Broadchurch Series Two - e-shorts news

E-reading fans of Broadchurch will be able to get added value as Little, Brown have announced that there will be 8 e-book short stories to accompany the second series, written by Erin Kelly and Chris Chibnall:

Little, Brown Book Group is delighted to announce the planned publication of eight short stories alongside the second series of ITV’s Kudos-produced smash hit, BAFTA-award-winning show, Broadchurch.

This groundbreaking cross-media collection of stories will be published exclusively as ebooks. A creative first, they will be released at midnight following the broadcast of each episode. The stories, written by bestselling author Erin Kelly in close collaboration with Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall, will consist of 100% original material that is tied closely to that evening’s episode. 

The stories will offer an unrivalled opportunity for Broadchurch fans to spend more time with the cast of fantastic characters, allowing them to delve deeper into the different characters’ lives, histories and secrets. The stories are designed to be watched with specific episodes of the show, expanding on the viewer’s enjoyment of the TV series in a completely innovative fashion. They will retail at 99p each.

ERIN KELLY wrote the official Broadchurch novel, published August 2014. Broadchurch was selected as a prestigious Novel of the Year (2014) by Kirkus Reviews in the USA and has been translated into eleven languages around the world, garnering international critical acclaim and bestseller status.

New Reviews: Ceder, Dunn, Frank, Johnston, Kasasian, Kelly, Kernick, Mogford, Radmann

Here are nine reviews which have been added to the Euro Crime website today, two have appeared on the blog over the last three weeks and seven are completely new.

The competition closes tonight at 11.59pm: win an iBook of Invisible by Christine Poulson (no geographical restrictions).


NB. You can keep up to date with Euro Crime by following the blog and/or liking the Euro Crime Facebook page.

New Reviews

Lynn Harvey reviews Camilla Ceder's Babylon tr. Marlaine Delargy, the sequel to Frozen Moment, set in Gothenburg;

Amanda Gillies reviews Slingshot by Matthew Dunn, the third in his "Spycatcher" series;

Geoff Jones reviews Matthew Frank's debut novel, If I Should Die which introduces ex-Army turned trainee police officer Joe Stark;

Terry Halligan reviews Paul Johnston's The White Sea, the seventh in the Greece-based Alex Mavros series;

I review The Curse of the House of Foskett by M R C Kasasian, the sequel to the excellent The Mangle Street Murders;


Michelle Peckham reviews Erin Kelly's The Ties That Bind;

Terry also reviews Simon Kernick's Stay Alive which is now out in paperback;

Rich Westwood reviews Thomas Mogford's Hollow Mountain, the latest in the Spike Sanguinetti series based on and around Gibraltar

and Lynn also reviews The Crack by Christopher Radmann set in 1970s South Africa.





Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

Broadchurch News

Acclaimed ITV series Broadchurch is to become a book, co-written by the series creator Chris Chibnall and Erin Kelly. From The Independent:

The novel will elaborate on the existing plot and delve deeper into the lives and backstories of the characters. It will also include “previously unseen material”, according to publishers Little, Brown.

The acclaimed drama, written by Law & Order and Doctor Who writer Chibnall, followed a grief-stricken family coming to terms with the mysterious death of their son Tom Latimer.

Chibnall said: “The day after Broadchurch finished, a woman stopped me on West Bay beach and asked me ‘When’s the book coming out?’. Now I have an answer! Even better, we have one of Britain’s best psychological thriller authors at the helm.”

Kelly, whose novels include The Burning Air and The Poison Tree, said she was “thrilled” to be writing the novel alongside Chibnall.

“Like everyone else I know, I was gripped and moved by Broadchurch. I’m utterly thrilled to be writing the novel, not least because it gave me an excuse to watch the whole series again, multiple times,” she said.

“It’s testament to the writing, the performances and the photography that I was spellbound even when I knew the outcome. I can’t wait to delve even deeper into the hearts and thoughts of the characters and to bring the town to life on the page.”

A second series has been commissioned but there are no details at the moment with TV Dagger Awards winners David Tennant and Olivia Colman unconfirmed for the sequel. Meanwhile David Tennant is reprising his role for the US remake.

New Reviews: Garnier, Johnston, Kelly, McCarry, Nadel, Ridpath, Rimington, Taylor, Weaver

This week's set of reviews, added to Euro Crime today, is a mixture of new reviews and a catch-up of those posted directly on the blog in the last two weeks, so you may have read some of them before if you're a regular :).

Jut a reminder: I've now set up a Euro Crime page on Facebook which you can like.

Susan White reviews Pacal Garnier's Moon in a Dead Eye, tr. Emily Boyce set in a French gated community;

Terry Halligan review's Paul Johnston's The Black Life, the sixth in the PI Alex Mavros series;

Michelle Peckham reviews the recent paperback release of Erin Kelly's The Burning Air, calling it "a strong, psychological thriller";

Amanda Gillies reviews Charles McCarry's spy thriller, The Shanghai Factor;

Rich Westwood reviews Barbara Nadel's An Act of Kindness, the second in the Hakim and Arnold series and set just before the 2012 London Olympics;

Lynn Harvey reviews the first of two Second World War related titles this week with Michael Ridpath's Traitor's Gate being based on a true event;

Terry also reviews Stella Rimington's seventh and latest outing for MI5's Liz Carlyle, The Geneva Trap which is now out in paperback;

In D J Taylor's The Windsor Faction, reviewed here by Norman Price, the author takes a "what if" situation and presents an alternative version of the 1930/40s

and Geoff Jones reviews Tim Weaver's Never Coming Back the fourth in his David Raker, missing persons investigator series.



Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

New Reviews: Bauer, Conrad, Cookman, Harvey, Kelly, Leonard, Littell, Tope, Walker

Here are nine new reviews and a reminder of the competition:
Win the 'Nikki Heat' novels by Richard Castle (UK only) - closes 31 January 2013.

I have been posting the reviewers' favourite reads of 2012 over the last couple of weeks (one more still to go) and then I'll be counting up the votes and announcing the winner(s).

This week's new reviews:

Michelle Peckham calls Belinda Bauer's Rubbernecker "a great book";

Last week I reviewed on the blog, Patrick Conrad's No Sale tr. Jonathan Lynn, an unusual book which film buffs should particularly enjoy;

Geoff Jones reviews the latest in Lesley Cookman's Libby Sarjeant series, Murder in the Monastery set in Kent;

Terry Halligan reviews John Harvey's Good Bait newly released in paperback;

Susan White reviews Erin Kelly's The Burning Air calling it "a compelling read";

Peter Leonard's Back from the Dead is released this month and Lynn Harvey catches up with the first part of Harry Levin's story in the paperback edition of Voices of the Dead;

Laura Root reviews Robert Littell's who "injects fresh life into an oft told tale" in the Young Philby;

Lizzie Hayes reviews Rebecca Tope's The Windermere Witness the first in a new series set in the Lake District and featuring florist Simmy Brown

and Amanda Gillies reviews Martin Walker's The Devil's Cave, the fifth in the Bruno, Chief of Police series set in France.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here along with releases by year.

TV News: The Poison Tree on ITV soon

Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree has been made into two one-hour episodes, the first of which will be shown on 10 December at 9pm on ITV1:

Karen Clarke (MyAnna Buring) has spent twelve years waiting for her partner Rex (Matthew Goode) to be released from prison. Now he is free, she is looking forward to settling down to normal family life in their remote seaside cottage with their 11 year old daughter Alice (Hebe Johnson). But then Karen starts to receive silent phone calls and anonymous text messages and she can’t shake the feeling that she and her family are constantly being watched. It seems that despite her best efforts to keep their past a secret, someone somewhere knows the truth about what she and Rex did.
 
Flash backs to the long, hot summer of 1999, when Karen was a student and first met Rex and his impossibly glamorous sister Biba (Ophelia Lovibond), gradually reveal Karen, Rex and Biba’s shared history in the crumbling Highgate mansion that they share – their intense, almost incestuous relationships, and the hedonistic party lifestyle that culminates in the tragic events that leave two people dead.
 
As the threat to Karen draws ever nearer, gradually the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, and the truth of what happened that fateful day emerges. But it seems that Karen is concealing deeper, darker secrets than even Rex realises. If he wasn’t guilty of murder, then who was? And how far will Karen go to protect the family that she has sacrificed so much for?

MyAnna Buring & Matthew Goode

New Reviews: Baker, Bateman, Kelly, McDermid, Mercier, Watson

Win 3 Richard Nottingham mysteries by Chris Nickson (UK only).

Here are this week's 6 new reviews:

Terry Halligan reviews Adam Baker's Juggernaut which has two female mercenaries as leads (for a change);

Dan Starkey is back in (Colin) Bateman's Nine Inches, reviewed here by Geoff Jones;

Maxine Clarke reviews the American edition of Erin Kelly's The Sick Rose which has been retitled to: The Dark Rose;

Michelle Peckham reviews Val McDermid's latest Tony Hill/Carol Jordan novel, The Retribution which is now out in paperback;

Lynn Harvey reviews Pascal Mercier's Perlmann's Silence, tr. Shaun Whiteside which though not a traditional crime novel, does involve some crime(s);

and Susan White reviews the paperback release of S J Watson's Before I Go To Sleep.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive.

Forthcoming titles can be found by author or date or by category, here and new titles by Colin Bateman, Gerald Jay, Pascal Mercier, Stuart Neville and Evonne Wareham have been added to these pages this week.

New Reviews: Bruen, Fossum, Haynes, Hilton, Kelly, le Carre, Ridpath, Tyler

July's competition: Win a set of 3 books by Armand Cabasson (UK only)

Here are this week's reviews, which visit Egypt, Iceland, Norway, Russia, USA as well as the UK:

Terry Halligan reviews the movie-tie-in release of Ken Bruen's London Boulevard;

I review Karin Fossum's latest Inspector Sejer, The Caller, tr. K E Semmel;

Amanda Gillies reviews Elizabeth Haynes debut, Into the Darkest Corner which has just been shortlisted for the "New Blood" Dagger;

Michelle Peckham reviews the fifth Joe Hunter from Matt Hilton, Blood and Ashes which is just out in paperback;

Susan White reviews the paperback release of Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree which has also been shortlisted for the "New Blood" Dagger;

I review the radio play version of John le Carre's The Russia House on the blog;

Maxine Clarke reviews Michael Ridpath's second Icelandic novel, 66 Degrees North which sounds bang up to date politically

and Lizzie Hayes reviews L C Tyler's Herring on the Nile which she says is more fun than a certain other crime book set on the Nile!

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

The Poison Tree - Cover Opinions

This week's selection for "cover opinions" is the US and UK covers for Erin Kelly's The Poison Tree which came out in hardback in June in the UK. The US edition, is due out in January 2011.

So what are you thoughts on the US (LHS) and UK (RHS) covers? Which would entice you to pick the book up if you were not familiar with Erin Kelly?
(For the UK edition the ends of the pages are also green!)

If you have read it, how well does the cover match the story?

Here is the Euro Crime review by Maxine of The Poison Tree.

New Reviews: Connolly, Gray, Kelly, Rayne, Robertson, Timlin

Here are this week's reviews:

Pat Austin reviews the latest Charlie Parker from John Connolly, The Whisperers;

Paul Blackburn reviews the seventh of Alex Gray's Glasgow set series Five Ways to Kill a Man;

Maxine Clarke reviews the debut novel by Erin Kelly The Poison Tree, which has been likened to Barbara Vine's A Fatal Inversion;

Michelle Peckham reviews the paperback edition of Sarah Rayne's Ghost Song;

Terry Halligan reviews the second of Imogen Robertson's 18th Century series, Anatomy of Murder

and Geoff Jones reviews Mark Timlin's Guns of Brixton.

Previous reviews can be found in the review archive and forthcoming titles can be found by author or date, here.

Trailer - The Poison Tree

Hodder have pointed me to this trailer for Erin Kelly's debut, The Poison Tree which is published in June:

"It is the sweltering summer of 1997, and Karen is a strait-laced, straight-A university student. When she meets the impossibly glamorous Biba, a bohemian orphan who lives in a crumbling old mansion in Highgate with her enigmatic brother Rex, she is soon drawn into their world – but something terrible is about to happen, and someone's going to end up dead.."

The storyline does sound Barbara Vine-like and other comparisons on the blurb include Tana French and Sophie Hannah.