The Cemetery of the Forgotten Books

The Prisoner of Heaven, the brand new novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, joins his previous books The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel’s Game which revolve around the Sempere & Sons bookshop in Barcelona. It begins one year after the close of The Shadow of the Wind when a mysterious stranger enters the shop, looking for a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo.

The blurb reads: Barcelona, ​​1957. Daniel Sempere and his friend Fermin, the heroes of The Shadow of the Wind , are back on a new adventure to face the greatest challenge of their lives. Just when everything begins to smile, a disturbing character visits the Sempere’s bookshop and threatens to reveal a terrible secret that has been buried for two decades in the dark memory of the city. When knowing the truth, Daniel realises that his destiny leads inexorably to face the greatest of the shadows: the one that is growing inside him. (My free translation).

The Prisoner of Heaven has just been released in Spain, the English language version will be out in the UK on 21/06/2012.

See additional information at Carlos Ruiz Zafón official website (in English).

2012 International Dagger Speculation Update

Karen at Euro Crime has updated the list of translated crime novels published between June 2011 and May 2012, the period of eligibility, HERE. My objective is to keep track of the ones I’ve read and highlight the ones I’m more interested to read before the shortlist is announced.

Read so far:

• Ernesto Mallo – Sweet Money
• Johan Theorin – The Quarry
• Gianrico Carofiglio – Temporary Perfections
• Eduardo Mendoza – The Olive Labyrinth
• Petros Markaris – Basic Shareholder
• Arnaldur Indridason – Outrage 
• Deon Meyer – Trackers

On my TBR:

• Jørn Lier Horst – Dregs 
• K O Dahl – Lethal Investments
• Guillermo Orsi – Holy City

I intend to read them soon

On my wishlist:

• Andrea Camilleri – The Track of Sand
• Sissel-Jo Gazan – The Dinosaur Feather
• Jan Costin Wagner – The Winter of the Lions
• Thomas Enger – Burned
• Karin Fossum – The Caller
• Asa Larsson – Until Thy Wrath be Past
• Kjell Eriksson – The Hand That Trembles
• Kjell Eriksson – The Princess of Burundi
• Hakan Nesser – The Unlucky Lottery
• Friis & Kaaberbol – The Boy in the Suitcase
• Gunnar Staalesen – Cold Hearts
• Jussi Adler-Olsen – Disgrace (aka The Pheasant Killers)
• Jo Nesbo – Phantom
• Asa Larsson – The Black Path
• Hakan Nesser – Hour of the Wolf
• Andrea Camilleri – The Potter’s Field

The Pheasant Killers – Los chicos que cayeron en la trampa

Original title Fasandræberne (2008) was released last September under the Spanish  title Los chicos que cayeron en la trampa (Maeva, 2011) translated by Nicolás de Miguel. You can check HERE the information from the Spanish publisher (in Spanish). This is the second volume in Department Q series. The rest of the series, to my knowledge, is made up by the first in the series Kvinden i buret/The Woman in the Cage aka Mercy/La mujer que arañaba las paredes, and  Flaskepost fra P/Message in a Bottle/El mensaje que llegó en una botella. The last one will be released in Spain by mid-January 2012.

There is additional information about The Pheasant Killers at Jussi Adler-Olsen official webpage HERE (in English) and at the Foreign Rights section of JP/Politikens Forlagshus HERE (in English).

I trust this information may be of your interest.

Con el agua al cuello – Neck-deep in Water

Con el agua al cuello (Tusquets, 2011) –Neck-deep in Water– the seventh book in Commissar Costas Haritos series by Greek author Petros Markaris was released last month in Spain. Originally published in 2010, the original title is Ληξιπρόθεσμα Δάνεια.

Synopsis: A hot Sunday in the summer of 2010, Commissar Haritos attends the wedding of his daughter Katerina, this time in the Church and with musical fanfare. The next day, shortly after his arrival at headquarters, he is informed of the murder of Zisimópulos Nikitas, a former bank manager, his throat sliced with a sharp weapon. The gruesome murder coincides with an anonymous campaign someone has taken against the banks, encouraging citizens to boycott financial institutions and do not pay their debts and mortgages. The truth is that Greece, on the verge of bankruptcy, is going through a very critical moment, and people do not hesitate to take the streets to complain against cuts in wages and pensions. To make things worse, Stazakos, the Chief of the Anti-Terrorist Squad, holds that the killing of Zisimópulos could be the work of terrorists. Haritos disagrees with that hypothesis but he will have to make do with his two assistants to deal with a murderer whose crimes have only just begun. (My free translation).

Tusquets editores

The Four Seasons are Seven

The seventh instalment in Padura’s book series featuring Mario Conde, have just been published in Spain. La cola de la serpiente (Tusquets, 2011) –The Tail of the Snake–.

The publisher blurb reads: Few streets almost in ruins surrounded with debris and criminals, is what is left from the old Chinese Quarter of Havana. When Conde, a former policeman who now spends his time trading second hand books, enters, he cannot help but remember when he was in this exotic and rough corner of the city many years before, in 1989. It all turned out from the request of Lieutenant Patricia Chion, an irresistible woman, that was seeking his help in an strange case: the murder of Pedro Cuang, a lonely old man who was found hanged with a finger amputee and with a circle and two arrows engraved with a knife in his chest. Santeria (witchcraft)  rituals forced them to make inquiries in other spheres of the city. But el Conde found unexpected links, secret businesses and a story of sacrifice and misfortunes that brought back to light the hidden truth of many Asian immigrant families. As the Chinese expression goes he had to find the tail of the snake to get to the head. (My free translation).

Tusquets editores