October 2018
Autumn 1915. World War I is raging across Europe but Woodrow
Wilson has kept Americans out of the trenches--though that hasn't stopped young
men and women from crossing the Atlantic to volunteer at the front. Christopher
"Kit" Cobb, a Chicago reporter with a second job as undercover agent
for the U.S. government, is officially in Paris doing a story on American
ambulance drivers, but his intelligence handler, James Polk Trask, soon
broadens his mission. City-dwelling civilians are meeting death by dynamite in
a new string of bombings, and the German-speaking Kit seems just the man to
figure out who is behind them--possibly a German operative who has snuck in
with the waves of refugees coming in from the provinces and across the border
in Belgium. But there are elements in this pursuit that will test Kit Cobb, in
all his roles, to the very limits of his principles, wits, and talents for
survival. Paris in the Dark is by Robert Olen Butler
Originally published by Gryphon Books in 1993, Difficult Lives was one of the
earliest attempts to track the legacy of original paperback writers such as Jim
Thompson, David Goodis and Chester Himes. The individual essays on these
three first appeared in literary magazines.
Difficult Lives visits a
rare moment when daylight was showing around the seams of American society and
visions quite in contrast to the sanctioned version drifted to the surface in
books one bought off racks in drugstores and bus stations -- stark, bonelike,
disturbing books. No Exit Press are to make Difficult Lives available again, doubling our pleasure by
pairing it with Hitching Rides, an equal volume of new essays on other
crime writers including Derek Raymond, Jean-Patrick Manchette, Patricia
Highsmith and Shirley Jackson. Difficult Lives – Hitching Rides is by James Sallis.
The Lonely Witness
is by William Boyle. Amy was once a
party girl, but now she lives a lonely life. Helping the house-bound to receive
communion in the Gravesend neighbourhood of Brooklyn, she knows the community
well. When a local woman goes missing,
Amy senses something isn’t right. Tailing
the woman’s suspicious son, she winds her way through Brooklyn’s streets. But
before she can act, he is dead. Captivated
by the crime she’s witnessed and the murderer himself, Amy doesn’t call the
cops. Instead, she collects the weapon from the sidewalk and soon finds herself
on the trail of a killer.
November 2018
Death Rope is by
Leigh Russell. Mark Abbott is dead. His sister refuses to believe it was
suicide, but only Detective Sergeant Geraldine Steel will listen. When other members of Mark’s family
disappear, Geraldine’s suspicions are confirmed. Taking a risk, Geraldine finds herself
confronted by an adversary deadlier than any she has faced before… Her boss Ian
is close, but will he arrive in time to save her, or is this the end for
Geraldine Steel?
December 2018
One Law For The Rest of
Us is by Peter Murphy. Two
generations of abuse... one shocking conspiracy... a woman determined to expose
it all. When Audrey Marshall sends her
daughter Emily to the religious boarding school where she herself was educated
a generation before, memories return – memories of a culture of child sexual
abuse presided over by a highly-regarded priest. Audrey turns to
barrister Ben Schroeder in search of justice for Emily and herself. But
there are powerful men involved, men determined to protect themselves at all
costs.
Heart Attacks is California’s last secret spot – the
premier mysto surf haunt, the stuff of rumour and legend. The rumours say you
must cross Indian land to get there. They tell of hostile locals and
shark-infested waters where waves in excess of thirty feet break a mile from
shore. For down-and-out photographer Jack Fletcher, the chance to shoot these
waves in the company of surfing legend Drew Harmon offers the promise of new
beginnings. But Drew is not alone in the northern reaches of the state. His
young wife, Kendra, lives there with him. Obsessed with the unsolved murder of
a local girl, Kendra has embarked upon a quest of her own, a search for
truth – however dark that truth may prove to be. In this desolate wasteland the search for the
perfect wave becomes a quest for survival, as events lead inevitably to their
final, tragic climax. The Dogs of Winter is by Kem Nunn.
January 2019
On leave from Canada's Community Policing department, Esa
Khattak is traveling in Iran, reconnecting with his cultural heritage and
seeking peace in the country’s beautiful mosques and gardens. But Khattak’s
supposed break from work is cut short when he’s approached by a Canadian
government agent in Iran, asking him to look into the death of renowned Canadian-Iranian
filmmaker Zahra Sobhani. Zahra was murdered at Iran’s notorious Evin prison,
where she’d been seeking the release of a well-known political prisoner.
Khattak quickly finds himself embroiled in Iran’s tumultuous politics and under
surveillance by the regime, but when the trail leads back to Zahra’s family in
Canada, Khattak calls on his partner, Detective Rachel Getty, for help. Rachel uncovers a conspiracy linked to the
Shah of Iran and the decades-old murders of a group of Iran’s most famous dissidents.
Historic letters, a connection to the Royal Ontario Museum, and a smuggling
operation on the Caspian Sea are just some of the threads Rachel and Khattak
begin unraveling, while the list of suspects stretches from Tehran to Toronto.
But as Khattak gets caught up in the fate of Iran’s political prisoners, Rachel
sees through to the heart of the matter: Zahra’s murder may not have been a
political crime at all. Among the Ruins is by Ausma Zehanat
Khan.
February 2019
Jack Harper isn’t a bad man, but he’s stuck in
a loveless marriage with a mediocre job just trying to
keep sober. The only good thing in his life is his son. When an
old college friend introduces him to a new extramarital dating
website, he tentatively reaches out to find a distraction from his misery.
But when he goes to meet up with his steamy online date, he quickly
realises it was a dire choice. Soon,
Jack finds himself desperately trying to prove his innocence for crimes he did
not commit, and the life he once had – unhappy as it was – is
nothing but a dream. Now, he’s living his worst nightmare. . . Too Far
is by Jason Starr.
Fade to Grey is by
John Lincoln. Gethin Grey is the man you
call when there’s nowhere else to turn. His Last
Resort Legals team investigates miscarriages of justice. But Gethin is
running out of options himself: his gambling is out of control, his marriage is
falling apart and there’s no money left to pay the wages… Izma M was sent down years ago for the brutal
murder of a young woman. In jail he’s written a bestseller and become a cult
hero, and now the charismatic fading-film-star Amelia Laverne wants to bankroll
Gethin to prove Izma's innocence. For Gethin – low on luck and cash – the job
is heaven sent. But is Izma M really as blameless as his fans believe? This seemingly cold case is about to turn
very hot indeed…
March 2019
The Conviction of Cora
Burns is by Carolyn Kirby.
Birmingham, 1885. Born in a gaol and raised in a workhouse, Cora Burns has
always struggled to control the violence inside her. Haunted by memories of a terrible crime, she
seeks a new life working as a servant in the house of scientist Thomas Jerwood. Here, Cora befriends a young girl, Violet,
who seems to be the subject of a living experiment. But is Jerwood also
secretly studying Cora…?
After Brooklyn mob widow Rena Ruggiero hits her
eighty-year-old neighbour Enzio in the head with an ashtray when he makes an
unwanted move on her, she retreats to the Bronx home of her estranged daughter,
Adrienne, and her granddaughter, Lucia, only to be turned away at the door.
Their neighbour, Lacey “Wolfie” Wolfstein, a one-time Golden Age porn star and
retired Florida Suncoast grifter, takes Rena in and befriends her. When Lucia
discovers that Adrienne is planning to hit the road with her ex-boyfriend, she
figures Rena is her only way out of a life on the run with a mother she can’t
stand. The stage is set for an explosion that will propel Rena, Wolfie, and
Lucia down a strange path, each woman running from their demons, no matter what
the cost. A Friend is a Gift You
Give Yourself is by William Boyle.
Iconic, tough-but-tender Boston PI Spenser delves into the
black market art scene to investigate a decades-long unsolved crime of
dangerous proportions. The heist was
legendary, still talked about twenty years after the priceless paintings
disappeared from one of Boston's premier art museums. Most thought the art was
lost forever, buried deep, sold off overseas, or, worse, destroyed as
incriminating evidence. But when paint chips from the most valuable piece
stolen, Gentlemen in Black by a Spanish master, arrives at the desk of a Boston
journalist, the museum finds hope and enlists Spenser's help. Soon the cold art case thrusts Spenser into
the shady world of black market art dealers, aged Mafia bosses, and old
vendettas. A five-million-dollar-reward by the museum's top benefactor, an
aged, unlikable Boston socialite, sets Spenser and pals Vinnie Morris and Hawk
onto a trail of hidden secrets, jailhouse confessions, murder, and double
crosses. Robert B Parker’s Old Black Magic is by Ace Atkins.
May 2019
Ungentlemanly Warfare
is by Howard Linskey. A soldier and a spy, an officer but not quite a
gentleman, Captain Harry Walsh is SOE’s secret weapon. Loathed by his own commanding officer, haunted
by the death of his closest friend and trapped in a loveless marriage, Harry
Walsh is close to burn out when he is ordered to assassinate the man behind the
ME 163 Komet, Hitler’s miracle jet fighter. If Walsh fails, there is no
prospect of allied victory in Europe.
Harry Walsh is ruthless, unorthodox and ungentlemanly. He is about to
wreak havoc.
