Fresh Fiction | Editors' Top Pick for September

TRIGGER MORTIS

Okay, you've got to know I'm a sucker for spy thrillers. My first dates with my husband were to watch James Bond movies and I cut my reading teeth on all the old Alistair McLean and Helen MacInnes novels in our high school library. So when I found out Anthony Horowitz, the creator of "Foyle's War" and writer for "Midsomer Murders" was penning a James Bond novel from Ian Fleming's papers, I was IN!

TRIGGER MORTIS (Harper, September 8, 2015) promises to pick up after the Fort Knox battle in Goldfinger and includes old familiar faces. To get ready, I think I'll just indulge in a little Ted Bell whose reminds me so much of Bond, James Bond.

About TRIGGER MORTIS: Incorporating original, never-before-published material from 007 creator Ian Fleming, New York Times bestselling author Anthony Horowitz returns literary legend James Bond to his 1950s heyday in this exhilarating and dashing thriller.

The world's most famous spy, James Bond, has just returned victorious from his showdown with Auric Goldfinger in Fort Knox. By his side is the glamorous and streetwise Pussy Galore, who played no small part in his success. As they settle down in London, the odds of Galore taming the debonair bachelor seem slim—but she herself is a creature not so easily caught.

Meanwhile, the struggle for superiority between the Soviet Union and the West is escalating. In an attempt to demonstrate Soviet strength, SMERSH plans to sabotage an international Grand Prix in the hot zone of West Germany. At the Nürburgring Racing Circuit, Bond must play a high-speed game of cat and mouse to stop them, but when he observes a secretive meeting between SMERSH's driver and a notorious Korean millionaire, it becomes clear that this is just the infamous organization's opening move.

An orphan of the Korean War, he has a personal reason for wanting to bring America to its knees. He's helping SMERSH decisively end the white-hot space race—but how? With the help of an American female agent, Bond uncovers a plan that leads first to Florida and then to New York City, where a heart- stopping face-off will determine the fate of the West.

This thriller has all the hallmarks of an original Ian Fleming adventure and features welcome familiar faces, including M and Miss Moneypenny. Horowitz delivers a smooth and seductive narrative of fast cars and beautiful women, ruthless villains and breathtaking plot that will leave readers hanging until the very end.

DEVOTED IN DEATH

There are series I never get tired of visiting, and J.D. Robb's In Death series is at the top of the list. Not only do I re-read the series, but in the weeks building up to a new release I experience the same anticipation I feel at the Holidays because in my family a new J.D. Robb release is a family event. My mom, sister, uncle, and I trade each new release back-and-forth until we can all get to the book store for our own copy. I'll admit to feeling a sense of victory when I am the first to read the new book. DEVOTED IN DEATH releases on September 15, and I may start preparing for it by revisiting some of the previous books in the series!

About: Eve Dallas tracks a couple whose passion is fueled by cold brutalityin the newest crime thriller from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of OBSESSION IN DEATH and FESTIVE IN DEATH. When Lieutenant Eve Dallas examines a body in a downtown Manhattan alleyway, the victim’s injuries are so extensive that she almost misses the clue. Carved into the skin is the shape of a heart— and initials inside reading E and D . . .

Ella-Loo and her boyfriend, Darryl, had been separated while Darryl was a guest of the state of Oklahoma, and now that his sentence has been served they don’t ever intend to part again. Ella-Loo’s got dreams. And Darryl believes there are better ways to achieve your dreams than working for them. So they hit the road, and when their car breaks down in Arkansas, they make plans to take someone else’s. Then things get messy and they wind up killing someone—an experience that stokes a fierce, wild desire in Ella-Loo. A desire for Darryl. And a desire to kill again.

As they cross state lines on their way to New York to find the life they think they deserve, they will leave a trail of evil behind them. But now they’ve landed in the jurisdiction of Lieutenant Dallas and her team at the New York Police and Security Department. And with her husband, Roarke, at her side, she has every intention of hunting them down and giving them what they truly deserve . . .