Books to Look Forward to From Little Brown (Incl Constable)

 

January 2022

Breaking Point is by Edel Coffey. An innocent mistake. A lifetime of guilt. Susannah has two beautiful daughters, a high-flying medical career, a successful husband and an enviable life. Her hair is glossy, her clothes are expensive; she truly has it all. But when - on the hottest day of the year - her strict morning routine is disrupted, Susannah finds herself running on autopilot. It is hours before she realises she has made a devastating mistake. Her baby, Louise, is still in the backseat of the car and it is too late to save her. As the press close in around her, Susannah is put on trial for negligence. It is plain to see that this is not a trial, it's a witch hunt. But what will the court say?

Blotto Twinks and the Suspicious Guests is by Simon Brett. 'What? You mean the earl does it for money? That's way beyond the barbed wire!' This explosion of disgust from Blotto is provoked when Twinks informs him of the activities of the Earl of Woking. The gentleman in question is owner of Clusters, a stately home not far from Tawcester Towers, and he has been renting out parts of Clusters for private functions - and charging his guests! The discovery of this appalling lapse in aristocratic behaviour sets Blotto and Twinks off on their latest adventure. Determined to find out more about the Earl of Woking's activities, they discover the existence of a sinister group called Aristotours - brokers between impoverished owners of stately homes and the common people, offering 'a taste of the high life' to characters such as stockbrokers, surgeons and solicitors. And if this were not bad enough, the siblings discover Aristotours trying to infiltrate their evil practises into Tawcester Towers itself! So Blotto and Twinks set off on a quest to identify - and stop - the evil genius behind Aristotours.

February 2022

Sierra Six ix by Mark Greaney. Before he was the Gray Man, Court Gentry was Sierra Six, the junior member of a CIA action team. In their first mission they took out a terrorist leader, but at a terrible price - the life of a woman Court cared for. Years have passed and now The Gray Man is on a simple mission when he sees a ghost: the long-dead terrorist, but he's remarkably energetic for a dead man. A decade may have gone by but the Gray Man hasn't changed. He isn't one to leave a job unfinished or a blood debt unpaid.

Say goodnight, baby darling. Three young women have gone missing. They're all pretty, mid-twenties - someone clearly has a type. But no one links their disappearances until the first - Lauren Elder - is found lying peacefully on a bench in a children's playground. She is neatly dressed with a wide black velvet ribbon covering where her neck has been precisely slit. Her hands are folded over a childish sign on which is written in black crayon - BAD MOMMY. Lt Eve Dallas and her team are brought in to investigate Lauren's murder and uncover the links to the other two women. Can they find out enough about the missing women and unmask their captor before they kill again....? Abandoned In Death is by J D Robb.

Reader, I Buried Him is by Peter Lovesey. A twisty collection of short stories from the master of classic crime fiction, Peter Lovesey, one of which stars his most popular creation, Peter Diamond. More than fifty years ago, Peter Lovesey published a short story in an anthology. That short story caught the eye of the great Ruth Rendell, whose praise ignited Lovesey's life-long passion for short form crime fiction. More than a hundred stories later, Peter Lovesey has assembled this devilishly clever collection, fifteen yarns of mystery, melancholy, and mischief, inhabiting such deadly settings as a theatre, a monastery, and the book publishing industry. The collection includes that first story that launched his story-writing career as well as three new stories exclusive to this volume. In addition, Lovesey fans will delight in a personal essay by the author about the historical inspirations for his creation - and in an appearance by the irascible Bath detective Peter Diamond, who has, in the author's words, 'bulldozed his way' into this collection.

The Murder Stones is by Hania Allen. Polish-born DS Dania Gorska is called upon to investigate a seemingly straightforward case of an RTA - a car has crashed into a tree, having first hit a deer on an icy road. But a witness has come forward to say he saw someone fleeing the scene and then the autopsy reveals vicious marks on the head of the dead man. Suddenly Dania is looking at murder. The dead man, Eddie Sangster, has had an intriguing past - the youngest of three brothers, he inherited the family estate after the oldest committed suicide and the other simply disappeared. But decades on it would seem someone is out for vengeance as murder stones - carved headstones attesting to the brutal murders of both brothers - start to appear on the grounds of the estate. Clearly the key to the puzzle of the murder stones lies at Sangster Hall, where a calamitous incident in the past is now shaping the present, and it is up to Dania to discover the murderous secret of the Sangster family.

The Taste of Blood is by James Craig. Victim or assassin - the lines are blurred... A badly beaten woman walks into A&E and is promptly arrested by the Home Office on suspicion of being an illegal alien. However, she is neither illegal, nor a victim. After she escapes detention, the bodies of her attackers start to pile up. Commander Carlyle faces a race against time to find out who she really is - and to stop her from killing again.

March 2022

The Empty Room is by Brian McGilloway. What do you do when your child disappears? Pandora - Dora - Conlon wakes one morning to discover her 17-year old daughter Ellie, has not come home after a party. The day Ellie disappears, Dora is alone as her husband Eamon has already left for the day in his job as a long-distance lorry driver. So Dora does the usual things: rings around Ellie's friends... but no one knows where she is. Her panic growing, Dora tries the local hospitals and art college where Ellie is a student - but then the police arrive on her doorstep with the news her daughter's handbag has been discovered dumped in a layby. So begins Dora's ordeal of waiting and not knowing what has become of her girl. Eamon's lack of empathy and concern, Dora realises, is indicative of the state of their marriage, and left on her own, Dora begins to reassess everything she thought she knew about her family and her life. Increasingly isolated and disillusioned with the police investigation, Dora feels her grip on reality slipping as she takes it upon herself to find her daughter - even if it means tearing apart everything and everybody she had ever loved, and taking justice into her own hands.

Death of A Green Eyed Monster is by M C Beaton & R W Green. Hamish's new constable, Dorothy McIver, may be the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. Completely bewitched by her sparkling blue eyes, Hamish spends the summer traveling with her up and down Sutherland until finally, he can take it no longer. He gets down on one knee beside the Land Rover and begs her to marry him—and to his amazement and delight, she says yes.
But just as the town of Lochdubh gets ready to celebrate, Hamish finds himself with a new murder on his hands. If he doesn't find the killer fast, Hamish's dream wedding could become a nightmare.

Twelve Secrets is by Robert Gold. Ben Harper's life changed for ever the day his older brother Nick was murdered by two classmates. It was a crime that shocked the nation and catapulted Ben's family and their idyllic hometown, Haddley, into the spotlight. Twenty years on, Ben is one of the best true crime journalists in the country and happily settled back in Haddley, thanks to the support of its close-knit community. But when a fresh murder case shines new light on his brother's death and throws suspicion on those closest to him, Ben's world is turned upside down once more. He's about to discover that Haddley is a town full of secrets. No one is as they seem. Everyone has something to hide.  And someone will go to any length to keep the truth buried...

After a stressful winter, DSI William Lorimer is enjoying some time away from Glasgow. He and his new friend, Daniel Kohi, have retreated to the wilds of the Scottish Highlands to unwind. But what awaits them is far from a holiday. Despite its troubled history, the mountain village of Glencoe is now a popular resort, famed for its close-knit community, its breath-taking scenery and the warm welcome it offers weary travellers. So it's particularly shocking when two bodies are discovered in quick succession on the nearby peaks . . . With a potential serial killer on the loose, Lorimer's Major Incidents Team are drafted in from Glasgow. It's clear that a dark secret lurks beneath the wild beauty of this place. But will Lorimer manage to root it out before the killer strikes again? Echo of the Dead is by Alex Gray.

April 2022

Beat The Devils is by Josh Weiss. USA, 1958. President Joseph McCarthy sits in the White House, elected on a wave of populist xenophobia and barely-concealed anti-Semitism. The country is in the firm grip of McCarthy's Hueys, a secret police force evolved from the House Un-American Activities Committee. Hollywood's sparkling vision of the American dream has been suppressed; its remaining talents forced to turn out endless anti-communist propaganda. LAPD detective Morris Baker-a Holocaust survivor who drowns his fractured memories of the unspeakable in schnapps and work-is called to the scene of a horrific double-homicide. The victims are John Huston, a once-promising but now forgotten film director, and an up-and-coming young journalist named Walter Cronkite. Clutched in the hand of one of the dead men is a cryptic note containing the phrase "beat the devils" followed by a single name: Baker. Did the two men die in an attack fueled by better-dead-than-red sentiment, as the Hueys are quick to conclude, or were they murdered in a cover-up designed to protect-or even set in motion-a secret plot connected to Baker's past? In a country where terror grows stronger by the day, and paranoia rises unchecked, Baker is determined to find justice for two men who raised their voices in a time when free speech comes at the ultimate cost. In the course of his investigation, Baker stumbles into a conspiracy that reaches deep into the halls of power and uncovers a secret that could destroy the City of Angels-and the American ideal itself.

One wrong step and you're in deep water. Sukie has had enough of not putting herself out there. She has had enough of her mother thinking so very little of her timid daughter. On a whim, she accepts an offer to go to a Greek island for the weekend with Jake, a man she has barely begun dating. If that isn't putting herself out here, she doesn't know what is. Heather is at the airport when she sees a young woman with an older man - and immediately she understands that the woman is in danger. Because in fifteen years, Heather hasn't been able to forget what Jake did to her. And the next thing she knows, she's buying a plane ticket and following them. What should have been a perfectly pleasant weekend away quickly descends into something much darker. As these two women come ever closer to each other - and to Jake - it becomes increasingly unclear who will walk away from the weekend with their life. In Deep Water is by Christobel Kent. 

May 2022

Murder at Mount Ephraim is by Julie Wassmer. Pearl Nolan receives a wedding invitation from an old school friend. Journalist Amy has chosen somewhere very special for the wedding ceremony - the historic Kent manor house of Mount Ephraim - and the invite includes a pre-nuptial stay for Pearl and other guests at this venue. Nestled in an 800-acre estate, and surrounded by beautiful gardens and a lake, Pearl sees this break as a chance to leave crime behind, along with her own detective agency and her restaurant, The Whitstable Pearl. Accepting the invitation, Pearl looks forward to meeting the happy couple's friends and family, as well as Amy's fiance, Guy, a handsome and successful adventurer who appears to be Mr Perfect. She also has time to reflect on her own engagement to Canterbury CID detective, DCI Mike McGuire... But before any wedding bells sound, murder strikes - and Pearl and McGuire are thrust together again - as partners in crime.

The Night They Vanished is by Vanessa Savage. A family with a secret. A past about to catch up with them. At thirty, Hanna has finally decided she's better off without her family. They hold her responsible for the incident that ruined their lives fourteen years ago and they've barely spoken since. But then, whilst browsing a true crime website, she sees her family home listed as the site of a brutal murder. Number of victims: three. Date of crime: today. When the police investigate, they find no bodies, but the house is abandoned. Hanna's family have disappeared. To find them, Hanna will have to confront what happened all those years ago. And the person determined to make her pay for it . . .

June 2022

'I swear I'm one bad mood away from calling it black magic and going home . . .' Detective Sergeant Washington Poe can count on one hand the number of friends he has. And he'd still have his thumb left. There's the insanely brilliant, guilelessly innocent civilian analyst, Tilly Bradshaw of course. He's known his beleaguered boss, Detective Inspector Stephanie Flynn for years as he has his nearest neighbour, full-time shepherd/part-time dog sitter, Victoria. And then there's Estelle Doyle. It's true the caustic pathologist has never walked down the sunny side of the street but this time has she gone too far? Shot twice in the head, her father's murder appears to be an open and shut case. Estelle has firearms discharge residue on her hands, and, in a house surrounded by fresh snow, hers are the only footprints going in. Since her arrest she's only said three words: 'Tell Washington Poe.' Meanwhile, a poisoner the press have dubbed the Botanist is sending high profile celebrities poems and pressed flowers. The killer seems to be able to walk through walls and, despite the advance notice he gives his victims, and regardless of the security measures the police take, he seems to be able to kill with impunity. For a man who hates locked room mysteries, this is going to be the longest week of Washington Poe's life . . . The Botanist is by M W Craven.

She Knows is by Chris Brookmyre. One hen weekend, seven secrets... but only one worth killing for. Jen's hen party is going to be out of control... She's rented a luxury getaway on its own private island. The helicopter won't be back for seventy-two hours. They are alone. They think. As well as Jen, there's the pop diva and the estranged ex-bandmate, the tennis pro and the fashion guru, the embittered ex-sister-in-law and the mouthy future sister-in-law. It's a combustible cocktail, one that takes little time to ignite, and in the midst of the drunken chaos, one of them disappears. Then a message tells them that unless someone confesses her terrible secret to the others, their missing friend will be killed. Problem is, everybody has a secret. And nobody wants to tell.

The Murder Book is by Mark Billingham. Tom Thorne has it all. In Nicola Tanner and Phil Hendricks, Thorne has good friends by his side. He finally has a love life worth a damn and is happy in the job to which he has devoted his life... Tom Thorne has it all.... to lose. Hunting the woman responsible for a series of grisly murders, Thorne has no way of knowing that he will be plunged into a nightmare from which he may never wake. A nightmare that has a name. Finally, Thorne's past has caught up with him and a ruinous secret is about to be revealed. If he wants to save himself and his friends, he must do the unthinkable.

Lying Beside You is by Michael Robotham. When a man is murdered and his daughter disappears, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven must decide if Maya Kirk is running, hiding, or a hostage. Cyrus understands how killers think better than anyone; after all, he's a survivor. Evie is a troubled teenager with an incredible gift: she knows when someone is lying. She is working at a Nottingham bar when a second woman goes missing, a nurse with links to Maya Kirk. Both women have a secret they have tried to hide, but the past is never history. Evie witnesses the second abduction, glimpsing the driver, but only two people believe her. One is Cyrus. The other is the killer.

Bottom line, if a man is known by his enemies, I'm one helluva guy.' Former anti-terrorist cop John Corey is NYU - New York Unemployed - and watching his back, ever more convinced his past will soon catch up with him. Then a new opportunity comes calling, and with it, plenty of trouble . . . A series of bodies has been found along a beach close to his home and he can no longer deny that a serial killer is on the loose, and no one seems able to find the culprit. Is the failure to find the perpetrator a result of the department's oversight? Is it due to the fact the victims are prostitutes? Or is it something darker? Could the killer be someone on the inside? The Maze is by Nelson DeMille.

The Missing Wife and the Stone Fen Siamese is by Kate High. Driving home from a ceramics evening class, Clarice Beech reflects on the absence of one of her students, Colin Compton-Smythe. Later, Emily, Colin's daughter, telephones to say her father has died during routine surgery. Distraught, Emily opens up to Clarice about his wretched childhood and the day five-year-old Colin returned home to discover Avril, his mother, gone. Colin never believed she would have left without him and had been trying to find out more about Avril's disappearance all those years ago. Clarice readily agrees to accompany Emily to Colin's funeral. On arriving at the stunning Victorian Gothic manor house, with Bellatrix, the majestic stone Siamese cat reposing at its entrance, Clarice soon becomes drawn into the fractious world of the Compton-Smythe family: Colin's argumentative father Ralph and his equally combative partner Tessa, their daughter, Dawn, being stalked by an ex-lover and, most unsettling of all, Ernestine, Ralph's emotionally unpredictable sister. And then there's Johnson, Ralph's menacing manservant. Clarice discovers the nearer she gets to the truth, the greater she is in danger as somebody is intent that the mystery of the missing wife should never be resolved.

Books to Look Forward to From Allison & Busby

January 2022 

Murder at the National Gallery is by Jim Eldridge. London 1899. The Museum Detectives Daniel Wilson and Abigail Fenton have been contacted by the curator of the National Gallery. He is getting in touch at the request of the artist, Walter Sickert, famously suspected of being Jack the Ripper for many years. The dead body of a young woman, who had been an artist''s model, has been found at the back of the Gallery. She had been eviscerated and Sickert has been arrested on suspicion of her murder.Although he is soon released, when a second similar murder occurs, Sickert is once again implicated. The murders are copycats of the original Ripper murders, but the details of those crimes were publicised so heavily in the newspapers at the time that most people would know them. Sickert insists he is innocent, but who would want to frame the famous artist?   Wilson and Fenton have their work cut out …

Persimmon ‘Simmy’ Brown’s wedding day to Christopher Henderson has arrived on a glorious summer’s day in the pretty Lake District village of Threlkeld. While the day passes off without undue calamity, later when most of the guests have departed, a young man is found nearby, possibly the victim of a vicious attack. The mystery of the attack is complicated by pressure on police resources. Was it an accident or something far more sinister? Speculation is rife as to what precisely happened and a chilling suspicion develops into a theory that might be impossible to prove. The Threlkeld Theory is by Rebecca Tope.

February 2022

A Devon's Night Death is by Stephanie Austin. In the Dartmoor town of Ashburton, reluctant antique shop owner and accidental amateur sleuth, Juno Browne, has cash-flow problems. So, when the mild and gentlemanly bookbinder, Frank Tinkler, rents a room above the shop, he seems like the answer to a prayer. At home, Juno accidentally disturbs intruders and shortly afterwards, one of them falls to his death from a viaduct. Was it accident, suicide or murder? When Juno recognises his accomplice as Frank's nephew, Scott, she decides to investigate.

March 2022

September, 1942. Jo Hardy, an Air Transport Auxiliary ferry pilot, is delivering a Spitfire when she has the unnerving experience of someone shooting at her aircraft. A few days later she hears that another ferry pilot has been killed when her aircraft crashed in the same area of Kent. Although the death has been attributed to 'pilot error', Jo is convinced there is a link between the two incidents. Jo takes her suspicions to Maisie Dobbs and while Maisie wants to find out why someone appears to want to take down much-needed pilots, she finds it is part of a much larger operation involving Eleanor Roosevelt, the American president's First Lady. To protect Eleanor's life - and possibly the safety of everyone in London - Maisie must quickly uncover the connection. A Sunlit Weapon is by Jacqueline Winspear.

April 2022

Murder at Claridge's is by Jim Eldridge. One of the Claridge's kitchen porters is found dead - strangled. He was a recent employee who claimed to be Romanian, but evidence suggests he may have been German. Detective Chief Inspector Coburg has to find out exactly who he was, and what he was doing at Claridge's under a false identity. Once he has established those facts, he might get an insight into why he was killed, and who by. Coburg's job is complicated by the fact that so many of the hotel's residents are exiled European royalty. King George of Greece is registered as 'Mr Brown' and even the Duke of Windsor is staying, though without Wallis Simpson. Clandestine affairs, furtive goings-on and conspiracies against the government: Coburg must tread very lightly indeed .

May 2022

The Daughter is by Liz Webb. I lean in and whisper the question I have never let myself utter in twenty-three years. "Dad, did you murder Mum?" Hannah Davidson has a dementia-stricken father, an estranged TV star brother, and a mother whose death opened up hidden fault lines beneath the ordinary surface of their family life. Hannah is losing her grip on both a cache of shameful secrets and her drinking, and her habit of gorging on almost inedible quince makes it patently clear that her life is a mess. Now the spitting image of Jen Davidson and exactly the same age she was when she died, Hannah is determined to uncover exactly what happened to her mum. But the boundaries between mother and daughter soon become blurred and Hannah discovers that she may not win the dangerous game she's playing.

June 2022

Bad For Good is by Graham Bartlett. How far would you go to avenge your son's murder? The murder of a promising footballer and, crucially, the son of the Brighton's Chief Superintendent, means DS Jo Howe has a complicated and politically sensitive case on her hands. The situation becomes yet more thorny with the addition of devastating blackmail and the threat of vigilante action. In a world coloured by power grabs and corruption, Howe finds that she can trust no one as she tracks a brutal killer and tries to stop Brighton descending into violence.

Godfrey Bowyer, the best but least likeable bow maker in Worcester, dies of poisoning, though his wife Blanche survives. The number of people who could have administered the poison should mean a very short investigation for Bradecote and Catchpoll, but perhaps someone was pulling the strings, and that widens the net considerably. Could it be the cast-out younger brother or perhaps Orderic the Bailiff, whose wife may have had to endure Godfrey's attentions? Could it even be the wife herself? With Bradecote eager to return to his manor and worried about his wife's impending confinement, and Walkelin trying to get his mother to accept his choice of bride, there are distractions aplenty, though Serjeant Catchpoll will not let them get in the way of solving this case. A Taste for Killing is by Sarah Hawkswood.

Books to Look Forward to From Canongate Publishers

 January 2022

Twenty years after his first appearance in The Cutting Room auctioneer Rilke returns, this time finding himself the only one keen to investigate the dubious demise of his close friend. Auctioneer Rilke has been trying to stay out of trouble, keeping his life more or less respectable. Business has been slow at Bowery Auctions, so when an old friend, Jojo, gives Rilke a tip-off for a house clearance, life seems to be looking up. The next day Jojo washes up dead. Jojo liked Grindr hook-ups and recreational drugs - is that the reason the police won't investigate? And if Rilke doesn't find out what happened to Jojo, who will? Thrilling and atmospheric, The Second Cut is by Louise Welsh and delves into the dark side of twenty-first century Glasgow and sees Rilke still walking a moral tightrope between good and bad, saint and sinner.

The body is discovered on Wolfe Island, under the shadow of an enormous wind turbine. Senior Investigator Shana Merchant, arriving on the scene with fellow investigator Tim Wellington, can't shake the feeling that she knows the victim - and the subsequent identification sends shockwaves through their community in the Thousand Islands of Upstate New York. Politics, power, passion . . . there are dark undercurrents in Shana's new home, and finding the killer means dredging up her new friends and neighbors' old grudges and long-kept secrets. That is, if the killer is from the community at all. For Shana's keeping a terrible secret of her own: eighteen months ago she escaped from serial killer Blake Bram's clutches. But has he followed her . . . to kill again? Dead Wind is by Tessa Wegert.

Witness for The Prosecution is by E J Copperman. Former New Jersey prosecutor Sandy Moss moved to a prestigious Los Angeles law firm to make a new start as a family lawyer. So it seems a little unfair that Seaton, Taylor have created a criminal law division specifically for her. Just because she's successfully defended two murder trials, it doesn't mean she likes them! But when abrasive Hollywood movie director Robert Reeves is accused of murdering a stuntman on set, Sandy finds she can't say no when he demands her help. Robert might be an unpleasant, egotistical liar, but something tells Sandy that he's innocent - even if no one else can see it. At least this time, she reassures herself, her charismatic, adorable, and oh-so annoying TV star boyfriend Patrick McNabb isn't involved in the case. He isn't . . . right?

Bitter Roots is by Ellen Crosby. The brutal murder of a beautiful vineyard expert and a devastating storm force Virginia winemaker Lucie Montgomery to confront painful changes on the eve of her wedding. In just over a week vineyard owner Lucie Montgomery and winemaker Quinn Santori will be married in a ceremony overlooking what should be acres of lush flowering grapevines. Instead they are confronted by an ugly swathe of slowly dying vines and a nursery owner who denies responsibility for selling the diseased plants. With neighboring vineyards facing the same problem, accusations fly and the ugly stand-off between supplier and growers looks set to escalate into open warfare. When Eve Kerr, a stunning blonde who works at the nursery, is found dead a few days later, everyone wonders if someone in the winemaking community went too far. What especially troubles Lucie is why Eve secretly arranged to meet Quinn on the day she was murdered - and whether Lucie's soon-to-be husband knows something he's not telling her. Then a catastrophic storm blows through, destroying everything in its path. With no power, no phones, and no wedding venue, Lucie needs to find out who killed Eve and what her death had to do with Quinn.

London. April, 1957. Private investigator Donald Langham is approached by retired businessman Vernon Lombard to find his missing son, Christopher. But what appears to be a simple case of a missing artist becomes far more alarming when Langham realizes there's more to Christopher's disappearance than meets the eye, and then makes a terrible discovery. Meanwhile, Langham's business partner Ralph Ryland's search for a missing greyhound forces him to confront a shameful secret from his own past, with terrifying consequences. Can Langham navigate London's criminal underworld, fascism and deception to track down a killer and save Ralph's life? Murder Most Vile is by Eric Brown.

The Fool Dies Last is by Carol Miller. Sisters Hope and Summer Bailey run Bailey's Boutique, a mystic shop in Asheville, North Carolina. While Hope's performing a palm reading a local doctor, Dylan Henshaw, bursts in, accusing them of trying to kill his patient with a tincture. The confrontation is interrupted by the arrival of the sisters' grandmother, Gram, who announces that one of her friends has died suddenly. It looks like a simple allergic reaction . . . but why has a solitary Tarot card - the Fool - been placed on the body? When another of Gram's friends dies in similar circumstances, with the Fool card also left at the scene, it's surely no coincidence. Although Hope is hesitant to read the Tarot again following a recent tragedy, she might be the only one capable of deciphering the clues. Can she overcome her fear and uncover the card's meaning before the killer strikes again?

A shocking chain of events occur after midnight one night on a quiet suburban street in West Chicago. The first neighbour hears a woman scream. The second sees the lights in the Tripps' house being switched on, one by one, room after room. The third receives a call from a voice he doesn't recognize, screaming at him to come over right away. But to where? When the police arrive on the street, Sara Tripp is discovered brutally murdered. Her husband, Martin Tripp, is put on trial for her murder and acquitted. Martin is convinced Sara was scared of something before she died, and he wants private investigator Dek Elstrom to find out what it was. As Dek investigates, he makes a series of disturbing discoveries. Can he get to the truth of what really happened that terrifying night? Kill Her Twice is by Jack Frederickson. 

Low Pastures is by Bill James. A well-dressed corpse found shot in the sand and gravel wharf sparks trouble for Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and his unpredictable boss, Assistant Chief Constable Iles. The man is found dead in the local dockyard, shot from behind. Colin Harpur, examining the impeccably dressed corpse on his hands and knees, predicts the execution spells imminent trouble - and not just the unexpected arrival of his spiteful, brilliant boss, ACC Iles, at the two a.m. slaughter scene.  Iles's progressive attitude towards the local drugs trade has kept gang warfare off the streets, but now it seems jealous outsiders may be coveting the safe, ordered community he has so brilliantly created. Coveting, too, the local property - for instance, drug lord Ralph Ember's luxurious mansion, Low Pastures, home to his unparalleled collection of china and porcelain. Harpur and Iles are determined to protect their set-up at all costs - which includes protecting 'Panicking' Ralph. But Ralph has his own plans, and there are dark rumours about Iles on the wind . . .

February 2022

Winchelsea is by Alex Preston. The year is 1742. Goody Brown, saved from drowning and adopted when just a babe, has grown up happily in the smuggling town of Winchelsea. Then, when Goody turns sixteen, her father is murdered in the night by men he thought were friends. To find justice in a lawless land, Goody must enter the cut-throat world of her father's killers. With her beloved brother Francis, she joins a rival gang of smugglers. Facing high seas and desperate villains, she also discovers something else: an existence without constraints or expectations, a taste for danger that makes her blood run fast. Goody was never born to be a gentlewoman. But what will she become instead?

'Are you there, Tom?' I stood in the doorway, staring at the phone. My father had been dead for almost seven years. When Thomas Quinn receives a seemingly impossible voice message, he can't help but wonder if Andrew Black - a legendary, reclusive mystery writer and his father's protege - is somehow involved. Thomas knows that Black can't be trusted, that he should be avoided at all costs. But as the search for answers spirals into an examination of the nature of time, entropy, the true forms of angels, fictional stalkers and the secrets of the nativity set . . . Thomas realises that he might not have a choice. Maxwell's Demon is by Steven Hall.

Idle Gossip is by Renee Patrick. 1940, Los Angeles. Hollywood's famous gossip columnist, Lorna Whitcomb, has summoned Lillian Frost and her sleuthing partner, costume designer extraordinaire Edith Head, to her office. Lorna's 'leg man' Sam Simcoe - the man who finds the scandalous material for her column - is in trouble. Tipster Glenn Hoyle has been murdered, and Sam is the LAPD's only suspect. But Sam didn't just find Glenn's body when he paid him a visit. Hiding in a wastebasket was a list of three names - a starlet, a producer and a director - and Sam's sure Glenn had an explosive story on all of them. Was it just idle gossip, or could it explain his murder? Lorna wants Edith and Lillian to find Glenn's killer before her powerful enemies strike. In a town full of secrets, Edith and Lillian must expose the dirtiest one of all: who killed Glenn Hoyle?

Dangerous Consequences is by Claire Booth. Elderly tourists visiting Branson, Missouri for a fun time are instead becoming so sick and disoriented they end up in the ER with Dr Maggie McCleary. She asks the sheriff to investigate and, because he happens to be her husband, Hank Worth readily agrees. When the tour operator denies responsibility, Hank digs deeper leaving Chief Deputy Sheila Turley to handle a simmering revolt within the ranks. Their policy to eliminate overtime pay has infuriated many long-time deputies. Those fired for insubordination have filed a lawsuit, while those still there sabotage Sheila at every turn. With pressure mounting, they're called to a hit-and-run accident. But the victim's injuries haven't been caused by a car . . . she's been beaten to death and dumped by the side of the road. And she was someone they knew. Will the victim's aggressive business dealings come to haunt them all? And can Hank and Sheila save their department from destruction?

"You're going to be sorry, Aaron Paul Miller. Before I'm through with you, you're going to wish that you were dead." Shockwaves are running through the small town of Hernia with the news that an enormous, biblical-themed amusement park is to be built on its doorstep, destroying the community's peaceful way of life for ever. And the man spearheading this so-called Armageddonland? None other than Magdalena's ex-husband, the duplicitous Aaron Miller. At a public demonstration to showcase his plans for the new park, Aaron bites into a delicious homemade tart - with fatal consequences. It's clear the tart was poisoned . . . but who baked it? As the leader of the local resistance against the project and her acrimonious history with her ex well known, Magdalena immediately falls under suspicion. Determined to clear her name, she resolves to find the real killer, and soon finds herself wrestling with a number of scandalous secrets lurking beneath Hernia's seemingly staid surface.. Death by Tart Attack is by Tamar Myers.

Hungry Death is by Robin Blake. When a blackened body is discovered buried beneath a hot-house, Coroner Titus Cragg uncovers a tale of scandalous secrets stretching back almost twenty years. "Coroner Cragg. You think you can find out what happened at this house? You are mistaken. You can never find out." November, 1747. County Coroner Titus Cragg has been called to the scene of a gruesome slaughter at a rural farmhouse: a mother and her four children brutally murdered in their own home. Were they killed by the man who should have protected them: their husband and father? And what role is played by the peculiar religious cult the family belongs to? Perhaps the mute boy who lives in the dog kennel knows the truth. Meanwhile, Titus's friend Dr Luke Fidelis is a guest of wealthy landowner and local magistrate John Blackburne at nearby Orford Hall. When a blackened but well-preserved body is discovered deep beneath Blackburne's hot-house, Cragg and Fidelis are asked to investigate. But how can they make headway when, as they soon learn, this corpse might have been in the ground for centuries? Gradually, Titus pieces together a tale of secrets, scandal and thwarted passion - and uncovers a shocking connection between the body under the hothouse and the slaughter in the farmhouse.

The first in a brand-new WWII historical mystery series introduces WPC Billie Harkness - a female police officer who risks her life to protect the home front in the British coastal city of Hull. 1940. Britain is at war. Rector's daughter Wilhelmina Harkness longs to do her duty for her country, but when her strict mother forbids her to enlist, their bitter argument has devasting consequences. Unable to stay in the village she loves, Wilhelmina - reinventing herself as Billie - spends everything she has on a one-way ticket up north. Hull is a distant, dangerous city, but Billie is determined to leave her painful memories behind and start afresh, whatever the cost. The last thing Billie expects on her first evening in Hull, however, is to be caught in the city's first air raid - or to stumble across the body of a young woman, suspiciously untouched by debris. If the air raid didn't kill the glamorous stranger, what did? Billie is determined to get justice, and her persistence earns her an invitation to the newly formed Women's Police Constabulary. But as the case unfolds, putting her at odds with both high-ranking members of the force as well as the victim's powerful family, Billie begins to wonder if she can trust her new friends and colleagues . . . or if someone amongst them is working for the enemy. Death in a Blackout is by Jessica Ellicott.

Dead Lucky is by Glenis Wilson. Jump jockey Harry Radcliffe is thrown into another dark mystery when a good friend is left fighting for his life after being struck by a bullet. A day of celebration quickly turns into a nightmare for champion jockey Harry Radcliffe and his friend, horsebox driver Keith Whelan, when Keith is brutally shot in the head while driving the pair back from an engagement party. But was the bullet that smashed through the horsebox windscreen really meant for Keith, or for Harry himself? Harry escapes unscathed from the bloody scene, but Keith is left fighting for his life in hospital. It seems that Harry is dead lucky to be alive. Despite his recent vow to focus solely on his racing, Harry determines to find out who committed such a brutal act, and quickly finds himself drawn into horse racing's dark and dangerous underbelly. Will his pursuit of justice for Keith prove to be a deadly step too far?

"There was no murder . . . Because they never existed." The Geneva branch of Interpol - the international agency tasked with policing magic and the arcane arts - is where careers go to die. Action is rare as Switzerland banned magic seven hundred years ago. That's how Agent Jackson Burnett likes it. But then reports of an explosion lead Jackson to the home of businessman Bernard Bouchon. What's there is unfathomable: The family and their possessions have vanished into ash. Jackson's enigmatic new partner Luca Tami, a blind Talent able to perform magic, suspects powerful supernatural forces are at play. The family weren't killed . . . they've been erased from time. With all traces of the family disappearing, the case is hours away from being forgotten. How can Jackson solve a crime no one remembers happening? He must find a way to remember. He must discover who is behind the spell and why. Dangerous magics are in use, and it's clear those controlling them won't let anyone stand in their way. Island of Time is by Davis Bunn.

March 2022

The Old Woman With the Knife is by Gu Byeong-Mo. Hornclaw is a sixty-five-year-old female contract killer who is considering retirement. A fighter who has experienced loss and grief early on in life, she lives in a state of self-imposed isolation, with just her dog, Deadweight, for company. While on an assassination job for the 'disease control' company she works for, Hornclaw makes an uncharacteristic error, causing a sequence of events that brings her past well and truly into the present. Threatened with sabotage by a young male upstart and battling new desires and urges when she least expects them, Hornclaw steels her resolve, demonstrating that no matter their age, the female of the species is always more deadly than the male.

London. January, 1382. The Crown's treasury has been robbed. Tens of thousands of silver and gold coin mysteriously lifted from the most secure chamber in the kingdom; the five Clerks of the Dark who guarded the king's treasure brutally garrotted. Sir John Cranston and Brother Athelstan are appointed to investigate - but Athelstan has problems of his own. Clement the Key Master, who helped fashion the complex locks to the royal treasure chamber, has been found strangled in the nave of Athelstan's parish, St Erconwald's church. At the same time, six of the city's hangmen have been savagely murdered, their bodies stripped. Pinned to each corpse is a scrawled note: "Vengeance! The Upright Men never forget!" The Guild of Hangmen who frequent the majestic tavern, The Hanging Tree, on the River Thames, have petitioned for Sir John and Brother Athelstan to find the culprit. But have the sleuthing pair taken on more than they can handle . . . and could the two investigations be connected? The Hanging Tree is by Paul Doherty.

Fatal Conflict is by Matt Hilton. Where's Tony Vaughan? That's the question the Brogans are asking. And they don't ask nicely, as Private Investigator Tess Grey finds out. Angered by the Brogans' treatment of his fiancee, Nicolas 'Po' Villere is ready to enact retribution. As is Tess, who is itching for a new case and is troubled by Tony's apparent fate. Tess and Po track Tony down and discover he's aided Leah Brogan - the heavily pregnant and oppressed daughter of one of the Brogans - in escaping the family. To make matters worse, the pair also stole money from someone they shouldn't have . . . someone who won't take such an insult lying down. Leah dreams of freedom for her unborn child, but those chasing them will go to extreme lengths to deny her it. Tess is determined to fight for Leah and the child, but at what cost for her and Po's future?

The last person family lawyer Sandy Moss expects to walk into her courtroom, right in the middle of a trial, is TV star Patrick McNabb: prime suspect in her first (and she hopes, last) murder case. Sandy knows what Patrick's like. Friendly, overconfident, dazzlingly handsome . . . and a well-meaning menace. But his request seems harmless enough. His dear friend Cynthia is getting divorced, and he thinks Sandy's perfect for the job. She accepts - because he's Patrick and there is no denying him. But of course it's not that simple. Soon Sandy's tangled up in yet another murder - and Patrick, who's currently playing a private detective on TV, believes he's essential to solving the whole thing . . . Judgment at Santa Monica is by E J Copperman. 

Blind Justice is by David Mark. DS Aector McAvoy investigates his darkest, most brutal case yet The call comes in before DS Aector McAvoy has had time for breakfast. The news is bad: A body. Found in the woods out at Brantingham. The reality is even worse. The young man's mutilated corpse lies tangled in the roots of a newly fallen tree, two silver Roman coins nailed through his sightless eyes. Who would torture their victim in such a brutal manner - and why? DS McAvoy makes the victim a promise: I will find answers. You will know justice. But justice always comes at a cost, and this time it may be McAvoy's own family who pay the price.

Death at Fort Evens is by Peter Colt. Boston, 1985. Private Investigator Andy Roark left the military behind years ago, but his past comes flooding back when he's hired by an old army buddy who's worried about his rebellious teenage daughter's safety. There are bonds of blood between Roark and the highly-decorated Lieutenant Colonel Dave Billings, forged in the steamy Vietnamese jungle, and some debts aren't easy to forget. Working the case for free, Roark's investigation quickly leads him to Boston's Combat Zone, five acres of sex, drugs and crime, right in the heart of one of America's oldest cities - and to Judy's unsavory new boyfriend, the drug-dealing K-nice. Then Judy runs away, and the clock starts ticking in earnest. Roark is determined to save his friend's daughter from a life of drugs and prostitution, but it'll take more than missing-person flyers and polite questions to save the girl and get them both out of the concrete jungle of the Combat Zone alive.

Musician, sleuth and free man of color Benjamin January gets mixed in politics, with murderous results. September, 1840. A giant rally is being planned in New Orleans to stir up support for presidential candidate William Henry Harrison: the Indian-killing, hard-cider-drinking, wannabe "people's president". Trained surgeon turned piano-player Benjamin January has little use for politicians. But the run-up to the rally is packed with balls and dinner parties, and the meagre pay is sorely needed. Soon, however, January has more to worry about than keeping his beloved family fed and safe. During an elegant reception thrown by New Orleans' local Whig notables, the son of a prominent politician gets into a fist-fight with a rival over beautiful young flirt Marie-Joyeuse Maginot - and, the day after the rally is over, Marie-Joyeuse turns up dead. The only black person amongst the immediate suspects is arrested immediately: January's dear friend, Catherine Clisson. With Catherine's life on the line, January is determined to uncover the truth and prove her innocence. But his adversaries are powerful politicians, and the clock is ticking . . . Death and Hard Cider is by Barbara Hambly.

April 2022

Glasgow is a city in mourning. An arson attack on a hairdresser's has left five dead. Tempers are frayed and sentiments running high. When three youths are charged the city goes wild. A crowd gathers outside the courthouse but as the police drive the young men to prison, the van is rammed by a truck, and the men are grabbed and bundled into a car. The next day, the body of one of them is dumped in the city centre. A note has been sent to the newspaper: one down, two to go. Detective Harry McCoy has twenty-four hours to find the kidnapped boys before they all turn up dead, and it is going to mean taking down some of Glasgow's most powerful people to do it . . .May God Forgive is by Alan Parks.

Best Kept Secrets is by Gwen Florio. Nora heads home to Chateau in search of a fresh start, but her arrival comes at a time of social unrest that threatens to uncover long-hidden secrets. Nora Best is done running. She's heading to her hometown of Chateau, to the grand Quail House, to stay with her mother and claim the great American privilege of starting over. But she might find it is hard to start over when the past is catching up . . . The night Nora arrives in Chateau, a white police officer shoots and kills Robert Evans, a young black man. The officer in question is Nora's school sweetheart, Alden Tydings. What really happened that night? Did Alden act in self-defense as he claims? Robert is the nephew of Bobby Evans, a man whose murder during the race protests of 1967 was never solved. Bobby and his sister, Grace, used to work at Quail House before Nora was born and, as tensions in Chateau rise, Nora begins to uncover secrets within her family home that could upend the lives of everyone in town . . .

Deep cover specialist Marc Portman is in Lebanon on a last-minute assignment. A straightforward collect-and-go job. At least it should have been. Ambushed by a surprise attack, it's clear that someone must have had advance warning of Portman's arrival. But who is his unseen enemy - clearly one with considerable resources - and why do they want him dead? More importantly, how could his attacker have known of his movements with less than 24 hours' notice? Concluding there must be an active leak at the heart of the CIA, Portman finds himself virtually alone and on the run, hung out to dry by the powers-that-be. If he is to survive, he must use his unique skill set to turn the tables on his pursuers . . . and beat them at their own game. A Hostile State is by Adrian Magson.

May 2022

She's not the first. Will she live to be the last? Jennifer Lomax is twenty-one, but she's already taken some hard knocks in life. So when older, reserved and enigmatic widower Steven Taverner asks her to marry him, she's desperate to believe she's found true love. That her lifelong dream could finally become a reality. But Jennifer also knows there's something not right about Steven. What secrets is he hiding about his dead wife, Margaret, and why does he refuse to talk about her? Jennifer decides to uncover the truth about Margaret. She soon wishes she hadn't. Is she about to make a devastating mistake? The Subsequent Wife is by Priscilla Masters. 

Dark Queen Watching is by Paul Doherty. November, 1471. With Edward of York on the English throne and her son, Henry Tudor, in exile in Brittany, the newly-widowed Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, is alone, without protectors. All she can do is wait and watch, planning for a time when she's in a position to make her move. But new dangers are emerging. En route to England is a band of Spanish mercenaries known as the Garduna. With no allegiance to prince, prelate or people, they are a lethal fighting force, utterly ruthless and implacable killers. But who has hired them . . . and why? The discovery of the body of an unexpected visitor, found murdered in a locked room in her London townhouse, heralds the start of a series of increasingly menacing incidents which threaten Margaret and her household. Is there an enemy within? It's up to Margaret's wily clerk Christopher Urswicke to uncover the truth and ensure Margaret survives to fulfil her destiny.

The Danger Within is by Hilary Bonner. A man lies dead on the kitchen floor of his comfortable North Devon home, his body punctured by multiple stab wounds. Beside him sits his silent, traumatised wife. DCI David Vogel reckons he's seen it all before. A domestic tragedy: an abused wife snaps after years of suffering within a deeply tormented marriage. Then again, as a police officer of long experience, Vogel knows it's dangerous to rely on assumptions. As his investigations lead him in all sorts of unexpected directions, uncovering a number of shocking secrets in the dead man's past, Vogel comes to realize that nothing about this case is as straightforward as it seems. What really happened inside No.11 St Anne's Avenue? And if Thomas Quinn's wife didn't kill him, who did . . . and why? Vogel is about to embark on the most unusual case of his career.

The Day of the Serpent is by Cassandra Clark. January, 1400. The bowman strikes at night, slaying one of King Henry's loyal garrison men before melting back into the darkness. Was the murder the result of a personal quarrel? Or is it, as Henry's stepbrother, Swynford, fears, the start of an uprising against England's self-crowned king? Swynford orders Brother Chandler to investigate, before the spark of rebellion can set the whole country alight. Friar, reluctant sleuth, and even more reluctant spy, Brother Chandler is a man with dark secrets and divided loyalties. To the murdered King Richard. To his paymaster, the usurper King Henry. And to beautiful, naive Mattie, a maid in the household of heretical poet Geoffrey Chaucer, who holds dangerous secrets of her own.  Trusted by no one, Chandler must walk a tightrope of secrets and lies if he is to uncover the truth about the murder, while ensuring he - and the few people he cares about - stay alive.

The Playing Field is by Stella Cameron. When two bodies are discovered within six weeks of one another, it would appear that a serial killer is at large in the sleepy Cotswold village of Folly. Six weeks after a battered body is found in the grounds of the village cricket club, DCI Dan O'Reilly and his team are no further forward in the investigation. No witnesses, no leads, no clues whatsoever. Then a second body is discovered in the nearby tithe barn used by the local amateur dramatics society, artfully posed just like the first. Could there be a serial killer on the loose? When evidence leads O'Reilly to visit the Black Dog pub, owner Alex Duggins and her partner Tony are once again drawn into a police investigation. But Tony is dealing with some disturbing news of his own. Someone from his past has reached out and threatens all he holds dear. Are they who they claim to be, and what do they really want . . .?

It's been nine months since widowed mom Bella Jordan and her young son Max moved to Lily Dale, the quirky, close-knit New York community populated by people who can speak to the dead . . . if one believes in that kind of thing. Now she counts Valley View, the guesthouse she runs, as home and her psychic medium neighbours as friends. Even haughty, British Pandora, who used to own Valley View before her difficult divorce. So when Pandora sweeps in, requesting an urgent tete-a-tete, Bella expects it to be another complaint about book club. It isn't. Pandora airily reveals her elderly Auntie Eudora is taking a last-minute cruise from London to New York with her gentleman friend Nigel - and minutes later Bella is bemused to find she's agreed to host them at Valley View free of charge. Bella has enough on her plate: her son Max, their two kitties, a budding relationship with local vet Drew . . . not to mention this month's book club pick to read. But when she begins to have suspicions about one of her new guests, she's determined to uncover the truth for Pandora's sake - even if it kills her first. Pros and Cons is by Wendy Corsi Staub. 

The Silent Conversation is by Caro Ramsay. When DNA evidence links a present-day murder to the disappearance of a young boy four years earlier, detectives Anderson & Costello are plunged into a baffling mystery. It's been four years since four-year-old Johnny Clearwater disappeared without trace one hot summer afternoon. Now, a new TV documentary series is revisiting the case, dredging up memories perhaps best left forgotten. On the night the TV show is broadcast, detectives Anderson and Costello are called out to investigate the murder of a female police officer. On arriving at the scene, they discover that nothing about this death is as straightforward as it would appear. What was the victim doing in the garden of the exclusive gated residence where she was found? How did she die? Why is the key witness so reluctant to speak to them? Even the off-duty police officer who was first on the scene isn't telling them everything. The pressure intensifies when a link is discovered between the dead woman and the disappearance of Johnny Clearwater four years earlier. What secrets are lurking behind the closed doors of this small, exclusive community . . . and what really happened to little Johnny Clearwater?

July 2022

It's 1986, Sydney, Australia, the fading of a long, overheated summer. Jimmy Brailey is a young detective sergeant and he's in trouble. He's deep in debt and his mercurial wife, Trudy, wants divorce. But she'll stay on one condition. Jimmy needs 'to get his act together'. Even Pretty Eyes is by M J Hyland and is the thrilling and compulsive story of a man who'll do anything to save his warped marriage - a raw and piercing account of infidelity, obsession, betrayal, and the botched kidnap of a ten-year-old child.

Eye of the Beholder is by Margie Orford. Two women, one man, and three lethal secrets. Who is the victim? Who is the perpetrator? Is there a difference? Angel Lamar thirsts for revenge. Her stepfather used her mercilessly to create child pornography for the dark web, and now she’s on a mission to eliminate every man who ever found her online. Yves Fournier is one of these men – an art dealer who was fined for possessing child pornography in Quebec. But when Angel goes to find him, she discovers a trail that leads her to a Scottish artist named Cora Berger instead. Cora has been burying dark secrets, and Angel’s appearance forces her to face the murky depths of her past, hurtling both women towards fatal consequences.