Police Thriller. Someone is sending London Detective Inspector Tom Thorne anonymous text messages, but instead of spam, he's receiving photographs of dead men. First it was a week-old corpse, then a much more recent murder victim. Once Thorne's pieced together what links the two, it's not long before he figures out who's behind the killing spree...but catching the highly motivated killer isn't that simple. When a friend appears to be the next target in the killer's crosshairs, Thorne must weigh what's right against what's legal. The 7th in this British series, Death Message was originally published in England; the 8th, Bloodline, is already available there.

Noir Suspense. After three years in jail, Mitchell has drifted back into the low-level London street life he remembers, though he's determined to never live behind bars again. When he gets a jack-of-all-trades job for an aging--but still beautiful--former actress, it seems as though things might be going right for him. But it's hard to leave a violent past behind, and it's made more difficult by the increasingly complicated relationship he builds with his employer. First published in England in 2001, this dark twist on the classic film Sunset Boulevard is soon to be a movie in its own right, starring Colin Farrell and Keira Knightley.

Noir Suspense. For fans of the tense South Africa-set thrillers by Deon Meyer or Roger Smith, this dark novel by Sam Cole (a pseudonym for author Mike Nicol and newcomer Joanne Hichens) will hit the spot. The two partners of PI firm Mendes & Saldana are hired for two separate jobs--one is to find the people responsible for robbing an abalone farm, the other to trail a cheating husband. But the two cases are connected in a dangerous fashion, as kidnapping, gun battles, and the bodies of street kids soon prove. Chaotic, gripping, and volatile, this debut (and likely series opener) was first published in South Africa under the name Out to Score.

Thriller. If you're into cold-weather crime, the influx of Scandinavian thrillers over the last few years (such as Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) no doubt has you looking for more new authors to discover. Though Box 21 isn't the first by Anders Roslund and Börge Hellström, it's only their second to be published in the U.S. Featuring a large cast of characters, including two Lithuanian girls forced to work as sex slaves in Sweden, a police officer and his institutionalized wife, a junkie, and a truly vicious mobster, this "taut and nuanced thriller" (Publishers Weekly) will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

Thriller. Two years ago, corporate consultant Ben Forsberg's wife was killed on their honeymoon, and he's never truly recovered. But when an assassination halfway around the world goes disastrously wrong, this ordinary man is framed, picked up by Homeland Security on suspicion of murder, rescued by a covert-ops agent from another agency, and thrown into non-stop action as the two men fight to uncover the truth. If you're looking for a read that won't let up, try this latest from Jeff Abbott, who keeps the pace racing, the bullets flying--and your pulse pounding.

Suspense Fiction. Reclusive British veterinarian Clara Benning secludes herself from people as much as possible, preferring the company of animals. But when the residents of her isolated Dorset village undergo a series of snake attacks--in some cases by lethal snakes from the distant corners of the globe--Clara is forced to come out of her shell. There's clearly a human hand behind the appearance of the snakes, and Clara teams up with hunky Assistant Chief Constable Matt Hoare to roust out the killer who seems to have settled in Dorset.

Suspense Fiction. This is the 3rd novel to feature DI Jack Caffery, but police diver Phoebe "Flea" Marley is as much the star of the show as the burned-out detective, who has transferred to Bristol from London. It all starts with Flea's discovery of a human hand in the Bristol harbor--one that, she believes, may have been amputated while its owner was still alive. As Flea and Caffery search for the victim, they follow a trail that takes them into the dark depths of Bristol's underworld, where body parts are sold for use in ancient rituals. Violent and at times horrific, this novel is nevertheless "completely gripping" (Booklist).

Legal Thriller. Charlie Marsh was a prison inmate who saved a guard's life, was freed, and reinvented himself as a successful self-help guru. That comfy lifestyle came to a crashing halt when he killed his lover's husband and fled the U.S. for Batanga, an African country with no extradition treaty with the U.S. There, Charlie is befriended by the ruling dictator...until Charlie sleeps with one of his wives. Fleeing once more--thinking that the U.S. legal system will be kinder to him than a vengeful alleged cannibal--Charlie hires Amanda Jaffe to protect him. It's her 4th appearance, and she's got her hands full.

Psychological Suspense. If you're a Karin Slaughter fan, you'll recognize several of the characters in Undone, as she's brought together--with "electrifying results" (Publishers Weekly)--Dr. Sara Linton (first seen in 2001's Blindsighted), Will Trent, and Faith Mitchell, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents last seen in Fractured. They meet in an Atlanta ER when a torture victim arrives after being hit by a car, and when Will goes out to search for her abductor, he finds that she's not the only victim--nor is she likely to be the last. Slaughter is known for making each of her characters thoroughly believable, and that continues to be true here; don't miss it if you're looking for a realistic, if graphic, depiction of crime-fighters and the violence they try to prevent.

Thriller. If Morty Martinez has a business card, it probably states that he provides home content removal services--essentially, he cleans out the homes of dead people. But he's also a "feeler," or someone who searches for cash stashed in the mattresses and cookie jars of people who don't trust banks. There's nothing illegal about this, but when his sixth sense turns up a huge haul--more than $800,000--it brings a host of troubles his way. From business rival Pete the Prick to a former armored car thief who's already killed one man (via ice pick) to an ex-cop who's never stopped looking for the money that disappeared the day the armored car was robbed--it seems that everyone's after Morty. This funny, fast-paced tale will appeal to fans of the comic capers of Donald Westlake or Carl Hiaasen.