Forthcoming Books from Atlantic Books

July 2026

We Will See You Bleed by Ron Currie. It's late summer 1984, and Babs Dionne's hometown of Waterville, Maine is on the verge of collapse. A strike at the paper mill has dragged on for a year, pitting neighbour against neighbour, leaving everyone broke and exhausted. As head of the union local, Babs has presided over Little Canada's decline. She's sworn off violence since killing a man when she was a teenager, and has stuck to this vow even as it's become clear that only violence can save their community. When Babs' best friend Rita returns home after five years away, she is shocked by the state of things. And as the strike comes to a head, Rita notices something else: the men may be broken, but the women are furious, ready to do whatever necessary to take back Little Canada. They just need Babs to be the fearless woman who emerged from the woods fifteen years ago, drenched in blood. They need Babs to face what she already knows: that the only way to fix things is to assume control. Completely. Mercilessly.

One calm night in Twickenham, a businessman named Tom Treadnor is shot off his barstool at The Queen. Superintendent Richard Jury is called in to investigate, and quickly realizes that everyone in Treadnor's life - from his widow, Alice, to the staff at his manor, to his business partner - had differing opinions of him. Meanwhile, Wiggins, Jury's partner at New Scotland Yard, becomes sidetracked by an investigation of his own: his sister, missing for years and presumed dead, has just sent a postcard to their mother. When Wiggins takes off in search of his sister, the two investigations begin to converge. The Red Queen is by Martha Grimes.

August 2026

She's lived many lives, but her goal is always the same: survival. ER Doctor Dev Balakrishnan is late for work when he sees her: slumped on the curb like a broken doll, covered in blood. Everyone else walks on by. Not Dev. He saves people's lives every day, but Brooke is different: prey one minute, predator the next. As she spins her web of stories Dev finds himself hopelessly caught up in her world of danger and deceit. Brooke will test Dev in ways he never dreamed of. Whether he passes or fails will become a matter of life and death - for both of them. The Temptation Test is by Rachel North.

September 2026

Turncoat is by Dennis Sewell. George Downing was one of the English Civil War's most cunning spies. As Oliver Cromwell's head of military intelligence, he forged a career as a politician and diplomat, bribing, blackmailing and browbeating his way to success, before spectacularly betraying his friends by defecting to the Royalist camp. Always close to the action, Downing walked with the most illustrious men of his times: Oliver Cromwell and Charles II were his patrons; Samuel Pepys was his clerk; William of Orange godfather to his son. And when he came to build his famous street, Downing Street, which became the home of Britain's prime ministers, his surveyor was Sir Christopher Wren. Downing helped start two major wars and had a hand in founding New York. Yet he has remained an elusive figure in history, as if hiding himself in footnotes. Turncoat tells the full story of Downing's espionage and double-dealing for the first time, following this mystery man from the asceticism of Puritan New England, across battlefields and through courts, chancelleries and parliaments, to the heart of wealth and power in Restoration London.

October 2026

You share a wall. He's keeping a secret... Mia's best friend Beth warns her not to buy the fixer-upper on Taverner Street. After losing her job and her boyfriend, is Mia ready for this? And George, the next-door neighbour, seems like a nightmare. But Mia ignores her. Flipping houses is her dream. Beth should respect that - especially after everything they've been through. Soon, though, George's behaviour strays from the erratic to the downright threatening. And when Beth goes missing on Taverner Street, Mia fears her friend was right. This street holds terrible secrets, and uncovering them might be the only way she can find Beth... The Neighbour is by Emma Curtis.

Dirty Work is by Kate Posey. The past is rarely so easily cleaned up... Max Lee has seen all the ways criminals screw up. As the decade-long owner of an under-staffed crime scene cleaning company, she knows - theoretically - the best way to erase a murder. Nate Wilder has had too many jobs to count in his life, and as Max's newest trainee, he displays an unusual attention to detail and a lack of squeamishness. When Max needs Wilder's help to clean up the biggest mess from her childhood - one she's kept secret her whole life - he brings a surprising set of skills to the task. With a history like Wilder's, what's a little more dirty work?

Forthcoming books from Atlantic Books

January 2026

Diary of A Murderer is by Kim Young-Ha. It's been twenty-five years since I last murdered someone, or has it been twenty-six? In his prime, Kim Byeongsu was one of the best murderers around. But he gave it all up to become a dedicated father. Despite suffering from dementia, he decides to come out of retirement for one final target: his daughter's boyfriend, who he suspects is a killer too. In other dark, glittering tales, an affair between childhood friends questions the limits of loyalty and love; a family disintegrates after their baby is kidnapped and recovered years later; and the pursuit of creative fulfilment may come at the expense of all reason...

You think you're safe. But somebody's watching... Irish estate agent Rosie Kinsella loves her job selling high-end properties in London. But when she's targeted by a mysterious stalker her amazing life is turned upside down. Who is 'Michael', and why does he seem to think he and Rosie are in relationship? How does he know where she lives and where she works? And how has he managed to take photos inside her house? Rosie's colleagues and friends rally round to protect her. But who can she really trust? Your Every Move is by Sam Blake.

The Grapples of Wrath is by Alice Bell. This mystery will leave you in a chokehold. Medium turned private investigator Claire Hendricks is excited to embark on her first official case. Pro-wrestling manager Ken King is convinced that his late father, Eddie, is haunting the gym and show venue in Brighton. Ken hires Claire to help, unaware that her ghost best friend, Sophie, comes as part of the package. But Eddie is adamant he did not die of natural causes, and tasks Claire and Sophie with bringing his killer to justice. In the world of pro-wrestling, can they work out what's real, who's faking and unmask the killer once and for all?

February 2026

The Final Problem is by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. To catch a killer, one must act the part. When ageing actor Ormond Basil arrives on the Greek island of Utakos he hopes only for a holiday and perhaps finally to shed the mantle of his most famous role: world-renowned sleuth Sherlock Holmes. But when a body turns up in his hotel, the other guests, accustomed to seeing Ormond as the greatest detective of all time, pressure him to solve the mystery. With Paco, a jaded writer of pulp detective fiction, he has his very own Watson at his side. But even with their combined encyclopaedic knowledge of plots and killers, this case turns out to be anything but elementary...

Everybody knows the story, nobody knows the truth. Lucy Golden is a true crime icon, infamous for killing someone as a teenager while escaping a California cult led by her father. Twenty years later, still coasting on the original success of the memoir she wrote after her acquittal, Lucy knows that her story is always just one news cycle away from obscurity, even as online trolls ask questions that threaten to tear her life apart. So when a hot-shot documentary filmmaker decides to make her case his next subject, Lucy sees a chance to silence her doubters once and for all. But just how far will Lucy go to protect the story she's been telling - and selling all along. Paper Cut is by Rachel Tuff

March 2026

The Savage Death of Babs Dionne is by Ron Currie. Babs Dionne, doting grandmother and vicious crime matriarch, rules her small town with an iron fist. She controls the flow of drugs into its borders with the help of her loyal lieutenants, girlfriends since they were teenagers, and her eldest daughter, Lori, a former soldier struggling with addiction. When a drug cartel discovers that its numbers are down in the area, they send a malevolent force, known only as The Man, to investigate. At the same time, Babs's youngest daughter, Sis, has gone missing, which doesn't seem at all like a coincidence. In twenty-four hours, Sis will be found dead, and the whole town will seek shelter from Babs's wrath...

Harriet Smith investigates... The tyrannical Mrs Churchill is convinced someone is trying to kill her. As if she didn't have enough to vex her, she's concerned that Jane Fairfax has won the heart of her nephew, Frank.  She has hired the talented and devious Harriet Smith to break up this nascent relationship as well as uncover who might want her dead. With the help of her long-suffering, sensible best friend, Robert Martin, Harriet's list of suspects soon grows - Frank Churchill, Jane Fairfax, Mrs Elton and Wakefield the butler all have means, motive and opportunity. Will Harriet prevent the worst from happening? And will she avoid falling for the charming Frank Churchill herself? A Very Vexing Murder is by Lucy Andrew.

April 2026

Sorry For Your Loss is by Georgia McVeigh. The moment I catch eyes with Jack at grief group, I just know. This is my second chance at love. He's charming, good-looking and newly available. In fact, his wife died the very same day I lost my partner. Coincidence? Maybe. Fate sounds more romantic.Unfortunately, I do possess qualities that aren't always desirable. Usually, I can mask them, but sometimes the darkness slips through. And when it does, I wonder if I see that same darkness in Jack. Could he also be hiding parts of himself? Perhaps we really are perfect for each other. Perfect lovers. Perfect enemies. It's all the same in the end, right? 

June 2026

Girls learn from what the world teaches Them. A smart girl uses those lessons to her advantage... Evie is alone in New York. But not for long. Because Evie can be whoever you want her to be. And therein lies the temptation. Evie isn't just a pretty face. She's a test that rich and seemingly untouchable men take and fail. Such a failure has a price that evil extracts with skill and increasing success. Until the day she comes face to face with a man who crossed her childhood and family. The man whose actions set up on chosen path... But which of them will try and, and survived to tell the truth? The Temptation Test is by Rachel North.

Forthcoming Books from Atlantic Books

 January 2025

The Killing Sense is by Sam Blake. Danger is closer than you think... Single Mum Kate Wilde has escaped an abusive marriage and hasn't had a holiday in years, so when she wins a five-day trip to Paris to learn about perfume - in a competition she can't remember entering - it's a dream come true. Or is it? Almost as soon as she arrives, Kate's ex texts with evidence that he's in Paris too. Kate can feel she's being watched, and she's sure someone has been in her apartment. Then she discovers that there's a killer in the city focusing on red headed women like her. And his kill count is rising. Who should she fear the most? All Kate's senses are on alert. But can her instincts keep her safe?

Professional medium turned detective Claire, her best friend Sophie (a 17-year-old ghost) and their pals are enjoying a much-needed cheap holiday in an unfinished hotel on Spike Island off the coast of Ireland. Claire is flattered to be asked by the local ghost of a pirate captain to investigate the theft of treasure from the shipwreck that stranded him there several hundred years ago. But just when she thinks she is closing in on the culprit, a murder takes place, and Claire and her friends quickly become the chief suspects. Can they recover the treasure, solve the murder and clear their names before all is lost? Displeasure Island is by Alice Bell.

February 2025

The Glass House is by Rachel Donohue. The window to the past can never be closed... 1963: At the stark and isolated modernist mansion of controversial political philosopher Richard Acklehurst, the glittering annual New Year's Eve party has not gone quite as planned. Considered a genius by some, and something far darker by others, by the end of the evening Acklehurst will be dead in mysterious circumstances, casting a long shadow over the lives of his teenage daughters, Aisling and Stella. 1999: Richard Acklehurst's remains are defiled in the country graveyard where they have lain undisturbed for over thirty years, forcing his daughters to return to their childhood home where they must finally confront the complex and dark dynamic at the heart of their family. Moving from the West of Ireland to Dublin, London, Florence and back, The Glass House is a captivating and compelling tale of two sisters and their secrets, of love, regret and vengeance.

April 2025

The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne is by Ron Currie. Sometimes your ancestors breathe through you. Sometimes, they call for vengeance... Babs Dionne, doting grandmother and vicious crime matriarch, rules her small town with an iron fist. She controls the flow of drugs into its borders with the help of her loyal lieutenants, girlfriends since they were teenagers, and her eldest daughter, Lori, a former soldier struggling with addiction. When a drug cartel discovers that its numbers are down in the area, they send a malevolent force, known only as The Man, to investigate. At the same time, Babs's youngest daughter, Sis, has gone missing, which doesn't seem at all like a coincidence. In twenty-four hours, Sis will be found dead, and the whole town will seek shelter from Babs's wrath...

May 2025

1950. A file lands on Chief Inspector Troy’s desk, indicating that his boss has been conducting an affair with the known mistress of infamous London racketeer Otto Ohnherz. Troy is immediately intrigued by the mysterious origins of Ohnherz’s second-in- command, Jay Feldman, who claims to have survived the concentration camps yet lacks identification beyond his word. So begins a novel of swapped identities in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust, each chapter adding a new layer of intrigue. Curse God and Die is by John Lawton.

Forthcoming Books from Atlantic Books (Incl Corvus and Grove Press)

 January 2024

Three Little Birds is by Sam Blake. Two decades of secrets. One shocking discovery... When a skull is found in Lough Coyne, facial reconstruction expert Dr Carla Steele is drawn into a fourteen-year-old case - but not all cases are cold, as Carla discovers when she and DS Jack Maguire find the brutally murdered body of a local woman close to the water's edge. Together with Carla's partner, criminal psychologist Grace Franciosi, Carla and Jack uncover a tragic story with very dangerous and current implications. Since the disappearance of her best friend, Carla has dedicated her career to bringing the dead home, but this time it's the living who are counting on her. In a race to save another woman, will they be able to stop the killer in time?

Murder Book is by Thomas Perry When a sudden crime wave hits several small midwestern towns, the U.S. Attorney for the region calls on Harry Duncan to investigate. An ex-cop known for his unorthodox methods, Duncan is reluctant to go up against a widespread criminal organization - but the attorney in question is Ellen Leicester, the wife who left him fifteen years earlier, and to her, he can't say no. Initially brought in as a consultant to determine if the racketeering is severe enough to require an all-out investigation by the FBI, Duncan quickly finds himself in conflict with a syndicate far more violent than first suspected. As the investigation develops, he begins compiling a 'murder book,' the notebook in which a detective keeps records, interviews, photos - everything he needs to build his case. But his scrutiny of the gang soon makes Duncan a target. And Ellen, too.

February 2024

Hazard Light is by Laura Vaughan. Cleeve College is not for everyone... When Eve's husband is appointed housemaster at his old boarding school, Cleeve College, she gives up her life in London to join him. But the isolation and loss of autonomy threaten both her happiness and her marriage. The arrival of Fen, an enigmatic artist and wife of the new Classics teacher, is a welcome distraction. Fen doesn't play by the rules, and she and Eve enter into a game of escalating dares, disrupting the delicate balance of school life. Then, the morning after Hazard Night, a tradition that allows the students to run wild and play pranks for one day, a body is found. Someone has been murdered. And it seems everyone has something to hide...

May 2024

A detective duo with a difference... Professional medium turned detective Claire, her best friend Sophie (a 17-year-old ghost) and their pals are enjoying a much-needed cheap holiday in an unfinished hotel on Spike Island off the West Coast of Ireland. Claire is flattered to be asked by the local ghost of a pirate captain to investigate the theft of treasure from the shipwreck that stranded him there several hundred years ago. But just when she thinks she is closing in on the culprit, a murder takes place, and Claire and her friends quickly become the chief suspects. Can they recover the treasure, solve the murder and clear their names before all is lost? Displeasure Island is by Alice Bell.

June 2024

Welcome to Samsara, a world-class spa nestled in the Indian Himalayas where all your wishes are just a gilded notecard away. Ro Krishna has just checked in. With his rakish charm, Oxford education, perfect hair, he has it all - well, until he loses his job at the hands of a white woman with a vendetta. It's stressful, and Ro decides it's time for some much-needed R&R. At Samsara, he's free to explore the wealth of yoga classes, wellness treatments and guided meditation sessions on offer among the rest of his exclusive, kurta pyjama-clad guests. It's the pinnacle of relaxation. Until, that is, Amrita - gorgeous, charismatic, well-connected - is found dead among the trees. As the guests and Mrs. B, Samsara's all-seeing matriarch, scramble to figure out what happened, Ro is pulled into an investigation that endangers them all and threatens to spiral beyond the hotel walls. Because it turns out it's not just heiresses and Bollywood stars-to-be that have checked in: cocktail hour is over, and death is on its way... Bursting with wit, glamour and smarts, Death in the Air is by Ram Murali and is a murder mystery like no other: at once a love letter to Agatha Christie and a razor-sharp exploration of colonialism and class.

Forthcoming Crime Books From Atlantic Books

 February 2023

Bright and Deadly Things is by Lexie Elliott. A retreat doesn't always mean safety... Following the death of her husband, Emily is happy to find herself surrounded by friends and fellow Oxford peers at the rustic Chalet des Anglais in the French Alps. With no electricity, running water, or access by car, surely this trip will offer her the time and space she needs to heal. But before she makes it to the airport, Emily interrupts a break-in at her home, and on the first night at the chalet, she discovers an inappropriate sexual liaison between an undergrad and a colleague. When the student suddenly disappears, and Emily sees her deceased husband's number in her call history, she realizes she had better figure out who she can trust - or the next disappearance may be her own...

March 2023

The Bandit Queens is by Parini Shroff. For Geeta, life as a widow is more peaceful than life as a wife... Until the other women in her village decide they want to be widows, too. Geeta is believed to have killed her vanished husband - a rumour she hasn't bothered trying to correct, because a reputation like that can keep a single woman safe in rural India. But when she's approached for help in ridding another wife of her abusive drunk of a husband, her reluctant agreement sets in motion a chain of events that will change the lives of all the women in the village....

April 2023

Cleeve is not for everyone... When Eve's husband is appointed housemaster at his old boarding school, Cleeve College, she gives up her life in London to join him. But the isolation and loss of autonomy threaten both her happiness and her marriage. The arrival of Fen, an enigmatic artist and wife of the new Classics teacher, is a welcome distraction. Fen doesn't play by the rules, and she and Eve enter into a game of escalating dares, disrupting the delicate balance of school life. Then, the morning after Hazard Night, a tradition that allows the students to run wild and play pranks for one day, a body is found. Someone has been murdered. And it seems everyone has something to hide... Hazard Night is by Laura Vaughan.

The Sinner's Mark is by S.W. Perry. Treason, heresy and revolt in Queen Elizabeth's England . . . The year is 1600. With a dying queen on the throne, war raging on the high seas and famine on the rise, England is on the brink of chaos. And in London's dark alleyways, a conspiracy is brewing. In the court's desperate bid to silence it, an innocent man is found guilty - the father of Nicholas Shelby, physician and spy. As Nicholas races against time to save his father, he and his wife Bianca are drawn into the centre of a treacherous plot against the queen. When one of Shakespeare's boy actors goes missing, and Bianca discovers a disturbing painting that could be a clue, she embarks on her own investigation. Meanwhile, as Nicholas comes closer to unveiling the real conspirator, the men who wish to silence him are multiplying. When he stumbles on a plan to overthrow the state and replace it with a terrifying new order, he may be forced to make a decision between his country and his heart . . 

May 2023

Claire and Sophie aren't your typical murder investigators . . . Claire Hendricks is a hapless 30-something true crime fan working as a freelance medium. When she is Invited to an old university friend's country pile to provide entertainment for a family party, her best friend Sophie tags along. In fact, Sophie rarely leaves Claire's side, because she's been haunting her ever since she was murdered at the age of 17. When the pair arrive at The Cloisters it's clear this family is hiding more than just the good china, as Claire realizes someone has recently met an untimely end at the house. Teaming up with the least unbearable members of the Wellington-Forge family - depressive ex-cop Basher and teenage reactionary Alex - Claire and Sophie determine to figure out not just whodunnit, but who they killed, why and when. Together they must race against incompetence to find the murderer before the murderer finds them, in this funny, modern, media-literate mystery for the My Favourite Murder generation. Grave Expectations is by Alice Bell. 

Charlotte is a British expatriate who has recently settled in Washington, D.C. with her second husband, but enviable dinner parties aren't the only thing she is planning. Meanwhile, Charlie Leigh-Hunt has been posted to Washington as a replacement for Guy Burgess, last seen disappearing around the corner and into the Soviet Union. Charlie is surprised to cross paths with Charlotte, an old flame of his, who, thanks to her gossipy parties, has a packed pocketbook full of secrets she is eager to share. Two decades later, in 1969, Joe Wilderness is stuck on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, held captive by the KGB, a chip in a game way above his pay grade - but his old friends Frank and Eddie are going to try to spring him out of the toughest prison in the world. All roads lead back to Berlin, and to the famous Bridge of Spies... Featuring crackling dialogue and brilliantly plotted Cold War intrigue, Moscow Exile is by John Lawton and is a gripping thriller populated by larger-than-life personalities in a Cold War plot that feels strangely in tune with our present.

June 2023

Killingly by Katharine Beutner is based on the unsolved real-life disappearance of a university student in 1897The young women at Mount Holyoke are famed for their beauty and goodness - except for Agnes and Bertha. With their strange dresses, love of studying and insular friendship, these two students are peculiar. One autumn morning, Bertha is spotted in the woods. Then, she vanishes, leaving Agnes to wander the cold university halls alone. When an infamous detective is hired to investigate Bertha's case, alongside the local doctor, both men become strangely obsessed with finding the missing girl. As Bertha's secrets start to come to light, so do the competing agendas driving each person who is searching for her. Bertha might be gone, but she left clues behind her. Clues which might put her best friend in mortal danger and shatter the peaceful world of Mount Holyoke forever . . . Where did Bertha go? Who would want to hurt her? And could she still be alive?

Dark Deeds in Sun-drenched Places by Lexie Elliott

 

We’re an odd bunch, thriller writers. We don’t so much look at the world sideways as from the bottom up, through the lens of whatever we imagine might lie beneath. Sophisticated sun-kissed European cities have me eying the dark shadows of the back alleys, where tourists seldom dare to venture, and I can’t stumble across the sight of a beautiful waterfront villa without wondering what’s lurking in the damp basement or what horrors might be discovered if the river was dredged. One can speculate that Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr Ripley and M. M. Kaye’s Death In… series, along with numerous exotically-set Agatha Christie mysteries, had more of an impact on my teenaged psyche than I appreciated at the time, but I’ve always been utterly fascinated by tales of darkness that play out in the light: is there anything more seductive than a murderous plot conducted in a glamorous care-free location complete with sun-drenched days and hot, sultry nights? 

My latest novel, How to Kill Your Best Friend, is set in just such an environment: a luxury resort on a remote island in Southeast Asia. Setting is so very important to me that on any new project it can almost become a character in itself, and it’s usually the first thing that comes to mind. I’ll be pondering potential ideas and find myself dwelling on a certain location, and an accompanying sense of atmosphere—it’s as if I need to know the where before I can find the characters that inhabit that landscape. However, How to Kill Your Best Friend entirely bucked that trend: the title came to me first, and it was so strong that I couldn’t ignore it; I found myself in the unfamiliar position of working backwards from it. That title threw up so many questions: why would anyone even consider killing their best friend? What must have happened in the past between these friends? How did they get to this extreme point? From mulling those questions, the central relationship quickly unfolded, based around three women (Georgie, Lissa and Bronwyn) who met and bonded through their university swim team—a very convenient shared passion for me to gift them, I must confess, as I myself have a long history of competitive swimming and thus the research was already ticked off. It’s Lissa’s death that brings the friendship group back together; we see the tale through the eyes of Georgie and Bronwyn, who each have their own reasons for questioning how a champion swimmer such as Lissa could possibly have drowned. With the beginnings of a cast of characters in mind, the question of setting reared its head: where would this tale play out? 

At the time, I happened to be on vacation at, erm, a remote resort on an island in Southeast Asia—I’m sure you can connect the dots—and in truth the idea of a resort setting was instantly captivating, not least of all because it made sense logistically for the swimming and the drowning aspects. Perhaps conditioned by my teenage reading material, I could also see distinct possibilities in the juxtaposition of the terrible ordeals the characters undergo with the glamorous luxury setting: the contrast of the darkness and shade of human nature is never so stark as when played out in an environment where people expect to relax and forget their cares. Whilst not precisely a “locked room” scenario, the resort location provides both physical and mental isolation for the characters: physical, in the sense that they are all geographically removed from their ordinary lives and, moreover, spread out across different villas within the resort; and mental, in the sense that the distance and the time zone difficulties cut them off from contact with their usual support systems, leaving them truly alone with their increasingly anxious thoughts. In addition, once the weather turns ominous on the island and the staff begin to melt away, for all its supposed luxury the resort becomes something of a prison that the characters can’t escape. How many of us have taken the back seat on the organisation of a vacation, leading to the uncomfortable realisation that you have very little idea of where you are and even less idea of what to do if catastrophe strikes? Have you ever found yourself thinking: where, exactly, is the airport, and how might one get there if there were no hotel staff around to help? If you haven’t, you surely will now.

As I write this, I’ve already finished the bulk of the work on my next novel (Bright and Deadly Things, which will be coming out in 2023), and I’m beginning to cast around for ideas for my next project. Unfortunately, we’re going on a beach-based island resort holiday this summer, so I can’t rely on that for any fresh inspiration. Though I will at least make sure I know where I am, and how to get to the airport…

How To Kill Your Best Friend by Lexie Elliott (Atlantic Books) Out Now

The perfect getaway - to get away with murder...Georgie, Lissa and Bronwyn have been best friends since they met on their college swimming team. Now Lissa is dead - drowned off the coast of the remote island where her second husband owns a luxury resort. But could a star open-water swimmer really have drowned? Or is something more sinister going on?Brought together for Lissa's memorial, Georgie, Bron, Lissa's grieving husband and their friends find themselves questioning the circumstances around Lissa's death - and each other. As the weather turns ominous, trapping the guests on the island, it slowly dawns on them that Lissa's death was only the beginning. Nobody knows who they can trust. Or if they'll make it off the island alive...

Books to Look Forward to From Corvus and Atlantic Books

 

January 2022

Remember my Name is by Sam Blake. If she'd turned off her phone, instead of listening in, perhaps no one would have died... When Cressida Howard catches her entrepreneur husband playing away from home, she hires security expert Brioni O'Brien to get the evidence she needs for a speedy and financially rewarding divorce. But what Brioni uncovers goes beyond simple infidelity. Because Laurence Howard is also in bed with some very dangerous people. Bribery and blackmail are the least of his worries as someone comes after the women in his life - someone who is out to destroy Laurence and his empire, whatever the cost. And Cressida and her teenage daughter could soon be collateral damage, if she and Brioni don't act fast.

'Tomorrow I'm going to begin my novel...' A would-be author has taken time out from life in the city to live in a cabin by a river and write a novel. And not just any novel. A novel that will avoid all the pitfalls and limitations of other novels, a novel that will include everything. At first these new surroundings are so idyllic that it's hard to find the motivation to get started. And then, in all its brutality, the outside world intervenes... Ranging constantly backwards and forwards in time and space, Tomorrow becomes a restless search for meaning in a precarious and elusive world. Tomorrow is by Chris Beckett. 

February 2020

Mouth to Mouth is by Antoine Wilson. A struggling author is stuck at the airport, his flight endlessly delayed. As he kills time at the gate, he bumps into a former classmate of his, Jeff, who is waiting for the same flight. The charismatic Jeff invites the author to drinks in the First Class lounge, and there, swearing him to secrecy, begins telling him the fascinating and disturbing story of his gilded life, starting with a pivotal incident from his youth...Alone on the beach one morning, Jeff notices a swimmer drowning in the rough surf - and so he rescues and resuscitates the unconscious man, before leaving him to the emergency services. But Jeff can't let go of the events of that traumatic day, and he begins to feel compelled to learn more about the man whose life he has saved, convinced that their destinies are now somehow entwined. Upon discovering that the man is the renowned art dealer Francis Arsenault, Jeff begins to surreptitiously visit his Beverly Hills gallery, eventually applying there for a job. Although Francis doesn't seem to recognize him, he nevertheless casts his legendary eye over Jeff and sees something of worth - and so he initiates him into his world of unimaginable power and wealth, where knowledge, taste and access are currency, and the value of things is constantly shifting, constantly calling into question what is real, and what matters. As Jeff finds himself seduced by the lifestyle, he pursues a deeper connection with Francis, until morals become expendable and their relationship becomes ever darker, leaving him to wonder... should he have just let Francis drown?

March 2022

Reptile Memoirs is by Silje Ulstein. Liv has a lot of secrets. Late one night, in the aftermath of a party in the apartment she shares with two friends in Alesund, she sees a python on a TV nature show and becomes obsessed with the idea of buying a snake as a pet. Soon Nero, a baby Burmese python, becomes the apartment's fourth roommate. As Liv bonds with Nero, she is struck by a desire that surprises her with its intensity. Finally she is safe. Thirteen years later, in the nearby town of Kristiansund, Mariam Lind goes on a shopping trip with her eleven-year-old daughter, Iben. Following an argument Mariam storms off, expecting her young daughter to make her own way home . . . but she never does. Detective Roe Olsvik, new to the Kristiansund police department, is assigned to the case of Iben's disappearance. As he interrogates Mariam, he instantly suspects her - but there is much more to this case and these characters than their outer appearances would suggest.

April 2022

When you fake it for a living, the truth is hard to find... Former child star Lily Thane is now a struggling thirty-something actress. Her old stage-school buddy, Adam Harker, is on the brink of making it big, but he needs an appropriate red-carpet companion to seal the deal, and Lily fits the bill. Soon after signing on the dotted line, Adam's dark side starts to surface and their perfect fauxmance turns toxic. But when Adam winds up dead in a swimming pool, Lily is the only person who cares enough to find out why. She's convinced someone was out to get Adam - and now they're after her... Let's Pretend is by Laura Vaughan.

The Rebel's Mark is by S W Perry. Elizabeth's reign is reaching its winter and England's old adversaries are fading. But in a world on the brink of change, showing any weakness can be fatal... 1598. Nicholas Shelby, unorthodox physician and reluctant spy for Robert Cecil, has brought his wife Bianca and their child home from exile in Padua. Welcome at court, his star is in the ascendancy. But he has returned to a dangerous world. Two old enemies are approaching their final reckoning. England and Spain are exhausted by war. In London, Elizabeth is entering the twilight of her reign. In Madrid, King Philip of Spain is dying. Perhaps now is the time for one last throw of the dice. Elizabeth has seen off more than one Spanish attempt at invasion. But still she is not safe. In Ireland, rebellion against her rule is raging. And if Spain can take Ireland, England will be more vulnerable than ever. When England's greatest living poet, Edmund Spenser, sends Robert Cecil an enigmatic and mysterious plea for help from his Irish fastness, Cecil dispatches Nicholas to investigate. Soon he and Bianca find themselves caught up not just in bloody rebellion, but in the lethal power-play between Cecil and the one man Elizabeth believes can restore Ireland to her, the unpredictable Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

June 2022

Nights of the Lingering Ghost (The Fever of The World) is by Phil Rickman. It called on Darkness – but before the word Was uttered, midnight darkness seemed to take All objects from my sight....' William Wordsworth. England's ost famous poet once thought himself as a modern druid and found his deepest inspiration on the banks of the River Wye, were Celtic magic can still be found and old darkness lingers. Now, as the world is at the mercy of the coronavirus pandemic, diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins learns that the ghosts of the lower Wye Valley still need some attention.

Books To Look Forward To From Atlantic Books and Corvus Books

 July 2021

The Case of the Vanishing Blonde is by Mark Bowden Six captivating true-crime stories, spanning Mark Bowden's long and illustrious career, cover a variety of crimes complicated by extraordinary circumstances. In The Case of the Vanishing Blonde, the veteran reporter revisits some of his most riveting stories and examines the effects of modern technology on the journalistic process. From a story of a campus rape in 1983, to three cold cases solved by the inimitable private detective Ken Brennan, an LAPD investigation that unearths a murderer within its own ranks and the darkest corners of internet chatrooms, this collection contains all the best the genre has to offer. Gripping true crime from 'an old pro'.

When a scream shatters the summer night outside their country house, reformed literary forger Will and his wife Meghan find their daughter Maisie shaken and bloodied, holding a parcel her attacker demanded she present to her father. Inside is a literary rarity the likes of which few have ever handled, and a letter laying out impossible demands regarding its future. After twenty years of living life on the straight and narrow, Will finds himself drawn back to forgery, ensnared in a plot to counterfeit the rarest book in American literature: Edgar Allan Poe's first publication, Tamerlane. Facing threats to his life and family, coerced by his former nemesis and fellow forger Henry Slader, Will must rely on the artistic skills of his other daughter Nicole to help create a flawless forgery of this 1827 publication regarded as the Holy Grail of American letters. Part mystery, part case study of the shadowy side of the book trade, and part homage to the writer who invented the detective tale,  The Forger's Daughter is by Bradford Morrow portrays the world of literary forgery as diabolically clever, genuinely dangerous and inescapable, it would seem, to those who have ever embraced it.

She already has your looks. Now she wants your life... Beautiful twin sisters Iris and Summer are startlingly alike, but beneath the surface lies a darkness that sets them apart. Cynical and insecure, Iris has long been envious of open-hearted Summer's seemingly never-ending good fortune, including her perfect husband Adam. Called to Thailand to help sail the beloved family yacht to the Seychelles, Iris nurtures her own secret hopes for what might happen on the journey. But when she unexpectedly finds herself alone in the middle of the Indian Ocean, everything changes. Now is her chance to take what she's always wanted - the idyllic life she's coveted from afar. But just how far will she go to get the life she's dreamed about? And how far will she go to ensure no one discovers the truth? Filled with chilling suspense, The Girl in the Mirror is by Rose Carlyle and is an addictive thriller about greed, lust, secrets and deadly lies.

Such a quiet Place is by Megan Miranda. We had no warning that she would come back...Welcome to Hollow's Edge - a picture-perfect neighbourhood where everyone has each other's backs. At least, that's how it used to be, until the night Brandon and Fiona Truett were found dead... Two years ago, branded a grifter, thief and sociopath by her friends and neighbours, Ruby Fletcher was convicted of murdering the Truetts. Now, freed by mistrial, Ruby has returned to Hollow's Edge. But why would she come back? No one wants her there, least of all her old housemate, Harper Nash. As Ruby's return sends shockwaves through the community, terrified residents turn on each other, and it soon becomes clear that not everyone was honest about the night the Truetts died. When Harper begins to receive threatening, anonymous notes, she realizes she has to uncover the truth before someone else gets hurt... Someone like her.

The Viper is by Christobel Kent. Sandro Cellini faces his demons... Sandro Cellini hasn't set foot in La Vipera, a derelict farmhouse just outside Florence that was once home to a free-living commune, for forty years - until the discovery of two bodies nearby leads him back there. At the start of his career, Cellini investigated an accusation that minors were being corrupted at La Vipera, but no charges were ever brought. Now, tasked with tracking down former members of the community, he has a chance to finally discover what really went on all those years ago. But in order to learn the true nature of the commune's mission, he must face his own traumatic memories. As he sifts through the lies, those closest to him are placed in danger. Only Cellini can unravel the final mystery of La Vipera, and so protect those he loves.

August 2021

How to Kill Your Best Friend is by Lexie Elliott. The perfect getaway - to get away with murder... Georgie, Lissa and Bronwyn have been best friends since they met on their college swimming team. Now Lissa is dead - drowned off the coast of the remote island where her second husband owns a luxury resort. But could a star open-water swimmer really have drowned? Or is something more sinister going on? Brought together for Lissa's memorial, Georgie, Bron, Lissa's grieving husband and their friends find themselves questioning the circumstances around Lissa's death - and each other. As the weather turns ominous, trapping the guests on the island, it slowly dawns on them that Lissa's death was only the beginning. Nobody knows who they can trust. Or if they'll make it off the island alive...

September 2021

No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead. 56 days ago.Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin and start dating the same week COVID-19 reaches Irish shores. 35 dys ago. When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests they move in together. Ciara sees a unique opportunity for a relationship to flourish without the scrutiny of family and friends. Oliver sees a chance to hide who - and what - he really is. Today, Detectives arrive at Oliver's apartment to discover a decomposing body inside. Can they determine what really happened, or has lockdown created an opportunity for someone to commit the perfect crime? 56 Days is by Catherine Ryan Howard.

October 2021

The Diplomat's Wife is by Michael Ridpath 1936: Devastated by the death of her beloved brother Hugh, Emma seeks to keep his memory alive by wholeheartedly embracing his dreams of a communist revolution. But when she marries an ambitious diplomat, she must leave her ideals behind and live within the confines of embassy life in Paris and Nazi Berlin. Then one of Hugh's old comrades reappears, asking her to report on her philandering husband, and her loyalties are torn. 1979: Emma's grandson, Phil, dreams of a gap-year tour of Cold War Europe, but is nowhere near being able to fund it. So when his beloved grandmother determines to make one last trip to the places she lived as a young diplomatic wife, and to try to solve a mystery that has haunted her since the war, he jumps at the chance to accompany her. But their journey takes them to darker, more dangerous places than either of them could ever have imagined...

November 2021

A Memory for Murder is by Anne Holt. When high-powered lawyer Selma Falck is shot and her oldest friend, a junior MP, is killed in a sniper attack, everyone - including the police - assume that Selma was the prime target. But when two other people with connections to the MP are also found murdered, it becomes clear that there is a wider conspiracy at play. As Selma sets out to avenge her friend's death, and discover the truth behind the conspiracy, her own life is threatened once again. Only this time, the danger may be closer to home than she could possibly have realised...

Nights of the Lingering Ghosts is by Phil Rickman. ''I called on Darkness-but before the word. Was uttered, midnight darkness seemed to take. All objects from my sight...'William Wordsworth. England's most famous poet once thought of himself as a modern druid and found his deepest inspiration on the banks of the River Wye, where Celtic magic can still be found and an old darkness lingers. Now, as the world is at the mercy of the coronavirus pandemic, diocesan exorcist Merrily Watkins learns that the ghosts of the lower Wye Valley still need some attention...