Lavie Tidhar

Thanks to Reactor Magazine for hosting the cover reveal today! It can now be told – the full and true account of the many adventures of Judge Dee are to be published as The Three Coffin Problem in June 2026! In a rather gorgeous paperback or in a handy e-book, your choice! The cover is by the fantastic Cinthya Álvarez – who also illustrated my The Children’s Book of the Future!

Medieval Europe. A world of darkness. Of Gothic castles, isolated monasteries, of monks and knights and things that go bump in the night. A world where vampires can roam at will… At least, as long as they obey the rules! For a vampire may not murder another vampire. Not unless they have a really good reason to, anyway.

Enter Judge Dee. Ancient. Immortal. Ascetic. His cold intellect draws him wherever a mystery is present, and he will rest at nothing to solve the puzzle. Jonathan, the judge’s human assistant, on the other hand, mostly just wants cheese. With bread, if possible. And some pickles would be nice. After all, it’s not easy spending your life in the company of murderous vampires who only see you as a tasty snack…

Their adventures take them from the warm Italian valleys to the heights of the French Alps as they come face to fang with fiendishly complicated puzzles—not the least of which is love! But as they are drawn inexorably onwards to London, Jonathan wonders what awaits them when they finally arrive—and what choices he may have to make once they get there.

Praise for The Three Coffin Problem:
“Sink your teeth into this! The Three Coffin Problem is a whimsical delight about everyone’s favorite vampire detective.” —Silvia Moreno-Garcia, author of Mexican Gothic

“Does fresh, funny, mystifying, clever and subliminally scary things with the mediaeval mystery genre—simply by adding vampires to the mix. Hugely recommended.” —Kim Newman, author of Anno Dracula

“Judge Dee is my favorite vampire, and it’s a joy to watch him work in these stories where he reminds us even a monster must have standards—or else. Along with his reluctant but faithful human servant Jonathan, Judge Dee unravels the unique crimes of the undead and delivers justice, or at least the next closest thing. Vampires are rarely ever this smart, and never this funny. Lavie Tidhar has injected new life into the genre, and I thank him for it.” —Christopher Farnsworth, author of The President’s Vampire

“Lavie Tidhar is killing it. I’d say this book is what you’d get if Arthur Conan Doyle got drunk on absinthe and made out with Edward Gorey—but it’s Tidhar all the way down, at his funniest and wittiest. The book’s packed with vampires of all stripes—the backstabbers, the front stabbers, the shocked stab-ees—who are always up for a snack, and the body count is hilariously high. Tidhar had better keep the Judge Dee & Jonathan stories coming or I will hurt somebody.” —Daryl Gregory, author of Revelator

The Vanishing Kind is out now in France! Published by Belial, translated by Julien Bétan (who has been heroically translating me to French for several books now), and with great cover art by Aurélien Police! It is part of the One Light Hour series of novellas. Get it here!

3 new short stories this month!

“Breach” is now out in ParSec. It’s a rare horror story from me!

“The Moribund” is now out in Asimov’s.

And “Joiner and Rust” is now up at Reactor (free to read; or get the kindle edition!).

Delighted to come back from holiday to discover that Adama has won the international category of the Deutscher Krimipreis 2025! This is the 42nd year of the award, voted on by a jury of critics, reviewers and booksellers.

Adama also got the top spot on the German Krimibestenliste 2025 as the best crime novel in German for the year.

And it’s made the number 1 spot on CrimeMag’s Top Ten for 2025!

Previous posts: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

Too many Christmas parties…

Publishing this shortly after hearing the news that Adama secured the #1 spot on the Krimi Bestenliste in Germany for 2025 – following last year Maror‘s taking the same spot in 2024. That’s the Best Crime Novel of the year, as picked by their panel of professional reviewers and critics. A nice way to end the year.

I spent most of the year writing a giant space opera. It’s fun. Expect it in 2027.

Books

I had two new books out this year. Golgotha, in hardcover from Head of Zeus, is the conclusion to the Maror books, taking place in 1882 Ottoman Palestine and then in the last, hectic week of the British Mandate in 1948. One-part western, one-part mystery, and pretty good all told, I think.

The second book is a collection of crime fiction. No One Hears The Last Shot was published in hardback and paperback by PS Publishing, with their usual gorgeous production values. The e-book edition came out from Jabberwocky. It collects 10 short stories, 3 of them new.

Six Lives came out in paperback from Head of Zeus.

Neom came out in France and Russia, Central Station in a new translation in Italy, and both Adama and The Children’s Book of the Future in Germany.

Film and TV

That nebulous category. I sold a TV show this year, which was nice.

Animation

It’s not been quiet behind the scenes at Positronish – we’ve been hard at work on a new SF movie, or at least Nir has been, while I was called upon to rewrite the shooting script on the fly from time to time. This should hopefully make some festivals for 2026.

Awards

Edited to add: Adama won the Deutscher Krimipreis 2025!

The Children’s Book of the Future got a couple of awards from the Children’s Book Council in the US, on both the Teacher Favorites Award for 3rd-5th grade and the Librarian Award for 3rd-5th grade.

And Neom was nominated for the Japanese Seiun Award in the Best Translated Novel category.

Short Stories

8 published (plus a secret 9th… an elusive title done as a joke).

• “Raskol”, “Red Riding Hood” and “The Last Romantics” appeared in No One Hears The Last Shot.
• “The Courier” appeared in Asimov’s.
• “The Garden” appeared in Bourboun Penn.
• “The Swap” appeared in Apex.
• “The Salt” appeared in The Map of Lost Places.
• “In Their Own Voices” appeared in New Weird and Decadent.

Next Year

I’ll keep the 2026 (and 2027) books a mystery for now! Central Station will be out in Ukraine; The Circumference of the World and The Vanishing Kind in France (as well as new Pocket editions of Central Station and Neom); Maror is still scheduled for Poland and Japan; Golgotha in Germany; The Best of World SF: Volume 1 in China; and Neom in Italy.

And 12 short stories are sold and awaiting publication, over at Tor, Asimov’s, Uncanny, F&SF and other places.

Heading into my 14th year as a full-time writer… don’t ask me how!

Golgotha is out in the world! Do check it out if you get the chance!

Two men, decades apart, are ensnared in the deadly search for a fabled treasure in the conclusion to Lavie Tidhar’s epic and audacious Maror Trilogy.

1882, Jerusalem
The foreigner. A man with no name, twin guns at his hips, a wide-brimmed hat on his head. A European exile in the backwaters of Ottoman Palestine, The foreigner is a bounty hunter in pursuit of a thief.

1948, Haifa
Burton. A man with one name, a detective inspector in the crumpled khaki uniform of the Palestine Police Force’s CID. With just seven days before the British Mandate ends, he must find a murderer and a missing aristocrat, as order collapses around him.

Both men are outsiders in a land that is a palimpsest of ruins and loyalties, legacy of a history written in blood on a landscape that remembers everything. Both men will treat with bandits and mystics, dreamers and killers as they pursue their quarry; both will be ensnared in a lethal search for the fabled treasures of the Second Temple, long-lost amid the rise and fall of peoples, nations and empires. And both will be haunted by their dreams: burning red skies, a mountain of skulls, echoes of a vision from the dawn of humanity.

Before Jerusalem, before Jericho, there has always been Golgotha.

Delighted to say that my crime collection, No One Hears The Last Shot, is now available in an e-book edition! Published by Jabberwocky, with amazing cover design by Sarah Anne Langton, it is now available at all e-book retailers!

There are some exciting developments in the works with regards to the collection, but since I can’t really discuss them, why not just check out the book in whichever format you prefer?

A middle-aged hitwoman goes on the run from the Israeli mob; a boy on a South Pacific island searches for a missing cat and uncovers dark secrets; an ageing bagman has to recover a package across one violent night, no matter the cost; an informer must uncover the heist of a lifetime on the fringes of the Roman Empire, and Sherlock Holmes is faced with a confounding botanical mystery; while a pair of hapless actors are forced into a seedy mystery in Golden Age Hollywood.

Moving from the genteel English countryside to the mean streets of L.A. and from the islands of Vanuatu to the dark alleyways of Tel Aviv, this wide-ranging collection gathers together the best crime and noir stories of master storyteller Lavie Tidhar, including the CWA Dagger Award nominated “Bag Man” and much more besides.

Welcome to a world of gangsters and hired killers, of lost romantics and deadly women, of good times and low lifes. Where it’s always the wrong part of town, and where whatever you do, there are no good choices.

Because when it comes, no one hears the last shot . . .

E-BOOK

Amazon

Kobo

B&N

Apple

PAPERBACK AND LIMITED EDITION HARDBACK!

Signed hardcover edition limited to 200 copies

Paperback edition

Out in paperback today! Feast your eyes on the beautiful cover! Get it from your favourite bookshop!

Six lives, connected through blood and history, each rooted in the dirt of their inheritance, look to the future, and what it might hold.

THE GUANO MERCHANT
In 1855, Edward Feebes travels to the guano islands of South America to investigate an irregularity in the accounts of the House of Feebes & Co.

MOMENTO MORI
In 1912, post-mortem photographer and reluctant blackmailer Annie Connolly plots her escape from Ireland to America on board the Titanic.

THE COUNTRY HOUSE MURDER
In 1933, idealistic Edgar Waverley faces a choice of the heart when he becomes embroiled in a country house murder.

THE SPY
In 1964, hapless KGB agent Vasily Sokolov makes his career conjuring valuable information from worthless detritus.

ZABBALEEN
in 1987, actor Mariam Khouri looks back at Black Dirt, the movie that lifted her from the streets of Cairo.

NEW YORK
In 2012, Isabelle Feebes attempts to break with her poisonous heritage once and for al. Can she forge a new life for herself in the New World? Can you ever truly escape your past?

It occurs to me I don’t post here much, do I! Here are three recent editions of Neom – from Japan, Poland and France.

Delighted to see my new crime collection announced and ready for pre-orders last Friday, so without further ado–

A middle-aged hitwoman goes on the run from the Israeli mob; a boy on a South Pacific island searches for a missing cat and uncovers dark secrets; an ageing bagman has to recover a package across one violent night, no matter the cost; an informer must uncover the heist of a lifetime on the fringes of the Roman Empire, and Sherlock Holmes is faced with a confounding botanical mystery; while a pair of hapless actors are forced into a seedy mystery in Golden Age Hollywood.

Moving from the genteel English countryside to the mean streets of L.A. and from the islands of Vanuatu to the dark alleyways of Tel Aviv, this wide-ranging collection gathers together the best crime and noir stories of master storyteller Lavie Tidhar, including the CWA Dagger Award nominated “Bag Man” and much more besides.

Welcome to a world of gangsters and hired killers, of lost romantics and deadly women, of good times and low lifes. Where it’s always the wrong part of town, and where whatever you do, there are no good choices.

Because when it comes, no one hears the last shot . . .

No One Hears The Last Shot is available in a signed limited hardcover edition and in a paperback edition.

Cover and internal design is by my regular PS designer, Pedro Marques. Original stories in this collection include “Raskol”, “Red Riding Hood” and “The Last Romantics”. There are also Story Notes. And fans of Maror may find a familiar character or two pop up!