Thursday 28 January 2010

Have You Seen Her? by Karen Rose

Karen Rose has been on my must-read list for a while now. This is, after all, an author who dominates the UK and US bestseller lists, and counts Tess Gerritsen and Lisa Gardner amongst her fans.

With her new hardback Have You Seen Her? shooting to the number 10 spot on the Sunday Times bestseller list this week, and the paperback of Don’t Tell also reaching the number four spot, I decided to see what keeps her fans coming back for more and more… check out my enthusiastic review below!




Have You Seen Her? is my first, and will certainly not be my last Karen Rose – I have completely signed up to the Karen Rose fan-club, complete with bag, hat and t-shirt!

The book sees Special Agent Steven Thatcher on the trail of a serial killer with a penchant for highschool cheerleaders. Each one disappears from their beds, with no evidence of a break-in, and each one ends up brutally murdered.

As more girls disappear, Thatcher becomes caught between his priorities as a parent and as a policeman. His eldest son Brad suddenly starts behaving strangely. Worried by his drop in grades, Brad’s teacher Jenna Marshall contacts his father to voice her concerns.

The first meeting between Thatcher and Marshall is electrifying to read – the attraction between them is instant, and is the beating heart of this book. Rose deftly interweaves their relationship with a terrifying and tense hunt for the killer – and the two plots collide when the killer's attention becomes centred on Marshall herself.

There are some real heart-in-mouth moments, and it is certainly a book to read with the lights on and the doors locked shut! Yet this book also has a warmth and depth that sets Rose apart from her contemporaries. I can’t wait to start on her next!

Get your copy here http://bit.ly/ccyBah

Tuesday 19 January 2010

The launch of debut thriller Bequest

Despite adverse weather conditions, guests turned out in force last week for the launch of AK Shevchenko’s first novel Bequest, a gripping thriller with a plot that centres on discoveries in the vaults of Stalin's archives. The launch was held at The Future Gallery on Great Newport Street, with guests treated to a selection of Bequest themed cocktails including White Russians, Vodka Martinis and Moscow Mules, as well as glasses of warm borscht to banish those January blues. The more inquisitive partygoers discovered a secret room filled with edible Goldkenn goldbars representing the real-life Cossack fortune featured in the novel which is rumoured to be stored in the Bank of England vaults.

Shevchenko made a wonderful speech thanking her friends and family, and where she dedicated Bequest to the memory of her grandfather, a Ukrainian historian whose diaries she deftly incorporated into the story. She invited her agent Robert Kirby (United Agents), editor Flora Rees (Headline) and Headline MD Jane Morpeth on stage to cut a cake to celebrate publication.



AK Shevchenko, Robert Kirby, Flora Rees and Jane Morpeth



Jane Morpeth, Flora Rees and Robert Kirby



Gold bars!

All photos are credited (c) Closer Photography

Highly recommended crime books

Welcome to the first post on the Crime Files blog. The blog is going to be a mixture of reviews, articles, news and author features. We are passionate about crime so want to share it with you.

To begin we have some titles which come highly recommended by respected reviewer Margaret Cannon.

In The Toronto Globe and Mail she has singled out SURE AND CERTAIN DEATH by Barbara Nadel and TELL-TALE by Sam Hayes as two of her hot picks for Spring 2010:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/new-in-crime-fiction/article1432191/

So why not pick them up and give them a go.