keeps me laughing. Although there are flashes of humor in all her books, most of her series are not played for laughs. Her Kate Powers series is an example. Here's the synopsis:

"Detective Sergeant Kate Power is on her way home from a trip to Florence when the textile importer sitting on the plane next to her strikes up a conversation. Days later he is founding hanging from a bridge in Birmingham - with Kate's card in his pocket the only means of identification. What follows includes a scam to forge ecstasy tablets, bondage, long firm fraud and domestic violence - and Kate's in the middle of it all." 

Besides the fast pace and intriguing mysteries, the thing that impressed me most about Cutler's Kate Power series (written from 1998 to 2003, six books total) was her depiction of what it was like to be a female police officer in Birmingham, England at that time. If you're a fan of British police procedurals and strong female characters, Judith Cutler's Kate Power series is definitely one you should check out. I rated Staying Power an A.


There you have it-- three more books that I read way back in 2005. Whatever will be next? Your guess is as good as mine!




 

Jasper Fforde @ the Poisoned Pen

If the staff at the Poisoned Pen learned anything last Friday night, it was not to trust the number of likes on their Facebook page.

Denis and I showed up early, as is our habit, and I overheard one staff member say to another that they were expecting 40 people because that's how many people had responded to the Facebook announcement. As I snatched up my copy of The Woman Who Died A Lot (Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next adventure) I thought that number was a bit low, especially since Denis and I were there and neither of us had clicked that infamous like. I was right. I bought my books (didn't think I'd walk out of my favorite bookstore with just one book did you?), took a seat in my favorite spot, and proceeded to read. I didn't get very far because my need to people watch overcame my need to read.

More and more people came in the bookstore. Staff members hustled putting out more chairs. More people came in. More chairs were put out. By the time the guest of honor arrived, it was pretty much standing room only in that small bookstore.

"Try to imagine..."

After twenty years in the film industry, Fforde decided to try his hand at writing. It took him twelve years and seven books to be published. "Try to imagine," Fforde told us, "writing 60-word pitches of my books to publishers!" Everyone in the building laughed because one of the very things we love about his books is the fact that you really can't explain them to someone who hasn't read them. (I know that whenever I've recommended his books to people who then ask me what they're about, I respond with "Don't ask, just read!")

Who Killed Humpty Dumpty was his first book, one that-- as he told us-- "I thought could sell by the title alone." Although this first book later became The Big Over Easy, Fforde finally reached a point where he didn't care anymore: "This is clearly going to be a hobby for the remainder of my days, so I'm going to write whatever I want!" Whatever he wanted turned out to be The Eyre Affair, the first Thursday Next book and a bit of a publishing phenomenon because not only was it well-received in the UK, it flew across the pond and became popular here in the United States.

[A short pause while I digress.... There are special books in every reader's life, and The Eyre Affair is one of mine. I can clearly picture myself browsing the staff recommendation table at the Barnes and Noble outside Metrocenter here in Phoenix. I spotted a book with Eyre in the title and wondered if it had anything to do with Jane Eyre. Something about the book spoke to me, and that's all it took for The Eyre Affair to enter my life and start me on a wild and wacky adventure courtesy of the mind of Jasper Fforde.]

"If I'd been sitting here staring at the ceiling..."

Fforde's publishers were over the moon about the reaction to (and the sales of) The Eyre Affair and kept asking Fforde "Don't you know how amazing this is?!?" to which he would reply, "Jolly good." He had no idea of how rare it was for a debut British author to be in the top ten on the New York Times bestseller list during the first week of publication.

Inevitably talk began of a sequel. At his first meeting with the people at Hodder, they asked him all sorts of questions that he'd just answer yes to. Are you going on tour? "Yes, love to!" Will there be a sequel? "Yes, of course!" What will the title be?  "Lost in a Good Book?" Fforde looked out at us and said, "If I'd been sitting here staring at the ceiling, I would've said Rotating Fan."

"You have to plot these out... don't you?"

When asked about how he plots his novels, Fforde laughed and said, "No, it all just comes spewing out." Each book begins with a vague idea, but until he begins to write and let that idea evolve, he doesn't have any idea what the book is about or what's going to happen. This method wouldn't work for many writers, but it certainly does for Fforde.

He also leaves little on and off ramps in each book that he can pick up and use to create a new one. It was fascinating to hear how his mind works.

Naturally Fforde gets lots of mail. Some have pointed out the errors in physics present in his books, to which he replies (often sending along a Certificate of Pedantry) "Is that the only mangling of physics you found? Because if it is, you've missed an amazing amount."

The never-ending pursuit of a lame joke...

Anyone who's read a Jasper Fforde book knows that the man's mind is filled with puns, jokes, and other madness-- and he's not averse to having a little fun with other folks in the publishing industry. 

Have you ever wondered about those characters with the unpronounceable names? Fforde introduced them especially to bedevil the readers in the audio book business. He's had people call him up and ask him how those names are really pronounced.

Fforde also talked a bit about his 1300-page website which he calls "after sales service." Back in 2001, Jasper and his wife taught themselves HTML. Everything on the Jasper Fforde website is done by them, and they never take anything down. Fforde kept mentioning how amateurish it looked, but I remember thinking that it had a charming "retro" look the first time I visited it!

During the Q&A portion of the evening, Fforde was asked about interest in his books by the film industry-- has there been any? "Yes and no," he replied. It's his belief that the best thing to do with the Thursday Next series is to turn each book into six one-hour programs for television, but that would be very expensive, and no one has expressed interest in filming the books that way. I believe that Fforde's books should stay in the realm of the imagination. There is no way any film company could begin to do justice to the readers' own flights of fancy.

As Fforde talked about a few of his favorite characters, I found myself remembering a series of short stories that my own mother wrote many, many years ago. The main character was Lad, an Anaconda snake who wore a tasteful gold hoop in one ear... and was a hit snake for the Mob. Those stories were so much fun, and I began to picture my mother and Jasper Fforde sitting at the kitchen table, bouncing ideas off each other and coming up with one crazy character, one pun, one silly name right after the other. 

That vision, and those memories of my mother, made me realize just how blessed we are that this author with his love of literature and the absurd has been able to sweep us off into worlds of imagination and laughter. 

This was a very special evening, and I left a lot out in my recap because I think you should be able to see and hear it for yourself. Here is the entire event courtesy of the Poisoned Pen and Livestream. (Denis and I show up on this video more than once, but I'm not giving any hints!)  Enjoy!

Scene of the Crime with Author Jasper Fforde

I've been a fan of author Jasper Fforde since I picked up a copy of The Eyre Affair from a table at the local Barnes & Noble and began to read.

That very first book in the Thursday Next series opened up an entirely new world to me. A world where people still travel by zeppelins, where it is possible to have a dodo as a pet, and-- most importantly-- a world where books are alive. They are difficult books to describe to those who haven't fallen under Fforde's spell of parallel worlds and bad puns.

As might be imagined from the uniqueness of these books, any interview with Jasper Fforde isn't going to be even remotely related to the status quo.  Before we go any further, I'd best give you the links you're used to seeing at the beginning of a Scene of the Crime interview:

Jasper Fforde

Jasper Fforde's website

Jasper Fforde's books

Jasper Fforde on Twitter

Jasper Fforde on Facebook

After Mr. Fforde directed me to his FAQ page on his website and I read all 514 frequently asked questions scattered over a few pages, I rested my eyes. I also knew that he wasn't interested in doing a normal interview, even though some of my usual questions weren't on the FAQ list.

I had to come up with something different, and I did. What follows is an interview for readers who are familiar with Jasper Fforde's books. If you haven't read the books, don't let it put you off this unusual interview. Chances are that if you read through these wacky questions and answers, you'll be intrigued enough to pick up one of the books and read it. Also, if you read Fforde's answers with a bit of care, you'll see that he's secretly slipping in some observations and information and not just being totally silly.

Welcome to the world of Jasper Fforde!

Thursday Next, Jack Spratt and Eddie Russett have signed up for Saturday Night Mud Wrestling down at the local pub. Who wins... and how?

Thursday would win on brute force, Jack Spratt would win on guile and Eddie Russett would win by bending the rules to his advantage - or at least, have Tommo do it for him.

How did all the zombies and vampires manage to get loose and run amok in the Book World? Is it true that Goliath are behind it?

Goliath would love to have that sort of power within the Bookworld, but despite their best efforts, the most they have done is fire a few unmanned probes into books at random, and one quasi-success with the 'Austen Rover', a sort of Transfictional tour bus. No, the plethora of zombies in fiction is mostly due to a strong union and a lack of dress sense that many people are imbued with - it's easy work, too, just wandering around going 'Urrgh. yurr, geerg.' For their daily rate, I'd do the same. Vampires are another story - that's it. Vampires are another story.

Have you upgraded to the latest footnoterphone?

Yes, I use Android which runs under the 'Electric Sheep' network.

I've tracked down an active cell of Bowdlerizers. With all the budget cuts in Jurisfiction, I'd like to know what is the best way for me to infiltrate?

Probably the best way is to effect a supercilious air and declaim to anyone who will listen that 'fiction is in need of a tidy up' and then shout loudly and at great length about the 'ruder' aspects of John Buchanan's 'The Thirty-nine Steps', in particular where Richard Hannay is 'taken behind by a policeman', and that you will be the one to ensure this sort of smut does not reach the eyes of the public. That should do it. 

With dictionaries scrambling to include all the latest mobile phone text speak, do you foresee a Mispeling pandemic?

 ALMST CER10LY

What's the best way to butter up the Unitary Authority of Warrington Cat so I can get a job in the Great Library?

The best way to butter up the Cat formerly known as Cheshire is with ... butter. He loves it. Sort of like a cream loaf.

There's a wheel of X-14 cheese in my garden. I covered it with a wet blanket and called the CEA, but no one's shown up. It's been three days. What should I do?

Sell the cheese and pocket the cash. If you feel guilty about selling it on, take it to a lonely place in the middle of nowhere and abandon it. A deserted quarry will do, or the mid-atlantic trench. Be careful not to drop it as X-14 is so volatile that harsh knocks, a naked flame or even raised voices can set it off. Two ounces of X-14 has about the same explosive power of 2lbs of Cemtex. On NO ACCOUNT attempt to eat the cheese.

On Sale Now!

Thank you for spending this time with us, Mr. Fforde. We certainly appreciate it. 

May your book sales do nothing but increase!

Don't forget to stop by next Monday when I'll be interviewing another of my favorite mystery writers here on Scene of the Crime.

Thursday Next, First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

Title: Thursday Next, First Among Sequels
Author: Jasper Fforde
ISBN: 9780670038718
Publisher: Viking, 2007
Hardcover, 384 pages
Genre: Humorous Mystery, #5 Thursday Next mystery
Rating: B+
Source: Purchased from The Mystery Guild

First Line: The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was once again the lead story in The Owl that morning.

I stumbled across the first book in this series on a table at a local Barnes & Noble. The only reason why I bought The Eyre Affair was that I am a Jane Eyre fan-- and the plot sounded like fun. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! There is a reason why the books in this series are consistently nominated for (or winners of) the Dilys Award-- they are so filled with word play, social commentary, satire, and literary allusions that they are just plain fun to sell. I know that I've waved more than my fair share of copies of The Eyre Affair in the faces of people who asked me what I thought they should read.

In Thursday Next, First Among Sequels, it's been fourteen years since the action in Something Rotten. Thursday and her husband have several children, including a very cranky sixteen-year-old named Friday. Thursday puts on her uniform and shows up for work at Carpet World in Swindon every day. But things are not quite as they seem. (If you've read Fforde, you know that last sentence is a given.)

Sherlock Holmes dies at Rheinback Falls, and the series comes to a screeching halt. Miss Marple dies in a car accident, and she's stuck her nose into her last investigation. When strange things begin to happen to Thursday's fictional self, she knows what's going on: there's a serial killer loose in the Bookworld. To top it all off, Goliath Corporation -- which has been strangely silent the past few years-- wants to deregulate book travel. It's time for the real Thursday to stand up, to stop making illegal cheese buys, and to save the Bookworld once again!

When I began reading these books, I was afraid that half the puns, other word play, and references to things British were zooming over my head at the speed of light. Now that I'm a bit older, I've mellowed. Yes, I may very well be missing some bits, but I don't care-- I love all the bits that I do understand.

These books always have an interesting storyline-- like the one in which the serial killer resides-- but there is so much more going on. Reading Fforde's take on modern society (such as the stupidity surplus) is so true that it's funny, and I laugh even though I have a good idea that I shouldn't. If you tire of social commentary, puns, satire, the twists and turns of the plot... and you just want a good laugh, reading the scene of Thursday's illegal cheese buy is out-and-out hilarious. Fforde's world is even facing declining book sales just like our world.

For those of you who have hesitated to read these books because you believe you're just not well-informed about classics like Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice, I urge you to reconsider. There's been a book or two that's been included in the series that I'm not well-acquainted with, but it really didn't make a difference. More than anything else, reading these books is all about FUN. That's "fun" in capitals-- something that we all could use a good strong dose of.

Learn More from Amazon.
Learn More from The Book Depository.
Learn More from an Indie Bookseller.

March 2011 New Mystery Releases!

As I write this, it's Friday night, and a big storm front is supposed to be moving in from the West. (California loves to share.) Lots of snow in the high country, and even some snow down here in parts of the Valley-- plus a half inch of rain or so. When your annual rainfall is seven inches, that half inch is important... and so's all that snow in the high country.  Vast sections of the West are dependent upon snow melt for water.

If the weekend is going to be rainy, I'm going to be warm and reading. I've already got a couple of books lined up: The Headhunter's Daughter by Tamar Myers and The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths. If I need more, I have plenty to choose from.

Of course, all this doesn't keep me from wondering what new mysteries are in store for me, so I've been taking a look. The following books are my top picks for mysteries being released in March. The titles are grouped by release dates, and I've included the information you'll need to find them at all your favorite book spots.  I hope one or two of these titles have you drooling, too!

==March 1==

Title: A Deadly Cliche

Author: Ellery Adams

Series: #2 in the Books by the Bay series set on the coast of North Carolina

ISBN: 9780425240236

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, 2011

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

"While walking her poodle, Olivia Limoges discovers a dead body buried in the sand. Could it be connected to the bizarre burglaries plaguing Oyster Bay, North Carolina? At every crime scene, the thieves set up odd tableaus: a stick of butter with a knife through it, dolls with silver spoons in their mouths, a deck of cards with a missing queen. Olivia realizes each setup represents a cliché. And who better to decode the cliché clues than her Bayside Book Writers group?"

Title: A Touch of Gold

Authors: Joyce and Jim Lavene

Series: #2 in the Missing Pieces series set on the coast of North Carolina

ISBN: 9780425240243

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime, 2011

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

"Long before he became curator of the Duck Historical Museum, Max Caudle discovered its greatest treasure-a wooden chest full of gold. But a thief with his eye on the gold fires a cannonball into the museum, destroying the building-and killing Max.

Injured in the explosion, Dae finds her abilities have been amplified, overwhelming her with intense visions every time she touches an object. Now if ex-FBI agent-and burgeoning beau-Kevin Brickman can help Dae decipher her visions, she just might be able to stop the modern-day buccaneer from killing again."

==March 8==

Title: One of Our Thursdays Is Missing
Author: Jasper Fforde
Series: #6 in the Thursday Next series set in a sci-fi alternate history Great Britain
ISBN: 9780670022526
Publisher: Viking Adult, 2011
Hardcover, 384 pages

"With the real Thursday Next missing, the 'written' Thursday Next leaves her book to undertake an assignment for the Jurisfiction Accident Investigation Department, in Fforde's wild and wacky sixth BookWorld novel. As written Thursday Next finds herself playing roles intended for her real counterpart, BookWorld's elite try to deal with a border dispute between Racy Novel and Women's Fiction. It's not always possible to know where one is in BookWorld, which has been drastically remade, or in Fforde's book, which shares the madcap makeup of Alice in Wonderland, even borrowing Alice's dodo. Outrageous puns (e.g., a restaurant called Inn Uendo) and clever observations relating to the real book world (e.g., the inhabitants of 'Vanity' island now prefer Self-Published or Collaborative) abound. Fforde's diabolical meshing of insight and humor makes a 'mimefield' both frightening and funny, while the reader must traverse a volume that's a minefield of unexpected and amusing twists."

==March 17==

Title: Lucifer's Tears
Author: James Thompson
Series: #2 in the Inspector Vaara series set in Finland
ISBN: 9780399157004
Publisher: Putnam Adult, 2011
Hardcover, 336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

"Thompson's stellar second thriller featuring Insp. Kari Vaara (after Snow Angels) finds Vaara working as a homicide detective in Helsinki, where he investigates the torture murder of Iisa Filippov. While Vaara suspects the victim's Russian husband, Ivan, he can't touch Ivan because the Russian is well connected within the police department. Vaara also looks into international accusations of war crimes against a Finnish national hero, 90-year-old Arvid Lahtinen, who allegedly executed Jews and other POWs at a secret Finnish stalag during WWII. But he soon learns that not only did his own grandfather serve in the same unit but the stalag is just one of the wartime secrets Lahtinen is hiding that are potentially embarrassing to the Finnish government. The arrival of Vaara's pregnant wife's brother and sister from the States doesn't make his home life easy. Thompson elegantly threads Finland's compelling national history with Vaara's own demons in this taut, emotionally wrought novel."

==March 21==

Title: Started Early, Took My Dog
Author: Kate Atkinson
Series: #4 in the Jackson Brodie series set in the UK
ISBN: 9780316066730
Publisher: Reagan Arthur Books, 2011
Hardcover, 384 pages

"British author Atkinson's magnificently plotted fourth novel featuring Jackson Brodie takes the 'semi-retired' PI back to his Yorkshire hometown to trace the biological parents of Hope McMasters, a woman adopted by a couple in the 1970s at age two. Jackson is faced with more questions than answers when Hope's parents aren't in any database nor is her adoption on record. In the author's signature multilayered style, she shifts between past and present, interweaving the stories of Tracy Waterhouse, a recently retired detective superintendent now in charge of security at a Leeds mall, and aging actress Tilly Squires. On the same day that Jackson and Tilly are in the mall, Tracy makes a snap decision that will have lasting consequences for everyone. Atkinson injects wit even in the bleakest moments—such as Jackson's newfound appreciation for poetry, evoked in the Emily Dickinson–inspired title—yet never loses her razor-sharp edge."

==March 22==

Title: Cold Wind
Author: C.J. Box
Series: #11 in the Joe Pickett series set in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming
ISBN: 9780399157356
Publisher: Putnam Adult, 2011
Hardcover, 400 pages

"When Earl Alden is found dead, dangling from a wind turbine, it's his wife, Missy, who is arrested. Unfortunately for Joe Pickett, Missy is his mother-in- law, a woman he dislikes heartily, and now he doesn't know what to do-especially when the early signs point to her being guilty as sin.

But then things happen to make Joe wonder: Is Earl's death what it appears to be? Is Missy being set up? He has the county DA and sheriff on one side, his wife on the other, his estranged friend Nate on a lethal mission of his own, and some powerful interests breathing down his neck. Whichever way this goes . . . it's not going to be good." 

Title: A Lesson in Secrets
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Series: #8 in the Maisie Dobbs series set in post-World War I London, England
ISBN: 9780061727672
Publisher: Harper, 2011
Hardcover, 336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

"Maisie finds herself financially independent, thanks to a bequest from her late mentor, Dr. Maurice Blanche, and open to new challenges exactly at the moment the British Secret Service seeks to recruit her in 1932. Greville Liddicote, the author of a pacifist children's book that the government went to great pains to suppress during WWI, has founded a college in Cambridge devoted to maintaining peace in Europe. To keep tabs on Liddicote, Maisie infiltrates his school under the guise of a philosophy teacher. When a staff member is murdered, she reverts to her old profession and works to aid the police inquiry from the inside."

==March 29==

Title: The Troubled Man
Author: Henning Mankell
Series: #11 in the Kurt Wallander series set in Sweden
ISBN: 9780307593498
Publisher: Knopf, 2011
Hardcover, 384 pages

"In Mankell's masterful 11th novel featuring Kurt Wallander (and likely the last in this internationally bestselling series, according to Sonny Mehta's note to the reader), the 60-year-old Swedish detective unofficially pursues a baffling case that's part mystery, part spy thriller. At the 75th birthday party for Håkan von Enke (the 'troubled man' of the title), von Enke, a retired Swedish naval commander, tells Wallander about a 1980 incident involving an unidentified submarine that 'invaded Swedish territorial waters.' Von Enke was about to fire depth charges to bring the sub to the surface when higher-ups ordered him to abort. A few days after von Enke confides in the detective, he disappears; shortly after, his wife goes missing as well. As Wallander's quest for the truth leads him back to the era of cold war espionage, Mankell deftly interweaves the problems of Swedish society with the personal challenges of one man trying to understand what happened and why."

==March 31==

Title: Kissing the Demons
Author: Kate Ellis
Series: #3 in the Joe Plantagenet series set in North Yorkshire, England
ISBN: 9781780290010
Publisher: Creme de la Crime, 2011
Hardcover, 224 pages

*UK Release.

"13 Torland Place is a house with a disturbing past. Not only was it the scene of five terrible murders back in the 19th century, but the place is also linked to the disappearance of two teenage girls. When a student living in the house is found murdered, DI Plantagenet wonders whether her death has anything to do with the house's history."