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Winter Preview 2010/11

The Winter Preview is a bit late this year. The Hungry Detective raided the petty cash at the office and spent the Christmas Holiday in the UK. Besides shoveling, Ms. Hungry Detective and I have been trying to keep up with Oscar bait in the theater.

The end of the year has come and gone, but I should have my Best of 2010 up in a few days. That will be a neat trick. Frequent readers of the blog know that I have been at a low ebb. Sorry about that. I'm going to stop beating myself up about it pretty soon. For now you should check out these books. The Good Lord willing so will I.

THE SENTRY - Robert Crais - January 11
Third in the Joe Pike books.  I'll be honest, THE FIRST RULE was not nearly as compelling as THE WATCHMAN. Does that mean I'll be passing up this latest? Hardly.

WORLD'S GREATEST SLUETH - Steve Hockensmith - January 18
Love the setting, love the character, love the light comic touch. This is a pretty reliable series, and one I look forward to every year.

AGENT X - Noah Boyd - February 1
Here is the follow up to one of last year's notable debuts. THE BRICKLAYER generated a good deal of buzz. It was a book I enjoyed if not to the extent of everyone else.

EYES OF THE INNOCENT - Brad Parks - February 1
I am a sucker for the journalist as crime fighter. This is Mr. Park's second book, after last year's FACES OF THE GONE. I'm looking forward to reading both.

ONE TRUE SENTENCE - Craig McDonald - February 15
Mr. MacDonald is one of those authors. I'm in a book store or library. I pull his book off the shelf. I caress them for a moment.... and then put them back. Stupid. Lets see if i can correct that.

TWICE A SPY - Keith Thomson - March 8
ONCE A SPY was a book with a lot of heart. I found the spy story to be pleasingly implausible. The characters of Charlie and Clark Drummond have a nice interchange.

THE TROUBLED MAN - Henning Mankell - March 29
The return of Kurt Wallendar is about all you need to say here. The progenitor of Nordic Crime Fiction is back to see what all the this Steig Larsson nonsense is about.

Other Books of Note:
Dead Zero - Stephen Hunter; A LONELY DEATH - Charles Todd; THE BORDER LORDS - T. Jefferson Parker; NIGHT VISION - Randy Wayne White; COLD WIND - C.J. Box; ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING - Jasper Fforde; THE PAYBACK - Simon Kernick
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