The intrigue at Highbury, or, Emma's match

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Susanna Jones

The Earthquake Bird (Mysterious Press, 9/01), Susanna Jones' debut, won the 2001 John Creasey Award, bestowed by the Crime Writers' Association in England, for Best First Novel. Foreign rights were sold in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, and Norway. It will be published in trade paperback from Mysterious Press in 3/03. Susanna Jones writes chilling, psychological suspense that will appeal to the same audience that made Nicci French's Killing Me Softly (Warner, 7/99) a bestseller. Susanna Jones studies Japanese Noh theatre as part of her drama degree from London University. She lived and worked in Japan before getting her M.A. in writing from Manchester University.

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Translated from the French by Daphne Woodward

A killer stalking the streets of Montmartre has murdered five women and Maigret is making no head-way in the case. After consulting the distinguished psychiatrist, Professor Tissot, he decides to use psycho-logical means to trap the killer. Firstly, he fakes an arrest, hoping that the murderer, in a fit of jealousy at someone stealing his thunder, will strike again. And he provides him with scores of suit-able potential victims in the shape of policewomen, proficient in the art of judo. The trap has been set.

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Lee Child

Someone has taken a shot at the president of France in the City of Light. The bullet was American. The distance between the gunman and the target was exceptional. How many snipers can shoot from three-quarters of a mile with total confidence? Very few, but John Kott -- an American marksman gone bad -- is one of them. And after fifteen years in prison, he's out, unaccounted for, and likely drawing a bead on a G-8 summit packed with enough world leaders to tempt any assassin. If anyone can stop Kott, it's the man who beat him before: Reacher. And though he'd rather work alone, Reacher is teamed with Casey Nice, a rookie analyst who keeps her cool with Zoloft. But they're facing a rough road, full of ruthless mobsters, Serbian thugs, close calls, double-crosses, and no backup if they're caught. All the while Reacher can't stop thinking about the woman he once failed to save. But he won't let that happen again. Not this time. Not Nice. Reacher never gets too close. But now a killer is making it personal.

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Bill Kitson

When Sarah Kelly fails to return from a night out, DI Mike Nash can only speculate, until a chance remark causes him to look deeper into other cases; girls who have vanished without trace. Nash spots chilling similarities: no bodies, no witnesses, all disappearances explained away. While investigating seemingly unconnected crimes, Nash strives to come to grips with the psyche of a most unusual serial killer. He needs to find a solution and fast as two more women vanish, making it personal and potentially fatal; both for Nash and for the women who have been chosen ...