New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Black Swan 2003 Jan-March

File Updated: 16/12/2006

New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Black Swan JAN-MARCH 2003

Tom Bradby The Master of Rain Pbk published January 2003 by Black Swan at Ł5.99 ISBN: 055214746X

The brilliant new thriller from the acclaimed author of Shadow Dancer

Shanghai. 1926. Exotic, sexually liberated and pulsing with life, it is a place and time where anything seems possible.
For Richard Field, it is an escape from his past. Seconded to the local police force, his first moment of active duty is at the scene of the brutal murder of a young Russian woman. The key to the investigation seems to be the beautiful Natasha Medvedev, but can she be trusted - and is it safe to fall in love with a woman who may be the next victim?
In the murky depths of Shanghai, Field sees a world beyond the city's expatriate glamour - a world where everything has its price, and where human life is merely another commodity to barter.

The Sleep of the Dead:
'Elegant, spooky and a compulsive page turner ... Lives up to the promise of its remarkable predecessor, Shadow Dancer ... confirms Bradby's considerable promise as a thriller writer.' Daily Mail

Tom Bradby is Asia correspondent for ITN. He is the acclaimed author of two previous novels, Shadow Dancer and The Sleep of the Dead. He lives in Hong Kong.

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Jane Jakeman In the Kingdom of Mists Pbk published February 2003 by Black Swan at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0552770051

London, 1900: while Monet paints the wintry mists over the Thames, the bodies of two young women are dragged from its murky depths arousing fears of a return of Jack the Ripper By now a celebrated and successful artist - despite the controversy stirred up by the Impressionist movement - in the early months of the new century, Monet returned to London to paint his famous Thames series. Prompted by memories of an earlier visit in 1870, the old man recalls his youthful struggles, his beloved first wife Camille and his scandalous relationship with Alice Hoschede. And now, in a frenzy of creative activity he paints the haunting canvases that act as a backdrop to a series of grizzly, psychopathic killings. Oliver Craston, a fledgling diplomat, by chance is present when a horribly mutilated body is pulled from the Thames. Mindful of the need to steer clear of controversy, he is unwillingly drawn into the police investigation. Furthermore, with the Foreign Office nervous over French sympathies with the Boers, Oliver's new acquaintance with M. Monet and his son, who are staying in the luxury of the Savoy Hotel, is likely to raise an eyebrow or two. But on the floor above the Monets' suite, given over as a hospital for wounded officers, stalks a far greater danger... and across the river in the backstreet slums of Lambeth are visions of horror beyond even the intuition of the artist. As the naive young diplomat becomes entangled with bohemian society and the seamier side of London that the investigation exposes him to, a disturbing and unfamiliar world opens up to him. This compelling and mutlilayered novel is an atmospheric exploration of the life of an artist, a murder thriller and, like Tulip Fever and Girl With a Pearl Earring, a triumphant example of 'art fiction'. It is illustrated with 12 reproductions of the paintings themselves.

Jane Jakeman is an author and freelance journalist with a doctorate in art history. Her first three novels featured the Byronic detective Lord Ambrose Malfine, which she followed with a modern thriller set on the Riviera. She regularly reviews crime for the Independent, and lives in Oxford.

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