Soho Press' "Murder in Pigalle" in the New York Times Sunday Book Review

Benay client, Soho Press, has a new title reviewed in The New York Times Sunday Book Review. The crime novel by Cara Black, Murder in Pigalle, will be released this month through Soho Crime. Muder in Pigalle is number 14 in the Aimée Leduc series. This time the detective chases down a serial rapist while six months pregnant. Read the New York Times review and preorder the book here.

New Soho Crime Novel, "Cold Storage, Alaska" is Reviewed by the New York Times

Benay Client, Soho Press, has a new crime novel in the New York Times book review. Cold Storage, Alaska is written by John Straley who has written three other books about the snowy northern state for Soho Crime.

Straley’s bold combination of the Church and State-prison may be viewed by the truly religious as a crime in itself, regardless of his story-line and plot. However, when you add in the fact that this novel is based in a small village in northern Alaska that thrives off of booze and survives off of the antique economy of fishing, readers will begin to realize that this book is more inclined to highlight our human struggles rather than disrespect anyone’s God or Church.

Despite the fact that Straley is not the first nor will be the last to tackle the secularization of our once sacred institutions, Straley is nothing short of brilliant when it comes to making the characters very human, and therefore the story that much more believable. Readers can only hope and pray for a better synthesis of vice and religion, two worlds that may not be that far apart.

You can purchase the book on Soho Press’ website.

-Antonio Rivera

Another Big Congrats to Soho Press

At this point, it’s not as much of a surprise as it is a pleasure for us at Benay to see our client, Soho Press in the New York Times Book Review. Soho Crime, an imprint of Soho Press, has recently released The Monster of Florence to American audiences. Written by Magdalen Nabb about several double homicides in Florence, Italy from 1968-1985, The Monster of Florence was published in Britain in 1996 but never made its way to American audiences.

The story revolves around the intuitive detective, Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia. Guarnaccia may not be the brightest detective but he understands people on a deeper level than most. “He watches, he listens, he asks discreet questions, and his intuitive intelligence (‘He either knew things or he didn’t) gives him insight into minds closed to reason.” The book is written in Nabb’s “expressive style” and “is one of [her] darkest novels, almost shocking in its disenchanted acknowledgement of human brutality.”

Another exciting win for Soho Press. You can read an excerpt of the book on their website.

Soho Press's 'Masaryk Station' Close Out Series With A Bang, Receives Much Praise

by Colleen McClintock

Benay client, New York-based publisher, Soho found one of their newest books well-lauded in the September 15 issue of the New York Times Book Review.

Coming out of the Soho Crime imprint, Masaryk Station is the last of a series of six crime novels written by author David Downing. It is set inside a post-WWII political context; a setting that lends itself aptly to suspense and drama.  Likewise, it is a world that can seem impossibly complex to anyone examining it, but as Jan Stuart says in her review in the New York Times Book Review, Downing does an incredible job of “elucidating… post-World War II geopolitics without dumbing down.”

Like most crime series, the books follow the secret, often tumultuous life of a man undercover. In this case, we see John Russell; a journalist-turned-spy who – by the sixth installment of the series – has got himself mixed up in the proverbial snake pit of post-WWI/pre-Cold War Germany. He is working for both the CIA and Stalin’s NKVD , and no longer sees the benefit in either. As Russell scrambles for a way to come out clean, Masaryrk Station quickly starts to show the reader that it will in no way be letting the Russell series go out quietly.

If you are interested in the John Russell series, visit the Soho Crime website to view all of the titles that comprise it. Pick up a copy of Zoo Station – the first installment of the Russell series – to get started today.

Soho Press's Cara Black has done it again - and this time in Montparnasse!

 

Murder Below Montparnasse
author, Cara Black

I think it’s a bit indisputable that today’s generation of young Americans very accurately channels the wily ex-pats of the 1920s.  Frankly, we pride ourselves on it.  Any of my friends would give anything to romp around the glowing Paris streets at night, sipping Sazerac to their hearts delight, dancing with Djuna Barnes, and musing to F. Scott and Zelda about what is to be young and alive.  They are sensibilities that we can’t help but feed into; it’s the artist in all of us!

This is precisely why, when I say Cara Black’s new novel Murder Below Montparnasse has nailed it, I’m talking down into the floorboards for good.  Black takes all of the young dreamer sensibilities that are relevant today and mixes them with her characteristically elusive, keep-you-guessing style to create a new and exciting genre of literature that’s at once accessible and complex.

Marilyn Stasio lauds Black in her recent New York Times book review, calling Montparnasse a neighborhood, “rich… for the purposes of a plot that hangs on a Modigliani canvas and involves Russian émigrés and Surrealist artists…” – and boy is she right.  Montparnasse is historically one of the most artistically concentrated areas of Paris, hosting painters, poets and writers like Picasso, Joyce and Hemingway in its sprawling bars and cafes.  

A building in Montparnasse painted, no doubt, in
tribute to the many artists that have frequented it's streets.

The novel’s protagonist, Detective Aimeé Leduc, gets caught up in a bit of this history herself, having been mysteriously enlisted by a Russian man named Yuri Volodya to protect a – you guessed it – prized Modigliani painting.  Aimeé is thrown into what seems to be Black’s bizarre and twisted take on the embodiment of Golden Age Syndrome, where the seemingly desirable sensibilities of a highly romantic age are shrouded in deceit and betrayal. 

If you would like to get a taste of what Black’s novel has to offer, I suggest visiting the Soho website, where you will find a large excerpt of the novel available.  If you like what you see – and I have no doubt you will – there is further good news.  Murder Below Montparnasse is just one in a series of thirteen murder mysteries by Cara Black, which collectively comprise the Aimeé Leduc investigations.  Each book in the series is set in a different section of Paris; together they are a literary map, rich in French cultural history and insight into the delightfully seductive Parisian landscape.

Learn more about Cara Black, and get a chance to meet her on her nationwide book tour by clicking here.

- Colleen McClintock

Soho Crime Announces New Crime Trilogy

Benay client, Soho Crime, has released a thrilling new crime novel that is certain to steal your attention. Crashed, written by Edgar and Macavity Award nominee, Timothy Hallinan, takes readers on a wild ride through the life of Junior Bender, a keen criminal whose smart mouth, witty humor, and robberies-gone-wrong land him in trouble with the Los Angeles mafia. Blackmailed into working for an L.A. crime boss, Bender finds himself escorting an adult starlet in this comedic yet thrilling textual glimpse of old Hollywood. As of November 13^th, Crashed has been available for purchase both on line and in local book stores.

However, the action and adventure don’t stop there; the intriguing character and criminal mind of Junior Bender proved to be so enthralling, Soho Crime has agreed to publish two more titles in what the company believes to be a soon-to-be hit series. The story of Junior Bender continues with Little Elvises, to be released January 29, 2013, and the last of the trilogy, The Fame Thief, which will go on sale in June of 2013. Benay is proud to call Soho Press, an outstanding independent publishing company that has been releasing exciting titles for over 25 years, one of our clients. Visit their site, www.sohopress.com, to browse their catalogue for even more enjoyable reads.

                                                                                            

http://books.broadwayworld.com/article/SoHo-Crime-to-Publish-Crashed-The-Fame-Thief-and-More-20120911-page2