Saturday 14 November 2020

Books to Look Forward to From Headline Publishers

January 2021

On a bright sunny day in Port Silver, ex-journalist Martin Scarsden misses a call from his girlfriend Mandy. Checking his voicemail later, all he hears is her terrified scream before the phone cuts off. Back at the house, he finds a policeman unconscious on the floor, and Mandy gone. So starts a twisting tale of intrigue and danger, as Martin probes the past of the woman he loves, a woman who has buried her former life deep. And for the first time, Mandy finds denial impossible, now the body of a man has been discovered - a man to whom she was engaged to marry. It's time to face her demons once and for all; it's time she learned how to trust. Trust is by Chris Hammer.

Run For Cover is by Michael Ledwidge. On the run from a shadowy cabal of the world's most powerful men, ex-Navy Seal Michael Gannon heads to the safest place he can think of: his war buddy's ranch in the wilds of Utah. But when his friend's brother is found dead in the rocky mountains, Gannon realizes he can't stay off grid. Is the death connected to a string of grisly murders occurring in national parks...or something even more sinister? Flushed from cover, Gannon finds himself sucked into a lethal conspiracy that has infiltrated the highest levels of the US government.

February 2021

Shiver is by Allie Reynolds. When Milla is invited to a reunion in the French Alps resort that saw the peak of her snowboarding career, she drops everything to go. While she would rather forget the events of that winter, the invitation comes from Curtis, the one person she can't seem to let go. The five friends haven't seen each other for ten years, since the disappearance of the beautiful and enigmatic Saskia. But when an icebreaker game turns menacing, they realise they don't know who has really gathered them there and how far they will go to find the truth. In a deserted lodge high up a mountain, the secrets of the past are about to come to light.

The charred remains of an elderly woman are discovered in a burned-out game-keepers cottage, hidden away in woodland to the west of Edinburgh. Clearly no accidental fire, Detective Inspector Tony McLean suspects that neither is this simply a grim arson attack. There is far more to the victim than her humble surroundings might suggest, and something ritualistic to her horrific murder. Nor will it be the only case of death by fire that Tony and his team will be faced with. This is only the beginning, and with such evil clouding the air, Tony begins to wonder what else will burn . . . What Will Burn is by James Oswald.

Finlay Donovan is Killing It is by Elle Cosimano. Finlay Donovan, single mum and floundering crime writer, is having a hard time. Her ex-husband went behind her back to fire the nanny, and this morning she sent her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an unfortunate incident with scissors. Making it to lunch with her literary agent is a minor victory but, as she's discussing the plot of her latest crime novel, the conversation is misinterpreted by a woman sitting nearby as that of a hit-woman offering her services to dispose of a 'problem' husband. And when the woman slips Finlay a name and a promise of a large sum of cash, Finlay finds herself plotting something much bigger than her novel. And, after all, they do always say: write what you know. . .

March 2021

Blackout is by Simon Scarrow. Berlin, December 1939As Germany goes to war, the Nazis tighten their terrifying grip. Paranoia in the capital is intensified by a rigidly enforced blackout that plunges the city into oppressive darkness every night, as the bleak winter sun set.When a young woman is found brutally murdered, Criminal Inspector Horst Schenke is under immense pressure to solve the case, swiftly. Treated with suspicion by his superiors for his failure to join the Nazi Party, Schenke walks a perilous line - for disloyalty is a death sentence.The discovery of a second victim confirms Schenke's worst fears. He must uncover the truth before evil strikes again.As the investigation takes him closer to the sinister heart of the regime, Schenke realises there is danger everywhere - and the warring factions of the Reich can be as deadly as a killer stalking the streets . ..

What if today was your last day... A bomb has exploded during a fashion show, killing a beautiful model on the catwalk. The murderer is still at large... and he may strike again. Yet this is the least of Police Commissioner Christian Verger's worries. His fiancee Viola has left him. He has to keep his tumultuous past a secret. To make things worse, his voice assistant Alexa is 99.74% sure he will die tomorrow. Moving from snowy 1980s Montana to chic 1990s Manhattan to a drone-filled 2030s Britain, Future Perfect is by Felicia Yap and is an electrifying race to solve a murder before it's too late. Yet it is also a love story, a riveting portrait of a couple torn apart by secrets, grief and guilt. A twisted tale of how the past can haunt a person's future and be used to predict if he will die... or kill.

Breakout is by Paul Herron. A lethal storm. The most deadly prison. Who will survive the night? Jack Constantine - a former cop who killed one of his wife's murderers in an act of vengeance - is serving his time in Ravenhill penitentiary, a notorious 'supermax' home to the most dangerous convicts in the country. When an apocalyptic superstorm wreaks havoc across the USA, the correctional officers flee the prison...but not before opening every cell door. The inmates must fend for themselves as lethal floodwaters rise and violent anarchy is unleashed. Teaming up with Kiera Sawyer, a Correctional Officer left behind on her first day of work, Constantine has one chance of survival - he must break out of a maximum security prison. But with the building on the verge of collapse, and deadly chaos around him, time is running out...

April 2021

1606. A year to the day that men were executed for conspiring to blow up Parliament, a towering wave devastates the Bristol Channel. Some proclaim God's vengeance. Others seek to take advantage.In London, Daniel Pursglove lies in prison waiting to die. But Charles FitzAlan, close adviser to King James I, has a job in mind that will free a man of Daniel's skill from the horrors of Newgate. If he succeeds.For Bristol is a hotbed of Catholic spies, and where better for the lone conspirator who evaded arrest, one Spero Pettingar, to gather allies than in the chaos of a drowned city? Daniel journeys there to investigate FitzAlan's lead, but soon finds himself at the heart of a dark Jesuit conspiracy - and in pursuit of a killer. The Drowned City is by K J Maitland.

A Darker Reality is by Anne Perry. The threat of a second world war means no one is safe... Elena Standish, a young English photographer working for MI5, is on holiday in America, attending her grandparents’ golden wedding anniversary party in Washington DC, when one of the guests is murdered. It is a hit and run by a car that belongs to Elena’s grandfather and he is immediately arrested. With connections to many political circles, including a close link to the President, Elena’s grandfather is convinced that his enemies are trying to frame him. And with the help of handsome British spy James Allenby, Elena must uncover the truth before it is too late... 

Forfeit is by Barbara Nadel. Double murder. Dark secrets Bitter betrayal It is the early hours of the morning when Turkish TV star Erol Gencer and Syrian refugee Wael Al Hussain are found dead at a house on the outskirts of Istanbul, but it is unclear whether Erol killed Wael before committing suicide or if it was a double murder. Inspector Mehmet Suleyman is on leave, as his teenage son is visiting from Ireland, but when Detective Kemil Gursel’s transsexual ex-lover, Pembe, is also murdered shortly after confessing that Wael had been one of her clients, Suleyman knows he must step in to help Kemil solve this complex case. Meanwhile, retired inspector Cetin Ikmen is pursuing the truth behind Wael’s wife’s story that she and Erol’s wife, Betul, had met over a year ago and plotted to kill each other’s husbands. From different directions, Ikmen and Suleyman close in on a killer whose double life has lead to greed, betrayal and murder... 

Inspector Lu Fei is a weary cop in a remote, northern Chinese town where the theft of a few chickens counts as a major crime. But when a young woman is brutally murdered - with her heart, lungs and liver removed - he suddenly finds himself under intense scrutiny from the ruling party in Beijing. Determined to find her killer, Lu Fei must navigate a society where politics can be deadly, corruption is rife, and the powerful are protected. As evidence connects the case a string of unsolved murders, Lu must decide what he is prepared to risk in search of justice. City of Ice is by Brian Klingborg.







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