Alison Bruce’s DC Gary Goodhew Novels: “No Tea-Sipping Academic Mystery”

Alison Bruce is the author of the DC Gary Goodhew crime novels set in Cambridge, England. In the series opener, the 2009 Cambridge Blue, Goodhew, an idealistic 25-year-old, has been recently promoted to detective constable at Cambridge’s Parkside Station and is eager to prove himself. He gets a chance when a young woman’s body is found atop a heap of trash bags. Publishers Weekly called this an “assured debut.”

The second book in the series, The Siren, finds Goodhew once again on the trail of a killer in a “decidedly edgy British procedural that will appeal most to the hard-boiled crowd,” according to a Booklist contributor who also noted, “this is no tea-sipping academic mystery.” Further praise for this series installment came from Publishers Weekly: “Bruce’s superior prose elevates this above many other contemporary British police procedurals.”

Bruce’s third in the Goodhew series, The Calling, is due out this August.

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From the Mean Streets of Chicago to Lunar Noir: The Mystery Novels of Kris Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning writer of mysteries, fantasy, science fiction, and romance, with scores of novels to her credit, both in series format and stand-alones, as well as how-to’s for the freelance writer. Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction. Rusch is the former editor of the prestigious Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and before that she and Dean Wesley Smith started and ran Pulphouse Publishing, a science fiction and mystery press in Eugene. She lives and works on the Oregon Coast.

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Rock and Roll to Die For: Deborah Grabien’s Kinkaid Chronicles

San Francisco-based author and musician Deborah Grabien blends musical elements and mystery in many of her novels. The author of the Haunted Ballads series, Grabien mixes historical sleuthing and old English ballads in books featuring musician Ringan Laine and his talented significant other, Penny Wintercraft-Hawkes. That five-book series began in 2003 with The Weaver and the Factory Maid, and concluded with New Slain Knight in 2007. Publishers Weekly found the latter work “enthralling,” while Booklist declared,  “Grabien once again creates a fascinating thriller by blending traditional folk music and lore with elements of the supernatural.”

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Think Mr. Darcy with a James Bond Edge: The Sebastian St. Cyr Novels of C.S. Harris

A former university professor, Candice Proctor writes the Sebastian St. Cyr Regency mystery series under the name of C.S. Harris and thrillers as one half of C.S. Graham. She has also written historical romances as Candice Proctor.

Perhaps best known for her Sebastian St. Cyr series, however, the author brings Regency England alive with her St. Cyr–Viscount Devlin, heir to an earldom, a disillusioned Army officer, and a latter day knight errant. As Proctor notes on her homepage: “Think Mr. Darcy with a James Bond edge…” Publishers Weekly, reviewing the first in this popular series, What Angels Fear, called it a “riveting debut [that] delivers a powerful blend of political intrigue and suspense.” Booklist concurred, dubbing this first series installment a “fast-paced pre-Regency mystery” and prophesying: “Expect to hear more from Harris’ troubled but compelling antihero.”

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