First up in 2011 is the release of
ONE TRUE SENTENCE (Minotaur, February 2010). Given the novel centers on a pivotal romantic relationship in the life of series character Hector Lassiter, that Valentine's-time lay-down date seems particularly appropriate.
The novel also is set in one week in Paris, February 1924, and while in publication sequence the fourth novel in the Lassiter series, in terms of chronology, this one is theoretically the first, and, so, a perfect place for new readers to get on board.
Booklist has just weighed in on the novel:
"This time out, crime writer Hec Lassiter and best friend Ernest Hemingway are young members of the Lost Generation in Paris in 1924. Someone is murdering editors of the city’s many literary reviews, and Gertrude Stein assigns Hec, Hem, and two female mystery writers to track down the murderers, a nihilistic cult called the Nadaists. It’s another juicy setting for McDonald to mix real people, well-known parts of the Hemingway legend, invented characters, and murders most foul. Gertrude Stein, Alice and her brownies, Ford Maddox Ford, William Carlos Williams, Man Ray, and Aleister Crowley all play parts of varying sizes, and McDonald paints a vivid picture of Lost Gen life in Paris. He tweaks Papa by giving credit for several of his best-known lines to Hec and a Paris cop. And he creates Brinke Devlin, a stunning mystery novelist with whom Hec falls in love, even though he suspects her of evil deeds. Sadly, the preface reports that Papa will be retired from the Lassiter novels. But fans will always have Paris." — Thomas Gaughan
In addition to its hardcover release, ONE TRUE SENTENCE will also be available as an eBook, and in unabridged audio from
Recorded Books. ONE TRUE SENTENCE is also a
Mystery Guild Alternate Selection.
Tour dates are being finalized now; stops will include Austin, Texas; Scottsdale, Arizona; Dayton, Ohio and in-and-around Columbus, Ohio, among others, sometime in late February.
About that same time,
PRINT THE LEGEND will be given its French release by
Belfond, under the alternate title, ONE ONLY DIES ONCE. As that book makes its way to French bookstores, I'm tentatively scheduled to appear at the
2011 Festival Quai du polar in Lyon, France in late-March.
Steps are also underway to at last release
HEAD GAMES as an eBook (
TOROS & TORSOS became available in that format late last year). Once that is done, all of the Hector Lassiter novels so far published will finally be available in electronic format.
Stay tuned for more announcements regarding future projects, including the possible release of a standalone novel about a trio of Midwest cops later this year.
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