Books to look forward to from Penguin and MIchael Joseph

Captain Dominika Egorova of the Russian Intelligence Service has returned from the West to Moscow. She despises the men she serves, the oligarchs, and crooks, and thugs of Putin's Russia. What no one knows is that Dominika is working for the CIA as Washington's most sensitive penetration of the Kremlin. As she expertly dodges exposure, Dominika deals with a murderously psychotic boss; faces assassination attempt and counter-intelligence ambushes, and must rescue a compromised agent and somehow spirit him out of Russia from under the noses of her pursuers. Complicating it all is Dominika's relationship with her CIA handler, Nate Nash. And when a mole in Moscow finds her name on a classified list of sources, it is a virtual death sentence.  Palace of Treason is by Jason Matthews and is due to be published in January 2016

 Cal McGill is the sea detective: an oceanographer and one-of-a-kind investigator who uses his knowledge of the waves to find where objects came from, or track where they've gone. For five years Priest's Island has guarded the mystery of Max Wheeler's disappearance. In this isolated township on the edge of the Atlantic, there are no secrets - except what really happened to fourteen-year-old Max. Now Cal McGill has taken up the quest. A grieving father, a community riven by tragedy - and resentful of the suspicion - all make a powder keg of secrets and vengeance ready to explode.  The Malice of Waves is by Mark Douglas-Home and is due to be published in April 2016.

Forensic investigator Darby McCormick queues to enter Boston Police Headquarters on a freezing winter morning. Lured back to her home town to help solve a cold case, Darby won't get far inside the station - and this will be no ordinary homecoming...Because someone suddenly takes a woman hostage and a stand-off ensues. The man has explosives strapped to himself and other bombs hidden around the city, rigged to explode - every three hours - until he gets what he wants. Working desperately against the clock, Darby realizes she is trapped between a kidnapper who would kill to expose the truth and people who would let others die to hide their lies.  Every Three Hours is by Chris Mooney and is due to be published in March 2016.

McLean must investigate the seedy goings on of an exclusive and secretive society, catering for the rich and powerful of the city. Somehow it is linked to a particularly gruesome cold case from twenty years ago, McLean's first case with the force.  The Damage Done is by James Oswald and is due to be published in February 2016.

A series of uniquely brutal murders targets victims from totally different walks of life.  In a society divided according to Zodiac signs, those differences are cast at birth and binding for life.  All eyes are on Detective Jerome Burton and astrological profiler Lindi Childs – divided in their beliefs over whether the answer is written in stars but united in their conviction that there is an ingenious serial killer executing a grand plan.  Together, they will unravel a dark tale of betrayal, lost love, broken promises and a devastating truth with the power to tear their world apart.  Zodiac is by Sam Wilson and is due to be published in June 2016.

Orphan X is by Gregg Hurwitz and is due to be published in April 2016. “Do you need my help?” It was always the first question he asked. They called him when they had nowhere else to turn. As a boy he was chosen, then taken from the orphanage he called home. Raised and trained as part of a top secret programme he was sent to the worst places in the world to do the things his government denied any knowledge of. Then he broke with the programme, using everything he'd learned to disappear. He wanted to help the desperate and deserving. But now someone's on his tail. Someone who has issues with his past. Someone who knows he was once known simply as Orphan X.

A hit-and-run on a woodland road near Amsterdam involving an Afghan boy is connected to a powerful international crime syndicate.  Journalist Farah Hafez, together with her colleague Paul Chapelle, gets caught up in an investigation that takes them all the way to Moscow and has great political and personal ramifications than they bargained for.  After this perilous journey, their lives will never be the same. Butterfly on the Storm is the first instalment of The Heartland Trilogy by Walter Lucius and is due to be published in July 2016.

Little Boy Blue is by M J Arlidge and is due to be published in March 2016.  Helen's most

personal case yet as she investigates the shocking and unexpected murder of a close friend found cocooned in plastic. It looks like it was a tragic accident - a sex game gone wrong. The investigation soon threatens to expose Helen's private life and she has to make some tough personal choices along the way, as she hunts a twisted and elusive killer, who is swiftly racking up more murders. As Helen closes in on her prey, a shocking truth is revealed - these murders are part of a calculated attempt to bring Helen down.

Many changes have happened to the Murder Squad.  Rash actions have cost Sergeant Nevil Hammersmith his job, and in response he has set up his own private detective agency.  Inspector Walter Day has been missing for a year and no one knows where he is though there is a strong suspicion that Saucy Jack has him.  Hammersmith has made finding day his primary case, and he has company – a pair of bounty hunters, a man and a woman.  It is only gradually that he has come to realise that they are not what they seem.  Lost and Gone Forever is by Alex Grecian and is due to be published in June 2016.

Christmas Eve 1985 -The shaved, exsanguinated body of a young man is found in Red Square; frozen solid - like marble to the touch - missing the little finger from his right hand.  A week later, Alex Marston, the fifteen year old daughter of the British Ambassador disappears. Army Intelligence Officer, Tom Fox, posted to Moscow following the death of his own daughter, is asked to help find her. It's a shot at redemption.  But as Fox's investigation drags him deeper towards the dark heart of a Soviet establishment determined to protect its own so his fears grow, with those of the girl's father, for her safety. A flayed cat, hung by its hind legs from the ceiling of Fox's flat is just a warning.  And if Fox can't find Alex soon, it looks as if she could become a sadistic killer's next human victim . . .  Moskva is by Jack Grimwood and is due to be published in May 2016.

When Zoo agrees to take part in the latest reality television show, In the Dark, she knows that her skills of endurance will be tested to the limit.  Beating twelve competitors in a series of survival tasks deep in the forest will be her ultimate challenge before motherhood.  But as the contestants are overtaken by hunger, injury and psychological breakdown, the mind games and hazards to which they are subjected seem increasingly extreme and dark beyond measure.  This isn’t what Zoo signed up for.  Is she in a game with no end?  Discovering the truth is just the beginning. The Last One is by Alexandra Oliva and is due to be published in July 2016.

A Fever of the Blood is by Oscar de Muriel and is due to be published in February 2016. 

New Year's Day, 1889. In Edinburgh's lunatic asylum, a patient escapes as a nurse lays dying. Leading the manhunt are legendary local Detective 'Nine-Nails' McGray and Londoner-in-exile Inspector Ian Frey. Before the murder, the suspect was heard in whispered conversation with a fellow patient - a girl who had been mute for years. What made her suddenly break her silence? And why won't she talk again? Could the rumours about black magic be more than superstition? McGray and Frey track a devious sychopath far beyond their jurisdiction, through the worst blizzard in living memory, into the shadow of Pendle Hill - home of the Lancashire witches - where unimaginable danger awaits..

An 'innocent' killer. A politician's missing daughter. An unidentifiable corpse. What connects these crimes? An unidentifiable murder victim may be the missing piece of the puzzle for a massive expose that journalist Helen Norton is writing about the links between politics, business and crime in the north-east. Her former colleague Tom Carney receives a letter from a convicted murderer who insists he is innocent. Tom decides to meet the man face-to-face. Meanwhile, Detective Ian Bradshaw searches for a politician's missing daughter - who it seems has run away to the bright lights and seedy streets of London's Soho. As the three cases become intertwined, Helen, Tom and Bradshaw realize too late what they've uncovered.  Behind Dead Eyes is by Howard Linskey and is due to be published in March 2016.

Among Thieves is by John Clarkson and is due to be published in May 2016. Unfairly imprisoned by the State of New York, ex-con James Beck is a man with a keen sense of right and wrong. But when a friend's niece turns to him for help, he soon discovers that the men at whose hands she's suffered are more dangerous than he could possibly have imagined. In order to prevail, he and his gang of friends will have to outwit, out-flank and out-fight a formidable array of opponents the like of which they've never before encountered. Or die trying.