Crime Fiction Authors, Murder Mystery Books, Thriller Novel Reviews & True Crime at Tangled Web - Publisher Pan 09 July-Sept
File Updated: 29/06/2011
New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Pan July-Sept 09

G M Ford Identity Pbk published August 2009 by Pan at £6.99 ISBN: 0330442007

They took his name. They took his memories. Now they want his life ...Paul Hardy has lived in a care home for the past seven years with no memory of who he is or where he came from. When a horrific accident necessitates pioneering surgery he begins to remember things. Things that if he's not careful will get him killed. When armed men begin hunting Hardy soon afterwards, it becomes apparent that dark and powerful forces are determined to prevent him from recalling events in the life he is so desperate to remember ...With no choice but to go on the run, Hardy must use all his guile and strength to evade the ruthless predators who stalk his every move while he tries to piece together a sinister puzzle. With precious few allies, the race to reveal the truth becomes frantic, but will Hardy succeed before his violent and dangerous foe destroys him, along with the evidence?

G. M. Ford lives in Oregon. G M is the author of the acclaimed Frank Corso series and Leo Waterman series. This is his first standalone thriller.

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


M R Hall The Coroner Pbk published September 2009 by Pan at £6.99 ISBN: 0330458361

See Review by Cath Staincliffe author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder
>BR> When small-town lawyer, Jenny Cooper, is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she's hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce, but the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Could the tragic death of a young boy in custody be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself? In the face of powerful and sinister forces determined to keep both the truth hidden and the troublesome coroner in check, Jenny embarks on a lonely and dangerous one-woman crusade for justice which threatens not only her career but also her sanity...

M. R. Hall is a screenwriter and producer and former criminal barrister, a profession he left due to a constitutional inability to prosecute. The Coroner is his first novel. Educated at Hereford Cathedral School and Worcester College, Oxford, he lives in the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire with his wife, journalist Patricia Carswell, and two sons. Aside from writing, his main passion is the preservation and planting of woodland. In his spare moments, he is mostly to be found amongst trees.

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


David Hewson Dante's Numbers: The Seventh Costa Novel Pbk published August 2009 by Pan at £6.99 ISBN: 0330452584

Allan Prime's eyes were as large as any man's Peroni had ever seen. He looked ready to die of fright, even before the bright, shining spear with the blood-soaked tip reached his head ...The death mask of the poet Dante is to be exhibited at the premiere of a controversial film, "Inferno", based on his epic work. But at the grand unveiling this priceless artefact is replaced by a macabre death mask of the film's star, Allen Prime. And minutes later, the leading actress, Maggie Flavier, is threatened before her attacker is shot.After footage of Prime's murder is shown over the internet, the Carabinieri are determined to take over the investigation, certain that a crazed Dante fan is behind the killing. Nic Costa and his team follow the movie to its next showing in San Francisco, to safeguard the remaining items and hoping to recover the stolen death mask. However, in California the mystery deepens, with confusing new clues about the deaths in Rome. With the Carabinieri and local authorities distracted by false leads, can Costa protect Maggie, find the truth and stop the killer - all before life imitates art?

David Hewson was born in Yorkshire in 1953. He was a journalist from the age of seventeen, working most recently for the Sunday Times. He has also written several novels, as well as a number of travel books. Dante's Numbers is the seventh in his Italian crime series featuring Detective Nic Costa. The author lives in Kent.

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


Katherine Howell The Darkest Hour Pbk published August 2009 by Pan at £6.99 ISBN: 0330462407

Paramedic Lauren Yates stumbles into a world of trouble the night she discovers a dead man in an inner city alley, for the killer lurks nearby. When the murderer threatens to make her life hell if she tells the police, she believes him - he's Thomas Werner, her sister's ex, and a very bad man indeed. But when a stabbing victim tells her with his dying breath that Werner attacked him too, she finds herself with blood on her hands and Detective Ella Marconi on her back. Will Ella's investigation put her career on the line, just when she's finally got her foot in the door? And can Lauren keep her family safe before Werner makes good on his promise, or will they all pay the ultimate price? 'Howell may have left the ambulance service but she can still drive a narrative at full speed with the sirens blaring. Pass me the oxygen' - "Sydney Morning Herald".

Katherine Howell is a former ambulance officer. Frantic, introducing Detective Ella Marconi, was her first novel and she is currently working on her third novel, which will also feature Detective Marconi. Katherine lives on the New South Wales north coast.

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


Kathleen Kent The Heretic's Daughter Pbk published September 2009 by Pan at £6.99 ISBN: 033045630X

Martha Carrier was hanged on August 19th 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts, unyielding in her refusal to admit to being a witch, going to her death rather than joining the ranks of men and women who confessed and were thereby spared execution. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and wilful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live.In this startling novel, she narrates the story of her early life in Andover, near Salem. Her father is a farmer, English in origin, quietly stoical but with a secret history. Her mother is a herbalist, tough but loving, and above all a good mother. Often at odds with each other, Sarah and her mother have a close but also cold relationship, yet it is clear that Martha understands her daughter like no other. When Martha is accused of witchcraft, and the whisperings in the community escalate, she makes her daughter promise not to stand up for her if the case is taken to court.
As Sarah and her brothers are hauled into the prison themselves, the vicious cruelty of the trials is apparent, as the Carrier family, along with other innocents, are starved and deprived of any decency, battling their way through the hysteria with the sheer willpower their mother has taught them.

Kathleen Kent is a direct descendant of Martha Carrier, and THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER is based on true family history. Kathleen has worked in commodity trading and for the US Department of Defense in Russia. She now lives in Dallas with her husband and son. THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER is her first novel.

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


Valerio Massimo Manfredi The Lost Army Pbk published July 2009 by Pan at £6.99 ISBN: 0330452797

In the 4th century BC, in a village in Syria, a woman, dressed in rags and covered in blisters and sores, is seen approaching on the road coming from the north. Suspicious of her, the villagers shout and throw rocks at her. She is struck and falls. She seems dead...Her story encompasses one of the great collective acts of heroism of the ancient world. She was the mistress of Xenophon, a general in the vast army of ten thousand Greek mercenaries from virtually every Greek city state that was employed by Cyrus the Younger, in his quest to seize the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Manfredi, one of the world's experts, has created a rip-roaring adventure seen from the perspective of the women who accompanied the soldiers on their long journey. This is a new and intense account of the most celebrated march in man's history, by the acclaimed author of the "Alexander" trilogy.

Valerio Massimo Manfredi is professor of classical archaeology at Luigi Bocconi University in Milan. He has published ten works of fiction, including the 'Alexander' trilogy, which has been translated into twenty-four languages in thirty-eight countries. His novel The Last Legion was released as a major motion picture in 2007. He has written and hosted documentaries on the ancient world and has written screenplays for cinema and television.

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


Catherine Sampson The Slaughter Pavilion Pbk published September 2009 by Pan at £7.99 ISBN: 0330448226

A man throws himself off the top of a building. Behind him, tied to an advertising hoarding, is his dead and frozen child. Having earlier rejected the man's plea for help, Beijing private investigator Song (last seen in "The Pool of Unease") has enough to deal with - Song's own father-in-law, soon to be tried on corruption charges, is found dead. Did he kill himself or was someone else involved? But Song cannot forget the man and his frozen child. When he starts to investigate, he finds himself drawn into a web of evil that pits him against the corrupt and powerful. And in a country where justice is often for sale, can Song discover the truth before it is buried for good?
Praise for "The Pool of Unease":
'An intricate mystery' - "Sunday Telegraph".
'Original, fast paced and clever ...an outstandingly interesting description of life in Beijing from two utterly different angles' - "Literary Review".
Catherine Sampson started her career in the BBC and has worked as Beijing correspondent for The Times. The Slaughter Pavilion is her fourth novel. She now lives in Beijing with her husband and three children, and writes about her life there on her Smog Blog at www.catherinesampson.com.

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


Lisa Scottoline Lady Killer Pbk published August 2009 by Pan at £6.99 ISBN: 0330443860

In recent years, Mary DiNunzio has become a big-time business-getter at Rosato & Associates, but the last person she expects to walk into her office one morning - in mile-high stilettos - is supersexy Trish Gambone, her high school rival. Back then, while Mary was becoming the straight - A president of the Latin Club and Most Likely to Achieve Sainthood, Trish was the head Mean Girl, who flunked religion and excelled at smoking in the bathroom.
As it turns out, however, Trish's life has taken a horrifying turn. She's terrified of her live-in boyfriend, who's an abusive, gun-toting drug dealer for the South Philly mob. Only one problem - Mary remembers the guy from high school, too.Unbeknownst to Trish, Mary had a major crush on him.
Before Mary knows it, Trish vanishes. Then a dead body turns up in an alley, and Mary is plunged into a nightmare, one that threatens her job, her family, and even her life. She goes on a one-woman crusade to unmask the killer, and on the way, finds new love in a very unexpected place, as well as discovering some pretty hard home truths about her past and herself.

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