Preise: Nominierungen für die Barry Awards 2006

vom Krimiblogger

Das US-amerikanische Krimimagazin Deadly Pleasures kürt einmal im Jahr die besten Kriminalromane und -erzählungen und vergibt die Barry Awards. Benannt sind diese Krimipreise nach dem Kritiker Barry Gardner (1939-1996) und werden in diesem Jahr in sechs Kategorien vergeben. In diesem Jahr liegen folgende Nominierungen vor.

Best Novel

Bloodlines
Jan Burke: Bloodlines
Verlag: Simon & Schuster
Deutsche Ausgabe: Totenruhe, 2005
Verlag: Goldmann

Verlagstext:
The year is 1958. O’Connor, a young reporter with the Las Piernas News Express, is desperate to discover who has perpetrated a savage attack on his mentor, Jack Corrigan. In and out of consciousness, Corrigan claims to have witnessed the burial of a bloodstained car on a farm, but his reputation as a heavy drinker calls his strange story into question. In a seemingly unrelated mystery, a yacht bearing four members of the wealthy Ducane family disappears during a storm off the coast. An investigation finds that the Ducane home has been broken into; a nursemaid has been killed; and Max, the infant heir, has gone missing. Corrigan recovers his health, but despite a police investigation and his own tireless inquiries, the mysteries of the buried car and the whereabouts of Maxwell Ducane haunt him until his death.

Twenty years after that fateful night, in her first days as a novice reporter working for managing editor O’Connor, Irene Kelly covers the groundbreaking ceremony for a shopping center — which unexpectedly yields the unearthing of a buried car. In the trunk are human remains. Are those of the infant heir among them? If so, who is the young man who has recently changed his name to Max Ducane? Again the trail goes maddeningly, perhaps suspiciously, cold.

Until today. Irene, now married to homicide detective Frank Harriman, is a veteran reporter facing the impending closing of the Las Piernas News Express. With circulation down and young reporters fresh out of journalism school replacing longtime staffers, Irene can’t help but wish for the good old days when she worked with O’Connor. So when the baffling kidnap-burial case resurfaces, Irene’s tenacious love for her mentor and journalistic integrity far outweigh any fears or trepidation. Determined to make a final splash for her beloved paper and solve the mystery that plagued O’Connor until his death, Irene pursues a story that reunites her with her past and may end her career — and her life.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Red Leaves
Thomas H. Cook: Red Leaves
Verlag: Quercus

Verlagstext:
Eric Moore has reason to be happy. He has a prosperous business, a comfortable home, a stable family life in a quiet town. Then, on an ordinary night, his teenage son Keith is asked to babysit Amy Giordano, the eight-year-old daughter of a neighboring family. The next morning Amy is missing.

Suddenly Eric is one of the stricken parents he has seen on television, professing faith in his child’s innocence. As the police investigation increasingly focuses on Keith, Eric must counsel his son, find him a lawyer, protect him from the community’s steadily growing suspicion. Except that Eric is not so sure his son is innocent. And if Keith is not . . . and might do the same thing again . . . what then should a father do?

Red Leaves is a story of broken trust and one man’s heroic effort to hold fast the ties that bind him to everything he loves.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:
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Mercy Falls
William Kent Krueger: Mercy Falls
Verlag: Atria Books

Verlagstext:
Back in the saddle as sheriff of Tamarack County, Cork O’Connor is lured to the nearby Ojibwe reservation on what appears to be a routine call — only to become the target of sniper fire. Soon after, he’s called to investigate a mutilated body found perched above the raging waters of Mercy Falls. The victim is Eddie Jacoby, a Chicago businessman negotiating an unpopular contract between his management firm and the local Indian casino.

Sparks fly when the wealthy Jacoby family hires a beautiful private investigator to consult on the case. But once Cork discovers an old and passionate tie between one of the Jacoby sons and his own wife, Jo, he begins to suspect that dark, personal motives lurk behind recent events. Murder, greed, sex, and jealousy hide around every corner in this maze of danger. But somewhere beneath the turbulent Mercy Falls lies the truth — and Cork is determined to find it….

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:
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Sudden Death
David Rosenfelt: Sudden Death
Verlag: Mysterious Press

Verlagstext:
First at the crime scene, Andy Carpenter wishes he had never seen the folded torso with the large red stain on its back. The victim is Tony Preston, wide receiver for the New York Jets, and the suspect is Kenny Schilling, the New York Giants‘ star running back who is clamoring for Andy’s services. The upcoming high-profile murder case will be the benchwarming Andy’s chance to get back into the legal game. It will also prove a handy distraction from the awful possibility that Laurie Collins-the private investigator and living creature Andy adores most next to Tara, his cherished golden retriever-might leave Paterson and Andy’s life forever.

Digging into the case, Andy stumbles onto some of the seamier undercurrents rushing beneath the large-guy camaraderie, big-buck cushiness, and bone-mashing fun that is pro football. And he discovers that Preston’s death is similar to a series of other mysterious murders-all seemingly unrelated yet connected by a horrible secret from many years ago. Despite the crushing evidence, Andy begins to believe in his client’s innocence.

But when danger finds someone close to him, the unperturbed defender knows he’s attracted the attention of a powerful enemy-one who will do anything to take Andy permanently off the field…

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:
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Mr. Lucky
James Swain: Mr. Lucky
Verlag: Ballantine Books

Verlagstext:
Tony Valentine made his living and his name as a cop in Atlantic City–and is now known worldwide for his ability to spot the kinds of scams, grifts, and rip-offs that cost casinos billions every year. A man with a biting wit who drives a ’92 Honda, Tony is low-profile, old-school, and has seen it all–until he meets the luckiest man on earth.

Ricky Smith was once a small-town loser. Then he went to Las Vegas, jumped out the window of a burning hotel, lived to tell the tale, and tore up the Strip on an incredible winning streak. Ricky didn’t just win at one slot machine or table game. He won at blackjack, roulette, and craps, and then beat the pants off the world’s greatest poker player. Tony knows that goofy, loudmouthed Ricky Smith–or anyone else, for that matter–couldn’t possibly be that fortunate. But when “Mr. Lucky” returns home to the little town of Slippery Rock, North Carolina, he keeps on winning everything from a horse race to a $50,000 lottery.

Hired by a desperate casino, Tony starts to pry into Ricky’s past, his friends, and the strange little town that is benefiting from Ricky’s fame and fortune. Unfortunately for Tony, his cover is blown when he is forced to reveal a trick he has up his own sleeve: a pocket Glock he can shoot with laser-like precision. Suddenly, two men are dead, the cops are on Tony’s tail, and the investigation explodes in violence–putting the lives of Tony’s son and his young family in danger.

For years, Tony’s son Gerry has dueled with his own criminal impulses. Now, the Ricky Smith case has lured Gerry through the gates of temptation and into a murderous confrontation with the Dixie Mafia. With Tony stuck on the slippery slope of Slippery Rock and Gerry fighting for his life, the Valentines are finding out just how bad good luck can get.

Against a neon-tinted backdrop of adrenaline rushes, hard crashes, big money, and high-wire tension, the inimitable James Swain has set his best Tony Valentine novel yet: a funny, furious ride with an astounding array of crooks, marks, and one killer scam.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:
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the_power_of_the_dog.jpg
Don Winslow: The Power of the Dog
Verlag: Knopf

Verlagstext:
From Don Winslow (“A writer so good you almost want to keep him to yourself”—Ian Rankin), an electrifying new novel of love and revenge, politics and influence, corruption and honor. Moving at breakneck speed, it tells a riveting, sometimes harrowing story set in the shifting nexus of power among the Latin American drug cartels, the American mob, and the U.S. government.

Spanning the years from the rise of the Mexican drug Federación in the 1970s to the Iran-Contra affair in the 1980s to the vicious drug wars of the 1990s, the action ranges from Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen and the halls of Washington to the streets of Tijuana and the deserts of the American Southwest.

The players: a DEA agent, a drug lord, a call girl, a hit man, a priest. Caught up in the war on drugs, willingly or not, each is trying to escape the sins of the past while negotiating the treacherous currents of the present. Their seemingly disparate lives—taking shape on one side of the law or the other, or straddling both—slowly converge as they struggle to overcome, in any way possible, the “power of the dog.”

From the jungles of Latin America to the vicious netherworld of the California–Mexico border, this is the war on drugs you haven’t seen—its devastations and deliriums, its alliances and betrayals, its pawns and kings.

A masterpiece of epic storytelling, The Power of the Dog is Don Winslow at the very top of his form.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:
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Best First Novel published in the U.S. in 2005

Die A Little
Megan Abbott: Die A Little
Verlag: Simon & Schuster

Verlagstext:
Shadow-dodging through the glamorous world of 1950s Hollywood and its seedy flip side, Megan Abbott’s debut, Die a Little, is a gem of the darkest hue. This ingenious twist on a classic noir tale tells the story of Lora King, a schoolteacher, and her brother Bill, a junior investigator with the district attorney’s office. Lora’s comfortable, suburban life is jarringly disrupted when Bill falls in love with a mysterious young woman named Alice Steele, a Hollywood wardrobe assistant with a murky past.

Made sisters by marriage but not by choice, the bond between Lora and Alice is marred by envy and mistrust. Spurred on by inconsistencies in Alice’s personal history and possibly jealous of Alice’s hold on her brother, Lora finds herself lured into the dark alleys and mean streets of seamy Los Angeles. Assuming the role of amateur detective, she uncovers a shadowy world of drugs, prostitution, and ultimately, murder.

Lora’s fascination with Alice’s “sins” increases in direct proportion to the escalation of her own relationship with Mike Standish, a charmingly amoral press agent who appears to know more about his old friend Alice than he reveals. The deeper Lora digs to uncover Alice’s secrets, the more her own life begins to resemble Alice’s sinister past — and present.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:
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Immoral
Brian Freeman: Immoral
Verlag: Headline Book
Deutsche Ausgabe: Unmoralisch, 2005
Verlag: RM-Buch-und-Medien-Vertrieb (Exlusive Buchgemeinschaftsausgabe, Club-Premiere)

Verlagstext:
In a riveting debut thriller that has drawn comparisons to masters of the genre like Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly, Brian Freeman weaves obsession, sex, and revenge into a story that grips the reader with vivid characters and shocking plot twists from the first page to the last.
Lieutenant Jonathan Stride is suffering from an ugly case of déjà vu. For the second time in a year, a beautiful teenage girl has disappeared off the streets of Duluth, Minnesota—gone without a trace, like a bitter gust off Lake Superior. The two victims couldn’t be more different. First it was Kerry McGrath, bubbly, sweet sixteen. And now Rachel Deese, strange, sexually charged, a wild child. The media hounds Stride to catch a serial killer, and as the search carries him from the icy stillness of the northern woods to the erotic heat of Las Vegas, he must decide which facts are real and which are illusions. And Stride finds his own life changed forever by the secrets he uncovers. Secrets that stretch across time in a web of lies, death, and illicit desire. Secrets that are chillingly…immoral.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:
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The Baby Game
Randall Hicks: The Baby Game
Verlag: Wordslinger Press

Verlagstext:
New attorney Toby Dillon takes little in life seriously, except his tennis game. He’s a graduate of UCLA. The only problem is his UCLA stands for Uncle Charlie’s Law Academy. Maybe that explains why Toby’s office is the former storage room of a country club’s Pro Shop, which Toby barters for serving as the Assistant Tennis Pro. At least he owns a tie, even if it is a clip-on.

But beneath Toby’s wry view of life, and despite his attempts to hide it, is someone who truly likes to help people. So Toby’s legal specialty of adoptions serves him perfectly. His idyllic life changes, however, when his two best childhood friends, Brogan and Rita, now filmdom’s newest glamour couple, turn to Toby for help to adopt a baby. Although initially the adoption is the media’s feel good story of the year and Toby basks in his temporary fame, things change quickly when the baby is kidnapped.

When the expected ransom demand never arrives and the police turn up nothing, Toby and Brogan are left to try to find answers on their own. Initially, they think the baby’s birth mother is responsible, but suddenly she’s missing too, and their other suspects start turning up dead. They soon learn there’s more at stake than a kidnapping, and the answers may trace back to the childhood they shared – putting lives – and friendships, at risk.

Just when The Baby Game lulls you into thinking you are reading a fun, comic caper, you realize you are in the depths of an intricate mystery. It’s a classic all-the-clues-were-there-but-I-didn’t-see-them whodunit, with an incredible double-twist ending leaving you shocked, but smiling.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Dark Harbor
David Hosp: Dark Harbor
Verlag: Warner Books

Verlagstext:
Scott Finn worked his way out of Boston’s toughest neighborhood to become a rising star in the city’s most elite law firm. Now the street smarts that have haunted him are about to become his best means of survival.

On an ordinary Sunday night, the body of one of his closest colleagues-and former lover-is found floating in Boston Harbor, her heart surgically removed from her chest. The once beautiful and ambitious Natalie Caldwell appears to be the seventh victim of „Little Jack,“ the Jack-the-Ripper-style murderer terrorizing Boston. Police detective Linda Flaherty isn’t so sure. With Natalie’s death, Finn inherits a coveted, high-profile assignment that could clinch his career: one involving a terrorist train bombing. But as Finn learns more about the circumstances surrounding Natalie’s death, the fabric of the life he has created begins to tear. Suddenly he finds himself the prime suspect in her murder.

Finn needs to save himself, and the only way is to dig into the secrets of Natalie’s life. Filled with more twists-and more dangers-than he could ever have imagined, this case will lead Finn and Flaherty from the crime-ridden streets of Charlestown to Boston’s courtrooms and morgues, and from the gilded enclaves of the power brokers to the darkest recesses of a serial killer’s mind.

A tour de force impossible to predict or put down, Dark Harbor catapults David Hosp into the storytelling ranks of David Baldacci, Scott Turow, John Grisham, and John Sandford. Hosp captures his hometown from the inside out-and delivers a powerful debut thriller.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Cold Granite
Stuart MacBride: Cold Granite
Verlag: St. Martin’s Minotaur

Verlagstext:
Aberdeen, oil capital of Europe … Christmas is coming, cold, dark and wet, bringing death with it.

It’s DS Logan McRae’s first day back on the job after a year off on the sick, and it couldn’t get much worse. Four-year-old David Reid’s body is discovered in a ditch, strangled, mutilated and a long time dead. There’s a killer stalking the Granite City and the local media are baying for blood.

If that wasn’t enough, Logan also has to contend with a new boss, DI Insch, who doesn’t suffer fools gladly and thinks everyone’s a fool, and his own ex-girlfriend, the beautiful but chilly Isobel MacAlister, who also happens to be the chief pathologist. The only good news is WPC ‚Ball Breaker‘ Watson, Logan’s new guardian angel.

The dead are piling up in the morgue almost as fast as the snow on the streets, and Logan knows time is running out. More children are going missing. More are going to die. If Logan isn’t careful, he’s going to end up joining them.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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The Firemaker
Peter May: The Firemaker
Verlag: St. Martin’s Minotaur

Verlagstext:
Margaret Campbell, a Chicago forensic pathologist, has been invited by the Chinese government to teach at the Beijing police university. She has accepted the six-week assignment with misgivings but is desperate to escape a troubled life in America. Arriving in Beijing, she checks “nothing to declare” on the health declaration they gave her on the plane—nothing, that is, “except a broken heart and a wasted life, neither of which was contagious.”

She gets off to a bad start when her car knocks senior detective Li Yan off his bicycle. In a furious clash, he dresses her down in perfect English. But Li soon finds himself reintroduced to Margaret by his superiors when the newly promoted detective’s first case requires Margaret’s special expertise to identify a horribly burned corpse. Thrown together to track down the killer, Margaret and Li must bury their personal and cultural differences when they uncover a conspiracy that threatens not only their lives, but the lives of millions.

Anmerkung: „The Firemaker“ ist lt. amazon.de bereits 1999 im Verlag Coronet Books in englischer Übersetzung erschienen.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Best British Novel published in the U.K. in 2005

The Blood-Dimmed Tide
Rennie Airth: The Blood-Dimmed Tide
Verlag: Pan Macmillan
Deutsche Übersetzung: Orte der Finsternis, 2006
Verlag: Goldmann

Verlagstext:
It is 1932 and John Madden, former Scotland Yard Inspector, is now a farmer in the peaceful Surrey countryside. However his peace is about to be shattered, for when a young girl goes missing, it is he who discovers her disfigured body hidden in a wood. Disturbed by what he has seen he is convinced the killer has struck before . . .

When a second body is found, Madden’s instinct is proved right – there is a multiple killer at large. Allying himself with his old colleagues, and against the wishes of his anxious wife, he immerses himself in one more case, and his insights into the personality of the man they are seeking are soon borne out.

Self-taught in a world of secret agents, this psychopath is a master of reinvention who has been covering his tracks for many years. The investigation leads to Germany, where the Nazis are on the brink of power. The killer has so far eluded the German police. And the mutilated bodies he has left in his wake are just a shocking foretaste of the horrors to come . . .

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Lifeless
Mark Billingham: Lifeless
Verlag: Time Warner Paperbacks
Deutsche Übersetzung: In der Stunde des Todes, 2006
Verlag: Goldmann
Verlagstext:

To friends and enemies alike, it looks as though Tom Thorne’s career is on the skids. Depressed by the recent loss of his father and berated for seriously overstepping the mark on his last case, he’s been encouraged to take ‘gardening’ leave. For an ambitious detective – especially one without so much as a window box – it’s a fairly dire situation.

But not as dire as the situation for London’s homeless. Three men, sleeping rough on streets paved with anything but gold, have been found murdered – each victim kicked to death with a £20 note pinned to their chest. Were these men just random alcoholics, junkies and jetsam? Or were they targeted for a reason?

Thorne is perfectly placed to find out, and is seconded to the streets. Not as a policemen on the beat, but as one of life’s rejects. It fits: he looks the part – and feels it as well. In a harsh and harrowing netherworld, with its own rules and moral code, Thorne discovers the horrifying link between the homeless victims and the perpetrators of a fifteen year old atrocity. Those that know are saying nothing. But the word on these streets is that the killer is a cop. A policeman, it seems, was sniffing around long before Thorne came on the scene…

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Silence of the Grave
Arnaldur Indridason: Silence of the Grave
Verlag: Vintage
Deutsche Übersetzung: Todeshauch, 2004
Verlag: Lübbe

Verlagstext:
Building work in an expanding Reykjavík uncovers a shallow grave. Years before, this part of the city was all open hills, and Erlendur and his team hope this is a typical Icelandic missing person scenario; perhaps someone once lost in the snow, who has lain peacefully buried for decades. Things are never that simple. Whilst Erlendur struggles to hold together the crumbling fragments of his own family, his case unearths many other tales of family pain. The hills have more than one tragic story to tell: tales of failed relationships and heartbreak; of anger, domestic violence and fear; of family loyalty and family shame. Few people are still alive who can tell the story, but even secrets taken to the grave cannot remain hidden forever.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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A Good Day To Die
Simon Kernick: A Good Day To Die
Verlag: Bantam Press / Corgi Adult Books

Verlagstext:
From the beaches of the Philippines to the mean streets of London, a hunt for justice becomes a battle for survival.

When renegade ex-cop Dennis Milne stumbles upon information that could solve the brutal execution of his friend, he decides to return to the violent city he once called home, and hunt down the murderer. Milne arrives in a pre-Christmas London that is cold and hostile.

But he is no longer a policeman; no longer charged with upholding the law. And although his former colleagues don’t know he’s back, it soon becomes clear that there are people who do, and they’ll stop at nothing to get him out of the way… ‘Simon Kernick writes with his foot pressed hard on the pedal. Hang on tight!’ Harlan Coben ‘Great plots, great characters, great action and some spectacular violence. Simon Kernick might just be the best of Britain’s new-wave crime writers’ Lee Child ‘Kernick is no longer a writer to watch; he’s an author to be reckoned with’ Mark Billingham.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Field of Blood
Denise Mina: Field Of Blood
Verlag: Little Brown and Company

Verlagstext:
The murder of three-year-old Brian Wilcox is the saddest story to hit the newspaper in years. Even Paddy Meehan, the new copygirl at the Scottish Daily News, feels the tremors it sends through the jaded newsroom. It’s the kind of once-in-a-generation crime that changes a city’s landscape-the kind that can make or break a journalist’s career.

And Paddy could use a break: her battle for stature in the men’s club of the newsroom is going nowhere. So when she discovers a personal connection to one of the young boys implicated in the killing, her job prospects look bright-but at the cost of her family’s trust. Loyalty and ambition are at war only briefly, until the secret explodes into public view in the worst possible way. Under siege in the newspaper office and in her own home, Paddy realizes that the only way to make amends is to clear the boy’s name, when he’s been all but convicted by her colleagues in the media. On her own, and then with the help of a charmingly disheveled young beat reporter, Paddy begins an investigation that reveals secret allegiances and lines of deception that go deep into the past-and that could spell even more horrible crimes in the future if Paddy doesn’t get it right.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Lost
Michael Robotham:Lost
Verlag: Time Warner Books

Verlagstext:
On a cold London night, homicide detective Vincent Ruiz is fished out of the Thames with a bullet in his leg and no memory of the circumstances surrounding the shooting. In his pocket is a photograph of Mickey Carlyle, a seven-year-old girl kidnapped three years before and presumed dead. It’s anybody’s guess what Ruiz was up to—especially when a blood-spattered boat discovered nearby makes it clear that Ruiz was not the sole casualty. But with Mickey’s killer convicted and behind bars, no one wants the case reopened. Ruiz’s only hope of unraveling the puzzle is to retrace his steps and re-create the night of the shooting. Under investigation by his colleagues and accused of faking amnesia, Ruiz turns to Joe O’Loughlin, hoping that the psychologist can help unlock his memory. Step by step, the pieces come together, revealing a twisted trail of grief, vengeance, and the search for redemption.
A riveting thriller, Lost combines a fast-paced plot with searing insights into human psychology.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Best Thriller

Company Man
Joseph Finder: Company Man
Verlag: St. Martin’s Press
Deutsche Übersetzung: Jobkiller, 2006
Verlag: Heyne

Verlagstext:
Nick Conover is the CEO of a major corporation, a local boy made good, and once the most admired man in a company town. But that was before the layoffs. When a faceless stalker menaces his family, Nick, a single father of two since the recent death of his wife, finds that the gated community they live in is no protection at all. He decides to take action, a tragedy ensues– and immediately his life spirals out of control…

At work, Nick begins to uncover a conspiracy against him, involving some of his closest colleagues. He doesn’t know who he can trust—including the brilliant, troubled new woman in his life. Meanwhile, his actions are being probed by a homicide detective named Audrey Rhimes, a relentless investigator with a strong sense of morality — and her own, very personal reason for pursuing Nick Conover.

With everything he cares about in the balance, Nick discovers strengths he never knew he had. His enemies don’t realize how hard he’ll fight to save his company. And nobody knows how far he’ll go to protect his family.

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Consent to kill
Vince Flynn: Consent To Kill
Verlag: Simon & Schuster / Atria Books

Verlagstext:
For years, Mitch Rapp’s bold actions have saved the lives of countless Americans. He has killed with impunity, tortured to avert disaster, and shown he will do whatever it takes to prevent terrorists from fulfilling their bloody wishes. His battles for peace and freedom have made him a hero to many, and an enemy to countless more. In the tangled, duplicitous world of espionage, there are those, even among America’s allies, who want to see Mitch Rapp eliminated. They have decided the time has come.

Now, the powerful father of a dead terrorist demands vengeance in its simplest form — an eye for an eye, and Rapp instantly becomes the target of an international conspiracy. This time, he must use all of his vigilance and determination to save himself before he can turn his fury on those who have dared to betray him.

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The Inside Ring
Michael Lawson: The Inside Ring
Verlag: HarperCollins
Deutsche Ausgabe: Der Luchs, angekündigt für August 2006
Verlag: Blanvalet

Verlagstext:
From a bluff overlooking Georgia’s untamed Chattooga River, an assassin fires three shots. The President of the United States is wounded; his best friend and a Secret Service agent are killed. Two days later, a man in Landover, Maryland, commits suicide and in the man’s home is overwhelming evidence that he was responsible for the assassination attempt.

General Andy Banks, the Secretary of Homeland Security, is nursing a guilty conscience. Only days before the assassination attempt on the President, Banks had received a note with a dire warning: “Eagle One is in danger. Cancel Chattooga River. The inside ring has been compromised. This is not a joke.” The message—on Secret Service stationery—was signed “An agent in the wrong place.” Banks immediately passed the note on to Secret Service Director Patrick Donnelly, who proceeded to ignore it.

Even after the assassin is found dead, Banks is determined to dig a little deeper. He turns to Speaker of the House John Fitzgerald Mahoney. The Speaker has a guy—an under-the-radar, go-to guy he uses for things like this—things he can’t afford to have connected to his office. The guy is Joe DeMarco, an honest lawyer with a sordid family history.

After one meeting with Banks, DeMarco realizes he’s in way over his head. But Mahoney finds the prospect of taking down Donnelly irresistible and sets DeMarco on a trail that twists through the Secret Service, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security and snakes all the way back to one of the more enduring mysteries of the twentieth century.

Brimming with suspense, authenticity, and wit, The Inside Ring marks the debut of a major new talent and introduces a cast of intriguing characters with many more cases ahead.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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7 deadly wonders
Matthew Reilly: Seven Deadly Wonders
Verlag: Simon & Schuster

Verlagstext:
The Golden Capstone that once stood atop the Great Pyramid at Giza offered protection from the global flooding and scorching sun that occurs every 4,500 years due to the dreaded Tartarus Rotation solar event. All that changed when Alexander the Great broke the Capstone into seven pieces and hid them in the greatest structures of the age: the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Now, in 2006, the Tartarus Rotation is about to come again, and it is said that whoever places the Capstone on the pyramid at the time of the Rotation will gain absolute earthly power for the next 1,000 years. Everyone wants the Capstone — from the greatest, most powerful countries on earth to gangs of evil terrorists — and one daring coalition of eight small nations who think that no single nation should possess such an awesome power source. And so this stalwart group, led by Australian supersoldier Captain Jack West Jr., enters the fray, on a global battlefield filled with booby-trapped mines, stupendous Ancient Wonders, gigantic evil forces, and an adventure beyond imagining.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Map of Bones
James Rollin: Map Of Bones
Verlag: HarperCollins
Deutsche Ausgabe: Feuermönche, 2006
Verlag: Blanvalet

Verlagstext:
The crime is inhumanly cruel with horrific consequences both unthinkable and inevitable. During a service at a cathedral in Cologne, Germany, a band of armed intruders dressed in monks‘ robes unleash a nightmare of blood and terror, ruthlessly gunning down worshippers and clergy alike. The killers haven’t come for the church’s gold and valuable artwork, but for a priceless treasure secreted within: the preserved bones of the Three Magi who once came to pay homage to a newborn savior. As they flee the carnage they have wrought, they carry a prize that could reshape the world.

The Vatican is in turmoil, and Lieutenant Rachel Verona of Rome’s carabinieri is assigned to lead the investigation. But no ordinary police organization alone can deal with the bizarre theft and massacre, and SIGMA Force — an elite covert arm of the U.S. Defense Department — is called in under the command of Grayson Pierce. New to SIGMA, Pierce assembles a crack team of scientific and Special Forces operatives to unravel the mystery of the stolen bones, and together they set out on a twisting trail through a labyrinth of clues and dark revelations that carry them to the sites of the Seven Wonders of the World — and to the doorstep of the mystical and terrifying Dragon Court.

An ancient, secret fraternity of alchemists and assassins, the master-adepts of the Dragon Court have plans for the sacred remains that will alter the future of humankind in devastating ways that only the maddest of zealots could desire — and they will let nothing and no one stand in their way. Suddenly Pierce, Verona, and the SIGMA team are the hunted as well as the hunters, forced to use every skill they possess to survive as they follow the bones to the ultimate confrontation between darkness and light — in a lost place of history where science and religion will unite to unleash a horror not seen since the beginning of time.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Private Wars
Greg Rucka: Private Wars
Verlag: Bantam Press

Verlagstext:
Tara Chace was once the most dangerous woman alive. And now that the international spy network thinks she’s as good as dead, she’s even more dangerous than ever.

Only one thing could coax Tara back into the game: a chance to vindicate herself. The torture and execution of Dina Malikov has set off a cutthroat grab for power in strategically crucial Uzbekistan. Tara’s job is to slip into the country and extract Dina’s pro-Western husband and their young son before they are murdered–by his ruthless sister.

But there are a couple of wild cards in the deck, including a missing mobile weapons system that can bring down a commercial airliner, not to mention powerful political careers. Now, as she vanishes into hostile territory with a man who may or may not be what he seems, Tara is going to find out that the war on terror is more terrifying than anyone knows. For in a battle where betrayal is a conventional weapon, loyalty is a weakness, and anyone–even a child–is a legitimate target: it’s every spy, every woman, for herself.

Combine a thriller that defies every expectation with a heroine for whom nothing is out of bounds, and the result is Private Wars, a suspense novel so explosively realistic, it should be classified.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Best Paperback Novel
The James Deans
Reed Farrel Coleman: The James Deans
Verlag: Plume Books

Verlagstext:
It’s 1983 and Reaganomics is in full swing. But beneath the facade of junk bonds and easy money, New York remains a gritty metropolis offering Nirvana with one hand and desolation with the other. Moe Prager, ex-NYPD cop turned reluctant P.I. is too busy reeling from a family tragedy to see what’s coming. He’s about to be sucked into a case that might deliver him what he’s always wanted or plunge him into purgatory.

Two years earlier, Moira Heaton, a young intern for an up-and-coming politico, vanished without a trace. Although there is no evidence supporting her boss’s involvement, rumors and whispers have conspired to stall his once-promising career. Now, in a last- ditch effort to clear his name, state senator Steven Brightman, with the clout of a wealthy backer, enlists Moe’s help. With twists and turns galore and Moe’s inimitable voice, “The James Deans” is an absorbing page-turner that will add to the burgeoning reputation of one of today’s most promising writers.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:
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Six Bad Things
Charlie Huston: Six Bad Things
Verlag: Ballantine Books
Deutsche Ausgabe: Der Gejagte, 2005
Verlag: Heyne

Verlagstext:
Hank Thompson is living off the map in Mexico with a bagful of cash that the Russian mafia wants back and many, many secrets. So when a Russian backpacker shows up in town asking questions, Hank tries to play it cool. But he knows the jig is up when the backpacker mentions the money . . . and the family Hank left behind. Suddenly Hank’s in a desperate race to get to his parents in California before anyone can harm them. Along the way he’ll face Federales and Border Patrol, mafiosi and vigilantes, extortionists and drug dealers, and a couple of psychotic surf bums with an ax to grind. From the golden beaches of the Yucatán to the seedy strip clubs of Vegas, Charlie Huston opens a door to the squalid underworld of crime and corruption–and invites the reader to live it in the extreme.

Englische bestellen bei:
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nights_child.jpg
Maureen Jennings: Night’s Child
Verlag: McCelland & Stewart

Verlagstext:
After thirteen-year-old Agnes Fisher faints at school, her teacher, the young and still idealistic Amy Slade, is shocked to discover in the girl’s desk two stereoscopic photographs. One is of a dead baby in its cradle, and on the back Agnes has scrawled a terrible message. Worse, the other photograph is of Agnes in a pose captioned “What Mr. Newly Wed Really Wants.” When Agnes doesn’t show up at school the next day, her teacher takes the two photographs to the police. Murdoch, furious at the sexual exploitation of such a young girl, resolves to find the photographer – and to put him behind bars.

Night’s Child is the fifth novel in Maureen Jennings’s highly praised historical mystery series. Two of the stories have already been adapted for the small screen, in acclaimed movies aired by the Bravo network. Another four movies are in development – good news for Jennings’s fast-growing number of avid fans.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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now you see me
Rochelle Krich: Now You See Me
Verlag: Ballantine Books

Verlagstext:
For feisty Los Angeles crime reporter Molly Blume, life is good. She is newly married (to the adoring and adorable Rabbi Zack), and her latest true-crime book is a hot seller. However, when an overardent fan’s attentions arouse Molly’s suspicion, her thoughts turn uneasily to stalkers.

But the fan, Reuben Jastrow, swears that he desperately needs Molly’s help in finding his eighteen-year-old daughter, Hadassah, who has run away from home to be with a man she met on the Internet. Molly hesitantly agrees–and immediately has regrets. For Reuben hasn’t told her the whole truth. The more Molly looks for clues to the missing girl’s fate, the more she wonders: Is Hadassah a random victim of a predator, or is the girl a pawn in a scheme of revenge against her family?

It’s a long, deadly path that stretches before Molly, a path mined with hidden passions and festering secrets. And it ends with a final twist and an unnerving truth: What we don’t see can lead to danger . . . and tragedy.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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now you see me
Mary Jane Maffini: The Dead Don’t Get Out Much
Verlag: Napoleon Publishing

Verlagstext:
Remembrance Day is a proud day for Camilla’s good friend Mrs. Violet Parnell, one of five thousand Canadian women who went overseas during World War II. But the day after Remembrance Day, Mrs. Parnell vanishes. Camilla, with only a few letters and documents to guide her, follows her friend to Tuscany, chasing through historic towns, across high promontories, and along steep mountain roads. Vanishing partisans and Allied aircraft crash sites keep Camilla hopping as she tries to find Mrs. P before someone with a deadly serious reason to keep the past hidden finds her first.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Inside Out
John Ramsey Miller: Inside Out
Verlag: Dell Publishing

Verlagstext:
The Justice Department is hunting Sam Manelli, the godfather of one of America’s biggest crime families. Now an execution gone bad hands the government the ammunition they need. But they can’t do it without Dylan Devlin, the sociopathic hit man whose testimony will put Manelli away for good. Haunted by the crash that killed his wife and blinded his son, U.S. Marshal Winter Massey knows that safety is only an illusion. Now a man who couldn’t protect his own family has to keep a killer and his wife alive—at any cost.

But when the government’s witness protection program explodes in a horrifying hail of bullets and blood, Massey knows he’s up against a killer who can go anywhere, be anyone, and strike at any time. For Massey is about to be blindsided by an adversary more lethal than the mob, more dangerous than any psychopath—and he won’t see his killer coming…until it’s too late.

Englische Ausgabe bestellen bei:

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Best Short Story
Steve Hockensmith- „The Big Road“
Peter Lovesey- „Needle Match“
Nancy Pickard- „There Is No Crime on Easter Island“
Joan Richter- „Love and Death in Africa“
Tom Savage- „The Method in Her Madness“

Alle nominierten Short Stories können auf der Internetseite von Deadly Pleasures gelesen werden.