Introducing BFP's reprint class of 2009

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year, and thanks so much for dropping by! 2009 is shaping up nicely for Busted Flush Press, with one original novel due this fall (Tower, by Ken Bruen and Reed Farrel Coleman) and several reprints. Yes, I'm very excited about Tower, but nothing brings me more pleasure than seeing some of my favorite authors & books (and those of the bookstore at which I work) resurrected for other crime fans to enjoy.

In February, I'll be reprinting the first in the series of Fiddler crime novels by A. E. Maxwell, Just Another Day in Paradise. I started working at Murder By The Book in 1989, and Maxwell was an early discovery of mine, having read the first five or so my first year there (if I'm remembering correctly). Fiddler is a failed violinist with no first name, á la Spenser & Parker (and is "Fiddler" even his name at all?), who helps out friends in need, Travis McGee-style, aided by his financial genius ex-wife Fiora and his computer-whiz buddy, Benny. In 2009, I am a proud fan of the works of John D. MacDonald, Don Winslow, James W. Hall, T. Jefferson Parker, and others, but it all started with A. E. Maxwell for me... these introspective thrillers with a strong-yet-sensitive tough-guy hero are as much fan today as when I first read them 20 years ago. I cannot recommend them more highly. And FYI: "A. E. Maxwell" is really the pseudonym of husband-and-wife writing duo Ann & Evan Maxwell; Ann is now best known as New York Times best-seller Elizabeth Lowell. Later this year BFP will also reprint the next three Fiddler novels: The Frog and the Scorpion, Gatsby's Vineyard, and Just Another Day in Paradise.

"The writing is lean and restrained, and Fiddler, growing from book to book, gives Travis McGee a real run for his money." -- Los Angeles Times

Following on the heels of Just Another Day in Paradise will be the second Emma Rhodes high-society mystery, Impolite Society, by Cynthia Smith. Introduced in Noblesse Oblige, Emma is essentially a private investigator -- or as she calls herself, a "Private Resolver" -- to Europe's rich and elite. These books are perfect for fans of other high-society novels, such as those by Marne Davis Kellogg, Kerry Greenwood, Jane Stanton Hitchcock, and Nancy Martin. Also to come from Cynthia Smith, the rest of the Emma Rhodes books: Misleading Ladies, Silver and Guilt, and Royals and Rogues.

"You'll enjoy every moment of international hobnobbing with this high society sleuth!" -- Nancy Martin, best-selling author of the Blackbird Sisters mysteries

And this fall, celebrating its tenth anniversary, Pulitzer Prize nominee Ace Atkins's debut Nick Travers novel, Crossroad Blues, will see the light of day again. Though it hasn't been out of print for very long, this BFP reprint edition will feature new material including an original Travers story! Check back at the blog in the next week for more on Ace Atkins, and the new edition of Crossroad Blues.