July
Peter
Diamond, the Bath detective brilliant at rooting out murder, is peeved at being
diverted to Professional Standards to enquire into a police car accident.
Arriving late at the scene, he discovers an extra victim thrown onto an
embankment - unconscious and unnoticed. Diamond administers CPR, but no one can
say whether the elderly tricyclist will pull through. But why had the man been
out in the middle of the night with an urn containing human ashes? Diamond 's
suspicions grow after he identifies the accident victim as Ivor Pellegrini, a
well-known local eccentric and railway enthusiast. A search of Pellegrini's
workshop proves beyond question that he is involved in a series of
uninvestigated deaths. While Pellegrini lingers on life support, Diamond
wrestles with the appalling possibility that he has saved the life of a serial
killer. One Goes Tonight is by
Peter Lovesey.
Killer
Look is by Linda Fairsten New York City is one of the fashion capitals
of the world, well-known for its glamour and style. Yet high fashion means high
stakes, as Alex Cooper quickly discovers when businessman and designer Wolf
Savage is found dead in an apparent suicide, days before the biggest show of
his career. When Savage's daughter insists his death was murder, the case
becomes more than a media sensation. With her own job at the DA's Office in
jeopardy, and spiralling into a reliance on alcohol, Alex is not anyone's first
choice for help. But she is determined to uncover the grime - and the possible
homicide - beneath the glitz. Soon she and police detectives Mike Chapman and
Mercer Wallace are investigating the family secrets Savage kept so well hidden,
even from those closest to him - just as things are about to get deadly on the
catwalk.
When
Zoe Walker sees her photo in the classifieds section of a London newspaper, she
is determined to find out why it's there. There's no explanation, no website:
just a grainy image and a phone number. She takes it home to her family, who
are convinced it's just someone who looks like Zoe. But the next day the advert
shows a photo of a different woman, and another the day after that. Is it a
mistake? A coincidence? Or is someone keeping track of every move they make... I See
You is by Clare McKintosh
The
History of Blood is by Paul Mendleson When the South African Police
Service receive a panicked call for help from the wayward daughter of a former
Apartheid-era politician, they discover not only her body but, within it, a
message which will take Colonel Vaughn de Vries and Don February of the Special
Crimes Unit on a journey through their country - and their country's past - to
decipher and resolve. As organised crime grips South Africa, new players arrive
in Cape Town, determined to exploit the poor and hopeless, promising redemption.
While other government agencies snap impotently at the small fish, De Vries,
linked by a personal connection, resolves to follow this trail to its source
and take it down from the top. As decades old webs of corruption and influence
are exposed, and the boundaries of morality blur, his decisions begin to impact
on his friends, colleagues and family.
How
could the heavily-pregnant bride of the lanimer-man vanish into thin air? Young
Mistress Audrey Madur is missing and her husband, responsible for maintaining
boundaries and overseeing land use in the burgh of Lanark, is strangely
reluctant to search for her. Gil Cunningham, answering the frantic appeal of
Audrey's mother, finds himself searching the burgh and the lands round about,
questioning family and neighbours. He and Alys uncover disagreements, feuds,
adultery and murder, and encounter once again the flamboyant French lady Olympe
Archibecque, who is not at all what she seems. And then another lady goes
missing. The Lanimer Bride is by
Pat McIntosh.
The
Adventuress is by Tasha Alexander. Lady Emily Hargreaves travels to the
south of France where an apparent suicide may be something far more sinister.
Emily and husband Colin have come to the French Riviera for what should be a
joyous occasion - the engagement party of her lifelong friend Jeremy, Duke of
Bainbridge, and Amity Wells, an American heiress. But the merrymaking is cut
short with the shocking death of one of the party in an apparent suicide. Not
convinced by the coroner's verdict, Emily must employ all of her investigative
skills to discover the truth and avert another tragedy.
August
A
Great Reckoning is by Louise Penny. Former Chief Inspector Gamache has
been hunting killers his entire career and as the new commander of the Surete
Academy, he is given the chance to combat the corruption and brutality that has
been rife throughout the force. But when a former colleague and professor of
the Surete academy is found murdered, with a mysterious map of Three Pines in
his possession, Gamache has an even tougher task ahead of him. When suspicion
turns to Gamache himself, and his possible involvement in the crime, the
frantic search for answers takes the investigation to the village of Three
Pines, where a series of shattering secrets are poised to be revealed.
Lord
Francis Powerscourt is visited at home in London by the Bishop of Lynchester
who wants his advice about the suspect for the death of an aged parishioner.
Powerscourt advises that discretion rather than accusation is the best way
forward, but this is just the start of his association with the diocese of
Lynchester. The death of the parishioner has left available a property in the
cathedral close which traditionally the church rents out to a suitable tenant.
Four worthy candidates are nominated ...and then one of them, the retail king
of the south of England, is found dead in the house, poisoned by strychnine. So
once again Powerscourt is summoned by the bishop as this time there is no doubt
of foul play. But there are many suspects from which to choose - there are the
other candidates who want to live in that very desirable property ...or could
it be more complex than that? Very soon Powerscourt uncovers a trail of greed,
deception and death which goes straight to the heart of the cathedral itself. Death Comes to Lynchester Close is
by David Dickinson
September
Precious
and Grace is by Alexander McCall Smith. One bright morning, Precious
Ramotswe - head of Botswana's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - receives a
visitor: a woman from Australia. This woman asks Precious to take on a case: to
find the nursemaid who raised her during her childhood in Botswana. The woman
wants to thank her for being such an important part of her life. Precious has a
history of successfully solving cases, but this one proves difficult and throws
up a number of surprises and challenges. Back in her office, next door to the
Speedy Motors Garage on Twokleng Road, Precious also has a team to manage: Mr
Polopetsi, a part-time science teacher and new assistant at the agency; she
mentors Charlie, a former apprentice and young man too handsome and charming
for his own good - a man who has gotten himself in deep water; and then there
is Precious's tumultuous but heart-warming friendship with her co-director, the
fiery Grace Makutsi. Precious and Grace is a story about being a detective, the
complexities of human nature, as well as lessons about gratitude and
obligation.
Out
of Bounds is by Val McDermid. When
a teenage joyrider crashes a stolen car and ends up in a coma, a routine DNA
test reveals a connection to an unsolved murder from twenty-two years before.
Finding the answer to the cold case should be straightforward. But it's as
twisted as the DNA helix itself. Meanwhile, Karen Pirie finds herself
irresistibly drawn to another mystery that she has no business investigating, a
mystery that has its roots in a terrorist bombing two decades ago. And again,
she finds that nothing is as it seems ...
Ryder
Creed, his K9 search-and-rescue dogs and FBI agent Maggie O'Dell find
themselves at the centre of a dire and mysterious case. In Chicago, a young man
jumps from his thirtieth-storey hotel room; along the Missouri river, a hunter
and his son find a lake whose surface is littered with snow geese, all of them
dead; and in Southern Alabama, Ryder Creed and his search-and-rescue dog Grace
find the body of a young woman who went missing in the Conecuh National Forest
...and it appears she filled her pockets with rocks and walked into the river.
Before long Ryder Creed and FBI profiler Maggie O'Dell will discover the
ominous connection between these mysterious deaths. What they find may be the
most prolific killer the United States has ever know. Reckless Creed is by Alex Kava.
Atlanta,
1948. In this city, all crime is black and white. On one side of the tracks are
the rich,
Razor
Girl is by Carl Hiassen. Key West is a small place, but there are criminal
secrets buried everywhere ...When jumped-up reality TV star Buck Nance
aggravates the crowd in a Key West bar, he incites a riot and vanishes in the
melee. His hapless agent Lane Coolman should have been by Buck's side, but has
been accidentally taken hostage by two petty criminals who now think they can
turn a quick profit by ransoming an LA talent agent. As the search for Buck
continues, the mystery draws in a broad cast of characters from across the
island: a delusional fan of Buck's show; the local sheriff who's desperate for
re-election; a disgraced cop who now works restaurants on roach patrol; a shady
lawyer and his gold-digging fiancee; the gay mayor and his restauranteur
partner; a Mafioso hotelier; and a redheaded con artist named Merry who, using
a razor blade and a high-speed car, has developed a signature way of luring in
her victims.
Torn is by Anne Randall. 2004 The court case had been harrowing. The
fifteen jurors sat in silence while the prosecution produced evidence of how a
man with obsessive sado-masochistic fantasies had turned into a killer.
Fourteen of the jurors were repulsed. One man was secretly enthralled. A new
world of possibility had opened up for him. 2014 When an actress is found dead,
the ligature marks suggest that she had been involved in extreme sex games.
When DIs Wheeler and Ross begin to investigate her death, they uncover not only
an industry with varying degrees of regulation but also a sinister private club
where some of Glasgow's elite pay handsomely to indulge their darkest
fantasies. Club security is run by Paul Furlan, ex-army veteran and a former
adversary of Wheeler. As Wheeler and Ross uncover the secrets and lies
surrounding the club, they realise that their investigation is being blocked
not just by Furlan but by some of Glasgow's most influential citizens.
Meanwhile Skye Cooper, Scotland's latest indie-rock sensation is playing the
final gig of his sell-out tour but his dreams of stardom are on a collision
course with the obsession threatening to consume him.
The
Twelve Clues of Christmas is by Rhys Biowen She may be thirty-fifth in
line for the throne, but Lady Georgiana Rannoch cannot wait to ring in the New
Year - before a Christmas killer wrings another neck ...On the first day of
Christmas, my true love gave to me - well, actually, my true love, Darcy
O'Mara, is spending a feliz navidad tramping around South America. Meanwhile,
Mummy is holed up in a tiny village called Tiddleton-under-Lovey with that
droll Noel Coward! And I'm snowed in at Castle Rannoch with my bumbling
brother, Binky, and sourpuss sister-in-law, Fig. So it's a miracle when I
contrive to land a position as hostess to a posh holiday party in Tiddleton.
The village is like something out of A Christmas Carol! But then there are three
deaths, so-called accidents. Perhaps a recent prison break could have something
to do with it ...that, or a long-standing witch's curse. But after Darcy shows
up beneath the mistletoe, anything could be possible in this wicked wonderland.
Allotment
wars! Lord Bellingham, Carsely's biggest landholder, has enraged locals by
saying he is going to sell off their allotments to make way for a new housing
development. So when he turns up dead, poisoned by antifreeze, nobody mourns
his passing. On another fine summer's day Agatha visits Carsley's allotments
where everything looks peaceful and perfect: people of all ages digging in the
soil and working hard to grow their own fruit and veg. Agatha feels almost
tempted to take on a strip herself ...but common sense soon prevails. She
doesn't really like getting her hands dirty. She is introduced to three
oldtimers who have just taken over a new strip; Harry Perry, Bunty Daventry and
Josephine Merriweather are lamenting the neglected condition of the patch. But
as Harry starts to shovel through the weeds and grass his spade comes across
something hard so he bends down and tries to move the object. And then he
starts to yell ...The body is that of Peta Currie, a newcomer to the village -
but who would want to murder her? Blonde and beautiful she's every local male's
favourite. And then Lord Bellingham's son engages Agatha to do some digging of
her own and very soon Agatha is thrown into a world of petty feuds, jealousies
and disputes over land. It would seem that far from being tiny gardens of Eden,
Carsley's allotments are local battlefields where passions - and the bodycount
- run high! Pushing up Daises is by M
C Beaton.
Passengers
boarding the 10.35 train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston are bound
for work, assignations, reunions, holidays or new starts, with no idea that
their journey is about to be brutally curtailed. Holly has just landed her
dream job, which should make life a lot easier than it has been, and Jeff is
heading for his first ever work interview after months of unemployment. They
end up sitting next to each other. On board, customer service assistant Naz
dreams of better things as he collects rubbish from the passengers. And among
the others travelling are Nick with his young family who are driving him crazy;
pensioner Meg and her partner setting off on a walking holiday and facing an
uncertain future; Caroline, run ragged by the competing demands of her stroppy
teenage children and her demented mother; and Rhona, unhappy at work and desperate
to get home to her small daughter. And in the middle of the carriage sits
Saheel, carrying a deadly rucksack ... The
Silence Between Breaths is by Cath Staincliffe.
October
The
Bone Ritual is by Julian Lees. Ruud
Pujasumarta has seen some gang-perpetrated horror crimes in his time, but the
slum murder of a middle-aged woman he is called to is both horrifying and
baffling. Mari Agnes Liem has not only been choked to death while tied to her
bed, but the murderer has amputated her left hand and left a mah jong tile in
her throat. And he has taken the hand with him. Ruud's personal life is a
disaster - the whole world seems to know that his wife has left him for another
man, perhaps because his (ex) mother-in-law keeps on turning up at his office
with food for him. The only bright spot on Ruud's horizon is the imminent
arrival of Imke Sneijder from Amsterdam, whom he hasn't seen for fifteen years,
when they were both twelve-year-old neighbours before her family moved back to
Holland. As Ruud and his department investigate the crime and the others that
follow, he begins to realise that the current murderous spree may be linked to
events which occured fifteen years ago, at about the time Imke left
Indonesia...
1665,
and the Great Plague has London in its grip. Everyone who can has fled and the
only sounds are the tolling bells and the incessant cry of 'bring out your
dead!'. Where better, then, to hide a murdered man than amongst the corpses on
their way to the plague pit? John Grey, now a successful lawyer, is called in
by Secretary of State Lord Arlington to investigate an unexpected admission to
the Tothill pit. The man was, before his murder, known to be carrying a letter
from the Duke of York to the French ambassador. But the letter has vanished and
Arlington wants it. Grey soon begins to realise why Arlington is prepared to
pay well for the document. The contents will compromise not only the duke but
many others around him. But Arlington is not the only one trying to recover the
letter. Somebody has killed once to try to obtain it - and is prepared to kill
again. And Samuel Pepys's offer of help may not be all it seems. So John Grey
is forced to set off on a journey through plague-ravaged England to fulfil his
commission and keep himself safe from his enemies - if the Plague doesn't get
him first. The Plague Road is by L C
Tyler.
Nature
versus nurture . . . The shots came quickly, silently, and with deadly
accuracy. Within seconds, three people were dead at Central Park’s ice skating
rink. The victims: a talented young skater, a doctor and a teacher. As random
as random can be. Eve Dallas has seen a lot of killers during her time with the
NYPSD, but never one like this. After reviewing security videos, it becomes
clear that the victims were killed by a sniper firing a tactical laser rifle,
who could have been miles away when the trigger was pulled. And though the
locations where the shooter could have set up seem endless, the list of people
with that particular skill set is finite: police, military, professional
killer. Eve’s husband, Roarke, has unlimited resources – and genius – at his
disposal. And when his computer program leads Eve to the location of the
sniper, she learns a shocking fact: there were two one older, one younger.
Someone is being trained by an expert in the science of killing, and they have
an agenda. Central Park was just a warm-up. And as another sniper attack shakes
the city to its core, Eve realises that though we’re all shaped by the people
around us, there are those who are just born evil . . Apprentice in Death is by J D Robb
Death
at the Seaside is by Frances Brody.
Nothing ever happens in August, and tenacious sleuth Kate Shackleton
deserves a break. Heading off for a long-overdue holiday to Whitby, she visits
her school friend Alma who works as a fortune teller there. Kate had been
looking forward to a relaxing seaside sojourn, but upon arrival discovers that
Alma's daughter Felicity has disappeared, leaving her mother a note and the
pawn ticket for their only asset: a watch-guard. What makes this more
intriguing is the jeweller who advanced Felicity the thirty shillings is Jack
Phillips, Alma's current gentleman friend. Kate can't help but become involved,
and goes to the jeweller's shop to get some answers. When she makes a horrifying
discovery in the back room, it soon becomes clear that her services are needed.
Met by a wall of silence by town officials, keen to maintain Whitby's idyllic
facade, it's up to Kate - ably assisted by Jim Sykes and Mrs Sugden - to
discover the truth behind Felicity's disappearance. And they say nothing
happens in August ...
November
Detective
Lotte Meerman is convinced the death of Frank Stapel, a painter and decorator,
isn't an accident after she and his widow Tessa find a skeleton in a sports bag
in his left luggage locker at Amsterdam Central train station. The remains date
from the Second World War and Lotte's colleagues consider it of minor
importance ...until forensic tests show that amongst the bones is the arm bone
of a crime boss that recently went missing. The Murderer’s Guide to Family
is by Anja de Jager
A
Time to Die is by Tom Wood. It
takes a bad man to hunt evil If the assassin known only as Victor once had a
moral compass, it is long since buried, along with his many victims. Yet some
men are so evil even Victor accepts they must die for reasons other than just
money. One such is Milan Rados, a former commander in the Serbian army who has
escaped trial at The Hague to become a formidable criminal power. Tracking down
and killing this brutal man will win Victor a reprieve for his own recent
crimes on British soil. But Victor isn't the only one who wants Rados dead. A
woman, whose family was butchered on the tyrant's orders, will do anything to
see Rados' blood spilled on the snow of Eastern Europe. Now Victor has an
unlikely ally - but an army stands between them and justice.
Eden
Chase is head over heels in love with her husband Tom. He's the sort of man who
doesn't give much away but Eden doesn't mind that - Tom is worth the effort. So
when he's accused of a years-old robbery and murder, Eden won't believe it. No,
not her Tom - he's not capable of the things they're saying he did. With Tom in
prison, it's up to Eden to clear his name. But the deeper Eden goes into the
ugly underworld that holds the answers and the closer she gets to the truth,
the more danger she's exposed to. Can Eden save her husband before it's too
late but, more importantly, is he even worth saving? Exposed is by Roberta Kray.
A
Truth Will Out is by A D Garrett. A mother and child are kidnapped
while driving back
The
Two O’ Clock Boy is by Mark Hill. One night changed their lives Thirty
years ago, the Longacre Children's Home stood on a London street where
once-grand Victorian homes lay derelict. There its children lived in terror of
Gordon Tallis, the home's manager. Cries in the fire and smoke Then Connor
Laird arrived: a frighteningly intense boy who quickly became Tallis' favourite
criminal helper. Soon after, destruction befell the Longacre, and the facts of
that night have lain buried ...until today. A truth both must hide Now, a
mysterious figure, the Two O'Clock Boy, is killing all who grew up there, one
by one. DI Ray Drake will do whatever it take to stop the murders - but he will
go even further to cover up the truth.
It's
been three months since that night - the night that Detective Micki Dare almost
died. Physically, she's healed but the nightmares remain, and she can't shake
the feeling that more happened that night than her partner Detective Zach
Harris is telling her. The only thing she can do is try to carry on as normal
and solve the latest case she and Zach have been assigned to. A string of
brutal home invasions are rocking the city and the families targeted have
nothing in common. Why were these victims chosen? The deeper Micki and Zach go
into the case, the more they realise something isn't right. There's something ...familiar
about the person doing this - and it's a familiarity Micki has been trying to
forget. Suddenly, this case is hitting too close to home and Micki has to
decide if she really wants to learn the truth about that night. This novel is by Erica Spindler and is
currently untitled.
A
High Mortality of Doves is by Kate Ellis. 1919. The Derbyshire village of Wenfield is
still reeling from four terrible years of war, and now, just when the village
is coming to terms with the loss of so many of its sons, the brutal murder of a
young girl shatters its hard-won tranquillity. Myrtle Bligh is found stabbed
and left in woodland, her mouth slit to accommodate a dead dove, a bird of
peace. During the war Myrtle worked as a volunteer nurse with Flora Winsmore,
the local doctor's daughter, caring for badly wounded soldiers at the nearby
big house, Tarnhey Court. When two more women are found murdered in identical
circumstances, Inspector Albert Lincoln is sent up from London, a man not only
wounded in war but damaged in peace by the death of his young son and his cold,
loveless marriage. Once in Wenfield, Albert begins to investigate the three
recent murders and the Cartwright family of Tarnhey Court and their staff fall
under suspicion as their hidden lives and secrets are uncovered. With rumours
of a ghostly soldier with a painted face being spotted near the scene of the
murders, the village is thrown into a state of panic - and with the killer
still on the loose, who will be the next to die at the hands of this vicious
angel of death?
December
For
Dr William Hardy, professor of Forensic Psychology at New York University, life
had been nearly perfect, until the day it was shattered by the sudden and
violent loss of his wife. Will’s twelve-year-old daughter, Bernadette, a
witness to the crime, has barely spoken since that day. Months after the
tragedy, Will learns that a family trust has bequeathed him Godwin Hall, a
place Will once visited as a child, a place where he himself observed a
terrifying event. In their grief and despair, Will and Bernadette Hardy move to
Ohio to start a new life. But soon they
find this small community hides terrors of its own, and only a young, female
rookie cop can protect them from what’s coming . . . The Last Girl is by Richard
Montanari
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