Tuesday 13 December 2016

Books to Look forward to from PanMacmillan and Mantle

January 2017

If they're hiding something, we've got a right to know. We've got a right to know what Kenny died for ...The day they've all been waiting for is at hand. The last British combat soldiers in Helmand are counting the minutes until their departure for home. For their excited families in Highcliffe, it spells the end of an agonizing six month wait. But in the final hours, disaster strikes. Nineteen-year-old Private Pete 'Skippy' Lyons is abducted and the patrol sent out to locate him is ambushed. One killed, two injured. One still missing in action ...Their loved ones are left desperate for answers the Army won't provide. How could Private Lyons have been snatched from a heavily fortified command post? And why are officers trying to disguise what happened during the mission to save him? Their only hope lies with Coroner Jenny Cooper, who must take on the full might of the military to stop the truth being buried along with the boy soldiers. But in a town filled with secrets and rumours, it's not only the Army that has something to hide.  A Life to Kill is by Matthew Hall.

The Death of Kings is by Rennie Airth.  I have reason to believe that the jade pendant accompanying this letter is the same one that disappeared from Miss Portia Blake's body in August 1938 ...Since the piece could not have been stolen by the man who was hanged for Miss Blake's murder, the question arises: who else could have taken it? And why? 1949. An unsigned letter arrives on the desk of Chief Inspector Derry of the Canterbury police. Enclosed is a jade pendant, identical to the one that went missing from the body of Portia Blake, an actress murdered a decade previously. The case had been shut quickly at the time - the accused vagrant giving a written confession and sentenced to the gallows - but in the police's haste to close the inquiry, the necklace was never recovered. Until now. Inspector Madden is asked to investigate the letter's worrying claims by his old friend, and former Chief Inspector, Angus Sinclair, who fears the wrong man may have been hanged on his watch. But with a world war separating Madden from the murder, the truth will not come easy ....

Run is by Mandasue Heller is a gritty story of Manchester's criminal underworld. After being cheated on by her ex, Leanne Riley is trying her hardest to get her life back on track, which isn't easy without a job and living in a bedsit surrounded by a junkie and a mad woman. On a night out with her best friend she meets Jake, a face from her past who has changed beyond all recognition. Jake is charming, handsome and loaded, a far cry from the gawky teenager he used to be. Weary of men, Leanne isn't easy to please, but Jake tries his best to break through the wall she's built around herself. But good looks and money can hide a multitude of sins. Is that good-looking face just a mask? And what's more, what will it take to make it slip, and who will die in the process ...?

A serial killer to chill your bones A psychopath more frightening than Hannibal Lecter. He
has planned well. He leads two lives. In one he's just like anyone else. But in the other he is the caretaker of his family's macabre museum. Now the time has come to add to his collection. He is ready to feed his obsession, and he is on the hunt. Jakey Frith and Clara Foyle have something in common. They have what he needs. What begins is a terrifying cat-and-mouse game between the sinister collector, Jakey's father and Etta Fitzroy, a troubled detective investigating a spate of abductions. Set in London's Blackheath Rattle by Fiona Cummins.

The Little Old Lady Behaving Badly is by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg.  Nothing can stop The League of Pensioners, a wily gang of blue-rinsed rebels. They have a plan and to realize it they are going to need money, lots of money. Martha and her friends set out to catch some of the biggest financial fish in the sea. In their hunt for the big bucks, the gang plan to cheat billionaires out of their luxury yachts in the south of France's sun-bleached Saint-Tropez. But with the police hot on their heels, will this group of unassuming conspirators be able to cover their tracks?

February 2017

What You Don't Know is by JoAnn Chaney tells the story of the three victims the murderer didn't kill but whose lives he ruined all the same ...A crime like this isn't only about the killer. There are others to consider ...Seven years ago, Detective Paul Hoskins and his larger-than-life partner solved one of the biggest serial killer cases of the decade. They dug up 31 bodies in a crawlspace belonging to the beloved Jacky Seever, a pillar of the community and a successful businessman. Sammie Peterson was the lead reporter on the case. Her byline was on the front page of the newspaper every day. Seever's wife, Gloria, claimed to be as surprised as everyone else. But when you get that close to a killer, can you really just move on? Today, Hoskins has been banished to the basement of the police station, Sammie is selling make-up at the shopping mall, and Gloria is trying to navigate a world where she can't escape condemnation. Then a series of copycat killings take place, with the victims all connected to Seever. While Gloria is determined not to be forced into the spotlight again, Hoskins and Sammie see a chance to get their lives back. But it could mean forfeiting their humanity in the process ...It isn't over. It'll never be over.

You know that feeling. Your life's on track and all is going well. And then something monumental occurs that turns everything on its head. It happens to everyone but, for Kristin Ryder, it was much, much worse ...When up-and-coming photographer Kristin begins to receive anonymous emails, her life in a trendy loft in London's Hoxton with Anton, her ultra-cool, street-artist boyfriend, suddenly begins to feel unsafe. The emails come with sinister attachments that suggest the sender has an intimate knowledge of Kristin's past, and soon her life spirals out of control. Who can she trust? And will she be able to discover the sender's identity before it's too late? Breathtaking and shocking, Exposure is by Aga Lesiewicz 

Wrong Place is by Michelle Davies.  When a man fails in his attempt to murder his wife and then commit suicide, DC Maggie Neville is assigned to be the surviving woman's Family Liaison Officer. As the husband lies in a coma in hospital, the wife sets about making sure everyone knows he's guilty. But there's something about her story that doesn't ring true to Maggie. Digging deeper, she finds an unexpected link between the couple's case and a series of burglaries she and her colleagues are investigating in the local area - and the mysterious disappearance of a young woman twenty years ago.

Nothing But Trouble is by Kerry Wilkinson. DI Jessica Daniel has to protect the streets of Manchester from escaped prisoners - and those trying to hunt them down. Niall O'Brien is a veteran living on the edge of a rundown estate, refusing to sell his house to developers. He's the only remaining resident, alone and frightened by a series of break-ins. He's been threatening to shoot the next intruder but he can't be serious . . . what if the next person through the door is a police officer trying to help? Elsewhere, on a bright Manchester morning a vehicle screeches across a junction and wipes out a prison van. Two prisoners run for it, leaving the police to track them down. They don't have long to wait. Hours later, one of the escapees is hanged from a motorway bridge. Was he broken out solely to be killed, or is there something deeper going on? Meanwhile, someone's conning pensioners out of their savings and there are rumours that the bare-knuckle British middleweight title fight is coming to the city. DI Jessica Daniel fears finding herself in the middle of an all-out war, not knowing that the biggest threat might come from a frightened pensioner.

As Sherlock and Watson return from the famous Hound of the Baskervilles case, Mrs Hudson and Mary must face their own Hound, in the swirling fog of Victorian London ...When Mrs Hudson falls ill, she is taken into a private ward at St Barts hospital. Perhaps it is her over-active imagination, or her penchant for sniffing out secrets, but as she lies in her bed, slowly recovering, she finds herself surrounded by patients who all have some skeletons in their closets. A higher number of deaths than usual seem to occur on this ward. On her very first night, Mrs Hudson believes she witnesses a murder. But was it real, or just smoke and mirrors? Mary Watson meanwhile has heard about young boys disappearing across London, and is determined to find them and reunite them with their families. As the women's investigations collide in unexpected ways, a gruesome discovery in Regent's Park leads them on to a new, terrifying case.  The Women of Baker Street is by Michelle Birkby.

March 2017 


The Killer by Susan Wilkins is a crime thriller about survival and vengeance, it puts the pedal to the metal as it hurtles through contemporary London, from the glass towers of the super-rich to the down and dirty backstreets of organized crime and blackmail. She was a woman, so they thought she'd be easy to kill ...Kaz Phelps is on the run - from the past, from the legacy of her criminal family, from the haunting memories of her murdered lover. The police want her back in jail and her enemies want her dead. While standing by the grave of her gangster brother, Kaz realizes she only has one option. To fight back. Nicci Armstrong was one of the Met's best detectives until personal tragedy forced her to quit. Now she's responsible for the security of the super-rich who use her city as a playground. She is one of the few people Kaz might trust. But Nicci's biggest mistake yet is falling in love with a man she knows is only using her. Meanwhile, as envious rivals back home plot against him, a Russian billionaire searches for a special gift to keep the Kremlin onside, a disgraced politician dreams of revenge and a Turkish drug baron plots to purge his dishonour with blood.

Date with Death is by Julia Chapman.  Samson O'Brien has been dismissed from the police force, and returns to his hometown of Bruncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales to set up the Dales Detective Agency while he fights to clear his name. However, the people of Bruncliffe aren't that welcoming to a man they see as trouble. Delilah Metcalfe, meanwhile, is struggling to keep her business, the Dales Dating Agency, afloat - as well as trying to control her wayward Weimaraner dog, Tolpuddle. Then when Samson gets his first case, investigating the supposed suicide of a local man, things take an unexpected turn, and soon he discovers a trail of deaths that lead back to the door of Delilah's agency. With suspicion hanging over someone they both care for, the two feuding neighbours soon realize that they need to work together to solve the mystery of the dating deaths. But working together is easier said than done...

April 2017

On the run, with everything to lose ...On the outskirts of Durban, Suzanne Fessey fights back during a vicious carjacking. She kills one thief but the other, wounded, escapes with her baby strapped into the back seat. Called in to pursue the missing vehicle are helicopter pilot Nia Carras from the air, and nearby wildlife researcher Mike Dunn from the ground. But South Africa's police have even bigger problems: a suicide bomber has killed the visiting American ambassador, and chaos has descended on KwaZulu-Natal. As Mike and Nia track the missing baby through wild-game reserves from Zululand to Zimbabwe, they come to realize that the war on terror has well and truly arrived ...  Red Earth is by Tony Park.

May 2017

Testimony is by Scott Turow.  In spring 2004, a refugee camp made up of four hundred Roma Gypsies disappeared overnight from their Bosnian settlement. Only one witness survived, hiding in a long-drop with his young son, watching helplessly as a legion of unidentifiable vehicles rounded up his community and marched them away. Now, over a decade later, it's time for someone to be brought to justice. The problem is, it's not clear who. Whispered rumours have the perpetrators ranging from Serb paramilitaries to the US Army, but there's no hard evidence to hold either accountable. Bill ten Boom, a defence lawyer from Kindle County, is hired by The Hague's International Criminal Court as the prosecutor on the case. Having put him up for the role, the US government hope the friendly face will help their position, but they aren't the only party with a vested interest and no qualms about trying to steer the investigation their way . . .

Need You Dead is by Peter James.  Lorna Belling, desperate to escape her marriage from hell, falls for the charms of another man who promises her the earth. But, as Lorna finds, life seldom follows the plans you've made. A chance photograph on a client's mobile phone changes everything for her. When the body of a woman is found in a bath in Brighton, Detective Superintendent Roy Grace is called to the scene. At first it looks an open and shut case with a clear prime suspect. Then other scenarios begin to present themselves, each of them tantalizingly plausible, until, in a sudden turn of events, and to his utter disbelief, the case turns more sinister than Grace could ever have imagined.

June 2017

Are You Sleeping is by Kathleen Barber.  Josie Buhrman has spent the last ten years trying to escape her family's reputation and with good reason: her father was murdered, her mother ran away to join a cult, and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie's closest friend and confidant, betrayed her. Now, Josie has settled in New York with her boyfriend Caleb, and that's where she intends to stay. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past - starting with her last name. Then investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a hit podcast that reopens the case of her father's murder, Josie's carefully constructed world begins to unravel ...Josie is forced to return to her hometown where she must confront the lies from her past - as well as those on which she has staked her future.

Also due to be published is Sleep Baby Sleep by David Hewson and The Fix by David Baldacci.  Both are due to be published in April.

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