Tuesday 29 November 2022

Forthcoming books from Verve Books

February 2023 

Cut A Drift is by Jane Jesmond. Risk everything, trust no one. Jen Shaw is climbing in the mountains near Alajar, Spain. And it's nothing to do with the fact that an old acquaintance suggested that she meet him there... But when things don't go as planned and her brother calls to voice concerns over the whereabouts of their mother, Morwenna, Jen finds herself travelling to a refugee camp on the south coast of Malta. Free-spirited and unpredictable as ever, Morwenna is working with a small NGO, helping her Libyan friend, Nahla, seek asylum for her family. Jen is instantly out of her depth, surrounded by stories of unimaginable suffering and increasing tensions within the camp. Within hours of Jen's arrival, Nahla is killed in suspicious circumstances, and Jen and Morwenna find themselves responsible for the safety of her daughters. But what if the safest option is to leave on a smuggler's boat?

March 2023

By Way of Sorrow is by Robyn Gigl. Erin McCabe has been referred the biggest case of her career. Four months ago, William E. Townsend Jr, son of aNew Jersey State Senator, was found fatally stabbed in a rundown motel near Atlantic City. Sharise Barnes, a nineteen year-old transgender sex worker, is in custody, and given the evidence, there seems little doubt of a guilty verdict.As a trans woman herself, Erin knows that defending Sharise will blow her own private life wide open and doubtless deepen her estrangement from her family. Yet she feels uniquely qualified to help Sharise and duty-bound to protecther from the possibility of a death sentence. Because Sharise admits she killed the senator's son - in self-defense.As Erin works with her law partner, former FBI agent Duane Swisher, to build a case, Senator Townsend begins usingthe full force of his prestige and connections to publicly discredit everyone involved in defending Sharise. And behindthe scenes, his tactics are even more dangerous. For his son had secrets that could destroy the Senator's own political aspirations – secrets worth killing for.

April 2023

Wish You Were Here is by Nicola Monaghan. DNA doesn't lie. But what if the truth is dangerous? DNA expert Dr Sian Love has settled into running her own investigative agency and living with her partner, Kris. She's also started seeing a therapist to work through her traumatic past - a big step for Sian. Her life threatens to descend into chaos again when a teenage girl shows up at her office claiming to be Courtney Johnson - a child who went missing in Nottingham over fifteen years ago - but refusing to let Sian test her DNA. Wary but intrigued, Sian reluctantly revives the undercover skills she learned during her days as a police officer and begins investigating. But revisiting the past has consequences...

November 2023

A Secret may be kept if , if all but one are dead. 1957 a catastrophe occurs at the pharmaceutical lab in Coventry where sixteen year old Wilif is working for the summer. A Secret may be kept if , if all but one are dead. A catastrophe that needs to be covered up at all costs. 2017. Phiney is schocked when her grandfather, Wilif dies after jumping from the bridge at Tile Hile Station. Journalist Mat Torrington is the only witness. Left in utter disbelief, with a swarm of unanswered questions, Phiney, Mat and Wilf's wife, Dora, begin their own enquiries into Wilf's death. It's soon clear that that these two events sixty years apart, are connected – and that Wilf is not the only casualty. But what is the link? And can they find out before their own lives are lost. A Quiet Contagion is by Jane Jesmond.

December 2023

Attorney and LGBTQ+ activist Robyn Gigl tackles the complexities of gender, power, public perception, and human trafficking with a ripped-from-the-headlines plot in her second legal thriller featuring Erin McCabe, a protagonist who, like the author, is a transgender attorney. Now she and her law partner are drawn into a dark world of offshore bank accounts, computer hacking, murder, and the devastating impact of sexual abuse... At first, the death of millionaire businessman Charles Parsons seems like a straightforward suicide. There's no sign of forced entry or struggle in his lavish New Jersey mansion--just a single gunshot wound from his own weapon. But days later, a different story emerges. Computer techs pick up a voice recording that incriminates Parsons' adoptive daughter, Ann, who duly confesses and pleads guilty. Erin McCabe has little interest in reviewing such a slam-dunk case--even after she has a mysterious meeting with one of the investigating detectives, who reveals that Ann, like Erin, is a trans woman. Yet despite their misgivings, Erin and her law partner, Duane Swisher, ultimately can't ignore the pieces that don't fit. As their investigation deepens, Erin and Swish convince Ann to withdraw her guilty plea. But Ann clearly knows more than she's willing to share, even if it means a life sentence. Who is she protecting, and why? Fighting against time and a prosecutor hell-bent on notching another conviction, the two work tirelessly--Erin inside the courtroom, Swish in the field--to clear Ann's name. But despite Parsons' former associates' determination to keep his--and their own--illegal activities buried, a horrifying truth emerges--a web of human exploitation, unchecked greed, and murder. Soon, a quest to see justice served becomes a desperate struggle to survive. Survivors Guilt is by Robyn Gigl



No comments: