The McDead , the final volume in his White underworld trilogy); Paul Charles ( The Ballad of Sean and Wilko ); Lee Child ( The Visitor ); Judith Cutler ( Dying by Degrees, Power Games ); Leslie Forbes ( Skin, Shadow and Bone ); Elizabeth Corley ( Fatal Legacy ); Kate Ellis ( The Funeral Boat ); Patricia Hall ( Skeleton at the Feast ); Paul Johnson ( The Blood Tree ); Frank Lean ( Boiling Point ); Phil Lovesey ( When Ashes Burn ); Jim Lusby ( Crazy Man Michael ); Barry Maitland ( Silvermeadow ); Veronica Stallwood ( Oxford Shadows ); Margaret Murphy ( Dying Embers ). Notable newcomers included Stephen Booth ( Black Dog ); Joolz Denby ( Stone Baby ); Stephen Humphreys ( Sleeping Partner ); Mary Scott ( Murder on Wheels ); David Aitken ( Sleeping with Jane Austen ); and Sarah Diamond ( The Beach Road ).
In the promises-confirmed department, many young writers demonstrated that their raved-over early steps were not flukes and are on the fast track for stardom; they include Martyn Bedford ( Black Cat , an impressive follow-up to the haunting The Houdini Girl ); Nicholas Royle ( The Director's Cut ); Patrick Redmond ( The Puppet Show ); Lauren Henderson ( Chained , featuring the indomitable Sam Jones), who was also a founder and chief troublemaker of the Tart Noir group (and Web site) of politically incorrect female writers with attitude, which also enlisted Sparkle Hayter, Katy Munger, and Stella Duffy; Laura Wilson ( Dying Voices ); John Williams ( Cardiff Dead ); Jane Adams ( Angels Gateway ); and Denise Mina ( Exile , which might still win her a third award in three years!).
Three distinct niches in crime and mystery writing have always proven particularly suited to the British and in all three subgenres, they again excelled. Fueled by ever-increasingly popularity, the historical mystery continues to thrive and among the year's offerings were Lindsey Davis ( Ode to a Banker ); Alys Clare ( Ashes of the Elements; Tavern in the Morning ); Judith Cook ( School of the Night ); Paul Doherty, prolific as ever ( The Treason of the Ghosts , featuring Hugh Corbett, and The Anubis Slayings , set in Ancient Egypt); Susanna Gregory ( Masterly Murder ); Philip Gooden ( Sleep of Death ); Michael Jecks ( The Traitor of St. Giles, The Boy Bishop's Glovemaker ); Bernard Knight ( An Awful Secret ); Hannah Marsh— alias Tim Godwin ( Distraction of the Blood; Death Be My Theme ); Iain Pears (the long-awaited Immaculate Deception ); Kate Sedley ( St. John's Fern ); Peter Tremayne (with a double dose of Sister Fidelma, a collection of stories Hemlock at Vespers and a novel, Our Lady of Darkness ); Sylvan Hamilton ( The Bone Peddlar ); Deryn Lake ( Death at the Apothecary's Hall ); Edward Marston ( The Amorous Nightingale, The Elephants of Norwich ); Barbara Nadel ( A Chemical Prison ); Michael Pearce ( A Cold Touch of Ice ); Marilyn Todd ( The Black Salamander ); Gillian Linscott ( Perfect Daughter ); and David Wishart ( Old Bones ). On similar form were the exponents of comic crime, including Christopher Brookmyre ( Boiling a Frog ); Marc Blake ( 24 Carat Schmooze ); Peter Guttridge ( The Once and Future Con ); and Charles Spencer ( Under the In fl uence ).
The end of the cold war hasn't slowed British thriller writers down, and they continue to find murky territory to explore. Pride of place naturally goes to John Le Carré for The Constant Gardener , a major return to form, but one must also mention Raymond Benson's latest James Bond adventure Double or Death ; Colin Forbes ( Sinister Tide ); Clive Egelton ( The Honey Trap ); Ken Follett ( Code to Zero ); Robert Goddard ( Sea Change ); Michael Ridpath ( Final Venture ); Brian Freemantle (a Charlie Muffin caper, Dead Men Living ); Donald James ( Vadim , the third and maybe final volume in his brilliant near-future post–civil-war Russia police procedural series); and Peter May ( The Killing Room ). Over the past decade, a strong individual strain of distinctly British noir
In the promises-confirmed department, many young writers demonstrated that their raved-over early steps were not flukes and are on the fast track for stardom; they include Martyn Bedford ( Black Cat , an impressive follow-up to the haunting The Houdini Girl ); Nicholas Royle ( The Director's Cut ); Patrick Redmond ( The Puppet Show ); Lauren Henderson ( Chained , featuring the indomitable Sam Jones), who was also a founder and chief troublemaker of the Tart Noir group (and Web site) of politically incorrect female writers with attitude, which also enlisted Sparkle Hayter, Katy Munger, and Stella Duffy; Laura Wilson ( Dying Voices ); John Williams ( Cardiff Dead ); Jane Adams ( Angels Gateway ); and Denise Mina ( Exile , which might still win her a third award in three years!).
Three distinct niches in crime and mystery writing have always proven particularly suited to the British and in all three subgenres, they again excelled. Fueled by ever-increasingly popularity, the historical mystery continues to thrive and among the year's offerings were Lindsey Davis ( Ode to a Banker ); Alys Clare ( Ashes of the Elements; Tavern in the Morning ); Judith Cook ( School of the Night ); Paul Doherty, prolific as ever ( The Treason of the Ghosts , featuring Hugh Corbett, and The Anubis Slayings , set in Ancient Egypt); Susanna Gregory ( Masterly Murder ); Philip Gooden ( Sleep of Death ); Michael Jecks ( The Traitor of St. Giles, The Boy Bishop's Glovemaker ); Bernard Knight ( An Awful Secret ); Hannah Marsh— alias Tim Godwin ( Distraction of the Blood; Death Be My Theme ); Iain Pears (the long-awaited Immaculate Deception ); Kate Sedley ( St. John's Fern ); Peter Tremayne (with a double dose of Sister Fidelma, a collection of stories Hemlock at Vespers and a novel, Our Lady of Darkness ); Sylvan Hamilton ( The Bone Peddlar ); Deryn Lake ( Death at the Apothecary's Hall ); Edward Marston ( The Amorous Nightingale, The Elephants of Norwich ); Barbara Nadel ( A Chemical Prison ); Michael Pearce ( A Cold Touch of Ice ); Marilyn Todd ( The Black Salamander ); Gillian Linscott ( Perfect Daughter ); and David Wishart ( Old Bones ). On similar form were the exponents of comic crime, including Christopher Brookmyre ( Boiling a Frog ); Marc Blake ( 24 Carat Schmooze ); Peter Guttridge ( The Once and Future Con ); and Charles Spencer ( Under the In fl uence ).
The end of the cold war hasn't slowed British thriller writers down, and they continue to find murky territory to explore. Pride of place naturally goes to John Le Carré for The Constant Gardener , a major return to form, but one must also mention Raymond Benson's latest James Bond adventure Double or Death ; Colin Forbes ( Sinister Tide ); Clive Egelton ( The Honey Trap ); Ken Follett ( Code to Zero ); Robert Goddard ( Sea Change ); Michael Ridpath ( Final Venture ); Brian Freemantle (a Charlie Muffin caper, Dead Men Living ); Donald James ( Vadim , the third and maybe final volume in his brilliant near-future post–civil-war Russia police procedural series); and Peter May ( The Killing Room ). Over the past decade, a strong individual strain of distinctly British noir
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