April Publications

Donald E. Westlake's irresistible Thieves' Dozen collects all 10 tales of his hapless thief John Dortmunder, most of which appeared in Playboy. The author provides an amusing introduction as well as an 11th tale, original to this volume, that features his crook hero under a pseudonym—or at least a character a lot like Dortmunder. (Mysterious, $12.95 paper 208p ISBN 0-446-69302-2)

Fans of Crippen & Landru's "Lost Classics" series will welcome Anthony Berkeley's The Avenging Chance and Other Mysteries from Roger Sheringham's Casebook, edited by Tony Medawar and Arthur Robinson. Berkeley (1893—1971), the founder of London's Detection Club, was a master of the fair-play puzzle tales, such as "The Avenging Chance," collected here. (Crippen & Landru [www.crippenlandru.com], $29 190p ISBN 1-932009-14-0; $19 paper -11-6)

March Publications

University Press of New England launches its Hardscrabble Crime imprint with John R. Corrigan's Snap Hook: A Jack Austin Mystery, the second in the series after Cut Shot (2001). Pro golfer Austin has to contend with another winless season on the PGA Tour, a troubled caddie, the Russian mob—and a tense round at the Buick Classic with real-life golfer Phil Mickelson. (Univ. of New England, $24.95 256p ISBN 1-58465-332-9)

In Richard Benke's debut, The Ghost Ocean (the title refers to the prehistoric sea that once covered part of New Mexico), Bureau of Land Management ranger Will Mann stumbles on the body of a 12-year-old girl in a remote wilderness area near the Mexican border. The search for truth and justice takes many twists and turns before the affecting final scene. (Univ. of New Mexico, $24.95 296p ISBN 0-8263-3194-7)

The Best British Mysteries, an anthology edited by Maxim Jakubowski, collects 25 outstanding short crime stories published in 2002. Many of the authors—among them, Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Anne Perry, Bill James and Peter Lovesey—will be familiar to American readers. (Allison & Busby, $25.95 288p ISBN 0-7490-0696-X)