P.I.'s in Print I to Z

I TO Z

June 13, 2008

Liang, Diane Wei. THE EYE OF JADE: A Mei Wang Mystery. Simon & Schuster. February '08. $24.00. First in a new series. "'Having her own detective agency would give her the independence she had always longed for. It would also give her the chance to show those people who shunned her that she could be successful. People were getting rich. They owned property, money, business, and cars. With new freedom and opportunities came new crimes. There would be much that she could do.' Present day, Beijing. Mei Wang is a modern, independent woman. She has her own apartment. She owns a car. She has her own business with that most modern of commodities - a male secretary. Her short career with China's prestigious Ministry for Public Security has given her intimate insight into the complicated and arbitrary world of Beijing's law enforcement. But it is her intuition, curiosity, and her uncanny knack for listening to things said - and unsaid - that make Mei Beijing's first successful female private investigator. Mei is no stranger to the dark side of China. She was six years old when she last saw her father behind the wire fence of one of Mao's remote labor camps. Perhaps as a result, Mei eschews the power plays and cultural mores -guanxi - her sister and mother live by...for better and for worse. Mei's family friend 'Uncle' Chen hires her to find a Han dynasty jade of great value: he believes the piece was looted from the Luoyang Museum during the Cultural Revolution - when the Red Guards swarmed the streets, destroying so many traces of the past - and that it's currently for sale on the black market. The hunt for the eye of jade leads Mei through banquet halls and back alleys, seedy gambling dens and cheap noodle bars near the Forbidden City. Given the jade's provenance and its journey, Mei knows to treat the investigation as a most delicate matter; she cannot know, however, that this case will force her to delve not only into China's brutal history, but also into her family's dark secrets and into her own tragic separation from the man she loved in equal parts. The first novel in an exhilarating new detective series, THE EYE OF JADE is both a thrilling mystery and a sensual and fascinating journey through modern China." Paperback edition. Simon & Schuster. January '09. $14.00.

Lippman, Laura. ANOTHER THING TO FALL. William Morrow. April '08. $24.95. "The California dream weavers have invaded Charm City with their cameras, their stars, and their controversy.... When private investigator Tess Monaghan literally runs into the crew of the fledgling TV series Mann of Steel while sculling, she expects sharp words and evil looks, not an assignment. But the company has been plagued by a series of disturbing incidents since its arrival on location in Baltimore: bad press, union threats, and small, costly on-set 'accidents' that have wreaked havoc with its shooting schedule. As a result, Mann's creator, Flip Tumulty, the son of a Hollywood legend, is worried for the safety of his young female lead, Selene Waites, and asks Tess to serve as her bodyguard/babysitter. Tumulty's concern may be well founded. Not long ago a Baltimore man was discovered dead in his own home, surrounded by photos of the beautiful, difficult superstar-in-the-making. In the past, Tess has had enough trouble guarding her own body. Keeping a spoiled movie princess under wraps may be more than she can handle - even with the help of Tess's icily unflappable friend Whitney - since Selene is not as naive as everyone seems to think, and far more devious than she initially appears to be. This is not Tess's world. And these are not her kind of people, with their vanities, their self-serving agendas and invented personas, and their remarkably skewed visions of reality - from the series' aging, shallow, former pretty-boy leading man to its resentful, always-on-the-make cowriter to the officious young assistant who may be too hungry for her own good. But the fish-out-of-water P.I. is abruptly pulled back in by an occurrence she's all too familiar with - murder. Suddenly the wall of secrets around Mann of Steel is in danger of toppling, leaving shattered dreams, careers, and lives scattered among the ruins - a catastrophe that threatens the people Tess cares about...and the city she loves." Simultaneous release on Audio CD from HarperAudio.

Lutz, Lisa. CURSE OF THE SPELLMANS. Simon & Schuster. March '08. $25.00. Second in the series. "THEY'RE BAAAAACK.... Now the Spellmans, a highly functioning yet supremely dysfunctional family of private investigators, return in a sidesplittingly funny story of suspicion, surveillance, and surprise. When Izzy Spellman, PI, is arrested for the fourth time in three months, she writes it off as a job hazard. She's been (obsessively) keeping surveillance on a suspicious next door neighbor (suspect's name: John Brown), convinced he's up to no good - even if her parents (the management at Spellman Investigations) are not. When the (displeased) management refuses to bail Izzy out, it is Morty, Izzy's octogenarian lawyer, who comes to her rescue. But before he can build a defense, he has to know the facts. Over weak coffee and diner sandwiches, Izzy unveils the whole truth and nothing but the truth - as only she, a thirty-year-old licensed professional, can. When not compiling Suspicious Behavior Reports on all her family members, staking out her neighbor, or trying to keep her sister, Rae, from stalking her 'best friend,' Inspector Henry Stone, Izzy has been busy attempting to apprehend the copycat vandal whose attacks on Mrs. Chandler's holiday lawn tableaux perfectly and eerily match a series of crimes from 1991-92, when Izzy and her best friend, Petra, happened to be at their most rebellious and delinquent. As CURSE OF THE SPELLMANS unfolds, it's clear that Morty may be on retainer, but Izzy is still very much on the case...er, cases - her own and that of every other Spellman family member. (Re)meet the Spellmans, a family in which eavesdropping is a mandatory skill, locks are meant to be picked, past missteps are never forgotten, and blackmail is the preferred form of negotiation - all in the name of unconditional love." Simultaneous release on Audio CD from Simon & Schuster Audio.

Lutz, Lisa. THE SPELLMAN FILES. Simon & Schuster. February '08. $14.00. "Meet Isabel 'Izzy' Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to Get Smart reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors - but the upshot is she's good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family's firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people's privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman. Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, aka Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who's become addicted to 'recreational surveillance'); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed 'Lost Weekends'). But when Izzy's parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy's new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there's a hitch: she must take one last job before they'll let her go - a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.THE SPELLMAN FILES is the first novel in a winning and hilarious new series featuring the Spellman family in all its lovable chaos."

McKevett, G.A.. POISONED TARTS. Kensington Press. June '08. $22.00. "What happens when too rich and too thin becomes too deadly? Voluptuous P.I. Savannah Reid is about to find out as she delves into the disappearance of a celebrity hanger-on that soon leads to something more sinister. As Halloween draws near, Savannah will have to learn a killer's deadly 'tricks' before someone else is 'treated' to murder.... Halloween in Southern California just doesn't have the frosty bite Savannah's used to, although her latest job promises chills aplenty. The Skeleton Key Three, a celebutante clique so named by the media because of their super-skinny figures and fat trust funds, are in the spotlight again - but this time, it's for something more than partying. It seems the one member of the Three who was neither wealthy nor particularly svelte hasn't been heard from in days. The missing girl's name is Daisy O'Neil, and by all accounts, she had little in common with her so-called friends Tiffy, Kiki, and Bunny. Chubby, smart, and less-than-privileged, Daisy's role in the Three seems to have been primarily to be the victim of their vicious jibes and pranks. When Savannah learns that Tiffy's acting aspirations were threatened by Daisy's genuine talent, the poor little rich girl begins to look big-time guilty. But just when Savannah thinks she has it all figured out - except where the body is stashed - the vibe surrounding the Skeleton Key Three changes from vacuous and suspicious to downright murderous. As preparations are being made for a monster Halloween party, to be held on the Dante compound, the patriarch himself is spotted dressed as Dracula, laid out in his coffin, complete with a real stake through his no-longer-beating heart. Now, with the party seriously pooped and the tabloids on a tear, Savannah will have to put her Halloween candy on the shelf until she's deserving of a reward. And that means finding a killer - fast - before more Hollywood money becomes buried treasure...."

Muller, Marcia. THE EVER-RUNNING MAN. Grand Central Publishing. August '07. $24.99. "Sharon McCone is hired by her husband's security firm to track down 'the ever-running man,' a shadowy figure who has been leaving explosive devices at their various offices. She doesn't have to search for long. When McCone narrowly escapes an explosion at the security firm's San Francisco offices, she catches a glimpse of his retreating figure. The ever-running man is dangerously close - and anyone connected to the firm seems to be within his deadly range. To complicate matters, McCone is forced to question her intensely private husband, Hy, about his involvement in some of the firm's dark secrets. The history of corruption may jeopardize their marriage, but uncovering the secrets of the firm may be the only way she can save her husband's life, and her own." Available in paperback. October '08. $7.99.

Muller, Marcia. VANISHING POINT. Mysterious Press. August '07. $6.99. "In the latest installment in this critically acclaimed series, McCone is hired to investigate one of San Luis Obispo County's most puzzling cold cases. A generation ago, Laurel Greenwood, a housewife and artist, inexplicably vanished, leaving her young daughter alone. Now, new evidence suggests that the missing woman may have led a strange double life. But before McCone can penetrate the tangled mystery, she must first solve a second disappearance - that of her client, the now grown daughter of Laurel Greenwood. The case, which forces Sharon to explore the darker sides of two marriages, comes uncomfortably close on the heels of her own marriage to Hy Ripinsky, and she begins to doubt the wisdom of her impulsive trip to the Reno wedding chapel."

Parker, Robert B. HUNDRED-DOLLAR BABY. Berkley Books. September '07. $9.99. "A client from a decades-old case reaches out to Boston PI Spenser but can he rescue troubled April Kyle once more? Longtime Spenser fans will remember that once upon a time, though not so long ago, there was a girl named April Kyle - a beautiful teenage runaway who turned to prostitution to escape her terrible family life. The book was 1982's CEREMONY, and, thanks to Spenser, April escaped Boston's 'Combat Zone' for the relative safety of a high-class New York City bordello. April resurfaced in TAMING A SEA-HORSE, again in dire need of Spenser's rescue - this time from the clutches of a controlling lover. But April Kyle's return in HUNDRED-DOLLAR BABY is nothing short of shocking. When a mature, beautiful, and composed April strides into Spenser's office, the Boston PI barely hesitates before recognizing his once and future client. Now a well-established madam herself, April oversees an upscale call-girl operation in Boston's Back Bay. Still looking for Spenser's approval, it takes her a moment before she can ask him, again, for his assistance. Her business is a success; what's more, it's an all-female enterprise. Now that some men are trying to take it away from her, she needs Spenser. April claims to be in the dark about who it is that's trying to shake her down, but with a bit of legwork and a bit more muscle, Spenser and Hawk find ties to organized crime and local kingpin Tony Marcus, as well as a scheme to franchise the operation across the country. As Spenser again plays the gallant knight, it becomes clear that April's not as innocent as she seems. In fact, she may be her own worst enemy."

Parker, Robert B. NOW AND THEN. Putnam Books. November '07. $25.95. Thirty-fifth in the Spenser series. "When a simple case turns into a treacherous and politically charged investigation, Spenser faces his most difficult challenge yet - keeping his cool while his beloved Susan Silverman is in danger. Spenser knows something's amiss the moment Dennis Doherty walks into his office. The guy's aggressive yet wary, in the way men frightened for their marriages always are. So when Doherty asks Spenser to investigate his wife Jordan's abnormal behavior, Spenser agrees. A job's a job, after all. Not surprisingly, Spenser catches Jordan with another man, tells Dennis what he's found out, and considers the case closed. But a couple of days later, all hell breaks loose, and three people are dead. This isn't just a marital affair gone bad. Spenser is in the middle of hornet's nest of trouble, and he's got to get out of it without getting stung. With Hawk watching his back, and gun-for-hire Vinnie Morris providing extra cover, Spenser delves into a complicated and far-reaching operation: Jordan's former lover, Perry Alderson, is the leader of a group that helps sponsor terrorists. But Perry doesn't like Spenser poking around his business, so he decides to get to Spenser through Susan. The Boston P.I. will use all his connections both above and below the law to uncover the truth behind Perry's anti-government organization. But what Alderson doesn't realize is that Spenser will stop at absolutely nothing to keep Susan out of harm's way; nothing will keep him from the woman he loves." Simultaneous release on Audio CD from RH Audio. Available in paperback. Berkley Books. November '08. $9.99.

Parker, Robert B. SPARE CHANGE. No Exit Press. April '08. $13.90. Sixth in the Sunny Randall series. "Boston P.I. Sunny Randall joins forces with the most important man in her life - her father - to crack a thirty-year-old case. Hi Phil, You miss me? I got bored, so I thought I'd reestablish our relationship. Give us both something to do in our later years. Stay tuned. Spare Change. When a serial murderer dubbed 'The Spare Change Killer' by the Boston press surfaces after three decades in hiding, the police immediately seek out the cop, now retired, who headed the original task force: Phil Randall. As a sharp-eyed investigator and a doting parent ('You're smart. You're tough. You, too, are a paradigm of law enforcement perfection, and you're my kid'), Phil calls on his daughter, Sunny, to help catch the criminal who eluded him so many years before. Sunny is certain that she's found her man after interviewing just a handful of suspects. Though she has no evidence against Bob Johnson, she trusts her intuition. And she knows the power she has over him - she can feel the skittishness and sexual tension that he radiates when he's around her - but persuading her father and the rest of the task force is a different story. When the killer strikes a second and third time, the murders take a macabre turn, as the victims each eerily resemble Sunny. While her father pressures her to drop the case, Sunny's need to create a trap to nab her killer grows. In a compelling game of cat-and-mouse, Sunny uses all her skills to draw out her prey, realizing too late that she's setting herself up to become the next victim."

Pirie, David. THE DARK WATER. Pegasus Books. October '07. $14.95. "The creator of Sherlock Holmes pursues his own fiendish nemesis in this ingenious novel of detection. In a literary tour de force worthy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, author David Pirie brings his rich familiarity with both the Doyle biography and the Sherlock Holmes canon to a mystifying Victorian tale of vengeance and villainy. The howling man on the heath, a gothic asylum, a rune and an impenetrable cipher, the walking dead, the legendary witch of Dunwich, her evil curse - perils lurk in every turn of the page, as one after another throughout this ingenious pastiche, increasingly bizarre encounters challenge the deductive powers of young Doyle and his mentor, the pioneering criminal investigator Dr. Joseph Bell of Edinburgh University. So, too, do the corpses that litter the path of Doyle and Bell's investigation, from the putrescent remains of a recluse deep in the English countryside to the body of a gardener drowned (impossibly?) in a Suffolk woodland: neither the last nor the least hideous murder to baffle the wits of the two detectives in this chilling, inventive novel. Yet, for all their bewilderment by obscure clues and contradictory evidence in a series of grisly, seemingly unrelated crime, of one thing Bell and Doyle are certain. The solution somehow lies with Thomas Neill Cream, the very man who has led them in a tortuous pursuit to a windswept, cliffside village in the dead of winter. What begins in a dank cottage where Doyle, drugged and barely conscious has been imprisoned by the reprobate Cream, ends in a surprising confrontation that once again casts the young doctor against his nemesis, the one-time friend who five years before robbed Doyle of true love and any chance for future happiness."

Winspear, Jacqueline. AN INCOMPLETE REVENGE. Henry Holt and Co. February '08. $24.00. "In her fifth outing, Maisie Dobbs, the extraordinary Psychologist and Investigator, delves into a strange series of crimes in a small rural community. With the country in the grip of economic malaise, and worried about her business, Maisie Dobbs is relieved to accept an apparently straightforward assignment from an old friend to investigate certain matters concerning a potential land purchase. Her inquiries take her to a picturesque village in Kent during the hop-picking season, but beneath its pastoral surface she finds evidence that something is amiss. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggests a darker criminal element at work. As Maisie discovers, the villagers are bitterly prejudiced against outsiders who flock to Kent at harvest time - even more troubling, they seem possessed by the legacy of a wartime Zeppelin raid. Maisie grows increasingly suspicious of a peculiar secrecy that shrouds the village, and ultimately she must draw on all her finely honed skills of detection to solve one of her most intriguing cases. Rich with Jacqueline Winspear's trademark period detail, this latest installment of the bestselling series is gripping, atmospheric, and utterly enthralling." Simultaneous release on Audio CD from Macmillan Audio. Available in paperback. Picador. December '08. $14.00.

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