New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Bantam 07 April-June

File Updated: 30/06/2007

New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Bantam APRIL-JUNE 07

Simon Beckett Chemistry of Death Pbk published April 2007 by Bantam at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0553817493

See Review by Cath Staincliffe author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder

When the bizarrely mutilated and long-dead body of a young woman is found in a ditch in Manham, an isolated and insular village in the Norfolk marshlands, it isn't just the fact that she had been a friend that disturbs Dr David Hunter. He was once a high-profile forensic anthropologist and all too familiar with the different faces of death, until a devastating personal tragedy made him turn his back on his former life and career. Now hidden away as a country doctor, Hunter's past is a secret he hopes will remain buried. So when he's asked by the police to use his arcane skills to help track down the killer, he's reluctant to become involved, knowing this will only stir up the painful memories he's been trying so hard to forget. Then another young woman disappears, and Manham is plunged into a fog of fear and paranoia that threatens to tear it apart. And no one seems exempt from suspicion as the twisted killings continue. And as the once peaceful community is riven by fear and mistrust, David Hunter realises it will take all his knowledge and expertise if the killer is to be stopped. But not even he is prepared for the terrible cost that will exact - or the awful price that failure threatens to bring...

Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online

Ken Bruen Cross Published April 2007 by Bantam at Ł17.99 and Ł10.99 ISBN: 0593057279 and 0593055136

Cross (kros/ noun, verb, & adjective) means an ancient instrument of torture, or, in a very bad humour, or, a punch thrown across an opponent's punch. Jack Taylor brings death and pain to everyone he loves. His only hope of redemption - his surrogate son, Cody - is lying in hospital in a coma. At least he still has Ridge, his old friend from the Guards, though theirs is an unorthodox relationship. When she tells him that a boy has been crucified in Galway city, he agrees to help her search for the killer. Jack's investigations take him to many of his old haunts where he encounters ghosts, dead and living. Everyone wants something from him, but Jack is not sure he has anything left to give. Maybe he should sell up, pocket his Euros and get the hell out of Galway like everyone else seems to be doing. Then the sister of the murdered boy is burned to death, and Jack decides he must hunt down the killer, if only to administer his own brand of rough justice.

Ken Bruen was born in Galway. He spent 25 years as an English teacher in Africa, Japan, South East Asia and South America, and holds a doctorate in metaphysics.
His earlier Jack Taylor novels are published by Brandon Press in Ireland and have won numerous awards including the Shamis and the Macavity Awards.
He now lives in Galway city with his wife and daughter.

Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online

John Burdett Bangkok Haunts Published May 2007 by Bantam at Ł12.99 and Ł10.99 ISBN: 0593055438 and 0593055446

Sonchai has seen just about everything on his beat in Bangkok's crime-riddled District 8. But the video he's sent anonymously is something else. What he watches is a snuff film, and the person he sees die is Damrong, a woman he once loved and whom he still dreams about. And there's more: a twist at the end that turns the film into murder, and Sonchai into a man obsessed and - it becomes increasingly clear - literally haunted. His investigation forms a dizzying route from his own apartment - where he sleeps next to his pregnant wife while his fantasies deliver him up to Damrong; through the office of his corrupt and worldly wise boss, Captain Vikorn; to the backstreets of Phnom Penh where street gangs are only the most visible threats; to the gilded rooms of the most exclusive men's club in Bangkok, whose members will do anything to protect their identity, and to explore their own darkest fantasies. Caught in a multi-dimensional web of intrigue and deception, Sonchai confronts the terrifying consequences of a lesson he should have learned long ago. In Bangkok nothing is as it seems...

Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online

Lee Child Bad Luck and Trouble Published May 2007 by Bantam at Ł14.99 ISBN: 0593057015

Daily Mirror Child is a great storyteller, building plots that, although complex, are as compelling as they are ultimately logical...another sure-fire hit.
Yorkshire Evening Post The twists come thick and fast...and the surprise developments are genuinely unexpected...Child, as always, delivers.

You do not mess with the Special Investigators! The events of 9/11 changed Jack Reacher's drifter life in a practical way. In addition to his folding toothbrush, he now needs to carry photo ID to get around. Yet he is still as close to untraceable as a human being in America can get. So when a member of his old Army unit manages to get a message to him, he knows it has to be deadly serious. The Special Investigators always watched each other's backs. Now Reacher must put the old unit back together. Someone has killed one of them, and he can't let that go.

Lee Child is British, but after he was made redundant from his job in television, he moved with his family from Cumbria to the United States to start a new career as a writer of American thrillers. He now divides his time between France and New York. All his novels feature the maverick Jack Reacher, and all have been international bestsellers.

Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online

Ariana Franklin Mistress of the Art of Death Published May 2007 by Bantam at Ł12.99 ISBN: 0593056493

In Cambridge, a child has been hideously murdered and other children have disappeared. The Jews, made scapegoats by the all-powerful Christian clergy, have been forced to retreat into the castle to avoid slaughter by angry townspeople. Henry, King of England, is displeased. The Jews provide a large part of his revenue and therefore the real killer must be found, and quickly. A renowned investigator, Simon of Naples, is recruited and he arrives in town from the continent accompanied by an Arab and a young woman, Adelia Aguilar. There are few female doctors in twelth century Europe, but Adelia is one of them, having qualified at the great School of Medicine in Salerno. What's more, her speciality is the study of corpses; she is, in fact, a mistress of the art of death, a skill that must be concealed in case she's accused of witchcraft. Adelia's investigation takes her deep into Cambridge, its castle and convents and in a medieval city teeming with life, Adelia makes friends and even finds romance. And, fatally, the attention of a murderer who is prepared to kill again...

Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online

David Gunn Death's Head Published May 2007 by Bantam at Ł10.00 ISBN: 0593058321
The cage will kill you. And if it doesn't, well, then thirst and the blistering heat of the desert sure as hell will. Or drive you insane. Few legionnaires survive the cage. Fewer still live long enough to face the whipping post. Of those who do, few are in a state to know what is happening to them. One who does is an ex-sergeant in the legion etrangere. A stubborn, insubordinate son-of-a-bitch, Sven Tveskoeg feels the first lash fall, hears the desert tribes attack, and watches them slaughter his comrades before his comrades can kill him...Rescued from certain death, Sven joins the tribes. Until his ruthless skills come to the attention of the Death's Head, an elite special ops force so feared the mere sight of their uniform makes whole regiments surrender. The Death's Head want Sven to sort out an impending military disaster. It soon becomes clear that all is not as it should be. Sven is a pawn in a deadly game, and pawns have a bad habit of being sacrificed. But Second Lieutenant Tveskoeg, Obsidian Cross 3rd Class, is nobody's sacrifice. And even a pawn can checkmate a king...
Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online

Simon Kernick Severed Published June 2007 by Bantam at Ł12.99 ISBN: 0593054733

Straight off I knew it was going to be a bad day. The room was stifling hot; and when I did finally manage to drag open my eyes, all I could see was blood. I thought I'd stepped into the middle of a nightmare. But I was wrong. The nightmare was only just beginning. Ex-soldier Sean Tyler wakes up in an unfamiliar room next to the headless corpse of a girl he's met only once. With his memory of the previous 24 hours wiped clean, he's hardly out of bed before the phone rings. A disguised voice tells him to press play on the room's DVD machine. The film shows him stabbing someone to death. Tyler is confident that the footage is fake, but will a jury see things the same way? The man on the end of the phone tells him that if he wants the evidence to disappear, he must go to an address in east London, and await further instructions. Tyler knows he must do as he is told. He also knows that the phone caller has no intention of keeping him alive. To survive he must recover the missing 24 hours of his life and find out who's setting him up before his time runs out for good. The clock is ticking...

Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online

Andy McNab Recoil Pbk published June 2007 by Bantam at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0593055586

Recuperating in Switzerland after a job that cost the life of one of his closest friends, ex-deniable operator Nick Stone is looking for a quiet life. But when his private life starts to disintegrate, Nick is reluctantly forced back into action. The trail leads him to Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it isn't long before his dark past comes knocking on his door..."Recoil" is another pulsating example of modern thriller writing at its very best: compelling, authentic and utterly real. McNab has worked for many years behind the headlines and he knows only too well what makes them...

Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online

Gerald Seymour The Walking Dead Published June 2007 by Bantam at Ł12.99 ISBN: 0593057546

A young man starts a journey from a dusty village in Saudi Arabia. He believes it will end with his death in faraway England. For honour, for glory, for victory. If his mission succeeds, he will go to his god a martyr - and many innocents will die with him. For David Banks, an armed protection officer charged with neutralising the growing menace to London's safety, his role is not as clear-cut as it once was. The certainties which ruled his thinking are no longer black and white. Banks has begun to realise that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Never have those distinctions been more dangerous to a police officer with his finger on the trigger - and to those who depend upon him. On a bright spring morning the two men's paths will cross. Before then, their commitment will be shaken by the journeys which take them there. The suicide bomber and the policeman will have equal cause to question the roads they've chosen. Win or lose, neither will be the same again... "The Walking Dead" is a breathtakingly suspenseful thriller about the world in which we live, with all its dangers and complexities. With intelligence and deep understanding, Seymour shows us the choices we are forced to make, and their consequences. It is one of the most excitingly contemporary and relevant novels you will ever read.

Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online