Books to Look Forward to From Quercus Publishing (Incl Riverrun, Maclehose and Jo FletcherBooks)

January 2020

It's June 2008 and twenty-one-year-old Adam Lattimer vanishes, presumed dead. The strain of his disappearance breaks his already fragile family.  Ten years later, with his mother deceased and siblings scattered across the globe, Adam turns up unannounced at the family home. His siblings return reluctantly to Spanish Cove, but Adam's reappearance poses more questions than answers. The past is a tangled web of deceit.  And, as tension builds, it's apparent somebody has planned murderous revenge for the events of ten years ago.  Six Wicked Reasons is by Jo Spain.

Silent vow - Spain, 2020. When ex-pat fugitive Jack Cleland watches his girlfriend die, gunned down in a pursuit involving officer Cristina Sanchez Pradell, he promises to exact his revenge by destroying the policewoman. A silent life - Cristina's aunt Ana has been deaf-blind for the entirety of her adult life: the victim of a rare condition named Usher Syndrome. Ana is the centre of Cristina's world - and of Cleland's cruel plan.  A silent death -  John Mackenzie - an ingenious yet irascible Glaswegian investigator - is seconded to aid the Spanish authorities in their manhunt. He alone can silence Cleland before the fugitive has the last, bloody, word.  A Silent Death is by Peter May. 

Peter Temple started publishing novels late, when he was fifty, but then he got cracking. He wrote nine novels in thirteen years. Along the way he wrote screenplays, stories, dozens of reviews.  When Temple died in March 2018 there was an unfinished Jack Irish novel in his drawer. It is included in The Red Hand, and it reveals the master at the peak of his powers. The Red Hand also includes the screenplay of Valentine's Day, an improbably delightful story about an ailing country football club, which in 2007 was adapted for television by the ABC. Also included are his short fiction, his reflections on the Australian idiom, a handful of autobiographical fragments, and a selection of his brilliant book reviews.  The Red Hand is by Peter Temple.

February 2020

The Lantern Man is by Elly Griffiths.  Everything has changed for Dr Ruth Galloway. She has a new job, home and partner, and is no longer North Norfolk police's resident forensic archaeologist. That is, until convicted murderer Ivor March offers to make DCI Nelson a deal. Nelson was always sure that March killed more women than he was charged with. Now March confirms this, and offers to show Nelson where the other bodies are buried - but only if Ruth will do the digging.  Curious, but wary, Ruth agrees. March tells Ruth that he killed four more women and that their bodies are buried near a village bordering the fens, said to be haunted by the Lantern Men, mysterious figures holding lights that lure travellers to their deaths.  Is Ivor March himself a lantern man, luring Ruth back to Norfolk? What is his plan, and why is she so crucial to it? And are the killings really over?

End Game is by Anna Smith.  Physically and emotionally battered after the shocking events of Fight Back, Glasgow gang leader Kerry Casey must pick herself up and get straight back into the fray.   When London gangsters William 'Wolfie' Wolfe and his tough-talking daughter Hannah approach her with millions of pounds worth of stolen diamonds and offer her an alliance in return for helping to sell them, she jumps at the chance to have someone on her side for a change. But there were more than diamonds in the loot.  Wolfie stole, and its former owners will stop at nothing to get it back. Kerry and Hannah must stay one step ahead of their new enemies - while Kerry spots the opportunity to settle an old score of her own...

To Kill A Man is by Sam Bourne.  Cynthia Wright is a rising star in American politics, strongly tipped as a future candidate for president. One night she is violently assaulted in her home by an intruder. She defends herself and minutes later, the intruder lies dead. Wright is hailed as a #MeToo heroine: the woman who fought back.  But inconsistencies emerge in Wright's story, suggesting that the attack might not have been as random as it first seemed. When former White House trouble shooter Maggie Costello is drafted in to investigate, she finds intriguing gaps, especially over Wright's early life. She likes this woman, who she believes could - and should - be president. But she can't shake off the question: who exactly is Cynthia Wright.

"Look what the fucking dogs did to them, someone muttered. No-one mentioned the rope, or the monkey-wrench, or the gun, or the knife, or the stick, or the whip, or the blood-stained boots. In fact, no-one said much at all. It seemed simpler that way. There was no sense in pointing fingers.'"  At dusk, on a warm evening in 2016, a group of forty men gathered in the corner of a dusty field on a farm outside Parys in the Free State. Some were in fury. Others treated the whole thing as a joke - a game. The events of the next two hours would come to haunt them all. They would rip families apart, prompt suicide attempts, breakdowns, divorce, bankruptcy, threats of violent revenge and acts of unforgivable treachery.  These Are Not Gentle People is the story of that night, and of what happened next. It's a murder story, a courtroom drama, a profound exploration of collective guilt and individual justice, and a fast-paced literary thriller.  Award-winning foreign correspondent and author Andrew Harding traces the impact of one moment of collective barbarism on a fragile community - exploding lies, cover-ups, political meddling and betrayals, and revealing the inner lives of those involved with extraordinary clarity.  The book is also a mesmerising examination of a small town trying to cope with a trauma that threatens to tear it in two - as such, it is as much a journey into the heart of modern South Africa as it is a gripping tale of crime, punishment and redemption.

March 2020

Victim 2117 is by Jussi Adler-Olsen.  The newspaper refers to the dead body only as Victim 2117 - the two thousand, one hundred and seventeenth refugee to die in the Mediterranean Sea.   But to three people, the victim is so much more, and the death

sets off a chain of events that throws Department Q, Copenhagen's cold cases division led by Detective Carl Morck, into a deeply dangerous - and deeply personal - case: a case that not only reveals dark secrets about the past, but has deadly implications for the future.  For a troubled Danish teen, the death of Victim 2117 becomes a symbol of everything he resents and is the perfect excuse to unleash his murderous impulses. For Ghallib, a brutal tormentor from the notorious prison Abu Ghraib, the death of Victim 2117 was the first step in a terrorist plot, years in the making. And for Department Q's Assad, Victim 2117 is a link to his buried past and to the family he assumed was long dead.

Kitt Hartley wakes to the news that a murder has been committed in Irendale, a village high on the wild Yorkshire moors where her boyfriend, DI Malcolm Halloran lived with his ex-wife until she, too, was murdered. The MO of the two crimes is identical, right down to the runic symbols carved into the victims' hands.  Unable to leave it to the local police to solve, Kitt and Halloran travel to Irendale, where a literary mystery awaits. A line of Anglo-Saxon poetry found on the victim leads to a hiding place, and another cryptic clue. Did the victim know she was going to die? Is she trying to help solve her own murder from beyond the grave? And what is the connection to the murder of Halloran's wife all those years ago?  It will take the combined ingenuity of Kitt and Halloran, as well as Evie Bowes, Grace Edwards and, despite their best efforts, Ruby the (possible) psychic to solve this case. The moors may be beautiful, but they're not peaceful!  Murder on the Moorland is by Helen Cox

Man on the Street is by Trevor Wood.  It started with a splash. Jimmy, a homeless veteran grappling with PTSD, did his best to pretend he hadn't heard it - the sound of something heavy falling into the Tyne at the height of an argument between two men on the riverbank. Not his fight.  Then he sees the headline: GIRL IN MISSING DAD PLEA. The girl, Carrie, reminds him of someone he lost, and this makes his mind up: it's time to stop hiding from his past. But telling Carrie, what he heard - or thought he heard - turns out to be just the beginning of the story.  The police don't believe him, but Carrie is adamant that something awful has happened to her dad and Jimmy agrees to help her, putting himself at risk from enemies old and new. But Jimmy has one big advantage: when you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose.

The Treatment is by Michael Nath.  At a bus stop in south London, black teenager Eldine Matthews is murdered by a racist gang. Twenty years later, L Troop's top boys - models of vice, deviance and violence - are far beyond justice. There are some people the law will not touch.  But Eldine's murder is not forgotten. His story is once again on everyone's lips and the streets of south London; a story of police corruption and the elimination of witnesses. A solicitor, a rent boy, a one-eyed comedian and his minder are raising ghosts; and Carl Hyatt, disgraced reporter, thinks he knows why.  There's one man linking this crew of rambunctious dandies and enchanting thugs, and it's the man Carl promised never to challenge again: Mulhall, kingpin of London's rotten heart and defender of L Troop's racist killers. Carl must face up the morality of retribution and the reality of violence knowing that he is the weak link in the chain; and that he has placed everyone he loves within Mulhall's reach.

Three tells the stories of three women: Orna, a divorced single-mother looking for a new relationship; Emilia, a Latvian immigrant on a spiritual search; and Ella, married and mother of three, returning to University to write her thesis. All of them will meet the same man. His name is Gil. He won't tell them the whole truth about himself - but they don't tell him everything either.  Tense, twisted and surprising, Three is by S A Mishani is a daring new form of psychological thriller. It is a declaration of war against the normalisation of death and violence. Slowly but surely, you see the danger each woman walks into. What you won't see is the trap being laid - until it snaps shut.

April 2020

Thirty-two-year-old Jessica is newly divorced and has returned home to live with her parents whilst she puts the pieces of her life back together. But Jessica isn't the only one with problems, as her mother, Jean, has recently been diagnosed with dementia. Shortly after Jessica's arrival, one of the neighbours falls to her death, in what appears to be a terrible accident. However, Jean claims that the woman was murdered by her husband and that she witnessed the whole thing.   With Jean's memory rapidly deteriorating, her family dismiss her story, believing Jean is confused. But when Jessica learns that the couple next door's marriage may have been in trouble, she begins to wonder if her mother did see something after all.   Jessica is determined to discover the truth, but soon uncovers much more than she bargained for...  Deny Me is by Karen Cole.

When the eight-year-old daughter of an Oxford College Master vanishes in the middle of the night, police turn to the Scottish nanny, Dee, for answers. As Dee looks back over her time in the Master's Lodging - an eerie and ancient house - a picture of a high achieving but dysfunctional family emerges: Nick, the fiercely intelligent and powerful father; his beautiful Danish wife Mariah, pregnant with their child; and the lost little girl, Felicity, almost mute, seeing ghosts, grieving her dead mother.  But is Dee telling the whole story? Is her growing friendship with the eccentric house historian, Linklater, any cause for concern? And most of all, why was Felicity silent?  Magpie Lane is by Lucy Atkins

Hitler’s Peace is by Philip Kerr.  Autumn 1943. Hitler knows he cannot win the war: now he must find a way to make peace. FDR and Stalin are willing to negotiate; only Churchill refuses to listen. The upcoming Allied Tehran conference will be where the next steps - whatever they are - will be decided.  Into this nest of double- and triple-dealing steps Willard Mayer, OSS agent and FDR's envoy to the conference. His job is to secure the peace that the USA and Hitler now crave. The stakes couldn't be higher.

You can't stop watching her.  Violet Young is a hugely popular journalist-turned-mummy-influencer, with three children, a successful husband and a million subscribers on YouTube who tune in daily to watch her everyday life unfold.  Until the day she's no longer there.  But one day she disappears from the online world - her entire social media presence deleted overnight, with no explanation. Has she simply decided that baring her life to all online is no longer a good idea, or has something more sinister happened to Violet?  But do you really know who Violet is?  Her fans are obsessed with finding out the truth, but their search quickly reveals a web of lies, betrayal, and shocking consequences...  Unfollow me is by Charlotte Duckworth

A mother’s love will never die.  Widowed Nan is on her way to her beloved son's wedding. She should be excited, but she is dreading her return to Paradise Place - a small area of Notting Hill that she hasn't dared set foot on for decades. Nan had arrived there as a young girl in the late seventies, desperate for freedom and a career as an artist. But, drawn into a dark obsession that spun out of control, Nan was forced to flee.  And while the only thing seemingly connecting her son's wedding and her old secret life is Paradise Place, Nan quickly gets the impression that someone is watching her every move . . . someone she thought was dead.  Unbroken Flowers is by Kate McQuaile.

DCS Frankie Sheehan is experiencing a crisis of confidence - having become wary of the instincts that have led her face-to-face with a twisted killer and brought those she loves into direct jeopardy.She is summoned to the rural Wicklow mountains, where local mother of two, Debbie Nugent, has been reported missing. A bloody crime scene is discovered at Debbie's home, yet no body. Not only is foul play suspected, but Debbie's daughter, Margot, has been living with scene for three days.  Aware her team cannot convict Margot on appearances alone, Sheehan launches a full investigation into Debbie Nugent's life. And, before long, the discrepancies within Debbie's disappearance suggest that some families are built on dangerous deceptions, with ultimately murderous consequences.  If Looks Could Kill is by Olivia Kiernan.

May 2020

Dear Child is by Romy Hausmann.  A windowless shack in the woods. Lena's life and that of her two children follows the rules set by their captor, the father: Meals, bathroom visits, study time are strictly scheduled and meticulously observed. He protects his family from the dangers lurking in the outside world and makes sure that his children will always have a mother to look after them.   One day Lena manages to flee - but the nightmare continues. It seems as if her tormentor wants to get back what belongs to him. And then there is the question whether she really is the woman called 'Lena', who disappeared without a trace 14 years ago. The police and Lena's family are all desperately trying to piece together a puzzle which doesn't quite seem to fit.

Protest. Rebel. Die. An unidentified body is found in a freezer. No one seems to know or care who it is or who placed it there.  DS Alexandra Cupidi couldn't have realised that this bizarre discovery will be connected to the crisis in housing, the politics of environmentalism and specifically the protection given to badgers by the law. But there are dangerous links between these strange, reclusive, fiercely territorial creatures and the activism of Cupidi's teenage daughter Zoe and her friend Bill South, her colleague Constable Jill Ferriter's dating habits and long forgotten historic crimes of sexual abuse - and murder.  Grave’s End is by William Shaw.  

The Disappearance of Stephanie Mailer is by Joel Dicker. In the summer of 1994, the quiet seaside town of Orphea reels from the discovery of two brutal murders.  Confounding their superiors, two young police officers, Jesse Rosenberg and Derek Scott crack the case and arrest the murderer, earning themselves handsome promotions and the lasting respect of their colleagues.  But twenty years later, just as he is on the point of taking early retirement, Rosenberg is approached by Stephanie Mailer, a journalist who believes he made a mistake back in 1994 and that the real murderer is still out there, perhaps ready to strike again. Before she can give any more details however, Stephanie Mailer mysteriously disappears without trace, and Rosenberg and Scott are forced to confront the awful possibility that her suspicions might have been proved horribly true.  What happened to Stephanie Mailer?  What did she know?  And what really happened in Orphea all those years ago?

June 2020

Following the funeral of a local farmer, Bruno gets a phone call from his son. He tells Bruno that before his father's sudden death, he had signed over his property to an insurance company in return for a subscription to a luxury retirement home. Bruno discovers that both the retirement home and the insurance company are scams with links to a Russian oligarch whose dealings are already being tracked by the French police. Meanwhile an aging British rock star is selling his home, Chateau Rock. The star's son returns for the summer with his Russian girlfriend. As Bruno pursues his inquiries into the farmer's death and the stolen inheritance, he learns that the oligarch is none other than the girlfriend's father. Bruno's talents are tested to the limit as he untangles a Gordian Knot of criminality that reaches as far as the Kremlin.   But luckily Bruno still has time to cook delicious meals for his friends and enjoy the life of his beloved Dordogne. What's more, love is in the air. His pedigree basset, Balzac, is old enough to breed. Bruno heads for the kennels where a suitable beauty, Diane de Poitiers, is ready and waiting for Balzac's attentions... A Shooting at Chateau Rock is by Martin Walker.

Nobody was supposed to get out alive.  On a Dublin city street, packed with afternoon Christmas shoppers, a young woman appears, naked, traumatised and bearing burn marks.  Tom Reynolds, now Chief Superintendent, is no longer head of the murder squad. But when it transpires the woman escaped from a house fire started deliberately and that there are more victims, including a baby, Tom is sucked in. What begins as a straightforward case of arson, soon becomes something much more sinister.  The people in that house never wanted to be there in the first place. Now more of them are missing. Tom is faced with a ticking clock as he tries to locate the others and as he does, a terrifying spider's web of domestic and international crime unfolds.  And not everybody will survive the fall-out.  After the Fire is by Jo Spain.

Allegation is by R G Adams.  'There isn't going to be an easy way to say this . . .' An evil monster exposed?  '. . . I'm afraid an allegation has been made'. Or an innocent father condemned?  A scandal will shake a small community to its very foundations.  Sandbeach, South Wales. Two women have come forward to make historical sexual allegations against a pillar of the local community, Matthew Cooper. And child-safeguarding protocol demands that Social Services remove the accused from his home and his family, while a formal assessment is carried out.  The Cooper case lands on the desk of inexperienced Social Worker, Kit Goddard. Although intrepid and intuitive, she is ill-prepared for such a high-profile case.  Kit finds herself navigating a local minefield of connections and class, reputations and rumour. Unsure whether her interference is a heroic intervention or a hurtful intrusion, she knows one thing: it will have an impact. The question is whether this impact will be to expose an iniquitous lie, or destroy an innocent life...

Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival Reveals 2019 Programme

Including David Baldacci, Denise Mina, Ian Rankin, Shari Lapena and debut author, straight from Pointless, Richard Osman

STIRLING 20-22 SEPTEMBER 2019

‘It's a dizzying weekend of pleasure.' Val McDermid, 2019
 

Bloody Scotland revealed its 2019 programme today followed by a one-off performance by Val McDermid who will be in New Zealand during the festival itself this year. The London launch will be in Scotland House at 6.30pm tomorrow evening, hosted by bestselling author and Bloody Scotland director Abir Mukherjee.

Bloody Scotland has been praised for going beyond the usual remit of a literary festival to create a fringe featuring football, a torchlit procession, a cabaret, a podcast, a quiz and this year will also include a ‘Killer Ceilidh’; a procession of Harley Davidson riders; a play at the Sheriff Court which will allow the audience to vote on the verdict of a real murder trial and a screening of classic crime films from The 39 Steps to Reichenbach Falls, introduced by Ian Rankin.  We hope it gives the authors a unique experience and makes the weekend more appealing to those who might not normally go to a book festival. There continues to be a discount for local residents, tickets for the unemployed and we continue to improve disabled access with a mini bus between venues for those that need it.

The gala opening on Friday 20 September will once again feature the announcement of the winner of the McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and will also reveal the first winner of the new prize for Scottish crime fiction debut.  The winners will join one of the world’s leading thriller writers, David Baldacci, at the head of the annual torchlight procession down to the Albert Halls.

Highlights include Ian Rankin; Alexander McCall Smith; Alex Gray and Lin Anderson, interviewed by the BBC’s Janice Forsyth; Denise Mina and Louise Welsh; two married couple writing partnerships, Nicci French and Ambrose Parry; Icelandic queen of crime Yrsa Sigurdardottir; Stuart MacBride; Mark Billingham and, straight from Pointless, Richard Osman who has just signed a much publicised seven-figure deal for his first crime novel The Thursday Murder Club to be published by Viking next year. No sooner had he signed the deal than we’d moved things around to get him in the programme.

Non-fiction highlights include Alice Vinten (police constable in the Met) appearing with Mim Skinner (insight into the experiences of women in prison); former prison governor Dr David Wilson (soon to be on TV) and forensic scientist Professor Angela Gallop (whose book details her high profile work on cases such as Damilola Taylor, Stephen Lawrence and Rachel Nickell).

Panels that are likely to spark some debate include Till Death Do Us Part talking about novels based around highly dysfunctional marriages and the festival holds up a Mirror to

Society with novels which address contemporary issues like online stalking and knife crime.

First time visitors to the festival this year include the Canadian best-seller Shari Lapena who will be appearing with Caroline Kepnes, author of the massive Netflix hit You; Lisa Jewell (well known for her contemporary fiction now getting rave reviews for her thrillers); Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland (writing under the pseudonym of Sam Bourne); Boston-based lawyer David Hosp (aka Jack Flynn); Charlotte Philby (the granddaughter of the infamous double-agent Kim Philby); Lynne Truss (author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves) and Catherine Steadman (Mabel Lane Fox in Downton Abbey).

Bloody Scotland remains an open and welcoming international festival despite all the chaos at Westminster - this year welcoming authors from Spain, France, Iceland, Norway and Ireland as well as the US, Canada, Australia, India and Mexico.

The full programme can be found here.

Books to Look Forward to From Quercus

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January 2019

A breath-taking missing persons thriller set under the menacing peaks of the Pyrenees.  Five years after their disappearance, the village of Monteperdido still mourns the loss of Ana and Lucia, two eleven-year-old friends who left school one afternoon and were never seen again. Now, Ana reappears unexpectedly inside a crashed car, wounded but alive.  The case reopens and a race against time begins to discover who was behind the girls' kidnapping. Most importantly, where is Lucia and is she still alive?  Inspector Sara Campos and her boss Santiago Bain, from Madrid's head office, are forced to work with the local police. Five years ago fatal mistakes were made in the investigation conducted after the girls first vanished, and this mustn't happen again. But Monteperdido has rules of its own.  Village of the Lost Girls is by Agustín Martínez.

A reporter with no fear - Brussels, 1979. Jaded Edinburgh journalist Neil Bannerman arrives in the capital of European politics intent on digging up dirt. Yet it is danger he discovers, when two British men are found murdered.  A child with no father - One victim is a journalist, the other a Cabinet Minister: the double-assassination witnessed by the former's autistic daughter. This girl recalls every detail about her father's killer - except for one.  The man with no face - With Brussels rocked by the tragedy, Bannerman is compelled to follow his instincts. He is now fighting to expose a murderous conspiracy, protect a helpless child, and unmask a remorseless killer.  The Man With No Face is by Peter May.

A Long Night in Paris is by Dov Aflon. When an Israeli tech entrepreneur disappears from Charles de Gaulle airport with a woman in red, logic dictates youthful indiscretion. But Israel is on a state of high alert nonetheless. Colonel Zeev Abadi, the new head of Unit 8200's autonomous Special Section, who just happens to be in Paris, also just happens to have arrived on the same flight.  For Commissaire Leger of the Paris Police coincidences have their reasons, and most are suspect. When a second young Israeli is kidnapped soon after arriving on the same flight, this time at gunpoint from his hotel room, his suspicions are confirmed - and a diplomatic incident looms.  Back in Tel Aviv, Lieutenant Oriana Talmor, Abadi's deputy, is his only ally, applying her sharp wits to the race to identify the victims and the reasons behind their abduction. In Paris a covert Chinese commando team listens to the investigation unfurl and watches from the rooftops. While by the hour the morgue receives more bodies from the river and the city's arrondissements.  The clock has been set. And this could be a long night in the City of Lights.

February 2019

Fight Back is by Anna Smith.  Kerry Casey is now a fully-fledged gangland boss. With her business partner Sharon and her wily lawyer Marty at her side, she is busy ridding her organisation of the drug-dealing, people-trafficking scum her dead brother Mickey got them involved with. But her great dream is still to take the Casey’s straight.  Her plan to turn her organisation around hinges on building a property empire in Spain. But Kerry has some deadly rivals - in Glasgow, on the Costa del Sol, and even further afield. They will never believe she has what it takes to defend her turf, and they won't rest until the Casey’s are destroyed.  When her enemies strike at the heart of the Casey family, Kerry must prepare for the fight of her life - for her business, her friends and her own survival.

The Stone Circle is by Elly Griffiths.  DCI Nelson has been receiving threatening letters telling him to 'go to the stone circle and rescue the innocent who is buried there'. He is shaken, not only because children are very much on his mind, with Michelle's baby due to be born, but because although the letters are anonymous, they are somehow familiar. They read like the letters that first drew him into the case of The Crossing Places, and to Ruth. But the author of those letters is dead. Or are they?  Meanwhile Ruth is working on a dig in the Saltmarsh - another henge, known by the archaeologists as the stone circle - trying not to think about the baby. Then bones are found on the site, and identified as those of Margaret Lacey, a twelve-year-old girl who disappeared thirty years ago.  As the Margaret Lacey case progresses, more and more aspects of it begin to hark back to that first case of The Crossing Places, and to Scarlett Henderson, the girl Nelson couldn't save. The past is reaching out for Ruth and Nelson, and its grip is deadly.

 

Death stalked the Vale.  In every corner, every whisper.  They just didn't know it yet.  Six neighbours, six secrets, six reasons to want Olive Collins dead.  In the exclusive gated community of Withered Vale, people's lives appear as perfect as their beautifully manicured lawns. Money, success, privilege - the residents have it all. Life is good.  There's just one problem.  Olive Collins' dead body has been rotting inside number four for the last three months. Her neighbours say they're shocked at the discovery but nobody thought to check on her when she vanished from sight.  The police start to ask questions and the seemingly flawless facade begins to crack. Because, when it comes to Olive's neighbours, it seems each of them has something to hide, something to lose and everything to gain from her death.  Dirty Little Secrets is by Jo Spain.

To Kill The Truth is by Sam Bourne.  Someone is trying to destroy the evidence of history's greatest crimes.  Academics and Holocaust survivors dead in mysterious circumstances. Museums and libraries burning. Digital records and irreplaceable proofs, lost for ever.  Former White House operative Maggie Costello has sworn off politics. But when the Governor of Virginia seeks her help to stop the lethal spiral of killings, she knows that this is bigger than any political game.  As Black Lives Matter protestors clash with slavery deniers, America is on a knife-edge and time is running out. This deadly conspiracy could ignite a new Civil War - but who stands to gain most from the chaos?

March 2019

Even the deepest buried secrets can find their way to the surface...  Moments before she dies, Nicola's grandmother Betty whispers to her that there are babies at the bottom of the garden.  Nicola's mother claims she was talking nonsense. However, when Nicola's daughter finds a bone while playing in Betty's garden, it's clear that something sinister has taken place.  But will unearthing painful family secrets end up tearing Nicola's family apart? The Last Thing She Told Me is by Linda Green.

The Burning House is by Neil Spring.  It was a victimless crime...  Estate Agent Clara is struggling to make a sale. With her abusive ex-husband on the brink of finding where she's hiding, she needs to make a commission soon or lose her chance to escape.  Boleskine House on the shores of Loch Ness has remained unsold for years, and Clara is sure that an 'innocent' fire will force the price down. But the perfect crime soon turns into the perfect nightmare: there was a witness, a stranger in the village, and he's not going to let Clara get away with it that easily...

Beautiful Bad is by Annie Ward.  Maddie and Ian's romance began when he was serving in the British Army and she was a travel writer visiting her best friend Jo in Europe. Now sixteen years later, married with a beautiful son, Charlie, they are living the perfect suburban life in Middle America.  But when an accident leaves Maddie badly scarred, she begins attending therapy, where she gradually reveals her fears about Ian's PTSD; her concerns for the safety of their young son Charlie; and the couple's tangled and tumultuous past with Jo.  From the Balkans to England, Iraq to Manhattan, and finally to an ordinary family home in Kansas, the years of love and fear, adventure and suspicion culminate in The Day of the Killing, when a frantic 911 call summons the police to the scene of shocking crime.

Prefecture D is by Hideo Yokoyama. A collection of four novellas: each taking place in 1998, each set in the world of Six Four, and each centring around a mystery and the unfortunate officer tasked with solving it.  Season of Shadows - "The force could lose face . . . I want you to fix this." Personnel's Futawatari receives a horrifying memo forcing him to investigate the behaviour of a legendary detective with unfinished business.  Cry of the Earth - "It's too easy to kill a man with a rumour." Shinto of Internal Affairs receives an anonymous tipoff alleging a Station Chief is visiting the red-light district -- a warning he soon learns is a red herring.  Black Lines - "It was supposed to be her special day." Section Chief Nanao, responsible for the force's 49 female officers, is alarmed to learn her star pupil has not reported for duty, and is believed to be missing.  Briefcase - "We need to know what he's going to ask." On the eve of a routine debate, Political Liaison Tsuge learns a wronged politician is preparing his revenge. He must now quickly dig up dirt to silence him.  Prefecture D continues Hideo Yokoyama's exploration of the themes of obsession, saving face, office politics and inter-departmental conflicts. Placing everyday characters between a rock and a hard place and then dialling up the pressure, he blends and balances the very Japanese with the very accessible, to spectacular effect.

A murdered diplomat, planted evidence and a treacherous sister: once again, Helga had better find the real killer quickly, before heads start rolling - literally - in this brand-new Viking noir mystery.  Helga Finnsdottir left her foster parents, the old Viking chieftain Unnthor Reginson and his knowing wife Hildigunnur, to see the world, but she stopped in Uppsala when she fell in love. Now she's established herself as a local healer and herb-woman on the outskirts of town, and life is good - until King Eirik the Victorious calls a trade council and hairy northerners and southern Swedes alike descend on the town.  Unfortunately for Helga, one delegation is headed by a very determined young woman who has her own agenda and will let nothing - and no one - get in her way. But the last time Helga saw Jorunn Unthorsdottir, her foster-sister was being cast out by their father for killing their brother Bjorn and trying to pin the blame on Helga.  So perhaps it's no great surprise when one of the delegates is murdered, or that Helga's soon tagged as the lead suspect. It doesn't take her long to clear her own name, but that only leads suspicion to fall on to her man.  Once again, Helga must solve a murder, and fast, before the innocent pays with his head.  The Council is by Snorri Kristjansson.

April 2019

Berlin, 1928, the dying days of the Weimar Republic shortly before Hitler and the Nazis came to power. It was a period of decadence and excess as Berliners - after the terrible slaughter of WWI and the hardships that followed - are enjoying their own version of Babylon. Bernie is a young detective working in Vice when he gets a summons from Bernard Weiss, Chief of Berlin's Criminal Police. He invites Bernie to join KIA - Criminal Inspection A - the supervisory body for all homicide investigation in Kripo. Bernie's first task is to investigate the Silesian Station killings - four prostitutes murdered in as many weeks. All of them have been hit over the head with a hammer and then scalped with a sharp knife.  Bernie hardly has time to acquaint himself with the case files before another prostitute is murdered. Until now, no one has shown much interest in these victims - there are plenty in Berlin who'd like the streets washed clean of such degenerates. But this time the girl's father runs Berlin's foremost criminal ring, and he's prepared to go to extreme lengths to find his daughter's killer.  Then a second series of murders begins - of crippled wartime veterans who beg in the city's streets. It seems that someone is determined to clean up Berlin of anyone less than perfect. The voice of Nazism is becoming a roar that threatens to drown out all others. But not Bernie Gunther's ...  Metropolis is by Philip Kerr.

As an ex-SAS officer, Aubrey Savage is used to noticing small things. So when he offers a lift to a terrified runaway bride on the moors, he knows that there is more to her story than meets the eye.  But when she is snatched away immediately, leaving behind a holdall and Glock, he is thrust into a terrifying world of corruption, and a threat that is all too close to home.  In High Places is by JJ Holland.

Murder convict Sean Hennessy is released from prison to return to a seaside community in Dublin. He has always professed his innocence. But within months of his release, two bodies appear in the peaceful suburb of Clontarf.  With a TV documentary pushing the public's sympathies in Hennessy's direction, the original evidence against him is called into question and Detective Frankie Sheehan finds herself doubting her original analysis of the case.  But when another, fresh victim connects the two cases and the threat closes in around her family, Sheehan must look deep within herself in order to spot the killer who hides in plain sight.  The Killer in Me is by Olivia Kiernan.

May 2019

You Can Run - The two boys never fitted in. Seventeen, the worst age, nothing to do but smoke weed; at least they have each other. The day they speed off on a moped with a stolen mobile, they're ready to celebrate their luck at last. Until their victim comes looking for what's his - and ready to kill for it.  You Can Hide - On the other side of Kent's wealth divide, DS Alexandra Cupidi faces the strangest murder investigation of her career. A severed limb, hidden inside a modern sculpture in Margate's Turner Contemporary. No one takes it seriously - not even the artwork's owners, celebrity dealers who act like they're above the law.  You Can Die - But as Cupidi's case becomes ever more sinister, as she wrangles with police politics and personal dilemmas, she can't help worrying about those runaway boys. Seventeen, the same age as her own headstrong daughter. Alone, on the marshes, they're pawns in someone else's game. Two worlds are about to collide.  Dungeness is by William Shaw.

The Carrier is by Mattias Berg.  Erasmus Levine has a job like no other.  He travels with the President of the United States at all times, and holds in his hands the power to obliterate life

as we know it. He is the man with the nuclear briefcase, part of a crack team of top-secret operatives established after 9/11 and led by a man codenamed Edelweiss. But even Edelweiss does not know the identity of their ultimate authority, known only as Sysboss.  Levine has a secret.  For twelve years he has been receiving cryptic messages from Sysboss - an elaborate communication that began with the words We two against the world. Slowly but surely, Levine begins thinking of escape. His chance comes during an official visit to Sweden, when the alarm sounds in Stockholm's Grand Hotel.  But Sysboss has other plans for him.  From their first meeting in a network of tunnels and bunkers beneath the city, Levine is drawn into a plan to eliminate the world's nuclear arsenals. But how can he be sure that controlled demolition is the endgame? Could he be working towards a controlled apocalypse, a doomsday plot to wipe humanity from the face of the earth?

June 2019

The Body in the Castle Well is by Martin Walker.  A rich American art student is found dead at the bottom of a well in an ancient hilltop castle. The young woman, Claudia, had been working in the archives of an eminent French art historian, a crippled Resistance war hero, at his art-filled chateau.  As Claudia's White House connections get the US Embassy and the FBI involved, Bruno traces the people and events that led to her death - or was it murder?  Bruno learns that Claudia had been trying to buy the chateau and art collection of her tutor, even while her researches led her to suspect that some of his attributions may have been forged. This takes Bruno down a trail that leads him from the ruins of Berlin in 1945, to France's colonial war in Algeria.  The long arm of French history has reached out to find a new victim, but can Bruno identify the killer - and prove his case?

Life for Paul Samson has gone downhill since he last saw Denis Hisami. His luck on the turf has run out and, broke and a little desperate, he has accepted a dangerous assignment searching for a missing American businessman in Russia. Then he receives a call from Hisami asking him for a meeting.  Hisami has a bombshell to drop: Anastasia Christakos, the third member of the unlikely trio who searched for Naji 'Firefly' Touma across the Balkans three years ago, has been kidnapped, and Hisami wants Samson to find her. Given that Anastasia recently left Samson for Hisami, it's a bold request, but Samson is unable to say no.  It soon becomes clear that Anastasia is being held by parties with Russian connections in order to manipulate Hisami's business dealings. Is there a connection to Hisami's early business dealings, or even to actions taken by Hisami twenty five years before when he was a member Kurdish special-forces and intelligence? It will take all of Samson's courage and guile to find out - and meanwhile the life of the only woman he has ever loved hangs in the balance.  White Hot Silence is by Henry Porter.

Carey Logan - She was the genius wild child of the New York art scene, and my idol.  Fake - I was a no-name painter from the Florida backwater, clawing my way into their world.  Like - When she died, she left a space that couldn't be filled. Except, maybe, by Me - Everything that gets created destroys something else.  When a fire rips through her studio and burns the seven enormous paintings for her next exhibition, a young, no-name painter is left with an impossible task: recreate her art in just three months - or ruin her fledgling career. Thirty-four, single and homeless, she desperately secures a place at an exclusive upstate retreat. Brimming with creative history and set on a sparkling black lake, Pine City and its founders - a notorious collective of successful artists - is what she's idolized all her life. She's dreamt of the parties, the celebrities, the privilege. What she finds is a ghost of its former self.  The recent suicide of founding member Carey Logan haunts everyone, lurking beneath the surface like a shipwreck. And one thought begins to shadow her every move - what really happened to her hero?  Fake Like Me is by Barbara Bourland.