To kick off the new year, there's been a new Nicci French thriller out that flew right under my radar:
Miranda Cotton has an ideal life in London, doing work she loves with no current love interest but lots of dating opportunities. Then a short, nasty liaison with a man who calls himself Brendan Block rips her comfortable world apart. She dumps Block when she discovers him reading her diary. But then he shows back up - dating her sister. A charming and dangerous psychopath, Block wormed his way into the Cotton family claiming that he dumped Miranda. The trouble is that nobody believes Miranda. When a member of her family dies, Miranda feels that Brendan must be involved. But can she prove it before he kills her? Studded with sharp insights into the strange compromises involved in modern relationships, this novel could be the horror version of Bridget Jones's Diary. And the authors are so subtle at bringing Brendan and Miranda to life that readers might even begin to doubt that what she's telling us is the whole truth"until a stunning climax in which all sorts of secrets and lies are revealed.
Some of the couple's books are hit and miss, but Land of the Living was outstandingly chilling, and I'm hoping they've hit their stride. Reviews are mixed. (NOTE: if it involves thumbs and eyeballs one more time, though, I'll have to start re-evaluating their work. It's been done in two prior books. Once is enough.)
A new Amelia Peabody mystery is due in March, and I still haven't bought Amelia Peabody's Egypt. I guess that will take care of February. (New hardbacks are so freaking expensive, I try to limit myself). My favorite thing about this series, other than the cheesy romantic subplots and Victorian era melodrama, has to be the trivia on Egyptology inserted by the author, who under her real name of Dr. Barbara Mertz holds a Ph.D. in Egyptology from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago.
In May, Caleb Carr is going to try a Sherlock Holmes thriller, with the permission of the Conan-Doyle estate. The only thing I could find about the plot so far: "Now Sherlock Holmes is going to investigate a pair of gruesome murders at court. The Conan Doyle estate has given its approval to a novel called The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr, author of The Alienist, in which two royal servants die, with echoes of the murder of a confidante of Mary, Queen of Scots 300 years earlier." I don't usually take kindly to people messing with the canon (exception: Laurie King, as I discuss later), but Caleb Carr is always a must-read for his meticulous attention to detail in historical settings. I recall reading the Alienist and being impressed when he got the M'Naughton rule right, knew the history of dactylography and the Bertillion System, and a gagillion other details that made the book a must-read for me.
Speaking of Holmes, Laurie King is rolling out with the next installment in the Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell series in June. I never thought I'd get hooked on a series that messes with the canon, but she's a good read and has developed a set of characters well beyond the Conan-Doyle original parameters into a unique cast all her own. And while the Peabody series is primarily fun, Laurie King puts a bit more into the plot, a la Dorothy Sayers.
In July, of course, there's the new Harry Potter. Yep, I read 'em. Usually in one sitting over a "lost weekend". If she starts making them any longer, I'll have to take off work.
I know I've got to fill April: I'm hoping my backlog of chick-lit catch-up will go on the $5-$8 table:
To Have and to Hold
Playing with Boys, etc.
Now all I need is a new Amy Tan and I'd be set.
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