Books to Look Forward to from Hodder & Stoughton and Mulholland.

The Narrow Bed is the tenth book in the Culver Valley series by Sophie Hannah and is due to be published in February 2016. A killer that the police are calling 'Billy Dead Mates' is murdering pairs of best friends, one by one. Before they die, each victim is given a small white book...For months, detectives have failed to catch Billy, or work out what the white books mean. And then a woman, scared by what she's seen on the news, comes forward. Stand-up comedian Kim Tribbeck has one of Billy's peculiar little books. A stranger gave it to her at a gig she did a year ago. Was he Billy, and does he want to kill her? Kim has no friends and trusts no one. How - and why - could she possibly be Billy Dead Mate's next target?

Frank Marr may be the best investigator Washington, DC has ever known, but the city doesn’t know his dirty secret.  A long functioning drug addict, Frank has lent his considerable skills to hiding his usage from others.  But after accidently discovering a kidnapped teenage girl in the home of an Adams Morgan drug gang, Frank becomes a hero and is thrust into the spotlight.  Reluctantly, he agrees to investigate the disappearance of another girl – possibly connected to the first – all the time knowing that the heightened scrunity may bring his own secrets to light.  The Second Girl is by David Swinson and is due to be published in June 2016.

We first met Flavia Albia, Falco's feisty adopted daughter, in The Ides of April. Albia is a remarkable woman in what is very much a man's world: young, widowed and fiercely independent, she lives alone on the Aventine Hill in Rome and makes a good living as a hired investigator. An outsider in more ways than one, Albia has unique insight into life in ancient Rome, and she puts it to good use going places no man could go, and asking questions no man could ask.  In Graveyard of The Hesperides Albia is called in to investigate a long-dead corpse discovered during renovations to a local tavern.  But the investigation will reveal some terrible secrets, and force Albia to question everything that she believes is true about her own life. In Graveyard of The Hesperides is by Lindsey Davies and is due to be published in April 2016.

Hannah Kelly has been missing for nine months. Ava Delaney has been dead for five days. One girl to find. One girl to avenge. And DS Aector McAvoy won't let either of them go until justice can be done. But some people have their own ideas of what justice means...  Dead Pretty is by David Mark and is due to be published in January 2016.

A brand-new historical spy thriller series set in 1930s London, Cambridge and Berlin.  1936 and Europe is on the brink of a cataclysm it cannot foresee. In Berlin, a young woman risks her life to rescue a Jewish dissident. In a London club, two men exchange a vital message. In a country house near Cambridge, an elderly couple are discovered, horribly murdered. It will take Cambridge professor and maverick Thomas Wilde, expert in the Elizabethan spy networks, to put the pieces of a conspiracy that reaches the very highest levels of government. But can he decipher its true meaning before it's too late?  Corpus is by Rory Clements and is due to be published in June 2016.

Tell Me Lies is by Rebecca Muddiman and is due to be published in March 2016.  What

would you do to protect your family? Tell a lie? Break the law? Or solve the problem...for good? The body in Lauren James's back garden belongs to her ex-boyfriend, Ritchie. DI Gardner thinks it's an open-and-shut case. But he reckoned without the interference of Lauren's father, local businessman and aspiring politician Walter James. And he couldn't know about the secrets that everyone involved wants to hide. When a murder touches so many lives, not even the cops are immune from the consequences. In the end you must decide what you can live with: a loving lie or the deadly truth?

London is under siege. Nine men in suicide vests primed to explode hold hostages in nine different locations around the city, and are ready to die for their cause. Their mission: to force the government to release jihadist prisoners from Belmarsh Prison. Their deadline: 6 p.m. Today. But the bombers are cleanskins, terrorists with no obvious link to any group, and who do not appear on any anti-terror watch list. What has brought them together on this one day to act in this way? Mo Kamran is the Superintendent in charge of the Special Crime and Operations branch of the Met. As the disaster unfolds and the SAS, armed police, and other emergency services rush to the scenes, he is tasked with preventing the biggest terrorist outrage the capital has ever known. But nothing is what it seems. And only Kamran has the big picture. Will anyone believe him?  First Response is by Stephen leather and is due to be published in February 2016.

The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown is by Vaseem Khan and is due to be published in May 2016.  For centuries the Koh-i-Noor diamond has set man against man and king against king. Now part of the British Crown Jewels, the priceless gem is a prize that many have killed to possess. So when the Crown Jewels go on display in Mumbai, security is everyone's principal concern. And yet, on the very day Inspector Chopra visits the exhibition, the diamond is stolen from under his nose. The heist was daring and seemingly impossible. The hunt is on for the culprits. But it soon becomes clear that only one man - and his elephant - can possibly crack this case.

How can you be saved when no one knows you're lost? No one knew about the Puppet Maker...until DI Brady found what remained of his victims. The murderer never meant them to be found. They are his private collection: each body identical, each...altered. Brady knows that now his secret is out, the killer will destroy the evidence - including his latest captive. He must find a man who has hidden the worst of crimes for over twenty years. And whose nameless victims were never even missed... The Puppet Maker is by Danielle Ramsay and is due to be published in April 2016.  

Technology is everywhere. It makes our lives easier, our connections faster and journeys quicker. But in the hands of someone smart enough, every piece of technology can be a murder weapon. When an escalator gives way mid-chase, Amelia Sachs is forced to let a killer escape as she helps the man trapped in the depths. Now Sachs and forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme must investigate if the collapse was a freak accident...or whether they are facing a murderer who knows exactly how fatal machines can be.  The Steel Kiss is by Jeffery Deaver and is due to be published in March 2016.

Spring, 1967. The trail of tragedy and destruction that followed the previous winter's flood seems to have died down; Florence is beginning to recover. But Inspector Bordelli does not feel the same sense of relief - he has not had a moment's peace since his investigation of a young boy's murder went disastrously wrong. Unsettled and embittered, Bordelli resigns from the force and leaves the city. He could not continue to work as a policeman while the perpetrators of such a terrible crime were still at large. Now, in the solitude of his new home in the Tuscan hills, he spends his days cooking, going for long walks and learning to grow his own vegetables. But the thought of that case - of justice not served - is constantly with him. Until fate, in which he has never believed, unexpectedly offers him the chance of retribution ... Death in the Tuscan Hills is by Marco Vichi by February 2016.

Unable to make any progress in locating the missing Indavara, a desperate Cassius has been given an unrewarding assignment in Antioch. But when an old ally's daughter is kidnapped, he feels duty-bound to repay a long standing debt. Disillusioned with the tawdry demands of the Imperial Security Service, he disobeys his superiors and leaves Syria, determined to do some good. Accompanied by nomadic chieftain Kabir and a trio of warriors, Cassius soon finds himself in Greece hunting a vicious band of slave-traders trafficking women across the Empire. But these are no common criminals, and as Cassius sets out to bring them down, he finds himself up against ruthless, cunning men with powerful friends and a lot to lose. For the Agent of Rome, desperate times call for desperate measures.  Agent of Rome: Earthly Gods is by Nick Brown and is due to be published in June 2016.

Hap and Leonard are not your typical private eyes. But what they lack in experience they make up with perseverance. Hap, a former 60s activist and self-proclaimed white trash rebel, and Leonard, a tough black, gay Vietnam vet, have finally decided to make their detective work official. Their first client: a mean old woman looking for her missing granddaughter. The girl used to work for a car dealership in town...but it seems like cars weren't the only things on offer. The mystery thickens to include blackmail, revenge, and an in-bred family of hillbilly assassins who eliminate any threats to the operation. Only Hap and Leonard could turn a simple missing person case into a life-threatening showdown. Honky Tonk Samurai is by Joe R Lansdale and is due to be published in February 2016.

A Time of Torment is by John Connolly and is due to be published in April 2016. Jerome Burnel was once a hero. He intervened to prevent multiple killings and in doing so damned himself. His life was torn apart. He was imprisoned, brutalized. But in his final days, with the hunters circling, he tells his story to private detective Charlie Parker. He speaks of the girl who was marked for death, but was saved; of the ones who tormented him, and an entity that hides in a ruined stockade. Parker is not like other men. He died, and was reborn. He is ready to wage war. Now he will descend upon a strange, isolated community called the Cut, and face down a force of men who rule by terror, intimidation, and murder. All in the name of the being they serve. All in the name of the Dead King.

The Devil’s Anvil is by Matt Hilton and is due to be published in February 2016. Accepting

the task of protecting Billie Womack is a no-brainer for ex-counterterrorist soldier Joe Hunter, but it comes with its own set of complications. Billie's husband, Richard, stole thirty million dollars from some violent people. He apparently died in a car crash with Billie's daughter, Nicola, during a desperate attempt to elude his pursuers. But his enemies don't believe him dead. They think he escaped the plunge into the icy river that killed Nicola and has now decided to come back for the money. If he's alive, they believe he'll contact Billie. It doesn't take long for the bad guys to arrive at her remote farmhouse. Soon she and Joe are fugitives. Dead or alive, Richard's fate means nothing to Hunter, but he promises to do everything in his power to protect the grieving mother. Even if it means taking a bullet for her, it's a price he'll pay. It's a pledge he will come to regret, as he learns that killers are forged on the Devil's anvil.

Elizabeth Black is a hero. She is a cop who single-handedly rescued a young girl from a locked cellar and shot two brutal kidnappers dead. But she's also a cop with a secret. And she's not the only one...Set in an America of desperate small towns and uneasy and remote landscapes, Redemption Road is by John Hart and is due to be published in May 2016. It has all of John Hart's trademark evocation of the abandoned and the derelict and sense of place.

In The Month of The Midnight Sun is by Cecilia Ekbäck and is due to be published in June 2016.  Sweden, 1855. 'Worst thing I ever saw...' A telegram arrives on the Minister of Justice's desk. A massacre on one of Lapland's mountains - a priest, a law enforcement officer, and a local settler have been slaughtered by one of the indigenous Sami people. The murderer is in custody; he refuses to talk. The Minister dispatches his son-in-law, a geologist, to investigate for there is more than one reason to visit Blackasen: it is a mountain with many secrets, a mountain that has never been mapped. Magnus does not journey alone. The Minister's daughter, in disgrace, is sent with him. What they discover about the murders and what lies behind them will be as nothing compared with what they discover about themselves. And self-knowledge will come at a bitter price. From the stifling heat and restricted society of a Stockholm summer to the wild landscape of Sweden's far north, this novel tells a powerful story of the collision of worlds old and new.

Altar of Blood is the ninth novel in the thrilling Empire sequence by Anthony Riches and is due to be published in February 2016 and leads Centurion Marcus Aquila and the Tungrians to the battlefield that was one of Rome's most disastrous defeats. The Tungrians have no sooner returned to Rome than they find themselves tasked with a very different mission to their desperate exploits in Parthia. Ordered to cross the river Rhenus into barbarian Germany and capture a tribal priestess who may be the most dangerous person on the empire's northern border, they are soon subject to the machinations of an old enemy who will stop at nothing to sabotage their plans before they have even set foot on the river's eastern bank. But after their Roman enemy is neutralised they face a challenge greater still. With two of the Bructeri tribe's greatest treasures in their hands they must regain Roman territory by crossing the unforgiving wilderness that was the graveyard of Roman imperial strategy two hundred years before. And capture by the Bructeri's vengeful chieftain and his warband can only end in one way - a horrific sacrificial death on the tribe's altar of blood.

Also due to be published in May 2016 is Souls of Air by Mons Kallentoft.

Paul Morris is running out of money, friends and second chances. His new relationship might be his last hope of success. Alice is not like any of the women he's pursued in the past: wealthy, lonely, driven. When she invites Paul to her holiday home in Greece, he decides to do whatever it takes to make the romance stick. But the summer is not the idyll he had planned. Ten years ago, a thirteen-year-old girl went missing on the island, and now a fresh sighting and another attack unsettle the long hot days. For Paul is not be the only person with a plan...and his dreams of a life worth living may yet turn into a nightmare he cannot escape.  Lie With Me is by Sabine Durrant and is due to be published in June 2016.

Dr Harry Kent likes to keep busy: juggling hospital duties with his work as a police surgeon for the Metropolitan Police - anything to ward off the memories of his time as an Army medic. Usually the police work means minor injuries and mental health assessments. But Solomon Idris's case is different. Solomon Idris has taken eight people hostage in a chicken takeaway, and is demanding to see a lawyer and a BBC reporter. Harry is sent in to treat the clearly ill teenager...before the siege goes horribly wrong. When Solomon's life is put in danger again from the safety of a critical care ward, it becomes clear he knows something people will kill to protect. Determined to uncover the secret that drove the boy to such desperate action, Harry soon realises that someone in the medical world, someone he may even know, has broken the doctors' commandment 'do no harm' many times over…  The Hollow Men is the debut novel by Rob McCarthy and is due to be published in February 2016.

The Night Charter is by Sam Hawken and is due to be published in January 2016. Camaro Espinoza has spent her whole life protecting people: at home, in the army, whenever she can. Sometimes, that's meant leaving bodies behind. Now she's running a boat off the Miami shore, keeping a low profile and aiming for a simple life. Then a man named Parker comes by with an errand to run near the Cuban coast. He's offering good money, and bad trouble. Camaro is reluctant - but Parker's in deep with the wrong people and he has a daughter who'll suffer if he doesn't come home. Camaro's not the sort to ignore the girl's plight. She's used to being wanted, but she's never really been needed before. As she tries to protect Lauren, she finds herself in the midst of double crosses, international intrigue, broken promises and scattered bullets. And this time she may not be able to escape unscathed.

The whole world seems to have descended on Amsterdam for the Earth 2050 conference. As the city gets busier, Posthumus is thankful that work is quiet. But then one of his friend's former colleagues is left for dead under a bypass. Ever curious, Posthumus agrees to look into the case, sparking memories of his own time as a student radical. Amsterdam has always attracted people with fierce views...but is someone willing to kill for their principles? Or did the attack have a much more personal motive? Forced to contend with family secrets, political machinations and international conspiracies, Posthumus finds himself in ever deeper, darker waters as he tries to uncover what really happened, and why.  Deadly Secrets is by Britta Bolt and is due to be published in June 2016.

Three generations - torn apart by one weapon.  Philadelphia 1965: Two street cops - one black, one white - are gunned down in a robbery gone wrong. The cold-blooded killing stuns a racially divided city. One of the fallen officers, Stanislaw Walczak, leaves behind a twelve-year-old boy, Jimmy...  Philadelphia 1995: Homicide Detective Jim Walczak is preparing for the day he's dreamed about for 30 years. His father's killer is about to be set free. And Walczak will be waiting...  Philadelphia 2015: Walczak's daughter Audrey, studying forensic science, reinvestigates her grandfather's murder. But the deeper Audrey digs, the more she realizes: the man convicted of killing Stan Walczak didn't do it... Revolver is by Duane Swierczynski and is due to be published in April 2016.

Navy SEALs Crocker and Mancini are on a training exercise in Las Vegas when a moment of relaxation is interrupted by a violent altercation between hotel security and three businessmen claiming to be Chinese diplomats. They attempt to stop the fleeing businessmen, but soon realise that they may not be who they claim to be. That same night Las Vegas goes dark - someone has hacked into the Nevada Power Company system and shut down the entire city. As chaos reigns the businessmen make their escape. When Crocker and the rest of SEAL Team Six attempt to track them down, they find themselves drawn into a North Korean plot that combines cyber warfare and the theft of black market nuclear weapons. As darkness reigns, the squad is the last hope of preventing a conspiracy that could have catastrophic international consequences.  Hunt The Dragon is by Don Mann and Ralph Pezzullo and is due to be published in May 2016.

We Were Kings is by Thomas O’Malley and Douglas Graham Purdy and is due to be published in June 2016. Two years after Cal and Dante destroyed the heart of the Boston Irish mob and splintered the Boston political landscape, everyone is out for themselves and trying to claim a piece of the city. It's early summer but already the city is in the grips of a heat wave, which doesn't help tensions any as the fractures within Boston's underworld are finding their way to the streets in payback shoot-outs between mobsters and the police. When a body is discovered at the Charlestown locks, tarred and feathered and shot, it appears to be a gangland killing, and almost immediately dismissed. But Cal's cousin, detective Owen Lackey, who intended to intercept a boat coming into Boston weighed down with stolen guns and ammunition, recognises the murder as typical retribution for IRA informers and knows that with this murder there may be much more at stake than his superiors realise. Keen to uncover those responsible, he asks Cal and Dante to help search the Irish-American enclaves of Dudley Square, Dorchester and South Boston for some sign of the killers. It is a journey that will take them into the shadowy parts of Boston, a world of packed dance halls, Irish wakes and funeral parlors, of down-and-out immigrant rooming houses, bars, and secret meeting halls, and, ultimately, to the discovery of a terrorist plot that will shake the city to its core and bring them head-to-head not only with Cal's past but with the IRA Army Council itself.