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Winter Preview - 2007/08

In an attempt to maintain an earlier promise this is THD's Winter Preview 2007/08. BooYah?!

The thing is I have been at a low ebb as it concerns new releases. The Preview has always been about expanding past what we at THD are interested in to books and authors that tap into the zeitgeist of what is new, fresh, and/or interesting in crime fiction.

Part of this low ebb is due to the fact the 2008 release dates seem to be rather sparse, but as 2008 dates firm up I am sure that my general 2008 and Spring 2008 Preview will be a bit more expansive. Saying all of that now leads me into a few books that might be of interest to you and me..... but especially you.

Red Mandarin Dress - Qiu Xiaolong
Here is the fifth in the Detective Chen Cao series. I read his his first, Death of a Red Heroine, and loved it. Sadly I have never read any of the following books. I take only partial blame for this as I feel that poor distribution is also at the root of the problem.

Hell for the Holidays - Chris Grabenstein
Second book in this second series from Chris Grabenstein. For as much as I love his Ceepak series I have been strangely uninterested in these Holiday themed books. That and the fact the the book(s) appear simultaneously in trade and hardback editions with the trade edition only available at my local bookstore. I should purchase both as an early Christmas present to myself. Yeah that's right I just wrote 'Christmas' present..... not 'Holiday' present!

The Crimes of Doctor Watson - John H. Watson MD./Duane Swierczynski
No brainer purchase here... or (cough) Christmas present (cough). I love both these authors' work. It is about time they collaborated.

The Nameless Night - GM Ford
I think Ford's Leo Waterman character was one of the best and most interesting characters out there, but his Frank Corso character has never really connected to me to the extent that I have not even read the last two novel in that series. This is a stand-alone.

Slip of the Knife - Denise Mina
Need to read this author as we are recommending this title purely on reputation. To that end, THD is making this author their next read. The UK edition is titled The Last Breath.

The Black Dove - Stephen Hockensmith
Here is the third book in this Western themed series. THD has read the previous two efforts and felt that they just missed being really great books. Hardly matters as I am in for this third book come h-e-double hockey sticks or high water.

Good selection here. I believe that the first three books on this list have already hit the stands, so more important than reading these books or authors is buying these books from these authors.

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