The Motion Picture Teller

August 1, 2022

In Amidon's Locust Lane, a young woman is found dead in the more fashionable section of a New England suburb, and the three teenagers who were with her that night are now suspects in her murder (100,000-copy first printing). From Carlsson, youngest winner of the Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, the internationally best-selling Blaze Me a Sun features a serial killer in a small Swedish town who commits his first murder the same night in 1986 when Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated. In a continuation of Cosimano's USA Today best-selling and Edgar--nominated series starring author and single mom Finlay Donovan, readers will find that Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun; unexpectedly owing Russian mobsters a favor, she must help them identify a contract killer before the cops do, especially crucial because the killer might actually be a cop. In The Motion Picture Teller, a stand-alone from CWA Dagger winner Cotterill set in 1996 Bangkok, postman Supot and his best friend, video store owner Ali, discover a mysterious film titled Bangkok 2010 that no one seems to know anything about--and that might be cursed. In Jane Harper's Exiles, Australian federal investigator Aaron Falk--whom readers know from the New York Times best-selling Dry--senses fault lines among the close group of attendees at a party in South Australian wine country, owing to the disappearance of a friend whose baby was found abandoned at a busy festival. From the Edgar Award--winning Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows features publicist Mae Pruett, who makes sure that everybody doesn't know about the shady dealings of the lawyers and private security firms for which she works, now trying to discover the secret her boss took to his death. In You Must Remember This, from Edgar-nominated YA author Rosenfield, Miriam Gardiner's fall through thin ice one Christmas Eve in the spot where decades ago she used to meet a lover might be an accident or suicide, but motives for murder emerge when daughter Delphine starts looking into the entire family. In the New York Times best-selling Tracy's The Devil You Know, LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan faces a tough case with the suspicious death of popular actor Evan Hobbes in a Malibu rockslide just 24 hours after a fake video smashes up his career; the subsequent murder of his agent's brother-in-law suggests evil intent.

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November 7, 2022
The principal pleasure of Thai postman Supot, the hero of this offbeat standalone set in 1996 from Cotterill (the Dr. Siri Paiboun series), is watching old movies with his friend Ali in the latter’s Bangkok video store. When Supot and Ali discover Bangkok 2010, a dystopian near-future film among a collection of used cassettes, they’re overwhelmed by its brilliance and pronounce it possibly the greatest Thai movie ever made. The duo’s efforts to find out more about it, however, are stymied at every turn; the movie was never released, and they don’t recognize the names of any of the cast, director, or crew. Authorities at the National Film Archive claim ignorance, but Supot believes they’re hiding something. For Supot, the search for answers quickly becomes a fixation that ultimately leads him to a commune in the northern Thai countryside, where the mystery of Bangkok 2010 slowly unfolds. In effect, he’s part of “a detective story without a crime.” The heartfelt characters, vividly drawn setting, and subtle humor more than compensate for this lack. Both established fans and those new to Cotterill will be charmed.

December 1, 2022
A mysterious videotape turns a movie lover into a cinematic sleuth. Thirty-two-year-old Supot Yongjaiyut lives a quiet life in 1996 Bangkok, working as a postman for the Royal Thai Mail Service and spending the rest of his waking hours at his best friend Ali's video rental store. The two men, who share an occasionally combative relationship and an omnivorous passion for cinema, watch movies together every night, though Supot's pessimistic temperament prevented him from pursuing a career in the film industry. One evening, the pair is watching and bickering over The Big Sleep when a crusty homeless man called Woot disrupts their viewing with an offer to sell them a box of old videos. They reject his offer and shoo him away, but he leaves behind a heap of tapes anyway. Among these are several European classics and one tape enigmatically titled Bangkok 2010. The film is so unexpectedly brilliant and provocative that Supot becomes fixated on it, writing down the names of the creative staff so that he can research and maybe locate them. He becomes particularly obsessed with the reclusive leading lady, Siriluk, and even begins a skittish correspondence with her. Definitely not a whodunit, the tale still provides ample suspense, as Supot undertakes a risky adventure that profoundly changes him. Cinephiles will especially enjoy the wide-ranging film trivia and commentary shared by the duo, infused with the author's characteristic drollery and interspersed with chunks of the film's screenplay. Cotterill explores with empathy and insight the power of movies to enrich and even guide our lives. An offbeat, uplifting thriller every movie lover will cherish.

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December 1, 2022
Two down-and-out buddies scratching out a living in 1996 Bangkok embark on a quest to solve the mystery of a never-released film in this stand-alone novel by Cotterill, best known for his Dr. Siri Paiboun series, which won the CWA Dagger in the Library award in 2009. The friends, Supot, a mail carrier for the Royal Thai Postal Service, and Ali, who runs a struggling video store, find the only meaning in their lives from watching classic American films. When a homeless man sells Ali a cassette titled Bangkok 2010, they view it and marvel at the magic of this unknown Thai film. When they find that the movie never made it to the big screen, they determine to rescue it, plunging them into a kind of Maltese Falcon puzzle. The initial setup is a bit confusing, but this is more than made up for by the setting (as a mail carrier, Supot sees it all), the depth of characterization, and the romance of old movies.

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