Harper Collins Crime Tour ~ meet the authors! You could win a copy of one of these fantastic new titles from Harper Collins just by ansering the following questions:

1. What was the name of Michael Marshall's first novel - also available from Harper Collins?

2. What are the names of the two detectives in Stephen Booth's first novel, THE BLACK DOG?

3. What is the name of the heroine in Carla banks' FOREST OF SOULS?

You'll find the answers to all these questions on the Harper Collins website. E-mail your answers to me using the E-mail link on the menu - you could win a copy of one of these five titles! Now read about this fantastic, unique tour by the authors.....

This February and March many of our key Crime authors are slipping out of the chains tying them to their desk and are on the run across the country. With the helping hand of the Reading Partnership, libraries across the land are offering themselves as safehouses where these key suspects can pledge their case. For those who would like to witness this extraordinary event please find below the expected location and arrival dates of these fugitives. For further details on their individual cases, evidence and the reward bounty please read on.

FEBRUARY
22nd       NUNEATON 7.30        Nuneaton Library, Church Street, Nuneaton, CV11 4DR    02476 326753
23rd         NOTTINGHAM 7:00         Central Library, Angel Rd, Nottingham, NG1 6HP   0115 9152824
24th         HULL 7:30         Central Lending Library, Albion Street, Hull, HU1 3TF    01482 210 000
MARCH
11th          SWANSEA (Solo Event with Mike Marshall) 10am-4pm Dylan Thomas Centre, Somerset Place, Swansea, SA1 1RR 01792 637179
14th         SOUTHAMPTON 7:30         Guildhall Lecture Theatre, Civic Centre, Commercial Rd, SO14 7LW 02380 832 664
15th         EXETER 7:00         Central Library, Castle Street, Exeter, EX4 3PQ 01392 384 201
Alternatively please contact us for further information.

THE BOUNTY
CRIME TIME magazine have offered to publish 4 short stories selected from applicants who have attended the events. The winners will have their story published in the May issue and will also win a copy of all the suspects novels.  A lucky runner up will win a year’s free subscription to CRIME TIME magazine.
THE SUSPECTS
MICHAEL MARSHALL
BLOOD OF ANGELS
Notorious serial killer the Upright Man has escaped from prison and the FBI have no idea where he is. His brother suspects he may have been aided by The Straw Men, but apart from his girlfriend Nina and discredited FBI agent John Zandt no one believes they exist. The Upright Man was broken out for a reason. The Straw Men are planning something new and terrible.
‘The taut pace, crisp style and ever-present sense of menace are those of a top-drawer thriller.’ Telegraph
Michael Marshall has worked on radio, TV and feature films. Blood of Angels is his sixth published novel, and his short stories have featured in many magazines and collections. His groundbreaking first novel, Only Forward, won the Philip K. Dick and August Derleth awards; its critically acclaimed successors, Spares and One of Us, have both been optioned by major Hollywood studios. Most recently The Straw Men and The Lonely Dead both reached number two in the Sunday Times bestseller chart. He lives in North London with his wife and two cats.

CARLA BANKS
THE FOREST OF SOULS

Helen told no one of her research into the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe, but she has paid for it with her life. Her closest friend, Faith, finds herself retracing the dead woman’s steps. Everything hinges on the memory of a 75-year-old, and a terrifying journey into the mass graves of the Kurapaty Forest.
'A breakthrough book... watch out for Carla Banks.’ Observer
Carla Banks grew up in a scholarly family. Her father, an eastern-european cavalry officer, came to the UK as a wartime refugee where he met and married her half-Irish mother. He told his children stories of his childhood in a country that had been destroyed by the war. Carla Banks has been an academic for most of her working life and is fascinated by the power of language. She lives in the north of England and now writes full time.

JAMES MCGEE
RATCATCHER
As the most resourceful of this elite band of investigators, The Bow Street Runners, Matthew Hawkwood was surprised to be assigned the case – even if it did involve the murder and mutilation of a naval courier. But as the case unfolds the true agenda behind the robbery begins to emerge. The stolen naval dispatch pouch held details of a French plot that, if successful, will send the Royal Navy's entire fleet scurrying to port in terror, leaving Napoleon to rule the waves.
An army brat, James McGee spent his childhood in Gibraltar, Germany and Northern Ireland. He has worked in banking, sales, newspapers, and the airline industry, but for the last fifteen years he has been a bookseller. His interest in the Napoleonic Wars dates back to his schooldays, when he read C. S. Forrester’s The Gun. Nowadays resides in East Sussex.

STEPHEN BOOTH
THE DEAD PLACE
Bones where there should be none and a chilling warning of an imminent killing lead Peak District detectives Ben Cooper and Diane Fry to a crypt full of skulls on the sixth novel from award winning Stephen Booth.
‘A leading light of British crime writing.’ Guardian
Stephen Booth is the author of five previous Peak District crime novels, including One Last Breath and Blood on the Tongue. His novels have won a variety of awards and have been translated into eight languages.

ALEX BARCLAY
DARKHOUSE
Emotionally scarred from a kidnapping case gone horribly wrong Detective Joe Lucchesi  moves from New York to Ireland with his teenage son and beautiful wife Anna, hoping that the different pace of life will erase his traumatic memories. But when his son's girlfriend goes missing, the small town they live in is held in the grip of fear. Then a body is found in the woods, and the ranks begin to close. Is Joe's grim past about to catch up with him?
'Darkhouse is a terrific debut by an exciting new writer’ The Independent on Sunday
Alex Barclay is the author of Darkhouse, a dark and gritty thriller set in the U.S. and in Ireland. Alex studied journalism at university and went on to pursue a successful career as a journalist and copywriter. She is published in the U.K. by Harper Collins and in the U.S. by Bantam Dell, who are releasing Darkhouse in hardback in May ’06. On publication in the UK, it went straight into The Sunday Times hardback top ten bestseller list.