Books to look forward to from Orion

Dru Rayne and her uncle relocated to LA after Hurricane Katrina. Five years after the storm, their struggling restaurant faces a different danger. When Joe Pike witnessesDru's uncle beaten by a neighbourhood gang intent on extorting protection money, he offers his own brand of protection. But neither Dru nor her uncle want his help - and neither do the federal agents mysteriously watching their store. The Sentry is by Robert Crais and is due to be published in March 2011.

The Cut is by George Pelecanos and is due to be published in July 2011.

Since he got home from Iraq, Spero Lucas has carved out a good life for himself, enjoying his youth and his independence, and making a name as the kind of person who gets jobs done quietly and effectively, usually just on the right side of the law. A quick case for a criminal defense attorney leads him into the world of a high-profile marijuana dealer, currently in prison but

with a long reach, who wants to find out who's been stealing from his dealers. Soon Lucas uncovers a tangle of connections that lead dangerously close to some people in high places - and to Lucas's own family.

In Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag Marissa Fordham a reclusive artist is found brutally murdered. The body might not have been found for days but for a call to 911 saying 'Daddy hurt me'. Haley is found clinging onto life alongside the body of her mother. To protect the fragile witness, Anne Leone - child advocate - is called in. But discoveries reveal a truth more terrible than anyone could have imagined - one that will put Anne and Haley in inconceivable danger. Secrets to the Grave is due to be published in January 2011.

The Guardians by Andrew Pyper is due to be released in February 2011. When Trevor's childhood friend Ben commits suicide, he and the remainder of their friendship group return to the provincial Canadian town from which they have been running the last twenty years. As old memories emerge, they realise that they cannot escape what sent them away in the first place: a brutal murder that took place in the derelict house directly across from Ben's parental home;; the site of their worst fears. There's something - or someone - inside and they mustn't let it out.

In The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly in tough times crime is still one of the few things that still pays, but if defense attorney Mick Haller was expecting an uptick in business during the economic downturn, the reality is a different story. Even people needing legal representation to keep them out of jail are having to make cutbacks, it seems.

In fact, the most significant part of Mickey's business right now is not about keeping clients out of jail but about keeping a roof over their heads, as the foreclosure boom hits thousands of people who were granted unrealistic mortgages in the good times and now face being kicked to the curb by ruthless corporations.

Lisa Trammel had been a client of Mickey's for eight months - his very first foreclosure case, in fact - and although so far he'd managed to stop the bank from taking her house, the strain and sense of injustice are beginning to take their toll, and the bank had recently got a restraining order to prevent her protesting against their fraudulent practices.

But now the bank's CEO, Mitchell Bondurant, has been found in the bank's car park with a bullet in his brain, and Lisa is about to be indicted for murder. For Mickey, it's back to what he does best on the biggest stage of all, but if he thought defending Lisa Trammel was going to be a walk in the park, he'd be wrong. Not only is he about to le

arn some startling truths about his client, but also about himself, and by the time the verdict is in, Mickey's whole world will have been turned upside down. The Fifth Witness is due to be published in May 2011.

In Love You More by Lisa Gardner for homicide detective D D Warren, the scene is all too

typical: a wife, finally pushed too far, shoots and kills her abusive husband. But while t

he little suburban home yields a dead body, it seems that the young daughter has vanished. Soon a homicide becomes a high profile missing person case. While the team searches the city, D D finds that every answer leads to more questions and that time is running out. Love You More is due to be published in March 2011.

Flavia de Luce returns in her third adventure which takes her through the dark byways of the village of Bishop Lacey where a fortune-teller claims to have seen Flavia's dead mother. This opens old wounds as well as new possibilities for Flavia. But is the woman a faker, playing on the tragic results of her father's actions, or is there some truth there? When the village is rocked by another ghastly murder, how will a fascination with gypsy lore help Flavia to solve it. A Red Herring Without Mustard is by Alan Bradley and is due to be published in March 2011.

In Live Wire readers will learn more about Myron Bolitar than they ever have before. Myron's mysterious, estranged younger brother Brad has disappeared leaving Myron with his son - a teenage boy that Myron didn't even know existed. Live Wire is by Harlan Coben and is due to be published in March 2011.

Fighting Dirty by June Hampson is due to be published in March 2011. It it 1983 and Daisy Lane is battling to keep her son, Jamie under some sort of control.. When his older brother Eddie comes out of prison after a stretch for manslaughter, he finds that the criminal underworld is tougher with fewer allegiances than ever before, and decides to plan the most audacious heist Britain has seen in decades. Will Eddie manage to pull it off? Or will his brother be his undoing?

Steve Mosby's Black Flowers is not a story about a girl who disappears. It is a story of a little girl who comes back. As if from nowhere, she appears one day on a seaside promenade, with a black flower and a horrifying story about where she's been. But telling that story will start a chain reaction of dangerous lies and deadly secrets that will claim many more victims in the years to come. Black Flowers will be published in April 2011.

Gideon's Sword is the first book in a new series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. As a child Gideon Crew witnessed the brutal murder of

his father, a scientist wrongly framed by the US government. More than twenty years later, Gideon finally gets his revenge by bringing down the man who destroyed his father. But then a mysterious witness steps forward to offer Gideon the chance of a lifetime. Gideon's Sword is due to be published in April 2011.

Heavily pregnant DS Alex Morrow is called in to investigate the violent death of a wealthy Glasgow escort. Thomas Anderson learns that his tyrannical banker father has committed suicide. Yet he finds his mother and sister experiencing not grief, but relief. As Morrow unravels the connections between the two cases, she faces an uninspired police force and her greatest challenge yet, as her work and home lives collide with disastrous consequences. The End of the Wasp Season is by Denise Mina and is due to be published in May 2011.

Eric Van Lustbader returns with Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Dominion. Bourne's enemies are gathering force. Serverus Domna, a secret cabal, has one objective: to vanquish the last person capable of destroying their bid to destabilise the world economy - Jason Bourne. Their mission: to turn Bourne's most trusted friend into his most deadly enemy. Now Bourne finds himself in a world where friend and foe go hand-in-hand as he encounters murder and destruction on a journey from which there is no escape. The Bourne Dominion is due to be published in May 2011.

After caring for his mother in her last days , Alex plans to travel around the world and recapture some of his lost youth. Beginning his travels in Indonesia, the idea of finding himself sounds appealing but he soon finds himself in real trouble. Dark Horizon is by Dan Smith and is due to be published in May 2011. Dark Horizon transports you to the lush landscapes of Sumatra, and the twisted ideals and deadly secrets lying in wait.

In The Opposite of Mercy, when school friends Paul, Chris and Lara reunite, they find themselves out of their depth when they try to help Lara escape an arranged marriage agreed by her bother Pasha Durrani, a terrifying man involved in organised crime. Meanwhile, DS Andy Macall has been tracking Durrani for months. But when one of his team is murdered and there is a leak in the unit. Macall decides to hunt down Durrani alone. The Opposite of Mercy is by John Connor and is due to be published in June 2011

Bad Signs is the new book by R J Ellory and is due to be published in June 2011. Orphaned brothers Clarence and Elliott, have spent their lives waiting to escape the state institutions that have been their world since their mother was murdered. But freedom comes in a sinister form when they are kidnapped by the psychotic Earl Sheridan. Will they manage to elude the dark stars that have hung over them since their mother's death, or will the succumb to the pull of Earl's terrifying version of evil.

In Michael Marshal's The Breakers Bill Moore has it all: a high-income job, the perfect home and a loving wife. But then he is sent a business card - blank except for the one 'modified'. He dismisses the seemingly random event until the word begins to pop up in other places. Bill soon finds out, in the most terrifying way, that his life has become the subject of a sinister and deadly game. The Breakers is due to be published in July 2011.