Books to Look Forward to From Simon and Schuster

 February 2021

Nighthawking is by Russ Thomas. Sheffield's beautiful Botanical Gardens - an oasis of peace in a world filled with sorrow, confusion and pain. And then, one morning, a body is found in the Gardens. A young woman, dead from a stab wound, buried in a quiet corner. Police quickly determine that the body's been there for months. It would have gone undiscovered for years - but someone just sneaked into the Gardens and dug it up. Who is the victim? Who killed her and hid her body? Who unburied her? And who laid two ancient Roman coins over her eyes? In his quest to find her murderer, DS Adam Tyler will find himself drawn into the secretive world of nighthawkers: treasure-hunters who operate under cover of darkness, seeking the lost and valuable... and willing to kill to keep what they find. That which was lost... will always be found again.

March 2021

Danger and dissent stalk the streets and taverns of Elizabethan England. The Queen's chief spymaster, Francis Walsingham, and his team of agents must maintain the highest levels of vigilance to ward off Catholic plots and the ever-present threat of invasion. One operative in particular - a young Cambridge undergraduate of humble origins, controversial beliefs and literary genius who goes by the name of Kit Marlowe - is relentless in his pursuit of intelligence for the Crown. When he is killed outside an inn in Deptford, his mysterious death becomes the subject of rumours and suspicion that are never satisfactorily resolved. Years later, Thomas Phelippes, a former colleague of Marlowe's and a man once much valued by Walsingham, finds himself imprisoned in the Tower. When he is visited by an emissary of the new king, however, it becomes clear that his long fall from favour may be reversed if he will furnish his monarch with every detail he is able to recall about his murdered friend's life and death. But just what is it that so fascinates King James about the famously mercurial playwright-spy, and does Phelippes know enough to secure his own redemption? A Fine Madness is by Alan Judd.

April 2021

Joe Goldberg is back. And he's going to start a family even if it kills him. Joe Goldberg is done with cities, done with the muck and the posers, done with Love. Now, he's saying hello to nature, to simple pleasures on a cosy island in the Pacific Northwest. For the first time in a long time, he can just breathe. He gets a job at the local library - he does know a thing or two about books - and that's where he meets her: Mary Kay DiMarco. Librarian. Joe won't meddle, he will not obsess. He'll win her the old fashioned way . . . by providing a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand. Over time, they'll both heal their wounds and begin their happily ever after in this sleepy town. The trouble is . . . Mary Kay already has a life. She's a mother. She's a friend. She's . . . busy. True love can only triumph if both people are willing to make room for the real thing. Joe cleared his decks. He's ready. And hopefully, with his encouragement and undying support, Mary Kay will do the right thing and make room for him. You Love Me is by Caroline Kepnes.

So you want to read crime with a dose of black humour and strong, violent-when-necessary heroines? Do you like women who don’t take any sh*t? Then this book is definitely for you. Think Villanelle – but she’s on your side. Nikki Griffin, our bookseller-by-day, badass PI-by-night heroine, is back in One Got Away by S. A. Lelchuk.

Someone Who Isn't Me is by Danuta Kot. When everyone hides the truth, who do you turn to? Becca's had a hard time of it, but she has finally got her life together. She has a nice little flat, a steady job pulling pints, and she's even seeing someone new: Andy, who keeps his private life to himself but is always good for a laugh. And then Andy vanishes. When his body turns up on isolated Sunk Island, Becca learns Andy wasn't just another punter. He was a police officer, deep undercover, investigating a drugs ring that he believed operated out of Becca's pub. Staggered by the betrayal, Becca turns to the only person she thinks she can trust: her foster mum, Kay. But Kay has problems of her own. She's just moved into a short-term let in the hopes of finding some peace and quiet. But peace and quiet are hard to come by on Sunk Island . . . Before long, both women are drawn into a terrifying world of drugs, money and death.

Vanished is by James Delargy. Lorcan and Naiyana are desperate to move their young family far away from the hustle and bustle of modern city life. The abandoned town of Kallayee seems like the perfect getaway: no one has lived there for decades. It will be peaceful. Quiet. Secure. But life in Kallayee isn't quite as straightforward as they hope. Lights flicker at night. Car tracks appear in the dust even when the family hasn't driven anywhere. And six-year-old Dylan is certain he can hear strange sounds. Lorcan and Naiyana refuse to leave. No one can talk sense into them. And now, no one can talk to them at all. They've simply vanished.

The Bone Code is by Kathy Reichs. A storm has hit South Carolina, dredging up crimes of the past. En route to Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan receives a call from the Charleston coroner. During the storm, a medical waste container has washed up on the beach. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. Chillingly, Tempe recognizes many details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec fifteen earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she flies to Montreal to gather evidence and convince her boss Pierre LaManch to reopen the cold case. She also seeks the advice-and comfort-of her longtime beau Andrew Ryan.  Meanwhile, a storm of a different type gathers force in South Carolina. The citizens of Charleston are struck by capnocytophaga, a bacterium that, at its worst, can eat human flesh. Thousands panic and test themselves for a rare genetic mutation that may have rendered them vulnerable. Shockingly, Tempe eventually deduces not only that the victims in both grisly murder cases are related, but that the murders and the disease outbreak also have a common cause . . .

May 2021

Mia, a burgeoning actress, heads to LA where she meets Emily at an audition.  When Emily disappears, leaving behind her belongings, Mia decides to search for her. But LA is a world of falsity and hidden identities and Mia doesn't know who she can trust.  Her search for the truth soon becomes more complicated, and more dangerous, than she ever could have imagined, dragging her further into a world that can chew you up and spit you back out . . The Disappearing Act is by Catherine Steadman.

Get inside the mind of a real life bomb disposal expert. Left reeling from the disappearance of his daughter and ex-wife, staff sergeant dom riley is a haunted man. After spending months investigating, he has exhausted nearly all leads in his hunt for answers. As Riley decides to make one final push for the truth, it emerges that multiple bombs are on board a civilian cruise ship and he is sent in to neutralise the threat. The mission is perilous before it's even begun, requiring a low-altitude parachute jump, a manoeuvre he has only completed in training - but it's not the journey, nor the bombs themselves, that pose the real threat. In fact, in travelling halfway across the Atlantic, Riley will ultimately learn that the danger is much closer to home. Operation Black Key is by Kim Hughes. 

The Heights is by Louise Candlish. He thinks he's safe up there. But he'll never be safe from you. The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among the warehouses of Shad Thames, its roof terrace so discreet you wouldn't know it existed if you weren't standing at the window of the flat directly opposite. But you are. And that's when you see a man up there a man you'd recognize anywhere. He's older now and his appearance has subtly changed, but it's definitely him. Which makes no sense at all since you know he has been dead for over two years.You know this for a fact. Because you're the one who killed him.