This is not an exhaustive list. Just cherry picked titles that I’m really looking forward to reading (in no particular order):

Tana French’s fourth book from Viking (Adult) is BROKEN HARBOR which comes out July 24, 2012. The other three titles she has written are in publication order: IN THE WOODS (2007 and Edgar Award winner for Best Novel), THE LIKENESS (2010) and FAITHFUL PLACE (2011). Description of the fourth book to feature Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy who was first introduced in FAITHFUL PLACE (2011) is below. Reason why I love Tana French is that she writes well. All of her stories are set in Dublin and so far these are standalone novels. Each main protagonist was once an minor character introduced from a previous book.

Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy, the brash cop from Tana French’s bestselling Faithful Place, plays by the book and plays hard. That’s what’s made him the Murder squad’s top detective—and that’s what puts the biggest case of the year into his hands.

On one of the half-built, half-abandoned “luxury” developments that litter Ireland, Patrick Spain and his two young children are dead. His wife, Jenny, is in intensive care.

At first, Scorcher and his rookie partner, Richie, think it’s going to be an easy solve. But too many small things can’t be explained. The half-dozen baby monitors, their cameras pointing at holes smashed in the Spains’ walls. The files erased from the Spains’ computer. The story Jenny told her sister about a shadowy intruder who was slipping past all the locks.

And Broken Harbor holds memories for Scorcher. Seeing the case on the news sends his sister Dina off the rails again, and she’s resurrecting something that Scorcher thought he had tightly under control: what happened to their family one summer at Broken Harbor, back when they were children.

Jo Nesbø’s PHANTOM (UK/US 2012) from Knopf is book number nine in the Harry Hole series. The US is trying to keep up by releasing the book in September 2012. I plan to read the book when it releases in March in the UK. Just call me impatient and wouldn’t you know it? Someone has already given this book a five star review at Amazon. I’m kind of wary as another reader on Twitter read an ARC of PHANTOM and stated that she thought the book was an improvement over THE LEOPARD (a book I enjoyed a lot) and reminded her of THE SNOWMAN (my least favorite in the series thus far). We. Shall. See.

THE MURDER HAS BEEN SOLVED. BUT HAS JUSTICE BEEN DONE? Harry Hole is back in Oslo. He’s been away for some time, but his ghosts have a way of catching up with him. The case that brings him back is already closed. There is no room for doubt: the young junkie was shot dead by a fellow addict. THE POLICE DON’T WANT HIM BACK…Denied permission to reopen the investigation, Harry strikes out on his own. Beneath the city’s eerie tranquillity, he discovers a trail of violence and mysterious disappearances seemingly unnoticed by the police. At every turn Harry is faced with a conspiracy of silence. THE CRIMINALS DON’T WANT HIM BACK…Harry is not the only one who is interested in the case. From the moment he steps off the plane, someone is watching his every move and tracing his every call. SOMEONE WANTS HIM SILENCED.

Chelsea Cain continues her Archie Sheridan series with KILL YOU TWICE from Minotaur books in August 2012. I remember how disappointed I was in her last title, NIGHT SEASON but hey, Chelsea Cain can write her butt off when it comes to fast paced thrillers. That last book of hers was a little out of the box there for me but I’m excited to see that she’s still writing. Yes, her stories are violent. Her novels are dark, written in third person present tense mind you and her characters are seriously, seriously flawed but, you know what? she entertains. Blurb:

Archie Sheridan should be healing—mentally and physically—from his past run-ins with serial killer Gretchen Lowell. But while he seems to be making some progress, he’s just as haunted as the day she let him go. He tries to focus on his work: a cyclist has come across a corpse in Mount Tabor Park on the eastern side of Portland. The man was gagged and hanging by his wrists from a tree, his torso skinned. It is the brutal work of a killer bold enough to torture his victim for hours on a sunny summer morning in a big public park.

The investigation isn’t far along before Archie gets a call from an unlikely source. In fact, after months of ignoring calls from a doctor at the mental hospital where Gretchen is supposed to be locked away forever, Archie is surprised to hear that she claims to have inside knowledge about the new investigation, and finally agrees to see her face-to-face. Archie is sure she is bluffing just to get close to him, but he can’t take the chance of losing his only lead. One thing is for sure: Gretchen Lowell is back in Chelsea Cain’s fifth gripping blockbuster thriller, and Archie must decide if
catching a killer is worth facing his demons one more time.

Other titles I ran across while browsing for 2012 with tentative release dates (as they are always changing): CRIMINAL by Karin Slaughter (July 10, 2012). While I may have quit reading her, I know some readers who still do. I see John Sandford is still going full steam ahead with his twenty-two Prey novels, with STOLEN PREY releasing May 15, 2012. Then there’s Colin Cotterill second series featuring a former crime reporter set in Thailand, the second title is GRANDDAD, THERE’S A HEAD ON THE BEACH (June 19, 2012). Last but not least, Michael Connelly new Harry Bosch novel is titled, THE BLACK BOX with a tentative release date of Nov 26, 2012.

What are you most excited to read? I’m sure most people are anxious for Phantom.